We love this great work....

     We had a good week. Could've been better but we've been doing alright! We had a great lesson with "G". He had the priesthood conferred upon him a couple weeks ago and he has had some struggles with understanding some things but his prayers sound like he's been a member his whole life now! He also is having a better time with the scriptures! He is doing great! 

     This week we went out and picked up random trash in the area for about an hour one day. We had a couple people talk to us later saying "Hey were you the guys in the white shirts that were picking up trash the other day?" We said "Yep! We're just trying to find ways to serve in the community" and they thought it was great! Some hearts were softened this week. It was a great suggestion from President Ware and we will continue to do that every now and then! We love this great work and we are desperately striving for more investigators, but we have a church tour tonight with a 19 year old boy named Hayden and he is very excited! It will be my first one and I am excited as well!

Stinks that you had a headache! 

We play chair soccer a lot here on P-day (You each have a chair and it's a last man standing wins game. You have to kick the soccer ball into someone's chair to get them out and you have to guard your own chair to stay in the game.) It's intense! Elder Adling is the best at it haha He wins pretty much every time. He took an elbow to the face from Elder Connell (ZL) a few weeks ago though and it broke his glasses! Luckily not his nose though! 

Elder "P" and I are both staying here in Kennewick....no transfers! Elders Stef and Jeffs are being transferred and we are getting Elder Greenberg, Elder Drummond, Elder Tipton and Elder Barber. Nothing too overwhelmingly exciting as far as transfers go...

Well, Hope you are doing well! I love you!

Love, Elder B

Here's the AP's haha! (Elder's Adling and Stringham) 

Elder Adling is going home today so I needed a picture with him last week.

Hello all!

Well, this week was a little slower, but we are gearing up for a lot to happen this week! Our goal is to have a member at every lesson with our investigators and with our recent convert 'G'. It's a goal that will stretch us but we feel we can do it! We want to get the ward excited to do missionary work. We are beginning to utilize some suggestions President Ware gave to us in interviews about having short member visits and picking up rubbish in the streets. It is hard, but we are striving to help the people here. We love them and are trying so desperately to serve, find and teach those who are elect. We had exchanges and I spent a day with Elder Galvez. He's a great missionary! On Saturday Elder Plehn and I gave a blessing to a non-member who was a friend visiting a member in our ward. We tracted into their home finding that they were members and after they offered us cookies, she asked if we would give her friend a blessing. We did and we could tell that she felt the spirit. It was a really neat experience and we know it planted a seed.

I hit my 10 month mark on Saturday and that means transfer calls this week too!! Time is going way too fast! I love my mission! I know that as we look for opportunities to share the gospel with our friends, they will present themselves. Elder Russell M. Nelson said:

"...if we are open about our membership in the church from the very beginning, we can can easily bring gospel discussions into the relationship with very little risk of being misunderstood."

It is important to be an example and to strive to share what we know with those around us. In 2 Nephi 2:8 it says:

"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy,and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."

I know that these things are true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder Brinkerhoff

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We do service at a place called "The Arc" every week. It's a place for developmentally disabled people. We go and help them with activities and stuff. This week we helped them with a Patriot day celebration by re-enacting the battle of Lexington with nerf-guns and by coloring flags. Elder Stef is from Canada however and this is his flag: haha

Elder Galvez from Hawaii!

 New church bld! We were the first to have a morning meeting there this last Sunday