Tidbits from online chatting with Brooke

I know this looks super lame, but it really isn't! This is a picture of "sapo the gato" We found him tracting. This guy was standing outside of his house and we started talking to him and 5 minutes later I walked away with this toilet paper holder shaped like a cat! (: haha

I didn't write you yesterday because we had a General Authority come to our mission so our Pday is today instead! (: The one that came was Elder Corbridge, he actually spoke in General Conference. You should read his talk. It was really great. But yeah, he came to our mission and it was such a good meeting. Sorry about my letter last week. I was so busy with transfers and all that I didn't get it in the mail until the next Saturday! hah Lo siento!(: 

Did that guy give you his toilet paper holder?

hahahahahahah No. He made a ton of them and just gave one to us because he was moving. hahahah 

No pictures of you this week?  

 I didn't take any. It was a busy week. Im really trying to get this area going hahah It's been slooooww here for a while but I am trying to get some work going. 
  

Only 10 1/2 more months! 

I'm proud of myself too because I haven't even gotten fat yet and that is a surprise because they feed us soooo much! haha

What do you do for exercise? During your exercise time?

Yeah I get up early so I have enough time to workout good. haha And I do like intervals with jogging, sprinting, and like resistance training such as pushups and planks and stuff. 

Does your companion do it too?

 She doesn't like getting up early but she goes out there with me and does some jogging and walking usually. 
  
Emily mentions she runs out of money for food. How are you doing?

 Sometimes I do but that's because I buy a lot of other stuff too. I don't just buy food usually. I'm doing pretty good right now I think. 

But anyways... I have to go now. My time is almost up. Love you Mom! (: 

Tenga una buena semana(:

1st transfer

This is my old bedroom! hah Mine is the bed with the black flowers(:

Is this dog not the cutest dog everrrr? I love him. His name is Winston(:

I know this looks weird of me but I just want everyone to know that sister missionaries in the South have thee cutest bikes ever! (:

Downtown Loudon(: Voy a extranar a Loudon!

Best sign ever! I finally took a picture of it like the day I left Loudon. The Elders made this sign like 4 or 5 months ago and I loved it so much I had to get a picture!

The other side of it. (:

This is the old study room down in my beloved Loudon!

1st letter this week: 

Hola, Another week! Holey Moley! I am really so confused on how it is already October, but whatevs I guess. Does time go by this fast in real life? Just wondering because it's starting to scare me. haha

Well conference was this week and wow. It gets better and better every time I watch it. We are so blessed. Want to know what my thoughts were the whole time?? Well... to sorta preface my thoughts... they kinda go along with Uchtdorfs talk and this guys conversion story I heard. He said, " I don't want to be a Mormon" 
Wake up call everyone- living the gospel is hard and most people aren't willing to it. Also, people (at least in the South) go to church and listen to their Preacher tell them that we are a cult and to stay away from us. Why would you want to walk around with the churches name taped to your chest or even have the courage to express membership?? he said, "I don't want to be a Mormon... but why are we?? Because it's true."
Hello! It really is true. The blessings are really and truly there. It's amazing. I am so grateful to be part of this church. How blessed we are to have a prophet- the mouthpiece of God.

Also, Sunday morning we were driving over to the Elder's casa to pick them up for Conference and every single church that we passed (besides the Seventh-day Adventists haha) had full parking lots and we pulled up to the parking lot to our little humble  church and we were the only car there. If those Baptists, Methodists, etc, only knew that THE prophet of God was speaking they would do anything to go there. Truly, how great is our work. Bringing them to the truth. Anyways, sorry for that missionary soapbox. Sometimes I can't help myself. haha 
LOVED CONFERENCE! 

P.S. The Lord has truly tested my patience this week, There is this Elder where I am serving with a lot of "different" philosophies about missionary work and the rules and stuff. Let me tell you... I have only raised my voice once and I am proud of myself (: haha

P.S.S. Big News! I almost forgot to tell you! GUESS WHAT??? I am getting transferred for my very first time. I am so sad to leave Loudon but I completely trust that it is what the Lord wants. I am very scared though. I feel like I'm going to a brand new mission or something. Estoy nerviosa :/

2nd letter: October 14th

Well this week has been very different for me. I actually got transferred for my very first time! It was so crazy, I'm telling you. So now guess where I am?? Sevierville! It's super loco. 
My new companion is freakin awesome too (: I love her and her name is Hermana Horrocks. She is from Bountiful, Utah and I just don't even know what to say... oh yeah. She is one of those "sporty girls" haha. She is super good at sports.

So we live with these miembras called the House's and that is pretty different. The house we live in is an old farm house built in the 1800's and so its super like "southern slave" material. It's crazy. And awesome. 

It's really weird because right now in the area we didn't have any investigators. Like none. So I am working super hard just to find new investigators... Someone to teach! haha And my comp has been here for 12 weeks and hasn't exactly had any investigators or baptized anyone so we have a lot of work to do. Also, she just got done being trained so I really want to help her to have more faith in the area and la obra misional.

Anyways, I'm really excited to be here.(:  My Spanish has also been improving too because we actually have Spanish members and all of my district is Spanish so it's fun to actually speak Spanish and have people understand me. haha

Tengan una buena semana!! Hermana Bateson

We went to this old "cotton mill" or whatever it's called and when we showed up after riding our bikes like three miles to get there.. this was all it was. haha BUT it was still a little fun.

This was about 5 minutes before I, Brooke Bateson, put my foot in the Tennessee River. It was pretty gross but I had to do it, just to say I did it. (:

I have had such a good week! Being a missionary RULES THE WORLD! haha This week we got to go down to Farragut and go to the La reunion de Sociedad de Socorro. (Relief Society Meeting) It was amazing! I will tell you, the second the Prophet stood up and started to address us, I felt the Spirit so strongly. I know he is the prophet of God on the earth today and just knowing that is such a blessing. I loved what he said about prayer. All he said was, "Remember Prayer" and it was just so profound. Best night of the mission for sure. Plus, the women in Tennessee have such big hearts, I love spending time with them. 
(:

NEWS FLASH: Sister Bateson had her first Spanish investigator at church yesterday!!! It was soooo sweet! I was so happy to see her come. It was our fast Sunday and I was able to go and dar (give) my testimony en espanol and it was just a neat experience to be able to do that. (: (: 

Also, I'm starting to get better at this whole "Bible belt" Tennessee thing. I mean, I wouldn't exactly call it "Bible bashing" but kinda in a sweet little sister missionary way. haha  I have put a lot of trust in Heavenly Father's promise that if you bare sincere testimony you will not be confounded before men. And the Lord keeps his promises. I have never once had my testimony be put down and for that I am grateful. But really and truly, these people need to know the truth and that's what we have so I am just doing everything I can to let them know what we have. ** okay missionary soapbox moment** haha

SECOND NEWS FLASH: Sister Bateson was asked to give a training ( for hose that don't know what that is, it's basically when missionaries teach other missionaries) at Zone Conference on Friday! Ummmm... Hello! Are you loco?? Haha I definitely should not be up there training other missionaries. haha I still feel brand new at this! More on that next week... I will tell you how it goes! haha 

LOVE YOU ALL!               Hermana Bateson

P.S. Shout out to all the kids in Daybreak 2nd ward who wrote me! I hope they call me on a mission...

Spanish Conference

Como estan ustedes? So as for my adventures this week...

1) We had a Spanish Conference this Saturday. It was literally the best thing of my life, no joke. It was cool to actually be with Spanish speaking missionaries. haha Also, I got to chill with Elder Antaleo who is strait-up from Chile and he basically answered every question I had. It was dee best. (:

2) Today was pretty fun because we actually did something cool on P-day. haha We went on a bike ride down the river which was bea-u-tiful! (: Oh, and I stuck my foot in the Tennessee River! I mean, who can say they have done that?? I can!! haha We also went to this old cotton mill place which sounds a lot cooler than it actually was but still! I'm just proud of us for actually getting out and doing something other than just sitting around in the mission office and eating brownies. haha 

3) Some lady while we were tracting literally said this to us. Oh wait let me reenact this for you... *knock* 
Us: Hi! How are you today?
Girl: What do you want? *dog bark*
Me: Oh that's a cute dog you have there! What kind is it? Is she nice? *dog barks more*
Girl: It's a pitbull and no, What do you want?
Me: Oh well were just missionaries  from the Church of Jesus Chri...*and more*
Girl: If you don't leave I'm gonna let her out on you... 

Anyways... I was like are you serious lady??? Some people these days...haha Good times in Loudon County everybody....haha

Alrighty.. No tengo mucho tiempo. Hasta Luego!  I Love You! Hermana Bateson

Practicing Spanish

I went on exchange to Knoxville again and check out this picture this lady had on her fridge! (: Hilarious!!

We keep it real in Tennessee(: Just kidding... I just like this sign thing. I seemed old and vintage and I was bored sitting in the car.

Esta semana paso muy rapida. Como ustedes pueden ver, estoy trabajando en mi Espanol. Lo siento si ustedes no pueden entenderlo. Es porque yo necesito practicar! Aunque esta semana paso rapida estaba bien. Yo aprendi mucho. Yo fui a Knoxville para exchanges otra vez...estuvo bien, pero me extrande a Loudon. Loudon es mejor que todos otras lugares! Pienso que pronto voy a ser transferred. pero esta bien porque yo estoy aqui ahora. 
(This week went by fast. As you can see, I working on my Spanish. I'm sorry if you guys can't understand it. It's because I need to practice. Although this week went by fast it was good. I learned a lot. I went to Knoxville on exchange again.... It was good but I miss Loudon. Loudon is better than all the other places! I think I'm going to be transferred soon, but that's okay because I'm here now.)

Okay enough with the Spanish... I have to hurry here. I don't know if I told you this already but I officially started reading the Bible. I figured since I'm in the "Bible Belt" I should probably do that considering we "Bible - bash" like everyday- it's ridiculous.

 So let me say something... The other day (Saturday to be exact) we had like perfect weather. The humidity was like at 5% or something and the sky was blue with a nice light breeze. It was wonderful.(:  It made me miss Utah!!!

The church is true!! Hermana Bateson

I ate crab!!

This is of me pretending to eat crab. hahaha It was so funny because I ate a piece the size of a pea but they all wanted me to take a picture like I was eating the whole thing! And let me clear this up, I would never... never, eat crab.

This one is called "The meal of Shame" haha They made me a burger last night because I didn't want to eat their seafood. hahah I thought it was a good burger. (:

This one is my companion and I the day we got our "crazy Johnny's Gym" hats. What an honor. haha

Como estan? Espero que ustedes tengan una buena semana! Yo ha estada practicando espanol mas porgue necesito apprender mas rapido.  haha Yo apprendo slow. Entonces... nothing to spectacular happened this week expect for one of our investigators vino a la iglesia! Finally someone came to church!! Tambien, El quiere que ser baptizado! Estoy feliz!!(:

Guess what though? Craziest thing of my entire life! Sister Bateson ate crab! I totally ate fish for my very first time!! The piece was like the size of a pea but still, I ate it. It took only like an hour and a half to convince me. haha Then Bro. Cziep took like a billion pictures of me after cuz he was so proud! hahaI'm still in shock.

I have been learning mucho though. I am so grateful to be a missionary even though sometimes it is hard. 

Oh ya... my bike is doing good by the way. haha Just in case you were wondering. I plan on being super fit in like a few weeks. haha  I hope everybody is doing well(:

This past week was one of the hardest on my mission so far.

This was the day Elder Becker and Elder Huffaker left Loudon. I tried to get them to be normal for once but obviously, they couldn't. haha  They are trying a little too hard to be "strong" or "buff" or whatever it is they do these days! haha Miss them!!

These are my two best friends... and they left me :(

This is the most southern license plate ever. I just can't even handle it. haha

The wallpaper in this bathroom. Do I need say more??

Hmm lets see.. I wish I could lie and say this week was super-awesome and a fun filled adventure... but I can't. This past week was one of the hardest on my mission so far. Some of my complaints are (but not limited to):

1. We had to ride bikes with helmets...gross.
2. We didn't have a car.
3. We tracted for 13 hours- Did you know we're a cult now?? haha wow I just absolutely LOVE getting the door slammed in my face... not.
4. Spiders ( not Utah spiders... like real spiders) are literally taking over the South. We kill like 3,000 a day, the bushes look like Christmas trees because of webs, one actually landed on my head when we were walking up to this one door- you can imagine me running around their yard flipping my head around like a cray person, very next house... a spider literally jumped at my face. I screamed bloody murder. I'm so glad nobody was at home. haha Okay enough about spiders... I think you get the point. I hate them. But really.
5. Oh... the humidity. Might as well not even dry off after my morning shower.
6. We got locked out for like an hour a few nights ago. I bawled. I think that was the first time I told my companion I wanted to go home:(    ..... Don't worry I'm fine now (:  
7. So Loudon and Lenoir City are separated by a river and so LC High School and Loudon played last Friday. Loudon lost:( No estaba feliz.


OKAY... ENOUGH. Guess what? Even though it was a rough week I did learn a TON! Ether definitely has got it right in Ether 12:6!  

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that ^afaith is things which are ^bhoped for and ^cnot seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no ^dwitness until after the ^etrial of your faith.

Finally, Saturday night we were able to find a few new investigators.  The Lord doesn't forget about us. He just doesn't. Even when we think he does. He doesn't.

 Plus, we were able to find the best, I mean best Mexican food  down in Farragut. It's called the "Taco Truck". Let me tell you, they have Quesadillas that are to die for! And the guys all think I'm cool cuz I can speak Spanish. (sorta haha)

Anyways... I know this is super scattered and random BUT I love you!

Hermana Bateson