Good Morning Mom!
Yes, I'm staying in my trio again! Sister Smith was with Sister Brimhall after her companion went home, but now Sister Brimhall is training. I'm a little sad that I won't train on my mission, but I'm happy in my trio. They're easy to get along with. :) Sister Lewis doesn't want to kill me. :) I guess I'm just sad because I feel like my confidence has grown and I'm more comfortable at talking to people (not perfectly-but I can still do my job), but nobody seems to notice. Sister Smith is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but President Nelson assumed that Sister Lewis and I would struggle after she was split from us. He kept asking who was leading out and encouraged us to have confidence even though we were already doing that. It's kind of frustrating. But I guess the most important thing I want to happen on my mission is what I need to do (like what my purpose for being in this mission is). Well, we are planning a fireside for this Sunday, so I'm hoping we can practice what we will be saying and show President Nelson that we have confidence already. Sorry, I feel like I'm venting now.
You can tell Nathan and Sarah I met Buddy the Elf last Friday!! :) I don't know if they still believe in Santa or not, but they might think that's cool. :) He helped us with missionary work ha ha! So to explain, we had a light the world table set up at a mini mall that had Santa, Buddy and entertainment going on. BTW, the chocolate you sent me was very useful! I asked for permission to leave them in the basket on the table, and there were parents who loved the idea of either letting their kids have candy or share it with somebody they know. :) But to continue, Buddy ran up the stairs with a family and suddenly stopped at our table. He asked if Sister Lewis and I had any presents, and we were so confused! I'm like,"we have candy and water" ha ha! Then he asked if he could take some of the pass along cards. :) Who can say no to that?! That was a fun day ha ha! We've had fun applying the light the world ideas into our finding goals. It really warms people's hearts, and I know why. We're told in the Book of Mormon that when we are in the service of our fellow beings we are only in the service of God, and I know A LOT of people that want to be close to God. So the more we serve the more we come to understand Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Everyone here wishes there was actually a giving vending machine in Rexburg. :)
Well, "T" seems to be doing ok, except he ignored us again. I don't know the reason this time, but I think he's going through a lot of stress right now. He wasn't home when we knocked on his door either, so we left a plate of cinnamon rolls at his doorstep. I'm a little worried that he might have been at his job in Pocatello, so hopefully he got those in good condition! We've gotten a lot of sweets from Christmas parties (we cover 16 wards and a branch), so we're going to try to pass them out to people we are trying to get in contact with. We have a new investigator since last night! Kind of! I taught him once with Sister Deuel. His aunt and uncle really liked the light the world message we shared. They are members, but their nephew isn't. I don't think he has permission to be baptized right now, but he can still learn more. His family back home are blended with LDS members and Baptist members.
Well that's been my week! :) I hope your December won't be super crazy and I love you!!! It won't be long until we skype! :) Although when we do I'll just have three to two weeks left!! Crazy!!!!
~Sister Brinkerhoff
#LightTheWorld
December 11th:
Hi Mom!
I have a lot of fun winter pictures this week! It wasn't snowing the day we took pictures, but everything including the snow was really frosted over!! It was so pretty and so cold ha ha! It was about 9 degrees that day. Sister Lewis wasn't thrilled about it. She wants her 125 degrees back from Nevada. :) I asked her permission to add her photo ha ha!
My week has been interesting. So my companions are great, but it's been an adjustment again since we're once again in a trio. It's weird because we were only split apart for two weeks. I've also been going through stress that's been hard to explain because I don't even completely understand it myself. Yesterday I received a priesthood blessing and I talked to President Nelson. I just expressed to him that I'm worried about being judged or labeled. You're pretty familiar with what I'm talking about, like how most people will talk to me like I'm five years old and label me as shy when they meet me for the first time. I told President Nelson how there's sometimes a stigma with the missionaries where we're either training every transfer and an STL or we are forgotten and not as important. He's always telling me to be more confident, so I was worried that that's why I wasn't called to do anything like that. I don't really care about whether or not I would do those things, but I feel like the other missionaries I've been around know more than I do concerning missionary work because they've had those experiences. I've tried not to let it bug me, but I think it just crashed this week on me. President let me know that I was a capable missionary and that I have been successful in my role as a missionary. He likes to mention the baptisms Sister Chandler and I had (probably because of that and we were together for so long). I told him I was also nervous for those people because most of them are inactive now. I didn't realize at the time that it can be really bad to have a child baptized in an inactive home. He told me that we each have agency, which I know, but it's still really hard to watch. I do feel a little better after talking to him. I just wanted to make sure I was doing my best and that I wasn't being disappointing. He encouraged me to pray for confidence each day (already doing that...), and we'll analyze at the end of the transfer (I mean I'll be analyzing if I did my best or not).
We almost had a new investigator, but we won't be able to meet with her again until January and they weren't sure about a specific return appointment. She's really sweet though and I hope it works out. I don't know if she's actually interested in the church but she doesn't mind learning more about it. The ward doesn't know about her or her family at all, so we're trying to figure out what their address number is. We know her street number and such but that's about it. We had dinner with our new investigator, which was great! We taught about the Restoration and discussed ways that will help him read the Book of Mormon. He and his aunt made a goal to read five verses a day. We're going to text reminders to our almost investigator to help remind her as well.
I love Nathan's letter! Tell him I sent him one today! :) I'm working on Amy and Sarah's letters now, and the others are sent. :) Sorry about your crazy experience at the library! I understand how hard it is when random things like that happen, more so when I was at walmart than on my mission surprisingly. Maybe it's just Flagstaff ha ha! It's ok though, I wasn't sure what to do for helping someone who was sick. The candles are fun! I took a picture of all of them lit up in case some of them die later on. I left the days that are past "burning" ha ha! It's ok, maybe Heavenly Father had that happen for a reason. At least you learned from it. :) If it was me I probably would have just stared blankly at her and been like wha?
Seeing wildlife out here is fun! There's a lot of deer in Burton, I've seen a couple of moose out, and Sister Guerra one night either saw a raccoon, porcupine or dog 
. I think it was a porcupine because I've seen some in my last area before. :) Speaking of my last area, I've seen a lot of people from Henry's Fork this past transfer. I saw "A" and her family, one of the Bishop's sons at a Christmas party, and "C" (used to be my next door neighbor whose husband passed away from cancer a year ago. She recently had thyroid cancer and showed me the surgery scar.
Thankfully she's doing alright right now). Sister Houston and Sister Robb have also had much success in Henry's Fork, which I'm very happy about. :) Things were pretty slow when Sister Houston and I were companions because everyone was gone for summer break. She's now second half training in Ammon and loving it. :) The funny thing is Sister Houston IF West and Sister Settle went up to Ammon. Then Sister Settle spent her last three weeks in IF West and went home, and now Sister Houston is in Ammon. They basically switched places. :)
Well I've already taken a long time to email you, so hear you go! :) Have fun with your digital recordings! I love you! BTW, I sent something fun in my letter! :) You may already have the pictures I put in it, but it's a fun little overview of the people I've been with since the beginning of my mission.
Love,
~Sister Brinkerhoff
December 18th:
Hi Mom!
Sorry I think I sent that last email twice on accident. So I honestly don't know when they will want missionaries to get smartphones. If for some reason I have to buy one in the short time I have we can probably use the extra money on my account. Oy!
I was started to feel congested and Sister Smith already wasn't feeling good, but I'm like not today! I chewed and swallowed three on guard beadlets last night and feel better ha ha!
We had a fun week! Two inactive members dropped us, but another less active member in the YSA is doing awesome! We were actually afraid that we would have to drop him because he wasn't keeping commitments at first, but his heart is changing and he's working harder than he did before. He also spoiled a little bit of Star Wars. Not upset at all ha ha! I'll just be happy if Luke and that former clone soldier (Finn right?) is in it. We also got to teach gospel principles yesterday. It was about the Final Judgement and Exaltation. YSA members are fun to teach because most of them are RMs :).
I can't believe I have a month left! And next week I'll be telling people I've been out 18 months! Crazy!!!! I'll have about three weeks left by the time we skype. BTW about skype, we're still working on all the details since there's three of us, but we're thinking maybe 10 AM or 11 AM. We texted one family about doing it at their house, but they haven't responded back yet. If I have to call that day and let you know more details I will. Your time zone is the same as ours right?
I love you mom! Have an awesome week!
~Sister Emily Brinkerhoff
Brought to you by Sister Smith (lol!!!):
December 25th:
Christmas Day Skype!
December 26:
Hi Mom! I don't know if you'll be on today or not, but I'll still send an email!
I had so much fun skyping with you and the family! It ended too soon! You know how I never really get teary eyed or cry while I'm bearing my testimony? I almost did yesterday when I bore my testimony to you all.
We had an eventful week! I told you about how the Spirit helped us find two new investigators after zone conference. It was awesome! We also ate dinner this week at the fire department. That was cool! 
We committed them all to light the world and we also gave them pass along cards. :)
I'm sending a box of clothes home today. It's clothing that I still plan to use but I don't really use them in the summertime. I also put some stuff away in one of my trunks today so I won't have to worry about that later. I just have out everything that I'm using at the current moment. I'm sending my shoes home too, so I'll just have my tennis shoes and my boots. Have fun watching Star Wars! Let me know if it's good! I trust y'all ha ha!
Have a wonderful week! I love you!
~Sister Brinkerhoff
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