Wednesday, December 27, 2017

May 2017 Email Excerpts

May 1st:

Sister Chandler is going home this week! 😞 It's bittersweet for her. I'm going to miss her, and I'm nervous. I've been told already that I'm going to stay in the same area this next coming transfer (not sure why President told me that now), and there's one new missionary, a visitor center sister or another sister already in the mission that I could be companions with.  It's all in the air right now.

I should also mention that we had two baptisms this last week!! Whoo whoo!!  "T" and "C"!! It's been sad at the same time.  I take for granted how awesome it is to be in an active family.  "H", "T" and "C" were all baptized by their grandparents because their fathers weren't willing. Well, it was still fun to help out with it and play the violin again! I messed up big time for "C's", which I laugh about now, but it was still good.

I got to meet Sister Ockey!  She was fun.  She came up to me and was like, "Hey you're Sister Brinkerhoff. right?"  And she was trying to get a picture with me. She kept telling me "sorry, you have no idea who I am!"  ha ha I knew who she was. I was afraid I would miss them because I went through the temple with our investigator, "T", but they found me before we went into the visitor's center. :)

May 9th:

Hi Mom!! Yeah you beat me!! :) Will that be weird to be in a different Stake and separate from our relatives? I mean, we weren't in the same ward anyways, but I already feel spread out from them. I don't know, but that's still good news if the church is growing in Flagstaff!!! :) :)

We had stake conference too! I didn't get to attend the Saturday adult session because I was at the open house. The stake high councilman told me that the missionaries were allowed to sit on the stand.  He had a funny look on his face when I came up with Sister Shaat from the ward!! :) Yeah, I've been everybody's companion this week. It's fun at times, and other times a little lonely because I don't know if they care where I am.  But we're getting things figured out. Tomorrow for transfers I will be companions with Sister Houston, and we're staying in Henry's Fork. I've been out for ten months, and don't get me wrong I love Sister Settle and Sister Chandler, but this is the first time I feel like I'm leading out an area. it's scary, but exciting at the same time. I was with Sister Houston for an hour or so before we found out we were comps at the open house, so I know her a little bit.   

I've mostly spent this week getting rides into my area or staying with Sister Cottrell and Deuel in their area. I met some of the people they work with in the married student wards. "P" is sweet, and will hopefully be baptized one day.  I also taught recent convert lessons in my area with sisters in the ward and got some great return appointments set up. It was funny because the main object in my visit with "M" was to set a temple date, and she was all like, "oh yeah, I've already been and will go again Tuesday!" WHAT?! So that's been great! :)  I'm also looking for more investigators to teach since we baptized the progressing ones. :)  I tried to get in contact with someone in Plano that showed interest, but they weren't home and haven't answered calls. Remember me talking about "A" and "A"? They will hopefully go to the open house soon. Their family struggles with being active and haven't been sealed, so that's been a touchy subject. Well, they were all ready at 1:00 to go to church, went and found no one there! Stake Conference! I felt so bad when they told me, but I'm glad they tried to go!! :( Stake conference was great by the way. :) It was about family history and temples, and there were many well prepared and powerful talks about family. There was not a dry eye in the room. 

Man, you're right! School's almost over! It feels like it just started for everybody. My mission is starting to fly by. I can't believe I've been out ten months!! It's unreal! Is Amy a junior this year? I'll make it to her graduation either way! :)  Way to go on exercising! That definitely relieves stress for me. Sister Settle and I were talking about that the last time we went on exchanges and were making health goals. Our district meetings have also consisted of the word of wisdom and eating healthy. Apparently missionaries are bad at that here, and I might be in that number but I've been better lately:). It really depends on how I balance things out with time and need.  

May 17th:

This picture might be a little fuzzy, but it's hanging on the wall in our break room (the stage of the stake center next to the temple).  I'm a little more in the back with Sister Chandler, and my other companions are nearby me as well.  All the sisters from Pocatello are in the front, at least most of them.




My companion being picked up😢😢😢😢😢😢



Another fuzzy picture... 
It says, "The sisters are the best part! They glow with a joyful spirit ☺

This will probably be a busy week. Today we NEED to wash our car, shop and prepare for tomorrow. I also have to (the rest of the week) send a little goodie bag we prepared to two of our recent converts, weekly plan, send progress records and send a referral for the missionaries in Island Park, added with a lesson appointment tomorrow. I'm looking forward to normal weeks, but at the same time it's nice to be busy! :)

May 22nd:
There's not a whole lot I can think of that happened this week except for mini transfers for the sisters. Sister Houston already transferred to my area, so we didn't move. I haven't admitted this fully to anyone except for president yet, but I'm really upset about the transfers. They said they wouldn't make too many changes. All the sisters in our zone got close during the open house and now they changed everything. Sister Settle and I had more time to actually talk, and now they moved her to Ammon to whitewash again! She doesn't have much time left on her mission because she's trying to leave for school in August. I luckily got to say goodbye to her yesterday, thank goodness we stayed the night in Id Falls. Her birthday is on the 29th, so I will either mail her a card or have someone send it to her.  I don't know, I'm just down about it because I don't know if there's even a slight chance I could see her again or Sister Chandler. This weekend's just been yuck.
It's been good to see the work start up again, though! :) We have a new investigator, "E"! She's about "A's" age in the same ward. She has special needs and is hyper sensitive to things, so like "A" we have to be very basic with the lessons. We printed out a coloring page for her tonight. 

May 29th:

Everyone here got out of school this past weekend, so there were a lot of RVs and campers rolling out. I'm a little worried about the work because I remember how last year was. I came to Ucon in July and there wasn't much happening. It wasn't out of lack of work, but everybody and their dog was gone on vacation. From about Thursday to Saturday this week we hardly had any appointments. We also lost a couple of investigators. Hopefully not forever. But we're still teaching "A" and "E", and their families are so sweet! We also met Sister H. during a dinner appointment, and she called us back to help out with her friend. She lives in a fancy mobile home right in the backyard of her friend. From what we were told she had or has a brain tumor and needs help around the house a lot from Sister H, who is also busy with her job as a certified mid-wife. So we got to help last Saturday and wash all her dishes for her. We were grateful for the service opportunity! We also had three service projects last Wednesday (one not planned). We helped "C" clean around the house (she injured her tailbone recently), and we also helped to clean out a garage for someone in our District Leader's area, just right next to our area. The garage hadn't been touched in four years and had accumulated a lot of rat and cat poop...I washed my hands three times.🤗 Wednesday was really windy, probably the most windy day since winter ended, so we were worried that our last appointment would cancel, but it all worked out. "E's" mom invited us to help her plant flowers and we had a lot of fun. :)

We are planning to go to Yellowstone next Monday and have everything figured out. We called the mission president for permission and figured out who would all be going. Sister Houston asked a ward missionary from her last area for a ride. The couple takes the missionaries to Yellowstone every year apparently. I'm not sure how emailing will go, but if all else fails I can send a letter (for real, not just saying it). 

It's been pretty warm, although I heard that things might get crazy again Wednesday. It always seems to be Wednesday when the weather changes! All the companions I've been with love the heat though, so hopefully it will stay warm for them! :)

It's still been difficult to adjust to the new changes, but I'm looking ahead for happiness.
I love you!

~Sister Brinkerhoff  





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