Pai Celestial loves me.

Porque.....I spent Valentine´s Day traveling 8 hours from Porto to Lagos. Yup. God is sooooo good. And He really does answer prayers!! Im in the Algarve. Im in the lowest part in Portugal. The sun is shining. The beach is beautiful. I'm not wearing a jacket. I literally feel like I am in paradise. I have never been happier. I actually can't stop saying that. When we were walking around on the beach today, I kept putting my hand over my heart, because I just felt like it was going to explode with so much happiness. The beach really is my home. Oh, I am sooo happy.

So...Thursday night, President called me and said he was moving my transfer up two weeks and that I would be leaving the next morning to go to the Algarve and serve with Sister Blanco. You guys dont know this, but this is actually my dream come true. Sister Blanco is Brazilian and the most loving, sweet, incredible missionary I have ever met. She is literally the absolute sweetest and most patient and funny and spiritual and normal and just everything I could ever want to be. We've talked a lot about how missionary work is really just about loving everyone as Jesus would, and ohhh my, does she have a heart full of love. I am sooo excited to be here and to work with her and to just thrive. Also, I don't even have to explain why Lagos is my dream come true.

Lagos is a ramo...branch, and I have never had the opportunity to work in a branch in my mission, so I am soo excited to be here. Oh the members here are incredible. They do soo much. They are so strong. It really is so amazing to me. There is this lady, Nelma, that makes us lunch and dinner every day. Considering I have never really taken dinner in my mission, its a bit different, but Im happy about it. She is incredble. She is actually a little crazy, but she is hilarious and she makes me happy and makes me feel loved and we all know how much I need that. Also, we have a missionary couple that is serving here as branch president, so that will really make a big difference and be a huge help too. Oh, I am just so excited to feel good again and be working in the beautiful area with these beautiful people.

Also, our ward mission leader is this absolutely adorable girl that is the Portuguese version of Sarah Darby and I am obsessed with her. Slash sooo excited to have a lider de obra missionaria again. So sooo happy.

The work here is actually incredible. Maybe it is just because my comp is so incredible. But we are working with so many people and so many families. And Sister Blanco is reallyyy amazing with seeing people as how they can become. Literally, she is so inspirational to me.

Also, the funniest thing happened in Porto this week. We were teaching this lady and she calls us ´Elderzinhas.´ Ohhh I die. Little Elder girls. Maybe it isnt as funny to you, but I was dying laughing. She goes on and on and on about how we are all little photocopies of one another and all the Elders are ´giro´ and I am just dyinggg laughing. Thennn she told us how she watched a documentary and totally believes in meremaids, but not Adam and Eve. So...ahahah. She is incredible though and I just know her and her family will accept the gospel and be so blessed.

It was so hard for me to leave Porto and all the people I had grown to love there over the last 6 months, but I am sooooo happy to be here in Lagos. I am so happy to be able to wake up every day and run on the beach and just to walk around in the sunshine all day. Also, there is soo much work to be done here and so much culture and life and I just...I feel rejuvinated and so happy and sooo ready to work. This gospel is so good. And maybe I do like it even better when I get to tell people about it and see the ocean in the background. God really is so good. And I know He blesses us de acordo com nosso necessidades. He knows up better than we know ourselves and He really does give us mountains to climb, but He also wants us to enjoy the view. Oh, I am sooo Miley Cyrus right now. But that was what our sacrament meeting was all about yesterday, and also, Im kinda obsessed with that Efy song now (because I'm a missionary... I knowww), and it just really is true. The Lord needs us to grow and become better and stronger and become who He has prepared us to be. Oh, I am so grateful for the mountains He gives us, but I am also so grateful He gives us rest spots along the way, and mine just happens to be here in Lagos :)

I love you all soooooo much. You have my whole heart. I hope you are all as happy as I am, because the whole world deserves to be this happy. I love you I love you I love you.

xoxo

Sister Brooks

KC--- HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND HAPPY BAPTISM!!!! I AM SOOO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! This is the very best decision you could make and I hope it is just the absolute happiest day. I wish I could be there soo badly, but know that I am there in spirit and that it´s really just about you and Heavenly Father anyways. I love you my beautiful little princess.