Sister Lauren Holbrook: Week 54: The Actual Year Mark

So we had some adventures last night taking care of people (emergency room visit for Sister Bill who ended up having peripheral neuropathy or a sleeping arm and so she'll now be on meds for a week and she'll be ok but it means we didn't get home until 2am), so this week I am mostly going to email pictures and give some short bullet points.

I considered totally ditching a weekly email, so you should be excited I'm even doing this right now :)

First, we're moving this week so don't send anything to the Canyon Way address.

I have met so many relatives here it isn't even funny. This week's relatives: Holbrook's who are ward missionaries, and the Edward's uncle!
Elder Ballard has amazing ideas for how to share the gospel. Read his past 2-3 talks and write down the ways he suggests that we can have missionary experiences.
We have great things going on in this stake! We're going to have a community Christmas festival that is going to be awesome! And every month we host a youth chat. Last night's topic was on the Atonement and it was so powerful! It was amazing how strong these youth are in their faith in Christ.
Nathan I need some good jokes! The only ones I have are cheesy missionary ones... oops.
Temple Square is a sacred place. We had an amazing lesson there with Karen and her family and friends about families being together forever. Her desire to obey our Heavenly Father and keep His commandments is absolutely amazing. I cannot wait for her baptism and confirmation in two weeks!
We had exchanges, people cancelling on us, people triple booking us,
Legacy is a wonderful film produced by the church about the faith of the early pioneers. And it's a pretty great chick-flick for Sister missionaries who want to just relax on P-day :)
We saw Meet the Mormons! That was an amazing film. It really gives a glimpse of the basics of the gospel; how our faith in Jesus Christ motivates us to do what we do. Plus, the music was fabulous (fun secret: the song "Glorious" is on the youth site for free!)
Revelation comes during sacrament meeting. Every single week. Yesterday we were in church from 9-4, at Temple Square at 4:30, and had appointments until 9. We ate a sandwich that a youth class happened to be using, and that's how our whole day was. It was NUTS. And then we were at the ER.. anyway. Revelation. I was reading in Doctrine & Covenants sections 6-10 and gained a lot of peace and a lot of answers that are helping me in daily missionary decision and big life decisions. I know our Heavenly Father is in charge. He answers our prayers. Every time.

I love you all! The gospel is true! Our Heavenly Father lives and loves us so much! He will never leave us alone. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and through Him we can be healed, forgiven, and cleansed. Because He lives, and because He loves us, we have purpose in this life, and we can always strive to become better.

Remember to smile and expect miracles!

Love,

Sister Holbrook

Doctrine & Covenants 10: 3-5

Some other notes:

Lauren says – “We meet with the stake president every Saturday afternoon and then he buys us lunch because he knows that if he feeds us his stake will be blessed. I have never met anyone so concerned about missionary work in their area. HE's amazing!! He usually comes to our Tues night correlation meeting too.” What stake president has time for that?

Poor girl – they are moving again this week – she has moved sooo many times. They have been living at the home of an older woman, but she had a stroke and has been in rehab in Ogden. So I guess that is why they are moving.

Sister Holbrook is working to help strengthen a family because of some challenges they've had going on with their young son having a heart transplant this summer. She says – “Coincidence? I think not.”
From Val and Kathy Edwards – We had your lovely daughter in our home last night! We signed up to have the missionaries come and teach us. Your missionary brought a young woman from our ward with her. We got a little acquainted and she taught us a wonderful lesson on the Savior and His atonement. She mentioned that she had Edwards family in Utah County but we didn’t pick up on it. At the end of our discussion she offered such a wonderful prayer. As an afterthought when she was shaking Val’s hand, she said, “You look so much like my uncle Brad!” Then it became a family reunion! (Val is Brad’s brother) I got to hug her twice and she took our picture with her in it. What a sweet and beautiful woman she is! I just remember her when she was little and having her heart transplants and all her medical challenges. She was absolutely vibrant and vivacious and we felt so blessed to have her in our home.

From a sweet sister - My parents had the opportunity to have the sister missionaries, including your sweet daughter for dinner last week. The granddaughters (three of them being my girls) were also there. Your daughter is so kind and has such a cute personality, we just loved her. I appreciated her lesson on diligence and following Jesus Christ's example. It was a neat experience for my daughters who could possibly serve missions in a few years too. You have a wonderful missionary and she is doing a great job.