Dear Family,

THERE IS NO END TO THE BLESSINGS THE LORD HAS SO LIBERALLY BEEN SHOWERING UPON US. 

We finally had some time to go by that family we met on the train the other week...but we couldn’t find them. The trusted navi couldn't locate their address (PROBABLY BECAUSE I CAN’T SPELL IN GERMAN, OKAY!?) so that was a HUGE bummer...but the Lord didn’t let our trip be in vain! On the way back into Kaiserslautern, we sat near a woman with two little boys. We made eye contact about 67 times and after five minutes or so, I leaned over and started talking with her. Turns out, she comes from a family of ELEVEN. And she’s #7! Right smack dab in the middle of a huge family—just like me! Oh my gosh, she was the sweetest lady! And her boys (Simon and Jen) were ADORABLE. We didn’t have any more copies of the Book of Mormon on us to give to them, but maybe that was for the best because she ended up writing down her address so we could bring one by!!!(: 

Last Monday evening we planned on having a lesson with Sister Freitag. When we got to her apartment, however, she wasn’t home. We tried to contact an old potential in the area, but she wasn’t home either. Our backup plan was to go by the Serbian family we met on the street the other week, so off we went. We ended up missing the first bus going over there and realized, once we were on the next bus, that we'd written their street name down incorrectly. We found a map, located a street with a name somewhat similar to the one we'd written and prayed for a miracle! 

And a miracle we received! 

When we made it to the apartment we were assuming was theirs, we stood outside, unsure which klingle to press. After a few seconds of hesitation, a door opened at the top of the stairs and a little boy who was heading outside to play stood before us. Behind him, still inside, was his father—the man who we met on the street—he man we were looking for! He invited us inside and we received the warmest welcome EVER from both him and his wife. We sat down around their dinner table, ate some watermelon and had an incredible lesson with them about the Book of Mormon! We only had 25 minutes before we had to head home, but they invited us to come over again! AHH I’M SO EXCITED. THEY’RE THE SWEETEST LITTLE FAMILY EVER. 

What if Sister Freitag had been home?! 
What if that other potential was around?! 
What if we hadn’t missed our first bus?! 

THE LORD’S PLAN IS PERFECT. 
HIS TIMING IS SPOT ON. 
I stand IN AWE of Him. His miracles never cease! 
No really. 
They don’t cease. 
Like, I’m not done yet. 

Edison invited ANOTHER one of his friends to meet with us. We had a little lesson with him on Saturday night. He's also Albanian and therefore cannot speak too much German, but he's read the whole Book of Mormon! Edison gave one to him to read...and he finished it IN THREE DAYS. When we asked him what feelings he had while reading it and whether or not he believed it to be the word of God, he expressed his thoughts by picking up a Book of Mormon, kissing it, then nodding his head really big! HA. SISTER WHICKER AND I JUST ABOUT FELL OUT OF OUR CHAIRS. Those Albanians, though! They're all so prepared! 

Let’s see...what else, what else...? OH! You know Frau Breitsch?! The lady we set the baptismal date with the other week? She quit smoking!!! We taught her about the word of wisdom earlier this week, but she’s been struggling to keep it. However, we walked into her apartment on Saturday and for the first time since we began teaching her, IT DIDN’T SMELL LIKE SMOKE. After saying the prayer and following up, she proudly announced (with the biggest smile you can imagine) that she hadn’t smoked once since the last time we met! Sister Whicker and I were on CLOUD NINE for the rest of the night! 

I know this email is already kind of long but I gotta tell you one more incredible experience before I go! On Friday, we had a lesson planned with Shirley. Both Sister Whicker and I felt impressed to have a one-on-one lesson with her (usually her family joins us). We decided we'd just take her outside and go for a walk or find a bench somewhere...but as we were planning her lesson and looking outside, thick rain clouds covered the sky and the chances of us being able to do that looked pretty slim. We sat for a little bit, thinking about what we should do...but in those three minutes of silence, only one solution came to mind. 

We had to pray the rain away! 

So we got on our knees and prayed that the weather would hold and that we would be able to have our lesson with Shirley as planned. 

Not only did the weather hold, but within a couple hours, the clouds—which seemed to have no end, which seemed like they were gonna break at any moment—dispersed, the air warmed up, the sun was shining brightly and we ended up having THE. MOST. AMAZING. lesson with Shirley. 

The Lord hears and answers faith-filled prayers, y’all—always has. Always will. 
He's a God of miracles. 
He's a God of understanding, a God of love, a God of tender mercies. 
Serving him is the absolute best decision a person can make. 
I thank my heavenly father for this opportunity every second of every day. 

I love y’all lots! 
Talk to you next week! 

Sorry for this beast of an email! I'll let you get on with your lives now--haha. 

-Brookie

 
One more story: 

The zone leaders decided it'd be funny to play a joke on me this past week. 

Elder Heil called and said he was sick and mono- knowing that my sympathetic, motherly instincts would kick in and id be all concerned and such. He'd keep me on the phone FOREVER (seriously, at least an hour every day- usually more like two), pretending to be dazed and medicated and sick. Today I was typing up his emails for him and after about 20 minutes and lots of stories about the week, he said (as I was typing) "so this week was really funny. I've been sick--but nothing too bad. I think I could be a movie star maybe someday with my acting skills. I made Sister Terry think I was sick with mono, but I just had a cold." Then he put his camera in front of my face and showed me this picture. 

I FREAKED OUT. 
TOTALLY UNCOOL, RIGHT?! 
I WAS WORRIED SICK. 
Haha, he hasn’t talked to me since. 
He thinks I’m really mad at him. 
He’s going to write me an apology note, apparently. 
Haha, poor guy.