Mango smoothies.......Heavenly!!

First I just want to say I just had the most delicious smoothie with fresh pineapple, mango and watermelon...now that's what I'm talkin about! Well this week was a good one, it was rough in the beginning because we had a huge storm and I thought man Sterling just got here and his first few days is nothin but a flood! but the Lord of course blessed us and the work continued forth rain or shine. We needed some serious new investigators and all week I was prayin hard we would find some. On Saturday I was fasting and praying double time, and in the afternoon I had the feeling we should find the house of a man we had talked to on the street on Tuesday So I had a feeling we should go find him so we started looking for his house where he said he lived and no one knew him which is rare everyone knows everyone here so I just started asking people and I asked this family that had a chungee ( a little store) in the front of their house and they didn't know either but then I just kept talking to them and they invited us in! Turns out they were former investigators and they are a family of 17!! and 4 of the older brothers wives just had babies only months apart...um are ya kidding me?! GOLDMINE! I was absolutely thrilled of course and we taught them and made a return apt for next week. I don't know where that man is that we talked to before but I know the Lord led us right to where he wanted us to be and I am so grateful, I'll keep ya'll updated on that. well I have to go before the electricity goes out again hah I love you all sooo much and hope all is well. I'm doing great and pray for you all daily :)

Love Always,
Brooklyn

ABC's- Arson, Bata, Cousins!!!‏

Man I'm jealous ya'll got to go to the 24th and I didn't and Heap reunion too! Ya'll know that's my all time favorite time of the year. I was happy to hear though that it wasn't the same without me..duh of course not thats MY town haha I figured ya'll wouldn't go to the rodeo since you usually only went to watch my races :) but I'm glad ya'll had a good time. I can't believe you got released mom its about time ha but you will be a great Sunday school teacher.

So this week was crazy we had transfers on Friday and I was transferred to my 2nd area. Its right in the city. Its called Bata which means child haha My companion is Sis Bradey she's from New Zealand and goes home in Nov. It's alot of change. My 2 areas and companions are completely opposite, it should be interesting but I'm exciting for the change and the new challenges that come with new areas. My 2nd day in the area, my reputation continued as our investigators house caught on fire! right by the church 2 houses burned and a little store. It was awful. Luckily no one got hurt. I 'm not sure how it even started but all the electrical wires were sparkin and I thought the big cable box was going to explode. We all just ran it was kinda scary. I'd never experienced a fire like that. We got tornadoes in Missouri, I've got monsoons and dust storms in AZ, Typhoons and floods under my belt and now fires!

I finally got to see Sterling on Friday I was sooooo excited. Oh my goodness I ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug it was funny we got some looks at first and then we explained we were related and all was well :) He looked so good and it was so nice talking to him, Bro. Leslie was his teacher in the MTC too so it was fun to talk about that. I was thrilled because they put him in my zone so I'll see him at Zone conference and meetings and activities! I STILL HAVEN'T SEEN SIS FAIRWEATHER! She didn't transfer so she's still on Panay island. I feel like I'll never see her again when she transfers back to Negros I'll probably head to panay! Hopefully I'll see her soon I sure miss her. Well I hope ya'll have a good time at the reunion without me....try at least ;) I love you all so much and I can't wait to hear about it all. Thanks everyone for writing and emailing me! If you could at the bottom of your emails write your addresses so I can write back because I don't have alot of yours Thanks!

Love always,
Brooklyn

Melodies of the Gospel Life :)

Hello Family!!! How is everyone doing? Thanks for the updates everyone is so good at writing me I really am so grateful for it :) This week was great as usual, we did have another big storm but at least our house didn't flood this time, but my area was completely underwater. It was interesting. ha we were walking to one of our investigators houses in knee deep water and all the sudden a school of fish swam by our legs!! HA! there's a lot of little fish ponds around so when it floods all the fish get let loose and free to swim around! The coolest thing happened the other day we were really praying to find new young families to teach ( as all missionaries do everyday) and all day we were punted it was so hard it just seemed like everyone was too busy or not home. As we were walking down the street all the sudden this man walked up to us with a huge grin and said "I've been looking everywhere for you guys!" that's like the BEST thing a missionary could hear! turns out him and his wife are 24 and she will have a baby in 2 months about 8months ago he met with the elders and they taught the first lesson and then those elders got in a bad accident on the highway here in my area and a truck hit them as they were walking and the Filipino died and the American was sent home with his injuries so they never returned and he had been looking for the missionaries ever since! Of course we were soooo excited and were able to teach them again. They are so great and I was so happy the Lord had led him to us.

Then the son in law of our landlord came up to us and asked if I could write down the lyrics to the music I was singing the other day.. haha I was so confused I guess he had been listening to me as I was washing my clothes outside the other morning. I wash early at like 5am and he had been sitting reading and I didn't know he was there haha I was just singing hymns and what not I wrote down the lyrics to some of my favorite hymns I thought he'd enjoy and we set up an appointment to meet with him and his family! I love music :) Anyways life is good here and I'm still just in awe everyday that I'm actually here having the opportunity to do this, its so incredible. I'm soooo excited sterling comes on Friday!! I'm so sad I'm missing the 24th but I know ya'll will have fun for me :) I'll be thinking about you all and I love you all so much!

Always,
Brooklyn

Floods, falls and island hopping!‏

Sorry about the no subject last week I must have forgot! ha Oh and sorry for not writing last week as you guessed it STOOORRRM! haha This week was sooo busy but a blast. On Sunday we had our interviews with our new president, Pres. Tobias. He came to our apartment to check everything and meet us of course he had to visit all the apartments so it was quick but he seemed really nice and he's so tiny :) We later learned our apt got picked for the Mission Tour with Pres Edwards (area president of the Philippines) I guess all the scrubbin and cleanin payed off he will visit in August. Monday our zone went to Mambukal mountain just outside of Bacolod but its huge you can see it from Valladolid. We Hiked 3 1/2hrs to the top it was seriously the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen in my life! all the way up you pass "the 7 falls of Mambukal" it's really as cool as it sounds I promise. out of our zone only 8 of us made it all the way to the 7th fall I thought I was going to die it was soooo hot and humid because of the storm pero it was sooo worth it! The waterfalls were beautiful and the view can't be described I was absolutely lovin it! Then the storm came ahaha but we made it down ok and it was a blast.


Tuesday we traveled back to bacolod for district meeting and then I slept in Bata, because on wed I got in the little paddle boat and braved the waves for an hour and 1/2 to Panay Island for something for all our visas it was so fun to see and be with all the Americans and Polys plus I ate the most amazing burger I've ever had not to mention it was the size of my body! Finally Thursday I returned to my area and I was excited to get back to work, Bro Mantano will be baptized this week and I can't wait I've been waiting for his baptism for sooo long his children are members but he wasn't He's been through soo much to make it to his baptism and the changes Ive seen him make have been incredible he is so strong and his faith is deep I'm thrilled for his family. The work is going full speed, we were worried because the storms have been sooo bad flooding up to our knees in some places and our house flooded....yeah that was interesting. But the lord has blessed us so much we were able to teach so much this week even with the storm I was so grateful, I know the Lord provides a way if you just show him your willing to go and do. I'm sending my memory card home tom so you all can stop whining!! hahah Yes, mom I actually used my testimony glove last week! in primary we got to church and no one was there it was just us and our 6 investigators haha the members finally came and I taught primary for some reason. Did i ever tell you I've been the ward pianist ever since my first Sunday here? haha oh man gotta love the pines no? I love you all and I'm glad to hear you all had a safe and fun 4th of July. I sang the national anthem on the top of my lungs in our apt i terrified my comp but boy it felt good. My camera is broken but I think they can fix it here. If not I'll let you know because I have a warranty for a year. Love ya All is well :)

B

Helllooo everyone! I hope everyone is really doing as good as they sounds in letters and emails! Thank you again for always sending them, it truly is like Christmas every Monday morning when I get to read them :) So this week was great. Alexa I laughed so hard at your nature comment haha imagine how I feel! I've been "camping" for the last 4 months! but I truly LOVE it here I can't picture myself anywhere else right now. Ok short funny story, the 24th they celebrated John the Baptist Bday here...or in other words everyone just eats and sits around all day haha and they throw buckets of water on people!! hahah it was so ridiculous we were dodging buckets all day. One time I was bent down helping a little boy put his chain back on his bike and I barely got away from getting drenched the guy came up from behind me and my comp screamed..ha the little boy got wet but he didn't seem to mind we all just laughed as the guy ran away. So we had our Mission conference on Fri our last conference with Pres he goes home on July 2 It was all the missionaries on Negros Island so again I couldn't see Sis Fairweather I was sad but hopefully she'll be at transfers Sterling comes in 3 weeks!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it :) Conference was really good and I will really miss Pres and Sister Daquiaog. My area is good, the work is going well we are still finding a ton of LA and PM families but reactivation is going strong and finally the members are starting to see us bringing them to church and want to help us more. We had a signal 1 typhoon on wed which means 60-80 KM winds and no power. It was....interesting haha we had to sleep in Bago city because there was no transportation in or out of valladolid for us to go to Conference in Bacolod. It was wet but fun. Happy Birthday Tasha on the 23rd :) and I hope all of you have a wonderful week, I'm so excited to hear so many of my friends and family members are experiencing and enjoying the blessings of the temple PADAYON!! (continue!) haha Theres no other greater work we can do than temple work! I love you all so much. No worries All is well!

Always,
Brooklyn

I Will Survive!!...Hey Hey

Mayong Aga!!! Hello everyone! Things are going great here as usual, My new comp and I have been together for a week or so now and I love her! we have so much fun and She works really hard which is good because we have our work cut out for us. We were struggling to get some solid progressing investigators so last week we prayed and fasted that we would be lead to those the Lord wanted us to teach in order to strengthen the ward here. All week we reaped the blessings of that fast it was incredible! Every single person we met and OYMed (open your mouthed) was a Less active or Part member family! Something finally clicked with the Bishopric and Ward missionaries and they've started to really help us a ton! Its going so well and I can see some serious progression happening here :) There are over 800 members in Valladolid but barely 100 at church each week THATS RIDICULOUS! I feel like going out to the Plaza where they all gather all day and standing on the fountain and Saying No matter what your concern Regardless of the Reason I have 1 question! " In all your years as a believer, have you never felt the stirring?" haha (mom :) ) (For all of you reading this that's a quote from the church movie "The Testaments") Seriously though I 'm determined to do something about this. I have some ideas and we've been seeing results but I want more we could have a whole new stake just in Valladolid! TULONG BRO LELSIE ahah any suggestions? sending out the corner dweller bat signal :) The language is continuing to improve each day Sis Ruadil was a teacher so she helps me soooo much its such a blessing. We had another Baptism on Sat ( alexa, bailey...) Sis Diana Jover we reactivated her husband and they have a 4 month old baby girl ADORABLE it was so wonderful to see their beautiful family make the necessary steps towards becoming an eternal family. Anyways thank you as always for your letters and emails! The conference issue is incredible and I hope you all are reading it over and over again! GO TO THE TEMPLE! :) and I love you all so much.
All is Well :)

P.S no I didn't get to see my dear Sis Fairweather but maybe soon...she is on the other island right now so maybe next transfer.

Always,
Brooklyn

Gummi Worms and Soup!!

Hello!!! First I just want to say I got your package mom and I'm pretty sure the entire world could feel my glee haha I sat down with a bowl of my favorite potato soup and gummi worms like it was thanksgiving dinner and a french silk pie!! THANK YOU! The shoes fit and are adorable ( as cute as rubber shoes can be hah) and the articles and letters were wonderful Mahal Kita :) Next, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! I love you so much dad hope you had a great day. So this week was an interesting one. Si Manzon of course left early Tues morning so I was put in charge of my area. I was nervous to be left alone but knew the Lord would help me, and he did. The ward missionary that worked with me was a little difficult she wouldn't follow any of the rules cuz she said she wasn't a missionary so it was a bit hard but all turned out well to be honest it was all the Lord there's no way I could have done it alone. I woke up alone went to bed alone while she did other things, I had to plan and organize a baptism that we had yesterday for 2 boys whose father is excommunicated and mom is in Singapore it was frustrating at times but luckily All IS WELL :) the Baptism went good and now I have a new companion and she is wonderful her name is Sis Ruadil ( Row-a-deel) shes from up by manila and has been our 9months. I can tell we're going to work really well together. It's still pretty nerve racking because its like I'm the senior I lead everything, planning, where we go who we teach what we teach and I lead the lessons. Shes a bit shy and of course doesn't know the area but the Lord answers my prayers everyday and helps me every minute. The language is actually going really well, it's finally started to click! YEAHHHHH!!! Thank you for all the emails and yes, Ben I got your email and the hand written letter ;) Alexa and Bailey I had 2 baptisms yesterday so you know what that means...and if you don't you'll be getting a letter soon and you'll understand :) I love you all so much and I'm glad to hear every ones doing well. Congrats Corey and Krieg on the Temple marriages!! Another one bites the dust huh? haha Well I love you all and hope you have a good safe week!

Love Always,
Brooklyn