Heading into Guadalajara today for a mission council tomorrow. It is about 5 hours away, so no time today. But here is a photo that I hope says a thousand words.

A father that was able to reactivate, receive the priesthood, and baptize his son this weekend.

Elder Brighton

Today was a great day!

We share a porch area with our next door neighbor and we found out this week that he has a washer! And so this morning he let us borrow it. The three hours that we have been spending each week on washing our clothes each week was eliminated! We just throw it in there with the soap and it comes out clean. Almost something I had forgotten about. And he is going to let us use it each week, what a blessing!

Then, a family we are teaching has some land with a ton of fruit trees, We were able to go and pick lots of mangos, guayabanas, carambolas, and niches. Lots of fruit that I have come to love in my time here in Vallarta.

Things are going well here. Had a lot of really important moments this week. Divisons with several district leaders, meetings with the Stake Presidency, interviews with the President. Most of the week I was pretty sick, but got some medicine this weekend and am doing better now. 

Enjoying things and working hard. 

Elder Brighton

Dear family and friends,

Trying to do better about writing more. I am doing very well and loving it here in Vallarta. The weather is just like Houston, so that means a lot of sweating and if I thought I was dark before, I am definitly finding my native american roots (and skin tones). 

We are doing well and working closely with many people here. Both members, those that have strayed from the path, and those that have yet to find it. Our area and companionship is doing well. We are almost entirely focused in one neighborhood/pueblito and so it is a big change from the monstrous area in Auditorio. But we had an incredible expereince that I will never forget this week. An older sister who had not attended a church meeting in over 20 years (when they still met in the homes of members) open her doors to us and after teaching the restoration where the Spirit was present and strong, and after following up on the Book of Mormon and her reading, she accepted the invitation to attend Sunday. The service was incredible and the Spirit abound. She was able to be with her grandson who was baptized recently. When she introduced herself in Gospel Principles she stood to say, I am Sister Guadalupe, I not been able to come for many many years, but thanks to these good young men I am back again. It brought a feeling more powerful than the majority of the baptsimal services I have attended. Upon leaving after the services concluded, she expressed that she wants all of her family to be there with her and that she will be back. She is a strong and well learned woman and plays the role of a matriarch in a large extended family that all live in the same little neighborhood. We look forward to working with her and her family knowing the joy that is well within reach as she shares her newfound testimony with her loved ones.

Personally I am happy. We now live 5 blocks from a little park. We go in the morning and run now several times a week. It felt so good this week to put on my old Nikes that I brought with me from Rice and go for a brief 15 minute run. Though I am nothing like I was before, I was pleased to find I had not lost all condition and hope. If only we had more time in the mornings to dedicate to exercise! But all is well, staying focused on why I am here. But it sure did feel good to open up the stride a little the last 6 minutes or so. Hope to make it a habit. The path goes around 3 open soccer fields and is just under a half mile (by my rough pace calculations).

Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying their summer. I am well, happy, and working and praying hard. 

With love,

Elder Brighton

Dearest family and friends,

After an incredible 11 months in Zapopan, last Monday I received my reassignment to a new area in Ixtapa. It is in Vallarta, touching the southern border of the state of Nayarit.

There are very few times in life that we have the opportunity to begin anew, completely fresh. No expectations from anyone, the chance to be exactly who you always wanted to be. A few of those times might be when we leave the house for the first time for college. Another if we travel for a summer. And perhaps when we begin a new life as a married person. These opportunities are special and rare. 

This last week I was given this chance. All that I have learned in this first year, all the mistakes that I have made, all the experiences that I have had are safely stored in my memory banks (and in part in the pages of a journal). So with two suitcases and a mix of emotions I arrived Monday night near the coast of the Pacific. 

It has been a busy week. But what a beautiful experience thus far. The climate is very similar to Houston, humid and hot, sweating while in the shade. It is an area very tropic with trees and vegetation that look like they belong to a movie set from Jurassic Park or Avatar. Lizards and other creatures abound. 

Time is always so short, but I am happy where I am and looking forward to getting to know and gain the trust and love of the people here, and working hard alongside them. 

A simple miracle that we had this week was in looking for a place to live. We are going to be working in a small town a little father away, and so we had to go and find a place to stay there. The first 4 nights we stayed with a couple other Elders sleeping on the floor. The picture included is the first night we had in our new home. After looking all over the place and not having success finding a place with adequate privacy and price, the young boy that was showing us around said, ´I think I saw a place for rent´. After a couple hours of looking around ourselves, the first place this young boy took us turned out to be the place. A cozy house with lots of windows to combat the heat. And a price that really surprised us, cheaper than all the rest we had found. With our new headquarters of sorts, a place to feel comfortable and call home we are excited to get after it this week.

We were given this assignment with the instructions that it would be a difficult and testing experience, but with a great unity that we are already developing as a companionship we look forward with a perfect brightness of hope.

Please keep up the prayers for all of us out here. Protection, positivity, and the ability to know where to go and what to do. We need it.

With great love,

Elder Brighton

...just to let you know that I am leaving Auditorio. Last night the assistants called and I will be heading to Ixcatan Nayarit as Zone Leader of the Zone Vallarta. My new companion has 10 months in the mission and it is his first time being Zone Leader. It is going to be a time of much growth.  We are headed to the offices in 10 minutes and there I will take a bus about 4 hours to the coast. Pretty good chance my new area will be along the coast.

A big mix of emotion, but looking forward to going to work in Vallarta!

Elder Brighton

Hello All!

This week was a great one. Friday we were able to accompany a good young couple to their wedding ceremony. It was simple, but beautiful. In the evening we organized a reception for them. Their family was able to come and it was a nice evening passed together with many of the members from the ward. We were even able to have a magician/clown family that lives closeby come to entertain the children and adults. 

And though for now their marriage, as traditionally declared by those with authority from the law, is until death do they part, we look forward to seeing this young family take the steps to be able to stand before those with power and authority from God to pronounce them a family for time and for all eternity. What a blessing to be a part of this process. 

I hope the photos make it through, if so, the brick looking thing is actually a sort of permanent grill that we made. The grandmother of a young man we have been teaching for a long time had her birthday a few weeks ago. So we went by a few days before and built from cement blocks and cement. It was fun to put in practice the things we have learned helping out the different people in their houses. And it turned out usable, so that was good.

I am doing well. In this week I will reach the one year mark. I have learned and experienced so very much. Hard to remember and imagine how different things were one year ago. And I cannot imgaine how I will be one year from now.

My good friends and family keep me in your prayers. 

With love,

Elder Brighton

I had a student that went to Mexico over the Memorial day weekend and she took a couple packages down and mailed them for me.  Since Elder Brighton had mentioned that they hadn't been eating very much, I sent food along with some other things.  He's showing me he got it (-:  

Dearest family and friends,

Wanted to share a great experience my companion and I had this last week.

We have been working with a younger man who is struggling to overcome strong addictions. After a wonderful week of progress, at the beginning of last week he disappeared. His family did not know where he had gone and we were truly broken to think he may have left. We prayed and stopped by each day looking for him. No luck all of the week. Yesterday, being the first Sunday of the month, and the day set apart to offer a special fast for a specific cause, I fasted for this good young man, that we would find him and be able to help him. The fast beganSaturday afternoon.

That evening as we left one lesson and had plans to head straight to the next we had the impression to stop by and look for him again. There definitely was not enough time, but we decided to go anyways. We were in one neighborhood, a mile and half or so from his house. Leaving the first appointment we took the street heading in the general direction. As a pickup truck passed by my companion asked for a ride. He said he was only going up to the corner and then would be turning off, but we decided to take it anyways. When we got to the corner we hopped down and started walking down the street we needed. The truck also turned there and so offered to take us father that way. We got back in, and in an incredible and simply miraculous way were amazed as each time the truck reached an intersection, turned down the road we needed. We were headed to a small and removed street. The neighborhood next to several major roads that are much more used by cars. But nonetheless, each time we got to the corner, it turned. When we got to the final street, where the young man lives, a small and forgotten street, the truck made one final turn, passing right in front of the house. We hopped down amazed and the truck continued on to who knows where.

At this point we knew he was going to be there, even though all week we had stopped by without results. And sure enough, there he was, ready to talk to us. He was excited to see us, moved that all week we had stopped by looking for him and felt that we really cared about him and his personal progress. We talked for 10 minutes rapidly, invited him to church the following day, and had to go quickly to our next appointment. As if it was not enough already, as we left and walked one block, the exact bus we needed to get to the next place was already coming down the street. A smooth, coordinated series of events.

I do hope to be able to continue to relate the experiences with this good young man as he is able to overcome these challenges that have been plaguing his life and the life of his family for years.

What a blessing to witness the hand and power of God in small and great things. We truly are witnesses to this great work.

With great love,
Elder Brighton