Prayer!!!!!!!

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from you sounds like everyone is doing great. Everything is going well here in Argentina and the weather is staying pretty cool. This past week went well and we have a few investigators that we are working with. This past week I was able to study and learn a lot about the importance of prayer. Teaching our investigators and showing our investigators how to pray is very important. Although prayer is a common princilple there is always something more to learn and to better. I learned how thorugh prayer not only ourselves but also the investigators can receive revelation, their answers, guidance, and blessings from our Heavenly Father. This past week we focused many of our lessons on the importance of prayer, why and how. At the end of our lessons we had the opportunity not to just pray with our investigators but to also kneel with our investigators in their houses, in their front yards, or even in front of their house and we were able to communicate with our Heavenly Father. It was a testimony to me to see the faith of many of our investigators as the knelt and prayed with us, and with the majority of our investigators giving the closing prayer. I know that our Heavenly Father commands us to pray to him and I know he blesses us when we are obedient and obey his commandments. This past week he had four investigators in church and I believe they were there because they received their answers to their prayers or they wanted to go to church to receive their answer. Elder Gonzalez and myself look forward to continue to put this in practice and we continue to learn more about the importance and power of prayer. We have many be able to find many investigators that are interested in our message but many have challenges to overcome. I am grateful for the principle of prayer and the role that it has played in my life, I know that we truly can receive the Lords help as we pray with faith. So sounds like everyone is doing well and getting ready for Justins wedding, very nice I am happy for him. There is an Elder Rodriguez here in our mission who is from San Antonio, Texas and he mentioned that he knew Justin and if I am right he might have lived in the Rodriguez's house because they have missionaries that live there. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing great. I am praying for you. I appreciate your love and support have a great week. Con amor, Elder Brooks. Mom I will be looking for the packages thanks I love you also tell aunt Diane and the Cope Family thanks I love them!

Rain Keeps Some Away!!!!!!!!

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from everyone sounds like everyone is doing great. Hey mom thanks for sharing your experience and story with me I appreciate it and I appreciate your testimony. Good to hear Mackenzie is back and safe and had a good time up in Utah, and from what I hear she is driving, and I dont meaning driving dad crazy. I sent some pictures I hope you recieve them let me know if you do. I sent a picture of Alejandros baptism and a few pictures of the church her in Mariló. Everything is going well here Argentina and as you know its getting pretty cold. This past week was pretty cold and the rain on sunday topped of the week. Elder Gonzalez and I we are doing great and getting along well. I love helping him with his english he as improved a lot. His favorite phrase that I have taught him so far is "go to bed. He is pretty good at saying it and when it doesnt know what to say in english he just says "go to bed", I love it. We have been working diligently together and he helps me a lot with my testimony and faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. This past week went well as we were able to find some new investigators so we are pretty excited to start and work with them. We were pretty excited going into Sunday as we had a lot of investigators and members that were also excited about going to church as well, but as we recieved the rain Sunday it kept quite a few people from attending church here in Mariló. In total we had a total of 40 people in church this past Sunday. We were a little disappointed as we felt we worked very well and felt that we had prepared many people to attend church this past Sunday. However we did not stay disappointed, as we know being and acting disappointed weakens our faith. We were grateful that one of our investigators did show up which was very impressive. I am grateful for the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and the example he has set for us. I want to be like Him. I know as we live His gospel we too can become more like Him. I know that we have the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I am praying for you and that you can continue to live His gospel. I love you and look forward to hearing from you soon. Con amor, Elder Brooks.

Speaking English In The Streets......Si !!!!

Dear Family, It's great to hear from you and sounds like everyone is doing great. Everything is going well here in Argentina and it is starting to get a little colder. As you have mentioned Spain won the world cup but not too many people were really interested after Argentinas loss. I received a wedding invitation from my cousin, Justin Brooks he looks pretty happy tell him i'm happy for him. Also I did receive the dearelder from Aunt Pam and Sister Tyndall please tell them thank you and I will try to write them back soon. This week went very well and it was pretty busy with our interviews with President Benton and also zone conference. I really enjoyed my interview with President Benton, I love him, he is a great example for us. He gave me some great counsel to help strengthen my faith and confidence. Zone conference went well and our workshop/lesson also went very well. As a zone we are focusing on the quality of our lessons and making sure the investigators better understand our message. We have noticed that we have been finding many new investigators but few of those that we are finding are going to church and keeping their commitments. This past week Daniel, the man I contacted on the bus a few weeks ago was able to be baptized! The elders in our zone that are in an area called Trujui were able to baptize him and said that everthing turned our very well. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have met him and for the faith my Heavenly Father gave me to go and contact him. This past week the young men were able to have an activity on Saturday where they played soccer and ate chori pan. The activity went well and it was a pretty good turn out. Many members, converts, and investigators were able to show up. We had a great turn out Saturday but not as many showed up Sunday for church. I appreciate your ideas that you gave me and regarding activities, we will try and put those into practice and see how it turns out. Elder Gonzalez and I are getting along very well. He is a great elder and we are always looking for ways to improve. Elder Gonzalez wants to learn english so we have begun to say our prays at night together in english and we try and study english whenever we have time. Also sometimes to practice our english when we are walking in the streets we talk to the kids in the street in english. It is pretty funny, sometimes they look at us like we are crazy and sometimes they even try and talk back to us. I love the mission it truly is a blessing and a privilege to serve my Heavenly Father. I appreciate your love and your support. I am praying for you. I love you. Have a great week. Con amor Elder Brooks.

Argentina's Loss Doesn't Stop Baptism.....

Dear Family, Hey its great to hear from everyone sounds like everyone is doing great. I received an email from Dad and he said he sent it from an I phone. it was also good to hear from Phe, tell him hello from me and i am praying for him. Sounds like Mackenzie is still at track camp, tell her I want an update on how it goes. So it sounds like you heard about Argentina losing to Germany in the World Cup. We were given permision to watch the game Saturday with some rules. We watched the game in the home of some recent converts where there is still a member of their family who was not baptized, Alejandro. Alejandro is fifteen years old and has attended church with his family many times but has not made the decision to be baptized. Last transfer we worked a lot with his family, the Saucedo Family and Alejandro to help him make the decision of being baptized. Alejandro is a good kid and is a pretty big soccer fan like most of the kids here in Argentina. The past week Elder Gonzalez and myself taught Alejandro and again invited him to be baptized. Alejandro accpeted our invitation and we set a baptismal date for July 3 at 3:00. Saturday we went over to their house to watch the game and prepare Alejandro for his baptism. It was rough to watch Argentina lose and also to see Alejandro disappointed, we were not sure if he would randomly change his mind about the baptism. Alejandro ended up being pretty good about the loss and was still exctied for his baptism. We had Alejandros baptism and I believe everyone felt better after. The spirit was strong as Edith, Alejandros mom bore her testimony during Alejandros baptism. Edith expressed how grateful she is to have the gospel in her life and now the gospel in her entire families life, now everyone being members. The baptism turned out very well and Alejandro was confirmed a member of the Church the following day in Church. Elder Gonzalez and myself are getting along well and working diligently. We are always looking for things to improve in our area and in our zone. This week we have interviews with President Benton and also Zone Conference. We are excited but sometimes it makes the week shorter with a little less time to work so we are going to try and be smart with our time. We have a few investigators that we are teaching right now and we are planning to continue to work with the members and set up some activities. I know we cannot match the Palo Verde Ward activities but we are going to see what we can do. We noticed that we have not had activities in the ward for a while and that the ward is just functioning on Sunday and seminary during the week for the youth. We know that the activites will help strenghten the members and also bring back some of the less active members and we would like to see some investigators as well. We will be thinking and working with that in order to help our ward and our investigators so we will see how is goes. We are accepting any ideas if you have any. I believe I received Dad's dear elder letter but maybe I just forgot to let you know that I received it. Mom I love you. Sounds like you are trying to put together a package, for now I think I am fine, I will think of anything i may need and let you know. I think the best thing as of now would be taking money out of my account to buy things that I might need, for example maybe to buy new shoes. I have not taken money out of my account yet so I believe there is money in there. I will let you know. I appreciate your love and your support. Have a great week I am praying for you. Con amor, Elder Brooks.