Bittersweet Goodbyes!

Hello everyone! So the reason why I title this post the bittersweet goodbyes is because I ended up being transferred: /. I have to say goodbye to everyone in Brookfield the week before Christmas. It was very sad, but it's ok. I knew that I was going to be transferred eventually. I couldn't stay in Brookfield for my whole mission, even though I would have if they asked me :).

So, before I left we were able to go around and say goodbye to the Brookfield ward members. It was so sweet because so many of them were so gracious just giving us Christmas gifts. All of them are so giving, willing to do so much for us missionaries :). A couple of the gifts that I received were an ornament, a makeup bag, a McDonalds gift card, and a heated jacket! Yes, I did say a heated jacket!! :) Some of the members had pitched in to get me and the other sister heated jackets!! When I opened up the present I was shocked. I was just so grateful for such a wonderful ward. I had been so blessed to be able to serve in Brookfield. All of the people there have blessed me so much and have helped me become the missionary that I need to be. I know that Brookfield will always hold a special place in my heart and it will be a place that I never forget, along with all of the wonderful people! 

I will also never forget the Jones! They are just wonderful, kind, and selfless people. Brother and Sister Jones have been so kind to me in the past six months that I had been living with them. They have done so much for me that I couldn't count it all on two hands! I was so sad to have to leave their house, but I know that I will be back there again. They are both amazing examples to me and I have been forever changed because of them :).

Well on to my new area. I am now in Appleton and my new companion is Sister Arnold. I love Sister Arnold. Her and I came out together and were in the MTC together. We had so much fun and when I came to Wisconsin I kept saying that I wanted to be her companion at some point on our missions. Lucky for me that wish was granted sooner that I thought it would! I was so happy to find out that we would be able to work together. Right from the beginning we were able to just click and be willing to just work hard and be obedient. Since we have been together we have been able to do some good things for Appleton. We also are able to be obedient and I truly know that obedience brings miracles. :) 

Here in Appleton there are a lot of Hmong people, so that has been fun! They are all so nice and I think I will have fun here. The Bishop is awesome and works with us missionaries to really help the work. I was able to meet the ward this Sunday which was good, because last Sunday it was canceled due to a snow storm! This Sunday though it wasn't canceled and I met the members and all of them seem super nice and so I am excited to continue to get to know them. We are really excited because we have a baptism coming up this weekend. His name is Alec. His moms name is Pam and she will be getting baptized soon as well! Alec also has a brother named Tyler who was already baptized before I got here. We are really excited for this weekend!! 

Other than that we work with a lot of less actives! There is one older gentleman that lives out a little far from us and we are able to go and see him every Friday and his name is Fred! I just love Fred. He always tells us how much we make his day when we go and see him. He also gives us soda every time, and then he gave us a fruit basket for the Holidays. 

Speaking of the Holidays, Christmas was awesome! I am sorry that I am jumping around so much, I just guess that I have a lot of things that I want to talk about :). So Christmas was good. We were able to have a nice dinner with a family from the ward and we were able to Skype our families!! I loved being able to Skype my family. I love them so much and I felt like the time went by way too fast, but I loved every second of it. I hope that all of you had a great Christmas and that you were able to remember why we celebrate Christmas. I am so grateful for my Savior and for being able to be out here spreading the good news that he lives and that he loves us. I love you all and hope that you have an amazing new year!! Feel free to write me letters, I love getting letters :).

Love,

Sister Brewster 

 Lunch with the Maas Family ;)

 The Rabe Family

 The Sheffields

 The Wheelers

 The Sheranians

 The Jones' - My Second Family!!

 My electric jacket from Milwaukee Tool!!  Thank you all so much for everything you have done for me in Brookfield!!

 I will always love Alex Janusz!!

Now on to my new area, Appleton First Ward with Sister Arnold!!

 Celebrating Christmas Eve with my new Companion Sister Arnold!!  We were in the MTC together and we are together again!!  We are going to love serving in Appleton!!

 Sister Arnold and I on Christmas morning

 We love the socks Sister Arnold's parent sent us!!

President and Sister Cutler gave us beautiful ornaments for Christmas!!

On transfer day I was able to see my buddy Elder Neville!! 

On our first P-Day in Appleton we had a zone activity day and I was able to meet all the missionaries in my new zone. 

Elder Obi is a VISA waiter who has been with us for 10 months now.

 Elder Harding

 Elder Hooley

 My best Elder friend - Elder Andrus

 Sister Tanner

 Sister Tanner and Sister Hancock make me remember how short I am!!

 My first Sister Training Leader is now up here with me!!  Yay for Sister Westra!!

Sister Hurst is companions with Sister Westra

Let it Snow, Let is Snow, Let it Snow!

Hello everyone! Everything is going great here in snowy Wisconsin. It is definitely different living in a place where it is snowing so much, but I am actually really excited to be able to have a white Christmas. Hopefully it will still be white and snowy then! Fingers crossed ;). The weather has been pretty cold, but nothing that I can't handle. I think the worst is the wind. It just cuts right through you! The other day we went mall contacting and I think I lost all feeling in my legs just because of the wind! We would be walking outside and then have to go inside the mall just to warm up for a little bit. It's all worth it though to be able to share the gospel!! :)

So what are you all doing for Christmas? I am super excited because I get to Skype with my family. I also love this time of the year because people are so open to hearing about Jesus Christ. We have used the method of caroling and that has seemed to work very well. People love hearing Christmas carols. It also helps that we can sing :). I don't know if the elders really have that advantage! ;)

The really sad thing for this week is that we are finding out about transfers on Saturday, and it is most likely that I will be leaving this area. I have been here since the beginning and it has been 6 months!! It's crazy that it has been that long here, but I love it so much. The people here are so kind and I have come to feel like part of their families. I know that wherever I go is where the Lord needs me, but the people of Brookfield will always have a little piece of my heart. Although I love my companions and I know that they will take good care of Brookfield if I go! 

So this week I feel like all the other weeks, has been filled with miracles. One that I wanted to share was when we met Tom. I hope that I never forget him! We were on exchanges, which means that we basically trade companions for the day, so I was with Sister Westra and Sister Nelson. We decided that we were going to go mall contacting that day. We started out and I had decided that I was going to talk to every single person! My companion even told me that I looked like Santa's elf because I kept saying Merry Christmas to everyone! So we started and it didn't seem like we were going to have much success, and so we decided that we were going to try tracting instead, and then that is when we met Tom. We were walking right by Sears when we saw him and decided to say hi. We stopped and talked with him for a bit and he was willing to hear a message about Jesus Christ. Right from the beginning the spirit was so strong. We opened up the Book of Mormon and showed him the picture of Jesus Christ. Through talking with him we found out that he was dying of cancer. He didn't have very long to live. He thanked us for the kindness that we had and we were able to say a prayer with him. He said he might not have time to meet with us because of what was going on, but he said that he would take our number and let us know. With tears in his eyes he hugged us and then continued walking. He also took the copy of the Book of Mormon along with a pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation. After meeting Tom we were all filled with such a strong spirit. We knew that Heavenly Father had sent him to us. We were grateful that we met him and had such a great experience. For me it was a testimony that Heavenly Father knows me and he knows Tom. He loves us so much and he sends us these miracles as a way to show us his love! 

A funny story that happened after that was another older man that we met. He was smoking outside and we had walked up and started talking to him. Basically he somewhat started hitting on us! He wanted to give us ten dollars so that we could go get a hot chocolate or something. We graciously told him that we couldn't take it and tried to go on our way. We were able to leave a Book of Mormon with him, but he didn't want us to say a prayer with him. The funniest part about it was that he went to give Sister Westra a hug and she tried to push him away but he kept going and gave her a hug. Then he proceeded to give me and Sister Nelson a hug. Afterwards we were just laughing at the situation! We were just grateful he took the Book of Mormon and we hope that he will read it! :)

John 16:33 "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." In my personal study this has been a scripture that I have come across that has meant so much to me. He has overcome the world!! How amazing is that?? It means so much to know that he is there for me. He has overcome everything for me and for you. I am grateful that I get to share this with everyone. Especially during this Christmas season. I hope that we can all do what Elder Ballard has asked and reach out to just one before Christmas. Service is the best gift that we can give to our Savior. I love all of you and I hope that you have a great holiday season and make sure that you spend time with those you love. I am grateful for all of the support that I receive. It means more to me than you will ever know :).

Love,

Sister Brewster :) 

Sister Reed, Me and Sister Nelson.  We are now in a Trio with Sister Nelson who came to our mission from the Salt Lake City Temple Square mission.  They allow the sisters at Temple Square to spend the last few months of their missions in a proselyting mission so she is with us now.

We loved the Packers car!!  Go Packers!!

I was able to go to the Chicago Temple with two sisters in my mission, Sister Tanner and Sister Hancock who are serving just south of me in West Allis.

Showing off my warm coat at the Chicago Temple.

I loved my day at the temple, it seems like forever between trips.

Sorry I Am So Bad At Updating My Blog!!

Hello everyone! How are you?? I am doing so good. Things have been amazing for me. Being a missionary really is the best. Something exciting that happened was that we were put into a trio this past week. We had a sister from temple square come and so she was put with me and my companion. Her name is Sister Nelson and I love her! She is from Canada and she has a very fun personality, we get along so well so it has been way fun with her. It is different though having to teach with three people. We are still trying to figure that out. 

 

I hope all of you just had a great Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving was so good. We had about five appointments and so we were just so full by the end of the day. I felt very spoiled. We started the day out by going to the Millers for breakfast and they had crepes. Then we went to the Gierkes and had our Thanksgiving meal. It was so good and I probably ate too much there. After that we went to the Janusz and put mustaches on our faces from whip cream. Then we went to the Jacksons, Sister Jackson used to be jewish and so she talked to us about Hannukah! Then we ended the night at the Jones by eating left overs and playing games. It was a great day and it meant a lot especially since we were away from our families. 

 

I have felt so much of the spirit since being on my mission it is amazing. As misisonaries it is so important that we strive always to have the spirit with us. I feel like I am always able to feel the spirit. It is such a blessing and a priveledge to have that. Being a misisonary you meet so many people and that is something that I love about being a missionary. We meet so many people and they touch our lives in many different ways. 

 

I have been in Brookfield now for almost 6 months! I love it here and I feel like this is my home. I will probably be getting transfered soon and I just know it's going to break my heart. I love the Jones and living with them, but I know that wherever I go is where the Lord needs me. 

 

I know that my family has been so blessed from my service. I am so happy that my sister is going to be serving along side me in only a couple of weeks. My family is amazing and without them I wouldn't be here. They really do so much for me, it's amazing!! I hope that all of you were grateful this Thanksgiving for your families and for all that they have done for you. Family is why we are here! They help us to learn and grow! I love you all so much and I hope that you have a great week.

 

P.S. Something that I would love for Christmas is letters :) If you have time it would mean so much to me to get a letter!! Thank you :)

 

Love,

Sister Brewster :)

Not Getting Rid Of Me That Easily ;)

Hello everyone! I hope that all of you have just been doing wonderful. I am so sorry that I am so bad at doing a post every week, but oh well I am a very busy missionary so that is a good thing ;). There has been a lot that has happened so I have a lot to catch all of you up on. It has been crazy, but good!

To start off I guess I will tell you about the crazy thing that happened that has been pretty hard for me lately. Today it has been about three weeks since I found out that my best friend Colt who was serving in Mexico died. It was on Monday that we got a text from President Cutler asking us to go to the mission home so that Sister Cutler could tell me the news. When I found out I was really upset. I was mad and confused. I just thought about his family and friends and how all of them must be feeling. I couldn't imagine how hurt they must feel. Luckily this whole experience has just brought me so much closer to my Heavenly Father. It was hard at first to want to get out and work, but I did. Me and my companion went out and decided to do service for others. We put on some work clothes, grabbed some rakes, and went out asking people if we could rake their yards. Getting out and trying to help others is what helped me to feel just a little bit better. I realized that by turning outwards it was helping me to better get through what was happening. I have since been able to feel my testimony of the plan of salvation become so real to me. The atonement has played such a huge role in helping me deal with what happened and my testimony of that has deepened. I have been able to go out and use that strong testimony to help others. There are days where it is still hard, but I know that I will be able to get through. This trial has been one that has been hard to overcome, but one that I have been able to really appreciate. I know that Colt is happy and that he is in the spirit world preaching the gospel to those who didn't have the opportunity to hear it. I have been able to feel the power of the atonement and become even more like my Savior. He has been here for me every step of the way. I know that with him I can overcome anything that will come my way!

     

So this past Saturday we found out about transfers. I found out that I will be staying in Brookfield for another 6 weeks :). Me and Sister Reed will also be staying as companions. We have been through a lot together and so I am grateful that we will be getting another six weeks together to get some work done and have fun. I am also grateful that I will be with this ward a little bit longer. By the end of this transfer I will have been with them for about 6 months!! Crazy!! That's a third of my mission all in little Brookfield. My heart is definitely here and so when the time comes to leave it will be very hard. The ward members have become my family. Especially with everything that has happened, I have been able to lean on them so much. I am hoping to just become even closer with them as time goes on. I hope that I never forget them! :)

These past couple weeks me and Sister Reed have been focusing a lot on finding. We have had some interesting experiences where we have been able to really see miracles happen with finding people who are interested in hearing more. Not all of them want to keep meeting with us, but that's ok. Since I have another six weeks we are hoping to find even more people that we can teach.

I am going to be kind of random with this post, so sorry in advance. I wanted to share a funny/cool/short experience that I had the other day. My companion and I were in the mall teaching a lesson to this guy named Larry. When we were done we were saying a prayer and by the time we were done saying the prayer there was another lady standing next to us who just joined in our prayer! She said Amen and then just walked away! I thought it was pretty awesome :)

If any of you were wondering Alex who was just recently baptized is doing AMAZING! She truly has just blossomed so much. She is coming to church every Sunday and is always ready to learn. She has helped me so much to become the kind of missionary that I want to be. Every time that she makes a comment everyone comments on how smart and intelligent she is with her gospel knowledge. She points out things that normally we wouldn't be thinking about. She is just amazing and I am grateful for her. She is also just a great missionary. She is really working with her family to help bring them the happiness that she now has. She brings her niece to church with her every Sunday! She is such an inspiration to everyone.

Well I should probably go now! Oh real quick though there is one other thing that I wanted to share with all of you. Something that I have been learning a lot about :). I have been really studying more about the spirit and how to recognize and feel it. Something that really clicked with me is that the spirit is anything that invites us to do good! How have I not gotten that before?? For some reason now it finally clicked! I am just really trying to listen better to the spirit and trying to really act on what I feel it is telling me I need to do. I know that if I am able to learn this now it will help me so much on my mission and also for the rest of my life. I love Preach My Gospel because it has helped me learn so much about this. Also the Book of Mormon is amazing.

I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week. If you ever have any questions for me please ask! My email and address should be up somewhere for you to find it. I love getting letters, although I don't always write back right away, which I am sorry about! I just love letters though so if you want to send me anything in the mail I would be happy. I hope you have a miracle week :)!

Love Always,

Sister Brewster <3

 Sister Reed and I spent our last P-day in the park admiring the change of seasons!!

 This leaf is about as big as my head!!

 Me and Robin!  She is going to Italy on her mission soon.  I love her :)

 Being a missionary is the best.  I am so excited for Robin, she is going to be a great missionary! ;)

My First Baptism!!

Alex's baptism was on Saturday!! It was so amazing. I felt like before the baptism everything that could go wrong for Alex was going wrong with me and my companion. Sadly leading up to the baptism I got sick! I just did not feel good. Then the night before the baptism I was so sick to my stomach and just didn't feel like I would even be able to make it to the baptism. Luckily, that night I was able to get to sleep and the next morning I didn't feel horrible. I was able to be there for the baptism and just really enjoy it. There were so many ward members there who were able to support Alex, it was amazing! I felt so privileged to be able to see how happy she was when she came out of the water. When we handed her the towel she just kept saying how happy she was and that she couldn't stop crying. The spirit was so strong and I know that she is going to be a great member of this church. She is so caring and really knows how to lift others when they are feeling down. The gospel has helped her to change her life and even the way that she views herself. I know that the gospel can do this for everyone if they just let it into their lives. This week was hard, but it led up to something so amazing. The Lord is always with us and I know that I can rely on his atonement in my life to help me. I will never be able to fully understand the Atonement or full how to use it, but I know that I can use it to help me and that it will always be a lifelong process. I love this gospel and I can't wait to get out this week and share this with others. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week and never forget all the many wonderful blessings that the Lord gives to us :).

Love Always,
Sister Brewster :)

Reid, Alex and Elder Hafen

Alex's Dad, Alex, Reid (Alex's fiancee who baptized her), and her Mom Karen!

Elder Hafen is the one on the very right, he is the one who started teaching Reid and they have a really close relationship with him.

Alex with me and Sister Reed!

 Alex with her parents

Alex with her Sister Ariel and her Mom

 Reid and Alex!

P-day at Miller Park

My district went to visit Miller Park last Monday and I wanted to post some pictures for everyone.

Sister Reed and I at Miller Park.

 A picture of Chase Field during the All-Star game.  Makes me miss home a little!!

 Sister Reed doing her best Bob "Mr Baseball" Uecker impression out of the press box!!

 It says "Brat Patrol" as in hot dogs, not "Brat Patrol" as in ungrateful kid!!

 Hey I am tall enough to touch the roof of the dugout!!

 OK, so who thought I was not five feet tall??

 Sister Reed and I in our room preparing to teach the world!!

 Sister Reed getting in some contemplation time with our favorite Buddha

 Sister Westra and I at Miller Park.  She is our missions sister training leader and she is awesome!!

 Our beautiful white board where we prepare all that we are going to do every week.

Thank you so much to the Ferrell's for sending me this AWESOME Halloween package!!  I am so happy!!  You are both the best!!