Last week was an interesting one for sure!!
On Tuesday a high school class came to our church for a field trip. It's a religion class and they're studying Christianity right now. We took them around the building and told them about the different rooms and what not. Then we had a big question and answer. They had some great questions for us and I know the Spirit was there helping us know how to answer! I hope the students felt the Spirit that was present and will want to know more about the gospel. It was a really cool experience!
Minnesota has soooo many trees! There's no mountains, but all of the trees make up for it! It's beautiful this time of year with all of the leaves changing color! One day we were walking around trying to contact people and we saw a very elderly woman raking the leaves in her yard. We insisted that she let us help her, so we raked a few bags full until she told us we couldn't do more because there already wasn't room in her garbage can for the other bags we did. She was so cute though and had recently broken her arm so before we came she was raking with only one arm. When we were getting ready to leave she handed us some cash and we told her we couldn't take it. Well that didn't work out. She started getting upset and MADE us take it. Another lady last week walked up to us in Walmart and told us she was a member of the church and asked us to pray for her children who aren't active in the church anymore. We told her we would. Then a little bit later she came running up to us in a panic and said she was worried she wouldn't be able to find us again. She started crying and told us she's been going through some things and life has been hard lately. We wrote down a video about trials for her to look up and gave her a hug. Then she gave us some cash and told us it was the rest of her vacation money and she wanted us to have it. She said that people were always really good to her kids on their missions and she wanted to do the same. We're planning some good things to use the money for. We're going to use it all to pay it forward and help other people.
Early in the week my companion started to get sick, but we thought it was just a cold. Then on Friday she woke up and her voice was completely gone. We called the mission doctor and he said that she had Laryngitis! When he said that all I could think was, "Ain't nobody got time for dat!" (I know in the video it's bronchitis) The doctor told her she's not allowed to talk AT ALL! We have no idea how long she can't talk for, but it's been 4 days of just me talking! Don't tell her this, but I think it is a blessing for me to get more experience teaching and talking to people since I have to do all of the talking!! Heavenly Father has definitely been blessing me while she's been out of a voice.
Along with my companion losing her voice on Friday, the day only got crazier. We had some good plans for Friday, but literally nothing went as planned. We drove to the church building to meet the elders so Sister Heiner could get a Priesthood blessing, and when we drove back to our apartment we noticed that we had a flat tire! They're doing construction around our building and we drove over a screw. So here's two girls in dresses trying to change a tire. First we couldn't get the hubcap off. Then when we got all of the lug nuts off, we couldn't get the tire off!! We were yanking and pulling on it so hard and it wouldn't budge. We called some members who lived nearby to come help, and as soon as they pulled up we got the tire off haha but they helped us put the spare on. Then when we backed the car up the tire made an awful noise. The member who helped us is really good with mechanics and he said he thought metal was rubbing on something by the tire and that we should go to the shop right away. When we got to the shop they told us, "Well we can't do much for you today because we close in an hour." I kinda just sat there not knowing what to do and finally the guy told us they would look at it. So they came to the conclusion that when we pulled the tire off, we bent the metal plate behind the brake. Oops.... They bent it back though and told us to come back the next day to get our tire fixed. And just to add to everything, on the way back my companion's super expensive GPS broke! It was a crazy day haha.
On Saturday we were back to missionary work though! Let me tell ya, tracting sure is fun when you're the only one who can talk! Haha! All of the people that we talked to were super nice though. None of them were interested in the church though :/ That night was also our ward Halloween party. It was super fun and one of the less-active people that we're working with came and brought her 2 year old son and his service duck! He's mildly autistic and the duck comforts him and makes him happy when he throws fits! It was so cool to see.
On Saturday night the doctor checked up on us and told us that Sister Heiner shouldn't go to church the next day. Also, apparently we weren't supposed to be out doing missionary work the last two days. Oops again. So on Sunday we arranged for Sister Heiner to stay with other sister missionaries in our district while I went to our sacrament meeting. It was the Primary Program, I couldn't miss that ;) It was so great. The kids did awesome singing and saying their parts. Also, one of our investigators, Russ, who is the cutest 80 year old man you've ever seen, came with his cute 78 year old sister Edith! I sat with them and they seemed to enjoy it! Russ is such a great guy. His wife passed away in April so he's been lonely. :( We do a lot of service for him to help him out. Last week he had us paint his railing in our dresses! Haha! He thought it was such a funny sight he went and got his neighbor to take a picture for him!
The work here is hard, but I've never been happier. I'm so thankful for this chance I have to spend 24/7 focused on the gospel. Well this email is getting way longer than I wanted it to be so I'll wrap up! I love you all! I hope you all have the best week!
Sister Brooklyn Anne Hermansen
Here is a picture of us painting Russ's railing, changing our tire, and your weekly pointless picture. This painting is in a neighborhood on the street. We're not sure what it's for haha
The following is part of her letter she wrote to me. I told her about her brother Jeff leaving to go to Thailand for the winter, and other family news.
That's crazy that Jeff left today!! I didn't even realize it was so soon. I can't believe October is almost over. Next Monday I might be on my email at a different time because we're not allowed to go out on Halloween night so we're thinking they might make our P-Day start later in the day. Other than special occasions I should be on the computer from 10ish-12ish so 9ish-11ish your time. It's a bummer that it's on an aerobics day :/ I'm glad the family got to have dinner with Jeff one more time before he left. I hope he has a good time! Will you have a way to communicate with him?
That's great that Marci finally got permission to close Jimmy Johns on Sundays! That will be so good for their family. Maybe they can come to your house more on Sundays?
I got the package on Sunday, and I LOOOOVE all of the dresses! I'm so proud to tell people that my mom picked them out. You have great taste hahaha they fit perfect as well. Thank you so much for those and for sending my boots!! (I surprised her with a few more comfy dresses in the style she likes.)
I'll have to write my primary class a letter. I miss them! Our ward's Primary Program was yesterday and after that I had my first little glimpse of homesickness thinking about how old Val will be when I get home. There's soooo many children in our ward it's nuts. I love going to the members houses for dinner when they have little kids. It makes it so fun and they remind me of my cute nieces. The primary program made me think about how much you guys are probably doing getting ready for your wards! I'm sure it will be great!
Stacie's experience is amazing. I'm so glad they were able to talk to Mike. I think about their family a lot and hope they're doing well. I love that family so much. They are amazing people. They have gone through so much more than anyone should ever have to go through. I know Tyler and Tara are doing amazing things on the other side. That family reunion someday will be amazing. I don't have any memories of Tyler, but I remember a few little things with Tara. She was always so fun. I have always looked up to her. How is Emilee doing? I hope she's doing well. High school can be hard, but I hope she's finding things that make her happy.
Our area is very hard still. Because of the Mayo clinic, there is a very high population of rich doctors who have life all figured out and think they don't have a need for God in their life. Also the majority of people go to churches. Because of that, I really like tracting in the ghetto areas. The people from other countries or poverty are so much more humble and willing to listen to us. Don't worry, we pray for safety lots ;) The ghetto areas aren't thaaaat ghetto. Just a little ghetto.
The pictures in the letter look really good! Also, a camera with wifi would be cool, but I don't want to make you guys spend money on that! You can buy one using my account if you want more pictures that bad hahaha
I love you so much and I'm so happy that I'm your daughter. I couldn't ask for a better mother. Thank you so much for everything you do for me. I hope you know how much I appreciate you!
We sure love and appreciate her too!!!!
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