Irmã Brooks.: Oy com os caes ja! (Oy with the poodles already!) -GG

TIME IS FLYING BY!!! TRAVEL PLANS CAME TODAY!!!! I'M LEAVING ON APRIL 2 AT 2:25 PM!!!!! CAFE RIO WILL BE OPEN AND I WILL BE ABLE TO GET A LARGE FOUNTAIN DC!!! EEEE MILAGRES!!! AH!!! AND THEN I'LL BE IN PORTUGAL ON APRIL 3RD!!! I AM SO SO SO EXCITED!!!! Oh my goodness, I cannot believe how time has flown, but I am SO excited!!

Speaking of....ONE MONTH DOWN!!! We only have to do it 17 more times!! We got this fam. We got this. Also--I've been one month without shopping or baking. So, let's all write this one down for the books.

Okay, this week. Let's see. So much happens, and yet nothing at all, but I AM SO HAPPY!!! I am just so happy to be here and to be learning and growing and I cannot wait to go and serve the people of Portugal. It's hard to really be able to express love here, because then it's considered as like boy/girl flirting and things of that nature, but I can't wait to be able to tell everyone how much I love them again. Seriously. Who knew? Me? Never. I think I say, " I have a heart full of love" about twelve hundred times a day. But seriously, God is SO good. And we are all His children and he just loves us so much and it makes me so happy and I am such a sister missionary. YIKES.

Sister Jackson and I may or may not have discovered that we've been assigned to the same area this week!!! We did that really dramatic grab each other's hands and fan our faces as we almost cry thing that girls do. But we are actually SO excited. She said she'd take the bullet for all my future companions and just stick with me forever so no one else has to put up with me. I mean..I'm fine with that. Okay, no but really, I am SO excited! I hope we're roommates at least! I'm not on the coast, but that's okay, I'm sure I will be. And I'm in the heart of Lisbon, so I can't complain. Sister Jackson and I may have discovered that we are the same person this week. So, after we found out about the Veronica Mars movie, we quickly started scheming our post-mission VM marathon. Then we got scared that they're going to make the movie and ruin it because they have these ideas in their head, but no one likes Piz and we all know Veronica and Logan need to end up together--ANYWAYS. She said, "The problem is, they think of their characters as real people, I think of them as my friends." HAHAH YES. See mom, I'm not alone. Other people think of tv show characters as their friends too. THEN, someone was talking about their cat when it needs attention, and she goes, "Yeah, sometimes I nuzzle people when I need attention or affection too." NUZZLE!! I AM NOT ALONE! And you all thought I was crazy. Nuggling is a real thing! :)

Mom, remember how you said Jessica had to prepare a talk every Sunday? Well, yeah...we do too. And this Sunday, when they called Sister Brooks from the pulpit, I about had a heart attack. Good thing I'd written something, but a 5 minute talk in Portuguese? Yikes. I think it went surprisingly well, but only because the majority of our zone is new and couldn't understand half of what I was saying. So....that was fun. On the upside, I don't have to plan for any more. Check that one off the list.

On Tuesday, a group of Russians left, and apparently they do this thing called knock-out in the cafeteria before a big group of any of them leave. Well, basically they get all of the "Russians" to eat all of the cereal out of all of the bins before they leave. The line was wrapped all around the cafeteria and out the door and all the boys had bowls on bowls on bowls of cereal on their trays. Apparently they've only ever finished 6 and so they had a goal to finish 8 and the most bowls ever eaten were 14 or something absurd. It was the funniest (proving how much even the slightest change can bring such joy into our lives.) SIster Jackson and I just kept shouting "Das Vidaaaayna!" and "Saw hello to Gran-Mama!" in true Anastasia fashion, since...yeah that's all I know about Russia. They finished 9. So, that was the gossip around these parts for a few hours.

Speaking of gossip, I like to spread rumors that the prophet is coming. But I mean, anything's possible. Plus, it's almost Easter. Last week in choir, we heard that there was a special person coming, and since there are 12 million people here now (actually it's crazy how I've seen it explode just since I've been here) and there are only so many seats for choir, we were told to get there early. Well, people were lined up on the steps waiting for hours to be let in. Not the prophet. BUT. We were filmed for some in between conference special thing, so...look for me? What can I say? The camera loves me. Brincas.

We hosted this week too! It was so fun/a super nice change of pace from our all day studying sessions. And I got to be with Sister Stewart and Sister Taylor for longer! It was SO nice to be able to see how far I've come and to be able to say that I've already been here for a month. A whole month! Suckersss. Just kidding. Kind of. Is that bad? Oops.

Okay, okay, I just want you all to know that I LOVE YOU SO SO MUCH!! I pray for you all everyday. You all mean the world to me, and I feel so SO blessed to have you in my life. I know that God loves us all so much, and He knows each of us individually. I know He wants us to be happy, and I know He knows our trials and our struggles, but He can comfort us if we just turn to Him and rely on Him and His timing. Mosiah 2:41. That's my scripture for the week. Ee! God is SO good, and we are sooo blessed!

I don't feel like running away anymore, but thank you for the helicopter option Dad :) And plus, I'm running away to Portugal in 10 days, SO...try and stop me. Actually, don't. I am SO excited! I LOVE YOU ALL SO SO SO SO MUCH!! YOU'RE THE BEST FAMILY AND FRIENDS ANYONE COULD EVER HAVE!

xoxo,

Sister Brooks

Okay, so....last week, I got really sad because it's been a WHOLE month since I've done any baking. So...I took my crumbles of cookie left from the chocolate chips I'd eaten out of it, smashed them together, and made little cookie dough balls on my tray and pretended like it was my baking sheet. Desperate times call for desperate measures. In the words of Sister Jackson, "Today, I shared a cookie with my tray." I think it's the funniest thing I've ever done. bahahahah