Week 67

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry I'm short on time this week, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am so grateful for you and your love and support. I know that what I am doing- sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ- is the most important thing I could ever be doing and I look forward to applying all I've learned in these short months to the rest of my life.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I have found countless answers to questions, guidance and comfort through reading its pages. I know that each day we can choose who we want to be and who we want to become. Decisions determine destiny. What we do now determines who will become and who we will be. 

I love the people I am serving here in Yakima and I'm grateful for the opportunity God has given me to influence them and allow them to influence me. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Brighton

Week 66

Dear Family and Friends,

Transfer calls came this past Saturday and I will be staying with my companion here in Yakima! I'm super happy about it because we are working with so many incredible people and I love the Spanish branch members here. They are all incredible. In fact mission wide they tried to keep changes to a minimum. In our zone only one missionary is leaving, but we are also getting a whole new set of elders who will be working in a new area that they made that is a part of our branch, so this means we will now have four sets of missionaries in the Englewood branch here in Yakima. The Lord is hastening His work! 

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to go back to Royal City to attend a baptism of a family I had gotten to work with when I was there several months ago. It was an incredible experience and a testimony once again to me that the gospel of Jesus Christ allows us to change and become better people.

As Sister Training Leaders we have the opportunity to go to a lot of meetings and feel the spirit and learn A LOT, so we went to 12+ hours of meetings this past week and it was awesome. Something we are focusing on this transfer as a Zone is how we can increase our confidence in the Lord. Something we talked about in our Zone Training Meeting was how as we have faith and are bold in sharing the gospel and remain humble we will see miracles and our confidence in the Lord will increase. I am so grateful for the wonderful missionaries I get to serve around because they are teaching me so much.

I read some great scriptures this morning- Alma 33:21-23. I just really like how at the end it says 'and even all this can ye do if ye will' because it shows that we have to have the desire and oftentimes we have to act without knowing- aka have faith- and then we will experience the fruit of our efforts with time.

Fun fact- 61% of the missionaries in our mission have been out for 6 months or less! These new missionaries are incredible though. :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

-Hermana Brighton

Week 65

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year! It's crazy how the time flies! I am so happy to get to be a missionary in Yakima Washington right now. The Spanish branch I am in is incredible and I love the members and the people we are working with so much. It's amazing how much I have learned and am learning as a missionary. 

Something I have been thinking about is the importance of saying enough but not too much. For those who knew me before the mission you probably know that I was a big talker. For example my siblings once played a game in the car on the way home from a church activity where they didn't say anything and waited to see when I would stop talking... I apparently I talked all the way home (probably 15 or so minutes) and they didn't say a word. So coming out on a mission where I couldn't speak the language taught me a lot. You learn to figure out what you need to say, not always what you want to say. You learn to listen harder and pay more attention to not just the words, but the body language and you rely a lot more on the Spirit to tell you how to respond. You recognize how weak you are and you turn to God in fervent prayer and cries for help so you learn humility. Learning a foreign language has been a wonderful adventure for me though and I'm so grateful for this opportunity. I have received so much help from the Lord, from companions and from the people I meet. I'm grateful for their love and patience with me. I've learned to think a lot more before speaking. Something I like that I saw one time is that what you say should go through three doors, Is it necessary? Is it kind? Is it true? Now I won't say I'm perfect with what I say and I'm still working on it and will be my whole life, but I feel like my mission has helped me to better recognize the importance of being careful of what you say.

I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon. I find it to be inspiring and it gives me strength and advice. Sometimes I'm reading in the Book of Mormon and I find something that sticks out to me that maybe I've never noticed and I wonder wow has that really been there all this time? I know that the Book of Mormon will help any seeker of truth to find what they are looking for and gain a testimony of Christ as our Savior and Redeemer as well as a testimony of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ through latter-day prophets beginning with Joseph Smith down to now Thomas S Monson. You just have to have a sincere desire to know and to act on the answer you receive. I love our leaders and I'm grateful for their guidance and I know that they are directed by Christ as they are obedient and follow the commandments.

I hope everyone can make the goal to read the Book of Mormon everyday and not just read it but study it and feast on it. Share it with others and invite all who want to come learn more at church and from the missionaries. 

Love you all!

Hermana Brighton

Week 64

Dear Family and Friends,

This week the family we've been working with got baptized and confirmed. They are so special and I'm excited to continue to work with them and help them continue to learn and grow.  A ten year old boy that the Elders have been teaching got baptized as well. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I had a white Christmas and the snow continues to come down. I feel like I've seen more snow in the past month or two than I have my whole entire life. It's really beautiful though and I'm grateful that a good amount of the time we have a car so it's not too bad being in the cold. 

I am so grateful for the scriptures and how God can speak to us through them. I know that when we search for answers to questions that we have, if we have a true desire to act on the answers, God will tell us what we need to do. Sometimes we don't feel like we are getting specific direction but when we act on true righteous principles that often times we already know then we can trust that what we are doing is something God would want us to do. God does not need to direct us in all things, He trusts us to apply what we learn from the scriptures, prayer, church, our leaders and life experiences and use our agency for righteousness- to serve and love others.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you have a fantastic New Year!

Week 63

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been amazing! SO much has happened and when I look back on each day it's hard to believe that everything happened in just this week.

We went on three exchanges this week- which means that we trade companions for 24 hours for the purpose of learning from other sisters and helping each other become better missionaries. We also had a Christmas Gathering with other missionaries in the southern half of the mission. Each zone put together a little spiritual thought/musical number and afterwards we watched Meet the Mormons. I highly recommend it to everyone! Friday evening we had the branch Christmas party and a couple we have been teaching got married as well. It was so awesome and they will be getting baptized with their two daughters this coming Saturday. 

Sunday we had a special Christmas program during Sacrament Meeting, but what I really enjoyed was teaching one of the youth Sunday School classes and getting to spend time in the primary for the last hour. I was reminded of the true reason of the Season and the spirit taught me some things that honestly brought tears to my eyes. I was reminded of the importance of having a personal relationship with Christ and also of the innocence and pureness of children. Also while teaching the youth I learned the importance of teaching better so that when you ask 'why we should do missionary work' the answer won't be 'so we don't get our arms cut off'. Ha I hardly kept myself from just laughing out loud. We had been talking about Ammon and how great of a missionary he was because he served the king and loved his fellow servants and protected them from the robbers who came to steal the sheep by cutting their arms off. So although we should do missionary work, the reason shouldn't be because we want to keep our arms. Our motive should be because we love God and those around us and seek to serve them and help them.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas this week! I love you all and invite you to take some time to evaluate your relationship with Christ and seek to strengthen it by getting to know Him. Study His words and works in the scriptures. I'm grateful for Christ and His love for me and His example that I can do my best to follow.

-Hermana Brighton

Week 62

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been another wonderful week in Yakima! We are working hard and it's been amazing as we have seen how the Lord helps us find those who are more prepared to accept the Restored Gospel.

We've been teaching a family that is just incredible and they are planning on getting their marriage license today so they can get married soon- hopefully this week. They are just incredible and have so much faith, although lately they have had a lot of struggles they still are progressing and they are just awesome. I believe Satan is working really hard against them, yet I know as they continue to act on faith they will come out on top. That is something we all need to remember. In the end those who have had faith in Christ and have made and kept their covenants will be successful and happy. 

Something I've been thinking about a lot is a phrase that came to mind this past week- Endless progression is true joy. The more I've thought about it the more I've liked it and I really believe it's true. I know that it is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we can continually progress. We can repent and change and leave things in the past and move forward seeking to become better and more fully follow Christ's teachings. The Gospel is wonderful! :) The Gospel encourages change, yet never changes itself. It will always be the one and true way to eternal joy. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has the permission from God to perform baptisms in the way He wants them done. What a blessing this is and that is why I'm serving a mission- to invite all to come unto Christ and be baptized with His authority and then to continue progressing and becoming better each day.

I hope everyone enjoys these coming weeks before Christmas and that you can share your testimonies of the Restored Gospel and invite others to learn more by meeting with missionaries. I love you all so much!

Love,

Hermana Brighton

Week 61

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has been awesome. On Wednesday Hermana Bailey and I received a third companion, Hermana Dee. She is from Alaska and is super positive and fun be with. So we will be in a tri-pan until Hermana Bailey goes home on the 18th. In the mean time we are taking full advantage of there being 3 of us and have been getting rides with a lot of the men in our branch since often times they are the ones that are available to drive us places. This allows us to save miles and also let the other sisters use the car more often. For those unaware, as missionaries we have a rule that we have to have a 3rd adult of the same gender in order to get rides from members or go into someone's house, that's why it's SUPER nice being in a tri-pan. :)

There has been a good amount of snow, rain, and slush falling from the sky this week, probably more that I can remember in my whole entire mission. It's good though because we all in this area have been praying for water in this area. God answers the prayers of the faithful.

We have been working with a wonderful family and they have come to Sacrament Meeting these past 2 weeks and are just incredible. The Mom reads in the Book of Mormon and just loves it and makes all kinds of connections to the Bible and to herself. She learns so well on her own and then we are able to just come and aid in the learning process.

There are also a couple other people we have been working with that are progressing well and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be serving a mission and to be here in Yakima. There are so many amazing things happening and sometimes I ask myself why the Lord has been so merciful as to allow me to be a part of these miracles. I am just so full of gratitude though and I hope to continue to be do all I can to work hard and be faithful in aiding the Lord to carry out His work and help Him fulfill His promises.

I hope we can all have a wonderful week and share the joy we have because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for this Christmas season and for this special time we have to be able to focus more on the Savior and help others recognize the importance of Christ and what He has done and still can do for us.

Love you all!

Hermana Brighton