Have Ye Inquired of The Lord?

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from you and I hope everyone is doing great. Everything is going well here in Las Heras. This week went very well as we were able to work obediently and diligently and we were able to see the miracles of our Heavenly Father. I would like to share one experience with you that we were able to experience this past week in Navarro. There is a situation that happened about a month ago in the area of Lobos, that is where the other Elders from my district are working, where the Branch President in Lobos left his wife and the branch without advising the stake or anyone. The daughter of the Branch President lives in Navarro, she in inactive and we have been visiting her and her family. We found out that her father has moved in to live with her and her family for now. Ever since we found out this information we have been trying to meet and talk with her father to find out what happened and if there is anything that we could do to help. Since the Branch President has left Lobos the Branch has been struggling in Lobos. We have continued to pass by but we have not been able to have the chance to meet and talk with the Branch President. We have passed by at many different times during the day but still we were not able to make contact with him. This past friday we were in Navarro and decided to pass by once again to see if he was home, I was determined to talk with him. As we came close to the house I was impressed to say a prayer with my companion Elder Baudon. As I have been reading in the Book of Mormon I love the example of Nephi. As his brothers are frustrated becasue they can not understand the things which Lehi and Nephi have seen in their vision Nephi asks them a question. "Have ye inquired of the Lord?" This past Friday my companion and myself inquired of the Lord, we headed off to the side of the road and we said a pray in order to receive the guidance of our Heavenly Father, looking for his will. After we said a prayer we went and clapped in front of the house. Keeping our eyes on the windows we saw the curtain move in the front window. We waited for someone to then come out. After waiting I received the impression to pass through the gate and walk up to the door and knock. We went up to the door and began knocking, however still we received no response. We continued to knock and finally we received a response. A man told us that he would be right there, it ws the President of Lobos. We waited a short while and then the daughter came out. She came out looking really tired, since waking her up she asked us to pass by another time. We explained the importance of our visit and our desires to talk with her father. She explained that he was getting ready for work and that he was about to leave and take the bus. We explained that it was ok and that we would still wait. We waited and finally he came outside. After talking a little he then invited us to come inside to talk more and he explained his side of the story. We read from the scriptures and shared our testimonies with the family. We inquired of the Lord and the Lord guided us. I am very grateful for this experience that we were able to have, it truly was a miracle. We look forward to visiting the family and helping them return to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that if we seek the Lord first and we seek his will he will guide us in our thoughts, words, actions and he will bless us with his Spirit. I appreciate your love and your support. I look forward to hearing from you soon, and I will fill you in next week more about the Mothers Day phone call and at what time I will be calling. You are in my prayers, have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Sunday....

Dear Family, It's always great to hear from you! Sounds like everyone is doing great. Everything is going well here in Las Heras, Elder Baudon and I had a pretty good week and we are trying to get ready to start this week. Today during preparation day we went to Ramos Mejia. All the new elders that arrived this transfer and their traniers were called to go Ramos Mejia to have a meeting, lunch, and activities. It went well, we heard from President and Sister Benton, and reviewed and talked about the standard of our mission, after the meeting we ate lunch together, we had chinese food, it was a pretty big change from what i typically eat and it was pretty good. After lunch we played some soccer and basketball and then returned to our areas. Elder Baudon is doing great and is always trying to help me. I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve with Elder Baudon we really seem to be getting along well and we have been trying to take advantage of everyday. This Sunday was pretty crazy. During the week we were able to find some new investigators and we had made plans to take them to church. Come Sunday it started to rain in the morning. As you may know by now when it rains here sometimes even the members have trouble going to church. Especially here in the country the streets get really muddy and no one wants to leave. We had investigators in Las Heras and in Navarro so we planed out divisions in order that we were able to be in both areas. Elder Baudon stayed in Las Heras becasue he had to give a talk and I went to Navarro with a member. We took the bus to Navarro and we passed by a few investigators to take to church but no one wanted to go. We arrived at the church/house a few minutes before sacrament meeting had started. As we arrived Brother Zeballos who lives in the house was not home because he went to the stake center for a meeting. I was then informed by his wife, sister Zeballos that I would be directing the meeting and that I needed to put toegether the program. Shocked but excited I put together the program and we began the meeting. It was a great experience and it turned out very well. As soon as the meeting ended we had to leave to take the bus back to Navarro. Also during the week we had our interviews with President Benton. My interview went really well, President Benton is an amazing man. We were able to talk about my studies which are going well and we also talked about Christ like attributes. One of the attributes that I am trying to focus on now is charity, the pure love of Christ. Charity is love, and love is action, I have learned that without charity we are nothing. If we want to be more like Christ we should try and develop his love. I am grateful for the example of Jesus Christ in my life and for this opportunity to represent Him. I appreciate your love and your support and I look foward to hearing from you soon. Have a great week! Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Wrong door leads to Alan's Baptism!

Dear Mom, I believe your birthday is coming up so I wanted to write you an email and wish you happy birthday! I love you! I enjoy reading your emails and hearing how everything is going back home. Sounds like everything is going great, and sounds like the young men and young women from the red rock stake have it made. What an activity, I was very impressed. Well I thought I would take a little time to answer a few of your questions and fill you in on Alan and his baptism. I am loving Las Heras, I love the area, its a lot different from the city of Las Vegas but I am starting to adjust and the members are great and they are always there to help us. We are still a branch and have a branch president, President Miguez, we have about 50 active members attending in Las Heras and about 10 attending in Navarro. The branch is doing great and stake is very pleased with our work. We continue to try and work as much as we can with the members, sometimes its hard with only a few members, their work schedules, and other responsibilities but we are doing well. Things are going great with our district, everyone is doing well and working hard. Things are going very well with Elder Baudon. He is a great Elder and is always trying to help. I appreciate the example that you have given me throughout my life. I can see how our examples play an important part in the lives of those around us. Thanks for your example Mom as I am now able to be an example to those around me. I love you! Now I would like to tell you about the example of Alan. Alan was able to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church Saturday the 10th of April! First I would like to explain how we met Alan and his mother Mercedes. One day we were looking for some inactive members, we thought we approached the house of the less active members so we knocked on their door. Mercedes came out to attend us and to tell us that we were at the wrong house. We began to talk with Mercedes and set another day to pass by. We passed by the following week and we were able to teach her a little about the restoration and invited her to attend church. We passed by Sunday morning and we found Mercedes ready with her son Alan, dressed and waiting for us. We all went to chuch together and had a great experience, it was testimony meeting and Merceded bore her testimony, the spirit was present and strong and testified to all of us the truth of the gospel. We then continued to pass by and teach Mercedes and Alan. They were always excited to talk to us and learn more. We talked about the example of Jesus Christ and invited them to follow his example and be baptized in his church. They were excited however Mercedes would then have to wait because she is not yet married. They continue to read in the Book of Mormon and say their prayers. Alans baptism went very well and Elder Baudon was able to baptize Alan. We had the baptism at the Zeballos house, it's also where our branch meetings are held. We used a portable pool to have the baptism which was rather interesting. After having the baptism and confirmation Alan had the opportunity to share his testimony. I would like to share his testimony with you. In english he said, "I felt a change, something in my heart." It was short and powerful as he then got a little emotional. Everyone present was able to feel the spirit. Alan is a great kid and a future missionary! I am grateful for having been able to meet Alan and his family and for having been able to help them come to know of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that he is our great example. I am grateful for all that you have taught me mom especially through your example. I hope you have a happy birthday Mom! I love you, and I am always praying for you. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Con amor, your son Elder Brooks.

Easter Week in BAW!!!

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from you, sounds like everyone is doing great and looks like everyone is doing well and thanks for the pictures! Hey sounds like Dad and everyone had a pretty nice trip to San Francisco and Mom and the family had a pretty nice Easter! I celebrated this Easter week with my new companion, Elder Baudon! Elder Baudon is from Cordoba, Argentina a providence which is located north of Argentina. So we had the transfer meeting Monday, I stayed with another Elder, Elder Zapata until Tuesday. Tuesday morning we returned to the mission offices to receive our new companions. We waited around and received some instructions from the assistants about our new position as being trainers. I am very grateful for this opportunity and privilege to serve as a trainer. After receiving some instructions we then had the opportunity to go into the other room where the new Elders were and we spent some time getting to know one another, still without knowing which Elder was going to be our new companion. It was fun talking and getting to know the new Elders, they had a lot of questions hah. I met one elder, Elder Bush from Utah. I told him I was from Las Vegas and he mentioned that there was an Elder in his zone in the MTC from Las Vegas that he met also who is serving in Chile, Elder Naylor hah. After getting to know all the Elders we had lunch together with President and Sister Benton. After lunch we had a meeting together and they explained some of the guidelines and rules of the mission. Finally after the meeting they called all the trainers to the front and we stood in a line. President Benton then began to read off the trainers and their companions. Last but not least I was called and received my new companion, Elder Baudon! It was great, we were both excited, took some pictures and then we headed for Las Heras. We did not have much time to work this week but we ended up haveing a great week. Elder Baudon is doing great and is very excited to preach the gospel. Buenos Aires is not that big of a change for him as he comes from Cordoba. He did not have to adjust to the language or culture, well at least thats what he thought. He told me we wanted to learn english, so we have started to learn english and we take turns rotating everynight saying our prayers together in english before we go to bed. The work is going great here in Las Heras, we have a baptism date for this upcoming weekend, his name is Alan and he is ten years old. His mother Mercedes was also planning to get baptized however she is not married so she will have to wait. It was hard explaining it to her but we know Heavenly Father has a plan for her and her family. General Conferance was amazing I look forward to studying the talks, I was a fan of all of them! I appreciate your love and support. Have a great week I look forward to hearing from you soon. Con amor, Elder Brooks.