Oh mi querida familia,
MUCHíSIMAS GRACIAS for the package!!! Angie, Mom -- you are saints, truly.
Those shoes, Ang--you have no idea how much I needed them! And I might say
they are pretty stylin'. Madre- gracias for the the "shopping list." That
will indeed come in handy! What a spoiled missionary I am to be able to
write to home and have my requests granted within a couple days. Sheesh! I
like this mission thing :).
From what I heard from Dad, Mom and Angie (the rest of the family is
MIA--not missing me yet, eh?) things are going well! Glad to hear that Dad
still bought me a donut on Saturday morning. That's touching :). You can
just give it to Maggie, you know. The other me. (inside family story--check out Allison's blog for the story here)
Aside from Utah basketball
games and the like, what else is new with the fam? Padre-I'm glad to hear
you got to listen to Elders Packer and Nelson the other night. That's
awesome! We haven't had any member of the 12 or First Presidency yet, but
we have had a member of the presidency of the seventy. It's been good so
far. I think someone backed out of the devotional for Sunday night because
the MTC president said we were going to be doing an impromptu "sing-a-long"
devotional. A few lucky missionaries were able to request that their
favorite songs be sung by everyone. That was neat.
Man oh man, I tell you...there is just a never ending supply of things to
learn here. I have to say, there definitely was a part of me that was
convinced this would all come easily to me and I'd just be a natural but boy
has the humility hit me. I have such a deep sense of respect for all
missionaries who are in the field right now because this is tough stuff.
It's funny--I never thought I'd be yearning for a solid 3 hours of straight
scripture reading just to myself, but that's how I feel here daily. I can't
get enough of it. Good sign, I hope.
I think I mentioned before that I LOVE my teachers and the other
missionaries in my district, but let me just say it again: I LOVE THEM!!! I
joke with Hermana Graham that she and I are like the nauseating newlywed
couple that can't find a fault with one another and we're just so happy all
the time. I think this is in large part due to the fact that I discovered
she shares my affinity for musicals--particularly Into the Woods and
Newsies. Can you say "score"? Honestly, I lucked out something fierce.
We've been getting a lot of practice teaching about the Restoration these
past couple weeks and even though I feel like we should know the doctrine
inside and out by now, there's always something new to learn and no lesson
is exactly the same. We do a lot of simulated lessons with other
missionaries and volunteers down at the Teaching Resource Center and this
weekend was the first time we had to teach an "investigator" at the TRC.
Hermana Graham and I had a cute little Japanese woman named Kyoko. We fell
in love with her immediately! She played the role of a reluctant
investigator, though, so we can't say we had too much success in convincing
her of our message...but we'll work on that :). We actually saw her on the
temple grounds on Sunday and she wanted to take a picture with us. She
apologized for being a tough investigator (I told her not to worry because
we needed it) and she took a picture with us. At one point she leaned in
and whispered to me, "Sista Missionaries ah da BEST!" Cute lady!
I probably got what was coming to me at the TRC though, because every time
we teach other companionships, I always play the role of a tough
investigator. (My acting skills have gotten quite good, actually :)) I was
really mean to our poor young Elders one day. I decided to be an
Evangelical Feminist. Ha...don't think they've forgiven me for that one
yet. It was fun, though :).
Oh hey, remember how my companion thought I was Chinese? Some random Elder
walked up to me yesterday during lunch and asked me where I was from. I
told him I was from Bountiful and his face fell. "Oh. I thought you were
Hawaiian." Add it to the list.
I love being here. Never thought I would, but I do. At least 7 times a day
I have companionships walking up to me and bearing their testimonies in
various languages. We trained the Elders in our district to take our trays
at the end of our meals, so that's going well :).
I guess I don't have much more to say...which is funny because all week long
I'm making mental notes of all the funny/spiritual/uplifting/interesting
things I have to tell you...but p-day will come fast again, I'm sure. Two
weeks already! Wow. Oh yeah, just one more thing -- I have not gained ANY
weight since being here, nor do I intend to :).
Okay, my time's almost up, so I gotta run. Headed to the temple! L
ove you all so, so much. Thank you for your prayers. I really do feel
them.
Con amor,
Hermana Brewster
p.s.
Are you forwarding my e-mails to anyone? I should maybe edit for content,
if that's the case...not that there's anything that needs editing in
this...just wanted to check for future reference...
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