Happy 8 months!

Wow, I can't even believe that I'm almost halfway!!! Time is going sooooo fast!!!!!! It kind of scares me! Ah!!!

This week was absolutely amazing!!!!!! Hector got baptized!!!! yay!!!!! Hermana Stewart and I were able to talk at his baptism. I spoke on the Holy Ghost. I loved watching him. He just looked so happy. He had tears in his eyes. He got up to bear his testimony, and he had no words. It was beautiful. Want to know the cool miracle? About 2 months ago, we sent Zoraida the number to the texas mission where Hector's sister and nephew live. Guess who got baptized yesterday???? Hector's sister and nephew!!! Oh my gosh! It was the coolest thing in the world! Missionary work is truly amazing. Hector is very excited about it. It was such a great baptism. He was so excited! I've never seen him so happy. :)

We were able to meet with that family I talked about last week. Their names are Balbina, and her girls Leslie and Evaline. They are SOOO cute! We brought the elder's recent convert Ledif to the lesson. WE taught the plan of salvation. They are SO cute! We walked in the door, and they screamed 'the hermanas!!!" and they ran and gave us hugs. How cute is that??? I love them to death. The dad is pretty hard core catholic. He is SUPER nice, but not really open to the message. The mom just wants the best for her girls. If the girls want this, I'm sure their parents will let them! :) They are SOOO sweet!!!

So, we had a cool miracle this week. We had been teaching a less active family - the Amaro family- every week when I first came out. It became unproductive, and she stopped receiving us, so we stopped visiting as often. Well, now the dad and oldest son are involved in drugs and other bad stuff, so she is really struggling. WE brought a member to her house, and it was the BEST!! She finally agreed to come back to church, and we got a ride for her! So in walks Hermana Amaro and 3 of her kids on Sunday. Wow. What a miracle. She loved it. I bet it gave her a lot of spiritual strength with all the things she's
dealing with. She is so strong. Missionary work is SO incredible! I love it here! :)

This week really was amazing!!! We had lots of appointments cancel and what not, but at least we are trying!! That's all that matters. Being a missionary is the greatest thing.....ever.....at least at this point in my life :) I hope you all have such a great week! I'll be praying 

for all of you! Love you!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst\

Can I Stay in Chamblee Forever??

Dearest Family and Friends,

Holy cow!!! This week was absolutely incredible!!!! I can't even believe it!!! I just love being a missionary!!

So the first bit of incredible news is that Hector is getting baptized this Saturday!!!! :) Yay!!!! Woohoo!!!!! :) He is sooo ready and so excited! He truly is doing everything for himself, and not for his wife. It's amazing to watch. We were able to teach him twice this last week. He accepted all of the commandments without question. He said he'd switch to hot chocolate instead of coffee. He said he loves it and he feels the same whether it's coffee or hot chocolate. Isn't he great?? He understands everything, and has a testimony of everything. It is absolutely amazing!!!! :) We are so excited for this decision that he has made. It's going to be a GREAT Saturday!! :)

So, remember Stephanie's mom Diana? Well, she has been in seriously poor health, so we had the opportunity to help out Stephanie and we watched her for about 5 hours one day. We read her the Book of Mormon, and took care of her. It was a GREAT service opportunity! We love Stephanie and Diana so much, and we'd do anything for them!! Sadly Diana has gone back to Colombia to go to her doctor there, but the good news is that we are super close with Stephanie now, and I really think she trusts us. We have a lesson with her tonight!! She is so great! So many great things are happening!!!

We were able to have a lesson with Rogelio and Flor later on in the week!! It was great!! We were able to bring a member. It was such a great lesson!!! Oh my goodness!! Rogelio doesn't really talk in the lessons, but this time he expressed some questions he had about the Book of Mormon, and Hermana Bernal was able to answer them perfectly for them! This lesson was perfect! Now they understand the Book of Mormon perfectly, and I think they're actually going to pray about it now! This is why you need members! It was such a great lesson!!! :)

We have been teaching the 5 lessons to this less active named Giovanna, and it's been such a huge blessing!! She has referred 2 of her friends to us!! One of them is married and has two little girls!! So, we have a lesson tomorrow with the whole family!!! We were able to become great friends with the two little girls, age 9 and 10, while we all helped Giovanna move. It was great! We are great friends with the parents too! So, service brought us to this family. It's absolutely incredible!!

We were also able to teach Fermin more about the Priesthood this week. We have prepared for 3 weeks for this lesson. We have put SO much thought into it. We realized the first time we tried to teach it that we need to prepare more. I can honestly say that I understand the priesthood so much more, and I have such a deeper testimony of the priesthood. It has been such a great week! I've learned soooo much! Fermin is ready to get the priesthood! Then we get to go to the temple
with him! :)

So, a funny story now! Well, 2 I guess. Hermana Stewart and I started noticing how many different license plates we've seen, and so we decided to write them down and try and get all 50 states. We are currently at 26 of the 50! yay! It's SOOO much fun! The second funny story is that we went to this member's house for dinner. He fixed us tacos. 2 had chicken, and 2 looked to have some kind of meat. It looked like diced beef. So, we ate it. The meat seemed really squishy, and had a really interesting flavor, but I had drenched mine in salsa, so I didn't really taste it. One of the pieces of meat fell out, so I picked it up and just ate it.....man was it SQUISHY!!! I knew there was no way it could have been meat....but I didn't want to ask. So, the next day, the member comes up to us and tells us that the tacos with the "meat" in them were cow tongue ......yuck. I can't even believe it!!!! We were all dying of laughter!!!! Now that I look back on it...it was actually really not that good, and super weird. So I guess it's all in the head. It wasn't nearly as bad because we didn't know what we were eating. So funny!! That was a great experience!

So, the Chamblee branch is absolutely amazing. No joke. We now have a branch mission plan, and we had a correlation where President basically scheduled team ups with the branch missionaries for us this week. How incredible is that?? All of the members have truly grasped their role in this. Hermana Stewart and I were thinking this past week about how all of our baptisms, progressing investigators, etc. have all come from members. All of them. It's amazing. Our job is to teach with the spirit, and provide the way for others to come unto Christ. It's all of our job as members of the church, to find the people and bring them into the Gospel. It's amazing that we are experiences here the IDEAL missionary work. We are only busy because the members are embracing this Gospel and sharing it with others. It's incredible to watch, and we are SOOO blessed!

I hope you have the most amazing week! Thanks for all the love and support!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst

The Joys of Being a Missionary

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week has been absolutely incredible!!!! A lot of things have happened recently that have really changed my view of missionary work. I absolutely LOVE being a missionary now more than ever!!! I love the joy I feel when I serve. I honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else! That's the truth! So many wonderful things happened this past week. I am so incredibly blessed to be serving HERE. I know it's where I'm supposed to be. I love being a missionary!!!

So, I'll update you on the investigators. yay!!! So, we haven't had the chance to meet with Diana or Stephanie this week, and we probably won't be able to for a while. It breaks my heart. :( I know everything happens for a reason though. Everything happens in the Lord's timing. Please pray for Diana. Her health hasn't been the best. They still want to be taught and everything, but we just have to give them some time. Okay, I was really excited to talk about Rogelio and Flor....but sadly they cancelled the appointment we had with them last night. :( We had members coming with us and everything!!! So frustrating!! Oh well. Everything happens for a reason. The good news is, Flor said we can come any day of the week, and not just Monday. yay! There's hope for a lesson this week! The other good news is that she has been reading in the Book of Mormon!! yay!!! so amazing!

Alright, the greatest news of all this week is Hector!!! yay!!! He and Zoraida got married this last Friday!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! We were able to go to the wedding at Zoraida's house. It was so beautiful! They are SO stinking cute!!! Now that they are married, they can have more spiritual progress together as a couple! Things are going up from here!! Hector has been reading in the Book of Mormon! He is doing it for himself and for God. We have seen such a big change in him!!! Now
that he lives in Zoraida's house....he can't use the "I'm sick" card. Haha. We taught him on Sunday about the Plan of Salvation!!! We only need two more lessons with him before he is ready for his interview!!! He wants to get baptized really soon! We are hopeful he can get baptized on the 27th of February!!! Yay!!!! We are SOOOO excited for him!!!

So, the dinner/appointment with Hector was the best....and it leads right into my "fun" story of the week. We had a lovely meal at their house. The usual: quesadillas, beans, etc. BUT they also wanted us to try.......drumroll.......MENUDO!!!!!!! For those who don't know what menudo is.....it's a cow stomach soup. Yep, you read that right. Now, they wanted to film us and take pictures, and watch the squeaky American girls eat cow stomach. haha. They were dying of laughter!!! Haha. We were too!!! Let me just say that cow stomach is not my favorite....really. It was prepared really well. It wasn't too chewy. The thought of eating cow stomach was the WORST. Haha. It was gooey, chewy, rubbery, etc. I wouldn't suggest it. But it was a fun experience. Haha. So there you go. I've had menudo. No one can tell me now that I'm a picky eater!!! ;)

So, it's been really fun to not be in a trio. Don't get me wrong....trios are REALLY fun, and they have their perks. I think I've
just been so used to it I don't really know how awesome just a companionship is. So, I LOVE being with just 2. Everything is just so much easier! Hermana Stewart and I work really well together. We absolutely LOVE being in Chamblee together. :) It's the BEST.

I love being a missionary. I really do! I love it here in Atlanta...even if the weather is super bipolar ;) haha. I've had such a great week, and I can't wait for all the wonderful things happening in Chamblee! yay! Love you all SOO much! Have a great week!! :)

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

Menudo Soup

The field is white -- already to harvest!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow! What an incredible week! I know I always say that - but it's true! This one was especially exceptional!!!

So an update on Rogelio, Flor, and Jonas. We were excited to go to the lesson and hear that they prayed about baptism - sadly they didn't. They had some questions. They had already been baptized and wanted to know what would happen if they got baptized again. I'll admit, I was very frustrated. The "second baptism" topic is not my favorite. The good news is they weren't asking it out of "we can't do this" but more like "we want to - is it okay?" It was a great lesson. We touched on the Restoration again - shared some scriptures, and then bore testimony. We told them that it all comes down to their own testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was a powerful lesson. I think they know what they need to do now. It was a great lesson, and I'm not discouraged anymore.

Now - here's the cool part of my week. We went to have our lesson with Stephanie, and her mom was there. She is SUPER sweet. She asked if she could join the lesson. She was very nervous about interrupting it. We assured her that she was encouraged to join!!!! We taught The Restoration. The spirit was SOOO strong. We know that Stephanie and her mom are prepared. Diana is her mom's name. When we shared the story about Joseph Smith, Diana said "wow, I had no idea. I always thought that none of the churches were true, and it was just God that was true. I can't believe there is actually a true church!" It was amazing!!!! Stephanie absolutely loved the lesson too. Both of them agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I know they were serious - not just going through the motions. Diana kept saying how happy she was. She was just in tears!!! The lesson was incredible. But the cool part about it was that Sister Stewart and I both had the feeling from the spirit that these women were prepared specifically for us. I've never had that experience. I felt it whenever I talked to Stephanie. I just felt a connection to her. And Sister Stewart felt the same for Diana. It was amazing. I've never been so happy!!! Diana kept saying she was so happy that she didn't have to search any longer. I know Stephanie felt the same - she's just very quiet. But I could feel her acceptance through the spirit. It was incredible. Sadly they didn't come to church yesterday, but I haven't lost hope. They are ready, and the adversary will NOT get to them. I love being a missionary. This was by far the best lesson I've had on the mission. :)

So - bonus! Hector is on date again!!!! He and Zoraida are getting married this Friday - so now he is actually serious about baptism. I am so excited!!! Pray for him! He needs it!

Good things are happening here in Chamblee. I am very excited about it. I love being a missionary. It's amazing. This has been such a wonderful week!!! Love you all!!!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst

Happy Seven Months!

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week has been absolutely incredible!!! One of the best I've had in a long time!!! Well, every week is a good one, but sometimes you have the super special ones that blow every other week out of the park in the "awesome" scale, you know? So, we got a call super late on Monday telling us that Sister Webb was getting transferred. It was a surprise! Everyone already knew about transfers and were packed already! It was a last minute decision because sister Webb's new companion's companion had to go home because of health issues, and I guess the decision became final, so Sister Webb got transferred! She is covering Douglasville in English, and they opened up the branch in Sweetwater to sisters!! Sister Webb's new companion is fluent in Spanish, so now we have 6 spanish sisters! Yay! 3 areas for Spanish sisters!!! Sister Stewart and I are very happy to be together, and staying in Chamblee!!! yay! Life is great! I didn't realize how much EASIER it is to not be in a trio! I guess I just got used to it, but I loved the companionship life! Now I get sufficient time in the bathroom! haha. :)

So, I thought I'd give a little update on the people we are teaching. Rogelio, Flor, and Jonas are doing great!! We invited them to baptism this last Monday, and they said they wanted to keep hearing the lessons and pray about it. THey said it was a sacred thing, and they wanted a confirmation from Heavenly Father first. Holy cow. They are SOOO prepared! We are having an FHE with them and a member family tonight. I hope all goes well! We are teaching this lady named Maria (go figure ;) ) SHe is from the Dominican Republic. Her daughter is a member, so she referred herself because she wants to learn more! WE met with her once before Christmas, but then she got sick so we couldn't meet with her until this last week. She is SO sweet! She remembered everything from our last lesson! She has great potential! Now, we just met a lady named Mireya. She used to live in the North mission, but then she moved here. So now we are teaching her! She has been to church, she's in 2 nephi, and she knows a ton about the church! She and her "husband" are totally on board! The only thing is that her "husband" is still married to some lady in Mexico, so they need to get divorced before they can get married. Then they can get baptized! Good thing our branch president is a lawyer!! haha. :) Stephanie is still doing great! She was busy all last week, but we have an appointment with her tomorrow! yay!

The branch is SOOO amazing!!!! 2 different members of the branch came to us and asked us to invite Stephanie to attend the Gospel Principles class. THey said she goes to the Young Single Adult's class, but she's totally lost. They said they want to always be welcoming to her to attend the class, but they think she needs to be in Gospel Principles so they asked us to invite her. They care about her SO much! It was so sweet! This branch really is amazing! THey have been so supportive of everything!! Things are really changing here in chamblee! We now have 6 branch missionaries, and we're going to get started with family history in the branch! Holy cow! There is a fire burning in Chamblee that has never been there before! I wish you could all see the changes here! It's incredible! I really want to stay here my whole mission!!!!

Well, there's my week for you! There are SO many amazing things going on!! I love you all so much! Thanks for your love and support!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst