Hi Mom!
Wow, I didn't even know about the earthquakes in Idaho until now. Grandma's asking me the same thing. You know, I'm happy to not have to worry about the news, but I'm always glad to be kept in the loop. The hurricane in Texas sounds catastrophic right now!! Are there other states affected by it right now?
I don't think I'm going to have a normal week ever this transfer. We just did three exchanges back to back. I was with Sister Hastings (former companions with Sister Chandler) for two days and one with Sister Houghton in Sugar City. It was pretty fun!
I love the nursery kids! We taught that same lesson to a girl in Henry's Fork! She has sensory disabilities and needed to take lessons really slow. The missionaries there said she is getting baptized this month, which is exciting!!
We have a new investigator, "C"! She is so sweet! Sister Deuel bore a powerful testimony about the Restoration, and "C" started to cry. She started reading the Book of Mormon before we even met her and her friend said she felt the Spirit so strongly. She doesn't want to be pushed about anything, but she's so willing to try things out and keep her commitments! I love her!
That house was fun to help out with! We've had so many service projects lately that we've actually had to start making a zone rule for them! ha ha! Our weekends have turned into service weekends.
There's nothing I need at the moment. I won't take money out of my savings since I don't know how much is on it. I don't need to get much from the store today. I'll let you know if there's anything I need.
Have a great week! Good luck with Grandma's house! I'm sad that I don't get to help with it right now. Y'all will probably be done by the time I get home, but I can't wait to see how everything looks! :)
I love you!
~Sister Brinkerhoff
September 11th:
Hi Mom!!!!!!
We haven't felt any earthquakes in Rexburg, but there's been wildfires that interrupted my sleep like last year. Last year we woke up and there was haze in the room. I had a sore throat the whole rest of the day, but luckily that didn't happen this time and the fires are going out.
So the craziest thing happened, and they didn't even take pictures!! AUGH!!! :) But ok, we got to hear from three general authorities Saturday!!! One of them being the Apostle Elder Ballard!!!!!! They wanted us to study chapter 4, Recognizing the Spirit, and he talked about ways to adjust teaching to meet people's needs. He was so funny! We all got to shake his hand at the beginning of the meeting, and when he left he said "adios amigos"!!!
This was quite the eventful transfer, but sadly it's coming to an end. Sister Deuel is leaving for home this week. I'll be with Sister Houghton for a couple of nights in Sugar City before transfers on Thursday. Her companion Sister Hastings is going home too, which is sad because Sister Hastings was in my very first zone in Idaho (now everyone in my first area is "dead" 
). The Assistants called and said I will be with Sister Guerra, one of the Billingual sisters. I'm nervous because I don't know her very well, but I'm hoping it all goes well.
We lost both of our investigators in the same week, but not in a bad way. They just moved. I'm hoping we are able to find more people to teach. It's hard to work with the YSA wards sometimes because people move around frequently. We did find someone that Sister Chandler started teaching, and he was baptized when Sister Settle and Sister Eas were in the area. He's having a rough time with things that are going on in his life, and we hope to help him out a little with some spiritual uplifting. Since Sister Chandler is here for school now we are going to try to get her involved as well. They're still friends. :) Oh, and Sister Settle has already started school at BYU Provo. I was sad that she couldn't stay long enough to be around for Elder Ballard because we would have been able to see each other again before her last transfer, but it sounds like she's doing well. The sister in her last area said that she was going to come to Ammon for a baptism, and she was going to tell her I said hi ha ha! :)
Are you feeling alright? I'm so sorry your health has been out of whack. Nothing huge has happened to my health, knock on wood, but November and December were hard. I'm hoping the same thing doesn't happen this year, but I'm going to try to not eat as much sugar. Also I'm sorry if I haven't mentioned anything I need. I either forget while I'm at the computer, or I'm doing good and don't need anything.
Don't worry, I feel love and support from home. :) I sent Amy a letter because she mentioned that she doesn't know much of what's been going on since I've been gone, so I tried to let her know what I could. I also sent a letter to Megan. I'm hoping to send one or two letters home each week as a goal so I don't stress not getting letters sent anymore. :) I am a little worried about going home soon because I don't want to disappoint anyone. I've had so many life-changing experiences, but I don't feel different and I don't feel like I've made a huge impact. I'm still going to be that same quiet person, and I'm worried that everybody's expecting me to be a completely different person. I'm also worried that nobody (other than family) is going to care that much that I'm home. I've had a really hard time connecting with people in Flagstaff or extended family. Just know that I have felt a ton of support from you! :)
I love you!
~Sister Brinkerhoff
P.S. I've been using flonase and it works wonders!!! 
Thanks for your advice!!
September 18th:
Good morning! I'm feeling good, and things have been going very well with Sister Guerra. :) I had sinus trouble the day of transfers because we are suddenly having a cold front. 
Not sure why. :) It started raining like normal summer rain and all of a sudden we needed our jackets. The weather's been in the 40's all weekend and today. I don't remember it getting cold like this so fast last year. Maybe it's because October is coming up. Sorry to hear about your migraine! No fun! I hope it goes away soon.
It's exciting to hear about Dad and Dean's adventures this week! :) How does pathways work? Is he taking a particular class? I keep telling Grandma that I'm probably going to go home and see a different Grandma's house. :)
We have met and are starting to teach "C" and the "F's"! Sister Guerra asked "C" if he would still like to be baptized and he said yeah. :) The "F's" are interesting. We tried knocking on their front door and no one answered. Their garage looked like it was open, so we walked over to the back and saw Sister F sitting very quietly in her car. Pretty sure she was hiding from us ha ha! But we talked to her and came back the next day. We met her husband and their adopted daughter "E" whose biological mother passed away two years ago. Brother and Sister F had a little bit of a cold shoulder while we taught their daughter the Restoration. "E" was baptized when she was eight and had gone to primary that same day, which we were happy about. Sister F was more warm towards us rather than the first time we met her, and she teared up when "E's" mother was mentioned. I think she was a family friend. We're hoping to meet with them again soon. We've also been meeting with "T", her husband "E" and her nephew "J". "J" isn't a member, and he doesn't have permission to be baptized. We're hoping to at least help the family as best we can. I was really excited to see all of them at sacrament meeting yesterday!!!
I got an email from Sister Deuel, and she seems to be doing well. She told me how she wanted to hug guys when she got home and got to do just that. :) I might have already mentioned this, but Sister Chandler and Sister Settle ( I still feel weird calling them just Alexandria and Miriam 
) started school. Well, Sister Settle might have started a long time ago, and Sister Chandler started this week. I'm surprised I haven't run into her lately in town. A bunch of other former missionaries arrived for school this week too. Sister Houston got to go on splits with her trainer Sister McIntosh which sounded awesome! :)
Well that's been my adventures this week. Oh!! We also saw moose and a lot of deer in Burton!!! ha ha I must sound so immature in this email. :) But it was really cool! It was a mama moose with her baby, and they were eating apples off a tree in someone's front yard. I'm hoping those people didn't have to go outside for anything... but the moose sighting helped us find one of the houses we were looking for so that's a plus! :)
I hope you have a wonderful week!
~Sister Brinkerhoff
September 25th:
Hi Mom!!!! Thanks for the email, and thank you for sharing your testimony! It was beautiful!
It's still been chilly this past week, and I think I caught a cold. I took some cold medicine yesterday and it helped a ton! Helped me sleep too. Now I just have a small cough. It's amazing how much my sicknesses have calmed down! Usually my colds are the worst thing ever :P, but I can still function pretty well! Sister Guerra also had some OnGuard that helped clear my sinuses for a time. :)
Those might have been the only sweaters because I have two with me right now plus another one in a pile of clothes some sisters were passing around. I've got one pair or gloves, but it might be good to have an extra. I'm not sure what condition my boots are in, but I'll check them. Do you know if Walmart carries shoe polish? I don't have much experience with polishing shoes ha ha!
This week has definitely been a tester of faith. We had a goal to find 2 new investigators, and the people we thought were going to be the new ones didn't end up working out. Luckily we were determined ha ha! We talked to the people that I wasn't expecting to be the new investigators, and it was awesome! We tried really hard to help someone be on date for baptism, but it didn't happen this week. We're again determined for this week! :) I was a little discouraged one night because I felt like everyone was rejecting our invitations one after another, but I feel we as a companionship are more motivated in helping others come closer to Christ at their pace rather than getting perfect baptismal statistics. Sister Guerra is awesome! She is from Alberta, Canada and is serving as a Billingual or Spanish speaking missionary. Right now there are 11 Spanish speaking sisters, so she's with me in an English area for the time being. It's been great getting to know her better and we work really well together. She's very in tune with the Spirit. :)
Sorry it took so long to respond back! I love you and I hope you don't get sick this holiday season!!!
~Sister Brinkerhoff
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