Mission Presidents Week in Review

Hola familia,

This week was wonderful, as expected. There were 128 mission presidents in the house last week and every apostle was here. On Friday there was a special devotional given by Elder Bednar and we got to see Elder Ballard, Elder Nelson, Elder Oaks, Elder Andersen, Elder Holland, and Elder oh my gosh, it'll come to me later. There were seven apostles on the stand and I was singing in the choir and was on the big screen, so maybe an apostle has seen my face. :)

Elder Bednar talked about being a Preach My Gospel missionary. Absolutely everything in his talk was pure doctrine--just absolutely delicious. I was trying to write down notes so quickly my hand was about to fall off. I usually just write down things that are really important and that I love and every word that came from his mouth was gold. I need to work on being more of a Preach My Gospel missionary and I know that this book is useful for every member of the church--even if you're not a full-time missionary. My companion said that she's going to have a Preach My Gospel family. Her family was less active for most of her life and so she's trying hard to learn from our Branch President's wife and everyone else how she can raise her family well.

Sacrament meeting was pretty crazy because we had about 13 combined districts since the main building where we usually have church was off limits (apostles and prophets roaming the halls and such). Ten elders were behind the sacrament table and 20 elders passed the sacrament. The neat thing about this Sunday was that our teachers challenged us to go to sacrament meeting with a specific question in mind about the Plan of Salvation. They wanted us to have a question and to receive personal revelation so that we can teach our investigators that they too can receive personal revelation at church. It was the neatest experience. I've reasoned everything in my mind concerning the Plan of Salvation and I know it's true, so I went to the meeting with a question in mind that many investigators have already brought up and I have never had a brilliant answer to. If God is our loving Heavenly Father, then why is there so much suffering in the world? My prayers were answered during the first two talks given by missionaries. I can tell you my response later but invite you to do the same thing. Go to sacrament meeting with a specific question in mind that you want answered and I know that you will receive those answers whether it be through a talk, prayer, hymn, reading the scriptures, or pondering. That was a neat experience for me and I'm going to do it next Sunday as well.

The managing directors of the international MTCs were also here this week and we had the opportunity to have the main dude of the MTC in Spain come to our class and practice his teaching on us. He then listened to us teach our companions; it's really awkward having people come up to your desks and stare into your face as you're trying to teach your companion or "investigator." He said that he had met with the apostles and prophet this week and had been to the temple but that he felt the Spirit the strongest in our classroom. Our district is really wonderful about trying to resolve contention (although they're all goofballs most of the time) and testifying so that we do have the Spirit in our room. I love our elders and sisters--and the elders like the sisters, surprise surprise. We haven't gotten on their nerves too much yet.

The temple will be closed for the rest of the time I'm in the MTC (other than today--we are going in about an hour). We have been given the opportunity to clean the temple for 3.5 hours on July 16. How cool is that!!! And happy anniversary, Jordan and Quin. :) So we go in tennis shoes and street clothes and they'll give us temple cleaning clothes to wear. We use toothpicks and toothbrushes to clean chairs and little places. It's going to be great--we're all really excited about that.

I got to meet my mission president and his wife last Friday! President and Sister Lewis really are dolls, as Grandpa said. He saw their picture in the Church News and thought they looked neat. They're sort of quiet--I imagined all mission presidents to be very charismatic and excited, but he was very relaxed and soft spoken. He's a financial guy in Salt Lake City. They have six children (all married) and 27 grandchildren--3 grandchildren were born the week before they came into the MTC and Sister Lewis said that was a tender mercy that they got to hold all of them before they left. One grandchild was in ICU and they wouldn't be able to hold him/her before they came but miraculously the baby was healthy enough. So there are 12 languages spoken in my mission--I think that means we're one of the most diverse missions in the world. How cool is that? Oh so perfect for me. I met an elder going there who's learning Cambodian and a sister from Kiribati (I think it's near Fiji, Tonga, Samoa) and she's learning English. There's also Vietnamese and Sign Language and 6 others that they don't teach in the MTC. I'm so excited!

I love you all. Thank you for your letters and for updating me on the reunion. Sounds like you had a blast. Sunburns no bueno.

Loves,

kates

Mission Presidents Week

Hola Familia,

It's been another exciting week and yet again I can't really remember what happened (dang short-term memory). I know we learned a lot, spent a lot of time in class, in the cafeteria, and outside playing on the mission field.

I just have to say that I don't know if the MTC could be anywhere is. While I'm sitting in class I get to look out the window and admire the mountains and the pink sunset, and that just wouldn't happen if I were in Texas. I love being in Provo right now--not really missing the people I could be seeing around here, although I admit that I do look for certain cars as I'm crossing 900 East to walk to the field. I played frisbee yesterday with the sisters in my district and two elders. I tell them I learned it all from playing with my brothers. :) And I think of Miller every time I play--haven't quite mastered his wicked throw.

This week is mission presidents week, meaning that all the new mission presidents who start their service on July 1 will be here--and so will the prophet, the First Presidency, and the apostles--NEAT! I'll have to let you know how it goes next week. As for now, all I know is that we're having a special devotional on Friday and the new mission presidents will be there and I believe I'll have the opportunity to meet my president. Two elders in my district are also going to Sacramento, so that should be a neat experience. We're going to sing in the choir so that we have extra-good seats. Bad reason to join the choir? Perhaps. But good thinking, right? They said last night that there will be about 400 presidents and wives here so it's going to be a packed house, and we're also getting 23 new elders in our branch (2 new districts, and right now we're down to 2). Is Elder Hutchinson coming this week? I'll keep an eye out for him.

The sisters and I (4 of us) sang for our branch in Sacrament Meeting this week. We sang A Child's Prayer and this elder who doesn't read music played for us. I'm not kidding--if he hears something, he can play it and change up the key and add frills whiz bangs. It's amazing. We practiced with him three or four times and it was different every time and awesome. That was the first time I've really gotten the chills singing that song. But also because we've been teaching our investigators about the importance of prayer and how their prayers start off like children--it just had a lot of meaning for me on Sunday. We sang in the devotional choir last night (sang Come Thou Fount) and supposedly we were on the big screen. Everyone thought an apostle was going to speak so we knew it was going to be super packed really fast so we were in the choir. Elder Sybrowsky of the Seventy spoke about missionary work. I wish I could tell you what he said. It was absolutely amazing. We have a devo review afterward in our districts and the hardest missionary in our district was softened by the talk--he cried when he gave his report of what he learned--basically he was really touched by Moses 6:26, 31-34 I believe if you want to look it up.

Mission scripture--let's go with 2 Nephi 31:20. I just love that one. "Wherefore ye must press forward..."

I can buy DownEast shirts from the bookstore here so I'm good to go on buying white undershirts, just FYI. Mom, I love the earrings you sent--thank you times one million! Can't go long without diamond earrings. And I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Mavs Championship shirt!!! I wore it during gym this last week and this big black elder was like, sister are you from Texas? Yes, are you from Florida? Yes. I'm sorry about that. And about 30 elders were like ohhhh. Ha I got a lot of attention wearing that t-shirt. It's my fav. I saw the elder again yesterday and said "Hey Florida." What'd you call me? FL. So we talked for a little bit. He's going to Madagascar.

I met an Elder Calvert from Parker who said he used to play ball with Brady. and I met an Elder Rothlisberger who was from Denton so I asked about Sarah Passey--Chad's fiancee and he said he lived with the Passeys and the girl sitting next to us said she was in nursing school with Sarah. Small world.

Guess what--I've been here exactly 4 weeks. That means I have only 17 months to go. I can understand why they say time flies. It doesn't seem like that long.

In the devo last night Elder Sybrowsky said, "Don't hold back. Please. Don't you dare hold back." I thought it was so important to hear that and how he plead with us to open our mouths. It's not by our knowledge that we impress investigators to learn about the church but by the power of the Holy Ghost--open your mouths and they shall be filled. His wife lived in Ireland as a little girl when she was converted and now they have 91 members of the church just from their family (9 children) and 31 missionaries. Amazing.

Love you all,

Hermana Brinkerhoff

So much to say, so little time

Hello!

Just for the record, I have about 25 minutes to type at lightning speeds to tell you about my week, answer questions, etc. I always feel a lot of pressure and tell my companion I'm "shutting down" for the next 25 minutes, so hopefully I make sense each time. If not, you now know why. I don't proof my letters.

Last night we had a devotional and Rosemary Wixom, Primary General Pres, spoke. We sang "I Belong to the Church" and other primary songs. After the devotional we always have a district devotional review. Rewind a little to Sunday when we were on our temple walk around the Provo Temple. A counselor in my Branch Presidency is Brother Woodfield. For some reason or another, the name Appleberry came up. Oh, I know. He mentioned something about Wilmington, North Carolina and I said that's where my grandmother was born. I told him her maiden name is Appleberry and he said he had Appleberrys in his line. I told him her full name, Emily Clementina Appleberry. He too had Clementinas in his line (they passed the name down). Turns out we're related. He too has Pembrooks and Shingletons in his family line and I whipped out my pedigree chart to show him. His grandmother, I believe, is Hazel. Grandpa, I think I remember seeing this name on the family "fan" hanging up in your entry way. Anyway, he told me some really neat stories about our family. I'm going to mess up some details, but my great great? grandmother, when she was 7 years old, was very ill and two missionaries came to their door. Her mother turned them away because her daughter was sick, but the little girl (our great grandmother) asked her mom why she turned them away when they offered a blessing. She said she knew they could heal her. So the mother ran down the street and called the missionaries back. The young girl was healed, of course. She wanted to join the church at age 8 but wasn't allowed to until she was about 15. She went to conference once Sunday and saw a man standing at the front of the building at the podium. "That's the missionary who healed me!" It was President George Albert Smith. I believe I've heard this story before--maybe it just feels familiar. Brother Woodfield went on to tell us that his grandfather was very poor--he was a plumber and was barely scraping by during the Great Depression. One day he was fixing a flat tire and was hit by a car and broke just about every bone in his body. He was in a full body cast for about 6 months and in other casts for longer. During that time when he couldn't work, our great grandfather took him in--I think he's talking about Pembrook--and cared for the family because they were absolutely destitute. Brother Woodfield was teaching our district about charity. I was learning family history. There were more stories and I wish I had time to share.

During district devo review, I was overwhelmed with gratitude in knowing that families are together forever. I know that to be true, and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you in my life. I look up to all of you, love your individual qualities and personalities, and am grateful that you have been so kind to me as the single baby of the family. When I shared my feelings about the devo (we're required to do it), I said that I was grateful for the song I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know who I am, I know God's plan--I'll follow him in faith. This plan isn't just for us who are members of the church. This is for all of God's children. Each one of them should have the opportunity to learn about the Plan of Salvation and the gift of the Atonement. I'm grateful to know who I am in my family, on the earth, in the Lord's Kingdom and that right now I am a missionary. Sister Wixom talked about how children sing songs for us and pray for us and that gave me strength in knowing that my nieces and nephews are thinking of and praying for me.

I love you kiddos!! Aunt Katy misses you! And Kajsa Jane, happy 5th birthday today, sweetheart. I just need to tell you that some of the boys I have met here sing songs from Tangled (everyone, weird--I know) and the songs remind me of you each time. Flower gleam and glow. Let your powers shine. Make the clock reverse--bring back what once was mine. Bring back what once was mine. I hope I got it right that time. :) I love you, little one.

Mom, thank you for the wonderful DearElder. Stacy and Jo, I got yours too. I love them. Each and every time I get one I love them!! Thank you for telling me anything and everything. I'm happy to hear that things are still going on in the world. Mom, I will get you a scripture soon, I promise! And I will be sending pictures home soon as well. I need to get more developed so bear with me. Thank you for sending me new earrings! I haven't gotten them yet but I'm sure they'll come soon.

Speaking of packages, I got my very first package yesterday from Aunt Kris! She and Shelby made me 15 individually wrapped s'mores and told me that I'm going to be very popular with the missionaries I share them with. She also included chocolates from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. and Reece's Peanut Butter cups. Mmm--that's going to hit the spot. Shelby wrote me a letter titled Dear Sister B. :) She then drew a picture of me, her and Aunt Kris. It was precious.

Yes, I've met Kevin Dahl's son Mitch. He came to the office one time, and I heard about him almost every other day. Kevin really really really likes talking about his family so I know things I probably shouldn't know about them. Oh, the elder who went home is planning on coming back. We've all sent him letters and he sends us a DearElder as a district and tells us what he's up to--how he's studying Preach My Gospel every day and continuing with his Spanish studies. He says that not everyone has treated him as nicely as we do which makes me really sad. He made the right decision in going home and getting things in order. I can think of plenty of other elders who could do or should have done the same thing--you need to be worthy of having the Spirit. There's no other way to be successful here.

I played prelude music on Sunday before Sacrament meeting. My companion was called on to give a 3- to 5-minute talk in Spanish about baptism and keeping covenants. She did a great job. We had our first companionship study this week. I have so much to work on. I've realized that Spanish does not matter. I'll need it to communicate with my investigators but that's not what's important here. Our teacher told us that their goal is strictly to make us powerful teachers. We don't study Preach My Gospel and learn lessons to say them to people. We're learning how to ask the right questions, how to listen, how to follow the Spirit--this is tough. Again, I've been truly humbled this past week because sure, I know a little Spanish. I have a testimony. But I need to share that testimony in a way that's clear, concise, and inviting. I'm learning to be patient with my companion and with myself. We're on different levels regarding knowledge of the gospel and Spanish but she lifts me up so much--she calls me her "home."

Love you all,

Katy

Loving You!

Hi Family!

It's our second P-day and I haven't gotten any better at managing my time. We keep rushing to do things but still fall short on time before we leave for the temple, but I will try to write as much as possible. My thoughts are going to be scattered for sure, but hopefully you'll get the gist.

I lost the back of one of my diamond earrings and the earring fell out while I was running, so a new pair of cheapies would be great. :) Mom, the shower bag is perfect! I love it. I hang it up when I go to the shower and nothing gets wet. I'm a little speedy gonzales when I take a shower--usually one of the first ones in there. It takes a while to develop pictures here. I finally got some today so hopefully I'll have time to send those. I will take more pictures so you can see what's going on around this place.

I bore my testimony on Sunday. I was the first (and only, actually) from my district to bear my testimony (we're the newest district) and I did it in Spanish. My heart was beating so hard I was having trouble swallowing, so I was the last to get up and said it in Spanish. I'm amazed that the words just flowed out of my mouth. My district calls me the district bully because last week when we were playing volleyball I went to save the ball and kicked it straight into Elder Stoker's face. It knocked off his glasses and we were all rolling on the floor laughing. The district leader said that we need to work on being more kind and called me out during one of our district meetings. They won't let me live that one down. The elders all called me a conundrum too because they don't know how old I am and they don't know if I have a boyfriend--judging by the number of Dear Elders I got in the first week. And I LOVE Dear Elders!! My companion also told them that I sound just like the little mermaid so they always want me to sing. I know this is all random, but this is life in the MTC.

I've learned the First Vision and starting to learn D&C 4 in Spanish. Mom, I found your cute note in D&C. It made my day when I found that. Thank you so much for thinking of me!

Alright, so here's the real story. This week has been fantastic and terribly (but wonderfully) humbling at the same time. Every day I find another reason (or am reminded) to be more humble. We're teaching "investigators" and I want to say things from my mind and mouth when it really should be solely from my heart and from the Spirit. I met with my teacher Hermano Rosales who taught me an important lesson about learning and teaching. He asked me how priesthood holders bless themselves with the priesthood. They don't lay their hands on their own heads and give themselves a blessing but they exercise their priesthood and give others blessings and in turn learn and grow. Does that make sense? He said that I need to be like this with missionary work. I can't have the mindset of learning Spanish for myself. I can't study the scriptures looking for ways to better myself. And most of all, I can't be prideful in what I learn and what I can teach. I need to study Spanish in order to communicate with God's children in Sacramento and I need to study the scriptures to meet the needs of investigators. I need to study so that I can help them understand what they need to know in order to feel the Spirit and want to be baptized into Christ's church. It was very humbling hearing that from Hermano Rosales. He said that learning Spanish and the doctrines will bless me as a side effect but that I can't be doing it for that purpose--it's all for them.

On Monday night one of the elders in our district told us why he'd been called out of class several times. He shared with us how two missionaries were teaching his best friend's dad and when his best friend's dad said that he didn't feel good about reading the Book of Mormon, one of the missionaries said that was an answer from the Spirit. The elder in our district said that that missionary didn't have the Spirit with him and that he himself didn't have the Spirit and needed to go home, work things out, and return to serve his mission when he was filled with the Spirit. I was so sad to see him go. I loved this elder. My heart ached for him--I know that he truly does fear God more than man and he was willing to admit his fault, work things out, and prepare to serve an honest full-time mission being filled with the Spirit. He said he knew the Book of Mormon is true and that he is looking forward to serving a mission when he's settled everything. Again I was humbled. That took a lot of courage and faith. Our district is truly sad that he's gone. He is such a wonderful young man. That was another hard part of this past week. But I know that he was doing exactly what he would teach the people in Oregon--that we all make mistakes and that we need to seek the proper authority in order to make restitution and be worthy of having the companionship of the Holy Ghost. None of us judged him. There was an outpouring of love and he's where he should be right now. When he comes back he's going to be such an effective missionary.

Well, one minute to go. I love you all and pray for you every day. I hope you're all doing well. I'm doing well! Just trying to be more humble, trying to keep it together. My companion and I are a great match. We know how to lift each other's spirits, which has been a great blessing here. I love it here and am happy.

love you, hermana

My First Preparation Day

Hello Mumsie and Daddy!

Everything's going great! I got the debit card after I sent you the letter asking you to activate it for me. I'm glad I went with the longhorn design, and you're right, we're 2 for 2 on pictures! I'll try to answer your questions as quickly as I can.

We didn't have a BBQ for Memorial Day, unfortunately. I kind of forget it was M Day until someone mentioned it. We got to watch Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday morning (reminded me of grandpa) and it was a tribute to all the soldiers. It was absolutely beautiful. They showed pictures of Washington D.C. and different memorials and played/sang songs like Hymn to the Fallen (which we played in high school orchestra), etc.

I'm so jealous they all got to go to the Mavs game! Can you keep me updated on the games? I'm glad I have my Mavs shirt to wear here. Just before I forget, I passed a sister today who was telling someone she's going to the Fort Worth mission. I think her name is Sister Heimuli? Anyway, she's from Salt Lake (looks Tongan or from New Zealand or something) and I told her to look for the Brinkerhoffs!

I'm glad I got to the MTC on Wednesday--that my flight wasn't canceled or delayed. I would have missed mucho if I hadn't come on time. The night we got here, we met with three "investigators" and tried to teach them about the gospel. Woo wee. This is tough stuff. I'm trying so hard to learn how to start a lesson with investigators. This is going to take a lot of practice and I have been humbled many times already. It truly is the Spirit that will lead you to tell someone what they need to hear--you do have to be prepared with something first. Does that make sense?

I'll write a note to Melissa for her birthday. If you can send the package so it gets there closer to her bday, that'd be wonderful. I'm going to send her a birthday card next Wednesday, the 8th, so hopefully she'll get the card with explanation before she gets a random package with no note. Gracias!

I'm still coming up with a scripture. Yikes!!! It's okay, I'll get one to you. I just need time to sit down and think. There's no time to think around here. :) Let me explain. Mom, you asked if I was bumped up to intermediate or advanced? No, but my district is a "pilot" class. They're trying out this new program where the teachers speak mostly in Spanish and we learned the missionary purpose in Spanish on the first day. We've learned how to contact someone all the way from hello, my name is, we're missionaries for..., testimony, can we come by your house, do you know anyone else? We can say all that in Spanish, bear our testimonies and pray in Spanish, and other things--can't think off the top of my head with this clock in the corner of the computer screen that's counting down my time! So anyway, pilot class, we have to contact 6 random people a day, introduce and explain the Book of Mormon to 3 people a day (English), ask 5 people to be baptized (English, soon in Spanish). So basically we're ahead of people who have been here 5 weeks--in some respects only, of course.

Mom, thank you so much for helping me shop and pack. I couldn't have done it so well without you. I am indebted to you, like always. I love you so much and am grateful that you support me serving a mission. I love it here, I really really do. It challenges me, but I know it's His will to challenge me because I need to learn so I can teach and invite.

What do I like about the MTC? I love my companion. I love how sincere she is and how we get along so well. We learn so much from each other. She is obedient and willing to change but also has an awesome personality. We just work well together and have talked several times about how Heavenly Father's hand was in the picture when putting us together. The other sisters get along well with each other, so we're glad they're together. :) Spanish class is great! The female teacher knows that some are more advanced than others but they don't want us to move into another district (class) because they say we can be challenged in whatever we're learning. It's true. I skip over a lot of things and read Preach my Gospel in Spanish or do this and that, practice my testimony and adding to it, etc.

Thank you for praying for me every day. I can't do this on my own. By the way, I think I told you this already. I had a really hard time sleeping the first night (went to bed after midnight and woke up before 6) and it got slightly better but still like 11:30 the next night. Now I'm sleeping like a baby, but it's easy for me to wake up at 5:55 (to beat everyone into the showers!). Also, I didn't have much of an appetite when I got here (pretty sure I lost weight), but now I'm hungry at mealtimes (delicious food--lots of options) and I'm still mindful of eating healthy! Hermana Worthen and I played sand volleyball with some elders yesterday. We're going to the temple at 3--it's 2:10 right now. It'll be our first time to go. Unfortunately the temple is closed for cleaning at the beginning of July--I can't catch a break with those temple cleanings.

I am very happy to be here. I love you all. I hope I answered all questions. I attended two meetings on Sunday for my calling as the coordinating sister of my district/zone--not sure, and I went to another meeting last night. I just look out for the sisters, make sure they're obedient and happy, residence halls issues, make sure they get along with the elders, yadda yadda.

Les amo, padres.

Love,

Hermana Brinkerhoff