There are souls to be saved!

Happy hello from the beautiful Bay area!! :)

I love it here. The weather has been perfect!! I just want to be outside alllll day. We eat outside every meal, study outside, sometimes even teach outside!!! I cant get enough of it.

David's baptism was AMAZING. A little hectic at first, as always. It may or may not have involved me wading through the font while it was filling up with my skirt pulled up to unlock the mens bathroom but its all good!! The Spirit was SO strong. Heart pounding, eyes watering the entire time. David bore his testimony afterwards and it was so powerful. In his broken english he said, "This is my testimony. The missionaries taught me about obedience and faith. I know the gospel is true. Jesus Christ is alive in my heart." It was BEAUTIFUL. He received the Holy Ghost yesterday at church. They are working towards getting sealed in the temple! I cant believe we met him just a month or so ago. And here he was, bearing testimony of Jesus Christ. Oh how He changes peoples lives and hearts!! I am so happy to be a part of His work, helping people to change their lives. It is Jesus Christ that does it, but He needs instruments! It is a humbling and beautiful experience. Nothing quite like it.

Ben is still doing awesome! His baptism is on Saturday! In his prayers he always asks that Heavenly Father helps him to prepare for his baptism. He also said, "Help me to keep the commandments after my baptism, and also before my baptism." Pure heart.

Gaby is facing some adversity, Please keep her in your prayers. She is still on track for getting married on the 17th and baptized that weekend. The ward is throwing a bridal shower for her!

We havent heard from the Castellano family in a while. Jose's mom got in a car accident and we havent heard from them since. Satan is getting in their way since they are so golden. But dont worry, we wont quit!!

The new translator for Javzaa's lessons came and it went well!!

Way back in the fall I gave a tour to a lady from Texas named Rockie and her boyfriend, a less active. She gave me her information and I sent missionaries to her home. I had been reaching out to her to see how things were going but hadnt heard back in a while. She finally emailed me back and she is meeting with the missionaries, getting baptized, and marrying her reactivated boyfriend!! She said, "The Visitors' Center was the start to my journey. I cant thank you enough since you are the one who sent the missionaries to me!" The Visitors' Center works miracles, It changes peoples lives, people from all over the world! How beautiful. I love keeping in touch with these fun people I get to meet and see how they are doing, how they are progressing. I love this work. love it love it love it.

MOTHERS DAY is this weekend!!!! I get to call home! I am so excited to see my sweetest Momma on her special day and my precious family. They are my everything. I wouldnt be here without them. They are my support and best friends! I miss them dearly. AND we get to go to the temple next week, which is the most wonderful. I am looking forward to that immensely! I am so lucky to have the most beautiful temple in the world so close every single day. The Spirit is so strong on those grounds, and only gets stronger inside! :)

Sister Benosa and I made a new goal for the month of May! We are going to read the Book of Mormon from start to finish. May 1st - May 31st. We did the math and it will be 17 pages a day. We did the math and it takes us an hour 10 read 17 pages, switching off every other verse. SO we are waking up an hour earlier (5am) to read the Book of Mormon. We have done it two mornings so far and its been awesome! I love it. I am looking forward to see my faith, my relationship with my Savior, and my testimony of the Book of Mormon grow. Also, I hope to have the Spirit in greater abundance. If any of you want to do it with us, you are two days behind already, so get started!! :)

This ward is AMAZING. I feel so at home here. The members have become some of my best friends! One morning we were going to the VC for our morning shift and the ward was there doing baptisms for the dead. When they saw us, they came running up to us saying, "YAY ITS THE SISTERS!!" I could stay here forever.

I am trying to be a better instrument in the Lord's hand by listening to the Spirit and responding to its promptings. I want to the Lord to be able to trust me like, "Oh, I'll give Sister Brinton this prompting because I know she will act on it." I want to be able to recognize the people He places in my path. I want to be in tune, have my will be swallowed up in His, see His children as He sees them!

An awesome quote from President Monson I read this week:

"Let us ask ourselves the questions: 'Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?' What a formula for happiness! What a prescription for contentment, for inner peace - to have inspired gratitude in another human being. Our opportunity to give of ourselves is limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved."

X O

Sister Brinton