Almost Christmas!

Mom notes: Brooklyn didn't write a general email this week, but her companion Sister Hicks did. I really love that girl and her letters are so fun to read. I'm hoping she won't mind me posting it on Brooklyn's blog. Only close friends and family know about the blog and she gave a lot of news about what they have been doing! The following is Sis. Hick's letter:

This week was full of lots of celebrations! One day we went to a birthday party for one of our YSA members! His name is Tae Ray Htoo and he joined the church in Utah and then moved here with his grandma, his grandma is super sweet too! And then later this week another member, her name is Thuza, had a baby shower! Baby showers for Karen people are a little different from other cultures. There aren't any games, we all just ate homemade pho and egg rolls. The night before we came over and helped her make them. They were super yummy!

We also got a new elder last week for Karen work! It's the first big change since June! Hah the picture I sent last week in front of the temple was suppose to be for our Christmas card, but then he came like 2 days later, so we decided we needed to take a new one. 

We have this super cute family we're working with and they have their own car! It's a mother and two daughters that we have taught, the father has a weird work schedule so it's a little hard to schedule when he is there. But they seem super awesome! The mother is so receptive and the daughters are super sweet and ask so many questions, which is pretty uncharacteristic of daughters. 

Also Moo Eh Wah came back in town so it was good to see her again. And some super big news, I think I have talked about it before, Kway Lay, one of our older members is going through the temple on December 30! We're all so excited for him! And with him going through, it is getting a lot of our other members interested in going as well! There is a sweet girl in our ward who has been a member for some time now, she's in her mid 20s and she has been dating this boy for a while and stopped coming to church for a while because she was embarrassed to be living with her boyfriend. Just recently her boyfriend started taking the discussions and she is on fire with church activity. And they just talked to the bishop about getting married!! One of my favorite things about a mission is seeing people change and repent and how much happier their lives become because of it! This gospel is so amazing! 

I was reading in the book of Mormon this week and this verse really stuck out to me. It was in Alma 30:40-41

So in this chapter Korihor is going around trying to diminish peoples testimonies and in this part he is brought to Alma and Alma bears him this fire testimony of his belief in Christ. And these are the verses. 

40 And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only.

41 But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true;

I love that Alma asks that question, what evidence do we have that there is no God? Everything in this world testifies of God and Christ. Sometimes people get caught up in the question of where is the proof of God, where is the evidence? But if we look for God in our lives we will see just how evident it is. I have tried recently to follow the council of President Eyring, with that one talk about writing about when you see the hand of God in your life, and it has helped me really be aware of everything God does for us. He loves us so much. I know that.

Sis. Hicks ended by saying she hopes everyone has a Merry Christmas! I know Brooklyn wants everyone to have a Merry Christmas too and she expressed in her letter to me that she can't wait to talk to all of us. I will be sure to take a few pictures for the blog next week. Enjoy the pictures she sent me! 

I asked her to send me a "tag" picture! Yay!

She sent us a package with instructions to not open till Christmas! She also said she would tell us what the messages written in Karen say, when we talk to her on Christmas--It's going to be hard waiting!!!

Here is the new picture Sis. Hicks was talking about with the new missionary. I LOVE the colors with the contrast of the snow in the background!

 Even though the above picture is great, I think I like the one below more!!! I just love how everyone is getting ready and Brooklyn is just smiling away and the only one that realized a picture was being taken! hahaha

And just for fun....here are the goofy girls sporting new Christmas twinner outfits! Brooklyn assured me I could borrow hers when she comes home! hahaha They are too funny!

Poopsicles!

Funny story of the week! Yesterday we were having dinner at a member’s house, and just as we were getting ready to leave, they were telling us about their new dogs’ latest habit. The husband said, “Lately they’ve been bringing in pieces of their own frozen poop! Poopsicles!” Sister Hicks and I were laughing pretty hard about this and as I was laughing I took a step back and as I put my heel down, I felt something hard and cold. I looked down and I had stepped on a poopsicle!  hahahaha it made the whole thing funnier! 

This past week we had our Christmas Zone Conference. It was super good! We had a bunch of really good trainings and spiritual things, then we ate lunch, then watched the Polar Express! It was really fun! Something that really stood out to me was a training by my mission President’s wife. She talked about the real meaning of Christmas and how important Christ’s birth is and what a great gift his life was for us. Then she said something that really hit me. She said, “During Christmas time, we give presents to our friends, family, and loved ones, but how often do we give presents to Christ? The reason we even celebrate Christmas.” Then she had us all write something down that we are giving to Christ for Christmas on a little piece of paper shaped like a present and put it under the tree. I’ve been thinking a lot about how commercialized Christmas has become. It seems like it’s all about the presents and the worldly things, but it’s so important for us to take time to remember why we celebrate Christmas and ask ourselves what we can give to Christ for Christmas. He is the ultimate gift. I’m so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ who makes all things possible. I would like to encourage each of you to ponder this and choose something you want to give Christ. 

Sorry the email is short this week! I love you all!

I love these cute girls sooo much! This was at a ward Christmas Party.

We stood in 0 degree windchill for this picture. Enjoy it! It's funny because both Brooklyn and her companion, Sis. Hicks complained about how cold they were when they took this picture--but none of them were wearing coats! lol

This picture came from Sis. Hicks' email this week. It's been so fun to read her emails too and get more news about their mission and what they've been up to! We sure love them both!!!

Karen Temple Trip and Sacrament Meeting!

This week was super cool! On Saturday we took a group of Karen people to the temple! The temple president has given the elders permission to come into the temple and translate the ordinances into Karen because the church doesn’t have anything translated into Karen yet. So for the first time, some of our Karen members were able to hear the ordinances in Karen. Because the translations aren’t official, the person performing the ordinances still had to say them in English, but then someone else would read it simultaneously in Karen. So when they were doing baptisms for the dead, one of the elders read it in Karen. But for the confirmations, I was able to read it in Karen while another Elder actually performed the ordinance in English. It was such a neat experience and the spirit was so strong.

Yesterday we had another all-Karen sacrament/testimony meeting! Just like last time, it was super cool. Seeing these people have the opportunity to share their testimonies to their own people is so cool. I’m sure they also really appreciate being able to understand the things being said without needing to wear headphones with someone translating. 

Funny story of the week. We found this house with 6 different apartments in it, and they all are Karen people. We decided to knock on the doors, so we started with the first door we saw. We knock on it, this 18 year old kinda gangster lookin’ kid answers and says “hey what’s up?” We tell him we’re missionaries and ask if we can teach his family, he says, “Oh yeah for sure. We’re Christian. Come in!” We go into his family room, and he tells us he’s going to go ask his friend if he wants to come too. So we’re just sitting there and it’s super dark because it’s about 5 pm and their electricity isn’t working. He comes back and says his friend doesn’t want to come. So we decide to just teach him the shortest lesson we can. We start reading a scripture in the Bible about prophets and this kid just keeps changing the subject asking us random questions about ourselves. We finally get back to the lesson and he just starts hysterically laughing and gets up and goes back to the room his friend is in. Comes back and says, “Man my buddy really doesn’t want to come. He’s a little sick. He just had surgery because he got stabbed.” I go, “He got stabbed?!” Calmly he says, “Yep” alllllrighty... so we finish the lesson, tell him to pray and ask god for guidance in his life and he says, “I pray all the time. Except sometimes when I’m tired or do drugs, I forget. Man I must’ve forgotten to say my prayers last night so god sent you. Wow that’s cool.” We told him to stop doing drugs, then got out of there pretty quickly. (Sorry mom. You probably won’t think this story is funny) Needless to say, we probably won’t be going back to see our bud Kwy Shee. 

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well! Remember, don’t do drugs. They’ll make you forget to say your prayers. And if you’re not already saying your prayers, start! God wants to hear from you. :)

Sister Brooklyn Hermansen

We became ponies this week!

Since Brooklyn didn't send any other pictures of her this week, enjoy her thumb!

She used a sticker! haha

Mom notes: I'm so grateful for prayers of safety for our missionaries and the angels that surround them in sketchy situations! I told her they'd better be more careful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone! I’m sorry last week I wasn’t able to write. We had our P-day switched to Thanksgiving and we were so busy on Thanksgiving that we didn’t have time for anything! We literally went from meal to meal. It was crazy. We ate a big feast at a members house, then went to the church where Zaw, a Karen member, fed us a tooon of Pad Thai and fried rice, then Bu Htoo, another Karen member, took us to a really nice Asian buffet! Needless to say, I ate wayyyy too much. Then to make it even better, we went to a Jamaican ladies house the next day and she had us cook everything for a huuuge Thanksgiving meal. I’m tellin’ ya. She could have fed an army with all of that food. It was super good though! 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have been thinking about everything I’m grateful for. I am sooo grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice that makes it possible for us to return to live with him and our Father in Heaven. Christ gave up his life to give us the ultimate gift, eternal life and happiness. I’m so grateful for the knowledge I have of this amazing gift and that I have the opportunity to share it with others. I want everyone to know how they can return to live with our Father in Heaven. I’m also so thankful for my family. Being away from them for so long, especially during the holidays, makes me even more grateful for them. My family is crazy, and I love them all so much. I’m so grateful that we will be able to live together forever. 

The work is going pretty well. We are just trying to find and recognize those people who are truly prepared and ready to receive the gospel. 

The church has a Christmas campaign called #LightTheWorld. You’ve probably heard of it, but if you haven’t, it’s a video about helping others. Each day they have short videos and ideas to help others this Christmas season. There’s even a little calendar that has ideas for each day on it. The idea is to #LightTheWorld in 25 ways over 25 days. It’s starting this week! Check it out and do it! Here is a link. https://www.mormon.org/

Love you all so much!

Sister Brooklyn Hermansen

Our Christmas tree!

At the buffet with Bu Htoo. 

 Mom notes: Elder Woodland in the very front, came back and visited with his family. I'm sure it was fun to see him again and enjoy the buffet together!

Brooklyn sent us this photo after the first Thanksgiving dinner was down....two more to go! hahaha

Cuddle time with some tiny kittens! (I love the photo bomber)

Yoga mat on a treadmill....hmmm, I don't know how effective that exercising will be! 

More mom notes: I asked Brooklyn to tell me what her typical weeks were like now. She's our first and only missionary, so I've been curious. This is what she replied: "Man it's hard to tell you a normal week cause they're all so different. P-days we usually wake up, get ready, go do laundry and grocery shop, relax, email, nap, shop, play games or something with the elders. Then the rest of the week: So every Tuesday we volunteer at the Karen organization of Minnesota and teach people English from 12-2. But on normal days we wake up, get ready, plan, personal study, comp study, language study, have lunch, then go teaching all day pretty much. On Fridays we Skype the sisters in Salt Lake and teach them Karen for an hour. And on Saturdays we have district meeting, then meet with the Bishop to coordinate, then have language study with the elders. Then on Sunday we have church, a meeting with just us Karen missionaries, and a meeting with the ward mission leader. I don’t really know what else to say about the week haha. We help a couple people with homework usually like twice a week. That’s kind of fun since it’s always super easy homework. We wrote a rap last night about Minnesota with Mae Paw for an assignment haha. (I want to hear that rap! lol) Only 28 more days till we get to Skype with Brooklyn for Christmas, but who's counting! 

WoWie

Helllllo! This week was good! Naw Mu, the lady I talked about in my last letter, came to church yesterday for the first time in mooonths! It was so good to see her making little changes to do what she knows is right! 

This week we taught our investigator Pa Kee the Word of Wisdom. It went super well! I don’t remember how much I’ve written about him, but he is the one that is living in one of our members houses and we met him through a different member. So long story short, a couple of months ago, before we had actually taught him, he made a bad decision to come to church a little drunk. Well... try to come to church... on the way there he got pulled over and because he didn’t speak English, he didn’t know how to do the little tests the cops have you do. So now he is being charged with a DWI and refusal to a sobriety test. His court date isn’t until November 25th, so we had to change his baptismal date of November 18th so we know what’s going to happen with all of that. But he understood the lesson on the Word of Wisdom super well. Probably because he is already seeing the negative things that come from alcohol hahaha. He has committed to stop drinking and stop using tobacco, so we will see how that goes! I know that if he is really committed, the Lord is going to bless him and strengthen him! I’m so grateful for the Word of Wisdom! I know that God gives us commandments to help us have the best life possible. I have seen enough people in my life affected by drugs and alcohol to know the negative effects of them. If any of you have problems with these things, I know God can help. I have seen people’s whole lives change from obeying this commandment. God promises us that if we obey this commandment, He will reveal great treasures of knowledge to us. If we do this, we will be better able to learn the things that God wants us to know and feel the Holy Ghost guiding us in our lives! 

Always remember how much God loves you. (Sorry, I was bad at taking pictures this week!)

Mom notes: Since Brooklyn didn't send any photos in her general email, I will include a couple she sent to us.

I think Brooklyn wants us to see how organized and clean their little study areas are! (so different from her study area while in high school! haha) I love all the girly touches on the walls and shelves! 

They put up their tree early this year! (I found out later this was not their tree!)

Credit for the following two pictures goes to Sis. Hicks. She sent them in her email this week.

I am extremely grateful and happy that they get along so well! Heavenly Father knew they would work together for such a long time compared to traditional missions and transfers. These two are so cute!!!

Back to the Basics

Hellllllllllo! This week has been pretty good! Sister Hicks and I went on exchanges with the Spanish-speaking sisters in our zone and it was fun! Hermana Winterton came to Karenland with me. We had a super fun day together. We were able to see some people that we haven’t seen in a while. One of them is Naw Mu. She has been an investigator for a reeeeally long time. In fact, all of her children are baptized, but the Karen culture of only getting baptized once has stopped her from being baptized. But even though she isn’t baptized, she was just like a member. She would come to church every single week and she had a testimony of the gospel. However, in the beginning of June she got super sick. No one knew what was wrong with her, she was just constantly in excruciating pain. She was so sick she couldn’t come to church. We would still visit her every now and then though. A month or so ago, she just started feeling way better. We were slacking and hadn’t seen her for a while though. So Hermana Winterton and I went and saw her and she’s doing great health wise, but says that since she got sick it has been super hard to come to church and that Satan is working hard on her. It's super sad to see. She was so consistent and never missed a week of church, but when she got sick she got completely out of the habit of coming and lost her testimony of the importance of church. I was thinking about how easy it is for this to happen to anyone. So many times we see people who have strong testimonies of the gospel get out of the habit of praying daily, reading scriptures daily, and coming to church regularly. When we stop doing those little basic things, we can lose our whole testimony of the gospel. When President Russell M. Nelson came and talked to us in May, he talked about this. He talked about if we want to know something and we do those basic things and search for our answers, we can gain a testimony of every aspect of the gospel. But when we stop doing those things, we can lose our testimonies completely. Don’t let this happen to you. Keep doing those basic things that God has asked us to do. And if you have stopped, start again. It’s never too late to return to the gospel or learn about the gospel. God is always waiting for us with open arms. I’m so thankful for His unconditional love. As humans, we all make lots of mistakes. But God knew that we would when He sent us down here. And because of His love for us, He provided us with a Savior so that we can repent and become better each and every day. It’s only through our Savior Jesus Christ’s sacrifice that we can repent and eventually return to live with our Father in Heaven. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of Jesus Christ’s gospel that has been restored to the earth. The gospel has blessed me so much in my life, and I know that God will bless anyone who strives to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Thank you for always showing me love and support.️

Enjoy this picture of Sister Hicks and don’t tell her I sent this out. I’m so grateful for her. Her goofy self is always keeping me laughing. Thankful I get to spend 10 months of my mission with my best friend.️

Hermana Winterton (from Las Vegas) and I with Moo Eh Wah. 

Mom notes: I asked her about the lighter coat she is wearing in this picture. She said even though it's 30 degrees, it doesn't feel very cold to her yet. I'm so glad she has a warmer one for the temperatures we know are coming!

Happy Halloween!

Hey Friends and Family! Happy Halloween!!

Sorry about not writing yesterday. We had a Mission Conference over in Crystal with the north part of the mission. A General Authority Seventy, Elder Michael T. Ringwood, came and did a mission tour. He is a really impressive man and gave our mission some very good counsel. We went through D&C 42, the stories of Ammon and Aaron, broke down Alma 26:22, and finished with Moroni 7. His wife went through 1 Nephi Chapters 13, 14, 15 and 22:12 and the lessons on missionary work we can learn from those. That went from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm with a lunch in between. Afterward, he met with the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders for another 2 hours. He shared a really thought provoking

scripture in Haggai 1:5-7. The talks he's given in General Conference are all really good as well for any of you who want to go back and read them.

Our investigators are doing pretty good, but there's not too many big updates with them. Just still trying to help them learn and progress! 

We got snow on Friday which didn't melt until yesterday. Winter is coming! It's getting cold, but it's crazy to think it's going to get waaaay colder! 

One of the takeaways I got from Elder Ringwood yesterday was the importance of keeping the good habits you build as a missionary throughout your whole life. A mission is a two year training on life. So you RMs should think of something you learned to do on your mission that you haven't been doing lately and incorporate it into your daily schedule. Those of you who haven't served a mission should take a look at Preach My Gospel and see what you could do. Thanks for all of your love and support! :)

Mom notes: Since Brooklyn didn't add any pictures this time, I am adding some she sent us. The following is a screenshot of her Mission Conference. Brooklyn said, "When you've been in the same area with the same 5 missionaries for the past 7 months, you feel like you don't know anyone else." Sounds like it's a little awkward. See if you can find her in between the Karen Elders. 

She finally found a bowl to replace the one she broke while helping a member grind peppers! You can see the hole in the smaller one on the left. That girl must not know her own strength! haha

Brooklyn also sent us a video of Mer Ler (who is actually pregnant right now) trying to kill a couple of chickens in her kitchen! Two of them were already dead and two of them just wouldn't die. It was pretty gruesome with twisting, flapping and finally cutting of necks! Brooklyn said that she was sitting there thinking, how can she just do this?! Then she thought about Mer Ler's life before America and thought about her seeing tons of people killed and horrible stuff. She then understood how. We are so blessed to be living where we are.  Could you imagine being forced out of your homes and having your own government trying to exterminate all of your people? Makes the natural disasters we've been experiencing a little easier to deal with. We should forever be grateful that we have not had to suffer the same hardships that so many refugees have. 

No General E-mail this week

So Brooklyn didn't send a general e-mail this week and didn't say why. She's been sick with a bad cold and I know they have been sleeping in a little and maybe not working as hard? Maybe she felt like they didn't have much new news. She did say they are back to working hard again so that's good! She told me she still hasn't found a bowl to replace the one she broke while helping someone grind peppers. Apparently they are surprisingly hard to find. She also said one of the senior missionaries who is over the mission debit cards emailed her and told her there was fraudulent activity on her card so they cancelled it. She'll just have to use her own debit card for groceries this week. Even missionaries aren't safe when it comes to fraud these days! Sheesh! 

To wrap this up, I'll share some pictures she sent us on our photo share:

Brooklyn and Sister Hicks have been loving the beautiful fall colors! 

Mae Paw curled Sister Hick's hair with a chopstick!!!

Brooklyn enjoying some kid time!

The first ever Karen name-tags!

Hello hello! This week has been good! Some super exciting things have happened! First, our name-tags that we wear are usually in Burmese since the church doesn't have anything translated into Karen and Burmese characters are similar to Karen characters. However, because the Burmese people have chased the Karen people out of their country and killed thousands and thousands of them, Karen people aren't the biggest fans of Burmese.... understandable. Most people didn't have a problem with our tags being in Burmese, but some did, and most of all
it was just confusing because we speak Karen, not Burmese. So this last week, we asked our mission president if we could make our own Karen name-tags and he said yes! He even said we can put our Karen names on them! We're super stoked that we can actually read our tags now hahaha I will include a picture of mine!

Second! Remember Pa Kee? The one who was friends with one of our members and started coming to church, then moved in with one of our other members? Well we started teaching him a couple of weeks ago and he is awesome! He is understanding the gospel so well! This past week we taught him about the Plan of Salvation and at the end of the lesson we asked him if he had any questions. Then he was asking us a question we couldn't quite understand. Sister Hicks and I both thought he was asking about when he could get baptized, but we didn't want to just jump to that conclusion haha so after he tried saying things in a different way a couple times, we figured out that is what he was asking! We set a baptismal date with him for November 18th! We hope he will keep progressing towards baptism!

I'm sorry this email isn't longer! I hope you all have a good week!

My Karen name-tag!

One morning it was really cold in our apartment and I said, "I want all of the blankets!" Next thing I know, this happened. hahaha

One of our members, Mer Ler, wants to learn how to make "English people food" so we told her she could come to our apartment once a week and learn how to make something new! This week she chose pizza! We taught her how to make a super simple, stuffed crust pizza! It turned out super good! Mom notes: I asked Brooklyn if they like weird things on their pizzas like chicken feet or fish, just joking. She said, some of them do! haha

A member took all the Karen speaking missionaries out to dinner. What a kind thing for him to do and what a treat for the missionaries!

 Brooklyn LOVES Asian food!

I just love how "girly" this breakfast table looks! Brooklyn's been sick with a cold so one day she decided to sleep in during exercise time. When they woke up they took the time to make crepes before getting to work. Looks delicious! 

The first ever all-Karen sacrament meeting!

Hello everyone! It has been a pretty good week! Yesterday was a super special day! We had the very first all-Karen sacrament meeting. Usually we meet with an English ward, and someone has to sit in the back and translate everything into Karen and all of the Karen people have to wear headphones to hear it. But yesterday, the Karen group had their first sacrament meeting by themselves. It was amazing. The few English members that came in, our bishop, stake president, and mission president, all had to wear the headphones to hear English translations! This was kind of like an experiment to see how it would go and how often we will be able to do it in the future. It was a testimony meeting and the spirit was so strong! Different Karen members got up and shared their testimonies of this restored gospel. It was such a neat experience to be able to see them being more independent. In the English ward, most of them are really nervous to go up and bear their testimonies, but no one was nervous yesterday. My heart is full and I'm very happy. 

That was definitely the highlight of the week! Other than that, we've just been working with everyone we teach, trying to help them progress! Remember Pa Kee? The one that was hanging out at one of our member's houses a lot and then moved in with one of our other member's family? We've been teaching him and he is such a cool guy! At first his answers to our questions were short and not very deep, but the last couple of times we have taught him, he has had the best answers to our questions. We ask him something and he will think for a looong time, them give a super well thought out question! He's doing great. 

Funny story of this week, we went to one of our member's homes to teach her non member husband, but he wasn't there. She was out frying chili peppers and grinding them up so we offered to help. First of all, the air was spicy! Sooo spicy. Then we were helping her grind them up in these little bowls with big stick things. Well for some reason she had us switch the sticks, so I was using this marble type stick to smash these peppers in a wooden bowl. Apparently I smashed them a little too hard and the bowl cracked. Today we are going to go to a Karen store so I can buy her a new one. Hopefully they're not too expensive. (Mom, if you see a big dip in my bank account, you'll know why) 

I love this gospel, I love our Father in Heaven, I love this calling I have to share this gospel with these amazing Karen people, and I love you guys! Have a good week! 

Thought this little depiction of Karen people in a refugee camp in Thailand was cool. (I know Brooklyn has been trying to talk her brother, Jeff into going on a trip with her to Thailand after she gets back. Since Jeff lived there for a few months last winter, she thinks it would be awesome to have someone with her who knows more about the country. Maybe Brian and I will tag along too!)

Some of our cute members! Mer Ler (she's pregnant!) Htee Klee and Paw Ler. They are all siblings :)

And here's some food of the week! (She said it was good)

Here's a picture of their first all Karen Testimony Meeting. Brooklyn was so excited, I hope they will get the chance to do this often. Brooklyn is on the far right, second row from the front.

A few months ago the English speaking Elders found some bagels they had left in the kitchen on a special Fast day. They were so excited to go back and eat them later, but they were gone! I guess the guilt got to the Elders and they brought them some new bagels! hahaha The Elders that brought them the bagels actually serve in a neighboring ward, but live in the same apartment complex. I don't think they are the same Elders that took their bagels. They are just nice!

Elders Bowman and Condie are the actual English speaking Elders in their ward right now. They all ate dinner together at Brother and Sister Hurley's house and sent me this fun picture. The dog cracks me up!

I had to add this. Brooklyn sends random, short funny videos to us now and then. This week was a video of them chasing 2 wild turkeys across the parking lot while they were gobbling at them. Maybe they are practicing future pursuits of investigators??? The picture below is a screenshot of the turkeys trying to get away. (They're probably worried they'll end up being "mystery meat" in a Karen dish! haha)

General Conference!

Hello everyone! We don't have much time to email today because we had Zone P-Day and it took up a lot of our time! Our zone is made up of three districts. Our Karen speaking district, a Spanish speaking district, and a Hmong speaking district. We had "Zone Olympics" and did a series of Minute-To-Win It type of games. The Spanish district won, but we came in second! It was super fun! 

Most of you probably know that General Conference was this past weekend! If you don't know what General Conference is, it's when we have the opportunity to listen to inspired servants of God tell us what God wants us to hear. It happens every 6 months, and it's awesome! They talk about the doctrines of Jesus Christ's gospel and lead us and guide us. I would encourage each of you to go to LDS.org and watch at least part of General Conference! After the things said in Conference, I have such a strong desire to try to be more Christlike. I want to constantly have a mindset of, "What would Jesus do in this situation?" "Or what would He say right now?" I know I will never even come close to how Jesus lived, but I want to try my best! I know that as we try to do what's right, follow the commandments, and actively be striving to be and do better, we will be blessed so much! 

I love you all so much! Sorry for the short email!

Brooklyn said this area did not even look like Minnesota, it reminded her of a different country. She also said she loves how green it is.

Cute Sister Hicks and Sister Hermansen

Their ward had a big lunch between conference sessions with all kinds of food. Brooklyn said this Pho was delicious! 

Zone Minute to Win it games

In this game Elder Evans was standing about ten feet away from Brooklyn and had to throw cheese puffs at her shaving cream covered shower cap! 

The following pictures are of Sister Hicks prepping for her first winter there! Brooklyn sent us a funny video and I took a few screen shots so I could put them on the blog. They've been told winter will be more harsh this year.....looks like they are ready for it! 

Mom notes:  Next Conference will be Brooklyn's last weekend in Minnesota! Just don't tell her that because I know she's feeling like time is going too fast and she has so much work to do!