July 26, 2010
Talofa Family:
Yes it is true my dear "Soa" Sis. Baice is leaving me. It is so sad. Transfers are so hard. We have gotten really close these past couple of months. She is the greatest!!! So many funny memories as well as some powerful lessons and spiritual experiences. She has grown so much as a missionary and person. It is going to be hard to be here without her.
Sister Baice's birthday was a blast! She was very excited for the package from you which came on Wednesday. It was like she was a little kid waiting for Christmas every time we were in our room she would walk over to the package and shake it and ask if I knew what was inside of it. It was torture for her to wait till Sunday to open it. She woke up at 5 a.m. on Sunday to open her presents. When the alarm went off in the morning she jumped right out of bed and turned on the light, something especially rare for her...not a morning person at all! Her reaction was priceless. She was freaking out over everything in the gift. The bag with her named embroidered on it was by far her favorite. Throughout the entire day she kept on modeling her bag. At church she sat it next to her on the bench and refused to put it on the ground. She wanted a new bag so bad but never had money to buy one. You must have been inspired by your purchases, she didn't have a watch, wanted another bag, and only has two t-shirts. You are the greatest! Unfortunately the Samoan CD didn't work. Will you send another copy to me then I will mail it to her when I found out where she is going??? Oh man she is so funny!!!!!! I will miss her so much.
I was so grateful that you sent her such a great birthday package, she didn't get anything at all from her family. The rest of her birthday was great. We taught a very spiritual lesson to the Yangs and then had dinner with the cutest family, the Hales, they have 3 little girls and a baby boy. The oldest one, Grace, gave us some of her Silly Bands, so now we are in on the latest fad. She gave me a star and an elephant. Don't know much about the Silly Bands besides that they are taking over the world! After dinner we didn't have any appointments so we went to the church and watched Legacy. I wanted to do something special for my Soa's birthday but being missionaries and it falling on the Sabbath put a little damper in the plans so we decided a movie would be great.
Other than the heat this week has been AWESOME!!!! We were able to teach 20 total lessons. It is always a goal to get 20 lessons and now we finally did it! OH my goodness, l LOVE the Yang family! Hands down they are the coolest! We had a wonderful lesson with them. Brother Cheung, who is the main fellowshipper/translater who has been with us to every appointment wasn't able to make it. We found out about that at church and the appointment was an hour after church...a little to late of notice to find someone else to come so we just went. I was a bit nervous because of the language barrier but we went in with faith. The minute we walked in the spirit comforted me. It was a neat opportunity to just talk with them. We had planned to do the Plan of Salvation but never fully did the entire lesson. We asked them about their previous reading assignments and how they understood the last lesson (which was the Restoration). They watched the Restoration movie which helped them so much. Then we got talking about the BOM. They had some questions on where it came from and how Joseph knew were the plates were buried and also who buried them and who wrote the book. Pretty basic questions. Luckily we had the Gospel Art Book and were able to show pictures of Mormon abridging the plates and was able to bear testimony of the BOM. Then we started the Plan of Salvation lesson. As we got to the part of the lesson which talks about our life on earth I just flat out asked them what is holding them back from baptism. They responded that they were scared of drowning. So once again we whipped out the handy dandy Gospel Art Book to show them the picture of someone getting baptized. They were still unsure of how the motion is so Sis. Baice and I got up and showed them. It is true! Sis. Baice magically got the priesthood and baptized me in the Yangs living room. It was HILARIOUS!!!!! Then I bore a sincere testimony explaining how at baptism we get the gift of the Holy Ghost which will help us as we learn more about the gospel. They are scared of not knowing enough. I testified the gift of the Holy Ghost will help them as they seek to learn more of Christ's teachings. Sis. Baice also bore a solid testimony of baptism. I then went on the say "Let's make August 15th a special day for the Yang family." They accepted!!!! This work is real. I'm so humbled to have been lead to this wonderful family. What a wonderful experience it is to bring a family into the true and everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.
Man I LOVE this work! It is such a unique opportunity to be a part of helping others find value to their lives. To help others come into the fullness of joy within the gospel of Jesus Christ. Acting according to the will of Heavenly Father allows us to find true joy in this life and eternal joy in the life to come.
Love you all!
Sis. Bridges
Words of Mormon verse 7: "And I do there for a wise purpose for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will."
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
The Joys of HUMIDITY....NOT!
7/12/2010 -- Talofa Family and Friends!
First of all -- I so do miss the HOT 105 dry degrees of STG. I would much rather be living in the dry heat than this wet heat! It feels hotter and the temp is only in the 90's! It is awful! My make-up is rubbed off by all of the sweat on my face so I pretty much wear a minimal amount of makeup for the time being. Whew....
Anyway -- man I love missionary work! Things are still a little rough right now with finding people to teach but we are working through it with faith. On Friday we held a special fast to find people to teach. It was a long hard day but I know the spiritual blessings will come from it. We are really working hard in the hot, wet, sticky, heat to find people. It is fun! We have talked to so many wonderful people but we were not able to nail a return appointment. We did have a sort of cool experience though -- we decided to knock this road and on the second house we talked to this guy named "Bob" (he hesitated when he said it so I don't think it is his real name) about the restoration for about a half an hour but wasn't able to get a return appointment. We were sad but it felt good to talk to him. It was such a testimony builder for me to explain the need for a living prophet on the Earth. So, even though we didn't get a second appt., we felt the spirit and know he surely must have felt it too. We did plant the seed - which is great! The gospel really is true!!!!
Our chinese investigator family, the Yangs are so AMAZING!!! I know I say that every letter but it is true! They prayed at the beginning and the end of the lesson. We taught all about baptism and following the example of Jesus Christ. It is so much fun to teach them. During the lesson Sis. Baice was able to extend her first baptismal invitation. The spirit took over the lesson immediately and it was very powerful. They are still hesitant about setting a date but they are working towards it. It is crazy to think that a month a go they had no idea who God or Jesus are and now here they are committing to baptism. That is just another testimony builder to me of the unseen forces in this righteous work. The next day on Sunday during church the Gospel Principles lesson was on baptism...imagine that?! Coincidence, I think not. They were asking Brother Cheung (the main fellow shipper/translator) a lot of questions after the lesson. I just wished I spoke Chinese to know what they were asking!!!! First Burmese and now Chinese~Ha!
This morning as we were at the library e-mailing one of our investigators called us out of the blue and wanted to meet with us this afternoon. His name is Jerome Saunders and was found a few days before I arrived in the area. He is hard to get a hold of so we haven't been able to meet with him as much as we would like to so it was such a blessing for him to call us. It rarely happens that an investigator would call and ask to meet with us; usually it is the other way around. We were able to have a great lesson with him about his reading assignment in Mosiah 2. Helping him focus on the power that the BOM has to answer questions of the soul. Everyone should check out Preach My Gospel chapter 5, it is all about the BOM. Very good stuff!!!
Mom, sounds like camp was amazing. I got goose bumps while reading your letter. It was powerful. What a neat idea it was to have the camp dedicated. Wow, mom you are so great. I really was praying for you all week that you would be calm and the spirit would be with you. I'm a little sad I missed it (just a little). No doubt in my mind about Ruth. She is such a special person with a rare gift of speaking and bearing testimony. Mom I'm so proud of you. You are such a great leader and dedicated servant of the Lord. Your testimony inspires me. Yes I did get your package. The Hawaii pics are beautiful! Sis. Baice was jealous!!!! Kambria is just the cutest. Please give her an Auntie Lerin hug and kiss for me. We are going to be best friends when I get home!
In about 45 minutes we are going to have dinner with Brance, Jannette, Brian, and the kids. I'm so excited to see them!!!! Woo Hoo....how cool to see and have dinner with relatives while on a mission!!!! Love to you all!
Love, Sis. Bridges
First of all -- I so do miss the HOT 105 dry degrees of STG. I would much rather be living in the dry heat than this wet heat! It feels hotter and the temp is only in the 90's! It is awful! My make-up is rubbed off by all of the sweat on my face so I pretty much wear a minimal amount of makeup for the time being. Whew....
Anyway -- man I love missionary work! Things are still a little rough right now with finding people to teach but we are working through it with faith. On Friday we held a special fast to find people to teach. It was a long hard day but I know the spiritual blessings will come from it. We are really working hard in the hot, wet, sticky, heat to find people. It is fun! We have talked to so many wonderful people but we were not able to nail a return appointment. We did have a sort of cool experience though -- we decided to knock this road and on the second house we talked to this guy named "Bob" (he hesitated when he said it so I don't think it is his real name) about the restoration for about a half an hour but wasn't able to get a return appointment. We were sad but it felt good to talk to him. It was such a testimony builder for me to explain the need for a living prophet on the Earth. So, even though we didn't get a second appt., we felt the spirit and know he surely must have felt it too. We did plant the seed - which is great! The gospel really is true!!!!
Our chinese investigator family, the Yangs are so AMAZING!!! I know I say that every letter but it is true! They prayed at the beginning and the end of the lesson. We taught all about baptism and following the example of Jesus Christ. It is so much fun to teach them. During the lesson Sis. Baice was able to extend her first baptismal invitation. The spirit took over the lesson immediately and it was very powerful. They are still hesitant about setting a date but they are working towards it. It is crazy to think that a month a go they had no idea who God or Jesus are and now here they are committing to baptism. That is just another testimony builder to me of the unseen forces in this righteous work. The next day on Sunday during church the Gospel Principles lesson was on baptism...imagine that?! Coincidence, I think not. They were asking Brother Cheung (the main fellow shipper/translator) a lot of questions after the lesson. I just wished I spoke Chinese to know what they were asking!!!! First Burmese and now Chinese~Ha!
This morning as we were at the library e-mailing one of our investigators called us out of the blue and wanted to meet with us this afternoon. His name is Jerome Saunders and was found a few days before I arrived in the area. He is hard to get a hold of so we haven't been able to meet with him as much as we would like to so it was such a blessing for him to call us. It rarely happens that an investigator would call and ask to meet with us; usually it is the other way around. We were able to have a great lesson with him about his reading assignment in Mosiah 2. Helping him focus on the power that the BOM has to answer questions of the soul. Everyone should check out Preach My Gospel chapter 5, it is all about the BOM. Very good stuff!!!
Mom, sounds like camp was amazing. I got goose bumps while reading your letter. It was powerful. What a neat idea it was to have the camp dedicated. Wow, mom you are so great. I really was praying for you all week that you would be calm and the spirit would be with you. I'm a little sad I missed it (just a little). No doubt in my mind about Ruth. She is such a special person with a rare gift of speaking and bearing testimony. Mom I'm so proud of you. You are such a great leader and dedicated servant of the Lord. Your testimony inspires me. Yes I did get your package. The Hawaii pics are beautiful! Sis. Baice was jealous!!!! Kambria is just the cutest. Please give her an Auntie Lerin hug and kiss for me. We are going to be best friends when I get home!
In about 45 minutes we are going to have dinner with Brance, Jannette, Brian, and the kids. I'm so excited to see them!!!! Woo Hoo....how cool to see and have dinner with relatives while on a mission!!!! Love to you all!
Love, Sis. Bridges
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