Week 68

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a great one. We had a lot of lessons in the homes of Recent Converts and members and the lessons all went super well. We are teaching 3 people consistently as well as working with several others including less active members and other investigators. Finding through members and investigators is definitely a good way, if not the best, to find new people to teach that are more likely to progress.

Yesterday Sister Dee and I spoke in church about the miracles we've seen in our missions. I was grateful for that opportunity and it was a good opportunity to really think about the experiences I've had on my mission. Something I was thinking about is how if we want to see miracles we have to have faith. If you have faith it means you are acting on correct principles, you are being obedient to God and His commandments. It is when you are obedient that you are blessed and you are able to see more the hand of God in your life, or in other words the miracles, His tender mercies.

Sometimes life can be hard or overwhelming but something I've learned on my mission is the importance of moving forward in faith. Remembering the promises God makes to the faithful and obedient is what gives us hope and reminds us that all will be well. All we need to do is seek to follow God's will and find it out for ourselves and then act accordingly. We will not receive answers if we don't sincerely plan on acting on the answers that we receive. We have to be humble and willing to do whatever it may be God asks of us. I know that sometimes you don't get answers or maybe you don't recognize the answer you do receive because you have no intent on actually following through. I know that you also receive no witness til after the trial of your faith. Often times we have to act on something and be obedient before we gain a personal witness of its importance and truthfulness. This can be seen with basically all the commandments such as the word of wisdom, the law of chastity, paying tithing, fasting, going to church each week, reading and praying daily, etc. You can't find out if doing/living those things will really help you until you do them with an open heart and willing mind.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I'm grateful for you all and your support. I hope that you finish out January still keeping in mind the new year resolutions you've made and re commit to do what you can to keep striving to meet your goals, or make adjustments and set new ones as needed.

Love you all!

Hermana Brighton

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