Sister Brooklyn Hermansen Minnesota Minneapolis Mission: Last Email Home

Brooklyn wrote one last email before she came home, answering some questions Brian asked her. I feel like it's a perfect way to end her missionary blog.

The baptism went super well! It was such a good day! Unfortunately we didn’t have time to take pictures on our iPads. But our ward mission leader has some. Hopefully we can get those soon.

Those are some big questions! I’m just going to send you what I’ve written in my departure letter so far.

I don’t even know where to begin. The last 18 months of my mission have taught me so much. I have learned and progressed in ways that I never thought I could. I have seen the Lord’s hand in my life. I have felt His love for me. I have seen God touch the hearts of the people I have worked with. I know that God has a plan for each person, and I’m so grateful that coming to Minnesota was part of His plan for me.

Over the course of my mission, I have felt God’s love for me in so many different ways. Before I was a missionary, I knew God loved me, but I couldn’t recognize the feeling of His love as well as I can now. I thought when I came on a mission, I would see and be a part of huge miracles. I have seen a couple of those, but most importantly, I’ve been able to change the way I see things and recognize the small miracles God performs every single day. I’m sure I still don’t see everything, but I see His hand in my life way more than I ever thought I could. I want to share a few small experiences I have had that have left a big impact on me.

The first one was at the very beginning of my mission. I had only been out a couple of weeks and one night I got super homesick. I just missed my family so much. I prayed for help before I went to bed, but when I woke up I still felt really homesick. Before starting personal studies, I prayed and told Heavenly Father that I was going to pick up my scriptures and open to a random spot and read until I felt like I had received an answer. I opened to section 99 of the Doctrine and Covenants. It is revelation for John Murdock about his mission. It talks about God giving him power and the work he’s going to do. It helped me realize how important this calling I have to be a missionary is. I wasn’t fully satisfied with that answer though, so I continued reading onto Section 100. Something that I like to do is put my name into the scriptures, I want to show you how I read it.

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friend, (Sister Hermansen) your family is well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.

When I read this I felt God’s love pouring out for me and I was so comforted. He answered my prayer right away, and to this day, that day was the only day of my mission that I’ve been homesick. I have seen the blessings in that verse become true with my family. God has blessed them so much while I’ve been on my mission.

The second experience I want to share was just during this last winter. I was a little bit sick and had a cough, but it would get so much worse at nighttime. One night it was especially bad. Thankfully Sister Hicks is a pretty heavy sleeper, so she slept right through it, but I was up coughing for hours past our bedtime. My throat was in so much pain and I was so exhausted. I don’t know why it took me hours to think of this, but I had a thought to pray. I said a simple prayer pleading with God to relieve my throat and help me get some rest. Almost immediately after I finished my prayer, my throat felt soothed. The next thing I remember is waking up with an overwhelming sense of God’s love and awareness for me. I learned that God really does care about us in every aspect of our lives. Anything that is important to us, is important to Him.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is how important the gospel is in my life. Before my mission I viewed the gospel kind of like an accessory for my life. I knew it was good and it added to my life, but I have learned that it is not just an accessory. The gospel is my life. The gospel really applies to every single part of our lives. My mission and the experiences I have had have helped me see how I can keep the gospel in the center of my life.

God has a plan for me. When I was waiting for my mission call, I really didn’t want to go somewhere cold. I told everyone that I knew that God knew what I could handle, and that I couldn’t handle the cold. Boy, was I taught a lesson. I was so wrong. God knows me a lot better than I thought I knew myself. My mission has taught me to trust God in everything. His plan is always better for us than ours. I knew there was a reason that I needed to come to Minnesota. When I came here, I was searching for it. I felt like I was helping people and fulfilling my purpose, but I wanted to see why I needed to come here to this specific mission at this specific time. When I had been out about 6 months, I had just become content with my purpose here. I felt like I had gotten a hang of everything and really learned to enjoy it. Then one night I got a phone call. It was President Forbes. He was asking me how familiar I was with Karen work and told me, “Don’t get preoccupied with this because I’m talking to a lot of other people as well.” A week went by and I had convinced myself that I would be okay with either option. I made a list of pros and cons of becoming a Karen missionary, and staying in English work. Then I got the second call. One of the AP’s called me and told me that President Forbes had felt like I should become the new Karen Sister. I was ecstatic, and scared out of my mind. My first day in Karen work, Sister Fine took me to Pee Haw Paw, a cute little Karen Grandma, to get my Karen name. We walked into this humble home and sat on the floor with her. I couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying, but I felt such a strong love for her and I felt a strong impression that this was the reason that I needed to come to Minnesota at this time. Since then I have met so many people that I feel like I have built strong relationships with and I have helped them strengthen their relationship with Christ. I don’t think God sent me here because he knew I would be able to pick up the language easily and speak well, because I still really struggle with it, but I know one of the reasons he sent me here is for the people I’ve been able to meet and the relationships I’ve built. Not only Karen people, but the missionaries I have been able to work with for such a long time as well. They have become some of my best friends. I’m so grateful for the friendships I have made with them. Especially my beloved companion Sister Hicks. She is the best friend I’ve ever had in my life and I’m convinced she’s the only person I could spend 24/7 with for 10 months. She has taught me so many valuable lessons. I know God put us together and I’m so glad! However, God also knew I needed to have other companions before I started in Karen work. Each of my companions taught me so much. Sister Ching was my companion right before I came to Karenland and she has become one of my best friends as well. We had all of the same weaknesses and struggles at the time and it was such a good learning experience for both us. We were able to help and support each other.

My whole mission has been God teaching me to trust in Him. Between freezing cold temperatures, learning a crazy language, and many other small things, I’ve learned the importance of trusting God 100% even when we feel like we can’t do it, He will always strengthen us in the midst of our trials. I’m so excited to see what else God has in store for me in this life and the next! I know that if I will do my best to continue to trust in Him and His plan for me, I will be able to continue to grow and progress throughout my life.

Last day with President and Sister Barney