Drake Park!!

 August 24, 2020

¡holaaa y'all!

    How is everyone doing this week?? So well I hope:) Hermana Hansen and I are really still having the time of our lives over here in Long Beach, it's the best!

    This week we went on 2 exchanges! So I got to party with sweet Hermana Serrano and cute Sister Read. Sister Read was serving in Vietnam before, but she got reassigned here bc of our lovely friend covid, so that was pretty cool to hear all of her stories. And Hermana Serrano has been here in Anaheim since January and she is literally the sweetest soul in the world. 

    We had a few super sweet lessons with some of our amigos this week! Isabel is a legend, and we made Trinidad some brownies, and then we had the most interesting lesson ever with Arturo at Drake Park hahah. Apparently that's a pretty sketchy place, but we didn't know until a friendly little crazy person tried to steal my bible. That was pretty exciting aha. 

    But sí! That's all I have time to type right now, but I love y'all!! I hope everyone has an amazing week!! 

Con amor,

Hermana Brayton

Let it Shine, Let it Shine

 August 17, 2020

¡hola y'all!!!

    How is everyone doing?? So well I hope:) This week was so crazy, but honestly it was such a good one. We were pretty dang busy, but I definitely think that's when missionary work is the most fun.

    This week we started teaching 4 new amigos!! They're so sweet! First we had Samantha and her dad, Domingo, and Samantha is literally the coolest girl I've ever met. She LOVES the Bible, so we love that. Then we have this super kind man named Jose, we've only talked to him on the phone, but he's such a gem. 

    We also had a few lessons with our cutie pie amiga Isabel, and her boyfriend agreed to join us, so we started teaching him as well! They're thinking about getting married soon, so Hermana Hansen and I are too excited and we're really hoping we get to plan a nice little beach wedding for them hehe. Isabel is amazing though, I've never met anyone with a stronger desire to follow Christ. Each lesson we have with her we all just grow so much. 💓  It's the best. 

    On Saturday we met our sweet amigo Arturo! We've been trying to get in contact with him for 4ever, and we finally did! He's such a sweet little abuela, keep him in your prayers please!

    In other news though, we got to go on some exchanges this week, and it was my first time going to an English area! I loved it, but I love Spanish more lol. We also got to meet with a bunch of other missionaries for a little meeting on Thursday so that was fun. I love any chance we get to see President and Sister Platt, they're just too dang sweet:)

    Okay and just a little escritura I would love to share with y'all can be found in Matthew 5 or 3 Nephi 12, whichever libro you have closest. But in both chapters, it's verses 15-16, and it says, "Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house; Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." I think something we can all agree on is that sometimes this world can be pretty dark. There is always someone who needs a little more light in their life whether they realize it or not, and I'd say this is pretty important since Jesus taught it personally to the Nephites and the people in Jerusalem, but we can be the light that they need! The goodness in our hearts and the knowledge that we have of Christ is best used when it's shared with others,  not when we keep it to ourselves. I've been trying my best to let my little light shine, but of course, there's always room to grow and ways for it to get brighter. 

    I love y'all sooo so much. I can feel your light, so let others feel it too. 😊 You'll never know how you can change the world with just one little growing glow!! 

Con amor,

Hermana Brayton 😊

this one is for my girl Hna Franklin

this is Winston, I met him while we did some service on exchanges

 hna Hansen and I painted some libros and mine matches our theme for today 🌟

Where Weak Becomes Strong

 August 10, 2020

¡hola y'all! 

    How is everyone doing this week? So well I hope:) it has been so beautiful over here in Long Beach, but that's nothing new hehe.

    But to be honest with y'all, this was not the best week in the world. We had almost all of our lessons fall through, so many ppl ignore our calls, some ppl being just flat out rude, and some of our sweet friends feeling down (which for surely is the hardest thing). Even though we've had our fair share of lows these past several days, we have still definitely seen some SWEET tender mercies!! So before I make y'all feel all sad for me, let me show you where I saw God's hand:

☆we met and taught our amiga Trinidad and she agreed to be baptized on Sept. 5th! She is such a sweet soul, and all three of us literally instantly connected like we had all known each other for years:)

☆we had a lesson with our great amiga Isabel in person! Both Hermana Hansen and I always say how familiar she seems to us but we can never figure out why, but I have a feeling we all for surely knew each other way back when we were all in Heaven just waiting to come down to this crazy place. 

☆we were able to film another sweet video at this family's house in Yorba Linda, and the daughter there reminded me SO MUCH of Claire:') we just talked for like 2 whole hours and it felt like my crazy Claireese was right there with me

☆we were studying outside on Saturday morning and SO. MANY. DOGS. came up to us and let us pet them, and one of them fell asleep right next to me gosh I could've actually cried. 

☆last night, we were able to do a little Sunday school class over a big group video call with our ward. It was sweet to meet some more faces and share some thoughts with them:) and actually one of those thoughts is something else I want to talk to y'all about today aquí abajo!

    In 2 Corinthians 12:9 it says, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." I know that I am weak and that I have some struggles quite often, but I love how Paul says here that "most gladly" he will glory in his trial and hard times. "Most gladly" he will not be perfect and he will stumble and fall. But why though? Bc when we are weak, that is when we recognize and feel Christ's power and grace. He even said it Himself to Paul, "for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Gosh, it's just so beautiful. I don't think for a second that this means Christ likes when we fall and when we make mistakes, but I think He does like when we are humble and when we rely on Him for our strength (bc really it truly is perfect). So yes, of course, we have weaknesses and there are bad days, weeks, and maybe even years, but with Jesus Christ and His unfailing power and redeeming grace, He will make our "weak things become strong" (Ether 12:27). 

    So don't forget that okay? I love y'all a whole bunch! And Jesus loves you more! 

Con amor,

Hermana Brayton:)

the cutest and sweetest Corgi you ever did see😍

 ya saben, la playa 😎

another cutie pie little pup

Just Some Pics ;-)

 

August 03,2020

¡hola y'all!!!

    How is everyone?? So good I hope! I hope y'all are all staying safe and dry from the hurricane back home! But si I don't have a lot of time to write a decent email this week, but everything is really poppin over here in Long Beach!! We're slowly getting to know some more people here, and we made some sweet little videos, so life is good:) here's some pics from this week! Love y'all so so much!!

friendzos 😄

behind the scenes from one of our videos

árboles 

the beach! 😎🌊

La Vida es Buena

 

July 20, 2020

¡hola y'all!

    How is everyone doing?? So well I hope! This week over here in Buena Park was pretty tranquila. We had a ton of meetings to try and figure out how we can make our Facebook pages better, and Hermana Hansen and I made a few ads for our pages and not to be dramatic or anything, but it took about 10 million tries. I used to think I was pretty savvy with the ~social media~ but it turns out it's a little more complicated than I thought. 

    But for more exciting news, we had the sweetest lesson with my best friend Jose. He was feeling pretty worried bc his health is just really so bad, and he thought he might have to have surgery this week, so we called up our nice Elders down the road to give him a blessing. It was sweet:) Priesthood power is so real y'all and I am so grateful for it. We were also able to meet with Yesenia and her cute family once this week, and we talked about them getting baptized! Most of them were super excited, but not all of them. Then we were supposed to meet with them all again to figure out a good date, but things never quite worked out:/ something that's kind of crazy though, is that now bc of more COVID rules, we can't have baptisms in the churches, so we either have to use a pool or the ocean! 

    Also we went on exchanges again this week and I got to go back to go ole La Habra, where I was exactly a year ago! It was sweet to be back and call some friends, and plus I got to hang out with Hermana Durrett and she just has a heart of gold. Honestly, things here are a little wild sometimes, but life is so good. 

   For a little scripture uplift for y'all, I wanted to share Isaiah 41:10. It says, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." I love that, and there's actually a hymn in our church called "How Firm a Foundation" that has this verse as some lyrics and it's such a bop. I think it's okay to recognize whenever times are really hard bc I think that's when we recognize that we really can't do this all on our own. And so many times throughout •all• of the scriptures, we have Heavenly Father's promise that He will be here right with us. It's so incredible. So I hope that we can all remember that a little more often, and be a little more receptive to His help bc I know I need to do that as well. 

    But sí! There is so much love in my heart for all of you wonderful people! Stay happy and stay healthy amigos!

Con amor,

Hermana Brayton 😊

we've been out here silly stringing ppl having some good ole times 😀

golden hour 🌄

Hermana Durrett and I on exchanges!

TONY my best friend!!! It was so good to see him again!!

3 Whole Parties!

 

July 13, 2020

¡hola y'all!

    How is everyone?? So good I hope:) This week was kinda crazy, as always, but it was a partyyyy!! We had 3 exchanges with some sweetie pie cutie pie sisters and it was so fun to get to know them all a little better and spend the day with them!

    On Tuesday I went over to the ASL area with Sister Hardy, and a deaf lady she was teaching gave me a sign name!! 

    On Thursday Hermana Cook came over here with me and we taught our bff Cecilia. She's the best and her faith is just so incredibly strong. 

    Then on Saturday Sister Wadley came here with me as well. She's an ASL sister too, so I felt kind of bad whenever I was calling people and just speaking Spanish and she just couldn't really do much hahaha. 

    Also, we had interviews with President Platt this week, and we got to hang out with Sister Platt for a little bit, and they're my best friends. Sister Platt reminds me so much of my mom bc she's so dang funny and southern. 

    Okay and also this week while I was reading the amazing Libro de Mormón, I found some super good scriptures that I wanted to share with y'all!! Helaman 3:27-28 says, "Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name. Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God." So I know I've talked about this before, but I just think it's SO incredibly comforting and also mind-blowing that every single person in the whole wide world is loved and welcomed by Jesus. He's the best, and He truly thinks that you're the best. 

    But yeah I love y'all sooo much and I hope y'all have a great week! Stay happy and stay safe!

Con amor,

Hermana Brayton 😄

lots of selfies w/ lots of my gorgeous friends 💗

Sunset! 😍

city of ☆kindness☆ = my city

LITERAL Best Week of My Life

 July 6, 2020

July 6, 2020

¡holaaa y'all!!

    Holy freakin moly y'all this week was SO long but SO so good!! Soooo many miracles happening here, that's for sure. Sorry if this ends up being a novel, but let me tell ya about it all:)

   First off, we found 11 people to teach this week!! Usually, we find like 3 people a week, so 11 is crazy!! Especially in quarantine!! So that alone is such a miracle. But the best part is that 7 of those people are the greatest family in the whole world. We actually met the mom, daughter, and grandma in our apartment complex a few weeks ago and talked to them for a second just in passing. After we met them though, I kept thinking we were so dumb for not getting their phone numbers, but then on Monday we called a ton of people, and this lady told us we could come over the next day and we did. Whenever we got there and she opened the door, her face lit up and she just started laughing and she was like "oh my gosh look it's the same hermanas from the laundry room!" At first, we were so confused, but then we remembered meeting them, and golly then I couldn't stop smiling. The whole family is so interested and engaged in all of our lessons, they're literally golden.

    Also this week we were able to meet President and Sister Platt!! They are the best ever wow. They're from Texas, so having some more fellow southerners with their sweet accents makes me SO HAPPY. Hermana Hansen and I were able to be in like 3 different meetings with them this week, so we're all basically going to be best friends:) 

    The Fourth of July here was such a party too! From like noon to midnight, a ton of people were shooting off fireworks everywhere. We went out on our nightly walk just around our complex at like 8:30, and we went to the top of our parking lot/garage thing, and it was *beautiful*. There were fireworks in every direction and a gorgeous sunset on a perfect California summer night. Gosh life is just so good, ya know? 

    So basically, I'm the happiest chica alive rn and I LOVE being a missionary. My knowledge of the Savior and my love for him is still growing every day and I just wish I could tell every single person. So let me just tell y'all, Jesus loves you!! He came to this earth to live and die for you, and He is so proud of the life you are living and goals you have set for the future. Keep growing, keep thriving, and keep your heads up! We are agents y'all, we don't have to let our circumstances define us. We can act for ourselves and find/bring happiness everywhere we go, no matter what this crazy world of ours is doing. 

    I have so much love for y'all please never forget it!! Email me if you want me to tell you more about how Jesus loves you!! Have a good week everyone:) 

Con Amor,

Hermana Brayton 😊

car selfie w my bff Hna Hansen

ctr city w our filming helpers!! They're the best!!

enchiladas🤩

more selfies! 😛

last leadership meeting w/ President and Sister Golden 😢

muy cute quote