It was a memorable week for sure! Here are some highlights:
~1,000 + people at the Visitors Center every night.
~Mission Wide Christmas Devotional on Christmas Eve. It was really amazing! Elder Tuttle and I sang "Who Would Imagine a King" and the rest of the music was just wonderful. My mission is huge! 200+ missionaries all in just LA. Crazy, huh? Santa was there too, and so was some delicious hot chocolate. It was a fun morning.
~Getting PACKAGES! And a STACK of cards and letters (mostly from my Mom.) Oh my goodness it was so much fun to open all of the packages on Christmas morning. I can't even believe how amazing people were to write and send love and gifts. I am a lucky gal. Thank you thank you. (You know who you are :) We had a lot of fun opening one gift at a time to make the time last longer and eating poppy seed bread, chocolate and hot chocolate for breakfast while we opened. Love love love.
~Talking to my familia! Oh my goodness what a treat. It was just such a blast. The first thing Jaiders said was (in a very whiny voice) "Baileeeee it's beeen awwwfullll without you" To which I responded"Hey Jaiders! How was your Christmas" and she was instantly ok and said "Oh! I got..." and then listed all of her treasures. Apparently I'm not THAT missed :) It was so fun to say hello to everyone. I loved that Joe "accidentally" managed to be at the house when I called.....It was so fun to say hi to him. I have the best friends and family in the world. True story. I love that Jake quoted Elf, Travis spoke Spanish, the kids all jibber jabberd, Linz "got down to business" and Mom cried. It was great to say hello to everyone.
~Delivering our Christmas gifts to some people in our ward. Santa Monica 1st is such a fantastic ward. I'm so grateful to be serving here.
~Robert Light Jr coming to our concert at the VC on Christmas and the look on his face when he got our little treat. "I don't care about the cookies... but the card is the important thing! It's like I have a little piece of you". I think I've mentioned this all ready, but Robert has us "inscribe" everything for him... and then he puts it away for safe keeping in a ziploc bag. He's the best. He gets baptized this sundaY! Saturday the building is closed so we had to push it back a tad.
~Well I think that is all for now. I am happy to be a missionary. I love the Lord. I love this Gospel and I love all of you!
Love
Sista Brink
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| So excited to have healthy snacks from Britt Bowman! |
Hey Sister Brinkerhoff! I don't know if you get these comments but I just happened onto your missionary blog and it has been a treat to read about some of your experiences. Brings back so many fun memories of my time as a missionary! Christmas is really a fun time in the mission field and I was actually glad I got to enjoy two of them when I was a missionary. What fun that your Mom sent things for you to give to your investigators as well. She is a very giving soul and she has definitely taught her children well! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and thanks for opportunity to read about some of your mission!
ReplyDeleteTricia (Hobbs) Folsom
Sista Brink!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a wonderful Christmas - so glad you are getting opportunities to share your golden vocal chords with your mission! We are so proud of you and know that you are helping to change lives as an instrument of the Lord. We love you!
Patrick and Julia Ryan and the fam