Looking Back- Striving Forward

So today walking out of the temple (we did sealing with out branch prez SO AWESOME) 


there were these two young boys in suits and hair combed over (i would guess 11).

It was the most amazing thing... I saw the look in their eyes and I walked out of the temple doors. Watched them look at me and mouth the words "oh! look! A missionary!" then they bowed their heads and moved to the side of us as we walked up past them.

 

I had the most amazing feeling as I was prompted to turn to these young boys and offer them my hand, Introducing myself as a Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints. The looks in their eyes reminded me in an INSTANT of the times that I myself had shaken the hands of the missionaries and a Young boy and I felt the spirit hit so strong. I asked them if they were serving missions and they both were so shocked they just shook their heads yes. I smiled and laughed and took of my name tag and placed it on the boy closer to me. Laughed again. and Said "I think that looks pretty good, how about you?" The boys shook their heads and we all laughed. shaking their hands once again we watched them walk away as we returned to the MTC.

 

I want you all to know that I know that this Gospel is one of Family. In the proclamation to the world (a great missionary tool) It states that families when founded upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, are un-breakable. I know this too be true and had the opportunity to share this with an investigator this week. The spirit resides in these words whether in Portuguese or English.

 

I love you all so much and am about to go do some laundry and write you some Individual letters :) I wish I had color paper :P ;)

 

 

Love you all sooooo much!!

Elder Brooksby

PS Love the Pics :)

So We got Family pictures taken before Tyson went into the MTC.  Always a daunting prospect especially at 7am.  Hard to find someone over the age of 10 who is awake let alone dressed...Here is the result...
Yeah, we did get others but in no picture was everyone looking at the camera. Typical.  On the other hand these show a lot a personality, right?

Holy cow momasita!

 

Thanks for this letter it rocks like crazy cool yeah buddy!

 

Its great too hear from you :) First off I love you & Happy Mothers day again :)

 

Entao!

I am soooo glad to hear about manilla that sounds like so much fun! I got your letters and packages I LOVE THEM! Elias, Sav, Denver, and Kadin they all rock :) I am sending my letter back to them today as well as the family.

Soo much to write my hands hurt so I took a little time off of writing and jumped on my emails for the day :)

 

I SAW you Today!! Haha It was so great to see your smile meu Mai :) I got the bag and it was like Christmas came early! The other 3 Elder Crowded around us as I pulled out each little and big thing. It was soo amazing haha I consider it my ""med pac"" to keep me alive in this MTC :P haha. Elder Diaz and Elder Wilson were dying with gratitude for those watches. They both are so grateful they hug me randomly ^^ lol I am really happy thanks for everything in there... that super glue is going to be sooo useful I think I may use it to seal up my stomach :P

 

I went to the doc this week because my stitches came out and I started bleeding like CRAZY. It was pretty chill I was pretty stoked. The Doc said something about "not playing futebol" with the guys? Not sure what he is talking about.... Lol

 

But dont worry they cauterised the inside of my stomach and put this little black stuff on it... WHICH TURNED INTO A TATOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE ONE NOW TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

 

Ill send pictures of it later :P I am going to send my Picture card this week please take care of it and save the pictures all over the place. I would like it to be semi-sacred when you look at the rituals that take place at the MTC :P You will see them ask questions after you watch them ahahahahha.

 

Thanks for the blog posts and the updates. I cant tell you how much they mean to me! You make me sound too cool no one will recognize me when I get home they will think im too much a loser :P not your son you were describing hahaha

 

This week I got to the point where I can speak portuguese enough to be able to talk about the gospel.

 

I am almost fluent!........... in 2 year old.... :P Its pretty tough because you learn sooo much in one week. Its hard to remember to use it all or even remember it! But It doesn''t really matter, as long as you have the spirit with you the lessons go amazing. Its pretty fun but at times you get pretty down. Doesn''t matter though because as soon as you get back to the dorm that nigh, no matter how bad the day was, you can''t help but smile at the letters on the wall and the pictures. The Elders all around you who no matter the troubles will laugh and wrestle and play mafia with you until you are smiling and praying giving thanks to our Amazing Heavenly Father Thanking him for those Elders that are there with you. I am here for a reason and I know that these Elders are here for me.

 

OH! Time for Class now so I''ve got to head out.

 

Just really quick,

 

This week I was struggling with Life after Death. Its so hard to have faith in something when It seems too good to be true. I want to live forever with my family and I will do anything for it. In the temple I was praying so hard for some response. To just KNOW that it was true. I was reading the scriptures and a verse hit me so hard.

 

Sometimes we wont just Know. Sometimes even we dont have the full faith. But. If we hope, all things are possible and I feel my faith grow more each day now:)

 

Im still growing :)

 

Love you

Elder Brooksby

So here I am getting another future missionary ready to head off into the amazing time to serve the Lord and I find myself thinking of the one that I have already sent.  When you are shopping for toothpaste and medicine for 2 years sometimes you get caught up in the temporal needs but now that that is all done (maybe) I find myself pointing Haley (Tyson big sister and future missionary June 27th) to the great example she has in her Missionary brother.  His words of advice both practical...(don't eat the enchiladas) and Spiritual (Obedience brings blessings...Perfect Obedience brings miracles.) are the best preparation that she could get right now.  I love seeing them so close still.  Maybe it was that time that I handcuffed them together so that they could learn to cooperate? 

Whatever it was...thank you Heavenly Father for trusting me with these...

I will cherish them always...  

I took this picture of your son at the MTC on Sunday.  He is a wonderful young man..we love him!!!  My husband is his Branch President here.  Y should be very proud!!

Love, Wendy Braithwaite

Letter from Elder Tyson

Hello Meu Mai,

(Elder Herycz says Hi)(Elder Diaz says hi)

Just wanted to start off this weeks email with a quick note to you in particular.

Eu sei que o templo e muito important, E este para Nos sentir O Senoir amor por Nos. Eu nao saber como falar que tudos querudo falar. Eu ama voce mutio mais :)

Phew. It takes about 4 hours to type stuff out in portugese as I am terrible at it :P

ALright! so weekly update timee!

Its been the longest week of the MTC by far this time. The drugs they had me on were crazy and I was pretty high all week long. I couldn't understand most everything going on around me but It was all good! I felt the spirit and had a good time. It's just that the time went reallllyyy slow. hahaha :P

So this week was spent half remebering and falling asleep randomly in the day. But I was especially blessed yesterday and today (I stopped taking the drugs two days ago)

I was sitting in class doing my personal study whilst the class around me reading Helaman 5. Wow the spirit of the capter hit me so hard and all the suddent this though came into my head. Quoting what I wrote in my notebook

"In the end of the chapter, Nephi gains the Lords support. Unto being able to "teleport" among the children of men.

If we are walking home depresed because of the iniquities of the people we are teaching. let us stop and listen for the Voice of the Lord, maybe we can gain the power and support of God to have the streingth to turn around and to teach again the people."

Even when Nephi fails to change the hearts of the people he spends all his time and effort to declair his word unto them, that maybe, just maybe, they will listen to the slightest degree and change.

I know that if we live worth of his blessings and follow his commandments we will gain a power from God, when we are feeling down and tired God will "teleport" us to the poeple we need to teach. IF we stop and listen for his voice :)

The Spirit is so strong here. Just reading the scriptures in class I was completely nailed by the spirit so hard I started crying. I know that Our Savior lives. He did for all of us what we would not do for ourselvs or anyone around us.

I was in the hospital for my post-op checkup sitting in the cold room they always stick you in before the doctor comes to poke you everywhere but right on the stitches asking if it hurts. (Duh it hurtsss!) Haha.

Anyways sitting on the chair alone I was again thinking.

To myself " What if I had the power, that when I touched something/someone it/they would become perfect? Woah. But... The cost would be the same amount of energy it would actually take to make that thing perfect. I started to think about what I would touch with this power. Other people? Hmm That may just about kill me... but still.. in some cases it would be worth it.

Things? Scriptures, to perfectly be marked and color coded. Ect. All these things that would take so much enevergy and time.

Then all of the sudden.

Christ has that power.

He can heal those who are hurting. Make them whole.

He can calm the raging wearther so we can study outside.

He can make others feel his love by looking at thier eyes.

He can heal a dying woman by the touch of his cloak.

My final thoughts of this were of that I cannot thank him enough."

I know that this is true. I believe he will come again. I know he will.

He loves Us. Just ask him.

I love you all and pray for you all :) Have a great week and pray for me.

Love Elder Brooksby

Ok, so back to the saga...

We got Tyson all set in a room in the hospitals 6th floor.  As he began telling of the events that found us all together again I felt a deep sense on gratitude for all those in the MTC for helping him see the seriousness of the situation. 

 He told us that when the doctor did the initial exam in the MTC Clinic he pressed on a certain place on his stomach and did the rebound test. When Tyson screamed he just said, "Congratulations, you just won a one way ticket to the emergency room."  After that they had him in a wheelchair whisked into a car and sped to the hospital.  He was in surgery before he had the chance to think.  (and before I could get there!)  He said that when the Doctor told him of the necessary surgery his responded "no" with disbelief.  Shock didn't wear off even after when he was recovering in the hospital.  

We both felt like it was a strange dream.

As for what he said and did while he was on the drugs I will save for him to save for him to share but I would like to apologize to those few who did see him during that time...although it could have been worse. lol

His recovery went well, with some minor frustrations for a man wanting to be somewhere else.  He really missed his companion and roommates (district) and worried for them.  I love to see his mind with them.  He was also grateful that this happened to him and not one of the Elders that was struggling with homesickness and would have been challenged to go back to the MTC,  

Tyson loves us I know, but his heart is in the work now.  Although he was glad I was there with him helping him in the hospital (24/7- the hospital chair is NOT a comfortable place to sleep)  because he was not missing us before it was easy to send him back.

We actually treated the hospital as our MTC and I was his companion.  We worked on language a little (between naps and drugs and doctors and nurses and meals that you drink and walks around the halls)  I was able to hear about his experiences in this amazing part of his mission and feel of the spirit that he felt while teaching his investigators. 

In the end we were able to send him back to the MTC ourselves and even when they offered to let us take him to dinner and spend more time together he said, "No, I would rather be back with my companion at the MTC.  I need to get back to work."

And I understood, this was the boy that I sent on a mission but I later realized that he was also the dedicated man who became a missionary. Why?  Let me tell you... Feeling sick and exhausted from being sick all night with terrible pain in his stomach he still went and taught his investigator only 4 hours before going into the operating room.  

So this is what it feels like...

Thank you Tyson - My Elder, My Example, My Hero...

Here is the wounded soldier.  Pretty gruesome huh?  I apologize to all the grossed out girls but his brothers will think this is the coolest! lol

Well, I thought that this would be an adventure...but I didn't know that the fun would start so soon.  At around 6:30pm Tuesday May 1st my phone rang (while I was watching the 3 boys at baseball practice) and it was not someone I expected.
I was getting a call from the Univ. Hospital emergency room.  She said that my son Tyson was there and would like to talk to me.  At first it did not register...Tyson was safe and sound in the MTC.  He is a missionary.  Missionaries don't go to the emergency room.  Well let me tell you... they do.
Tyson went into surgery at 7pm that same day for an appendicitis.
Miracle #1- He did this in the MTC and not in Portugal
Miracle#2- His appendix did not rupture even though it was past the 24 hour window.  The surgeon said the his body slowed it down so that they were able to get to it in time.
Miracle#3- The MTC allowed us to be with him while he recovers.

So I rush like a crazy person to the Hospital with my Husband.  We get to the waiting room and then...wait.  When the surgeon comes out to talk to us he looks familiar to me.  Yes, he is the same doctor who removed my gallbladder years before.  Small world.
He says Elder Brooksby is doing great and that he is quite the guy.  Translation: Tyson is dang funny even when his insides are threatening to explode.  All is well, he is recovering in the post op room and someone will get us when he wakes up.

I pace some more, Craig is on the phone.  We both have our own methods to deal. Then I see the magic rolling bed that holds my son.  He looks so big and pale and wounded but alive and right in front of me.  My heart feels like it is going to break.  I am so relieved and scared at the same time.

I am holding his hand and he looks up at me through the anesthesia haze and says, "mom".  He is amazing.

More later...