Hermana Brayton: 12 Whole Months!!

June 1, 2020

¡hola y'all!!!!!

How is everyone doing?? So SO good I hope!:) Alrighty I hope everyone is sitting down for this one bc WHOA I've officially been a missionary for a whole year (in 3 days)!! It does not feel like that long at all, but also it kind of feels like this has been a little separate eternity, so idk it's wild. For surely without a doubt though it's been the best year so far. I've learned so many things about so many things, and there's no way I could sum it all up right now, but talk to me in a quick 6 months and I'll tell you more;)

But sí! This week was actually too good. We didn't have a ton of stuff going on at first, but on Friday we had our mission's first ever virtual devotional from one of the high up leaders of the church, who is over our little piece of paradise here in California. His name is President Kevin Pearson and he is so funny and kind of super intense, but like in a good way. He and his wife spoke a ton about becoming disciples of Christ ~forever~ and that is also something I can't sum up in an email bc whoa there are so many things to say. At the end though, he was talking about our whole situation we're in rn in the world, and he said that we don't need to keep debating on whether the glass is half empty or half full bc the glass is absolutely full!! I know it definitely does not feel like that all the time, but I do really think that it's all about perspective. Things aren't perfect, but nothing ever is, and we all know that things don't have to be perfect to be good. Life is good y'all, don't forget it!:)

Also this week we had two big ole miracles happen right at the same time. The first one is that my guy Tino that I was teaching in my last area got baptized!!! And technology really is such a fat blessing bc we we're able to watch through a little group zoom call, and one of the Elders that taught him forever ago was able to watch all the way from New York!! It's crazy too just how strongly you can feel like spirit even through a video call. The other miracle is that Hermana Jensen and I got to go to our bff Max's house so that he could watch the baptism as well!! We just stayed put in his front yard and we all wore our masks, but wow it was so good. He's such a cutie pie abuelito.

También, I went back and read one of the talks from General Conference in April and I want to share some of it with y'all. It's called "Prayers of Faith" by Henry B Eyring (whose bday was yesterday yeehaw) and I just really think everyone should go read it. There's a part in the middle where he says that there are a few things that we still don't know, but one thing that he knows for sure is that "We as a people will become more united amid increasing conflict." Right now it's pretty clear that there's increasing conflict in the world, but I believe whole heartedly in this promise. The love that we give freely to all the people around us has so much more power than we think. Not only that, but God's love can be felt 1000x stronger when it's shared through charity and kindness.

So I just want y'all to know that I pray for y'all all the time, and I have SO much love for each of you:) pls reach out if you ever need anything! I'm always here:)

Con amor,

Hermana Brayton:)