week 7

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been the longest week of my life hands down. So much has happened and days are so long. First let me tell you about where I am.

I am in Royal City, Washington an area known for agriculture. Currently though I am freezing. I did not come prepared for the winter weather so things have been interesting. I think for the first time in my life I have experienced my whole body shaking cause I'm so cold. I have already been gifted several pairs of warm tights and a pair of boots from some wonderful members here.

There are a lot of hispanic people here also and I am struggling with understanding them. I feel like either I understand basically a whole conversation or I understand nothing at all... Sometimes I just want to cry because I want to understand what people are saying in spanish SO BAD but I just can't. My companion keeps reminding me I just need to be patient with myself but I'm having a hard time with this. Back to there being a lot of hispanic people... I would just like to say they are a lot nicer than white people. They actually talk to us. I had the wonderful experience of getting a door slammed in my face last night and let me just say this person was not hispanic. Oh well. I was told to remember it's not me they are rejecting, it's Christ and His Gospel.

So my new companion is none other than Sister Leyva who I actually know from home because she was in my stake and we went to Girls' Camp together. It's been pretty cool getting to talk about some people we both know/knew from home. She's a hard worker and I know I have a lot to learn.

We were both doubled into our area so that has been intersting and really hard for me. I have to drive and I don't like not ever knowing exactly how to get places. I'm also not exactly looking forward to icey and snowy roads...

A couple miracles for this week have been two times we have pulled up to a house and found the people we were looking for pulling up at the same time. Both times we were able to talk with the people and in one case we had a really good lesson.

This past Sunday my companion and I spoke in our English ward and introduced ourselves. We cover both the Royal City 2nd Ward (English) and the Royal City 3rd Branch (Spanish). We have a lot of work cut out for us, but the members of the ward and branch here are truly absolutely amazing and I already feel so much love and appreciation for them. Because we cover a ward and branch we are at church from8am to about 2:30pm on Sundays. We have a couple meetings and we also attend both the ward and branch for part of the time.

Well I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the warm weather in Texas!

Love,
Hna Brighton

Week 6 photo

Hermana Brighton with President and Sister Ware

departing Mexico City/ Week 6

Dear Friends and Family,

My time at the CCM has just about drawn to a close. I will be leaving the CCM on a bus at2:30AM. My flight out of Mexico City is at 6:02AM and I arrive in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport at8:40AM. I leave the D/FW airport at 12:30PM and arrive in Seattle at 2:55PM. I then leave Seattle at 4:40PM and arrive in Pasco at 5:30PM. So basically tomorrow is going to be a VERY long day.

This past Friday was full of In-Field Orientation meetings. We learned a lot about the importance of Planning and trusting in the Spirit to lead and guide us in our actions and while we teach. We also learned about the importance of involving the Ward and members and asking for their help with missionary work. I have to say these meetings helped me realize how important it is to depend on the Lord and others to help us missionaries because we sure can't do this work on our own.

Saturday and Sunday flew by quickly and now it's Monday and I will be leaving in less than 12 hours. It's hard to believe. The elders in my district leave at 8:30 tonight for Lima Peru so then it will just be Hna Safsten and I and one of the other Hermanas in our district. Her companion left last night at 3AM. Sunday before anyone left, the Elders gave all the Hermanas priesthood blessings which provided great comfort and peace. I am now excited to go to Washington and start meeting new people and inviting them to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well from what I have heard it is pretty cold in Washington now, so I am going to miss the perfect weather here in Mexico. It hardly ever gets too cold and almost always in the 60s/70s during the day. I'll have to get used to wearing a jacket for the next several months I suppose. So next time I write I'll be in Washington which is so crazy to realize. It will probably also feel like I've been there for so long but no time at all either because that's what it felt like my first week in Mexico.

Adios until next week!

Hna Brighton

Week Five

Dear Family and Friends,

My time in Mexico is drawing to a close, and almost too quickly for my liking. I will really miss the friends I have made while being here for the last several weeks.

Here is a quote that I really like which was shared with me by a friend, and am going to try to keep in mind as I go through out my mission. "The best antidote I know for worry is work, the best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired." -Gordan B. Hinckley

This past Sunday for our 'movie' night as I like to call it, we watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. I loved it so much and felt the spirit so strongly during it, and afterwards while discussing it with my district. I heard something in the movie that has really stuck with me. Emma Smith asked her husband "Do you ever wonder if the Lord asks too much?" Joseph Smith's reply was one that came out of great faith and love of the Lord that we all should also have. He said- "I don't let myself." I know Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God and that through him the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and how I have the opportunity to read it every day. There is so much to be learned from this book and from the Bible that we could study them both for our whole lives and likely never fully comprehend all there is to comprehend in these two great books inspired of the Lord. I know that prayer is one way to receive inspiration but so is reading from the holy scriptures and from other modern revelation from prophets and apostles.

Some other events from the week...

All 6 of the Elders from my district and me and my companion sang in the CCM choir on Tuesdaybefore a devotional. We sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer of course in spanish though. We also got A TON of rain that day. Thank goodness my companion had her umbrella and I was able to squeeze under it with her. 

The other day for breakfast we had a Chicken Strip salad... yeah that will be one thing I miss about the CCM-having dinner for breakfast not to mention not having to ever prepare my own food. I have thoroughly enjoyed the comedor (that's what the cafeteria is called) here.

Another thing I will miss will be the devotionals we have here at the CCM. Basically they're usually about an hour and are either pre-recorded talks/devotionals from BYU or we have a live speaker. I always leave feeling uplifted. 

Gym time will also be greatly missed. Here in the CCM we usually have about an hour to do what ever and often times my companion and I play volleyball or shoot some baskets. Occasionally we have played soccer and once we played ping pong. There are always a variety of things to do. They also have work out machines we've used several times. It'll be interesting to learn about what the normal exercise activities are in my mission.

So I will be leaving the CCM at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday... So basically I won't be getting too much sleep Monday night. We have to get to the airport 2 hours ahead of our flight time which I think is around 6 a.m. so it should be a pretty interesting experience. There are two elders who are also going to Kennewick with me and Hna. Safsten. It's funny because one of the elders that is also going to WA was the first other new missionary I saw because we both arrived to the MX airport at about the same time so we were picked up together. 

Well time is short, and it's crazy to think next time I'll be writing will be from Washington!

Love you all!

Hna Brighton                   Before and after haircut!

Hermana Brighton's District

Week 4

So another week has flown by! 

I've been busy learning the gospel in Spanish. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed a bit but I just keep pushing on one week, one day, one hour at a time. Currently my companion and I are teaching 4 separate investigators. We teach two of them everyday, and the other two we alternate between every other day except Sunday and Thursday.

I have been practicing a solo to audition with to sing in a devotional, and while practicing yesterday the woman in charge of the musical numbers heard me and told me not to worry about auditioning and that I probably could sing either this Sunday or next. The song is Abide with Me, Tis Eventide in english, but I'm singing it in Spanish, and it's a beautiful arrangement. I really love this song and it's interesting to see how the translation into Spanish isn't exact and is actually a little different. I like it though.

At some point this week the electricity went out one night. Luckily it was not long after we'd turned the lights out, and the only reason we realized the electricity was out was because the carbon monoxide sensor started beeping like crazy. We were able to call reception and make sure the reason it was going off was because the electricity went out, then we took out the batteries and went back to bed leaving our windows open just for precaution. We found out the next day the elders in our district had just ignored the beeping and gone to bed, which I'd have to say is pretty impressive because it was quite obnoxious. I guess they ended up taking the battery out also the next morning though.

A spiritual though: New revelation does not discredit previous or existing revelation. In my opinion it often builds on it or brings greater understanding. The Book of Mormon definitely does this and I'm so grateful for this book. I've been reading in Alma about the Anti-Nefi-Lehi people and they are amazing and so are the sons of Mosiah. There is a lot I can learn from them, like their persistence in sharing the gospel, even when others told them that there was no point. My love for the Book of Mormon really has grown since being here. I often spend a majority of my personal study time in the morning just reading and learning from the Book of Mormon.

On a side note, Happy Late Halloween! It was fun thinking about how lots of my friends and family were probably out trick or treating, while I was sitting inside studying. I hope everyone had a lot of fun! One of our teacher's mom made our district little bags of candy. One kind of candy I really really liked in it was called Frosh and sadly unless I come back to Mexico I probably won't get to have that again. I will be keeping my eyes open for it though. The tienda here also sells a candy called Bueno bars and they are delicious. All the Elders in my district are in love with them, and I'll admit I really like them too.

Well I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Hna Brighton