C's Baptism

This week was full of running around.  Sometimes I feel like we don´t have enough time out here.  The weeks are just blurring together. So I am sorry if I tell you things again that you already know about. 

First we went to Santo Thomas De Los Platanos.  Let me just say that the car ride is very curvy and not very fun when you are squished between two people on a hot Mexican day.  Santo Thomas is a town that is basically a hill.  Lots of walking and climbing.  Also it is really hot there.  Luckily we have a member out there who was willing to help us out with transportation.  We visited a couple of people and we are working to have a Family Group  there every Sunday.  We will see what happens this week.  

So the day finally came for C´s baptism.  It was pretty amazing.  The whole ward helped out so much.  Also we had a miracle.  The power came back on in the Chapel. I was able to play the piano for the service and it made it ten times better.  The people are so cute out here. They sing with all of their heart but they are a little tone def.  But it doesn´t really matter because they usually just focus on the words.  The relief society sang Abide with Me, for C and she was crying during the song.  The talks were amazing and everything went swimmingly.  I must say that the service was basically like when a mom plans it for her own child. 

Things have been going great.  I am learning new things everyday from my investigators, companion, and the members.  My testimony has grown and I think I am getting the hang of this missionary thing.  I am learning a lot about responsibility and the Christlike attributes.  It is amazing!

So happy to hear about the temple and Elysa's call  She will do great out there

Love you tons!

Hermana Drewbie Drewbie Drew

 

Street Tacos

So Delicious!

The font before we cleaned it.

Hermana Brinkerhoff cleaning the font.

All Clean!

A rainy day in Valle de Bravo!

The Day After Mothers Day! (Or in other words...Mom's Mothers Day Hangover)

It was so good to see all of you again!  I must say that all of you look so different!  Tay looks so grown up and you and dad look so thin and young!  Hailey and Robert look so happy too!  I also need to admit that the time speaking to you just flew by.  It didn´t feel like 30 min....But then again time isn´t the same in the mission field.

This week was pretty great.  We have been working really hard on trying to find new people.  We realized a lot of the people that we contacted lived in the little pueblos around Valle.  So guess what?! We are going to be traveling a lot.  We are starting tomorrow in Santo Thomas de los Platanos or in English, St Thomas of the Bananas.  I am very excited and so is Hna Brinkerhoff!

I can´t really remember what happened this past week. HA HA well we had a zone conference and they always make the people who are going home bare their testimony.  So both of my comps have had to do it.  They are always so inspiring and I always want to cry.  I am such a mess when it comes to testimonies.

We had an activity for Mother´s day for the ward.  We played games and ate food and they made us dance the Maccarana.  Lets just say we felt really bad for doing it because we aren´t supposed to dance out here.  I don´t know if I have told you but my mission is very obedient.  We follow the schedule exactly and live the white handbook.  Don´t worry we still have fun out here.

We also went to a less active members home and she had a pink chicken.  We just had to take pictures!  I have decided that Mexico is the definition of random.  What would be weird in America is completely normal here. 

Also it is very hard shopping for clothes as a tall white girl.  Mexicans have short skinny bodies and all of their sizes are different here.  I am determined to find something though!

Mom thank you for all you have done for me.  I learned so much from you and your example. Us Drew girls are pretty lucky to have such a great mom.  You have helped my testimony grow so much.  And I know that we sisters are so much closer because of you.

Love you so so so much!

Hermana Drew

We had waffles for breakfast for mothers day

Oh I almost forgot.  So we have a member who is blind and Sunday was his birthday.  So we went to spend some time with him and sing him a song.  He really loves the National Anthem so we sang that to him.  He started to cry and said that we are like his children.  He also bore his testimony.  It was such an amazing experience.

Zone Conference

The Hermana's in our Zone

A Pink Chicken?

We sang the National Anthem

Skyping with the fam.

Clowns in the Mission

Mother of Mine!

We Drew's are just in all parts of the world right now.  Learning new things, growing, and sharing the gospel with everyone!  

I can´t believe all of the things that are happening with the family and my friends!  So many changes!  I think I am going to be that awkward friend who is always the 3rd wheel when I get home. Seriously everyone is getting married....

This week was full of hard work.  I love it!  We were working really hard to finish of the standards of excellence before Friday.  Talking with everyone and teaching in every moment.  It was so amazing!  I never have felt like my Spanish has  improved so much!   Who knows what language I will be speaking when I Skype you?! ;)  

My companion is amazing!  We have really been getting close.  We love to sing in the streets and talk about the most awkward things that have happened to us.  She says that she would love to be your Facebook friend when she gets home!

I have a firm testimony that if we believe in Heavenly Father and act on the things He wants us to do we are going to receive many blessings.  It showed this Sunday.  We had three less actives return to church and a surprise street contact.  I can tell that he has a thirst to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

C is as amazing as ever!  This Sunday she got up and bore her testimony!  She said that she knows without a doubt that this is where she is supposed to be!  I am always so amazed by the dedication of the converts and how willing they are to change their lives to have it be in accordance with God's will.  She has taught me so much!

This week we went on exchanges and I was left here with Hermana Carreon from Tihana.  She said that my Spanish is really good and that I am really working hard out here.  I always love the chance that I have to learn what my leaders think I am doing good and how I can be better.  Always looking for opportunities to serve!  

So about Skyping!  We will be calling in around 5-5:30 my time.  I think that is 4 your time....I am not really sure.  You should probably look that up.....  I am very excited to talk to you!  But I need your Skype account so ya.....

You are going to love the pictures from this week.  Today we went to a waterfall that is called, ¨El Velo de la Novia¨ or the brides veil. It was very pretty.  We took a little hike and then took some pics then walked back to the taxis.  It was so peaceful.

We also have a lot of clowns in our branch.  One of them came up to us on his way home and made us some flowers in the street.  We didn´t know what to do with them after so we just gave them to some member kids.  Everyday is a new adventure out here and I finally feel like I know who I am. I never thought I would be able to say that but I have learned so much out here.  

I can´t wait to talk to you!  Love you most!

Hermana Drew

Balloon flowers from one of the clowns in our ward

Check out our flowers!

Our trip to the falls!  

Hermana Drew's Mission, From Her Companions Eyes!

Hello Drew Family!

My name is Amy Brinkerhoff from St. George, Utah, and our daughters' are serving together in Mexico right now.  My daughter has sent some great emails with high praises for your daughter, and I just thought you might want to take a peek at Hermana Drew's mission from her companions eyes!

Karlee comes home in exactly one month!  We're picking her up at the airport in Las Vegas because she's flying in on AeroMexico, which has a direct flight to Las Vegas.  We tried to get her to fly into St. George, but if we did that she would have to fly United, which does not have a direct flight.  She would have had a layover in Dallas, then a six hour layover in Denver before she got to St. George, arriving late in the evening rather than at 11:20 in the morning.  We decided we didn't mind the drive to Las Vegas after all!

Below are Hermana Brinkerhoff's letters from the last couple of weeks:

April 13, 2015

¡Hola mis queridos amigos!

Today I officially started the last 6 weeks of the most amazing experience of my life. 

My new companion is Hna. Drew from Ceder City, I'll be finishing her training. 

My new area is Valle de Bravo. Valle de Bravo is BEAUTIFUL. I feel like I'm in a completely different Mexico. Everything here is really green, the streets are made of cobblestone, and here they have rules about what color the buildings can be, so there aren't multi-colored buildings like I'm so used to having. It's weird. Oh! There's also a lake and a waterfall, I'm sure my comp and I will be going next P-Day, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. 

My companion is really awesome. She's kind of quiet but seems like a really hardworking and focused missionary, she won't speak English with me which totally earned my respect. 

I have a really weird mixture of emotions right now. I'm really excited about this transfer and  to make it the best of my whole mission and to see miracles and give my all. However at the same time I feel sad knowing that it's all going to come very rapidly to end. Well, at least the whole full-time service thing. I obviously will continue being a missionary even after I'm released, but it makes me sad knowing that pretty soon the name tag will be coming off and I won't have this special calling anymore. 

Well everyone, I love you all, the church is true, hope you 're all doing well and have a great week!

-Hna. Brinkerhoff

April 20, 2015

HHHOOOOLLLLLAAAAAA.

This week was awesome. I LOVE my companion. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I absolutely love working with new missionaries. They're WAY more powerful than the experienced missionaries, because they're (usually) so full of innocence and love, they're humble, and everything is new and fresh for them and it makes every experience seem like it was your first, too. (They really are like children, that's why we call them our kids when they first get here:D) 

Hna. Drew works so hard, is so diligent, and has so much faith. Example: 

Yesterday we were looking for a person that is the friend of one of our investigators and told us that we could pass by. We felt like he was really promising so we put an appointment with him. So yestderday we went looking for his house. We literally walked up and down the same street for two hours, asking around for Jose. No one knew him. (In Valle de Bravo the houses normally don't have numbers, so we couldn't ask for that, and the description of the house was like ALL the other houses.) So after two hours I figured that we had searched diligently and we could now give up. However, my companion asked if we could say a prayer. Ouch. We didn't I think of that? So we said a prayer. And I had the thought come to my mind that we should go visit his friend. However, this friend/investigator, Felix, is rarely home, and his house was far away. So guess who ignored that impression? Yup. We kept walking and asking around for about 30 minutes. I had the thought come to me again and this figured that we didn't have any other options. So, we went to Felix´ house, and he was actually home, we asked him if he knew where his friend lived. He said no. Phone number? No. Anything? No. Great. So we were getting ready to leave when he said that if Lupe showed up he would tell him to call us. Lupe? Apparently, the guys name is Jose Guadalupe, but everyone calls him Lupe. So we had been asking for the wrong person. We went back to the street that we had been wandering around for 2 and a half hours, asked the first person we saw if they knew Lupe the construction worker, and they led us right him. 

Long stroy short, Lupe and one of his friends that was visiting him now have a baptismal date set for May 24th. 

All because my companion made the suggestion to say a prayer. 

I'm loving life here in Valle de Bravo. I love being a missionary. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week, and remember when you have a problem, be like Hna. Drew and say a prayer! 

-Hna. Brinkerhoff

April 27, 2015

¡¡¡HHHOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAA!!! ¿Como están todos? 

This week was great. Our progressing investigator, Cristian, is still progressing. She is seriously so escogida (elect/chosen/golden, etc.). I seriously love that woman so much. She has a super strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, she's really impatient to get baptized, partially because she wants to be a primary teacher, and is already excited for her litttle kids (ages 10 and 6) to serve missions. She was telling us in our last lesson that she's seen a huge change in her life since she has found the gospel, an inner change, she feels more peace, and feels closer to Heavenly Father, and feels herself slowly (very slowly, in her words:P) becoming more like him. 

Something else that we started doing last week was we have been helping the families in the branch to start their own family mission plans, where they set goals about how they are going to share the gospel, and it's been going really well. It's very inspiring to see how every person has a different idea as to HOW to share the gospel but that all their ideas work, because there is no one "right way", there's lots of ways. 

One family made a goal to go out and contact a certain amount of people in the streets, like we do. Another family is focusing on finding other families, and another family is really careful to make sure that for every goal they put there are names associated with the numbers. It's been really fun to see everyones ideas. 

And I THINK I'm making slow progress in gaining the branch presidents confidence. Wahoo! 

So basically I love my companion, my area, the branch, and life. Hope you're all doing well, and have an awesome week!

-Hna. Brinkerhoff

It's Hard Being Tall!

MOM!

So good to hear from you!  It seems like just last Monday I talked to you....

Hahaha well this week was pretty normal doing the usual contacting and teaching.  Do you remember the  investigator that contacted us in the streets?  She is pure gold.  It turns out she has a lot of friends that are LDS and she has been progressing so much in the gospel.  She is reading the Book of Mormon and D&C!  GHAH!  Dedication huh?!  I have learned so much from her.  She has taught me that it doesn`t really matter what the blessings are,  if the Lord requires something of us, we do it.

Mom I can`t tell you enough how much my love for the people has grown!  I seriously feel like the whole ward is my family.  The people are so loving here.  They are always looking out for us and making sure that we are taking good care of ourselves.

We have been walking a lot more than usual in the streets.  It`s hard being tall....We have to look down because the streets aren`t even and that leaves a blind spot for my head.  I have seriously hit my head everyday this week.  One time a taxi was driving by right when I hit my head.  I could hear everyone laughing at me....Don`t worry I think I still have my sanity.

Sorry that my letters haven`t been very specific.  I just feel like the week is one day.  We do a lot of work and traveling to little towns around Valle.  

Don`t worry about the shoes.. My shoes are pros and I think that they will last my whole mission.  The Doterra stuff works like a charm there are just some days when I forget to put it on and the mosquitoes have a feast.  

I am really perfectly happy out here in the mission.  Nothing I can`t handle.  My companion and I are conquers of Valle.  Overcoming every little thing that comes in our way!

This past Sunday one of the girls in the primary was baptized.  It was a beautiful service.  The mom gave a talk that brought everyone to tears.  Is it weird that I asked for a copy of it?  Anyway,  I had to play the piano and She wanted me to play I am trying to be like Jesus, and I don`t really know that one.  Luckily our piano has preset songs.  Unfortunately  the song was really fast.  It started to play and I didn`t know how to slow it down.  The whole congregation just looked at me as I sat there trying to figure things out.  HAHAHAHAHAHA.  It was so funny.  My face was so red.....

Oh mom I love you tons!  We are trying to find a place so I can Skype with you on the 10 of May.  But I will let you know the details soon.  All I know is that I can only talk to you for 30 minutes.  We gotta make it good!

Love you tons  Mother of Mine!

Hermana Drew

Caitlin is 20!

Mama Mia!

Oh man it is so weird that I am 20.  It feels like just yesterday I was 19....oh wait.  HA HA but anyway ya birthdays in the mission aren`t really anything special.  President and Sister Whitehead called me and sang Happy Birthday and it reminded me so much of our family, harmonies and all!  As for cake, I had a joint party with a little girl we are teaching.  She got cake shoved in her face...  not me.  I also had flan and we made pancakes for breakfast!  It was a really good day.  We had the chance to teach some new people.  

My week has been full of adjustment.  We have been trying really hard to work with the members and help out the branch a lot.  It has been so hot here.  I have been sunburned a lot and my feet are a little swollen from mosquito bites and walking in the hot sun.  My feet are so ugly right now.  They look like hobbit feet.

We had someone throw an avocado at us.  I was a little startled, when we were walking.  JK I think it was an accident....I hope it was an accident.

Mom I cant believe that everyone is getting married.  So much has changed in such a little short while.  Everyone growing up and making big decisions.  I have to admit I am a little stressed with those decisions.  I cant even decide if it is worth it to by something on the mission.  Did I mention I miss peanut butter so much.  It is really expensive here.

As for Skyping,  I am pretty sure we get to Skype unless something changes.  Don`t worry I have my information and everything.  And as long as you haven`t changed your number or dads I think we should be fine.  I'll let you know what is going to happen in the near future.  Crazy that it is almost May.  Time is already flying.....

Well that`s really all for this week.  I think we are going to see a lot of miracles here.  We are working hard, loving the people, and being obedient.  I have been working really hard on showing the love of Christ.  Thank you so much for your guidance and love.  You always know what to say!

Love you tons!  More than peanut butter!

Hermana Drew

PS someone in the streets gave us flowers yesterday.  It was probably the weirdest yet most thoughtful thing ever!

My companion made pancakes for my birthday.

Today is my birthday!

Someone in the street gave us flowers

My New Companion and I taking a selfie.

A New Companion!

Mother of Mine!

Yes it is true!  My companion is finished with her mission! And guess what my next companion is going to finish her mission in Valle De Bravo too!  There is a possibility that I will be in Valle for three transfers.  I am going to miss Hermana Cabrera with all of my heart but I am really excited to work with Hermana Karlee Brinkerhoff.  Yes that is right I have an American as a companion!  I am really hoping that my Spanish improves and doesn´t drop.  But I am not too worried because I know that Hermana Brinkerhoff is going to help me so much!  She is from St. George, went to Dessert Hills High School, loves to sing and everything about music, and is 20 years old.  She is just a little bit shorter than Hermana Cabrera.

This week we were working like crazy!  We always try to finish the transfer at our best!  We had one baptism this past transfer.  His name is J and he is a little old grandpa with a big family.  I have seen his life change so much since we first met him.  He first was really grumpy and sad because he thought he was a bad grandpa and a bad son of God.  He is such a good example to his family.

One of our investigators is golden.  She came up to us in the streets and asked, ¨are you Moronis?¨  She has her baptism date for May 3.  She has watched all of the General Conference Sessions and is reading all of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants.  We have to work hard to make sure that she remembers why she is doing this because I know that Satan always works hard with those that are doing the right thing.

Last p-day my companion and I played tourists and made sure that we had the best p-day ever.  We went to houses of the members and everyone of them said that they were going to miss Hermana Cabrera so much.  I hope that I can fill her shoes, and have the same energy and same love for the people. I have a  lot of goals and I am going to work even harder!

I just know that the yard is going to be oh so beautiful when McKenna gets home and even more so in 15 months!  I have to admit that time is already starting to fly by.  I have to keep working hard and improving everyday.  I am on the Lords time and I don´t want to waste it.  

Something that I have learned that has stuck with me so much out here is, that really, we have a member of the Godhead with us in every meeting.  The Holy Ghost is there and we need to recognize that!  I love you so much mom!  Thank you for being the Best!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Hermana Drew

Last lunch with Hermana Cabrera

Our Zone

The Hermanas in our Zone