I am staying in Damascus...YES!

Holy cow I can't believe all of the snow Utah has gotten this past week. Good grief are you all still alive?! We haven't gotten any snow so far. Last year was out of control, it only happens every 20 years or so. Hopefully we will get a little bit of snow close to Christmas. Speaking of Christmas are we going to draw names this year? As far as gifts please don't go crazy. I already have tons of stuff and don't need anything. I have no idea what I want so just get me a stocking and Christmas Eve PJ's.

Yes I am staying in Damascus and sis. Barber is leaving. Yesterday in church I was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting about showing gratitude to Jesus Christ. Looking out over the ward I was getting nervous about transfers. There are so many members I love and would terribly miss. Hopefully I will end my mission here. That would be a dream come true!
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We went to the Marsh's home for dinner. They had 2 of their married daughters with their families there so It was a big group. The Marsh's have the missionaries over every year for Thanksgiving so it is a big tradition to have a huge group. Later that night we went home and played games with Sis. Marler and Gina. It was a blast. I just love the Marlers. They are the nicest family and lot of fun to live with. On Sunday Brother Marler came down during our companion study and invited us to come up and have waffles with them. Mom you would never believe it....I actually used a wheat grinder. Yes I know how to help you use a storage can of wheat. I grounded it up into a powder and sis. Marler used it for the waffles. On Saturday we had a blast and a half at Brother Crum's house. Brother Crum's non member wife, Jan, works every year on Thanksgiving so they celebrate it on Saturday and they invite friends from the ward over to lunch. Jan is half Italian so she really knows how to cook. We had a huge spread. there were about 16 people there, all of my favorite families from the ward, Brother and Sis. Suhaka with Bro. Suhaka's older brother and his friend, Mama Mooney and Papa Prince (Alan) and the Wheyforth's. We just laughed the entire time!

The work this week was a little slow because of the holidays. Here is an update on our investigators:
Linda: We were unable to meet with her this week due to Brianna, her youngest getting sick. We had to reschedule it for this week. Even though we were unable to meet with her she came to church with her entire family! Her husband had to work in the morning and Linda didn't think he would come but he did. Her husband ceases to amaze me. He doesn't agree with the doctrine of the church but comes to support Linda. He knows it is important for his family to be together at church.

Mayne family: The Mayne's are a less active family in the ward. Tina who is 17 just got baptized this summer and stopped going to church this fall. Sis. Mayne has a solid testimony but feels like a hypocrite when she comes to church because she know she is making mistakes and not living to the gospel standards. We haven't been able to meet with her for a long time so it was great to visit. We shared a great message on being an example. she told us it is exactly what she needed. She was talking about the same thing to her husband just the day before. The spirit works in mysterious ways sometimes.

Hope all of you stay warm this week!!!
Love, Sis. Bridges