Frog-Eye Salad

So every Sunday night after devotional we get to watch a film! This week it was Pitch Perfect. I forgot how funny Rebel Wilson is. Good show! Ha ha, just kidding, obviously. It's either a previously recorded devotional or one of the movies from temple square. I haven't seen any of them before but last week we watched "Legacy" and this week we saw "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration." Wow! I can't believe how good they are! Maybe it's just because I'm here and on a church history high from Institute this summer, but I actually really enjoy learning about the fathers of our church. If you run out of F.H.E. activities one week I highly recommend scooting on down to Temple Square and enjoying one. Joseph Smith is incredible, He's really become and "real" person to me and I'm so grateful for his in-action faith. 

Japanese is a little hard but by the grace of the Lord I am improving every day! Yesterday we taught two lessons, and I only had to look up two words! I didn't even read off my notes this time. I just decided to have faith in my abilities strengthened by Christ and OF COURSE it worked. I've got a long way to go but I'm running full speed. Thank you, Lord. Philippians 4:13. 

I hosted again this week which is always fun! there are so many sisters ready to serve! It's totally exhausting because sisters usually have to take two at at time since there aren't as many sister hosts. But I met eight wonderful sisters ready for action! I didn't host Amanda but I  did very briefly see her while loading in another girl's luggage. She is so beautiful and i'm so happy she's here! I'm glad their farewells were great. I didn't even know Jordan stuttered? What? I admire his faith and of course I will pray for him. The Lord will take very good care of him. 

When I was a kid (you don't become an adult when you turn 18, you become an adult when you begin a story like that). My family sometimes went to Apple Spice Junction for lunch! Which you delicious sandwich you receive a side of frog-eye salad. My dad loved it and was always trying to get me to try it, but my preconceived notions and possibly past experience with kept me from doing so. Here at the MTC, my lovely companion invited me to try it again. In need of some variety, I went for it. 

Um, like super yum.

HOW have I missed out on frog-eye salad all these years! So sad. But now I enjoy it every time it is served.

Sometimes that happens with the gospel.  Some people maybe opposed to trying it out because of past experiences or  preconceived notions they have. However, how can you really know if the wonderful message the missionaries are over-ecstatic about it really all that great until you sincerely find out for yourself? Reading the Book of Mormon has been the most loving and enlightening experience of my life. But I never really FELT that until I did it. I would invite you to investigate for yourself, come and see, because sweet love from Jesus Christ is glorious, and absolutely wonderful. Life will always be hard, but we can do all things through Christ, which strenghteneth us. 

Have a marvelous week all! Letters are always welcome.

Love,

Sister Brooklyn Brewer

DEC01 JPN-NAG

2007 N. 900 E. Unit 53

Provo, UT 84602

P.S. I saw Hermana Barker this week! Whoo!

Hosting.. Already?

I hosted new missionaries this week! That was so fun and I can't believe that was me three weeks ago. the MTC is a great place to be. The employees have been putting up an immense amount of Christmas lights! They better turn on before I leave because these are a few of my favorite things: Christmas lights.

MTC is fabulous! Sorry, I can't exactly figure out how to send pictures to the blog, hopefully some will show up someday. As missionaries, our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive His restored Gospel. I testify that the Gospel is true and it is the way to fulfillment, happiness and righteousness. But the best thing about it is the fact that we all have agency, or power to choose. 

I invite YOU, reader, to get your hands on a copy of the Book of Mormon and read the introduction of it, please. Especially the last two paragraphs. Don't take anyone's word for the Gospel to be true, come see what you think! Then invite a friend to do the same. If you have any questions hop onto Mormon.org or talk to some missionaries, who will do their very very best to answer your concerns. This week I have gained a testimony that the Book of Mormon really is the keystone of our religion, it is true, and therefore all our principles, which are derived from it, are true. I love the Gospel, I love you, and so does Jesus Christ! 

Please be kind to one another.

Love,

Sister Brewer.

MTC Week 2

Hello Reader,

Thanks for being one.

So, "normal" Sundays in the MTC are awesome! RS if first, then stuff, then sacrament meeting is in the afternoon and there's a devotion in the evening. I feel like mom when she was a kid. They asked me to be the chorister in Sacrament meeting which is really cool but also harder than I thought because reading hiragana as swift as a coursing river can be a challenge. But I am so grateful for hymns because they really bring the spirit and it's great reading practice. Sacrament meeting is totally in Nihongo. All the missionaries prepare a talk on the same topic, then the Branch President chooses two people to speak at the pulpit. Relief Society was WONDERFUL. It was combined with all the sisters in the MTC, therefore in English. Our speaker was Sister Eubank, who taught me some things about my divine nature that really stuck. I am, I am a woman, I am a daughter, wife, and mother. I'm entitled to all those roles just because of my heritage! WOW! I really felt the spirit as she testified. I know for sure that being a missionary right now is the best character development for all those roles. That night our devotional was from Elder Droubay, who is the church media director. He had so many cool facts to share with us about how the church is "flooding" the earth with the Gospel. Let us all be sure to contribute what drops we have to the flood. 

So a bit more about the MTC: I am sort of surprised about how much "agency" we have. Obviously we are all free agents, but there's not junior high principal marching around telling sisters their dresses are too short, or computer program that locks us out of the e-mail system after 60 minutes, or teacher to make sure we are studying what and when we should. Except for short class hours, we are totally by and accountable for ourselves. That totally makes sense, I guess it just surprised me because of how high missionary standards are. That shows the Lord really trusts us to be obedient, and almost every one here has the strong desire to be fully obedient, which is so powerful and evident of the sacred, essential nature of this work. I am so grateful to be a part of it and hope to make Heavenly Father and you proud. Also, every Wednesday they bring BYU ice cream. Subarashi desu. 

Missionaries have like ALL the learning resources ever. It's so cool! We have six hours of class, but also 2 hours to work on TALL, which is the church-designed Technology Assisted Language Learning program. It has vocab, grammar, reading and listening exercises! You can literally listen to the missionaries teach every lesson to a real investigator to practice deciphering what they are saying. Japanese is coming along very slowly, but I know we can do it because we are so abundantly blessed with resources and the spirit! On Tuesday we have TRC, which is were we get to teach short lessons to members who speak Japanese in order to practice with less pressure. I loved that!

As you know, missionaries love letters of course! If you wanted to tell me what's up in your life and if I can help you in any way, please do! You can mail an good old-fashioned letter to 

Sister Brooklyn Brewer

DEC01 JPN-NAG

2007 N. 900 E. Unit 53

Provo, UT 840602

Or you can enter that same address on DearElder.com and send me an e-mail that they will print out and deliver to me any day you send it! Wow, thanks MTC! Or you can always e-mail me at brooklyn.brewer@myldsmail.net. Which I will see on Thursday. Whatever you do, please include you physical mailing address so I can write you back. And I WILL write you back. Thanks! I love you and you words.

This work is very special and I am honored to be in it. This work isn't about teaching what we know, it's about sharing what we feel, and inviting our brothers and sisters to our amazing dance party of salvation. Then we make sure they RSVP by following up, and do everything we can to help them get there with sincere compassion. However, they can only dance if they want to. (Ssss...A a a a .. F f f f ... ha ha not sorry). Really. Everyone has their agency and when we do our best to help them use it well they will be blessed and we can be happy! Yay for happy! 

Challege: This week read Doctrine and Covenants Section 6 and go and do good! Fear is unnecessary when you have faith in the Lord.

Love,

Sister Brewer

Brewer Shimai Survives MTC!

Hello Adoring Fans, Family Members, Facebook Friends, Bored Folk, and Accidental Blog Stumblers,

I am now a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I am in the Missionary Training Center preparing to go to the Japan Nagoya Mission. This report may be a bit unorganized, I apologize for the shortage of time but I've got gospel magic to do!

 Learning Japanese is really fun! I said my first prayer last Friday and I get better every time! SYL (speak your language) is truly a rule and pretty intense but good! Our sempai (older elders and sisters, except not really older just more experienced) are so nice to show us the ropes and help us out. Japanese is going as well as it can, I think. It is so overwhelming to try to figure out what someone is saying just based on the vocabulary I know. Everyone else in my district except one elder has taken at least three years of Japanese, so I feel pretty behind but it is okay because I know I'm doing my best! We taught out first lesson to "Yamashita Kyodai" who is acting like an investigator. We have to teach him a lesson every day. That is the hardest part because if you can actually understand his questions, you know exactly what you want to testify to answer but you don't know the vocabulary or structure so you're rifling through your dictionary and phrasebook at rapid speed trying to come up with something competent to say. It's good. I can really feel the spirit helping me learn. I can introduce myself, carry on a short conversation, pray,and ask a lot of questions. My sensei is really nice. 

 The Lord takes care of His missionaries. This really is His time and not mine, so I want to use all of it as effectively as I can. The food is AMAZING. Really good. It's a cafeteria, but there is so much and I haven't had anything awful and I never go hungry. I'm blessed. My marvelous companion is Wilkinson Shimai, she is from Sandy! Her mom is a convert from Japan and her dad went to the Okinawa mission. It's a blessing that she can understand Japanese pretty well! she is so willing to be my friend and we work well together. We laugh together and have so much fun, but study hard and accomplish a lot. She is the best part of the MTC so far for sure. The MTC President is President Nally and his wife. They seem nice from the short addresses they've given. My branch presidency all served missions in Japan. President Stephenson is really nice and cares about us and our success a lot. The presidency's wives are so nice and want to be our moms.

 I thought learning Japanese this fast was the hardest thing I've ever done.

But then we went to cardio.

They have 6am fitness classes and they are actually really good! I also LOVE gym time waaaaay more than I thought I would. It feels good to move and take care of my body. I'm trying to try and eat as many vegetables as possible. Most of them are okay but who the who decided cauliflower was something you eat? Are we sure that's not just a plant we should leave alone? 

The spirit here is also great! General Conference was a  great experience. I love how Elder Bednar spoke directly to the non members, I  hope that sparks a lot of interest. I also loved the talk from the danish elder about taking responsibility for ourselves. I felt like each talk was very direct and a call to action and that is very good! I feel so much love from our yogensha President Monson, it is a blessing to have his keys and care. 

My district has ten senkiyoshitachi (missionaries) total. Four sisters, six elders. It's a great group! I love spending time with them, everyone is willing to help each other which is great!

The computer doesn't have an SD card slot but I will figure out how to post pictures soon.

 The Savior lives and loves us and love when we serve each other. Thank you for being you! 

Love,

Sister Brooklyn Brewer