More Pictures!

 Companions at the temple on Tuesday mornings to do baptisms.

The statue of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith as they leave Nauvoo for Carthage and their death.

July 28 - Testify with your Eyes!

Dear Family,

This is my last real email from Nauvoo. WE won't email next week because we have our YPM sociable to practice for, and then the week after will just be about flight plans.  AHHHHHHHHH!!!! That's so weird and so sad!!! Also, I apologize in advance because the shift key on this computer sticks so there will be two capital letters a lot and it's too much time to fix it.

This has been a wonderful week! We had Johnny Day where we played "When Johnny comes marching home" 12 times. We had a paper airplane contest/war on the third floor of the Cultural Hall on a rainy day. We had lots and lots of rain. We had one day that was 92% humidity and another that was 88%. You could seriously see the humidity and feel it like a mist. It was nasty!! President Gibbons came with us on the wagon on THursday, which was so fun because he is actually the coolest mission president ever. There are so many other funny stories and quotes, but they aren't funny without context and there isn't enough time on the computers. So look forward to hearing them!

A couple weeks ago, another YPM said "It's a privilege to be exhausted in the work of the LOrd." It is so true!! We are so tired every single day. Even with the 8 hours of sleep that we try to get every night, we are still so tired as we just keep going all day, every day. We do have down time throughout the day but we use it for study and such. But I am grateful for the opportunity to be tired, especially in Nauvoo. Like another sister said, I would trade even one of my best days at home for a not-so-great day here in Nauvoo. I love it! WE truly are enabled and strengthened to do everything that He asks of us. Like playing Bugler's every single time. I know that there are angels who play with us and who will bear us up. We joke about Angel Moroni playing with us, but I truly believe that there are angels who play with us because the sound that comes out of us is way different than the sound that should come out of our group. What an incredible blessing. In SUnday School today we read 2 Kings 6:16 that says there are more with us than there are with them. THere are so many angels with us working to help us be the best we can be and to have the SPirit with us. 

In my personal study this week, I read Alma 5 and looked at it as a personal interview. Wow!! What an incredible chapter. What stood out to me was the question: "Can ye feel so now?" YOu have all felt the SPirit and you have all had experiences in your life when you knew that GOd loved you. But can you feel that now? If not, change whatever you are doing in your life that is preventing you from feeling that same Spirit and love. And then Alma 7 teaches about Christ. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon that teaches us those basic doctrines of Christ that we take for granted. Go read Alma 7 and be reminded of just how much we know about Him. I know that Christ is our Savior and our older brother. He has suffered everything we will go through in life and is right there with us if we will just ask for help and strength and comfort. I am so grateful for the Atonement. It is truly for each and every one of us!

One sister mentioned today that we must testify with our eyes. We see so many people everyday and there's no way we can talk to everyone, especially when we are on the wagon. But we shine with the light of Christ and people can see that light and feel of our joy, and that is one way that we can share the Gospel and our testimonies. Make sure that others will want to come to Christ because they know you and they can see what is different in you. ALways strive to have that light and never let it grow dim. 

I love you all! I love Nauvoo! The Church is true and life is good!!

Sister HOlbrook

(isn't that shift key thing annoying. woo for life!)

 Jeff, Carly, Conner and Lily came to visit!

 Every night, the band performs with the other missionaries in "Sunset by the Mississippi"

 Most days, the band rides around town and stops to play fun "dancing" music.

The women's garden - an afternoon performance of beautiful hymns.

My family came to visit!

Long time, no see family!! (Since it's been a whole 3 hours...)

The parts of this week that I didn't see you during would be best described in pictures, but there's no card reader today so I will have to do without pictures. But you just saw me so it's not a big deal anyway. I have learned a lot this week: a lot about myself, a lot about the Spirit, and a lot about life. Here is some of the things I want you all to learn too:

·  Serving others will bring you so much joy! The Stage YPMs have an even crazier schedule now that pageant is here and last Sunday they were struggling. So we decided to write them each a note and then we made them potluck dinner on another night. They were simple things that didn't take much time, but they clearly made a difference. It was amazing to see how much unity it brought us as a band to serve others, how much joy it brought each of us who were serving, and how much it meant to each of the stage missionaries. So serve others! It doesn't have to be something huge, it just needs to be meaningful. The best way to lighten your mood is to stop thinking about yourself. 

·  The Gospel is a Gospel of happiness and light. I have been reminded of this over and over here in Nauvoo. We have talked about how it's hard to imagine how we can share our testimonies of Christ and the restored Gospel through Sousa marches and jazz music. But the way we do that is through sharing our happiness and joy with those who see us. This truly is a Gospel of joy. I have never been so happy!!! And I love being able to see the light in others as the Gospel makes them happy too. 2 Nephi 2:25 teaches us that "Men are that they might have joy!" We aren't here on Earth to be miserable and upset and struggle, we are here to be happy and find joy. So I challenge you to look for joy in the little things every single day. No one can control your happiness but you. SO CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY!!!!!!! :)

·  Following the Spirit will change lives, including your own. There is power that comes through following the Spirit. Whether it be a warm feeling or a specific prompting, following the Spirit will bring us the joy I talked about. It also is incredible to know that the Lord trusts you enough to speak to you through the Spirit. Pay attention to it and follow it. Even if you aren't sure if it's the Spirit or your own feelings, if it invites you to do something good (and we all know the difference between good and bad), then do it! You won't regret it.

·  The Lord is hastening the spread of the Gospel and all of us can be a part of it. We can all be missionaries!! We get to be in the final scene of the British Pageant (as you saw haha) and we get to sing Called to Serve and Redeemer of Israel. I love being a missionary and I know that I have been called of God to serve here in Nauvoo. You guys aren't set apart as missionaries but that doesn't mean you can't do missionary work. Spread the Gospel!!! Be an example in everything you do! We are helping to hasten the work of the Lord, and He is trusting us with this huge responsibility. Members and missionaries have been instructed to work together so let's do it! 

We had lots of fun this week like watching Megan and Nathan dance with the stage missionaries, doing dishes with another raccoon, hearing stories about Elder Myers, and lots of other things. I seriously wish I could send some of these pictures. Oh well. 

I love you guys so much! Thanks for coming and supporting me. I love Nauvoo so much. I am so grateful for the Saints and the sacrifices they made that have made this such hallowed ground. I know without a doubt that we are sons and daughters of Heavenly Father. He loves us more than we can comprehend. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that through the Atonement, we can be enabled to do all that we need to. I know that through Him, we can become more than we could ever be on our own. I know that the priesthood is on the Earth. It is so powerful and so incredible. We don't use it often enough. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true!!! I love Nauvoo so much and I love you all!!

Sister Holbrook

Pictures we (the family) took in Nauvoo:

Look closely at where their hands are

A picture is worth a thousand words

Hi family!!!!

This week I took almost 100 pictures...so I'll be sending quite a few because they better explain this week than my words. But I'll try anyways! Our adventures this week included laughing to tears and strained abs muscles, one of my most embarrassing moments ever, almost getting struck by lightning (one of the scariest moments of my life), running miles around Nauvoo to deliver a message to elders whom we couldn't find, exploring the basement of the Lyon Drug (you could film a horror movie down there), playing basketball with Elders including ones this week who don't play basketball but can play piano...therefore we played basketball with background music, performing for EFY and hundreds of youth conference people, and visiting a cute Hawaiian couple's awesome house where we got to play obscure instruments that she makes. If that doesn't sound exhausting already, I don't know what does. We seriously did so much this week!

Last Sunday, we had a combined District Meeting taught by President Gibbons. He had just returned from a mission president seminar where he was taught for 5 days by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. And he shared with us his notes from those meetings. Holy cow, it was like four sessions of General Conference in an hour. A couple things stood out to me. Elder Christofferson taught that every soul is a god in embryo. If we would just think of everyone in that light and see their potential rather than their flaws and weaknesses, we would change everything about us. The other thing that stood out is that Elder Nelson taught "A wave of righteousness is sweeping across the world." We are all a part of the wave of righteousness!!! Be obedient so you can count yourself in that wave!

The 4th of July was one of my most memorable holidays EVER!!! We had so many things going on and so many places to play but the highlight of the day was the dance party we had while we did dishes after lunch. It was seriously so much fun and we wore ridiculous aprons and just had fun. If you are ever feeling down or like you are too serious about life, just have a dance party with yourself and remember you can never have too much fun or make too many good memories. Then yesterday was Sister Parkin's birthday!!!! I love birthdays and I love Sister Parkin! And so I made Fudgies and we decorated and had a blast.

Always remember to follow the Spirit. Even if it's something that seems ridiculous or will require a lot of courage, please follow the Spirit. You never know what blessings will come from heeding a prompting. This week at Trail of Hope, Sister Parkin and I led a group down together. At the end, she felt like I needed to bear my testimony to the group. It wasn't for anyone in that group, it was for me. I said things that I needed to hear that night and I needed to hear myself say them. It was absolutely incredible. There is power in bearing your testimony. Don't be afraid to share it!!

Also, remember to write in your journal. Someday you will look back and wish you had written more. So take the time to do it now and you will thank yourself later.

Heavenly Father loves each of you! He loves us more than we know and He has a plan specific for each of us. Sometimes finding that path is difficult and confusing, but I know His plan is better than our own. 

The Church is true and I love Nauvoo!!!!

Sister Holbrook 

Me and Sister Fredrickson following our creepy basement adventure where we climbed out the cellar doors of the Lyon Drug and then we had to hop a pickett fence in a pioneer dress. Imagine that and then laugh to yourself a little :)

The Hawaiian couple's house where we played super cool instruments! 

Fourth of July dishes duty (the 19 year olds) in our superhero costumes 

Doing dishes in crazy costumes....with a raccoon. Elder Myers loves wild animals and wanted to show all the YPMs a raccoon...so he went in his backyard and caught one and gave it 4 baths and then brought it to the Bistro to show us. That's a true story! His name is Marchello the raccoon

Fourth of July with pins on!

Confetti for a birthday! so much fun!

Fudgies for Sister Parkin's birthday :)

And that's a real thing!

Hello family!!!

I can't believe another week has flown by. They say that in Nauvoo, the days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days, and it's true!! Which is sad because it means we have one less week in Nauvoo. Sad day

We had lots of fun adventures this week! They included multiple huge storms (including the storm of the century), touring the Joseph Smith sights in the rain, eating cookie dough from the Elders, watching Synthesis and the Contemporary Dance Team one night (which involved awkward moments when my zone leaders saw me hugging Colin and didn't know he was my cousin), playing with Synthesis for "In the Mood", giving tours of the John Taylor Home, and lots of others! Last night a Sunset, we were inside and the whole front row was people from BG1 (the Harmons, Kapplemans, and Maduras). All of their kids were so cute and were making faces and entertaining the band the whole time. The highlight of the night was when we all jumped onto the stage for "When the Saints go Marching In" and one of their boys yelled "This is going to be a loud one!" It was absolutely hilarious and the whole band was dying of laughter along with the entire audience :)

Also, another highlight of my week (and maybe even my life) was doing dishes with a bunny in my pocket!!! I do dishes after lunch everyday to hep the Myers, and Elder Myers has this strange obsession with collecting animals. It's a real thing. Like one time he raised a raccoon he found in the woods, he feeds the birds, he'll bring in a duck or a goose, and so on. So he found three baby bunnies deserted by their mom and has been taking care of them. And he had them in the Bistro and put one in my pocket :) HIs name was Charlie and he helped me do dishes and he even poked his head out of the apron pocket and it was so stinkin' cute. I probably won't ever do it again, but it was adorable. And Sister Myers has a picture somewhere. 

This morning, I spoke in sacrament meeting. It was an intimidating and humbling experience but I'm grateful that I had the opportunity. As I sat on the stand and looked out over the congregation, I was surprised at how many faces I recognized and how many of the missionaries (Young Performing, Young Sisters, and Seniors) I know). And I thought of Joseph Smith who, as he left Nauvoo to head to Carthage, said "These are the best people and the loveliest place under the heavens." I couldn't agree more! I love the people I get to serve here with. I especially love the senior missionaries who have become my grandparents of sorts (we all have about 100 new grandmas and grandpas haha) And I really do love them all so much. I am so blessed to be able to serve here in Nauvoo where I get to meet and get to know these incredible people. 

My talk was about how temple and family history work can bring us closer to Christ. Remind me to tell you the story about quoting a napkin in my talk haha but as you serve in the temple, I invite you to think about how it will help you draw closer to Christ. It really is amazing how everything we do in the Gospel in designed to bring us closer to our Savior. 

This week was full of incredible spiritual experiences. I didn't think it would be possible to be exhausted from feeling the Spirit so much, but it's a real thing. On Tuesday, we got to go to the temple in the morning as a band. There's something incredibly special and unifying to be able to see everyone in white. We then had a meeting in the Smith Family Cemetery where we were able to stand at the graves of Joseph and Hyrum and hear about an incredible sacred experience from one of our leaders. We then had the chance to just sit and ponder and pray. It's nice to have some time every once in a while just to think and ponder. I read the story of the First Vision as I sat there. I know without a doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know he was called of God and that everything he said and he did was true! I know that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the grove. I know that he translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God. And I get to walk the streets everyday where he walked and talked and taught. How blessed we are to be here!

Friday was the 170th anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum in Carthage. We were a part of two different commemoration ceremonies that were both so powerful and so moving and so spiritual. Something that confirmed my testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet was when they had two riderless horses walk away from Carthage Jail while we played Praise to the Man. I cannot imagine something more powerful than that. 

My favorite part of the commemoration meeting was when President Gibbons spoke to us. He talked about Joseph and Hyrum and how they sealed their testimonies with their blood. And then he talked about how he had just returned from a mission president seminar in Salt Lake with the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. The Gospel is now in 182 countries and 140something languages. The Gospel is literally filling the world!!!! And we get to be a part of it!!!!! Doctrine and Covenants 128:22 says "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause?" We shall go on!!! We must go on and continue to spread the knowledge of the Gospel!!!

Remember to share the joy of the Gospel in everything you do! There's no reason for us to not be the happiest people in the world! Smile at everyone and just be happy! Everything will be ok in the end. Sister Parkin shared this quote this week "Don't worry about tomorrow, for the Lord is already there." It'll all work out in the end! I love you all and can't wait to see you soon :)

Life is good, the Church is true, and I love Nauvoo!!!

Sister Holbrook :)

P.S. If any of you dare think about complaining about being sweaty this summer, just remember those of us in Nauvoo and be grateful you aren't as sweaty as you could be. And that's a real thing :)

Creepy clouds in Nauvoo preceding the storm of the century

All the sisters where the Relief Society was officially organized! 

Brass Band at the Red Brick Store in the rain :)

Me and Elder Mortenson (plus companions) because we spoke today and we matched which was totally unplanned but all the senior sisters loved it

Turtlenecks, torrential downpours, and tender mercies

Today is our halfway point. It's hump day. And it makes me want to cry!! I can't believe this summer is already halfway done. We have so much missionary work we still need to do and the summer is halfway over!

This week, we sweat a lot. Like buckets of sweat everyday! That's when we finally found a way to describe our costumes: we wear turtlenecks and pajama pants with a quilt over our laps. All with a waistband that's three inches thick and makes you sweat. Fun, right? 

There were 4 torrential downpours this week. (Torrential as in the Lord picked up the Mississippi River and dumped it on Nauvoo) One is currently happening as I write this email  haha one happened right after we loaded the wagon for our afternoon run up Mullholland St. There we were in this HUGE thunderstorm, being the world's largest lightning rod :) There was another one as we went to the temple on Tuesday morning. We walked in the door and looked as if we'd already been baptized! The other one was in the middle of Hymn Fest. We played the last note of Spirit of God as it was sprinkling and then we cut off and it started pouring on us. But Heavenly Father is watching out for us and Synthesis (BYU Jazz Band) was right there in the garden and they helped us carry everything inside. 

Other fun adventures of the week have included:

- basketball on Wednesday (prep morning)! We went to the stake center and played basketball with some of the band elders. It was super fun and I'm horrible at basketball! :)

- Sister Parkin and I have started running for exercise! It's fun and hopefully will keep us healthy. Plus we are both super out of shape and need the exercise haha

- my companions and I still laugh all the time and have so much fun. Adventures this week included all sorts of stories and jokes and scriptures. Our companionship prayer at night reminds me of family prayer back home because we just laugh and laugh and laugh some more

- BUGLER'S IS IN SUNSET!!! That means Sister Camp thinks it's worthy of entertaining thousands of people so we get to perform every other night. I wish I could explain our choreography but we switch hands and play the trumpet of the person next to us. Basically it's amazing.

This week has been amazing. I am learning so much every week about myself and my weaknesses, about Christ, about how to be an effective missionary, about how to work with people, and the list goes on and on. One experience I had yesterday really stands out to me. I was studying after lunch up by the Christus statue and was watching the people walking around the Visitor's Center. One family came near, and this little girl who was probably 3 years old stopped and looked up at Christ. She got this huge smile on her face and stuck out her hands kind of waving at Christ. At the same time, she started saying something as though she were talking to Him. It was the sweetest thing to see and really stuck me. Christ loves the little children and the little children love Him. We are commanded to be like them and have that childlike joy when we recognize our Savior. And like this little girl, we need to stick out our hands and beckon and invite Christ into our lives, just like He invites us to come to Him. It's a two way relationship that we must continually work on so that we become the people that we need to be. 

A lot of what I'm learning comes through the tender mercies that I see all around me. I know I talk about this every week, but it's true!!! The trumpet section had such an incredible experience on Friday night. It was the first night that Bugler's was going to be in Sunset, and we were so excited. But our lips were feeling pretty dead after the pre-show concert. As Sunset kept going, I have never felt my chops that dead before. I couldn't hold a note for more than a couple beats and I had no range either because my lips were so exhausted. In the act before we were supposed to play, we all said a silent prayer, asking for help and strength. We got up there to play Bugler's and I promise you that miracles happened. It was our best run of Bugler's ever- our double tonguing was incredible, our intonation was great, we were together and we nailed the hand switches and everything. When it was done and we sat back down, I turned to the others and we said the same thing: that was not us playing the trumpet. I promise you that if you will ask for help, Heavenly Father will bless you with added strength and ability to do the things that He has asked of you. It's truly incredible how the enabling power of the Atonement can bless us in every aspect of our lives, even in something that seems as insignificant as playing the trumpet in Sunset by the Mississippi. 

I love you all and miss you (when I have time to think about missing you haha) but I love what I'm doing and I LOVE NAUVOO!!!!!!!! I don't think I ever want to leave! Despite the sweat and the tears and the hard work, it's worth every second. I know that we can do all things through Christ and that we will be blessed as we strive to share the Gospel with everyone around us. I know that the Spirit is real and that as we listen to His promptings, we will be blessed. Don't ever ever ever ignore a prompting of the Spirit. There's no worse feeling than knowing Heavenly Father needed you do something, told you to do it, and you just sat there. I know that feeling and it's awful, so always listen to the Spirit!! Also, pray for me as I speak in Church next Sunday haha 

Love you!!!

Sister Holbrook :)

The temple is gorgeous and so are the clouds!!! Even on stormy days

My companions and I in clashing shades of green. We're the classy Clashers

These people and this town have made me better than before!

It has been an amazing week in Nauvoo, and I have so much to tell you all. First of all, thank you for your prayers and love. We are, collectively as a band, doing so much better! Also, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the most incredible dad :) I love you and am so grateful for all you've taught me!!

Last Sunday, we got to go have our Hymn Fest at Carthage. We changed it from our typical random assortment of hymns to be a program based around Joseph Smith and his life. The Spirit was so incredible strong as we bore testimony of Joseph Smith and his divine calling as the Prophet of the Restoration only a hundred feet from where he sealed his testimony with his blood. I know the he was a prophet and he was called of God! I know that he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove and that that was the beginning of the work he was called to do. I am indebted to him and the sacrifices he made that have brought me to where I am today. I can't imagine my life without the Gospel. And the best part is that he was a prophet and we have a living prophet today! Thomas S Monson is a prophet and he receives revelation from the Lord for us. How incredible is that?!

There were so many funny moments this week, and I wish I could remember all of them and have the time to tell you about all of them. Elder Dialogue and I both got involved in the Audition two nights this week in Sunset. In fact, some of the stage missionaries said my face was better than the Audition itself because I was actually dying. I have to tell that story in person though :) On a rainy day, we moved into the Cultural Hall for our afternoon performances, so we played dress-ups with the senior missionaries' costumes in the basement :) Enjoy the pictures of that great activity! The four of us are all 19 so it's fun to have other young missionaries who like to do crazy things like that haha

On our prep morning, we are supposed to clean our houses, and then the Mursets come in the afternoon to make sure we have cleaned everything. So we decided to play a joke and we built a blanket fort in the front room with a Welcome sign and everything. The Mursets thoroughly enjoyed our joke. The best part was that the band Elders also built a mattress/blanket fort in their front room for the Mursets but we hadn't planned it at all! Great minds think alike! 

Dad, I thoroughly enjoyed your story about the plumbing struggles at our house this week because our little trailer here has had some toilet struggles too...the other night Sister Parkin tried to replace the toilet paper but half of the toilet paper holder and the spring flew out of her hand into the toilet as it flushed...so now we don't have a toilet paper holder but we have a hilarious story to tell about it! We were literally on the floor crying and not breathing as she told us this story because it was sooooo funny! So hopefully our toilet doesn't stop working because we flushed down a spring and piece of metal...oops!

The other wonderful thing we did this week was choreograph Bugler's Holiday. I don't have a picture of us yet, but it's pretty amazing. We may or may not play someone else's trumpet in the middle of the song. It's hard to describe but be prepared to be amazed :) The audience loves it. Speaking of which, we became a tourist attraction yesterday as people came and sat on the front of the bandwagon to take pictures with us. It wasn't just one family though, it was like 7 or  8 different groups. We are famous and will end up in lots of people's scrapbooks haha one more thing, we almost have our mariachi music ready to perform. It's amazing! I would tell other funny stories but you have to know the people or the context and I don't have time. But be prepared to hear them later on!

We also had a spiritual week, don't worry. The subject of my email has become the theme of being here in Nauvoo for me. We went and saw the stage missionaries in "The Promise"on Friday and Saturday this week. One of the main characters sings a song where he talks about how Nauvoo has changed him and the main line is "These people and this town have made me better than before." It's so true! I am not the same Sister Holbrook that left Chicago on May 2: I am a better Sister Holbrook. I have become better in so many ways and I have strengthened my testimony in so many ways. Nauvoo has a way of changing people, and it has changed me. I love being here and serving here so much!!!!

The other night at Trail of Hope, I had a cool experience. Every time I take a group down the trail, we tell them at the top about how it used to be called the Trail of Tears because it's the road that the Saints walked down as they left Nauvoo. But when President Hinckley came to dedicate the temple, he changed it to the Trail of Hope because, although the Saints were sad to be leaving, they were filled with hope as they headed towards a better future in an unknown place. As we got to the end of the trail, I felt like I needed to share one last thing with the group. Rather than talking about what I have said before, I instead shared with them my testimony that this is a Gospel of joy, and that our own trails of tears in our lives can really be trails of hope, if we will only remember that the entire purpose of our lives is to have joy. I know that's true: I know that we can find so much happiness through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, if we will just allow ourselves to remember. I love the joy and happiness that I have in my life, despite the challenges we face every single day. 

I love you guys so much!! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, and I am privileged to wear that name over my heart each and every day. I know that we can receive strength through Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and I know that because of Him, we can be with our families forever. I love being here, and I love the Gospel!! I know that Heavenly Father has a specific plan for each of us and that there are no mistakes or coincidences.

Life is SO good and the Church is TRUE!

Sister Holbrook :)

The blanket fort :)

Nauvoo Temple with a full moon

American Gothic: Nauvoo version

Dress-ups are fun :)

The adorable little girl who followed me and Sister Parkin everywhere!