Sister Rachel Holbrook: Jumping on the BANDWAGON!!!

Hi family :)

First of all, thanks for the plunger devotionals! Dad, yours were a bit of a stretch for some of them but I thought Lauren's was pretty good!

This has been another crazy week in Nauvoo, but I seriously love every second of it! Though the weeks are starting to go even faster. I can't believe it's Sunday again!!! The highlight of the week was our bandwagon ride!!! We got to go through our morning run just to get used to the feel of the wagon. But I literally jumped on the bandwagon, and I don't think that joke is going to get old haha It was fun besides the fact that it was FREEZING!!! It's been sooooo cold here, especially since no one came prepared for weather under 70 degrees. Good and bad news is that it will warm up this week, and we will be begging for a cool day before too long!

We started nightly Sunset by the Mississippi rehearsals this week with the seniors and stage YPMs. It's so fun and is getting better every single night! Again, we have been freeeeeeeezing so sitting through rehearsals involves a lot of blankets and sitting really close to the other sisters to stay warm and trying to move freezing fingers to play our instruments. But the Lord is blessing us and somehow we are able to sound good every time we play.

Other highlights of the week have included spending a couple hours as tourists, going around to see the different sights. We also survived our first huge torrential downpour/typical Illinois thunderstorm. Which wouldn't be that exciting except that we were worried our little house with essentially cardboard walls would fall down. But it didn't!! We also got to have rehearsal one day in the Cultural Hall up on the third floor. They have the original wood floor up there where they hosted Nauvoo dances and such, so it was so cool to be where the Nauvoo Brass Band probably played for Joseph and Emma and the other Saints to dance!! We even sang from the balcony. So cool! I also got cast as one of the leads in our band skit for Bible Camp....wish me luck and pray for my acting abilities (in all seriousness though, please do! I have no clue what I'm doing...)

We were reminded this week what this is all about. We have our normal rehearsals in the Facilities Management Building, so we have a lot of people who come in for their lunch breaks. One of the days, we came back from lunch and there were still a couple workers there, so we played some jazz tunes for them. One of them told us at the end that he had been having a horrible day and it was long and we was exhausted and just complaining a lot, but we brightened his spirits and now he was going to have a great day. And that's what this is all about- we are here to spread the joy and happiness of the Gospel through our musical talents!!

We also had the unique opportunity this week to have Elder and Sister Durant come and speak to the Band. Sister Durant is better known as Susan Easton Black, and she taught us about some of the history of Nauvoo. What an amazing lady!! Then her husband got up and spoke to us. The best way I can describe it is as a stand-up comedy devotional. It was hilarious but so inspiring! One of the things that stood out to me the most was "You don't need self confidence, you need Christ confidence." We are supposed to do everything, as members of the Church, in the name of Christ. As long as we have faith and confidence in Him and His plan for us, then it doesn't matter what others think and we will have the confidence and strength to do whatever He asks of us. The other thing he told us to do is that when someone asks how you are or how you're doing, you should say "It's my best day!!" Because if you tell people it's your best day, then it will be! We have been instructed by prophets to be a little better today than we were yesterday, so if everyday is our best day, then we are following the counsel of the prophets.

I am surrounded by some incredible people- people who are very talented, who have stronger testimonies, more experience, etc. So we have spent some time talking about weaknesses this week. Bruce C Hafen once said that "growth means growing pains...If you're seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you're moving nearer to God, not farther away." I love that!! It's like Ether 12:27 tells us that the Lord gives us weaknesses so that we will be humble and come to Him for help. Jacob 4:7 says something similar, but tells us that we have weakness so that we will know it is through His grace that we have power to do these hard things we are asked to do. Everyday, my testimony strengthens that this is true!! There is no way we can do these things on our own- we MUST rely on the Lord and on the Atonement if we want to become what He wants and needs us to be.

The Church is true!! I LOVE being a missionary, and I can't wait until people start visiting Nauvoo so that we can share with them the joy we have! I love you all and hope to see you before too long with my mission call. I think Heavenly Father is trying to teach me patience. I'm realizing more and more every day how much more patient I need to be, and this just must be one more step along that path. Love you!!

Sister Holbrook :)

The next time I email you will be a week from Wednesday. Next week is when we are making the transition to Wednesday preparation mornings. These are some pictures you might enjoy- turns out I had an extra minute!