Hey everyone! Hope you're doing just great! I kind of just saw you yesterday but for those of you that aren't in my immediate family, Hello! :D
So Elder Barreiro and I have been doing the Book of Mormon Transfer Challenge. Today we'll be wrapping up most of Mosiah which is pretty fantastic! But this week I got to read all of King Benjamin's conference (Mosiah 2-5) in one day. It's wonderful! I highly recommend doing so because it gives a good bigger picture. But what I found was that he had some major topics that he talked about like service, changing through the Atonement of Christ, giving to those in need, and then making covenants, but something I noticed was the overarching theme of the Goodness of God. Our Heavenly Father really is so good to us. When we're obedient, He blesses us and immediately we are in debt to him again. In this aspect, life isn't fair at all! Heavenly Father blesses us way more than we give to Him! It's incredible to see how much we're spoiled sometimes haha but when I think of the Goodness of God I just can't help but be grateful. He has been so good to me and that encourages me to be even more obedient. Now how can we apply this in everyday life? I thought you'd never ask! ;) So my invitation to you is to take a little inventory of all that you're doing and choose one thing that you want to be more obedient in. Now for a whole week, strive to do better in that one thing and I promise that you will see blessings flow into your life. They always come but we may need to be a little more attentive on how they come. But I know that Heavenly Father has blessed me abundantly for little things that I do. I know he will do the same for you.
Monday the 2nd:
So after our brief emails and other needed things we met up with Fr. Lavene in Mascouche and headed to Montreal! It was a lot of fun. We got sushi at a little restaurant and then checked out the Olympic Park. It was pretty sweet! Pretty much all the attractions were closed but we still got to look around at a lot :)
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| Montreal with Fr. Lavene. This is the Olympic Stadium |
Then when we got back to Mascouche we had dinner with the Mena-Rivera family. It was delicious as usual haha! But then we got to do a little family home evening on prophets. They're doing great! Right after we went over to see Sr. Mingione with Sr. Duval. They're long time friends and so when we showed up they had photo albums out and it was golden. We got talking and everything kept coming back to coming to church. But it was wonderful to have Sr. Duval there as a third witness to help her realize the blessings she was missing out on. Slowly but surely Sr. Mingione is coming closer to being active again!
Tuesday the 3rd:
We got to see Robert again. His wife just wants to stay how she is but he's open to talk with everyone so we sat in his car for a bit and got to know his needs and wants a little bit more. He's a great man! Then we got to go see Helene with Fr. Daron. She's doing so well! We started teaching the commandments now so she's progressing towards baptism very well!
Then we went over to the Bentancurs for dinner. They were all smiles and super happy! We celebrated Ian's birthday and then we focused on the premortal life with them in Abraham 3. Fr. Bentancur shared the crazy news with us that he actually left his job at the bakery so he'd have more time! No wonder the family was in high spirits! :D Miracles!!
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| Ian Bentancur's birthday! :D |
Wednesday the 4th:
Damond is doing great still! We're teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ one principle at a time right now. He's really doing great and showing some great efforts to come back to church. Later we picked up Fr. Bentancur and took him to see Susanna with us. She had read a good amount of 1 Nephi and so the first part of our visit was just answering questions she had written down in a little notebook. She's fantastic! But Fr. Bentancur was great because he always brought it back to praying to know for yourself by asking God. That's the trick in all that we do as missionaries! We don't convince anyone but we invite them to ask the source of all truth and find out for themselves. Susanna is on track though to really get some answers! I'm excited to see when everything just clicks!
Thursday the 5th:
We had weekly planning... I don't have too many left... crazy! But then for dinner we made baliadas. It was so easy and so good! :D Later we realized that it was Cinco de Mayo so it was very fitting haha!
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| Homemade Baliadas :) |
My feelings about Baliadas in Spanish :)
(Yes I know Sandidad
means holiness haha)
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| Elder Barreiro got a Protein package! |
But probably the biggest thing that happened that day was our lesson that night with Sr. Mingione. It was absolute fire. We read Jacob that morning and we felt like our lesson with her reflected the fire in Jacob 2 and then the soothing words of Jacob 3. Sr. Mingione was expressing some discouragement and confusion about her direction in life. We listened and did our best to teach to her needs. Then there came a moment where the Spirit took over and we started testifying really boldly. We both felt like it wasn't us that spoke but that the Spirit really guided us. And after we singed some eyebrows a little bit we showed an increase of love. When we came out afterwards we were both a little shocked at all of the things we said but we were confident that all we said was true.
Friday the 6th:
So pretty much all of our rendez-vous fell through except one that day... It was interesting but it gave us the opportunity to get out and find new people! I was amazed at how the Lord really put people in our path. In the space of an hour we met 4 people that were all open to talk to us. It was awesome! One guy was just coming out of his house and so we started talking to him. He asked about what we do and all and as we explained what he do on a mission and especially when Elder Barreiro said he was from California he looked at us and said "What the heck are you doing here?" But some more choice language haha. It's funny to hear people's reactions.
A little later there were some Haitians unloading a car so we asked if we could help. They were a little hesitant at first but then the woman came closer and read our tags. "Oh you wanna talk about Jesus? Of course you can help us! And when we're done, we'll talk." Haha it was awesome! We got a lesson set up for the next week!
Then to finish the day we got to see Marceline with Fr. Bienvenue. Marceline is so happy!!! She's all smiles, except for pictures as you may have noticed haha :) I'll try and get a good smiling picture of her :) But she's just doing so well and she even asked to make sure if someone in Florida would be able to pick her up and take her to church. She's a saint!
Saturday the 7th:
Doing a pass-by we got to teach Helene again. She had her cataract surgery the day before but she was feeling great! We found out though that she's leaving back for New York next week sadly for us. But she's going to keep meeting with missionaries over there! Later we got to see Susanna again. It was with her friend from Sherbrooke which was a blast! We started teaching the Plan of Salvation and she loves it! She really latches onto the idea of having a family someday and so linking everything back to that was wonderful! She's really doing her homework of reading though so she's learning so much! Now it's just connecting the intellect to the heart and praying. She's on track for great things!
Sunday the 8th:
So Helene's sister Celine and her three boys all came to church with Helene. It was a miracle! I feel like Helene was there to help her sister progress a lot honestly. It was the perfect day to with mother's day! :D Sadly the Bentancurs didn't come. Prayers are welcome for them! But church was just great as usual! The members are coming along more and more!
After church we went and visited Marcel again and read 3 Nephi 11 with him. He's got some issues to work through. Slowly but surely we'll make it there! Then we went over to the Lalande's for dinner and then to do mother's day calls! :D It was wonderful! :D It's strange to have so little time left but at the same time it's really exciting in all aspects. Time to work as hard as ever :) But I can't say enough how much I love all of you! :D
In other news, today I got a haircut! It's probably the last one of my mission and I'm feeling fresh! :D Elder Barreiro said that I look really different to him haha :)
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| The last haircut! :D |
Things are going very well here in Repentigny! We're pressing forward and upward and the Lord will hasten His work in His time. I know that He is able to use me as an instrument in His hands to bless the lives of His children and I couldn't ask for a greater privilege. I love Him so much and I am so grateful for everything He has blessed me with. The Goodness of God is found all around us!
I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Brooks
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