Happy Thanksgiving

Dearest Family and Friends,

Can you believe it's Thanksgiving this week??? And Christmas right after that?? I can't believe it!!! The holidays are here!!!! I wish there was snow here, it's hard to get into the holiday spirit without the snow! I just love the holiday season! Maybe more people will be willing to hear our message!!! :)

So, a bit of news to start out. Sister Meneses' visa came. It came about a week ago. She is staying until the end of the transfer. So, she will be leaving on December 14th. I am SO sad!!! I know the Lord wanted her here for this short amount of time for a reason. She had definitely made an impact on me! And also the people we are teaching. I am going to miss her a lot. :(

Temple/Zone Training....so we got to go to the temple this last week!! That's always my favorite! It's such a great time for me to get spiritually rejuvenated, and also to receive revelation for my investigators. It's truly a sacred place. I especially love being there with all of the missionaries. There is such strength in the session! My companions and I were the last sisters in the celestial room, and we were just surrounded by the Priesthood. It was such a neat feeling to be in such a sacred place with so many worthy men who hold the priesthood. I just love the temple. :) We had a GREAT time training with our zone. We talked about working with the members. We sure talk about this a lot. That means it's super important!! We also got trained on this new system they're implementing in the cars. it's called TIWI. It's a mission driver accountability program. It's a little box attached to our windshield, and it monitors our speed, seatbelts, etc. It's incredible. We each have a card and have to sign in every time we drive. If we speed, it turns red and says "check your speed" and you have 15 seconds to slow down before it marks it on your record. It also monitors aggressive driving (breaking too hard, turning too fast, etc) so the goal is for all of us to be safe drivers, and be in the "green" zone. This is supposed to save the church a lot of money, and prevent accidents from happening. It's very scary and intimidating, but it's keeping us safe!!

Headquarters Referral....so we received an AWESOME referral this last week from church headquarters. This lady lived in Mexico, and was taught by the missionaries. Then she moved here and has lived here for 26 years without ever going to church! I guess now she's decided she wants to hear the missionaries again! Her uncle is a bishop in Mexico! She knows a LOT about the church. She's really excited to get the lessons! When we came to the door she said, "what a miracle! You came!" It was so touching. her name is Leticia. I can't WAIT to teach her more!!!!

Exchanges...so we had exchanges this last week, and I went to English speaking for the first time with Sister Alofipo!!! It was SOOO much fun! It was SO different. I learned a TON. I first learned that I love Spanish, I love my area, and I love the people I teach. I also learned how much easier it is to express yourself in English. Haha. It was so much fun. Members took us out to eat to Red Lobster and Mellow Mushroom for dinner during the two days! Yay for American food!!! I had SUCH a great time!!

Branch BBQ....we had a brand BBQ for THanksgiving this last Friday. Abraham came!!!! He was able to meet a lot of the branch members!! It was SOOO much fun! Branch activities are always fun. Leave it to the Hispanics to throw a great party!!

Fermin....one of our members is friends with Fermin. He lives in the apartment below her. He is a party guy. He drinks, smokes, goes to strip clubs, etc. The whole nine yards. He is in love with this member, so he had come to church a couple times so that she would consider marrying him.....THEN.....something changed inside him. He wanted us to teach him the missionary discussions. He is really changing....but not for her. He is changing for himself. It is absolutely incredible to watch!!! It's people like him that make missionary work so incredible! We get to watch a man change his life! He has come to church 6 times....and this last Sunday, he PICKED up one of our MEMBERS and drove them to church. OUR INVESTIGATORS ARE DRIVING OUR MEMBERS!!!! This never happens. He is truly doing this out of a desire to develop a relationship with God. I hope I stay in Chamblee long enough to see him baptized. He's going to take some time, but he is worth it. Just watching him change is a priceless gift. :)

Our game plan....so, we only have 4 ish progressing investigators....and we used to have 12. We really need to get our investigators progressing. We were trying to figure out what we could do. We decided that we needed to be progressing missionaries in order to have progressing investigators. So, we decided as a companionship that every time we come up with the commitment for our investigators, we are going to come up with one for us as a companionship. Then, when we follow up with the investigator, we will follow up personally as a companionship to make sure we are progressing WITH our investigators. We are REALLY excited about this idea, and we're excited to see some blessings come from it!!

So, that was my week. It was amazing, as usual. Just being a missionary is amazing!!!! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!! I am thankful for this Gospel, my family, the opportunity I have to represent Jesus Christ, my investigators, the Chamblee Branch, the

Georgia Atlanta Mission, the Atonement, and my Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all! Hope y'all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Bringhurst