Relief Society Interview/Spotlight

I was spotlighted in our ward's relief society monthly bulletin for September. I think most of what was said, the people who read our blog already know, but I thought this was something my mom might enjoy reading and so I'm sharing it with anyone that comes along:

"It was noon on Saturday when I went to interview Brooke
Newman. Her husband, Ben, was just leaving. He soon returned
however, to find out which vacuum cleaner was smoking.
Brooke explained that a short while ago she and Ben had taken
over the management of the apartments and Ben was off to
vacuum the building. Brooke loves the out-of-doors and
apartment management allows her to mow and garden and
enjoy leisurely time outside just reading.

They have been married 3 years and 3 days. Brooke announced
proudly and with great enthusiasm that their anniversary had
been on Wednesday, 3 days earlier. They met at BYU when
Brooke’s current boyfriend at the time moved into Ben’s
apartment. She told me that Ben can appear shy in a large
group, but in truth he has a great sense of humor and life is
never boring when he is around. She and Ben were friends for
three years before it began to occur to them that their
relationship may have long term possibilities.

Ben is from Idaho where he was raised on a farm and is one of 6
siblings. Brooke is from Utah. She has three sisters the youngest
of which will be going into the first grade this year.

They both graduated from BYU. Brooke studied business
management and marketing and worked as a financial assistant
for the College of Nursing. She was very interested in doing
advertising but, as with many professions, there are positions
one needs to fill before they acquire their dream job and sales
was one of those positions that Brooke had no interest in. I
personally believe she would be great in sales. She is very
outgoing, positive, and vivacious. Eventually she and Ben went
to work at the University of Utah and Ben decided that he
wanted to go to Pharmacy School. The question then became
where to go to school. Since Brooke’s family was in Ogden and
they were already at the U of U, logic would say to stay where
they were. However, being believers in prayer, they prayed and
received true peace about coming to Seattle and UW. When they
arrived they were able to spend their first month here just
sightseeing. How many of us have actually seen the sights
around Seattle? Brooke had wondered what it would be like
leaving “the familiar” and moving into a whole new community,
but says that ward has welcomed them with open arms and
many invitations. They really feel at home and have a lot in
common with others in the ward.

Brooke is very interested in traveling outside of the U.S. and
feels she had her first real opportunity when she and Ben
recently went to Canada to see The Lion King, which she
described as a wondrous experience. She also said she knew she
was out of the U.S. when she discovered that she couldn’t quite
translate the MPH on the speed limit signs. She dreams about
going to places like Italy and Greece. Her interest in Greece was
perked when she was quite young and learning about Greek
mythology. She was so fascinated by it that, as a youngster, she
and her friends, while playing, used to act out the Greek myths.
Brooke and Ben both love things like hiking, camping, cycling,
and roller-blading. Ben’s family was here last week and the four
of them cycled the Burke Gilman Trail together. Brooke is
looking forward to canoeing in the Arboretum area with Ben.
One of their favorite ways to pass time is playing video
games together. She told me that video games today are almost
like watching a long, exciting movie.

In high school Brooke participated in a variety of sports, but
was particularly good in track and the long jump. At one time
she was the best at the 400-meter run. She had also been a
cheerleader. A few of her hobbies include scrap-booking and
documenting her life with photographs. She is in the process of
learning to use Photoshop. That’s going to be useful considering
the fact that she came back from one trip with over 700
photographs.

I asked Brooke what was important to her about the church. Her
answer was prayer. Since she was very young her mother
reinforced the idea of prayer. Whenever she would go to her
mother with a problem the first thing her mother would ask is,
“Have you prayed about it?” To this day she remembers that
whenever her hamsters would get out of their cage, which was
often, her mother and she would pray about finding them and
she said they always did. What wonderful memories to have.

Thanks Brooke for a great interview and I would really like to
see some of those photos once you’ve learned Photo Shop.

Pat Goninan"