Sister Emma Brinton - California Oakland/San Francisco Mission: August 2016

HI from the happiest missionary in the Bay Area!!!! I know I say that every week haha but I really had the best week in Berkeley with my new companion who is an angel and we saw so many miracles and I am in LOVE with the ward!!! I really am so so happy. I just sit down to write in my journal at night and I just write how happy I am. And sometimes when I am offering just a normal prayer like over my food or when we are kneeling by the door about to leave, I totally get choked up! for no specific reason, my heart is just so full and I thank Him for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and I just start crying!! haha I am psycho. I have felt a new energy and love for the work and the people, a new desire to work hard and talk to everyone. I love the new area. I LOVE it. I love Berkeley. I LOVE being in a YSA! I LOVE the ward. I love Sister Chiang, we work PERFECTLY together. I cant wait for this transfer, it is going to be WONDERFUL!
I wanted to explain the picture of me holding the pink box of Chinese pork buns. These are rolls filled with different kind of meat and cheese, MYSTERY MEAT! As you know, we teach English class to a ton of Chinese people each week. We help some of them prepare for a citizenship test they have to take. I helped this CUTEST old man a lot last week one on one and this week he walked into class just BEAMING. He ran over to me with this box and held it out to me and goes, "For the teacha!!!! I pass!! I pass!!!" hahaha It was the cutest thing of my life I almost cried. He was so proud and so happy.

The best news of all, WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE! When I got to the area a week ago, we had no investigators. Not one. We have 2 days before the end of the month. 2 days to reach our goal of every companionship in the mission having a baptismal date by the end of the month. We prayed in faith in every prayer for our area and for the other areas in the mission. Time was ticking and I was getting nervous. But I didnt let doubt crowd my mind. I relied on the Lord and continued to have faith. The Sunday before I got to the area, a guy named Mitchell randomly showed up at church. He has been meeting with missionaries on and off for years and said he wants to join the church. We had a lesson with him and he was very knowledgeable about the gospel! At the end of the lesson, we invited him to be baptized and he said "Yes! On my birthday!" So we set a baptismal date with him for November 14th. I knew this was Heavenly Father answering our prayers! It was truly a miracle in response to our faith and prayers and fasting. I knew we couldnt do this without the Lord. Mitchell is AWESOME. He came to church again on Sunday and we have a lesson with him tonight!

We also added a new investigator last week. Her name is Marissa. The lesson went well! One really awesome thing about YSA wards is that people just show up to church or people bring their friends all the time! So the girl I sat by at church just turns to me and goes "Hi this is my friend Cat. She wants to join the church!" We have a lesson set up with her on Tuesday and she is coming to Family Home Evening tonight. SO many miracles.

It is definitely different being in a YSA ward!! Everyone is your age and you kind of think, "If I wasnt on my mission, I would be in a YSA." I love it though. Sacrament is so quiet! So different from a family ward haha. And the Berkeley ward is so wealthy. Everyone was on their mac books with their pressed suits and gelled hair and heels and so I am still adjusting from the Oakland 9th ward haha but that is the BEAUTY of the Bay Area. The Bishopric is so on top of things and everyone is so involved and centered on missionary work!!! I couldnt ask for a better ward. We are so involved, with the students as much as possible. I love it!

This was the first week of classes for everyone at Berkeley so the campus is just FULL of people! It was a perfect time for me to come to the area because everyone is new! We went street contacting on campus and it still holds the beautiful Bay Area diversity. We met a Catholic priest from Chile, a girl from Ethiopia who had been in the US for 2 weeks, a Muslim practicing Egyptian, and a man from Taiwan. Everyone is SO smart. Sometimes it's hard to just walk up to people on campus but most people are really respectful!!

Sister Chiang is an incredible missionary. We are working so hard together. I get into bed EXHAUSTED at the end of the day, but wake up with desire and energy to conquer another day. We laugh so hard together. She is really calm and good at fixing problems and not stressing out. She is a perfect example of kindness and humility. She has a powerful testimony. I love her to death and am so lucky to be her companion.

As part of being Sister Training Leader we go on exchanges with all the sisters meaning they come to our area and sleep over and we get to serve a day with them! We got to plan those out this week and I felt the Spirit guide me and we decided who should go where and what each sister needs. I have felt an overwhelming love for them as I have prayed for each of them individually by name. I love them! I am so lucky to be with these sisters!

Well we have another great week ahead of us. Thank goodness for the gospel and families and prophets and the Book of Mormon and prayer and forgiveness and the Atonement and the list goes on and on. I know the church is true! The gospel is the way! I love being a missionary and this could be the happiest I have ever been on my mission. I stand all amazed and the Lord and His work and His miracles and His ability to help ME be better each day. I know that as we forget ourselves and serve and love others, we will find true joy!

Love Love Love

Sister Brinton :)

UNO with the new district

Me and my asians at English Class!

Chinese Pork Buns!!

We were in a trio with Sister Costa for a night!

Matching

Cutest Sister Chiang

New apartment

Our Kitchen

A couple of weeks ago, I had a crystal clear thought that I needed to get to know the Visitors Center sisters a little bit better. I felt like I needed to reach out to them and show them my love. I have been growing closer and closer to them and I swear every single night I write in my journal, "I just LOVE all of the sisters!!" I know this was one of the ways that the Lord was preparing me for the phone call I received on Saturday morning. I was called to be a Sister Training Leader. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is the leadership position for the sisters instead of a district or zone leader for the elders. I will be leaving the Oakland 9th ward and going to the Berkeley YSA ward! I will still serve in the Visitors Center, thank goodness. My companion is Sister Chiang from Hong Kong! She will be my 5th Asian companion!! I will be attending a lot of meetings and trainings, but our main job is to love and take care of and lead the sisters. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve and love and reach outside myself even more. I KNOW the Lord was preparing my heart. These sisters really are my family, my sisters, here while I am away from my blood sisters. I am humbled to receive this call and I am really really excited to accept it with my whole heart. Sunday morning in sacrament meeting, the Spirit touched my heart with peace that this was going to be a great learning experience for me and I was going to REALLY forget myself and go to work. My worries and concerns and all thoughts of myself are going out the door so I can love these sisters with everything I have! I am grateful to be an instrument in the Lord's hands, wherever He needs me and whatever He needs me for.

"I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things.."

Alma 26:11-12

We got to go to the temple last week and it was SO beautiful and peaceful. I loved it. I am SO grateful to live so close to the temple and see it every day!

We found a new investigator this week! He was a referral from church headquarters because he requested a Bible and a Book of Mormon. His name is Jean-Philipe and he is from Haiti. Our lesson on the Restoration went really well and he prayed at the end with his entire family. No one speaks English except for him but the Spirit filled the room as we explained the role of the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of potential and we are helping him see the importance of being baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority. I am sad to leave, but I know they will set a baptismal date with him!

We had a meeting with our district about what we can all do to achieve this goal of every companionship having a baptismal date by the end of the month. We really united in thought and prayer and set goals to work together to achieve this. This goal wont be achieved due to our efforts alone. We HAVE to rely on the Lord. We HAVE to have a miracle. My prayers have just DOUBLED in faith. We are seeing miracles left and right and I know that with the Lord's help, as long as we do our part, we can do anything. No goal is too high for the Lord. I will be leaving Oakland and going to Berkeley tomorrow morning! I LOVED serving here. I loved the people and the ward and the area. I am going to miss it. We saw so many miracles and I grew so close to the Lord as I relied on prayer and scripture study more than ever! I am so excited to serve in Berkeley and continue to see miracles there!!

"We are troubled on every side,

yet not distressed;

we are perplexed,

but not in despair;

persecuted,

but not forsaken;

cast down,

but not destroyed;

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,

worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

2 Cor 4:8-9, 17

Thank you for all of you prayers. I am so grateful for each and every one of you and your LOVE and support. I would not be here or who I am today without your testimonies and influence and friendship. I love & miss you.

Always,

Sister Brinton