9 Month Mark!

Hello all! 

Things are going well here in the WKM! I hit my 9th month on April 2nd and I am absolutely blown away at how fast time is going.

It's great to be back in Tri-Cities! My new zone is all Elders here in Kennewick. I've been running into people I know from Richland and Yakima and it's really weird! My District Leader is really cool but we just got a call saying that he's going home for a medical reason... Darn. That also means we need a new Dl.....Thankfully I wasn't called... 

...my companion was :)

Anyways things are good. We have a car here. It's a 2015 Chevy Cruze. It's not a very powerful car but it gets us places. We have a small area even though it's 2 wards that we cover. It's very spread out though. We pretty much need a car to do anything. We cover the "Rancho Reata" and "Cottonwood Springs" wards. We kinda know what we're doing now, but it won't matter soon. This Sunday we will have a meeting about boundary changes for the wards in this stake! (Meaning everything will change just as we start actually figuring things out....) It's okay though! We are meeting lots of great people!

The Sisters we replaced had a baptism right before we arrived and replaced them. His name is Grant and he is a solid convert. He's a great guy. He watched all the sessions of general Conference and we were able to hang out and eat lunch with him in-between sessions!

Easter as a missionary is a lot less exciting but it's a bit more spiritual. It's pretty much a normal day except for the Easter feast we had with some members in the area. We've been sharing "Because He Lives" for dinner thoughts and it's showing a lot of good response. We love the spirit the new video brings into people's homes. 

General conference was great! We had a good time watching it this weekend. President Stapleton (one of President Ware's counselors) was released not too long ago. He is in the Rancho Reata ward and a few days ago we asked him if he was available to come to a lesson with us. He declined because he was out of town going to General conference. Well, President Eyring read his name under the new area seventies! Guess that's why he was released from the mission presidency! He is a great man. He will do well in his calling. 

General Conference was very uplifting and I greatly enjoyed it. If you missed it, please go back and watch it. Even if you did see it, go back and watch. Words of living prophets are for us in our day. We need to pay heed to their words and prepare ourselves spiritually for the trials and tribulations to come. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and I am grateful to be a missionary at this time. This world is darkening fast and we need to be ready for things to come. How grateful I am for the words of our Prophet that give us guidance and counsel in these troubled times. If we have faith, and repent and strive to keep the commandments and covenants we've made, we will be blessed. I know that this is true. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder Brinkerhoff