Nauvoo is the most incredible place!! I cannot believe I am actually here and actually serving as a missionary. I get to wake up every morning and put on my name badge and drive past the temple. I thank Heavenly Father every single day for the opportunity to be here.
Mom, in answer to your questions- we eat lunches in the bottom of the visitor's center in what we call "The Bistro". The Myers make amazing food!! We go grocery shopping at Walmart once a week. During rehearsal weeks, we go on Saturdays and during performance season we will go on Wednesday mornings. We do not walk everywhere, we get a 12-passenger van (it's basically a bus we call Bessie :). Though some of us walk places every once in a while so we can get a little more exercise. I sent you another letter explaining some of that.
There have been quite a few adventures this week including a major gas leak in our trailer, a broken air conditioning on the hottest day of the week, and a fire alarm that likes to go off when we use the oven. But we are alive and they take good care of our cute little double wide trailer. There are only 7 sisters in the band, which is way fewer than in the past. But I really like it because we have already gotten to know each other really well, and we have so much fun. There are 9 elders in the band and most of them are finally starting to not be afraid of the sisters so we are starting to have more fun as a whole band.
The trumpet section is amazing. It's me, Elder Foster, Elder Keller, and Elder Dialogue. We sit in the back so we spend a lot of time joking around and laughing. (Dad, we play with our plunger mutes a lot so we were trying to come up with some devotional about a plunger. I figured you could come up with a better one than me...let me know if you think of any good ones. It's harder than in sounds!) For example, in one of the songs Elder Foster accidentally yelled out "Hey Brown Cow" instead of "Hey Brown Jug" so me and Elder Dialogue started mooing like cows in the middle of the song and it was absolutely hilarious!
Elder Brague is, hands down, the cutest and funniest old man I have ever met. There's really no other way to describe him! He loves to laugh and joke around and he says the funniest things. We've only been here for a week and I already have a whole sheet of quotes from him. Like the other night, he was like "Once your Bb is in tune, it doesn't mean the whole instrument is in tune. Only one note is in tune. Super duck." No idea where super duck came from, but now it's the band's favorite word. We're trying to make it catch on so start saying it too haha Elder Brague also always wears this Nauvoo Legion hat and he loves to turn it sideways as he rides around on his little moped scooter thing. Man, it is downright hilarious. He just has so much energy and is so cute!
Every day this week, we had morning devotional at 8, rehearsal from 8:15-12, lunch til 1, rehearsal from 1-5, dinner from 5-6, and rehearsal from 6-9. This is one of the most difficult and most rewarding things I have ever done. There is no physical way I could play for that many hours every day without the help of the Spirit. There are miracles happening all around us. We are all memorizing so much music and learning difficult passages and playing so much that it would not be possible without the enabling power of the Atonement. I know that through Christ we can do hard things. That through Him, we can fulfill what He has called us to do.
We are actually about 5 days ahead of last year's band, so on Friday we went on a Nauvoo Brass Band Grand Adventure!! We got dressed up in our costumes and we took pictures in the Women's Garden, the stone arch bridge, David's Chamber, and the old Nauvoo Cemetery. The costumes are....fun! At least for now when it's not too hot. We just have so many layers and there's so much fabric and I really will sweat my life away this summer but it'll be worth it! We also spent one of our rehearsals learning our marching routine for the Sunset show. And we spent part of another one doing a performance for the Community of Christ Church as they celebrated the 175th anniversary of Joseph and Emma arriving in Nauvoo. One of the highlights of the week was getting to play for Sister Packer's mission call opening!!!! She opened it on Thursday night in the Seventies Hall, and we got to play Called to Serve!! It was super loud and you could barely hear yourself since the acoustics weren't made for a brass band but it was so powerful to be able to play "Called to Serve" in the first MTC of the Church :) I AM SO EXCITED TO GET MY CALL! Please send me letters to update me on the status..I have the whole band counting down too so it'll be pretty sad if it doesn't get here for my birthday. Another highlight (in case you haven't caught on, everything we do is a highlight minus icing our lips every night because they are swollen and in pain) was seeing Rendevous in Old Nauvoo :) I love love love the senior couples and they just love us! They are so cute! They also made us a delicious breakfast the other day, so there's no complaining here!
Nauvoo is just amazing. I love seeing the temple every single day and there is a special spirit here. When you think about everything that's happened in this beautiful city, it's just incredible. The Church is true and Heavenly Father loves each of us. And He WILL help you with everything if you will just ask. Whether it's your APUSH test, Megan, or my painful lips from playing so much, He will bless us with the strength and energy that we need if we will just ask Him for it.
I love you all! I don't miss being in the regular world- having no phone or technology might be the best part of this whole thing. It's amazing how much more you can feel the Spirit when you don't have a phone or computer constantly distracting you. I loved your letter! Please send more :) My companions are amazing, we love each other, and we laugh ALLLLLL the time. Like yesterday when Sister Parkin and I thought that Sister Frederickson fell off of her bed hahaha I can't think of anything else random that you would want to know. I love being a missionary- it's the most wonderful thing in the world!!
Life is good and the Church is true! Walk around with that attitude and nothing will ruin your good mood. Love you!
Sister Holbrook :)
The 4 trumpeters in costume
The YPM group
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