It's not the end, it's only the beginning :)

Dearest Family and Friends,

I cannot even believe it's here!! it's really here! I am actually going home this week. I have so many emotions going on right now. Let's just start with the basics!!

We had new missionary training this week! We went back to the rest home to sing again!! it was SO fun! I was the only one who could play, so I got to play the piano! :) It was SOOOOO fun!! I got to see some of the people I made friends with before!! What a tender mercy!! :) It was a neat experience. I was very emotional during the meeting. We watched the video about the Atonement and Missionary Work. It applied SO differently to me this time. I thought about how I have been thinking of my mission as something that's ending .....but it really isn't true. I may be "ending" this phase of my life, but thinking into eternity, I've only just begun my true path to discipleship. I have learned SO many things, and grown in SO many ways, and I know I will carry that with me for my whole life :)

KARLA AND EDY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!! :):):):):):):):) It was SOOOO beautiful!!! They were both SO happy and the spirit was SO strong! :) It was the BEST last Saturday on the mission. I was SO happy! It was amazing to see their faces light up after they came out of the water. They are going to be a STRONG family in the Gospel. I am SO grateful for the experience I had to get to know them. I am SO blessed!

I've been thinking a lot this week about my mission ending. I've been trying to assess EVERYTHING I've learned, and I've even had those "I wish I'd done that better" moments - as expected. I decided that what I've learned is that this Gospel is about change. It's about
constantly becoming better. I am better now than when I came out, but I still made mistakes along the way and will continue to make mistakes. The important thing is that we're better today than yesterday, and better tomorrow than today. My Savior has helped me through SO much. He is my friend. He is kind. He is loving. He is gentle. He is forgiving. He is understanding. He is encouraging. He is my brother. He is my strength. He has taught me to love as He loves. He has taught me that I can be forgiven when mistakes are made. I know I can be forgiven. I know I can be better. I have gained SUCH a strong testimony of my Savior on this misison. I know He lives, and I KNOW this is His Gospel. I have seen SO many people come close to Him on my mission. I've seen a lot of opposition on the mission, but it has helped me see the JOY of the Gospel. I know this church is true. I know Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Restoration. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know we are God's children, and He has a plan for us. I know the Atonement is powerful, and can change our lives if we let it. I know this is Christ's Gospel. I will live it the rest of my
life. I know I'll make mistakes, but my mission has taught me to keep pressing on, and rely on the Savior. I am SO grateful for all that I learned, and for the person I've become. Friday I will no longer be a missionary representing the Savior, but I will be His disciple for the rest of my life.

I love you all SO much! Thanks for all your love and support!! I will see y'all soon! :)

With love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

Karla and Eddie are getting Baptized!!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Oh my goodness!!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! I had the WORST headache this morning because I was just crying and crying yesterday! Sunday was the BEST!!!! I felt the spirit SO strong!! I love being here!!! I HAVE to start with testimony meeting in Spanish. Ok. So Eddie bore his testimony. He was sOOOOOO cute!!! he started his testimony like it was a prayer, then realized it was a testimony, and tried again. It was SO cute and SO pure!!! :) I just CRIED!! He is an ANGEL!!!! His parents bore their testimonies too! Danilo had an 

accident, so he's in a wheelchair, and he just bore the most POWERFUL testimony. He got baptized just over a year ago. His wife Luz battled cancer. They are a POWER couple. They are SOOO excited for their daughter Karla to get baptized. She is so excited too. I just cried because I was SO grateful to have the opportunity to get to know these people. I am SO blessed for the experiences I've had as a missionary. I will cherish them FOREVER!!! They are getting baptized this Saturday at 1 pm!!! I am SOOOO beyond excited!!! What a great last Saturday of the mission right?? :) I am SOOOOO excited!!!! :)

Not everyone in the Rios family came. Just the dad, but it was SOO cool that he came alone even though his wife was sick and his son was with his aunt. I can't even believe how much he loves church! This family is AMAZING!!! :) I am SO excited he came to church. He loves the members too. He's SO great! :) They are progressing wonderfully! I won't get to see them baptized, but I know they will be! :)

This is the Rios Family

We had a sister's meeting with all the sisters in the mission. It was the 1st of December, so it kicked off the worldwide day of service! Woot! I had the opportunity to go to an assisted living center. Most of the girls opted to sing, and not a lot wanted to paint nails, so I figured "why not, I'll paint nails!" It was the COOLEST experience of my life! While they all gathered around to listen to the sisters sing, I went around with my chair and painted their nails. One lady said, "every time I look at my nails, I'll think of you!" Another lady just squeezed my hand and said she was having a terrible day. I held her hand back and told her I was there for her. After I painted her nails, she just gave me the biggest hug and held onto me. She said she had gotten her teeth pulled, and getting her nails painted made it all better :) I couldn't help but let a tear fall down my cheek. The sisters were singing Christmas songs, and I just looked around and saw all these old people listening to the music and crying. It really brought the Christmas spirit into my heart. I didn't do service that day. I was lifted by them. I am grateful Heavenly Father gave me that opportunity to feel the true spirit of Christmas. :)

NOTE BY MOM:  Sisters singing at the rest home.  This picture is from the mission blog.  Shannon isn't pictured.
It was interesting to read our "vocal performance major" opted to paint nails instead of sing!
So proud of her for always following the spirit!

This week was AMAZING!! I love being a missionary. It's weird that I'll only be writing y'all one more time. It doesn't feel real yet. I hope to make this the best week yet! Love you all! :)

Love,
Sister/Hermana Bringhurst :)

Hello, hello!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was AMAZING!! my new companions are GREAT! Sister De La Rosa Frias is from the Dominican Republic. She's INCREDIBLE. She has been out 3 months. The new missionary is Sister Barroso. She's from Utah. She is SOOOOOOO adorable! I love her to pieces!!! Everything is going GREAT here!!!

Karla will be getting baptized on December 10th at 1pm!!! it is official!!! She's incredible. She loves this Gospel SOOO much!!!! She sees the joy that it brings to her family, and she wants the same. She is truly embracing it with EVERYTHING she has!!

The Rios family did not come to church, but we're meeting with them on Wednesday. I am SO excited. It's a little stressful to have to teach two new people the area, but I KNOW they'll be able to do it!!! Training a new misisonary and training 2 new people in the area is keeping me BUSY BUSY!!! :) I LOVE IT!!! :)

We have been working SO hard this week! Sorry I don't have lots to report on! It's been a great week though!! I LOVE being a missionary! I promise I'll make next week's letter better!

Love you all SOOO Much!!! I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO happy!!:):):):):):):):


Love,
Sister/Hermana Bringhurst

P.S. Shirley dropped of the face of the earth :( Hopefully I'll have a
better report next week :(

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow. Where do I begin??? I guess I can begin with transfer news. My companion is leaving, and I will be training! I will be in a trio! yay! I actually do miss trios. This will be really fun :) Haha. I'll have 3 weeks to help these two sisters learn the area! Then one of the sisters has to finish training and take over the area! Crazy! This will be a GREAT way to finish off the mission!!

So this week we had 2 amazing miracles.....actually we had more like 45 miracles.....but I'll just share the 2....actually 3 :)

Remember Shirley? The bible referral? Well, we taught her the Plan of Salvation last week. She LOVED it, and said she was SO ready to be baptized! Her husband passed away, and she has 12 kids!!! CRAZY!!!! 2 of the 12 have passed away. She is amazing. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she agreed to stop drinking coffee and stop smoking. She happily told us the next time she saw us that she hadn't drank coffee or smoked since we talked! Woohoo! She even came to church and LOVED it!!!! :):) We're having a baptism December 10th!!!! :):):):):):)

There is a family that moved into the Sweetwater ward. Their family of another family in the ward. The parents are members, and the dad is a Recent Convert. Their kids are not baptized. Karla is 18, and Eddie is 8. They both want to be baptized!! The ward mission leader asked us if we would teach them! So we taught them last night, and they are both SOOOO ready! It was SUCH a powerful lesson!!! :) I was in tears the spirit was so strong! So we have 2 baptisms on December 2nd!!! :):):):):):) The elders also have baptisms that day! It will be incredible!!!! :):):):):):):):):):) I am SOOOO happy!!!

Remember the Rios family? Jose, Blanca, and Fernando? Well, we taught them the Plan of Salvation this last week with the EQ president and his mom. They LOVED it! And they CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!! They absolutely LOVED it! He wrote down all the scripture references quoted in church. They absolutley LOVED it!!! I am SOOOOO happy! SO many great things are happening here!!!! :)

Well, that's what I've got for this week! The Lord is really blessing both areas here, and I am SO blessed to be able to see it all happen!!! :) Thanks for all your love and support! Enjoy your Thanksgiving!! :)

Love,
Sister/Hermana Bringhurst :)

The Wait is Over! :)

Dearest Family and Friends,

THIS WEEK WAS THE BEST WEEK EVER OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Okay, so....for you to truly appreciate the amazingness of my week.....I have to give you the background.

We've been having issues with the Spanish Ward. The bishop never answers our texts, calls, etc. He calls the elders to tell them we don't do anything and they never get our progress record. Our ward mission leader gives it to the ward council EVERY WEEK. So, it has been a struggle. I've been feeling like CRAP all week. I have given that ward EVERYTHING I have....and the ward council seems to think we don't do anything. I don't know. I've been super frustrated. We've tried to text and call Bishop to ask if we can visit someone he's thinking about, if we can meet with him to talk about the area, etc.....and nothing. We called the elders about it, and they were frustrated that we cover two areas....so they think they should have more work in the Spanish ward since we have the English ward too. So we don't even really have any people to work with in the ward. It has
been tough. To add on to all of that, no one told us in the English ward there was ward council....so we came to church and everyone was upset we weren't there....so one more bad mark. I was in tears all of sacrament meeting. I can NEVER measure up....ever. So I was super down about that and I prayed SO hard to see a miracle. We gave EVERYTHING this week to the Spanish ward and our investigators....I prayed so hard. We went into Sacrament meeting for Spanish, and we had no investigators....i was SO sad. I was in tears again.....sadly. I should've had more faith. After the sacrament, in walks the RS president ..... guess who followed in after her?? JORGE, VICKI, and their TWO GIRLS!!!!!!!! The family they invited over for dinner!! Remember that?? When the RS president invited them to dinner??? THEY CAME TO CHURCH!!!! SHE PICKED THEM UP!!!!!!! She and her husband said they wanted it to be a surprise for us, so they didn't say anything. I was just CRYING!!!! (the good tears) GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!! I was SOOOOOO excited!!! I KNEW in that moment that God was aware of not only me, but the ward. They were all SO excited to have investigators there! They all were SO excited to say hi to them. Everyone was SO excited. They'd all ask if they were our family. They were SO surprised we actually got investigators at church. We are slowly gaining the trust of this ward! God is aware of His children and their needs. It was the BEST miracle EVER!!!!! I am STILL just giddy about it. I wish you all could've been there to see it!!! :) They loved church, and they're SO excited to come again! We have a FAMILY!!! :)

A Senior couple in Villa Rica found a hispanic family while they were at the gym. They invited us to come and teach them. It's Jose and Blanca and their son Fernando. Fernando is 11. Oh my goodness they're GOLDEN!!!! The Green's (senior couple) go over every other day to read the Book of Mormon with them. It is PERFECT! The Elder's Quorum president lives right by them, so he has been a GREAT fellowshipped. His mom came with us to see them this last week. We have 2 progressing investigator families!!!! :) In SPANISH!!!!! :) We are SO excited about everything that is happening! There is SOOO much work here! We barely have time for it all! We have investigators calling US and inviting us over for dinner. It's CRAZY!!! :) :) I am SOOOO happy! I love being a missionary!!! God is loving. He is aware of us, and he ANSWERS PRAYERS!!! i LOVE prayer!!! I LOVE being here! I'm crying now as I type this! i LOVE being a missionary!!!! :) Thank you for all of your prayers too! Some GREAT things are happening!!! :) Love you all!

Love,
Sister/Hermana Bringhurst :)

Let the Holy Spirit Guide

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been AMAZING!!! Nothing particularly incredible happened....but it has just felt like a GREAT week.

We had interviews with the mission President this last week. They are changing it, and now we'll be doing them every 6 weeks. Fun huh? The AP's trained us on finding. To be honest....I don't like going and finding. It's not my favorite thing...haha. But it's rare to find a missionary who actually LOVES finding. BUT. This training was AMAZING. It made me realize how fun finding can be! It's not just knocking doors and giving pass along cards at the store....it's SO much more!! Sister Sundwall and I have been having some GREAT times finding this week :) We were SUPER hungry one day. It was 3 and we hadn't eaten. Well, we both just thought "the car is dirty, look there's a free car wash, let's go!" We totally ignored how hungry we were, and went to go get a car wash NOT on P-Day. HELLO THAT'S NOT OKAY. No idea why we did that. BUT. We were vacuuming the car, and as I was backing up my companion, a man asked me why I was dressed so nice. I told him I was a misisonary, he asked what church, I told him, then he said he had been looking for a church since moving from Florida. He asked for our card and said he really wanted to come and see if it was the church God wanted him to go to. HOLY COW. I know why we went to the car wash. He even said he knew God put us there so he could meet us. Wow. SO cool. :)

We've been working a lot with less actives. The Bishop in the Douglasville ward told me like my FIRST day here that he wanted me to work with a less active family. He said, "you only have like 2 months here.....I would like you to spend that last time giving it your all to work with this family." That's pressure. We hadn't been able to make contact for like 2 weeks. I was SO bummed. THEN, we were out on a team up with one of the Laurel's and we felt impressed to go visit the family. The oldest daughter who just graduated was there. It was SO cool to visit with her finally! We really bonded, and she said she'd get her whole family together so we could come over :) It was AMAZING!!! The spirit really guided that. The dad's mother is SUPER active. She hadn't been responding to us either because she had been busy. We dropped by to say hi, and she was there! We bonded immediately. She LOVES Disney! We talk about it all the time now! I KNEW Bishop was inspired! I am SOOO excited to work with this family. The grandma of the family was talking about the history of her family, and how she goes way back in Georgia Mormon history. She was baptized in the building where Chamblee meets, and she was there when the Cunningham building was built. It meant SO much to me to see the history behind it. We both just cried. It was a very tender moment. I LOVE this family, and I hope my companion and I can help get them back to church. The grandma is on to help us! Yay! Keep them in your prayers this week! :)

The spirit has really been guiding us this week. I know I'm here for a reason. Even if I don't "see" success, I know I'm here for a reason. i LOVE being a missionary! have  a great week! :)

Love,
Sister/Hermana Bringhurst :)

Happy Halloween!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow, I can't even believe I've been out for 16 months already!! Time is a crazy thing on the mission! I know I say that a lot, but I really mean it :) Haha.

This week was AMAZING!!!!!!!! We had a lesson with an investigator named Shirley. the lesson started off with her telling us how much she loved the Book of Mormon, and knew it was true! WHOA!! Her son Daryl was playing video games. He was actually listening to the lesson! He turned around and asked about God's authority and who has it. We taught them both the restoration, and they both accepted baptism. There was not a dry eye in the room! It was amazing!! :) We told our ward mission leader the experience, and he started crying. i wish I had time to share more details, but let's just say these people are prepared, and it was one of the best lessons of my mission!! :) They couldn't come yesterday to church because they had to fly out for a funeral, but they'll be here next week! :) Yay! :)

We're also helping a Recent Convert come back to church....her health is a big part of it. her husband is not a member. He has listened to ALL the lessons, and will NOT join the church. Out of nowhere, he finally accepted the lessons, and the high priest group leader has come with us a couple times to teach him. He is more humble and teachable now. His wife looked at him and said, "I love you, and I want to be sealed to you. I won't force this on you, but just know it's important to me." I've NEVER heard her say that before. It was SOOOO powerful!! I almost started crying!! Who knows if he really will soften his hear ....but you never know. Miracles happen :)

One of the members from the Spanish ward called our investigator family and invited them to dinner!!!! So we had a lesson in their home this last Wednesday. These members are AMAZING!!! :):) They didn't come to church either, but they will next week!!! I'm sure of it!! :)

The wards are sooooooo supportive of missionary work. I'm like in missionary dream land right now!! I LOVE it here!!! :) :) SOOOOO much!!! I hope y'all have a GREAT week and a GREAT Halloween! The church is true!! :) :)

Love,
Sister/Hermana Bringhurst :)