give god your best, and His best will come back to you

This week I am grateful! 
I am grateful for my savior.
I am grateful to be a missionary and representative of Christ. 
I am grateful for west virginia and the people here! 
I am grateful for sister glenn. 
I am grateful for my FAMILY.
I am grateful for my friends. 
I am grateful for the book of mormon and that I get to testify of it every day!
I am grateful for holidays and the happy spirit that comes with it. 
I am grateful for prayer.
I am grateful for the atonement!
I am grateful for our country.
I am grateful for chickfila peppermint milkshakes.
I am grateful for everyone that reads my emails and reaches out to me.
I am grateful for love!
I am grateful for the holy ghost.
I am grateful for a living prophet, president nelson, and all the leaders of our church.
I am grateful for hope.
I am grateful for miracles and the power of fasting!
I could go on forever. 
This week we had been thinking about one of the moms in our ward a lot because she is struggling and we wanted to do something nice for her. Her mom and sister have left the church recently and she is struggling with her mental health and financially. Pretty much just everything. We kept putting it off because something would always come up or we would get super busy! One day, we got a text from another lady in the ward asking if we could check up on the struggling mom. We knew we needed to do something asap. (p.s. she lives very far away). So we took a road trip to her house (there was a chickfila on the way and I've never felt so blessed in my life) and dropped off a beautiful picture of jesus and wrote her a note. She texted us later that night and told us how bad she was struggling and she told us that she decided to fast yesterday. She said she fasted for confirmation of her testimony and strength that she can get through this and that god was aware of her. We wrote those exact things in her note and more! She told us that we were her confirmation and the answer to her prayer/fast. It was SO cool. I was so grateful that I could be heavenly father's instrument in helping one of his beautiful daughters realize her worth and ability to do hard things!! Once again, we see that God is so aware of every single one of us and knows what we need, right when we need it! 
We got to take samantha and her family grocery shopping with the money that the church gave us. They will now have a happy, food-filled thanksgiving. They were so gracious and felt so much love from god and from our church! Yay I love being a missionary and getting to help people!!
We had dinner with a family from the ward and they gave sister glenn a MOUNTAIN of spaghetti and by the time she was chuck full, she hadn't even made a dent. HAHAHHAHA we were dyinggggg. She didnt know what to do and she tried to cover it with a napkin but it made no difference cause the spaghetti was still so tall. Idk why he gave her so much and nobody else that much hahahahahhahaha. 
I learned about sacrifice this week. Missionary work is truly a sacrifice. The greatest gift that christ gave us was His life and His sacrifice. Should that not then be our small gift to him? Our lives and our sacrifices? He shouldnt even have to take anything from us because it should already be his. All that we have and all that we are should be dedicated ALREADY to the savior. "That man is GREATEST and most BLESSED and JOYFUL whose life most closely approaches the pattern of christ". 
"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a LOT more out of their lives than they can. He will DEEPEN their joys, EXPAND their vision, QUICKEN their minds, STRENGTHEN their muscles, LIFT their spirits, MULTIPLY their blessings, INCREASE their opportunities, COMFORT their souls, RAISE up friends, and POUR out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life".
Don't we all want this? I learned that a life full of service is an ABUNDANT life. I love being in the service of God every day!
"God loves us. He is watching us. He wants us to succeed. We will know some day that He has not left one thing undone for the eternal welfare of each of us. If we only knew it, heavenly hosts are PULLING for us—friends in heaven that we cannot now remember who YEARN for our victory. This is our day to show what we can do—what life and sacrifice we can daily, hourly, instantly make for God. If we give our all, we will get HIS all from the GREATEST of all. Give God your best, and His best will come back to you". (Jesus christ - gifts and expectations by ezra taft benson)

Alma 34:38
Thanks for being mine! I am so grateful for you all. Try to serve someone in need this week!
Love, sister brinton