Letter Two!

My Dear Family,

Heavenly Father hears our prayers. Last p-day was incredibly rough for me. I was pretty much crying for like, four hours straight. Anyway, I said a prayer that went something along the lines of "Heavenly Father, I am SO homesick right now. I just really need to see someone from home. Whether that be my Rexburg home or my San Antonio home, I don't care. I just really need a friend." I said that prayer knowing the only people I knew from outside the MTC had left that day, mind you. I was sitting outside writing some letters with my companion a little while later when I heard someone shout "SISTER TERRY?!" I look up...and Sister Emmie Eyden is walking towards me with her luggage in hand.

"Ask and ye shall receive." -D&C 4:7

The end, right? Wrong. I was still feeling a little down. Sister Godwin and I just got done changing in the temple dressing room stalls for an endowment session when this sweet old lady stops us and says "Are you two sisters? Oh, I can just see it on your faces. We pray for you missionaries here every night, without fail. We are so grateful for you. The Lord is so grateful for you. We love you. He loves you. You are right where you are supposed to be."

I will be on your right hand and on your left...and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." - D&C 84:88 ... (to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't be surprised to find out one day that that lady was an actual angel.)

We are children of a loving Heavenly Father...and He's as personal as He is grand. He is aware of us. He hears our prayers. He answers our prayers. He sends angels to help us when we're sad. He cares. He really, truly cares.

The second verse of “Come, Come Ye Saints” has been my anthem these past couple weeks: "Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?  'Tis not so; All is right. Why should we think to earn a great reward if we now shun the fight? Gird up your loins. Fresh courage take. Our God will NEVER us forsake...and soon we'll have this tale to tell- All is well!!!! All is well!!

Listen to the Holy Ghost lesson #397- During personal study the other day, I read a scripture about the Holy Ghost and felt impressed to write it down in my lesson planning notebook. Galatians 5:22-23...talks all about what the Holy Ghost feels like. Anywho, in our lesson with Lukas later that day, Sister Godwin read D&C 9:8 (Which says that you'll feel a burning in your bosom that will confirm truth) and Lukas said "Well, I didn't feel a burning in my chest...I felt warm and good, though" ...to which I responded "I HAVE THE PERFECT SCRIPTURE FOR YOUUUUUUU". So we read it. And I was able to bear testimony of the fact that I knew it was, indeed, the spirit he was feeling and oh my heavens the spirit was so strong in that room and it was the greatest thing ever. THE HOLY GHOST IS THE BEST COMPANION. IN THE WORLD. EVER.

We have two new investigators! One is Ted...he's 101 years old and has never been religious. The other is Josef...a middle aged Jehovah's Witness. It's been a real challenge teaching them. Lukas (our first investigator) accepted everything we said (like for real, in the first lesson we told him we came to earth to grow...and wash ourselves. and he still agreed to be baptized). These two? Not so much. They have lots of questions and concerns and so it's been tough!!

My district has grown unbelievably close. Sister Montgomery and I have bonded. She's a good beat boxer and I’m basically Eminem in female form...so we rap. Together. And it is glorious. (No worries, it’s about missionary stuff. completely appropriate.) Elder Hansen and I are buddies now, too!! I have to ask him if we're friends or foes like 12 times a day, but that's okay. I'm pretty sure we're friends. Sister Johnson? Is my best friend. I love her. We have so much fun together and pray we get to be companions out in the field one day!!

Sad news: We sisters are not singing in conference :( Just the elders (in priesthood session). LAME, RIGHT?!

Anyway, I still have a bunch of other emails to write, but before I go, I just want to tell you about my current scripture hero- LEHI. Oh my goodness that man is UH-MAY-ZING. The night before I entered the MTC, I was sitting on Rosie's couch joking with her, Ross and Ben. I started to get teary eyed and thought "I can’t believe I’m leaving my family- the thing that makes me happiest above all else. This is so sad" and then immediately, another thought came to mind. "Why in the world are you sad for you?? You should be sad for the people who don’t have this! Not sharing it would be selfish. If family is THAT important to you, then share the message of the restored gospel, of the plan of salvation, of eternal families. Share it so that others can feel as much joy and happiness as you." ...and then I was reading in first Nephi. Lehi partook of the fruit of the tree of life and it "filled his soul with exceedingly great joy" and what did he do? He shared it. "After the Lord had shown so many great and marvelous things" unto Lehi...guess what he did? He shared those marvelous things with others.

This gospel brings me so much joy. It is so marvelous. It is SO important...and (just like Lehi), I can’t wait to share it (:

    I love y’all so much!! Keep the letters coming!!

    See ya in 18 (:

    Love, Sister Terry

First Letter from the MTC!

FAMILYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

     Oh my heavens, I miss y’all SO MUCH. This week has been such a roller coaster! I don't even know where to begin!! Wednesday (day 1) was really good...but the initial shock wore off by Thursday and I was a little bit of a wreck all day long. I'm good now, though!! Still a little homesick, but loving every minute of being here!

     So. My district. Sister Godwin is my companion. She's pretty great. She's from Georgia & we get along really well. Sister Johnson and Sister Montgomery are the other sisters in my district. Sister Johnson is super, super cute. Her personality is EXACTLY like Zooey Deschanel (the actress from Elf...). I like her lots. Sister Montgomery is good at German and lets everyone know it. It can be hard to learn when she shouts out the answers to everything before the rest of us have the chance to even process the teacher's questions...but that’s okay. Then there is Elder Hansen and Elder Crittenden (our district leader). 

Elder Hansen, Elder Crittenden, Sister Godwin, Brooke, Sister Johnson, and Sister Montgomery

      My branch president interviewed me on Thursday. I walked into his room and he began by saying "San Antonio, huh? You have a pretty good basketball team down there, right?" ...and then we talked about the spurs for quite some time and it was pretty much the highlight of my day. His name is Brother Petersen...we all really like him! He's super sweet!!

     When you get to the MTC, they give you an investigator to teach...starting day TWO. Ours is Lukas. I LOVE HIM. He is incredibly nice. During lesson 1, we spent a sold 15 minutes struggling to understand him, flipping through our little dictionary looking up all the unfamiliar words he was saying and trying our hardest to put together coherent-ish thoughts. Anyway, we were both getting so flustered and frustrated...so we laughed. For five minutes straight. Lukas was reading the first vision...and we were basically falling out of our chairs. We would get control of ourselves...then start laughing again. It was such a disaster. Needless to say, it only went up from there. Lessons two, three and four were AMAZING. Seriously, I wish I had time to sit here and type up all the incredible things that have happened as we've taught him. There have been numerous times where words and phrases would come to mind that I haven't used since freshman year of high school...or Lukas would be using words that I’ve never heard before, but the meanings and definitions would pop into my head and I could understand exactly what he was saying...or a specific scripture would come to mind and I'd have no idea what it said, but I'd have him read it anyway AND IT WAS SUPER APPLICABLE AND PERFECT! So many miracles. The Holy Ghost knows everything. Seriously. Listen to him. 

     Anyway, I only have an hour to write & have 13 other emails to respond to....so I gotta keep it short and sweet today. Thank you so so SO much for your dear elder emails. Getting mail each night and hearing from y’all on a daily basis strengthens me so much. Keep 'em coming!!

     As for how I’m doing...I’ll tell you a little story. We had a devo on Sunday and the speaker asked "Who is the happiest, most joyful person to have ever lived on the earth?" and my zone leader, Elder Warby whisper shouted from a couple seats down "SISTER TERRYYYYYYY" ....so apparently, I’m doing really, really well.

     I love and miss y'all so much.

     See ya in 18!!!!

           Love, Sister Terry

PS- the food here is nasty. Anyone who says otherwise has underdeveloped taste buds. I've hardly eaten all week.

PPS- I may or may not be singing at conference...maybe... (;

Brooke Enters the MTC

It is official. Brooke is in the MTC! My dad and I had the opportunity to take her up to Utah this week for a little last minute shopping and goodbyes with friends and family.  We left on a couple of early flights Monday morning (September 8th). The weather in Utah was rainy and cold. My dad and I thought it felt nice to get out of the South Texas heat, but, admittedly, the two of us have quite a bit more insulation than little ol' Brooke. She was freezing! With all of her warm weather gear packed away, finding Brooke a sweater that would be useable on her mission became priority one. It took a while, but we did eventually succeed. We also bought her a few other things before Brooke met with a couple of friends for hot chocolate (the original plan included ice cream, but it was much too cold for that).

After she and her friends finished, we made the trip down to Bountiful to have dinner and spend the night with our Aunt Rosie. We had quite a dinner party as a bunch of family turned up to say goodbye to Brooke!

 

It was a lot of fun spending time with our family and friends. I think it was the perfect send-off for Brooke the night before entering the MTC. We had a lazy morning the following day and finally set off for Provo around 11AM.  We stopped by University Mall to set Brooke up with a nice box of See's Chocolate which she subtly claimed would be used to bribe her companion and roommates into liking her, "I will be the most popular new missionary at the MTC!" 

After that brief stop we grabbed some lunch at SmashBurger. Brooke was really feeling the nerves by then. She had done a good job of keeping her composure thus far and, though she never lost it, she started to complain of nausea and could only stomach half of her salad. Don't worry, we didn't waste it! Dad and I were happy to polish it off for her! She made a phone call to her mom to say goodbye, then we were off to the MTC for her 1:30 report time. 

Brooke took strength as we approached the MTC. While waiting at the guard gate a group of sister missionaries walked past. The group was positively giddy as they peered into car after car of reporting missionaries. When they were level with our, one of the girls exclaimed, "this is so exciting!" Though they couldn't hear her, Brooke replied, "yeah, it is!". We were directed to a parking spot where a young lady (missionary or MTC worker) greeted Brooke as my dad unloaded her bags. Brooke was beaming! All of the nervousness and worry were gone as she stood on the cusp of her greatest adventure to date. We were allowed one last hug a piece, then Brooke waved us off. 

 

Brooke will be in the MTC until the end of October. If you want to write her during that time, please refer to my previous post including her contact information.

Writing Brooke

Before Brooke goes into the MTC on Wednesday, I wanted to make sure to post her contact information so y'all know how to get a hold of her.

Until the end of October, Brooke will be training in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, UT. Her mailing address is:

Sister Brooke Ann Terry
OCT29 GER-FRA
2009 N 900 E Unit 197
Provo UT 84602

While at the MTC she will also be reachable through a cool service called " Dear Elder". If you haven't used this before all you have to do is set up an account on www.dearelder.com. From there, you will be able to write Brooke an email and that email will be printed at the MTC an delivered to her within a day. You can also send her a care package (cookies, snacks, etc.) through this service. Check it out! 

After October, Brooke will travel to Germany. Though she will move around from place to place, you can always send a letter to her mission home and it will be forwarded to her apartment. Her mission home address will be:

Sister Brooke Ann Terry
Kirche Jesu Christi
Corneliusstrasse 18
Frankfurt am Main, Hessen 60325
DEU

She will also have  a church-provided email address which she will have access to weekly. Her email address is:  brooke.terry@myldsmail.net

As a returned missionary, I know how important mail can be (especially early on). Please take a few minutes to contact Brooke, I know she will appreciate it!

A Message From Brooke

Auf Wiedersehen!!!!!

                So here's the deal. Serving a mission was never the plan. Growing up, the thought of going wasn't even slightly appealing to me. The rejection? No thanks. The walking? Haha...no. Being separated from family and friends for 18 months straight? Once again, not interested. However, that mindset changed on October 6, 2012 when Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and renowned ear-wiggler (no really, his ear wiggling skills are out of this world...look it up) announced that able and worthy young women could be recommended for missionary service at the age of 19. Like a volleyball to the face (maybe that has happened to me once or twice or like twelve hundred times), it hit me. The Lord needed me, Brooke Terry, to serve a mission. The fear of rejection, physical strain and emotional stress completely disappeared  that very instant and I was left with nothing but excitement as I resolved to join the ranks and be part of the Lord's missionary force.

                That enthusiasm propelled me through the application process...which isn't saying much. I submitted my papers and less than a week later, my call was assigned and making its way to my apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. A few anxiety attacks, lots of happy dances and one rousing game of human tetris later (squeezed 30+ people into my itty bitty living room. Booyaa), I had my Texas friends on the phone, my family on skype and my call in hand, ready to see where the Lord was sending me.

                Rewind.

                Five years earlier. 14-year-old, middle school me was filling out a high school course sheet. It was mandatory to take two years of a language, and, being from south Texas, everyone encouraged me to learn a little bit of Spanish. However, for some reason, I felt very strongly about taking German. Everyone discouraged me from doing so, saying it'd be a waste of time and completely pointless, but I proceeded anyway. And you know what? I loved it. I loved the language. I loved the culture. I loved the people my teacher spoke about. I loved the places she mentioned. I had never met a German in my life, had no connections to the country and the only German I knew was "auf wiedersehen" because that's what Hedi Klum said to the outgoing designers on Project Runway, but I loved it all. Deeply.

                fast forward.                                                             

                With shaking hands and a cracking voice (it was really, really cute sounding), I read aloud "Dear Sister Terry, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Germany Frankfurt mission...you will prepare to preach the gospel in the German language." Everyone went wild (my family could be heard screaming over skype for a solid minute and a half), but I was calm. All I felt was peace as a few thoughts entered my mind:

1. My resolution to take German in high school was wasn't some arbitrary, whimsical  decision. It was prompted by the Holy Ghost.

2. My love for all things German wasn't random. Those feelings were put into my heart by a Heavenly Father who had great plans for me.

3. The Lord had been preparing me for this call to serve His children in Germany for years. They need me over there. He needs me over there.

                The end, right? I'm supposed to go, so everything has been fine and dandy and perfect, right? wrong. Everything that could go wrong has, indeed, gone wrong. Passport problems. Boy bothers.  Feelings of worry, anxiety, stress, sadness, inadequacy and fear hit me full force. Must have made me feel unsure about the whole mission thing, right? Made me think twice about going? wrong again. Quite the opposite, actually.

 I'm fired up.

I'm ready to go.

I'm ready to give my all to the people of Germany.
I'm ready to give everything I've got to the Lord.

auf wiedersehen, ya'll.

See you in 18.

-Schwester Terry