COW BRANDING?? & "Nice to see you Again!"

Hello family!! YA. i knew you were in Disney World WAYYY before you email me. I felt it in my bones. Plus i have connections up here in Lewiston.. But it's ok because I have decided to forgive you. Preachin the Gospel is greater than any wonderful....amazing...magical fantacy ride at an amusement park. Just Kidding I truly truly would not be anywhere else in the whole world right now:) IT WAS AN AMAZING WEEK! To sum a lot of it up: This week we got a mini missionary names Sister McCumbie. She is from Cheney Washington. Out here they do "trial missions" for ages 16- 18 and they get to live with the missionaries for a week to get a feel for a mission and prepare! It is the coolest thing. These youth over here are seriously incredible. I cant even imagine the generation of missionaries the Lord is preparing to serve! But she really opened my eyes to how big of an adjustment i've made to my life. Missions seriously change you so much. Well, the Lord does, but a mission provides the most perfect situation to really clue in to what is most important in life and let go of the things in the world you don't need! It's freeing..if that makes sense. Our first service we got to take her to was COW BRANDING. Yep thats right... the farm, the cattle, the cow ramps and machinery, the whole kit and cabootle, as they say (not even sure what that means) but we got to be legit ranchers this week. I of course did not participate in the harming of the animals, but I was front and center of the whole rounding them up and putting them into different pens..Its like an at I swear! they have this whole crazy awesome system! I was tryng to relate it to the gospel the whole time.. how we all experience trials that brand us..and ya..haha It was funny. I got to meet the most incredible indian man! The first day in the Lewiston ward I pointed him out to my companion and said, "I want to know his story" and my companion looked at me like I was some weirdo, but I remember feeling a great need to talk to him! (10 weeks later) we had ended up knocking on his door and him and his wife invited us in for a lesson! We had no lesson prepared and I again felt that strong feeling to ask them about their conversion story. He started to explain his back round of growing up a member of the Lacotta tribe in the black hills and how he swore he would NEVER join the Mormon church or get married OR have children (he's all that with 10 kids now) but one day he sat in on a lesson and held the Book of Mormon in his hands. He said something about the book spoke to him and how he knew that he needed to read it and that is was a story about his people! He is of Lamenite blood!!! crazy..anyway he read it and joined immediately. His whole conversion story is insane but one thing that blew my mind is that once he went to general conference and Elder Uchdorf came and shook his hand and said "Nice to see you again" and he had never met or seen him before! His tribe that he participates in every now and then is so completely connected to the gospel its amazing the similarities. but that just blew my mind. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS SO REAL. Which reminds me..the Book of Mormon musical is coming to our mission..yaaaaaay:)Its ok tho because the church get the whole 2 pages of the program to advertise "now you've seen the musical..go and read the book!" haha it should be fun to see the commentary..bring on the anti. which reminds me of something else! That pastor I taught the other week I invited him to come here me speak in sacrament! Pastor Budah..He is a great guy but he apologized for being so busy that day that he sent his son and grand daughter to our church to see it and said he would come another week when he's not so busy..planting seeds! But he invited us to attend his congregation and when I brought it up to our ward mission leader he got to excited we couldn't refuse(reminded him of his old mission days haha)...So yesterday i had great experience attending Pastor Budahs's congregation. It was cool to see but I just felt like something was missing the whole time. The spirit was so much different there and they're known to preach a lot of anti which brings a completely different spirit to the meeting...He ended up apologizing to us from the pulpit for the things he had planned on preaching but changed because we were there...that must have been eye opening to some people i hope.. but it seriously was the best experience for me. The Lord really helped me to recognize that there is no bit of doctrine or scripture that I could pull up to anyone that could convince them that this is Christs church. The spirit is the ONLY way to know and understand. Without an open heart and a willing mind the spirit litereally cannot bear witness. I'm learning that now, that conversion has absolutely nothing to do with me and the information I'm able to give. It's great so support their learning but unless they act in faith know sincerely whats true, it's just information. My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to receive that witness for themselves. and as much as it breaks my heart that Pastor Budah possible might not be ready..I truly feel in my heart that If i diligently plant these seeds, the Lord will nourish them in a way much better then I could . He is the master of the vineyard and He teaches me every​​day that “The work will be light and easy to bear if You will depend on the Lord and work. Love you all! -sister scott

Power of Prayer and HITTING THE MARK!!

Hello everyone!! Mini miracles: One day we had to leave our area to go teach this less active and her non member friend. We were already running late and forgot to call the elders to get permission to leave our area and go downtown. We pulled over to the side of the road right on our boundary line(we wanted to be exactly obedient ok?) and waited and waited for the elders to call us back. Finally I said "Ok sister, we need to pray. If we have sufficient faith, the spirit will prompt the elders to se there phone!" At the end of the prayer we get a call from Elder De Olivera saying "Hey is everything ok sisters? We were doing service for our neighbor and I got this strong feeling we needed to gte our phone in the house and call you." THE LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS! especially when you are exactly obedient:) Then one day me and sister Woodfield were giving a training and the video we planned to watch wouldnt work. I made everyone get on their knees right then and pray! haha In my prayer I asked according to our faith and His will to help the video to work so we could continue on with our training. The moment we said amen, we stood up and THE VIDEO WORKED! The Lord is so good. He is more than willing to help his children when they need Him. We just need to have the faith to see it! Something I have loved learning about with faith is that those is the scriptures see miracles and people healed from their faith. I have found it takes a lot greater deal of faith to NOT see those miracles tho. I often ask myself the question "Do you have the Faith NOT to be healed if its not the Lord will?" With that, the Lord is able to work a lot more through His children. This week we got to have interviews with our president. It's always good to see them! Sister Mullen is like my mother out here I love her sooo much. We could just talk for hours and hours about the gospel. She is so knowledgeable! She makes me want to be a mission presidents wife so i can study the characteristics of all the missionaries and completely figure out the human brain and the gospel at the same time! haha SHE IS INCREDIBLE! She has taught me soo much about how the gospel relates back to everything. One thing we talked about in our interview was how in order to progress we need to set a goal to reach for. One that will make us stretch. I'm seeing how the weight of the world can pull you to extreme that make you miss the "mark". Right now I'm just focusing on hitting the mark at all times. The mark is the Lords Will. No matter what banner i set for myself as long as i am progressing i can KNOW that my Father in Heaven is proud of me and i can find joy in that! My time here is so precious to me and I want to do ALL that I can, as hard as I can, for as long as I can. I don't want to waist a single second out here, but even that can push me to go beyond the mark. I know my Heavenly Father wants nothing less then for me to find joy so my focus is to not run myself into the ground but continually do all in my power, then give the rest to the Lord. Joseph Smith words ALWAYS bring me peace:) "Therefore dearly Beloved brethren, Let us CHEERFULLY do all that lie in our power, then may we stand still with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God and for His arm to be revealed" Standing still is different then doing nothing. Its having a confidence that as you do your best, His grace will enable you to hit the mark every time. We don't need to look to the world for approval or support, that is by far the fastest way to depression and emptiness. We must all "look to God and live". His love fills you perfectly every time! I'm living proof of that! This truly is His work and it cannot be frustrated by man! I'm learning a lot about relying upon the Lord for ALL I do, cause i know that's the only way to be successful. When I take it on myself, I gets heavy. With Him, my yoke is light and easy to bear:) I challenge you all to rely upon the Lord or ALL you do! Not just in the hard times but in the good times as well. its in those moments that we think we don't, that we truly need Him the most. I love you all sooo much!! Pray, read and share the gospel!!!:) -sister scott ps: shout out to the greatest father of all time HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!!!! no one in the whole world could have prepared me better for this time than you have. I reflect back to our "coffee talks"(life talks) ALL THE TIME! and every time I drink my herbal tea I think of you and get stoked thinking about our Isaiah marathons and deep doctrine studies with you when I'm home! there has been countless times that advice you have given me throughout the years has blessed the lives of so many I have taught out here including mine. You are my hero and my best friend. I LOVE YOU DAD! Me and My Best friend and Companion doing what we do!

The Atonement is REAL!!

Hello Everyone! I wish I could sum this week up is words but THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE..plus im horrible with words. I'll explain some of the highlights! First! a couple weeks ago I went to the UPS store to pick up a package from my parents. There was a man named Grant who helped us out and I felt really strongly we needed to share the gospel with him! As I turned to grab a card out of my bag he was gone! As me and my companion drove away we saw him getting in his truck and going to the gas station. Creepily(we do this a lot) we pulled in to get gas as well and did the whole,,"Oh hey! good to see you again" thing and gave him our card with a link to lds.org. He said he would check it out and if he would like to know more he will text us. Two weeks later I'm trying to find this package my parents sent me and I have stopped by both addresses and they said the ups man came and left 2x already. So one more time then the send it back! I get a text that night saying..Is this sister Brooke Scott? and Its Grant!!! He stopped my package right before they were about to send it back and he recognized the name from the card we gave him and was able to bring it to me!:) Miracles. He said he's not quite ready to learn about the gospel but to keep him and his family in our prayers and to try him a later down the road! He just needs a little miracle grow. Ok Next. One the day of my year mark we contacted a family in the street and got to share the message of the restoration with them! I was amazed at how open and receptive they were..especially cause they said their father was the PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH. I seriously love the baptist people. They explained how they have wanted to go to our church to try it out so many times but never got the chance to. Their adorable 9 year old daughter ran to her dad and said "Dad this is the one i was telling you about! We neeed to go there! We need to go dad!" She is so elect. He says everytime they pass our church she is glued to the window and begs to go. They invited us to come help out at their churches free yard sale thing so we brought 2 other sisters with us. One is named sister Gosdis and she is actually a baptist convert of 2 years! she is an amazing missionary! Of course as we are helping out and meeting everyone the pastor of the church comes to meet us! Pastor Budah..that's right..Budah. I love Him. We talked for a while and he read some scriptures to us. He is the sweetest man! Despite the intention of mixing our doctrine and throwing little anti remarks, you can really just feel the love he has for our souls! haha Its sweet. Usually I would just smile, bear m testimony and be on my way but for some reason I felt we needed to share a message with him. The moment I mentioned that he ran and grabbed us chairs and we got to share bits of the plan and restoration with him! We got to answer a lot of his questions but he kept dominated a lot of our message, which i expected, so in my heart i said a prayer that the Lord would inspire sister Gosdis to come over and share her testimony! The moment I said amen, Sister Gosdis and her companion pulled up a chair and began to add into our conversation. With the testimony of 4 sisters..let me tell you, THE SPIRIT WAS AMAZING. He finally stopped his argumentative approach and said "all I want to know is if this is true". We challenged him to read and pray to know for himself and that if he was truly sincere the Lord would answer his prayer! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!! He offered a closing prayer and we all knelt together on the floor of the baptist assembly and he offered a very heartfelt and sincere prayer to know of truth. He invited us to come to his congregation anytime and that he would like to come and check our out soon! Not sure what will come of it but it was a very awesome testimony building experience:) Last awesome thing I have time to share is, this sunday a women called the church and ouy Ward mission leader answered it! She was sobbing askign for someone to come pick her up and take her to the church. He picked her up and called us to meet her there. I wasn't quite sure who she was or what we woudl say so her but i said a prayer in my heart and felt him saying "you will know when you open you mouth". She is a 19 year old convert of 6 months and said she fell away right after she was baptized. She got involved in the wrong crowd of friends and has had a lot fo horrible things happen to her. The moment I saw her I couldn't help but just run up and hugged her. She was shaking and sobbing for a good 5 min and we just held her and told her that she was safe and that we were going to help her. She was so excited that is was US because we saw her a couple weeks before at subway and left her with our card and she couldn't find it so she just called the church! When she calmed down She explained how she had made so many mistakes and that she even stopped believing in God for a while. In her darkest hour she prayed for the first time in a long time and was completely over come by the spirit and she knew that God was real, that he knew her perfectly (she is hysterically sobbing at this point) and she said words would never describe that feeling she felt of being forgive. She said there were stil many things she needed to go to the repentance process for and that she need us to meet with her everyday so she can prepare to serve a mission! She said she doesn't even know what that entails but all she knows is that Gods purpose for her is to be a missionary! I was completely blown away with how similar her story was to Amla the Younger. She said she feels that she can never be foregiven and that she isnt worthy to even feel the incredible love she was feeling in the church! She is a modern day ALMA THE YOUNGER! We promised her that there was no mistake too bad or sin too deep that the light of Jesus Christ atonement cannot cover. That was one of the most sacred lessons I have had my whole mission, and its all because the ATOMENENT IS REAL! It covers all pain, affliction, temptation, and sickness that we have ever felt in our whole lives. His arms and extended toward ANYONE who does one thing. Comes unto him. "Come unto me all ya that labor and are heavy laden and I shall give you rest." "tho your sins may be a scarlet they shall be white as snow" He says it over and over again and NONE are exempt from this promise! His atonement is so real, and I am a living witness that is works. This is why we do what we do. This is why the message of the restored gospel is so important and God wants ALL His children to be able to access the healing, cleansing, and enabling power of the atonement. Those who experience it cannot remain Idle. I want to invite all of you to pray to gain a deeper understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ and how to apply it in your life. I know as you do this, you will come to a greater understanding of who you are and what your plan and purpose is here in the life! The Gospel is so true. and I will forever share it. Love you all!! -siser scott Mine and sister Calls year mark together!! Mtc companion and best friend in the whole missionary universe.

Eating paleo with sister Gosdis! Baptist convert of 2 years..She is amazing. And teaches me how to cook paleo all the time....I love it.

Year Mark!!

Hello everyone! Not a lot of time to write!! But I just want to share my testimony:) I hit my year mark this week in the 5th and I honestly could never expected how incredible my mission has been. It feel completely humbled as I look back on what the Lord has made of me in just a year. I will never be the same and I hope i never am! Every day the Atonement is changing me, and every day I understand I little more who I am and who my Father in Heaven is. I am a living testimony that He lives. I know that the knowledge of His gospel is what enables us to obtain all He has to offer and words cant even describe what that will be:) I love my brother Jesus Christ and I will continue to give all I am to Him and His work until He says the work is done! I want to share these scriptures and pard of Elder Bednars talk. Its changed so many lives of the people I've come to know and love and changed mine in the process! “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he wil ltake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. “And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12). Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings,our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us. There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul orheartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortalitythat the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we maycry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Sonof God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne ourindividual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (seeAlma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm ofmercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to bemore than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could neverdo relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I know with my whole heart that THAT is true. I see it every day. I have such a fire burnng in me for this work. Be apart of it! Love you all!! have a good week! -sister scott