The Trio

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was amazing!!! We were able to teach both of our progressing families!!!!! Unfortunately we could not get members to come, but that's okay! The Lord has a purpose for everything, and we'll keep trying to involve the branch!! :)

So, we taught the Lechheb's last week about the role of Jesus Christ, and then we talked about baptism. Nadia, the mom, accepted the invitation to be baptized. She said the most BEAUTIFUL prayer. She said she always feels so peaceful when we come over. She and her daughter Inass read the Book of Mormon. Like for real. They read EVERY chapter we leave with them. It's amazing to see the change in them. They are now understanding who Jesus Christ is, and what His atonement is. They are learning to repent and pray. WOW. They are a miracle. I love seeing the light come into their eyes. They are SO special. The Lord has been preparing them for quite some time. They've shared some pretty neat spiritual experiences they've had in the past that have led them to this point. They are definitely prepared :) We taught them last night as well about the whole plan of salvation. They believed mostly about the pre earth life, but they mainly believed in reincarnation. The mom always believed after we die we go to a state of rest and peace. It was GREAT to build off of that. They LOVED the plan of salvation. Inass told us she raelly wanted to be baptized, and she had lots of questions. Throughout the lesson, she'd lean over to her mom and say "I really like what the hermanas are teaching me" WOW!!! She even made us a really yummy cookie treat with nutella on it! She's adorable!!! :) I LOVE THIS FAMILY!!!!! Sadly they couldn't come to church because of illness, but all is well! pray for them please! :)

We also saw Joseida this last week. We taught her about our purpose on earth and the importance of the book of Mormon. We got talking about the plan of salvation, and she told us what she has believed her whole life. She basically said EVERYTHING in the plan of
 salvation. She is SO prepared!!! :) She accepted baptism as well, and wants to keep studying before she commits to a date. She is perfect! We were able to teach the husband as well on Sunday! Joseida and Carlos celebrated 3 years of marriage together on Sunday! They got married after they had their 4th child. They said when they came closer to God, they wanted to get married and have it be a true marriage with God in the center. Wow. They are GREAT!!! We stopped by Sunday to give them the Family; a proclamation to the world,a nd they LOVED it! Carlos is going to take his book of Mormon with him to work and read it in the hotel!! :) YAY!!!!! They are so amazing as well! please pray for them! :)

We have been really trying to work as a trio this week. We really need the spirit as part of our companionship. We have noticed the influence of the spirit in our work in incredible ways!! We have been led to visit people in the EXACT moment they needed to see us. The Lord is really in charge of this work. If we listen to the spirit, and follow its promptings, it will lead us to do the Lord's work in HIS way :)

I LOVE being a missionary.  It's such an amazing blessing. I have seen SO many miracles and have grown in so many ways. Thank you for wall your love and support. Have a GREAT week!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

Happy 14 Months!

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was amazing! Church yesterday was a little discouraging. We didn't have any investigators, but that is okay!! Our two amazing families are still in contact with us, all is good! I wanted to share a trial that happened this week, not to be negative, but more to share my learning experience. We tried SOOO hard to get members to come with us to our lessons. These families are WAY too important not have members there. I kid you not, we called the WHOLE roster....and nobody could come. Nobody. It was insane! We were SO sad to have to go to our lessons without members. We would finally get an appointment, be outside the door, then the member would cancel last minute. It was unbelievable! I was thinking, "why is this happening? We are trying so hard!" But I knew there had to be opposition in all things. I was so discouraged, but I didn't want to get down and stop trying. Well, it turns out that because of our INTENSE efforts to get team ups, all the members know we're serious and know there's work to do. Whether they come out with us or not, we are building our relationship with them, and we KNOW we will see the fruits of our labor sometime in the future. I am SOOO hopeful! This branch is AMAZING!!!! I will keep the faith!!

So, we taught the Lechheb's this last week. We talked a little about the Plan of Salvation, but mostly about Christ's role in all of it. Since they are Muslim, they don't really have a lot of knowledge of Jesus Christ. The lesson was SO powerful. They knew it was all true! They had been reading the Book of Mormon too! It was incredible. They are SUCH a sweet family :) I have SO much faith in them. They even came to our English class! That class happened to be "learn a prayer in English" Wow. What a miracle! They literally accept everything we tell them. The spirit is really touching their hearts, but more importantly, they are letting the spirit in! Wow. I am SO blessed to know them!!

So that was our week! We had a lot of lessons, saw a lot of success with the members and less actives, and it was incredible! I love being a missionary! Thanks for your love and support always!

I wanted to say a happy birthday to my sister in law Ashley! Happy Birthday Ashley! hope you have a GREAT day! love you! :)

Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

The Cherry on Top :)

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was probably the most amazing week of my entire mission. I am not even kidding about that. We had a little adversity with our miracle family, and I was tempted to get really scared and doubt the miracle...BUT...I decided to hold on to my faith and realize that the Lord was in control of His work. So, out of nowhere Joseida called us and wanted us to come over. We met with her 3 times this last week. We taught her SO much and she is SO excited to learn. She called her husband and told him all about it, and his response was "I want to go to church tomorrow after I get back from work." Holy cow!!! So the Chataing-Pinero's came to church Sunday!!!! They are practically members. Everyone knows them, they participate in class,etc. They only need their testimonies now, and we have faith that it will come:)

The other miracle of the week was the Lechheb family. The English sisters found them tracting and passed them over to us. They are from Spain and moved here 2 months ago. wow. We went to go contact them, and just the 11 year old was there. she was SOOO sweet! She told us they were Muslim, and we were a little scared. We kept talking to her, shared Joseph Smith's story, etc. She loved it and said we could come back. she also gave us cupcakes that she had made :) SO cute!! So we went back, and we had a lesson with Nadia, her mom. We taught the Restoration, and she LOVED it. She said that even though she grew up Muslim, she always prayed differently, and she also said that deep down she knew Jesus Christ was real. oh my goodness!! :) She said she had been praying to know what her path was, and when we came and left our card with her daughter, she saw it as a sign :) WOW. We were blown away!!! She would get emotional talkinga bout her spiritual experiences. It was SO incredible!! :):) She is truly prepared! their entire family came to church sunday!! The husband, and the son came as well! AHH!!! :):) nadia said she had a dream where she was in a beautiful room and angels were singing around her. She said at church she felt exactly like she did in her dream. Wow. the Lechheb family is prepared! I will NEVER misjudge someone based on their religious background. Heavenly Father prepares His children....ALL His children. Wow. I was definitely humbled this week. We have a lot of great things coming in this area!!! Pray for everyone! :)

I love you all so much! Thanks for your lvoe and support! have an amazing week!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

A Test of Faith

Dearest Family and Friends,

As always, when great things come....opposition follows. It's the Lord's way of testing us, and Satan's way of trying to discourage us. Good thing I know Satan won't win, and I have the Lord on my side! :)

We were able to meet with Joseida (mother of the miracle family) this last Wednesday. We forgot to schedule a team up because we're dumb sometimes....but when we showed up, a member was already there visiting with her!!! WHAT???? That was the Lord saying "I can do my own work" you know? It was definitely a lesson learned for me!!! :) We will ALWAYS have a team up! We were able to answer some of her questions, and it was awesome! She's SUCH a sweet lady. I am SOOO excited! Unfortunately, she hasn't talked to us since Thursday. She doesn't return our texts or calls, and they didn't come to church Sunday. I'm not worried....I know the Lord has everything under control....but it's just kind of discouraging to have a great miracle, and then have everything take a 180. I know it will all work out, and next week I will have GREAT stories to share!! I have SOOO much faith!!!!

Our numbers were terrible this week, even though we worked hard. Connie kind of dropped off the face of the earth, but hopefully we'll pick her back up this week!! :) I know that opposition always comes. I know that we had an amazing miracle, and life can't always stay that perfect. I can't focus on the numbers. I am not a numbers missionary, but there are certain expectations with numbers, and sometimes it's discouraging. I'm going to focus on what GREAT things DID happen this week, even if the numbers don't reflect it! :)

This week, we had 2 less actives makes HUGE changes in their lives. One is 20 years old. She moved out of her boyfriend's house, and she wants to come back to church!! We call and pray with her every night, and she is starting to pray herself too! She said she wants to change and be a better person. Her mom came up to us at church and just kept thanking us for what we did. We told her it wasn't us, and that it was her daughter choosing to come closer to Christ. Wow. What a neat experience! the other is a 16 year old. Her step mom is active, but her dad is inactive. That's been tough. Recently when we came over to visit her step mom, she wanted to join the lesson. THAT was a HUGE step. Now she tells us to come over all the time because she misses that spirit. She even wants to come out and teach with us!!! She came to church yesterday for the first time in MONTHS. Her step mom told us that the whole drive over she talked about how excited she was to come out and teach with us!!! WOW!!!! Being a missionary is amazing!

Even though our numbers showed a terrible week...it wasn't. Satan wants us to be discouraged and think we did a terrible job. Preach My Gospel lists the definition of a successful missionary, and NONE of those definitions say a THING about number....SO. As long as I feel the spirit, and try my hardest......I'm successful :) Please keep praying for our sweet family from Venezuela! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

This is the Lord's Work

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow. I love being a missionary. You know how everybody tells the story of that amazing missionary miracle? the ones where they pray to find a family, or someone prepared to receive the gospel, and they fall right in their laps?? Yeah, well I've heard PLENTY of those around the mission. it motivates me to do better, and to have more faith. Sometimes it discourages me though...but I can't let that happen. Those miracles are REAL, so why can't they happen to me? Well, they can. the sisters have not had a baptism in my area since September, but he goes to YSA ward now....and the recent converts of the elders are all inactive...so the area has been struggling a little bit. SO. My companion and I decided we needed to exercise our faith and pray for a miracle. Well, we got our miracle. On Saturday we got a call from our Relief Society President that there was a new family from Venezuela who just moved in. They were very well off in Venezuela, very educated, etc. Because of the political situation there, they had to move here to the states. Well, their cousin is a member, and they live in Utah. They referred the family to our branch president somehow, and that's how word got to us. So, we called this lady, her name is Joseida. She is sOOOO adorable!!! We told her church was the next day and we wanted to come see her!!! Well, guess who came to church the next day??? Joseida and her husband Carlos!!!! They are the most PERFECT people ever. They are the cutest couple, they participate in the classes, they have a great knowledge of the Gospel, love the members, etc. It was the most IDEAL situation EVER. Oh my gosh. I couldn't even believe it!!! We went to visit them after church. The husband and their little 4 year old were sleeping, so we went to the laundry facility with the mom. WE talked about the church and answered her questions. We sat on the grass outside. She left to go attend to her laundry, and we said like 3 prayers we could know what to talk about ...well, she came back and said, "tell me about the Book of Mormon." WOW!!! So we did, and she LOVED everything!!! ::):):):) We then headed back to her apartment, and her husband was awake and wanted to hear the same thing!!! So while the wife cooked, we visited with the husband and shared everything. now, it's going to get even better!! :):):) They have a friend (another Carlos) living with them. He's from Cuba, moved to Venezuela, then came to Georgia with them. He was interested and participated in the lesson too!!! :):):):) Joseida's brother also lives with them now. His family is in Miami waiting to get permission to come to Georgia, and guess what?? Joseida's brother is a MEMBER!!!!!!!! he got baptized in JUNE!!!! of THIS YEAR!!!!! We sat everyone down, and had an amazing lesson! Jose Miguel (the brother) basically did EVERYTHING! It was AMAZING!!!! I have never seen such interest in a family before! They accepted EVERYTHING we taught! I haven't felt this way in a lesson for a LONG time!! Wow. It was beyond incredible!!! They know how to pray, they study the scriptures together as a family, they want to go to church again, etc. If they aren't prepared, I must have a wrong definition of the word prepared. OH my. This is the miracle this area needs. I am so grateful to the lord that He allowed my companion and I to be a part of this miracle. They are the sweetest people I've ever met....and I know the Lord has been preparing them for a LONG time!!! I am SOOO excited!!!:):):):):) Please pray for this family! It's the Chataing-Pinero family :)

So, nothing could really top the amazingness of this miracle we had. I had the outline of my email this week, and I was going to talk about how the adversary was REALLY working on me this week to discourage me, and that I needed to just have patience and let the Lord do His work...then the miracle happened, and my email changed. Isn't it interesting how it connected though? The Lord was preparing ME for this as well. It's almost like He was just putting His arms around me....telling me to hold on. Missionary work is amazing. I am SOOO blessed to be a part of it!! :):):) I hope you all have an amazing week!!! :):):):):):):) I love you all! :)

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

The True Missionary Experience

Dearest Family and Friends,

Well, this week was definitely different than most!!!! Today marks 13 months on the mission, and it took this long for me to get the REAL mission experience. We ran out of miles this month because our area got bigger, and the APs had NONE to spare. Soo......we borrowed the elders' GIANT bikes. Yup. bikes. Our area is HUGE!!! We biked like 20 miles a day for the weekend. It was SOOO fun!!!! We got sunburned, we sweat to death, AND we got POURED on. It was sOOO fun!!! I couldn't help but just smile and laugh the whole time! We'd ride by people and I'd say "good afternoon!" in the pouring rain, and th'd say "you call
this a good afternoon??" That was the response we usually got. But it truly WAS a good afternoon!!!! I love being a missionary!!! Thank goodness the Lord  helped people be home so we didn't ride 6 miles to an appointment for nothing!!! Haha, it really was a sUPER fun weekend!!! :):):):):)

Because of all the biking, a lot of the members felt bad for us and some even went on team ups with us! It was a HUGE miracle!!! So, maybe now they'll still do it even when we have miles!  haha :) I also had a neat experience. I got super badly sunburned on Friday, and it healed more on Saturday. Sunday just riding to church, it got burned super bad even though I CAKED it in sunscreen. I knew riding all day would make the burn SO bad. So I prayed to Heavenly Father that I'd be protected. Well, Heavenly Father has an interesting way of answering prayers....after the prayer, it absolutely POURED for the next 4 hours of riding bikes. Hahaha :) e were SOAKED!!! But, I didn't get burned. Heavenly Father was really looking out for me :)

We are teaching this lady named Connie. She's 25, and her boyfriend is 50. They really want to get married.....like super bad. We are SOOO excited! She's not ready for baptism quite yet, but she loves the lessons, and actually reads every assignment we leave her with! I think her marriage is the next step for her to feel ready for baptism! Pray for Connie! We are working closely with the branch to get this marriage going! :) Woot! :)

So that was my week! It was literally the best week ever!!! I am just SOOOO happy! Biking was super hard, but I slept SOOOO good!!! :):):):):)  I hope you all have an AMAZING week! 

Love to you all!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst:)

I think I can, I think I can ....

On the Elders' giant bikes!!!

We made it through the rain!!!

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