week 79

Dear Family and Friends,

This last week of my mission has been incredible. I've been able to meet people and strengthen relationships and just feel so much joy! I have loved being a full time missionary and will miss it so much but I know there is so much more to come and look forward to.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words I'll attach some pictures.
This is great great Aunt Betty Jenkins! She's incredible.

This is Sharon and Orson Giles and Daniel, someone we've been working with and he'll be getting baptized in a couple weeks!

This is a picture from after Alejandra and Demetrio's sealing. It was absolutely incredible.

Hermana Leyva and I with Alejandra. :) It was just so incredible to get to go to the temple and be there and see everyone. True joy.

This is Ramon- we've been working with him and he is overcoming so much and has been such an inspiration to me and my companion. We met with him last Sunday and saw him everyday this past week and he came to church. We helped him clean out stuff from his house and through it in the dumpster, hence the dumpster behind us.

Well I love you all and will see you soon!

Love,

Hermana Brighton

Week 78

Dear Friends and Family,

I am looking forward to this next week. There is so much to do and learn still. Honestly I have ended up loving Othello so much even though I've only been here for a month and a half. I know this is where I was supposed to be and there have been lessons I have learned/solidified that wouldn't have been if I'd stayed in Yakima.

I also loved conference this past weekend and I am so grateful for our loving prophets seers and revelators and church leaders. I know that as we are obedient to what they teach as well as the scriptures and seek to follow Christ in all our thoughts and actions we can and will find eternal happiness.

Although I do look forward to seeing you all soon, it will also be hard to leave but I know that as I continue to trust in Christ all will be well. I am excited and hopeful for the future.

Love you all so much!

Hermana Brighton

Week 77

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been great! I've enjoyed getting to get to know more and more the people here in Othello. There are some amazing members in the wards here and I'll be forever grateful for their examples.

I am also related to a good amount of people here and yesterday my companion and I went to go visit Betty Jenkins. She is a widow in the ward and also my great great aunt. It was incredible to get to talk with her a little bit and I was able to ask her about my great grandpa and learn a little more about my ancestors. I'm so grateful for the emphasis on families that the church teaches, and that as we live the gospel of Jesus Christ we can truly find greater happiness in our families.

Something I have been thinking about lately is how I'm grateful for the commandments and that I've chosen to be obedient. I'm not perfect but I'm trying. I know that the commandments are there to protect us and help us be more capable of making good choices. I was also thinking about how many of the heartaches and struggles we experience in our lives can be drawn back to a time or times when a commandment was broken or not followed. Obviously there are some sufferings, like sicknesses and physical ailments that don't always come from being disobedient, but a lot of suffering could be avoided if everyone just followed God's commandments.

This next weekend is General Conference! I hope everyone will take the time to really watch and ponder about what is said by our living prophets, apostles and leaders. What a blessing it is to have such wonderful people to lead and guide us. I know that they receive specific revelation from God to help us and what they say is important and we should pay attention.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and that you had a wonderful Easter as well and that you took the time to think about the reason behind the holiday. I'm grateful for Christ and His perfect example. It gives me hope and strength to continue forward in righteousness as I think about Him and all He's done for each one of us.

Love,

Hermana Brighton               You may recognize Elder Leavitt- he was in our ward before the last ward split. This pic is from the mission blog.

Week 76

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been incredible. There have been so many opportunities to serve and this week my companion and I did 28 man hours of service. In our zone there is no limit on the amount of service hours which is good because there are so many opportunities to help out in the community and it's good to get out and be seen and get to know people that otherwise you might not ever meet.

Each year Othello has a Sandhill Crane Festival and we got to help out with setting it up and then helping out during the Festival as well. We helped make masks with kids by putting petroleum jelly on their faces and then building the mask onto their face using cast material that you get wet and then it hardens into shape as it dries. It was super fun.

Sister Fox and I also went to the temple on Saturday with a couple that received their endowments and it was such a special incredible to see how their testimonies have grown and strengthened since they were baptized last January when I was in Royal City with them. They will be sealed on April 9th and I'm so excited and happy for them.

Today we went up to the top of Saddle Mountain with our district and enjoyed time up there together and took some fun pictures. I have loved getting to serve around and get to know so many incredible people as I've been a missionary. I have been developing friendships that I hope will last forever.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true and I'm so grateful for that knowledge. I know that what I teach as a missionary is true and I have truly experienced a change of heart as I've learned more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and seen how it has changed others and my own life. I will never stop sharing the gospel.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Brighton

Week 75

Dear Friends and Family,

This week flew by and I don't even know where it went. It was wonderful and I'm continuing to learn and grow. I keep a pretty good journal so if anyone really is interesting in specific experiences I guess they'll have to read my journal some day or ask my about it when I can really sit down and talk to you about things.

This next weekend I get to go to the temple and see a couple that was baptized at the beginning of my mission receive their endowments. I'm so happy for them. They are incredible.

I hope everyone remembers not to take the scriptures and modern scripture for granted. Take time to really feast on the words of Christ and the prophets. They really will tell you all things that you should do. Remember to look forward with an eternal perspective.

Have a great week!

Hermana Brighton

week 74

Dear Family and Friends,

I am learning so much here in Othello. The members are awesome and there is a lot of work to do and it's only going to be possible as we work closely with them. It is pretty different teaching and interacting with non-hispanic people, the culture really is just different. There seems to be a lot more opposition, but it's giving me an opportunity to really solidify my testimony and rely more on Heavenly Father and the power of the scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon so much and am grateful for this wonderful gift that can really confirm to us the reality of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and His priesthood.

This weekend a 9 year old boy we have been teaching these past couple weeks is getting baptized. He is simply incredible and I thank Heavenly Father for him often. His mom is a member but has been active on and off. He has such a strong desire to learn and when we teach him he understands things so well and remembers it and even bears testimony that he knows its true. We are just so excited for him. :)

We are also teaching a lot of other people and as well are trying to really work with the less active members of the wards here in Othello. We are seeing success from this as well as working with part member families. A big key in english work here in Othello is really gaining the trust of the members and working closely with them, although honestly this should be done no matter what culture or language. The members here though are incredible and we are just here to encourage them and invite them to open their mouths too and invite their friends to learn more.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Study the scriptures and really put yourself into them and apply them to yourself and its amazing the insight you can receive and the guidance the Spirit will give you in what you need to be doing in your life.

Love,

Hermana Brighton

week 73

Dear Family and Friends,

I have enjoyed being here in Othello and I am already learning and growing in ways I know I wouldn't have if I'd stayed in Yakima to finish my mission. I was also blessed to be able to have an experience that just melted my heart. This past weekend was stake conference and I am in the same stake as I was in in previous months of my mission. One of the people I worked with and was baptized was asked to share her testimony during the adult session of stake conference. It was amazing to sit and listen to her share how the gospel has changed her life and blessed her in ways she never imagined and then near the end she looked at me from the pulpit and said how grateful she was that she was able to tell me in person that her and her husband would be going to the temple and receiving their endowments and getting sealed. Let's just say my eyes were not dry. It also felt a lot more personal because it was in spanish and a lot of the people only spoke english that were sitting around me. There was a translator though, but it of course is not the same as hearing it from someone's own mouth. I have permission to go to the temple with them and I am so happy. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and that you can take the opportunity to share the gospel with those who surround you, by example and word. Invite others to come with you to church or to activities and then invite them to meet with the missionaries and learn more in your home. 

Love you all so much!

Hermana Brighton