Sister Rachel Holbrook: 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 :)