With God, All Things Are Possible

Dearest Family and Friends,

Hello again!! I feel like this Christmas season is flying by WAY too quickly!! I simply LOVE Christmas! It's been such a great week! We had so many incredible experiences, and I can't wait to share them with you!! First off, Hermana Meneses is leaving today :( We are also going to transfers, and we will be receiving another companion! So, more trios! The Lord must want me to learn something. I guess I haven't learned it yet. ;) She is the Spanish sister that was Emergency Transferred to English at the end of last transfer. Now she's coming back to Spanish, and I guess she's coming with us! :)

So, something I've learned this past week - I've learned that it's SO amazing to stay in an area for a long time. I really feel that because I have been here for a long time, I am closer with the members, more familiar with the area, and can follow up with EVERY investigator! It's so amazing!! I am soooo excited! At first I thought I'd be bummed to stay in one area for a long time, but now I realize that it's a huge blessing! I absolutely love it here!

Miracle - so our miracle of the week was pretty incredible. Elder Holland was coming to talk to the sisters on Friday night at 7. We were encouraged to get there around 1:30 to ensure a seat......1:30???? No way Jose. We felt that we needed to work that day instead of getting there early to get a good seat. We felt that Elder Holland, and the Lord, would much rather have us out finding His lost sheep, than sitting close enough to see him speak. So, we went out to work. Sadly, no one was home, and we had ZIP luck. However, we went to visit this one less active. She lives in a scary house on a tiny road in the middle of nowhere. We were leaving her house, and guess who was drove by on the road? WALTER!!!!!!! He had gotten a new job as a taxi driver, so the Elders were never able to contact or meet with him. But, here he was....delivered to our feet. He parked the car, jumped out, and asked when we could come see him. So, we have an appointment with Walter today. We know that the Lord blessed us because we chose to work instead. It was SOOO fun to see Walter again.

What a coincidence that we saw him! It was absolutely incredible!! :)

Elder Holland - so my experience with him was definitely the highlight of my week. We actually ended up getting a seat on the 6th row!!!! Holy cow!! The Lord does provide! :) Elder Holland did such a great job. It was such a privilege to be in the same room as an apostle of the Lord. He truly delivered a powerful talk. He asked us to not share it over social media, because he wasn't talking from a script, and didn't want to have problems with 1,000 different versions of his talk all over Facebook and Twitter. So, I will just say that he testified of the Savior, and told us how we can be happy. We need to come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. God can fix anything. He is such a powerful speaker. He can make anyone laugh, and he can also flood the spirit into the room in a matter of seconds! It was an amazing experience! Then we got to meet with him as a mission! Our mission and the Atlanta North mission were able to meet with him. He even took the time to shake every single missionary's hand. He said he looked each of us in the eye, and had a personal interview with us. It was so amazing. I just felt the spirit so strong as I shook an apostle's hand, looked him in the eye, and KNEW he was called of God. He also gave the most powerful talk. It was everything I needed to hear! We read a lot of stories about missionaries in the Book of Mormon, and also in the Bible. He taught us how to teach with power and authority - and how to astonish people. It was so powerful. All the missionaries here in Atlanta are super pumped to go out and work! How incredible is it that we were able to receive counsel from an apostle! He even had us bring in a white board, and he was just drawing and talking to us like we were just in a class! It was so fun to connect with him on that personal level. I definitely learned a TON from him. I am so grateful to have had that experience.

Investigators....so for an update. Fermin is TOTALLY ready and prepared for his baptism on the 26th! woot woot! He is so amazing. He has such a strong desire to follow Christ. I love being a part of his conversion. Hector sadly has been sick, and working, so we have to push his date back to January 9th. He's still getting baptized, but he is just so busy, it's hard to meet with him. But there you go! The work is progressing! When some of our other investigators progress more, I'm sure I'll talk more about them. :)

Well, I love you all. Truly. Thank you for all the love and support. I couldn't be here without the support of my family and friends. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Love,

Hermana Bringhurst