Letters from Temple Square!

Oi! 

Well I'm working on my Portuguese! My new companion is from Portugal, but she is teaching me how Brazilians speak so that I can talk with Nanern and Jamesy after the missions. It's great! Transfer week is always so crazy, so much moving and changes. I moved to the supppper nice apartments! We have the penthouse suites and one of the rooms has a BEAUTIFUL view of the Temple and Downtown SLC. We are on the other side of the building and have a great view of the mountains. Our whole back wall of our apartment is glass so I love just laying on the couch in the mornings and watching the sunrise. Seriously amazing! We also have 2 bathrooms in this apartment, which is really helpful with 6 sisters. We have awesome roommates too, Sister Barrett, Sister Fiquet, Sister Christensen and Sister Jin.

Picture that I just took with my new companion so that you could see her. haha

So my assignments for this transfer is Beehive, DAP (in charge of the apartment) and Sports coordinator! So I organize and run all the sports we play in the mornings, which means that I actually need to work out and not just "stretch." So this has been a good assignment for me, helps me be more consecrated. The sisters love playing basketball and volleyball, so that's what we do most of the time. I am doing so much better at not being competitive! But sometimes I just run laps around the gym instead. We have a church across the street that we have available to work out in the mornings, so grateful for that!

Beehive house is so cool! It's slow season, so we don't take too many tours, but in the back room they have a TC! So we are able to call and talk to our investigators. Miracles truly happen in the beehive house though. So many people just come for the history, but end up referring. They learn that there is so much more to Brigham Young than his 56 wives or 57 children. They learn that he was a great man and leader, that he was a man inspired of God. Brigham Young truly was a prophet, that had so much love for everyone around him. I love serving in the Beehive.

Sister Muli just got back from her outbound in the Salem, Oregon mission. She is seriously so hilarious! We are like 2 peas in a pod now. She has been telling me so many stories from back home, especially with some of the Elders there... Apparently I have a little fan club, hahaha. But she is as crazy and hilarious as ever, loving it back at the beautiful Square!

President and Sister Gillette! Only the 2 cutest people I know.

This week I have been thinking a lot about expectations. Expectations from other people, from myself and from God. I think that my biggest fear is not being able to fulfill people's expectations of me. I have always felt pressure to be the best at whatever I do, and if I'm not than I'm nothing. But with a mission full of amazing Sisters, you can't afford to think that way! I was making a list of what I assume people's expectations are for me, and boy were they tough! Then I was making a list of my expectations for myself, and they were a little bit more reasonable. But then I was making a list of God's expectations for me. And they are achievable. What does God want me to do, to be and to become? Heavenly Father wants me to work my hardest, he wants me to be diligent and faithful. He doesn't care if I'm a trainer, DL, ZL or AP. That doesn't matter to Him, so why should it matter to me? He wants me to be my best self, and to share what I know, He wants me to preach His Gospel and invite others to come unto Him. It would be a selfish mission if I lived everyday to one day be a great leader. This week was a mission changer for me, and I am glad I had this realization now, I don't want to go through my mission in vain.

Transfer day, and at the Temple Model!

My Last District! 

I love this Gospel. I am a witness of the truthfulness of the restoration. The spirit testifies of truth, and we are all entitled to the light of Christ, we ALL can know of Christ's reality and of the truthfulness of this Gospel for ourselves. We just have to have the desire to know. Sister Rodrigues is very smart, and has great analogy's! She would tell it a lot better, but I'll try. There is a story about a man that said to a famous philospher, "Give me all the knowledge you have." And the philosopher said okay and took the man's head and held it down in the water of a well. The man was struggling and trying to get air, and only at the last second did he let him up. The philosopher said "When you want this knowledge as much as you wanted air, THEN will you obtain this knowledge." I know that as we have the true, burning desire to know if something is true, THEN we will know. 

Trust me, I'm there! But I've just gotten really tan in this snow....

Hope you all have a great week! We get a new mission President this week, President Poulsen. Stay tuned next week for the update :)

Much love,
Sister Brock

p.s. We have 2 baptisms this week, and possibly 3 the following. And on the 26th, we're going to a local ward and speaking in Sacrament meeting! I'm so excitedddd!

Transfer 2 Week 7

Well today was transfer conference! Which, as you can imagine, is just a tear feast. A mission full of Sisters, who are leaving, being transferred, etc. Yeah the whole time everyone is just crying. But it is still so great! So Sister Gudiel is going outbound!!! And she is going to none other than Houston TX South, Spanish speaking!! That's where Elder Grasse is. And I know Brandon is in that general area, not sure exactly what mission. So watch out Houston! As for me.... drum roll... I am now with Sister Rodriguez from Portugal! I am so excited, she is pretty hard headed like me, so we are definitely going to learn a lot from each other. I'm also moving to the realllly nice apartments. So I'm super excited about that. My assignment this transfer is Beehive house, and I've really wanted that so this is going to be a great transfer. P-day is on Tuesday, so I won't email until a week from tomorrow. 

This week has gone by way too fast. Too many exciting and fun things happened this week. To start, one of my absolute favorite investigators, Thomas, got baptized on Saturday! He also received the Priesthood yesterday and is preparing for his Patriarchal blessing, melchizedek priesthood, and to go to the Temple!! He is literally the golden investigator (Recent convert now) that every missionary dreams of. We also finally got a hold of another investigator, Shawntay (yes she's a sassy black woman) and she said she got baptized on the 22nd!  She is unable to meet at her house with the missionaries now though because her roommate flashed the Elders... You could say I was trying so hard not to laugh when she told me that on the phone. But she is doing great and loves having the gift of the Holy Ghost! This transfer was full of blessings, the Spirit of Christ has the power to change hearts, and that's especially true during Christmas season! People are so willing and welcoming to the idea of coming unto Christ. We saw so many miracles this Christmas season. It's a bummer that the lights aren't on anymore, but we will just have to work even harder to get referrals and new investigators this transfer then. Luckily, in beehive house there is a TC room where when we don't have tours that we can teach our investigators. And boyyyy do I have a LOT of people to call. We took an investigator lesson this week (where local Elders bring their investigators and we teach them together on the square) and we got SO many referrals from them! I personally got almost 50. And with the end of the transfer coming, I got about 40 other referrals/investigators transferred to me. So I'm going to need a lot of TC time this transfer. I'm glad my new companion speaks some Spanish too because I have some Spanish inv. from Sister Gudiel and I that speak strictly Spanish, but she felt prompted that I needed to still teach them. Woo! Well this paragraph turned into my investigators... haha but I just love them, they are all so great!

For new years, we worked until 9 and then had a little celebration/devotional. We did a countdown until 10 (midnight on the East coast) and then all went home and passed out. That was the last night of Christmas lights, and I'm pretty sure I will never recover from Christmas season. So busy, so fun, so many miracles! But I am absolutely exhausted. I thought today for P-day I'd get to rest while Sister Gudiel packs up her stuff, but it looks like I am going to need to pack all of my stuff to move. Yahoo! 

On Thursday/Friday (Friday in my case), the mission got split and half of us went down to Provo! We took the Trax then Frontrunner and then an MTC bus came and took us to the Museum of Art at BYU! Wow. It was so amazing! There is an exhibit right now called Sacred Gifts, it is the art work of Christ from three different artists. One of my favorites too, Carl Bloch. I now see how much the original paints differ from copies. And boy do they have the power to move you! So we go to do that for a few hours, then we took a quick tour of BYU and went to the BYU bookstore. After that we went to a local church, where the youth prepared lunch for us! They were the sweetest, they served us and they were all just so cute! They said they sent you a picture, so I hope you got it. 

In one of my personal studies this week (we don't get them very often because we are so busy, usually only like 2 times a week, but more now that it's dead season) I was reading an article in the Liahona from November 2010, entitled "Charity Never Faileth" by President Monson. This article is amazing. He states.. "What if attitudes, deeds and spiritual inclinations were reflected in physical features?" What would I look like? I imagine that this is how our Heavenly Father sees us. He sees us for the person we truly are, our attitudes, deeds and spiritual inclinations. What kind of person am I? Not only what I allow people to see, but what I truly think and feel. Am I the kind of person that is beautiful to my father in Heaven? Another thing he said that stuck out to me was "May we recognize that each of us is doing her best to deal with the challenges which come her way, and may we strive to do our best to help out." I know that one of my biggest shortcomings is patience. I am not a patient person whatsoever. And unfortunately, I am not patient with people's imperfections, including my own! I need to remember that I am not perfect, so I can't expect others to be perfect. I have to accept peoples differences and learn to appreciate and love differences.  Because that is truly what makes people beautiful. "There is really no way we can know the heart, the intentions, or the circumstances of someone who might say or so something we find reason to criticize. Thus the commandment: 'Judge Not.'" There is no way that I can judge the background of any companion, investigator, or inactive. I need to be supportive and loving in all that I do, especially with my companion. I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and I need to help be the support to them, that He has been for me. And I'm going to leave you with one final quote from his talk, "Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become easily offended. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are." 

Inside the Assemble Hall - stain glass window

Her mission twin, Sister Gee from Seattle

I love this Gospel. And I love being a missionary. 

Go forth in faith my friends, this Gospel is true. I'm a witness and a testimony of the power the Gospel has to change lives. 

With love,

Sister Brock

Letters to Gretchen

Hey Gretchen!  It's Colin!  Hearing awesome stories from your mom about your mission.  Super proud of your decision to serve and enjoy it while it lasts.  It goes by SO SO fast.  Much love!  Colin

Gretchen, Conner Plant here. It's late here so I'll keep it short, don't want to get in the way of your zumba class too. You are well remembered here in Salem, so enjoy your mission and do work. I want you to be the highest baptizer in all of the Square. If you ever meet a Sister Klein from Brasil, tell her hi for me as well, she's my mission president's daughter and is pretty cool. Have fun, lol (lots of love) - Conner 

GRETCH! It's Brad Marley. How's your vacation/day spa? I bet it's thuper duper fun! Anyways. I was there with my whole fam damily during thanksgiving and we looked for you but you were probably busy saving souls (I hope). We're all super proud of you here and can't wait to keep hearing about your future successes. Keep working hard and follow the spirit. It goes by kinda quick, especially with all that Zumba. Love, Brad.

What up guuuurl?! Its me, Rykie. So I heard you are visiting temple square. That's fun. I hope all is going well. No earthquakes, tsunamis, or mudslides. Watch out for the west nile virus and always remember the sun screen. The mission is fun stuff, take advantage of it. The Lord works through simple ways, so enjoy those simple ups and downs. He is shaping you. You (or any companions) can email me. Keep it fresh! Beijos- Rykie

 Hi gretch, I can't wait to go back to Florida! -Alli 

So these guys were over tonight playing games and they said they wanted to say Hi... Hope you enjoyed their notes.

I love you! Can't wait to hear from you soon.

Love mom.

Transfer 2 week 5

Hello Family and Friends!

First off, Merry Christmas! I wish I could be with you, but there is no where I'd rather be than on a mission during Christmas. So many people are receptive to receiving a message about Jesus Christ during this time. It's awesome! But definitely should continue throughout the year... 

So we'll start with last Tuesday morning! Once a year, we have the privilege of getting a tour of the Conference Center Organ and Tabernacle organ. Those are what people ask about a lot, so we need to be educated on it. And boy way that amazing! We got to go inside each of the organs, and play them both! The Conference center organ has over 7 thousand pipes, but 40% of the ones you see in front, are actually fake! They are just there to balance the appearance of the organ. So the picture of all the little pipes is in the Conference center organ. Some of the pipes on that organ are just the size of your pinky fingernail! Crazy right? And the Tabernacle organ is even more impressive. It is original from 1875! And so the 11,623 pipes are actually made out of wood. Which is pretty much unheard of. They are painted to look like gold though. No one, except organ experts get to play the organs, so it was such a blessing and privilege to get to play them! 

Thursday we got A LOT of snow. And the Square was super slippery, so we saw quite a few people slip and fall! My DL, Sister Ordonez, fell and hurt her back pretty bad. So when the square gets pretty bad, it actually closes. The square closed at 2pm and we all just went back to our apartments and studied/watched church movies, cleaned, cooked/baked, and hung out! It was fun, but definitely felt weird. I got a hair cut though! Just cut my bangs. Not too fond of them, but hey, it's a change. Sister Gudiel cut all her hair off and it looks SO CUTE! I'm so tempted to cut mine now... what's your vote? 

This Saturday we had another baptism! I forgot to mention we had one last week, it was kinda a mass. The local missionaries sometimes are so stupid. We have a hard time with local missionaries. But Paul got baptized last week! He's 13 years old and lives in Mexico. His mom is still investigating the church and will hopefully be baptized soon. This week, DAN got baptized! I absolutely love Dan. He's like 47, and lives in Missouri. He had made a lot of bad decisions in his life that lead him to some really hard times. But he has made so many hard changes in his life and he knows this church is true! He has worked so hard to be baptized, and he's so happy to say that he's an official Mormon now :) 

On Saturday, I was talking to Dan on the phone about his baptism when I got a text from a Sister saying that my brother was here!!!! AHHHH! So as you can imagine, I started freaking out. But I was in the middle of teaching Dan about the Priesthood, and how he can get it. Well, I finished the lesson and ran out to meet Garrett, Micah and Jordan! It was so great to see them. Most missionaries say they get distracted by seeing their family, but not me. It definitely motivates me to do and be better. I just love my family! 

Another one of my investigators name is Thomas. I have another one named Tom! So I have to make sure I don't mix them up, it's sometimes hard because we don't see their faces, only hear their voice. But Thomas is so great. He came on mormon.org chat and straight up said "I want to investigate the church" Now this NEVER happens for English chats, Spanish yes, but English no. So Thomas's wife is a member, but she is deployed in the Army right now. So he thought this would be a perfect time to investigate the church. Over the course of 2 lessons within 5 days, he has read almost 400 pages of the Book of Mormon. He loves it! He has so many 'Crazy experiences" as he says. He uses his wife's scriptures, and he opened up to a random page and found a book mark with his name and a scripture on it, he read the scripture and cried. Cried and cried and cried. It was the exact scripture he needed. He's so good! But he is having a hard time saying yes to baptism. So I'll keep you posted on sir Thomas. 

So church is different here at Temple Square. We go to sacrament meeting WAY early in the Joseph Smith memorial building, a ward consisting of just Temple Square missionaries. Which makes for amazing talks every week. Well we don't have any other meeting that day because the Square is always so busy. So we have Relief Society on Thursday mornings, early again. And when I say early, I mean like 7am. That means we have to have eaten, exercised and gotten ready, AND 15 minutes early by this time. So we get no sleep here. But we are blessed! Well this week for relief society we were SO blessed. Why? Because we had relief society in the General Relief society building. We got the privilege of having Sister Elaine Dalton come and speak with us. Wow. So powerful! We talked about women that have influenced our life. And the women that came to my mind are so near and dear to me. I have a hard time staying patient with girls, so when I find some that I like, I hold on tight! They were, my mom, Cindy, Angela, Alli, Micah, Becky, and Megan Gneiting. All of these women have changed my life! They are such great examples and friends to me. I love you all! 

Well I guess it's time for a Christmas message. A few weeks back, we had the chance to go to the Christmas devotional. And although there were beautiful talks given by Sister Wixom, Brother Rasband, and Elder Nelson... my favorite part was the introduction by President Monson. I know he is a living prophet of God. He is so inspired. The spirit isn't just always with him, it is apart of him. I inspire to be 1/2 the person he is one day. He said a few things, but they really struck a cord with me. First was something I've been thinking a lot about this season, "What can I give Him?" We are celebrating HIM. So what can I, Gretchen, give Him? His gift to me was matchless! I can do my best to become like Him. This Christmas I have tried to focus more on serving. Serving my companion, roommates, investigators, etc. And I can testify that my genuine love of Christ has strengthened so much! Christmas truly is a blessed time of year. The next thing was something that I have mentioned earlier, having the Spirit of Christ rather than the Spirit of Christmas. Now what does this mean? This means that we always seek to follow Him, to do His will, and live as to always have His spirit to be with us. Having the Spirit of Christ is the key to happiness in this like. And the last thing President Monson said that really stuck out to me was "As the wise men did, seek a bright star to follow." This has been a focus of the message I've been sharing with the thousands of people who have come to the Square this Christmas season. People always come "just to see the lights." But they don't realize that these lights represent Jesus Christ. "I am the light and the life of the world..." (mosiah 16:9) This is repeated all throughout both the Bible and the Book of Mormon! In this dark world, He is the light. He is the bright star we should follow! Jesus Christ if the prince of peace, the great Jehovah, the great I Am. He is our Savior and Redeemer, our brother and friend. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is my light and star that I follow. I praise His name forever. 

Wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 

Much love,

Sister Brock

p.s. thank you for the many wonderful Christmas cards I received this week! 

Transfer 2, week 3? 4?

Hello again family and friends,

First off, my mom is amazing. I received the best package EVER this past week! It was a box of Christmas joy! Full of decorations, fun presents, and Christmas cheer. My companion/roommates love you too mom. So my mom is the best, ever. Thank you SO much mom for the awesome package!

Knowing my mom.. she probably posted this on Facebook.. BUT yesterday we got an email from the AP's saying that we get to call our family's for 5 minutes to set up a time to call them on Christmas. So obviously, we called right then! My mom answered and was so worried, thinking something was wrong. But it was great to be able to talk to them for a few minutes! And of course, all I heard from Alli was "I can't find my shoes" and "I'm trying to get ready for church" Love you too Alli...

This morning we went to the Temple! So great, as always. We get to go once a transfer on our P-day at like 6 in the morning. Earliest but easiest day to get up! We then always go to kneaders for breakfast after, so I'm nice and full of delicious french toast right now :)

Well for the majority of my email, I'd like to talk about the amazing Mission Tour we had. Mission Tour is kinda like a big devotional, for 8 hours. And those 8 hours are some of the most spiritual uplifting and enlightening moments of your life! We had the privilege of having Elder Clark come. And he covered EVERYTHING. Not just mission, but education, family, children, and most importantly, marriage. Definitely have a new outlook on a lot of things!

He started off by reminding us what the stereotype for Temple Square missionaries are with the apostles: The best sister missionaries. So he said "live up to your expectations!" Elder Clark is kinda like Elder Holland, which is why I love him so much. He also told us how we were chosen for Temple Square. When our picture comes up, if the Apostle see the Atonement in our eyes, we get put aside for visitor center sisters. Then, they weed through us again, and look for the Sisters that they can see Jesus Christ in our eyes, and those are the ones chosen for Temple Square. It is such an honor to know that an Apostle of the Lord has seen both the atonement and Jesus Christ in my eyes, I have definitely felt the atonement so strongly in my life! It is my favorite part about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I know that every single sister here at Temple Square is so special, that they are all here for a specific reason, and they each have touched my life so much already in this short time.

"There isn't a group of people prayed more for than the missionaries. Answer their prayers." We as missionaries have such a divine duty to help people come unto Christ! So many people are praying for the missionaries, and praying for us specifically by name! So we need to do our part, we need to be diligent and obedient at all times so that we can answer the prayers of the faithful members of the church. I know that as we do, that we will become so much better! Because the way God helps us is by allowing us to help others. God doesn't need us to preach the Gospel, but we are so blessed that he is allowing us to. We are so blessed to be His instruments in bringing about His great work!

We give a LOT of tours on Temple Square. Even when we don't do tours after 5pm now with Christmas! But it is not enough to give tours. We can't afford to 'just give tours', there is too much at stake. We can't be scared of rejection (which is my #1 fear), because there is no sadder words than 'It could have been.' I need to continue to push past my fear of rejection, and give people the chance to accept the gospel. It is not my place to determine if I think they will accept the Gospel or not. Because in the end, they need to be given the opportunity to choose for themselves if they will take these things to heart. They need to choose if they want to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We can't let little dumb things get in the way of eternity. Absolutely no one should leave the Square and not know of our testimony and love for the Savior. Because this is the most important message anyone could ever hear! (Alma 7:7) This message is a message of happiness for time and all eternity. It is a message of hope and love! It is a message that brings forth miracles. And as missionaries, we must be performers and witness of miracles. And I can testify, that the Lord WILL work mighty miracles through you as you are diligent and obedient.

And lastly we talked a lot about how we can become converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, eternally converted. I don't want to be a missionary who feels like the mission is over when I go home, but remember that I can always be an instrument in God's hands. I know that to become eternally converted, we must follow the traditions of Mormons. We must read our scriptures daily, pray sincerely, go to church regularly, have family home evening, and act, think and do as our Savior would. Habits become who we are, and if we have the habits of a follower of Christ, that is who we will be. For too long in my life I have said "I want to be...", and through my mission I want to be able to say "I am." I know that the Lord has great things in store for me. That through Him, I can become the person I want to become. 

I love this Gospel, I love Temple Square, and most of all, I love being a missionary!

Love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week :)

Again, this email is so scattered. It's hard to write all your many thoughts in one short email!

-Sister Brock

Wanted to prove to my mom that I can cook now... Alfredo!

And this is Bob.. the Temple Square Angel. He comes every day and hangs out with the sisters at the desks

P.s. For an early Christmas, we get to go to dinner at a member's house this week with our district! SO excited!

Transfer 2, week 2? 3? Who knows.

Hello from the beautiful white Salt Lake!

Heard it's snowing in Oregon too eh? Of course, when I go to the snow, the snow comes home. Typical! But it actually hasn't been too bad here. There was a few nights where it was pretty windy too, so all the snow was blowing right in our faces, that wasn't too fun. But overall, Temple Square is even more beautiful and a million people still come even with the snow. 

This was quite a hectic week. We had the Spanish concert this weekend which was HUGE. It was announced on the news, radio, etc. So there was a million Spanish people here for the concert. They weren't just from Utah either! So many flew in from all over the world to come see it. One night we got 28 referrals... Crazy. Also, we helped ran the Spanish Concert, so we were running around trying to fix all the little technical problems all week. But we had about 30 of our local Spanish investigators come to the concert, and they all LOVED it! What a great resource to have. We also got to go to the concert one night, and boy was that fun! It is so cool to be able to learn about so many different cultures, and after seeing this concert, it helped me understand the Spanish culture a lot more. They also had sing along's, and my Spanish is coming along well. 

So some of my most favorite investigators are Dan (getting baptized on the 20th), Amir (getting baptized with his wife when she moves to the US), Roger (who will be baptized soon), Bernadette (actually a less active, but doesn't really know anything about the church), Gelacio (who accepted baptism when we were just getting to know him) and Zachary (who was just a miracle). I'll tell you about a few of them... Roger! Roger lives in Lima, Peru. He has been taught by the missionaries and wants to be baptized, but he has a major social phobia! So he is scared to go to church or meet with the local missionaries again. He had a baptismal date, but wrote a letter to the local missionaries saying he couldn't. He's so adorable! So he came on chat, and we have been calling him, fasting and praying for him so much! Well, come to find out, his local missionary is from LAS VEGAS! So I'm really hoping it's my friend Troy Gubler. We're almost ready to contact the local missionaries, so hopefully it is him! Then let me tell you about Zachary. First off, I have this awesome RM who is my go-to for member present lessons. His name is Jeff and he goes to BYU. So a lesson fell through with a different investigator so I told Jeff, I will have a lesson on tomorrow at 1pm. Now, I was NOT even close to having an English lesson then, and this was the following day! So I needed to get a referral and have a lesson at 1 o clock. So then I was just 1 hour away from this lesson that I didn't have an investigator for. Well needless to say, prayers and faith work. I knelt down and prayed oh so hard. And when I opened my eyes, a beautiful chat box opened up with none other than Zachary. Zachary is so great and has so many great questions! He was able and willing to accept lessons over the phone, and we were able to call Jeff and have this member present. And Jeff and Zachary are literally like long lost twins, they are so similar! Just goes to show that the Lord will provide when you have faith. So many incredible stories like this happen all the time. 

Last P-day we went to the Cheesecake factory with the Moore family! Mmmm mmm good! Their son was heading to the MTC the following Wednesday so it was cool to talk to him and pump him up for the MTC. I really wish I could go back to the MTC for just a day. But he's excited! He's going to South Korea. I hope Sister Moore sent the pictures she took! They're from Houston, so look out for them Brandon and Saeder. 

Yesterday at chruch, Elder Cook came! We get a lot of the Apostles and 70 that come to visit our ward. Have I told you how absolutely beautiful our chapel is? Well, it definitely won't be the same after the mission. We had Elder Oaks come a few weeks ago. We see Elder Oaks and Sister Kristen Oaks EVERYWHERE! We know where most of the Apostles and President Monson live, and it's pretty close. 

So yesterday we got to go the awesome Christmas devotional! All the Sister's went, so we had a few singles wards come and cover the Square. President gave a devotional for them before, and guess what... he read and based his whole devotional off my last email to him. He told me that he told them all about me and my mission experienced. So everyone was telling me, oh you're sister Brock! Loved your thoughts and insights about missionary work. You would have thought that I was famous, so many people were talking to me yesterday! So that was kinda cool I guess.  

Well back to the Christmas Devotional, all of the talks were amazing and hit the spot! But I really think that my favorite part was when President Monson said something along the lines of "This season, lets not just have the Spirit of Christmas, but the Spirit of Christ" Wow. I've never thought of it that way before! I really don't feel like it's Christmas season... so I'll wait until next week to do a more Christmas-y letter.

On Saturday I had one of my most spiritual moments on my mission. We were frantically running around, trying to hand out last minute tickets to the Spanish concert, when we ran into a family. We invited them and they got excited! Except for one little boy. He was handicapped and he said 'No! I will not go! I want to see Jesus!" So his family complied. And I fully knew that we desperately needed to hand out these tickets, but I was prompted to take him up to the Christus and spend this moment with him. So when I invited him to see the Christus, he smiled up at me and grabbed my hand and started showing me the way! We talked about Jesus the whole way there, he said that his favorite part about Jesus was praying to him. How adorable. When we got to the Christus, I had him go right up to his feet and look up at him. We felt his feet, the prints of the nails, and he quietly whispered, "I love you Jesus, I love you." This hit me so hard. We then knelt at his feet while Sister Gudiel played the audio. The whole time, we was looking at the Savior and smiling, with love in his eyes. Well, as you could imagine, I was crying at this point. The true spirit of the Saviors love was there. I felt so blessed to have been apart of this experience with this young boy. He truly taught me what it means to have Christlike love. To focus on the Savior in this season, and to not get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season. This little boy is truly an angel. He feels God's love, and he is the perfect example of "becoming as a little child." I inspire to be like him one day. 

Sorry that this letter is so scattered, that's pretty much how my week went. Scattered! But still so many miracles. Press forward in faith my friends, God loves you! 

Much love,

Sister Brock

p.s. Tessa, I got your letter and drawing, I loved it! They're hanging up next to my bed. 

This is Noah's, where we ate and had the dance party!

And this is my favorite person in the world... Elder Frost! "Here comes Sister trouble Brock!"

And this is what happens when you try to slide tackle sisters in the rink...

Our beautiful knit hats the woman gave us 

Forgot to mention I went to a 'Celebration of Christ' innerfaith concert this weekend. So great! Held in tabernacle. Vocal point and Jenny Oaks Baker performed, as well as someone from panetonics (sp?) from the sing off a few years ago. It was amazing!

Transfer 2 week 1! I'M A 2ND TRANSFER!

Hello my beautiful family and friends, everyone seemed to ask me how the marvelous Thanksgiving went, so I guess I'll start with that!

Thanksgiving here is just amazing. I can't even explain it! We are on the square until about 1, and then we pack up in buses and went to this place here called Noahs. It's like a party place that you can rent out. We did SO much! Started off with some fun thanksgiving traditions of President and Sister Gillette, we sang some songs, told some thanksgiving stories and just had a good time all together. Then we broke off by zones to do some of the activities. They were ping pong (Yes, I killed everyone), pool (I also killed everyone), crafts, movies (MONSTERS UNIVERSITY!), wallyball, dance party and my favorite.. Ice skating! So you could say it was a great day. I pretty much played wallyball all day, went ice skating, and to the dance party. We listened to actual music! Which isn't too abnormal for us, because we listen to like Spanish music for Zumba in the mornings, and when we go to City Creek there's always normal music. But we also had a great turkey dinner, wasn't the same as my moms though. I definitely miss your cooking mom!  But overall, Thanksgiving was a blast, and a good kick off to our CRAZY BUSY SEASON!

So the lights turned on this past Friday night, and literally it is so overwhelming. For those of you who have seen the lights... it's a lot more hectic as a missionary. People come just to see the lights and they often don't want to stop to talk to the missionaries! So we have to look extra good during Christmas season! Just kidding... we just have to be more personable and welcoming. Saturday night was actually probably our busiest night so far. Strangely, on our schedule, we don't have a TON of Square time at night. So Square time is really precious to me. Last night we only had about 10 minutes on the square because we were getting things ready for the Spanish Marathon and Spanish concert (my companion is the Spanish coordinator). So in those 10 minutes we were able to find an amazing family who just got sealed in the Temple 15 days ago! They definitely had a certain glow about them. And they referred their family! 14 family members, who they said are so prepared to receive the gospel. So we are very excited to call them tonight! 

I saw Mr.Klayton Thompson on Saturday! It was weird to see the missionary role switched... but good to see him! We got a picture, so I hope you got it family. Megan also was at the Square, but I couldn't find her :( I searched SO HARD! I was looking for Reese's head above the crowds. No luck. I got your note though Megan! Loved it. 

P.s. If you leave a note with any sister, put your number on it! We can text you and find out where you are and come find you! And always leave notes with like every sister you see, because who knows when I'll see those sisters.

So during Christmas season we have different assignments. We have stations like Christus and Gods plan, where we have 3 sets of sisters to constantly play and do crowd control. Those are my favorites! Because you can actually do really good contacting there. We've gotten some golden referrals from crowd control on Christus. People are prepared to hear this message, don't be scared to share it with them! We get to have Christus on Friday nights for an hour, which means BUSY! I absolutely love it. It's one of my favorite assignments. At Christus this last Friday, a wonderful old woman came and gave Sister Gudiel and I the most BEAUTIFUL knitted hat and scarf. They are so precious to me.

So I can testify that the Scriptures are amazing. I don't know why I didn't read them as much before my mission. They literally are the words for the soul! They are words of encouragement, hope, and love! The scriptures enlighten me in new ways every time I read them, they are written in such an inspired way that they truly help you with whatever current circumstance you are going though.

Yesterday was fast Sunday, which is the best Sunday ever. In church, literally half the congregation stands up to go share their testimony! So it is almost impossible to get up and actually have time to share your testimony. BUT, it is so amazing to be given the opportunity to fast. Fasting is an amazing thing! To be able to receive blessings by simply giving up 2 meals. This past Sunday I fasted for one of my investigators, Amir. He had a baptismal date for December 7th, and he was so golden! But I haven't been able to get a hold of him for over 2 weeks.. and the rule is, if someone doesn't answer 4 times, then you have to drop them, because there are so many other people who are waiting to receive the Gospel! So I have been so scared to email/call him for the 4th time because I didn't want to drop him. So I was fasting for him yesterday, and Sister Gudiel can only physically skip 1 meal, so I was reading my scriptures during lunch. And I came across so many good scriptures about fasting, and it was just going along with my normal straight through Book of Mormon studies. Well I just love fasting! Because right after lunch, and having so much temptation with Sister Gudiel's lunch, but withholding myself, I went onto my email and none other than Amir emailed me back. AND IT WAS AMAZING! He has just been really busy to email be back, but he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. And his wife still lives in Iran, but he's been talking to her about the church and she is so excited for him! She wants to be there, and she wants to get baptized too! So we're waiting for her to move to Salt Lake (which should be very soon) and then they are both getting baptized. Fasting works. Fasting brings blessings, and I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to fast.

Sister Garcia and I, LOVE HER! We WILL be companions one day! 

So I was trying to think of an awesome inspirational thought I had this week... but I think with Thanksgiving and the lights, my week and brain have been too hectic to have an 'Ah ha!' moment. But I did come across a scripture that I just absolutely loved and wanted to share with you all. It's Alma 17:11-12, 
11) And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be ^apatient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good ^bexamplesunto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

 12) And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God.

I think that this went perfect with this past week. The previous 3 weeks Sister Gudiel were on fire, teaching over 30 lessons per week, setting baptismal dates like crazy and just getting so many new investigators! But this week was hard... we taught 9 lessons, and none of our investigators with baptismal dates were answering us. So it was a little discouraging. But then I read this scripture. And this has been a hard time for me! Not feeling like a successful missionary, but I know that my efforts are not wasted. That those 9 lessons made a difference in someones life! And I know that as I stay patient and faithful through these tougher times, that I will be an instrument in the hands of my God. That I will be HIS missionary doing HIS work! I just have to have the courage to keep pressing forward. I love the story of Ammon and his brothers. That they gave up a kingdom to be a missionary! That although they were such righteous sons of God, that people still rejected them, Hey! Even people rejected Jesus Christ! But they still pressed forward in the work. That they still went forth preaching the gospel, they didn't get discouraged, but they were faithful through their trials. And that's what I need to do too. I can't get discouraged in times of hardship, it will only hinder the work. The scriptures apply to us in these days, always seek to apply them to your life. I can promise that they will be a strength in your life, that you will find the answers you are looking for within the pages. 

Well I hope you all have an amazing week, I look forward to hearing from you during this amazing Christmas time! I challenge you to look for scriptures about Jesus Christ to share this season. It can change someone's life, I testify of that. Love you all!

Much love,
Sister Brock

p.s. I keep seeing a white suburban everywhere with a RAGNAR sticker in the back, it keeps throwing me off! Miss you Olsen family, especially my Cam Bam.