Saying Goodbye in Utah Before Entering the MTC

Ellen and Heidi

Ellen and Grandpa Jack

Ellen and Grandma Nancy

2nd Week at the MTC a.k.a. I'm already losing my English!

Querida Familia e Amigos! 

Oi! Como esta! Ah! I cannot believe I have only been in the MTC for sixteen days, it seriously feel like I have been here forever! Well, here is the first bit of exciting news for this week...Last sunday one of our Sister Training Leaders had finished her six weeks in the MTC and was reassigned to Colorado, in our zone or branch our branch president does this interesting thing were the Sister Training Leaders are staggered every two weeks, so that there is always a senior sister training leader. Guess who the new sister training leader is for the next four weeks! Yes, that would be me! I am the new sister training leader for the 52nd Branch in the MTC and oh my do I feel overwhelmed! All of my spare time now goes to visiting all of the sisters in our branch, reporting to the Branch Presidency, and just helping the girls with anything they need, and now I have meetings early on Sunday morning! But, I am super appreciative of this calling and I know that the Lord will work through me to help these girls. I just feel so blessed that I get to spend my time helping and serving others these girls. We got new girls this week and it was so exciting! Sister Kron is my sister training leader companion, so we get to spend a lot of time together and she is just such an inspiration to me! She works so hard and just loves the girls so much! She is teaching me so much about how to be a leader, but also just how to love the people you are serving. 

This week has been so great and it has flown by so quickly! My companionship with Sister Haight and Sister Goodwin is going so well! Our Portuguese is definitely increasing, we have so much fun together, and we are really working hard when we need to! Our lessons keep improving with our investigators and I am really coming to love them and appreciate what they bring to our trio! Everyone says trios are so difficult, but I think they are the best kept secret ever! It´s so great to have three different, unique personalities that can offer ideas and can help in a lesson! We are kind of on an off week for our investigators, we are teaching our teachers who are pretending to be investigators, so it is great practice for teaching, but I do not feel as strongly motivated to teach. We do start teaching actual members of investigators tonight in TRC which will be crazy and super scary! We are teaching real people who have questions and concerns and we have to speak Portuguese the whole time! 

Also this last week my teachers had me teach alone just to see if I could do it. I felt so queasy and sick! They also challenged me to do it without notes and IT WAS A COMPLETE MIRACLE THAT I SURVIVED! It was 100 percent the Spirit working through me, but I actually did it! I taught a lesson by myself to investigators and I didn´t use notes at all! It is such a testimony to me that the Lord will bless you when you work hard, study hard, and are EXACTLY OBEDIENT! We also got to go to the Temple last week on Pday and it was so wonderful! The Spirit was so strong and I felt so much peace. The new video is super good too, so I encourage all family members to go and do a session, so you can see it! There is just so much more emotion! I loved it! 

I met with my teacher this week and he said I was progressing really well. I was grateful for his kind compliment because I have been working so hard to get the language down! It is still so stressful to speak in Portuguese when everything is so much easier in English, but i have faith that the Lord knew what he was doing when he had me learn a language! 

This last week, we sang Lead Kindly Light in the MTC choir at Tuesday night´s devotional and guess who spoke! It was Neil L. Anderson! We are so blessed to have apostles come and speak to us while we are at the MTC! I felt the Spirit so incredibly strongly when we got up to sing that song and the devotional was broadcast to all the other MTC´s around the world, how amazing! Elder Anderson talked about how we need to love what we sacrifice for and sacrifice for what we love. That makes so much sense especially with a mission! It started storming outside, so we had to run in a huge raining downpour back to the MTC from the marriot center, it was probably one of my favorite moments since coming to the MTC! 

I am already on my third week and I only have three more weeks! The time is going so quickly and I seriously feel like I have been gone forever, even though I haven´t been gone that long! In the Book of Mormon I am already to ALMA! Isn´t that a miracle! I have no idea how I have read so quickly, but again the Lord is here helping me to accomplish this goal! I can´t believe that I spend between fourteen and sixteen hours a day studying the gospel, Portuguese, and learning how to teach! I just feel like I have come into my own and that I am my best self as a missionary. I am working harder than ever before, I am more dedicated and disciplined, and I just gobble it all up! It´s seriously been amazing! I pray this feeling just stays with me my whole mission! 

Thank you again for everything and I am so grateful for the support and love! Please write dear elders or just letters, I do love getting mail! One of the highlights of my day! 

Com muito amor,

Sister Brotherson

I Made it to the MTC

I Made it to the MTC!

August 23, 2013

Querida Familia e Amigos! (Dear Family and Friends in Portuguese)

I finally have a P-day ( a preparation day, where we can do laundry and just prepare for the next week)! This has been the longest ten days of my life and I don't even know where to begin! The first four days that I was in the MTC were super difficult, I walk into class and my teacher Irmao Pinho, just starts speaking PORTUGUESE! I have never heard this language, so why was he speaking to me? Well, the first four days are super busy and tiring and emotional and you teach two lessons in Portuguese to a fake investigator, but somehow I made it through and I know without a doubt that the Spirit was my comforter in that time. 
Everyone says if you can make it to Sunday then you are just fine! I made it to Sunday and it was just the most spiritually rejuvenating day! I got to actually just learn about the gospel in English and prepare for the next week! These last five days have been the real MTC and I have really enjoyed it! The spirit is so strong here and I love being with thousands of other missionaries who are devoting 18 months or 24 months to the Lord. I know without a doubt that I am in the right place and doing the right thing. He has prepared people for me that I will teach and I will work as hard as I can, of that I have no doubt. 

I am in a trio, so I have two companions instead of just one. Turns out  that my original companion went to the Brazil MTC because she got her visa! My companions name's are Sister Haight and Sister Goodwin, they are both 19 and have done one year of school. They are both blond and have very similar styles of dress and personalities. Funny enough, as alike as they are, our trio works so well together and we all just love each other so much! We all work hard to prepare our lessons and to learn the gospel in Portuguese! I am also in a district with a bunch of 18 and 19 year old elders who at first seemed immature, but over the last week we have grown to really care about each other and we just laugh and laugh all the time together! During our study time, we are also really good at memorizing Portuguese together and really working hard to learn the language. 

Surprisingly, the language has come pretty easily. I am by no means fluent, but I speak pretty well and can understand a decent amount. The gift of tongues, absolutely! And maybe a slightly latent, natural ability to speak foreign languages? I should probably not jinx myself too much! But, I know without a doubt that the Spirit is helping me with the language, because I could not remember half of what I am learning now without the Spirit's help. 

We are teaching an investigator named Bruno. He is from Brazil, he believes in lots of churches, and he just wants to find God. The first two lessons were really difficult and we all felt like we couldn't teach or speak Portuguese or anything, but the third lesson it just all came together. I have never felt the Spirit so strongly while I was teaching, but we were teaching about the Restoration and Bruno asked a question which I answered and then he said, "Come?" which means How. He said how did Joseph Smith know. His eyes shattered into my soul. I knew in that moment that he needed us to testify, that he needed to feel the Spirit and that would be the only way he would know the church was true. The lesson didn't really matter, all that mattered was that he felt  the Spirit testify of the things I spoke. In probably very broken, demented Portuguese I bore my testimony of what I know to be true and how this gospel has blessed my life. I bore testimony of  the truthfulness of the gospel, of Joseph Smith, the restoration, and of the Book of Mormon. And that he could know for himself. After I spoke, both of my companions bore testimony and the Spirit was so amazingly strong in that little classroom! My companion had the sense to challenge him to baptism and he ACCEPTED! We were shocked and so excited and elated! We just had no idea what to do after that! I can say with my whole heart that the day someone accepts baptism is seriously the most humbling, heart-warming feeling I have had in my whole life. 

Going off that, I play a lot of volleyball during gym time, we try to speak Portuguese a lot, I study the gospel like crazy and have learned so much about what it means to have the  Spirit and to teach by the Spirit. Our Branch President challenged our branch to read the  Book of Mormon in six weeks, so I am totally doing that! It has been so neat to read it quickly and to feel the spirit testify of what I am reading! I am already in Jacob and it has only been ten days! I fully plan on finishing before the MTC ends! I also get to go the Temple today which will be such a blessing! 

I just want to say thank you so much for all of the support, love, and friendship I have recieved from all of you! It means so much to me! Keep the Dearelders and packages coming:) If you send me a Dearelder or a letter, I promise I will write you back! Getting letters and Dear elders in the MTC is one of the brightest parts of my day! 

Mom, thank you for all the pictures, loved them! And the tree especially :) I show pictures of my family to everyone here at the MTC! Oh, and my memory card won't load onto the computer, so you might want to look for my chord and send that to me if you want pictures, I'm super super sorry! 
I think that is all for now! Oh I can pray, testify, and introduce myself in Portuguese, so exciting! Here is the beginning of my testimony in Portuese :) 

Eu testifico que O livro de Mormon e verdadiero. Eu sei que Joseph Smith traduziu O livro de Mormon. Thomas S. Monson e uma profeta de Deus. Jesus Cristo  e Pai Celestial aman nos. Eu testifico que oracao ajuda-nos falar con Deus. Dues respotera nosso oracoes. Me amo isso evangelio con todos meu coracion. Grato por minha familia e que ellos tem ensinar meu. Grato for o templo and issa blecaoes. Eu sei que a igreja de Jesus Cristo e verdaderio. Eu sei, Eu vivo, Eu amo. Em de nome de Jesus Cristo, amen.

Love always, 

Sister Brotherson

ps. I will write more next week and by then I will only have three and a half weeks left in the MTC, so crazy! 

Off I go!

This is it my friends! I am off to the MTC and will be set apart tonight as a missionary! I cannot wait to serve teh Lord for the next 18 months!

If you want to write me from Dearelder.com, it is super easy and totally FREE! Then I don't have to use my email time to read all your emails, I could get actual letters from you which would mean so much to me! 

Just type in dearelder.com
Make an account, like your name and email address, so it's not too difficult.
Then you click on "Provo MTC-FREE" and you choose the "Write a Letter" option which is in a gray box.
Then put in your information, so that I know where to write you back!
Then you put in "Sister Ellen Brotherson"
I am Unit 133, so put that number in!
The mission code is not necessary!
The date that I leave the MTC is 9/24
And then you type the letter and hit submit!

This is seriously the best way to contact me, because I receive your letters within one day of you writing them! Alright, talk to you all later!

Also if you would like to write me or email me!

My email address is ellen.brotherson@myldsmail.net

My address in the MTC is 

Sister Ellen Bronwen Brotherson
SEP24 BRA-GOI
2009 N 900 E Unit 133
Provo UT 84602

I do not recommend sending me packages while I am in Brazil, but while I am in the MTC and in the States you are welcome to send me a package :) If you want to know how to send me a package, please facebook message me and my mom will give you the details!

Love you all!  Buhbye for now!

The answer FINALLY CAME!

Family and Friends!

Here is the next blog post telling you the rest of my story about my choosing to serve a mission! I left you with a cliff hanger because you didn't know what the end result was :) Except you probably did if you pay attention to Facebook at all, but this blog is more about HOW I decided to serve a mission and my adventures as a missionary.

So, last December 2012, I went home for Christmas after a lovely few months traveling abroad in Israel and I went back to school for Winter semester 2013. I moved in with some awesome roommates who really helped me with my decision to serve a mission since three of them were already getting their calls within the next few months.

January passed quickly and without little thought of serving a mission, but February made me start thinking again! One of my freshman roommates and best friends, Elise Christensen had already gotten her call and was having her farewell that month because she was leaving in February! I went to her farewell, heard her speak, and the Spirit hit me so strongly that this girl was going for all of the right reasons and she knew what the Lord needed her to do. I was so impressed with her fire, spirit, and desire to serve. I knew at that moment that I needed to revisit the mission thought that I had placed on the shelf five months previously.

I met with my Bishop (my religious leader in Provo, Utah) and had a good long chat with him about what missions meant and what it would mean if I decided to serve. He challenged me to start reading the Book of Mormon and said I would find my answer once I started reading it. I started reading the Book of Mormon that very night and within five days I had my ANSWER!

It was a regular Thursday morning at work, but luckily I was alone or people would have thought I was crazy. I was somewhere in 2nd Nephi where it talks about Joseph Smith being a Prophet of the Lord and how since he had translated the Book of Mormon, that book "would go forth to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people." I felt the Spirit hit me so strongly that I started crying. I felt such peace and love from my Heavenly Father in that moment. I knew without a doubt that He loved me and he wanted the best for me. He knows me better than I know myself and in that moment I knew that I needed to serve a mission for the people of Brazil, for myself, but mostly the Lord needed me more than anything. I needed to be a part of this great missionary effort going forth and the Lord needed me to share the Book of Mormon with "every nation, kindred, tongue, and people." I'll be honest I felt pretty scared after receiving that revelation, but once again I felt the Lord's love and I knew that with him I could do anything he needed me to do.

I called my parents and told them I had decided to serve a mission and they were not surprised at all actually! I then texted my Bishop and he opened up the application for me, so that I could fill out all the paperwork. The application is pretty extensive, so after a lot of phone calls with my parents about dental insurance, license and birth certificate information, and medical information I had it all filled out. I had to go to the dentist and have a yearly checkup while also going to the doctor's to make sure I was considered "healthy". I passed with flying colors, luckily :) I then sent in my papers to Salt Lake City where they would join thousands of other missionaries being processed and assigned specific missions around the world. The First Presidency of the Church and the Quorum of the 12 apostles are the ones who pray for inspiration and find out where a missionary is supposed to go, they did that exact process with me, and a short week and a half later I had recieved my call! If you would like to hear a first-hand account of the process that is used, please go to this link and it will explain exactly how mission calls are assigned. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/the-divine-call-of-a-missionary?lang=eng

My relatives, family, and friends all gathered together at my grandparent's home in Orem, Utah that evening! I dressed up all fancy, got my parents on skype, an aunt on phone, and one of my best friends on another phone, so that they could all hear where I was going to go. I opened that beautiful white envelope and read the first words telling me where I would serve the Lord for the next year and a half. 

"Dear Sister Brotherson, You are hereby called to serve as a mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Brazil Goiania Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Brazil Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, August 14, 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Portuguese language." Ahhhhhh I am serving a mission!!!!! I feel so blessed that I am able to serve the Lord! I am so grateful for this opportunity:)

Me reading my call :)

Emily, one of my besties, was the first to hug me! She got her mission call a week after me and is leaving the same day as me! 

This experience was one of the best experiences of my life. I know without a doubt that I am supposed to be a missionary for the people of Goiania, Brazil and I will do everything that I can to serve them, love them, and invite them to hear of the restored gospel. I know without a doubt that the church is true and that it can and will bring you every happiness in this world. I am so grateful for the many blessings the gospel has brought me and I know that the Atonement is real and that you can change and become better through its power. It is scary to change and admit you did something wrong, but that is why we are here to learn from our mistakes and to become better. I know that without a doubt Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and want us so badly to return and live with them. By living the principles of the gospel, you will receive every happiness and blessing that God has in store for you. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, that he saw God, the Father, and his son, Jesus Christ, in a sacred grove of trees and that only through Joseph Smith could the gospel be restored because he was young and pure enough to recognize the truth. He translated the Book of Mormon and it is without a doubt another witness of Jesus Christ. It's stories and words can truly change your life and if you read it through and pray about it, the promise in Moroni 10:3-4 is true and real. You will know if the Book is true if you pray with a sincere heart. I know these things and testify that the gospel is true with all of my heart. 

Also, here is the article that I did a link up to earlier! You can read this brief part here in my blog if you don't want to read the whole article! 

I will try to post again before I leave on my mission, but if not stay tuned for my adventures in the MTC :)

(After finishing our mission assignment, I was called by President Gordon B. Hinckley to serve as a Seventy in the Church. Part of my early training as a new General Authority included an opportunity to sit with members of the Twelve as they assigned missionaries to serve in one of the 300-plus missions of this great Church.

With the encouragement and permission of President Henry B. Eyring, I would like to relate to you an experience, very special to me, which I had with him several years ago when he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Each Apostle holds the keys of the kingdom and exercises them at the direction and assignment of the President of the Church. Elder Eyring was assigning missionaries to their fields of labor, and as part of my training, I was invited to observe.

I joined Elder Eyring early one morning in a room where several large computer screens had been prepared for the session. There was also a staff member from the Missionary Department who had been assigned to assist us that day.

First, we knelt together in prayer. I remember Elder Eyring using very sincere words, asking the Lord to bless him to know “perfectly” where the missionaries should be assigned. The word “perfectly” said much about the faith that Elder Eyring exhibited that day.

As the process began, a picture of the missionary to be assigned would come up on one of the computer screens. As each picture appeared, to me it was as if the missionary were in the room with us. Elder Eyring would then greet the missionary with his kind and endearing voice: “Good morning, Elder Reier or Sister Yang. How are you today?”

He told me that in his own mind he liked to think of where the missionaries would conclude their mission. This would aid him to know where they were to be assigned. Elder Eyring would then study the comments from the bishops and stake presidents, medical notes, and other issues relating to each missionary.

He then referred to another screen which displayed areas and missions across the world. Finally, as he was prompted by the Spirit, he would assign the missionary to his or her field of labor.

From others of the Twelve, I have learned that this general method is typical each week as Apostles of the Lord assign scores of missionaries to serve throughout the world.

Having served as a missionary in my own country in the Eastern States Mission a number of years ago, I was deeply moved by this experience. Also, having served as a mission president, I was grateful for a further witness in my heart that the missionaries I had received in New York City were sent to me by revelation.

After assigning a few missionaries, Elder Eyring turned to me as he pondered one particular missionary and said, “So, Brother Rasband, where do you think this missionary should go?” I was startled! I quietly suggested to Elder Eyring that I did not know and that I did not know I could know! He looked at me directly and simply said, “Brother Rasband, pay closer attention and you too can know!” With that, I pulled my chair a little closer to Elder Eyring and the computer screen, and I did pay much closer attention!

A couple of other times as the process moved along, Elder Eyring would turn to me and say, “Well, Brother Rasband, where do you feel this missionary should go?” I would name a particular mission, and Elder Eyring would look at me thoughtfully and say, “No, that’s not it!” He would then continue to assign the missionaries where he had felt prompted.

As we were nearing the completion of that assignment meeting, a picture of a certain missionary appeared on the screen. I had the strongest prompting, the strongest of the morning, that the missionary we had before us was to be assigned to Japan. I did not know that Elder Eyring was going to ask me on this one, but amazingly he did. I rather tentatively and humbly said to him, “Japan?” Elder Eyring responded immediately, “Yes, let’s go there.” And up on the computer screen the missions of Japan appeared. I instantly knew that the missionary was to go to the Japan Sapporo Mission.

Elder Eyring did not ask me the exact name of the mission, but he did assign that missionary to the Japan Sapporo Mission.

Privately in my heart I was deeply touched and sincerely grateful to the Lord for allowing me to experience the prompting to know where that missionary should go.

At the end of the meeting Elder Eyring bore his witness to me of the love of the Savior, which He has for each missionary assigned to go out into the world and preach the restored gospel. He said that it is by the great love of the Savior that His servants know where these wonderful young men and women, senior missionaries, and senior couple missionaries are to serve. I had a further witness that morning that every missionary called in this Church, and assigned or reassigned to a particular mission, is called by revelation from the Lord God Almighty through one of these, His servants.)