Week 73: Snow!

  February 23, 2015

Friends & Family,

My goodness this week was crazy!!!! Nothing much happened so it might be short but.... 

So Monday it started snowing, that night we got a blizzard. 3-5 inches of snow. Not too bad, but we were not allowed to go out! A member ordered us a pizza, that was nice!!! For breakfast I made some yummy chocolate-chip , banana pancakes... SO YUMMY. :)  Then the next day Wednesday comes and we can drive. I was like what? Me? you want me to drive. I'm from Arizona. I can't drive in snow let alone... ICE. It wasn't fun snow, it just froze. It was awful. haha But don't worry mom, I am OKAY. I am a pro at driving in snow and ice. :) 

This week was good, our mission found out some good news.. WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE!!! I am so happy and excited to go to the temple! For the first time in 17 months! :) It is such a blessing and miracle. :) 

We got a new investigator, she is 11 years old and she is atheist. When we first met her I was excited to teach her, she is a cute girl! When she was talking to us I just cried inside...I feel so bad that she doesn't think God exist... at the age of 11. I want to help this girl!! At the end of our lesson her heart was softened a little. But it's just so sad!! 

I know that God exists. He is the reason we are here today!!! He created us and this beautiful world we live in!!! He Loves us and hears all of our prayers!! He is a powerful, loving, GOD!!!! 

I love this mission, it has changed my whole life!!! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord. TAMBIEN, estoy MUY agradecida por la oporutindad aprender espanol!!!!! :) Estoy muy feliz y agradecida por mi familia!!!! <3 

Nos vemos en 5 semanas!!! :) 

Hermana Brugman

Week 72

  February 16, 2015

Friends & Family,

This week was a very good week. God really does bless us every day. Something that we started to do, was everyday find a miracle in that day. Because every day there are miracles, sometimes we just don't see them. 

After all the hard, long, cold days we went knocking  on peoples doors to find investigators... WE FOUND 2 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!!! :) It was such an amazing day!!! 

Hermana Nyre & Hermana Brugman :)

This week all the sisters in the mission got together for a conference, it was the BEST. I just love all the sisters in the mission. Seeing sisters that I haven't seen since the beginning of my mission. It is kind of sad because I will not see these sisters again.. because I leave in 6 weeks... but... It was so fun and so spiritual.  Something that stuck out to me during this conference was how much Heavenly Father is really there for you. Even when times are hard, sad, or stressful. He is always there. There is a scripture in Revelations 3:20 it says, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I WILL come into Him, and WILL sup with him, and he with me." This scripture is so powerful. HE is waiting for us to open the door, to let him in. Sometimes I feel like we think we can do things on our own. But I know that if we humble ourselves and let Him in, our lives will be SO much better. Sometimes it's hard, but it's SO worth it. We need Him in our lives. WE CANT DO IT ALONE. So I thought and asked myself, what am I doing to let Him in my life? What more can I do, to let HIM in? 

Something else that I studied a lot this week was PRAYER. Sometimes I look back at my life and think.. WHY didn't I pray as much as I should? I knew it was important but I guess I didn't fully understand. My knowledge isn't perfect about it but it has definitely increased. Prayer is so essential. WE need it every day, multiple times a day. Its hard but once you get in the habit of it, it will become easier. A lot of the times you don't feel worthy, or maybe you aren't living the way you want... WHO CARES? Your Father in Heaven wants to hear from you. He loves you. He misses you. HE doesn't care, you are still his child. That is Satan telling you, "oh no, I don't deserve it, or you don't need to pray I can do it." Never give in to the idea that you are not worthy to pray. Don't listen to Satan, YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD!!!  A quote that I love so much is, "If you do not feel like praying, pray until you do feel like praying."  <3 

I gave my first talk in Spanish, it was GREAT. It went really well. I actually liked it. It was super nice, our branch president came up to me and said "I wish I could speak English as good as you speak Spanish." He is so nice!! I seriously love everyone here so much!!! :) 

ITS FREEZING COLD HERE.... Right now as I speak it is 16 degrees with WILD WIND. I feel like I'm going to blow away.. NO joke. haha. It is a little too cold for me... but oh well.. :) haha 

Well we didn't get transfer calls, so I will be staying in Virginia Beach to finish my mission, with Hermana Nyre. I am very excited. I really love this Spanish branch and all the people here!! I told the branch I will end my mission here and they said oh wow, Yay... we are going to throw a party! haha so I am excited for that.. :) Well, see you in 6 weeks... 

Have a great week, 

I love and miss ya'll! :) 

Hermana Brugman 

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Week 71: Time's Flying! :)

  February 2, 2015

Friends & Family,

I know that I've said this before, I don't  know about you guys but TIME IS FLYING!!! I really feel like all I do is go to church!!! haha It is starting to scare me just a little. I can't wait to come home but the other side of me is scared.. haha I love being a missionary. 

This week I did some Family History. For you that don't know what it is, go to familysearch.org. It's amazing. You get to find out more information on your family!!! :) I am addicted to it!!! It brings me so much joy. I love my family so much!!! AND don't know what I would do without it!!! :) 

Sometimes it is so hard to have patience... One thing that I have learned is whenever you are having a horrible day and you want to quit...Be grateful. I have started to look at the brighter side of things. Being patient is HARD. We all know that. But ALWAYS being humble and grateful for all that we have always helps me to recognize the love of God more in my life!! <3

So this week went by so fast, but I am not sure how because all we did was tract. We are in the need of investigators bad. We currently have one. She was going to be baptized on the 14... but she hasn't been to church in 3 weeks so we are going to postpone it. Which is fine. But makes me a little sad. She is so ready but if she can't come to church then it will be hard for her after she is baptized. After much prayers and fasting that's what we think is best. But she still wants to later. So Vamos a ver. 

So transfer calls are this Saturday. I am so curious if I will just stay here in this area for my last 6 weeks or move to a different place. I will let ya'll know next week.

I hope ya'll have a good week!!! 

Hermana Brugman

Hermana Evans, Hermana Mardis, Hermana Nyre, and Jaymee. :)

Week 70: It snowed! :)

 February 2, 2015

Friends & Family,

Time flies when you are doing missionary work. :) Seriously these past two week have just gone by so fast!!! I feel like it is always Sundays... haha I really can't even believe I have been out exactly 16 months today. I only have 8 weeks left and these are the most important weeks to finish with all I got and endure!! I love being a Missionary so much! It has taught me more than I can imagine... It has prepared me for the next steps in life.. and has taught me what really matters in life!!! :) It has changed my life forever!!! :) I love every moment of it, even the hard times.. 

So one night, I said jokingly, "Hey Hermana, what if we wake up and it snowed?" It was 45 degrees that day. We wake up and I screamed, "HERMANA LOOK, IT SNOWED!!!!!!" hahahaha, we start laughing. she didn't believe me, then she put her glasses on and looked and was like what?? No one knew it was going to snow. CRAZY. It was great. So it just snowed a random 2 inches at the most. FUNNY. 

So our investigator got her interview for baptism!!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR HER!! we hope that this goes through. She is amazing. I am so excited! February 14, 2015. :)

There is this little girl in my branch!!! (They know Spanish) She just got baptized!!! I seriously love her so much!!! I gave her  a CTR ring in Spanish and a few other things!!!  I just love her so much, she is a smart, beautiful, funny, spiritual girl!!! She reminds me a lot of my BEAUTIFUL NIECES!!!! whom I love so much!!!

Well I love this area so much and I love all the people here!! They make me so happy!!!! I am learning a lot right now. Some days are better than others but guess what.. that's life.. :) I love this gospel and I know it is true!!!! <3 

Thank you for everything ya'll do for me!!! I love and miss ya'll!!! <3 

Hermana Brugman