Sister Kelsey Rook: Nebraska Omaha Mission: October 2017

October 30, 2017

I'm coming home, I'm coming home... tell the world i'm coming home...!

Hi Fam!!!

This week was so incredible and always full of miracles, the Spirit, and everything else that you could imagine! It is just an absolute miracle being a missionary! I cannot believe that I fly home on Thursday.... I admit... I have had some freak out sessions... but I'm just going to say that is a normal thing for me to do! I hope y'all have had a great week this past week! I am so excited to hear all about it!

Alright, I honestly have no idea what to say with this being my last time to email y'all. All I know is how grateful I am for all of you and for everything that y'all have done for me. I am so incredibly grateful for the support you have given me and for the letters and emails and packages and everything else! I am grateful for the memories that I have, and the things I have experienced while out here in Nebraska. I know that my mission was and is handpicked for me so that I could learn and grow and become the human that God needs me to be. My mission is already the foundation for the rest of my life and I know that without my mission I would not have grown or changed like I have in these past 18 months. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a way of life- it is something that we need to be living every single day, not just on Sundays. It is the most simplest way to have joy in our life and for us to change. It is definitely not the most easiest thing to live but it is so much more worth it. It guides us and protects us- it is the quickest way for the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion. Fam, I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon so stinkin much! This is the way to come closer to our Savior because it testifies of Him on every single page. Every time I study it, I am changed because of the truths that are taught. I am so incredibly grateful for the time I had to be set apart as a full time missionary, and I know that my service does not end here, but it is just beginning! Now I have the opportunity to serve those all around me and specifically my family now and my future family and helping them return to my Father in Heaven's presence! I know that Heavenly Father has a specific plan for each one of us and the gospel is the way for us to follow his plan! I am so incredibly grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and all that he has done for me and all that he continues to do for me. I know that the only way I can show my love for him and my Heavenly Father is by following them and expressing my gratitude for them!

I am so grateful for everything! I guess this would be a gratitude email because that is all I am doing! haha I am so grateful for each one of y'all and all you have done for me! Please let me know if I can ever do anything for anyone! I love y'all so much!!! Y'all are the best!!!

Love,

Sister Rook

P.S. My Homecoming will be on the 26th of November! I would love to see any and all of you there!! I love you!

We carved pumpkins on P-day!! It was pretty fun!

Let me clarify... Hammie basically taught me how to carve a pumpkin! haha

The end results!

It was SO COLD on Tuesday! I about died!

Five minutes of fun?

We had to get pumped up for finding... So I made Hammie take pictures with me haha

Another random selfie of my cute comp and I

Us at "Sisters" Cafe... get it... we're sisters hahaha

Sister Tracy!!!!

Fall Festival!!

We were each other! Surprise!!

This is Warren. He is my favorite little dude!

Quick shout out to my BroBro Scott! I love you mucho!!

This is me holding a package of happiness from my mom!!!

I had to take a selfie!!

Last District Meeting!! AHHHH!!!!

Of course we had to do a funny face.... I feel like this describes everyone pretty well!

We went to Wendy's after d-meeting!

This is the Klodnicki Fam!! I love them!!

This is the Hinckley Fam!! They are the bomb!

Our investigators Kylie and Kyle!!

A little sneak peek of how I get ready everyday hahaha

These ladies are my absolute favorite!! This is Sister Mitchell on the Left and Sister Gamper on the Right

Five minutes of fun!

Another selfie! Yay!

October 23, 2017

Week of Miracles!!! Plattsmouth Sisters:1..... Satan:0

Hi Family!!!!

Wow. I don't even know how to describe this week- it was absolutely crazy and incredible and everything else combined into one week! There were so many miracles every single day, if Heavenly Father's hand was in my life last week it was most definitely in my life this week!

So with Felicia being baptized on Saturday we wanted to make sure we saw her every single day, and that the lessons we had with her were so powerful! We had to go through all the lessons with her which is the fastest I have ever gone through them before! We knew Satan was going to do everything he could to prevent her from being baptized, and he almost did! It was super crazy!

Monday: We went over the "big commandments" I guess you could say. We taught Felicia the Law of Tithing and Fasting, Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity. We had Sister Christensen with us and it was incredible fellowship! It was so awesome to see how excited Sister Ferrell was to live these commandments and the testimony that she already had from living them!

Tuesday: We taught her the Plan of Salvation in Sister Meneses' home. The spirit was so strong and it just gave her the extra comfort and strength that she needed throughout this week knowing that this is part of the plan that God has for her. She has been pretty stressed out with 2 boys (Thomas is 3 and Jacob is 2, and then she is pregnant with Cheryl and her due date is Nov 1) so her life has been super crazy and hectic and the boys were being more crazy than usual. So the Plan of Happiness was absolutely perfect for her!

Wednesday: We taught Felicia the Gospel of Jesus Christ and her husband Cliff was there! We also had a team up with us and she provided some incredible insight to them. Cliff was participating so much- he knows that he needs to be baptized and that the church is true- he just wants to really know if the Book of Mormon is true... and so he has decided that he is going to do an in depth study of it when he is deployed to Greenland for a year... we are still working on him though! We could tell Felicia was super stressed out with life and everything else, and that this lesson was what she and Cliff needed to hear!

Thursday: We taught the Restoration with Felicia, we watched the Restoration video. We tried so hard to get a team up with us this day- we had called at least 10 people and no one was available to come with us. Little did we know before the lesson that if we had had a team up, Felicia would not have opened up to us like she had. She told us that everyone in her family was trying to convince her to postpone the baptism, her kids have been so unusually tough this week and she didn't know if she could do it. She was so stressed out. We testified so powerfully of the Book of Mormon and how it could truly help her with her family if she had daily family prayer and scripture study. Sister Hamner and I decided we were going to fast for Felicia in the morning so hat she could have the strength to be baptized on Saturday.

Friday: We did a Book of Mormon read with her, we read 3 Nephi 11. It was so powerful! She later came to tell us that she had actually texted her mom around 1am saying she wanted to cancel the baptism and everything else that was going on... her mom responded to her telling her to say a prayer and to not postpone it- that this was the one thing in her life that was going to help her get through this. She knew that even though she was super frustrated when she texted that, that she needed to be baptized. And then she told us that she did family prayer and scripture study this morning and that it was the most peaceful that she had felt all week long! She knew that that was the reason she had a peaceful day!

Saturday: Felicia was able to be baptized! She told us that after we had left on Friday Cheryl was so active and she was having the worst contractions, but the good news is... she didn't have her baby yet and she was able to be confirmed on Sunday! The ward members did everything! We showed up about an hour early for the baptism and there was nothing that we could do because it was already done! The Plattsmouth Ward members are absolutely incredible!!

Sorry this is so long, but on Tuesday we also met with Kylie and Kyle and we really felt prompted that we needed to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we were a little confused because they needed to be taught the restoration and plan of salvation and everything else, but we followed the prompting and it was awesome! Kylie was crying through the whole thing and it completely pierced her heart.

This week was absolutely incredible! So many more miracles happened but this is already super long so I am so sorry! It strengthened my testimony so much knowing that Heavenly Father has provided people who are ready to make covenants with him. It also helped me to recognize that Satan is truly working 24/7 and he is doing all he can to make these people stop progressing, so we have to be doing all we can and more to help these investigators become strong and converted.

Well that is pretty much it! Sorry it is super long again! Thank you for all you do and have done! You are the absolute best! I love you so much! Have the best week possible!!

Love,

Sister Rook