Best Week of My Mission So Far - Week 21 Update

Brooke's email:
brooke.gertsch@myldsmail.net

Okay Yes, partly because I got to Skype my favorite people yesterday for Mother’s Day.  But I also was blessed with such an amazing week full of countless amazing experiences.  There wasn’t a day that went by where we didn’t feel God’s hand leading us to knock on certain doors or visiting specific less-active members.  I have such a testimony that if you push through and endure the hard times, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  Great things come to those who wait!  And I know that the good times will not last forever and you will have to go through another tunnel, but that’s when you live in the now and enjoy today!  And yes, I am just full of cliche’s but they are definitely cliche’s that just so happen to be true!  

Anyway, so this week was solid. Every lesson we had went really good, we had a lot of people let us in from tracting, and just enjoyed ourselves and were happy while out working.  I think, actually I KNOW,  that’s the secret to it all; TO BE HAPPY.  And to be WILLING.  If you are both of those things, the Spirit will be with you and you will be able to accomplish great things!

Okay so a spiritual experience I had this week was when we had a program with this very Catholic man.  I don’t know if I have talked about him before, but every time when we would meet, he does the reading we ask him to read in the Book of Mormon, but then when it comes to discussing it, he goes into debate mode.  So when this week came around, I was very hesitant and confused as to why we were continuing to meet with him if he was not going to progress.  So I prayed about it and hoped we would figure out what to do once we met… Boy was my prayer answered!  So we went in planning to talk about Family History work because he is very interested in history and stuff.  

First, we had to go over Heavenly Father’s plan and about the family (it’s my absolute favorite thing to talk about because I have the strongest testimony about it!) The Senior Couple, The Howell’s, had also accompanied us and found a great Mormon Message video to go along with the lesson.  I had not watched it beforehand, which probably would have been a good idea!  It was a simple video, with a little girl singing “Families Can Be Together Forever” and the Spirit just hit me like a huge wave and I started bawling like a baby!  Because my family is the most important thing to me on this planet.  And I always feel so incredibly blessed when I think about each and every person I get to call family.  My companion nudged me and told me to go from there and I tried my absolute best to pull myself together, but it was no use.  Once the video was over, I shared a simple testimony about families and how lucky we are to have the chance to live with them forever and be able to do work for those who have already left this life.  The greatest part, was that I was not the only one crying like a baby!  The man we were teaching also had tears in his eyes, and in that moment I honestly believed we connected over our love for our families.  The Spirit was so strong during the lesson and I did not want it to end!  But I guess he really felt something too, because he came to church yesterday!!!  It’s the littlest things that can affect you in the long run.  I know that for a fact!  

With the talk of families, I got to Skype my family and I was so shocked at how strong I was when I had to end the calls.  Being away from them has been the hardest thing for me, but sacrificing only 13 more months to go serve the Lord and help the people in Hungary is well worth the wait!  

Love you all, and hug your family and never take them for granted!  They are the best gift God has given us.

Love you Lots!

Gertsch Nover