A New Start :)

Dearest Family and Friends,

Well another week has gone by!!! I think we've hit the hottest temperatures here, so hopefully every day we are getting closer to the cooler weather!!! :):):) haha :) This week was GREAT!!!! Sister Gallardo got transferred out, and Sister Helsten came in. I actually went to high school with her! She was called English speaking, but her mom is from Puerto Rico, so she knows Spanish - so her calling got switched to Spanish halfway through her mission. She was in a Spanish and English ward before, so now this is her first time in full Spanish and she LOVES it! We have been out about the same time. She came out 3 weeks before me. We get along great and work SOOO well together!!! :) I am SOOOOOOOO excited for this transfer!!!

I have been thinking about a quote from Elder Holland this week. I don't have my notes with me, but it's something like this "God doesn't care nearly as much as where you have been as much as he does where you are now, and with His help where you are willing to go." Sometimes I get discouraged about decisions I've made, days where I could've worked harder, etc. and it gets me down. I really want to leave all that behind and just give my whole soul to the work. That's what the Atonement is for!! If I dwell on all my mistakes, I'll never progress. That's not what Satan wants. I am SO excited to stop being a perfectionist, and just try harder each day and know the lord loves me :) It is His work after all. I just need to give my all and let Him do the rest!!!

We did a lot of finding and referral contacting and tracked down less actives this week. Since the boundaries for the stake got changed, our area got a little bigger, so we have new members in the ward from the sweetwater (other Spanish ward). We went and visited them, and now the branch council is going to go find them and welcome them to the branch! We might just get a little bigger! Woot!

I wanted to share 2 neat stories from this week. We were driving in some intense rain, and saw a poor guy on a motorcycle, and he looked MISERABLE. We were worried about him. We went through the overpass and saw him off to the side praying. It was SOOO sweet! The power of prayer is truly amazing, and I was so touched to see someone else using prayer to get through a tough situation! The other was when we were knocking. We contacted a referral, and asked them if their neighbors needed a prayer. They directed us to their neighbor, and old white lady who has cancer. We knocked on her door, and she was very unwelcoming. She didn't want to pray at all, and she looked SO grouchy. We told her we just wanted to stop by and tell her that her neighbors were thinking of her. She said, "you know, you're right. I
could use a prayer." She came out and prayed with us, and her countenance just changed completely!!! :) She was SOOOO happy after that! We talked about service and all sorts of great things with her! She doesn't want to hear the message, but she has heard of the church. So even though she didn't accept, maybe we planted a little seed in her heart :)

It was SUCH an amazing week! We have been working at 100 mph this week! We are SOO excited to be together and to get things going here! I love being a missionary. it's the greatest calling in the world I have right now. I am SO blessed to be here! I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you all! :)

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

New Companion, Hermana Helston

Opposition in All Things

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was SOOOOO incredible!!!! Really. We were actually able to meet with our investigators this week!!! it was AWESOME!!!!!

We had a member with us when we went to visit Susanna. The lesson was AMAZING!!! The member was PERFECT for Susanna. She really felt the spirit, and even her husband joined in the lesson at the end!! :):):) It was AWESOME!!!! I learned that we truly need members for this work to happen! it was SUCH a cool lesson!!! :):):):)

We also taught Pilar this week. She was really receptive, and agreed to actually read and what not. We're trying to get her to get her husband and kids involved. She is really hesitant. But she agreed to try. Her husband doesn't work Sundays, so it's perfect!!! We are SOOO excited to get the whole family involved!!! :):):):)

So, we sort of lost contact with the Sosa family for a while. They never called us back, never came to church, etc. We went by to visit them and they acted like they weren't home and didn't answer :( Finally one day we decided to stalk the house and wait for her to get home. As soon as she pulled in, we drove by and I basically yelled at her out the window. She said she was busy until today, so hopefully we'll be able to have a lesson with her this week!!!

I learned that to really appreciate an area with lots of work happening, you need to have a period where it's really difficult to do the work. Opposition is real, and we need it! :) I am SOOOOO grateful for the harder times on my mission so that I can truly appreciate the great times!!!! :):):):)

I had a neat experience this week. We went to see a less active, and she was not home. The spirit told me to knock the door across from hers. I was like "uh, no" But the spirit kept telling me. I thought we'd do it later. We were hot and tired, so we just started leaving,t hen the spirit was just like "do it NOW!" So I finally did, and we knocked on the door. Well, a white Buddhist lady answered the door, and wouldn't even pray with us. I thought, 'why did the spirit tell me to knock this door??" Well, my district leader told me that maybe the Lord was just seeing if I would listen to the spirit or not, so that when the time comes when someone really DOES want the missionaries and IS prepared, the Lord knows I WILL follow the promptings. So that was my cool experience this week :)

I love you all SOOOOO much!!!!! I want to wish  a very happy birthday to my Grandma Tanner, and my brother Brandon this Friday! Happy birthday!!! :):):)

Have a great week everyone!!! :):)

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

Rain, Heat and Humidity

Dearest Family and Friends,

Well, I always knew the summer would be bad here, and BOY is it HOT!!! It was in the high 90's a week and a half ago, and with the humidity - it's just death. You sweat like crazy, but it doesn't go away! AH! This week we were blessed with TONS of rain! It rained for 3 days in a row! It's a little less hot right now, but it seems to be bipolar. You never know what the weather will be! :) Haha, I do love it here though! It makes me appreciate the dry heat of Utah! :) haha :)

This week we had an amazing lesson with Viciniev, our golden referral! :) We had the Relief society president coming with us, but sadly she forgot, so we had to go withour her :( But that's okay! We taught Viciniev the Restoration! I wish I had the time to type out the whole lesson, but I will just give the basics! She and her husband are right now looking for a church for their whole family to attend together!! :) She says she needs to pray before she reads the Bible so that she can have the spirit and understand what she's reading. She already believes Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. Wow. She is GOLDEN!! She talks quite a bit, and sometimes she doesn't really "get" what we're saying, but she is SOOO spiritual, and is a genuine seeker of truth. Whether or not she "gets" it, she is going to be praying with faith to know the answer, and if she gets it, she will accept! She is incredible!!! They have 4 kids, ages 11, 13, 15, and 17. They are golden! We are hoping to bring a family this week to teach their family! Sadly they didn't come to church, but we have faith they will! :) So please pray for the Sosa family! :)

Zone conference was amazing!!!! We learned about the importance of inviting to baptism, read the scriptures, pray, and go to church. We also learned how to be more motivated, etc. It was an amazing conference! I learned SOOOOO very much!!! :):):):) I can't wait to put all this into practice! We were invited to do the 12 week training program starting next transfer, and mark a new BoM. I feel like I have so much I want to read before I go home - and I don't have time! AH! :) haha, that's good though. It's keeping my studies busy! I really did love zone conference. President Foote is SO inspired! :)

Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with any other investigators....which is lame :( we are in contact with all of them, but they just never can meet with us, which is weird. We have appointments with all of them this week, so we know things will be GREAT this week! :)

I hope you all have an amazing week! Thanks for your constant love and support! Even if I have a slow week, and there's not much success, at least I know I can see success within myself, and that's all that matters! :)

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

Happy Independence Day! :)

Dearest Family and Friends,

I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!!! I am so grateful to live in a country that allows me to have the freedom I do. I am grateful for all those who sacrificed their lives so I could have this freedom. Aren't we truly blessed to live where we do? Wow. We have endless blessing. God truly loves us :)

This week was a little slow in the area of investigators. We weren't able to meet with ANY of them....like any. It was a bummer. We kept in contact the whole week with them, and encouraged them to keep their commitments and what not...but we'll see what happens this week! :)

We worked a TON with the branch this week. We split the member list with the elders and we are going to teach the 5 member lessons to the whole branch. Remember when I said president asked us to do that? Well, that was forever ago, and the branch never did it...so we will do it now! :) We are SOOO excited to see the miracles come from that!!! :) :) We also called the whole branch roster. We are trying to see whose numbers have changed, who moved, etc. We have been tracking down people like crazy!!! As a result of that, we have found more places to go finding! Woohoo! We are working with a  lot of part member families. We are SO excited to get things organized, and get on the same level with the branch. We KNOW things will be happening here shortly!!

President wants us to go out visiting teaching with the women here. The ideal is to do a split, but if we just accompany them, that's okay too. We went out twice this week! :) WOOHOOO! The members are REALLY excited that we have found less actives. When we make an appointment with one, they are all dying to come see them with us. Hopefully we can keep that excitement, and eventually spread it to investigators!!

We have a couple potentials we found this week that seem really promising! We have SOO much faith that we will see miracles this transfer, and in all the coming transfers. Please keep viciniev in her prayers!! We have a lesson with her this week, and she seems REALLY golden!

Thanks for all your love and support! Hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)