My "Soa" is leaving....

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."