Dear Wonderful Family and Friends,

I hope each of you is doing wonderfully. I definitely am--thank you so much for all of your prayers on my behalf. 

This week was amazing! We started teaching four new people and talked to many others who are interested or may be interested in the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

We also started biking this week!!!! Finally! Bought the bikes Monday, had exchanges Tuesday and Wednesday (which means I wasn't in our area), so we didn't have our first day on bike until Thursday. So day one on bike, I was wearing kind of stretchy-type skirt. We were almost home when my skirt got caught in the tire and ripped a big hole in it. Whoops! Day two on bike, wearing a NOT stretchy, light tan skirt. Skirt gets caught in the tire once again, doesn't rip but it's all stained. Whoops again. I think I pretty much got all the stains out (thanks Mom for sending the Zote soap with me!). So learning that biking and skirts must be taken together very very carefully! We didn't ride Saturday or Sunday, but I'm anticipating a problem-free day three on bikes this evening. I don't know what it is about riding a bike that would cause this, but my feet have started getting pretty tan on the part my shoes don't cover. I don't know about the rest of me. I always wear sunscreen on my face.

Last week in our zone conference, we were challenged to look for opportunities to give more to the work...specifically to give just ten more minutes. Well this week we had an amazing experience as we did just that: 

It was 4:45 and we'd just finished knocking all the doors in one half of a complex. We didn't have a dinner appointment to get to, so we decided to give "ten minutes more" and continue on to the other side before we returned to our apartment to eat. At the second door that we knocked on, a woman named Stephanie received us into her home, we offered a prayer for her family, and she wanted the missionaries to come back another day to teach her more about how she can feel the Spirit more in her life. It was a miracle. We were so glad we had given "just ten more minutes."

Another great experience this week was going over Saturday morning to help Josefa, one of the women we are teaching, make tamales. Later she called us and had us come pick up some the finished tamales. They were great. This was the second time I've helped make tamales on my mission--I think I've got the idea now and could make them in the future. It was great to just be able to help Josefa and have her know that we really are there for her when she needs us.

 

I hope you all are also continuing to find meaningful ways to help those around you. I've loved hearing about some of the wonderful things you've done and would love to hear about any other things you've done are that you do in the coming weeks to serve and help those around you.

 

I send you lots of love!! Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Hermana Brighton