Greetings from the South!

Dearest Family and Friends,

I have finally been called to serve in the south!!! For real!!! I got transferred to an area that covers 2 wards. I serve in the Douglasville English Ward, and the Sweetwater Spanish WARD. I am SO pumped!!! I serve half and half English and Spanish! It is a LOT of work, and we have no problem keeping busy!!! :) Hahaha. I am having real experiences serving in the South. For real now! They are SO loving and SO sweet here! They all LOVE Jesus Christ. It's amazing! I love that I can talk to anyone now! I don't have to just look forhispanics! It's amazing! I'm living the life!

My first experience tracting in English was pretty cool. We met a man named Terrance. He showed us his card that makes him an official preacher. Boy did he preach to us! haha. He looked me in the eyes and told me, "You look like you worry a lot....you are worried you aren't perfect, and you're beating yourself up about it. Don't do that. God loves you, and you're doing a great job. Stop worrying." It was seriously an answer to my prayers! He was SO sweet! He agreed to read the Book of Mormon. We said a prayer holding hands, like they do in the south, and it was SO powerful. I just LOVE being a missionary!!

The people in the Spanish ward are SO nice! I haven't gotten a chance to formally meet the wards because it was Stake Conference yesterday, but I've met a couple here and there. They are SO nice. They all are SO excited to have me here. It's a HUGE difference from the first part of my misison. The Lord is really helping me with my Spanish, and I think the people are trusting me because of that. It's SOOOO incredible!!!! I am SOO happy!!!

Unfortunately we only have 1 English investigator, and no Spanish investigators. There is a lot of work to do. My companion is Sister Sundwall from Tremonton Utah. She's super sweet! She wasn't called Spanish originally, but she has been learning it on the mission. She's such an inspiration to me! :) She's adorable! :) She's new to the area as well, so we're both just starting fresh and giving it all we've got!! :) We are SO excited to get things going here! :)

I miss my old area dearly...but I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. It's been a hard change, but I know it's right. I only have 2 months left. I have to give it EVERYTHING I have, and take all I've learned with me off that airplane. :)

So I have a funny story...it's not that funny, but it was to me. (Keep in mind i've been in Spanish, so all this southern stuff is new and SO funny to me) We were at a less active's house. We were cleaning her house. Her son was in the bathroom taking a shower. He's like 28. Just picture this conversation with the most black southern voice you can imagine. "SON, don't you be walking out here with no clothes on! Them sisters are here in thehouse!!"  "MOTHER, really? I know better!!! could you imagine me walking out in all my negligence???" It was SOOO funny. I just about DIED!! I LOVE these people!!!!

The mission is amazing. I am finally serving in ther south and LOVING it!!! I am officially Sister/Hermana Bringhurst :) LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Love,Sister/Hermana Bringhurst :)

New outfit for birthday!

Celebrating!

There is sunshine in my soul today.

It's my new companion, ya'll

The Ultimate Test of Faith

Dearest Family and Friends,

You know how you have low points in your mission, and you fight and fight to get out because you know there's that light at the end of the tunnel?? Well, that's been happening to me these past 3 transfers. It's been SOOO hard to get the work going here. But I knew the Lord was in charge and I just needed to put my faith in Him. Well, We went from like 3 investigators to 17 in like 2 weeks. SO many miracles have been happening. We're right about to hit the peak of some amazing things here in this area.....then Saturday I got the call I'm getting transferred. :( I was BEYOND upset. I've spent the last 3 transfers giving it my all, and then getting taken out right before I'm about to see the fruits of my labors. I was VERY upset.....but then I knew the Lord was still in charge, and I needed to see it from His perspective, and not question so much. Some really amazing things have happenedhere, and I need to focus on that. I wanted to share a neat experience. Last night we went to a part member family to say our goodbyes. The 12 year old son is baptized, and the dad is the brother of the 2nd counselor in the presidency. They aren't members. when I went to say goodbye, the dad was getting emotional, and he told me he just felt so close to me, more so than other missionaries, and he was so sad to see me go. He told me how mytestimony impacted him. I was in TEARS. No one has ever told me that. I couldn't believe there was actually someone who was really touched by the spirit we brought. I am SOOO sad to leave them, but I left that lesson knowing that there are indeed people we touch. It doesn't matter how long we're in an area, or who gets baptized or doesn't, etc. What matters is that Heavenly Father puts us there when we're supposed to be there, and for how LONG we're supposed to be there. I served the time here I was supposed to. I have SO much faith in that. I am SO happy to have spent 4 months here. I love these people somuch. They have changed MY life. Being a missionary is SOOO rewarding!! Aracely came to church!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!! She's SOOOOO amazing!!! :):):):):):):):):) I WILL be coming to visit for her baptism! ;) Haha :)

So, we have standards of excellence for all the key indicators. President Foote wants us to all hit those numbers by October 18th. I have never successfully done it my entire mission. My companion and I wanted to put our faith to the test, and put our trust in Heavenly Father and get those numbers!! We worked SOOO hard this week. We were shoving food in our faces and didn't even have time to breathe!! :) It was CRAZY!!! Unfortunately, we still didn't hit the numbers. BUT we saw the hand of the Lord in the work. We needed to contact 10 referrals. We only received 4 that week. This was Saturday, so we had until Sunday night to get 6 referrals and contact them. We called almost every member, and got 2 more referrals that DAY!!! :) WOOHOO! the Lord was looking out for us! We called the elders in a frenzy, and they found one for us! We bolted over to her house, and she wasn'thome! We literally just stayed on the porch and talked about something for like 5 minutes ... then decided to leave. As we drove away, she came outside!!!! Heavenly FAther TOTALLY inspired us to stay there so we could contact her! In conference we learned that we cannot use our faith to take away someone's agency....but what we can do, is have the faith God can put us where we need to be, and tell us what we need to say. We have NO control over who comes to church, who gets baptized, or who gives us a referral...but what we DO have control over is our FAITH in the ONE PERSON who can lead us to those people who ARE prepared. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!! This week truly has been a test of my faith, and I'm SOOO glad I learned this valuable lesson. Being a missionary is SOOO rewarding. The key to happiness is obedience and faith. Truly. I have learned SO much about weakness and repentance on my misisno. Good thing God is loving and merciful, and can take someone weak like me, and make me strong. :) I love you all! have a great week!

Love,Hermana Bringhurst :)
 
P.S. The branch threw me a surprise party for my birthday. Aren't theySO sweet!!! I LOVE THIS AREA!!! :)

Happy 15 Months!

Dearest Family and Friends!

I hope you all enjoyed conference this last week as much as I did!!! :) It was SOOOOO amazing! I received SO many answers! I definitely LOVE being a missionary at conference! :)

This week was pretty amazing!!! Sadly, Sister Helsten and I got sick on Tuesday, so that put us out for a little bit :( It was quite a bummer. There was a virus going around the mission, and I guess we got it :( it didn't last long though. On Wednesday we were sick of being sick (haha) so we decided to ride BIKES! haha. it was SOO fun!! :)

We met with joseida this last week. She's still SO excited for her baptism, but she's worried she won't make it for the 15th because her husband can't really join in on the discussions because he works so much, and she wants him to be more involved. We may have to move it, but that's okay! We'll go at their pace! I am still SO full of faith!!

We also met with our investigator Aracely. I'm not sure I've mentioned her yet. The elders found her sister knocking, so they passed it to us, but ARacely ended up being the interested one! She reads the Book of Mormon, and she LOVES our visits. She truly wants to change and is turning her life around! She has a little girl, but is single at the moment. She's incredible! She accepted a date for baptism on the 22nd! :) We are SO excited for her! She couldn't make it to conference
because of work, but she has committed to coming next SUnday!! :) Woohoo!!

I really had an amazing week. Things are really going amazing here in the area. We have SO much faith that so many great things are coming for this area!!!! :)

I love you all SO much!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst

Vale la pena! :)

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow, another amazing week!!!! The subject of this email means "it's worth it." And truly, if we endure through the hard times, light always comes....and when it does, all the enduring will have been worth it! That's exactly how I feel!!! None of our investigators came to church this week, which is a bummer....BUT, Joseida has accepted to work toward baptism on the 15th of October!!! :) It was SUCH an amazing lesson! We had a member of the branch presidency with us, and he did an amazing job! She was a little scared of the date, but said she felt super excited! WE were able to meet with her husband as well yesterday. He is SO excited about everything. They still have questions, and want to have a perfect knowledge before baptism, but we know when the answer comes, it will hit them! :) We are SO excited!! :)

The Lechhebs are also doing amazing!!!! Nadia, the mom, is SO excited to get baptized! She knows Inass is super ready, but she wants her husband on board as well! She said even if he isn't, she and the kids will still get baptized! She is a woman of power and faith! I can't believe the changethey have gone through since the first time I met them! It's  incredible!!! The sad news is that they are moving to Kentucky in about a month to be closer to the dad's work :( They said
they'd LOVE to have the missionaries finish teaching them there and help them get baptized if it doesn't happen here. I am a little bummed, but that's okay! We are told to baptize converts, not baptize members into Cunningham. So I KNOW that this experience was worth it, and even if I don't see them baptized, the most important thing is that they are converted, and they live happily ever after! I love missionary work! :)

The women's conference was AMAZING and I learned SO much. Conference really is like Christmas here! I am SOOOO excited for this weekend!

I hope you all have a GREAT week! Love you!

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

Faith and Miracles

Dearest Family and Friends,

You know....this week was a really tough week, but at the same time it was one of the best weeks of my entire mission!!! :) I couldn't explain it to you. I'll get the sad news out of the way.

We didn't have any investigators at church yesterday :( We didn't get a chance to meet with the Lechhebs OR the Chataing-pinero's this week. It was quite a bummer. Nadia got a job, which means she'll probably work on Sunday. I am SUPER bummed. But it's okay! I have to keep remembering that this is the Lord's work!! :)

So that' it for the sad news. We had zone conference on Wednesday. Let me just say....it was AMAZING!!!! Sister Helsten and I were a little bummed leading up to zone conference. We have been working SO hard and have had SO much faith...but we haven't really seen the fruits of our labor really. We haven't had a baptism in FOREVER. We were getting wrapped into Satan's trap to all missionaries leaving soon to think they weren't doing anything and their mission was worthless, etc. We decided we needed to keep pushing through, and maybe zone conference would help. Well let me tell you....IT DID!!!! We learned about faith and miracles. We talked about finding, working with members, high expectations, etc....but the basis wasn't "you need to go finding, and you need to work with members, and you need to reach the key indicators, and you.....blah blah blah" It was all based on OUR faith in the LORD"S power. well do I have faith or not??? do I have faith that we will find people to teach?  Do I have faith the Lord will lead us to them? Do I have faith in the members? do I have faith that we WILL baptize? Do I have faith we CAN reach the key indicators? Or better, do I have faith the LORD WILL HELP US DO IT?? It was SOOO powerful. Sister Helsten and I were SO pumped. We called members like CRAZY, and we got SO many team ups. None of our investigators kept their appointments....BUT we had members with us. We didn't reach our key indicators....BUT we did see miracles and we KNOW we will sometime. The Lord has power to bring His work to pass. I have SO much faith in that. We only have 3 months left. We can't slip now. We can't just say "there isn't enough time" and give up. The time is NOW. We saw SO many miracles. We know the Lord is preparing people, and we know through HIS power, we can achieve the work. Yes, there is agency involved....BUT the Lord has the power to bring about His work. If we have faith that it will happen.....it will. It's as simple as that. We are SOOOO excited.

I know this is the Lord's work. I KNOW there is work to be done here, and miracles WILL come!!!! I hope you all have the most AMAZING week! love you all! :)

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

Fall is Coming! :)

Dearest Family and Friends,

It is finally starting to cool down!!! Of course there are still those really hot days, but it is WAY cooler and I am sOOO excited! Fall is really coming!! :)

This week was really good :) Sadly, the Chataing-Pinero's and the Lechheb's didn't come to church on Sunday. :( I honestly don't know why!! They have all the tools necessary to go, they've accepted baptism, they keep their commitments, but then they don't come to church. We were only able to get one member at one lesson this week. It was quite a bummer. I am seriously wondering what more I can do to get things to move forward! It's like they're progressing....but not. I honestly don't know what to do. But it's okay, that's a good sign! if I'm doing everything I should, and this is the result....it is for a reason. This is the Lord's work. If it's not meant to happen. It won't. I need to have more faith. We are going to try and do a branch FHE every month to get them more excited about missionary work. We have some great ideas, and we're going to see what we can do to get things going here! I am so excited! :)

I do have a neat story. One of our members had his mom visiting from Honduras for a couple months. We started teaching her every week, and she bore her testimony in sacrament meeting that she wanted to get baptized!!! Oh my goodness!!!! She headed back for Honduras today :( BUT, she gave us her info, and we got it sent to the missionaries in Honduras! isn't that amazing! Missionary work is pretty incredible. :)

We received a referral a while back for a lady named Carmen. She can't read or write, and doesn't even know the letters of the alphabet. We weren't seeing much progress with her, but then we thought "someone referred her...and we need to keep seeing her." So we have been teaching her how to read every week. We are teaching her letters and numbers right now. After we teach, we apply it to the Gospel, and do a spiritual thought. It's quite a humbling experience to be there. Missionary work is so neat! :)

Well that's about it for the week! Hopefully our families will come to church on Sunday!! :):) Love you all! :)

Love,
Hermana Bringhurst :)

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 :)