Last night I received this great picture of Elder B. at church in his new ward, from Claudia Harris, a friend and former neighbor from Idaho!

Dear Mom,

I didn't get your e-mail last week when you tried to send it really quick so I didn't find out that the Harris's were in my ward until Wednesday, but it's pretty awesome! Elder Jeffs and Elder Barbour had dinner with them this week and told them about transfers so they knew I was coming from them too. We went to their house on Thursday and ate some leftover birthday treats from their son's birthday and then got to see them at church yesterday too! Its really weird that they're here but it's so cool! haha We got to snag some of the treats that the ward was handing out for father's day haha Bro Harris is on the high council and usually isn't in our ward but he spoke alongside a young man leaving on his mission soon yesterday.

We have a great ward and I am excited to work here! My companion is Elder Jeffs from Gilbert AZ. He is super cool and we are eerily alike. It's going to be a good transfer! I have two sets of sisters in my district: Sisters Marcom and Wilson and Sisters Mullins and Ring. Two of them are being trained and one of the companionships got doubled in. They are all great and very hard workers. I am excited to work alongside them as their district leader. I get to hold weekly council meetings and to interview their candidates for baptism! I was trained by Elders Moon and Jensen on how to do that this week and it's a little terrifying but not too hard either! Things will be interesting but good :) We cover a little bit of east Wenatchee and several very tiny towns.

We had a baptism!! A lady named 'S' and her daughter 'C'!  They were baptized by a recent convert and Elder Jeffs and I confirmed them the next day.

I hope I get to go to Moses lake and to see Sister Hogsett too! I am happy where I am! The Yakima mission definitely is better for missionary work anyways. The Kennewick Mission work is pretty sparse in Tri-cities. I'm glad I left but I sure enjoyed my time there. I am where I need to be :) I will say goodbye to President Ware on Tuesday the 23rd during his final interview with all of us up here. 

Hope dad had a great father's day! I love you!

-Elder Brinkerhoff

BYE BYE Rancho Reata! :'(

Bye to Willowbrook ward!

Goodbye, Richland! :o(

'Bye' to Elder and Sister Cain! 

They were so nice and I loved living with them!

Here's a view of the drive to Wenatchee!

 I haven't taken any of the area yet but it's high up in the mountains and super beautiful! 

Said Goodbye to Elder Greenwell! 

President Ware surprised us by bringing he and Elder Jason Johnson to spend their last night with us. 

It was pretty cool to see my mission brother again (He's my mission brother because we were both trained by big Johnson) I don't exactly follow in their big footsteps though. haha 

Elder G was pretty tired and sad to go home as you can see in the picture. He's
trying to muster a smile :) 

This is what we sang at the transfer meeting:

 Drove thru Yakima 2nd ward on the way to Wenatchee and stopped

 at my old church building which was the transfer site this time.

6/15/2015

Hey Mom!

I look forward to your letter! I've been wondering when you would send one haha (We email every week, but I've been terrible about writing snail mail!!!!) 

Well, it has been a great week but it is also bittersweet to receive transfer calls this weekend. I am very excited to announce that I have been called to serve as a District Leader in the Rocky Reach ward in Wenatchee in the Washington Yakima mission. I will have Elder Jeffs from Az (who actually used to be in my zone here in Kennewick last transfer!) I will be a steward over him and 2 sister Companionships. Two of the sisters will be brand new and straight from the MTC. It will be a "Sistrict" as President Ware put it when he called me. I am basically the Relief Society president! lol Meanwhile, Elder Plehn is very excited to stay here and to train a brand new Elder! 

We had a great last week together full of success! The 'P's' and 'M' came to church and they all loved it! They told us that M's wife will be coming next week and that 'E' will try to get his other two kids and his wife to church with them too! Rancho Reata was basically at a standstill when we got here but things have picked up so much! 'H. P.' is working towards June 27th for baptism and 'M' is working towards sometime in July. The 'M' family in the Willowbrook ward just went to the temple on Friday to perform baptisms for family names and they are going to be visiting Nauvoo soon and going to the temple there. What an amazing family! So many good things are happening and I will be sad to leave but I know that I am needed elsewhere. We know that these extra responsibilities are important callings that the Lord has extended to us. We know that they have come from the Lord and we are so grateful for all of the work and effort that President Ware has put in to receiving revelation for us for where we should be. I have been thinking and praying and preparing myself for my new area and I am excited for this opportunity to be a District Leader. I have been afraid to take on a leadership position over the course of my whole mission but I knew that if one was extended to me, that I would welcome it and rise to the challenge. I am not afraid. It feels right. The spirit is strong when I think about my future in the Washington Yakima Mission. I will be sad to leave Tri-Cities and also President and Sister Ware and all the other WKM missionaries, but I know that this is right and what the Lord wants for me. Plus, I am super excited to be in Wenatchee over the summer! It's cooler and up in the mountains with pine trees and stuff! It sounds super similar to Flagstaff actually!

Well, I love you and look forward to your letter! I will receive a training next week all about the new mission. I will let you know all the details and also any other details I've left out... haha. I love you... have a great week!!!

Love Elder Brinkerhoff 

Well, this is what the weather has looked like this past week.... 

Luckilly it has cooled down some and I will be transferred to a cooler area soon!!!

 (BTW the sign is kinda exaggerating... it only got to about 105)

Our District (for two more days)

Elders Barber, Bartschi, me, Plehn, Greenberg and Jensen

June 8, 2015

Hey Mom!

How are you? Still waiting for a letter... And an e-mail! haha (Unfortunately, I didn't have time to email him before he emailed me!) :o(

Quick investigator run down! 'M' has committed to baptism but has no date yet. He's been to church once. 'H' came to fast and testimony meeting with his inactive father 'E' yesterday! They loved church and will most likely be coming to dinner with us in a member's home on Tuesday. Actually the member served his mission in Flagstaff! He knows the Palmers really well! His name is B. Mackay. His brother actually works at Gore! Does Dad know a Mackay at work?

Well, Saturday is transfer calls! Transfers are on the 17th. I should know by then where I will end up!!! I'm trying to think of anything else to say... I know I'm leaving so much detail out... By the time Monday comes around I can't remember anything... haha Do you have any specific questions? I love you! Have a great week!

Love, Elder B!!

We have this cute little dog named "buddy" living in our house now 

(The Cains are watching it while it's owner is on vacation)

It's starting to get hot here!

6/2/15--I received the following WONDERFUL letter in the mail today from a man in Elder B's last area (Yakima):

Dear Chanon and Rebecca,

     I certainly hope I am reasonably close in my spelling of a unique, to me, name.  I am writing to tell you your son, Elder Brinkerhoff, made a very favorable and enduring impression on me.  One day this spring, he and his cohort, Elder Plehn, stopped at my house in carrying out their missionary duties.  I recalled being their age out on the road far from home and how kindness of strangers affected me.  So, I invited them in for a glass of water and a rest.  I am a 65 year old retired fisheries  biologist and grandpa.  I like young people.  Your son was a breath of fresh air, a model youth taking on passionately, an important job; he embraced his duty with poise, composure, and determination.  I told them right away that I was an unlikely convert but, if they wished, they could practice on me and at least they would find me an eager student.  I am very interested in Mormonism--its history, tenets, doctrine, dogma, etc.  Over the course of several weeks we enjoyed several good sessions.  Sadly, their time with me came to an end.  They told me others would follow.  But, I told Elder Brinkerhoff, it wouldn't be the same.  And it wasn't.  Others came.  But they were just salesmen to me.  The new--older, experienced ones came and quickly left.  It was your son I'll remember.  He was--IS--a son of which you must be proud.

Sincerely,

"H. W."

June 1, 2015

Hi!!!

No we haven't had more protesters. It seems like the open house for our new building has been a success but we weren't there and the members haven't talked much about it. The building will be dedicated in a few weeks! We are excited for that. It will happen right before transfers. This upcoming one will basically decide which mission I will end up in! It's gonna be interesting!

This has been a great week for miracles! We had our first investigator at church in a long time! "M" is his name. Elder Plehn and Elder Connell gave him a tour of the Stake Center while on exchanges and his friend "T" was there too. He then brought him to our ward yesterday. "M" has committed to baptism and to continue investigating the church. We are making progress with the "P" family too! "E" is the inactive father and he told us that he wants to go back to church and he has stopped drinking for a week! We haven't talked much about the Word of Wisdom with him but we feel that he knows that he needs to come back and change his life. His son hasn't kept his commitments to read because of school, but he and his mom (both non-members) both said that they'd like to come with "E" to church next week! We are so excited! We also found a new investigator named "R" who is a widow with several kids. She has investigated in the past but she is open to listening to us! She has a really neat perspective on life and is a very special person! We know that the gospel will help her so much! We are striving to help the work in the Willowbrook ward become stronger because of the great support from the ward members and because our love of this great work. We are having a mission wide fast and mighty prayer for our investigators this Sunday and we (all the missionaries) are going to bear our testimonies in the wards in which we serve. It's going to be neat!

I've been looking forward to your letter haha! Thanks for the music! I already had the Eclipse stuff and the Noteworthy songs were okay, but I am so happy to have that Brandon Heath song! It's so good! 

I can't believe that Emily has graduated! Thanks for all the pictures! Everyone is growing up!! Time makes no sense... I'll bet it was super weird having a child graduate at the dome huh? :) I'll bet Emily is pretty happy! I'm going to send a letter this week to her.

Well, I love you! Hope you have a great week!

-Love, Elder Brinkerhoff

This is the apartment for Elder's Broadbent and Barber!! It's so cool!

 Candid shot in a member's backyard

Almost out for one year!!!

Mother's Day Skype!

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May 19, 2015

Hi Mom! Sorry I didn't write yesterday. Today was our temple trip p-day so yesterday was a normal proselyting day... I hate it when p-day switches haha

Crazy news! We are taking over Willowbrook ward and losing Cottonwood Springs! Our Zone leaders cover the meadow springs and Willowbrook wards and they meet at the same time in different buildings. They expressed this problem to President Ware and he decided the best thing would be for us to trade WB and CS. So, Elder Plehn and I have officially covered 4 wards in our time together. Doubled in to 3 of them! Crazy things happen on a mission! It's good though because We live in WB ward and Elder and Sister Cain are in that ward too! We've seen a lot of miracles already even though we've been in the ward only since yesterday.

 Here is last p-day. Elder Galvez (the one from Hawaii) went home this week.

 Pictured are Elders Clyde, Garton, Galvez, Stef, Broadbent, (myself), Plehn and Jeffs

 Temple Trip:

 Look at this creepy thing we saw in someone's yard:

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May 25, 2015

Hi! Happy Memorial Day!

Willow Brook ward is great! The area is tiny but there are a lot of excited members of the church who are anxious to fulfill their missionary duties! We really enjoyed our time at the temple on Tuesday and we are loving the new zone members! I'm with a very good group of Elders!

On Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Jensen in his area. We had a good day. However we ran into a certain anti-Mormon I recently told you about. Can you believe that? We were walking to our dinner and we saw this guy standing next to an old truck. He started waving us over so we went and shook his hand. He introduced himself and we both felt the spirit instantly leave. It was powerful and we felt the spirit holding our tongues from engaging in a contentious conversation with him. We thanked him for his time after he spouted out his basic anti-Mormon garbage that he said he always shares on the spot with missionaries. He didn't do much more than talk our ears off for like 10 minutes. We said "Excuse me, we are on our way somewhere and we need to go now."  He was very nice, but such a prideful creep! He gave us copies of all of his anti Mormon tracts, talked our ears off forever (which made us late for dinner) and then asked us if we wanted a picture with him! (We didn't of course... haha) Quite an experience! He was very pathetic and his tracts are ridiculous! I can't believe that he has such a following! Anyways..

We also had protesters at our church building on Sunday! Can you believe that? Mostly holding up signs like "Joseph Smith was a false prophet" and whatever... We have a public open house for the building this Saturday so we figure that is what it was about. We aren't invited but we expect a large turnout! 

We also had Zone conference on Friday. Not much to report other than we have a black box in all the mission cars now called "Tiwi" that tracks all the cars and talks to us. It will tell us to buckle our seat belts or that we need to check our speed when driving and other things. It's pretty interesting! We had a representative from the missionary vehicle dept. on assignment from Elder Nelson come to present it to us. 

Not much more to report but we are working with a guy named "M" and a 19 year old named "H". Those are our top investigators right now and we are of course striving to find more. We have begun having member lessons to get them excited about missionary work. We have seen success already from doing that. Hope you have a  great week! I loved your package and Emily's graduation announcement! Can't wait to get your letter!

Love Elder B