The FINAL Chapter...

Hey family:


I can't believe this is the end. It is surreal to me to think that this is the last day of my mission. I am in shock. It can't be the end?! My mission has been life changing. I never thought I would have had the experiences which the Lord blessed me with. There are so many people which have forever changed my life this past 18 months. Each and every area there were people which helped me in more way than they can imagine. I am humbled by this wonderful opportunity to have met so many of my Brothers and Sisters.

The one thing that I have learned on my mission is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for EVERYONE. There is not a single person on the earth which would not qualify for the blessings of the Gospel. I wish more people would listen to it. I do know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that as we exercise our faith in Christ He will bless us with more than we can imagine. My mission has been such a tremendous blessing in my life. I can't imagine not being a full time missionary. It is going to be hard to get back into "normal" life but I know that the Lord will help me. The Lord is willing to help all of us as we turn to him.

I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and letter of support this past 18 months. Your prayers were answered and helped me be able to become the servant which the Lord expected me to be. I know I am not perfect but with your faithful prayers I felt of your love for this great work. Mom thanks for your fun packages and the testimony you shared each and every week in your letters. Dad I appreciated your advice and word of encouragement. Lex thanks for keeping me up to date on your life. You are the best twin I could have asked for! Amber thanks for your prayers. I am so humbled to have seen the way your life has changed for the good. It gave me a lot of hope when working with people who were lost in life. McKay thanks for your little notes of encouragement. Thanks to the rest of the family and friends for your letters and prayers. Most of all I would like to thank my Father in Heaven for bestowing His blessings upon me. I could not have done anything without the help of the Lord.

What a joyful time it has been to be in the service of the Lord. This is the greatest work anyone can be involved in!
Love ya!

Sis. Bridges

SNOWED IN....

Hi Family and Friends!
Yes, Mom, the big storms did hit us!!! On Wednesday afternoon at about 3:30 the storm began and lasted till the next morning. We got about a foot of snow. There is supposed to be an Ice/Snow storm this week~grrr. We spent a lot of time inside this week but still had an incredible week. The Lord has truly blessed us with many miracles.
We have been praying this entire week for help in accomplishing our goals and it worked! We were able to have investigators at church and get 3 member present lessons this week and find a new investigator. This work has blessed my life so much. I can't even imagine not being able to be a missionary. The Lord is in control of this great work. There are so many choice souls whose lives have been changed because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sis, Muhlestein and I were talking the other day about the impact our missions have had on our lives. A mission is extremely hard work but very rewarding. No other time in my life am i able to devote all my time and attention to serving the Lord. All day long as a missionary we focus on th needs of other people. Our needs come second. I'm so humbled for the outpouring of blessings that the Lord has given me this past 18 months. The people I have had the opportunity to teach have had a great impact on my life. The mission has taught me a lot about life in general. Serving others brings me so much joy. I have never been happier in my life. When things go wrong such as appointments falling through or people dropping us I trust that the Lord will bless those people and place us in the path of others He is preparing. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real. He suffered everything for us so that we can find joy. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Book of Mormon is the "most correct of any book on earth, and a man would get nearer to God than by abiding by its precepts than by any other book." (introduction to the Book of Mormon). The Book of Mormon answers every question of the soul that we face in life. It has been a huge influence in my life. I love it!
This week Linda came to church with her kids and so did Evah!! Evah is now on date to be baptized for March 5. We are still working with Linda to prepare her for Feb 19th. Her husband is not too thrilled so we are planning on working with him. The ward is doing a great job on fellowshipping and making her feel welcome at church. Evah has never been to Church before. There is nothing better than being with an investigator at church for the first time. So many members greeted her and made her feel welcome.
On Saturday we had a miracle lesson with Angela. Early that morning Sis. Suhaka called us up and said that Angela e-mailed her asking about us. She was wanting to meet with us again. We met with her at the Suhaka's home. What a powerful lesson. I love teaching investigators in member's homes. The spirit was very strong. Angela cried as she bore her testimony on how Christ has helped her in her life. She has been reading the BOM and is enjoying it. She is very concerned about keeping the sabbath day holy. Her family owns Butler's Orchard which is a great attraction. The weekends are there busiest time. There whole philosophy is to bring families together. They do a great job. Sis. Suhaka said that she shouldn't worry to much about it and to pray for help. Angela is very interested in hearing testimonies at fast and testimony meeting. Our lesson was the first half of the Plan of Salvation. She was very attentive and asked a lot of questions. There is nothing better than having an investigator ask all of the questions. She is really trying to understand everything.
Our new investigator is Elana Aulf. She is from Russia and has been in the US for about 7 years. She went to the Visitors Center and requested missionaries and a Russian BOM. We were able to deliver it ot her. She let us right in and explained how she is looking for a church. We invited her to come this week but she didn't come. She accepted baptism when she receives an answer. She is definitely seeking for the truth.

I am so grateful for the way in which the Lord blessed us this week. I'm thankful to be serving in such a great ward who is so missionary minded. I thankful for a wonderful companion, Sis. Muhlestein, who is so diligent. It is unreal to me that the end is so close....hard to even think about. Everything is really starting to pick up in Damascus. I love serving. I love each and every choice son and daughter of God whom we have been lead to to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Thanks for everything! Have and awesome week!!!!!

Love to you alll, Sis. Bridges

Ice Storm!

Last night we had something very unique happen. There was a ice storm!!! It was snowing when we went to bed and this morning when we woke up there was a thick solid sheet of ice on the car. It was crazy! It took us a long time to scrape off our car. But, after awhile, the roads were pretty clear so we were able to drive to district meeting.

This week has been great! We were able to teach a lot of lessons. We have a lot of investigators right now. I don't think I have ever taught so many people at one time. The Lord is blessing us so much. It is such a humbling experience. I love this work so much. The days are just flying by. Every night when the light goes off I am in shock that another day is ending. THE end is coming too quickly!!!
Here is an update on one of our wonderful investigators.....Her name is Linda Rutherford.


Holy cow what an amazing lesson we had with her this week! We started off by reading the BOM with her. She didnt' keep her reading commitment so we read 1 Nephi 2 with her. We weren't planning on reading this with her but it was exactly what she needed. The entire lesson was taught by her. As we were reading with her most of her concerns came out. There was a part in the chapter which talked about matching our actions with our desires. She said there were things she has been wanting to do for a long but never has done anything about it. While she was explaining her goals, I was praying for help on how to bring up baptism with her. I was thinking in my head a date for her and her kids to get baptized, I am ashamed to admit that my thought process was "I am ending my mission on the 23rd of Feb which is a Wednesday so the last Saturday would be the 19th." I extend the invitation for her to be baptized on the 19th and she accepted it! She went and looked on the calendar and noticed it was a 3 day weekend! PERFECT!!! She and her 3 daughters came to church on Sunday and seemed very happy to be there!  So, I will keep you posted....

Damascus Maryland~Photos

At the DC Temple with investigators

Alan's baptism Day -- Damascus, Maryland

Petting goats???!!



Sister Friends!



Not sure WHAT this mean?!



MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Where do I begin?! This week has been good and bad at the same time. Number wise we had a horrible week due to the fact that all of our appointments fell through. We were still in good moods cause we know that the Lord can see us working. It is still so much fun to serve with Sis. Muhlestein. She is a blast! This week on Wednesday we were trying to look for a potential investigator who lived in a town call Monrovia. While we were walking the wind was blowing so hard and our bodies were completely numb, the good thing about this entire situation is that we were laughing our heads off. Eventhough it is cold we were still working so that the spirit was with us. President sent all of the missionaries the funniest text this week it said "dress warm, work hard, and don't look at the thermometer" quoting from President Monson's biography. We laughed our heads off at his text. The high for that day was in the high 20's but with the wind chill said it was only 8 degrees.
The members of the ward are incredible! As I talked about in the e-mail last week the ward is doing a DVD delivery program in which the full time missionaries deliver Mr. Kreugar Chirstmas DVD to neighbors and friends of the member. It has been so much fun to do this. We emptied out a box of 50 and we have about 35-45 more names to deliver the to this week. The members have trusted us with so many of their neighbors and friends. It is such a humbling experience to do this. Whenever we give a DVD the member's friends are so appreciative of this gift. On Saturday night we went out with the Eakins family to deliver over 21 DVDs to friends in their nieghborhood. Some of the people were not home but most of them were. The two youngest boys were telling everyone that the DVD contained a message of the true meaning of christmas which is not about the presents we get or give to others but it is about the Savior. It was cute to hear their testimonies.
On sunday morning during missionary coordination meeting with all of the ward missionaries we were talking about the DVD and the success we have been having with it and Sis. Suhaka asked if we could go out with her after the meeting to deliver some DVDs to her friends. We were able to meet most of her friends. Sis. Suhaka debated on going to her friend Angela'a house but we did it anyway. Angela happened to be home for a few minutes before returing back to work and let us right in. Angela and Sis. Suhaka have been freinds for 23 years. Angela asked us about Jospeh Smith. We were able to share the First Vision with her. It was such a powerful lesson. The spirit was so strong. sis. Suhaka and Angela were both tearing up. The Lord has been preparing Angela to recieve the gospel. The DVD program has already had an inpact. I'm so humbled to be able to have been present in that lesson.
Hope you all have a wonderful week. LOVE YOU!!! 
Can't wait to talk on SATURDAY!!!!!

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

Regaining Focus...

We had such a great week! I can't believe that Stacia is done. How crazy is that?! Thanks for the update on your stake conference. Sounds like it was a great weekend. I just love stake conference. It sounds nerdy but it is so great to hear the leaders of the stake talk. Thanks for the wallet photos and card. Mom, you asked what I would like -- I would love a copy of the Conference Ensign if you get a chance.  I love to keep it near and read the talks over and over.  Plus a new Christmas CD would be awesome -- I loved the Hilary Weeks one from last year.  It isn't too cold quite yet but it is getting there. The highs are in the mid 40s to the mid 50s with it getting below freezing every night. Burrrr...
We had a specialized Training this week. Pretty much it was a Zone Conference. It was so powerful. The spirit was very strong in the meeting. It has helped me be able to re-gain focus on my purpose as a missionary. I hate to admit it but we have had a couple of hard weeks so my focus has decreased. Sometimes Satan tries his hardest to keep the work from progressing. The meeting helped me understand the need of qualifying for the spirit at ALL times in order to be an effective missionary. Since the meeting i have been more happy and being able to feel the spirit lead us to those who are seeking for the truth. In the meeting we talked about the importance of asking inspired questions and it really does work. The spirit will prompt us to ask the questions we need to extend to our investigators to allow them to make the gospel a greater focus in their life.
The day of the training I woke up with the impression that we needed to visit the Brumbaugh's. All throughout the training I was thinking about them and felt impressed to go see them later that evening. We had plans which caused us to be in another part of the area so I thought we could see them the next day. As we were going through our plans after the training they were falling through. The spirit almost screamed at me to visit the Brumbaugh's. I told Sis. Barber that we needed to go visit them. When we arrived to the Brumbaugh's, Idette answered the door, Idette is Frank's wife. She let us right in and said that she usually isn't home at this time of the day. We sat down and had a great lesson with her. She is definitely interested in the gospel for her family. We had a powerful lesson and were able to use a lot of the teaching techniques we practiced in the training. We were prompted to ask inspired questions which opened Idette right up. The spirit is so powerful and does all of the heavy lifting in the lessons. All we have to do as missionaries is qualify for it.
I love this work! It is magical!!   Love you all -- Sister B

From baptism to temple

Sister Bridges was able to attend the temple with Jane last week, who also happened to be her first baptism in Petersburg, West Virginia.  Jane asked Lerin to be her escort.  What a beautiful experience it was for both of them - miracles and blessings of the gospel were evident for both Lerin and Jane on that perfect day in the Washington D.C. temple.

Last weekend another invesigator, Alan was baptized.  Lerin said that the ward is being wonderful and helping him to adjust to life as a member of the church.  He is happy and the light of Christ is shining inside him. 

Release Date is on the books!

Sister Bridges is getting released on Feb 23rd - her dads birthday!  Of course we expected her to come home in January - but she and her President felt otherwise.....sigh.  She left on my birthday and is getting released on her dad's birthday~~what fun gifts for us both.  Lynn and I are heading out to Maryland to pick her up, so she may not arrive back home until a few days after the 23rd.  She is excited for us to meet the many people she has grown to love so much, we are thrilled that we get such an opportunity to watch and observe our cute missionary in the field. 

Here is a tidbit from her last letter... 
Sorry about not e-mailing yesterday but the libraries were closed around here for Columbus Day. I forgot to mention that to you last week. This week was so much fun! I was on exchanges with Sis. Buchanan from my MTC group from Monday to Thursday while our companions were in a 3 day long leadership training. The leadership training is for all of the DL and ZL but they invite some of the Sisters as well. All the sisters get a chance to participate, which is awesome!  While they were gone, it was fun to be in a new area with a good mission friend. We were able to get a lot of good work in and comitted two people for a baptismal within 3 hours of each other. The work in the mission is outstanding. With the baptisms this past weekend we have tied our year mark last year of baptisms. Our goal as a mission is to get 300 baptisms and we are well on our way of accomplishing it.


The most amazing and best part of this week was being with Jane Halterman at the DC temple. What a humbling experience it was to be Jane's escort in the temple. When walking into the temple I felt like I was going home. It was such a peaceful feeling. During the endowment session Jane was fully concentrating. She was eating it all up. She has been prepared for this since day one~when we met over a year ago, I felt like she was just waiting for us and the gospel. It was a wonderful opportunity to see someone get baptized then a year later go through the temple. I have attached some photos of the temple. Sis. Hales and Byers were able to be there as well as Bishop & Sis. Kimble and their daughter in law Lucy Kimble. (By the way parents....I am taking you to Petersburg WV to attend church when you come pick me up in February -- Bishop and Sis Kimble said we could stay at their house!)
On that note -- my release date is Feb 23rd. It is weird to know the exact date -- too much still to do out here! FEB 23rd -- Happy Brithday to Dad!!!! How funny is that?! I will leave on mom's birthday and get home on Dad's! I 'm so sad about Stone. I was hoping he would still be around when I got home. He almost made it through. Glad you were able to see the Morgans! Thanks for the fun packages! Are you trying to fatten me up?! But it was very much appreciated and the Elders in my district loved it as well. We brought some of the candy to district meeting today. 

LOVE you all so much ~ Sis. B

The Yangs were baptized!

Talofa Family:
It is true, Brother and Sister Yang got baptized on Sunday!!! Crazy story...two weeks ago on Sunday in between Sunday school and relief society Sis. Yang and Sis. Lin were talking in Chinese to each other. Sis. Yang was inviting us over to a Chinese lunch on Friday and at the end she said that her and her husband wanted to get baptized sometime in September and wanted to know when. Sis. Lin was shocked and leaned over to tell me. I freaked out (as expected) and said NEXT WEEK! We were both blown out of the water. An investigator asking us when they could get baptized. That never happens. Later on Sunday I had to call President to ask if I could go to Gage's funeral and told him about the yangs. He was reacting like a little kid on Christmas Morning.. excited, shocked, giddy and couldn't believe it at first! On Monday after the funeral we went to visit Sis. Yang to give her the baptismal questions. She was so nervous for the interview but she passed with flying colors. During lunch on Friday we asked what caused the change of heart in which she went on to tell us they have been wanting to get baptized for a long time but were worried about the information they have heard from their friends and on the Internet about the church. The more they interacted with the members and came to church they realized everything they had heard was false. The members are actually good people and the doctrines taught in church were true. Their baptism on Sunday was very special. The spirit was extremely strong and there was great support from the ward. The primary room was packed. Mandy, their 14 year old daughter, was touched by the experience as well. She is wanting to get baptized now. We need to work with her a little bit but it will happen before the month ends. What a remarkable experience it is to bring families into the gospel. The Yangs are going to be an eternal family. This gospel changes lives on a continual basis.

Gage McIntyre: 3 weeks ago on Sunday night Gage was riding his bike on a dark road and a car hit him head on causing Gage to fly to the ground and pass out. He was immediately flown to John's Hopkins and put on life support for 3 days. After many tests he was categorized at being brain dead. On Wednesday afternoon he was confirmed dead. I didn't find out about the accident till Wednesday night. I was shocked and speechless. Sis. Hales (who was also trained by Sis. Lindsey and one of my best mission friends) told me the news. Both of us got really close to the McIntyre family while serving on Kent Island. The McIntyre's were my second family. Sis. McIntyre was Mamma McIntyre, Gage was the annoying but incredibly funny little brother and Desiree was my Sister. The McIntyre's did so much for us and were trying to have the missionaries move in with them. We had a lot of fun on Monday nights with FHE and great dinners.

Gage's funeral was such a bitter sweet experience. It was great to see the branch members as well as the McIntyre family but it was under horrible circumstances. during the drive to Annapolis I was pretty composed but the moment we pulled up to the Stake Center and saw the hearse in the parking lot I got a real sick to my stomach type of feeling. I couldn't walk into the chapel for a number of minutes, as I walked into the chapel and saw his casket I lost it. Gage was a huge skate boarder and the way his friends showed their respects was covering his casket in skate boarding stickers. Minutes before the funeral started a group of his friends went up to the casket to put their stickers on. At that moment I started bawling. The funeral service was amazing. the entire chapel was packed with non-members. A lot of Gage's friends showed up as well as extended family. President Robinson, Kent Island Branch President, and President McConckie, Annapolis Stake President who happens to be the Nephew of Bruce R. McConckie, spoke. There was such a peaceful feeling in the room. President McConckie is a very powerful speaker who has a close relationship with the McIntyres. He spoke on the resurrection and brought up a good point I would like to share. He referred to the story of Christ raising Lazarus from the dead. He said this miracle is something we were all praying would happen to Gage; he would suddenly wake up from his "sleep." But it didn't happen, instead Gage is with our Heavenly Father smiling down on us. Pres. McConckie said that when Lazarus was raised from the dead he was still subject to all kinds of diseases, bruises, scares, and uncertainties which we are surrounded with every minute of every day. Gage is never going to be surrounded by this. When Gage, and all of us, raise again from the dead, or in other words resurrected we will be perfect in every form. NOTHING will happen to us.

The week I found out about Gage's death, and things going on at home made the week hard for me. We worked anyways, it was comforting to me to know that the work much go on. The Lord blessed us with a Celestial week last week. We got amazing numbers in Member Present lessons as well as Investigators at Sacrament Meeting. We worked our hind ends off and it brought in lots of miracles. The week ended with the wonderful baptism. The Lord does provide when you continue on in righteous pursuits. We were able to find another family to teach as well as got a solid member referral.

The Udalls who live in the ward invited us over for dinner to meet their former next-door neighbor Karen. Karen is a single mom of an adorable 5 year old daughter who now lives in Pennsylvania. Karen had ordered a BOM off of the TV when she was a kid but her mom forbid her to read it. Sis. Udall built a good friendship with Karen and talked about the church with her. Karen even came to a ward activity in the summer and enjoyed herself. We had a great lesson on the BOM and she committed to read it. She was excited to have a copy of her own. Right now she doesn't go to a church but was raised catholic. She has great spirit about her. We had to rush off to another appointment so the lesson was brief but it seemed to touch her. After we left Karen watched the Restoration DVD with the Udalls and was very touched by it. She wants to continue to meet with us.

We also found another Chinese couple to teach. Kind of a funny story...Last friday was Chinese day. We had a lunch scheduled with Sis. Yang and dinner with the Cheung family ( who are obviously Chinese). Before lunch we had planned to check on a former investigator who was from China, named Han. We had called Han a couple of times but never were able to set up an appointment. We decided to stop by and he happened to be home. We had a great lesson with him. He is lost and is going through a hard time financially. He is an unemployed accountant but is able to get little side jobs from different individuals. His wife is going to nursing school and their son is in his last year in high school. He has a lot of respect for the church and enjoys the missionary visits. He seems a little uncommitted but we were able to have a good meeting with him. On Friday during companionship studies we got a media referral on our cell phone from a woman who requested a BOM while visiting temple square and guess were she is from.....CHINA! How funny is that?! On Chinese day we get a media referral from a Chinese woman! We were only able to meet her husband. He is extremely nice and is in his last year of graduate school in getting is MBA. They will be moving back to china when the school year is over. He was excited for us to meet his wife, who still is out of town visiting the west coast.

With all of this great work going on the Lord has said my work is done. I am getting transferred on Wednesday. Just as everything is picking up and the work is on FIRE I get whipped out of the area. Oh well. I'm at peace right now in knowing that the Yangs got baptized. Nothing else matters. I'm excited to see were I will be going. If I have time on Wednesday I will write a quick e-mail with my new address.
Love you all~

Mormon Night at Camden Yard and Ace of Cakes!

August 22. 2010


This week was so much fun! It was a blast to spend the day with Sis. Baice on exchanges. She is having a hard time right now with her companion so it was great to be able to talk. Mormon Night at Camden Yards was so much fun! This was the first time in a year that we were able to just hang out with a whole bunch of missionaries and not get in trouble for it! The only time I watched the game was the final two plays other than that I had no clue what was going on. So many of my friends from the mission were there, some I haven't seen in about a year or so. Jane Halterman from Petersburg was there as well. We talked for a long time. In 7 weeks she is going to to the Temple. How exciting!!! I can't wait for that day. It is going to be very special.
Here is a low down of our progressing investigators:
Karl Roberson and Carrie Backert: Early last week Karl got involved in a hit and run accident while riding his bike to work. The SUV which hit Karl drove away immediately after the accident. Karl flew 40 ft over his handle bars causing him to now be in a neck brace with a bruised and swollen face. This accident humbled both of them. Carrie really wants to get baptized. She appreciates how the members have reached out to both of them in their time of need. We had such a great lesson with them. Ever since meeting with them the first time I have been confused on how to bring up the law of Chasity and the best way to explain the need for them to get married or live separately in order for Carrie to get baptized. While in Petersburg we handled this situation the wrong way which caused our investigator to get offended. Recently in some training President Belliston suggested to use the Family Proclamation to teach the law of Chasity; something I have never thought of doing. It worked!!! The lesson was extremely spiritual. While explaining that the Bishop could marry them and in a year they could be sealed in the temple the spirit entered into the room. I felt a confirmation that marriage is going to happen for them. They agreed to pray and weigh out both options then give us an answer at our next appointment. Karl has an interview scheduled with the Bishop for next week to discuss marriage and his living situation. While at church Carrie was more at ease and really enjoyed herself.

Yang Family: They are still not on date for baptism. Last night we were able to have a FHE lesson with them at the Cheung home. It was so much fun! They really enjoyed themselves. Our focus with them is to build their faith. We have completed all of the commandments and are in need of helping them realize blessings from following the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have to be patient with them, something you all know I struggle with thanks to the genes past down from Mom and Dad (I still love ya!). It is hard because as a missionary we want the results to happen fast, before we leave an area or during the transfer to say we got a baptism, but everything with the Lord has to be on His timetable, not ours. The Yangs have been prepared from day one. They enjoy everything about the church and haven't missed one single Sunday for over 2 months. We now have to get them to read and pray daily. To help them recognize answers to their prayers.

Last week we knocked into a Burmese family!!! They are letting us come back tonight! I'm so excited!!!!! This area is booming with families. In my other areas I haven't had the opportunity to teach so many families. It is tons of fun!!!!  The church is so true!
Last night we had a dinner appointment with a new family who moved into the ward. They have been in the Inner Harbor ward for two years and ended up moving just outside the ward boundaries and into our ward. They are great! It was fun to get to know them better. Their row home is the cutest! Amber you would love it! It is right in downtown Baltimore and is green on the outside. Mom guess what happens to be only a block away from them.....CHARM CITY CAKES! During dinner I mentioned my goal of finding Charm City Cakes to take a picture for mom and they said it is only a block away. So after dinner we went on a walk with them to take pictures. It is in a stone building with all of the windows covered in black paper. Nothing too unusual. The members LOVE Ace of Cakes so it was fun for them to move into the neighborhood!

Love you all!

Ace of Cakes!

Sister Bridges finally found "Charm City Cakes" -- TLC's Ace of Cakes place!  I told her that was one of her goals when she received her call to Baltimore!

MORMON NIGHT at Camden Yards -- "Go Orioles!"

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."

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

Transfer to the City

Lerin is now in the "city" and is serving with Sister Baice, from Samoa.  She loves her new companion and she is teaching Sister Bridges Samoan!  She was sad to leave Kent Island because she and her companion, Sister Vaughan had committed five for baptism and then "poof" she gets transfered!  Below are a few photos of her experience on Kent Island...

Transfer News!

Talofa!

It was GREAT talking to you yesterday!!!! Mom wanted me to write my thoughts down about the first couple of days here in the Cockeysville area and my last days on Kent Island.

There were many miracles which occurred during my last week on the island. On Friday we were able to get FIVE people on date for baptism. Janene Schnieder committed to get baptized on May 29th and Cliff Johnson committed for the 29th as well. On Friday we were able to also spend the day with the Zone Leaders. They wanted to see how the work is going on the Island and because they are elders and we are sisters, we couldn't go on exchanges with them so they decided to come on our appointments with us. We had 20 minutes before our dinner appointment and decided to check up on a potential investigator that Sis. Lindsey and Sis. Dean knocked into, her name is Anna Jackson. We have tried a number of times to catch her at home but were never successful. We finally caught her on a good day. Anna was home as well as her college age daughter who was moving home from college for the summer as well as her 19 year old son. An hour later they all committed to be baptized. It was such a humbling experience to be lead to the Jackson family and witness this miracle. I am humbled to be in the service of the Lord. Kent Island has been such a blessing. I love the members and the people I have met here. It is going to be hard to leave. The area was "dead" for a very long time now it is on fire! We have 5 people on date plus many other progressing investigator. The Lord will provide a way if our desires to serve Him are righteous.

Oh my goodness I feel so blessed to now be in Cockeysville! It is extremely different than Kent Island or the country and I LOVE IT!!!! Pretty much Sis. Baice is the coolest companion ever. She is legit Samaon from Samoa, so she is teaching me Samoan which is tons of fun! She has a solid testimony of the gospel and is very diligent. There is a lot of good things that are happening right now.

When I found out that I was going to Cockeysville, the closest Sister's area to Baltimore City, I was a little nervous. Could I handle the city life and the people who are not as friendly as country people? How would I be able to adapt to the new changes? All of my concerns were washed away as soon as I arrived to the area. The spirit comforted me and I knew that this is were I am supposed to be. It was extremely sad to leave Kent Island after recently committing 5 people to baptism but this is were the Lord wants me to be at this point in time. I am humbled by this new assignment to serve in the city.

Yesterday we had a great appointment with Jared. Sis. Baice and Muehelstein knocked into him a couple of weeks ago and he accepted a BOM. He was raised Catholic but hasn't been to church in a number of years. We had a great lesson on the importance of the BOM. He kept his commitments of reading Mosiah 10 and even highlighted verses that stuck out to him. During the lesson he had a lot of questions about the BOM and we were able to answer them. He took notes and was highlighting verses during the lesson...it was GREAT! We are meeting with him next week and are planning on committing him to baptism. Justin said that he likes meeting with us because of the good, happy feelings he receive. I told him that those feelings are the spirit of God testifying to him of the truths of the gospel. He is a great guy who is in need of the gospel.

There is a lot of potential here. The ward is HUGE compared to the branches I have served in it up to this point. The members are willing to help out with missionary work, so that is so great. There are going to be a lot of miracles happening as long as we remain diligent. I love this work so much!

Love to you all, Sis. Bridges or "Uso Vaitafe"

Kent Island

My cute Sister Bridges FINALLY sent some photos on a CD this week--although one of the CD's WOULDN'T OPEN any of the photos...grrr..... I am going to send Lerin a flash drive this week for her to use instead of the unreliable semi-outdated CD! 
Enjoy.....

I found my brother's own road!

The US Naval Academy

The McIntyre Family - Stevensville, MD -- FHE!

A Cool Hat I found in Baltimore

Eating OYSTERS for the first time with a member family -- No, they were NOT GOOD!

Bill's baptism -- Stevensville, MD.  What a great day!

A few snipets of Lerin's latest letter....
Oh my goodness I love missionary work! We had such an amazing week! I am so humbled to be a part of this work of miracles. What a blessing it is to serve in the Maryland Baltimore Mission at this time. The success of the week is in large part to the council received at Zone Conference this past week. Every day we made it a goal to update our area book and that has made all of the difference. We have been making it a point to have kneeling prayer every time whenever possible and pray on behalf of our investigators. It has made all of the difference. I know I have been negative in the past about our area with the different issues but I love serving on Kent Island. There are great things that are happening. We are gaining the trust of the members and have received many referrals this past week with some team-ups planned for later this week.
 

Something exciting happened on Saturday. We were asked by our Branch Mission leader, Bro. Bishop, to attend a community Easter party held by Kevin Philpot. Kevin has been doing this Easter party for 20 years out of the goodness of his own heart. Bro. Bishop writes for the local newspaper and was asked to do a story on the event. While interviewing Kevin, the topic of religion came up in conversation. Kevin indicated he is looking for a church to take his grandchildren to. Bro. Bishop immediately bore testimony of the gospel and told Kevin that we as missionaries could come and teach him more about the church. Kevin accepted. We met him at the Easter party and were able to get his contact information to set up an appointment for this week.  Yippee!!!

More and more miracles like this are starting to happen. I have a firm testimony that the Lord will bless us as we show our diligence and love for our brothers and sisters. I love serving and am grateful for the blessing that the Lord has given me this week and hope and pray that He will continually help us as we remain worthy of the spirit.

Conference was Amazing!

HELLO EVERYONE!


Oh my goodness it has been such a great week! It started off a little depressing but it has gotten better and better as it progressed. Here is a breakdown of the week (I'm going to start doing this from now on):

Monday: Since we were over on our allotted miles for the month we had to stay on the Island for P-day. That evening it was Sis. McIntyre's birthday so we had a party for her. We went over early to help Desiree cook dinner and make the cake. It was so much fun. We all sang happy birthday and decorated the house. It was the first time in many years that the house was decorated for Sis. McIntyre's b-day. Later that evening in the dark after it had been raining all day we jumped on the tramp in our skirts and played with their new pit bull puppy. Man it felt good to jump on the tramp.

Tuesday: It was very cold 44 degrees and raining cats and dogs. We had district meeting as normal then we had to park the car because we were over on miles. So we walked in the rain of course! I had a 3/4 lenght shirt on with a long sleeve shirt and a sweater under my rain coat and I still got soaked down to the garments. It was FREEZING but tons of fun. I kept telling Sis. Vaughan if I wasn't on a mission I would be in the crappiest mood right now but we were laughing the entire time. We were not able to talk to anyone on our list.

Wednesday: We had to do some planning in the morning then we were on foot the rest of the day. Something amazing happened...the sun came out and it was 68 degrees. Walking wasn't as bad that day. We even got a little sunburn. Even though we were walking all day the results were the same as the day before..no one home and no one interested in the gospel.

Thursday: What a great day! We were able to have breakfast at our branch mission leader's home and go out on two appointments with him that morning. After two days of no teaching it felt good to visit people and invite the spirit in their homes. After the appointments we found a new investigator and were able to set up an appointment with them this week and we had contact with a former investigator but it doesn't end there...We went tracking in a nearby town and were able to meet some nice people. Then we visited with some members and were able to have dinner with them and share a message with their little kids. On our way back home we said goodbye to the McIntyre's before they left on their spring break vacation to Florida. That evening we visited with some members and played with their cute little pug puppies. Oh my I have never seen anything so cute in my life. They were Little fur balls and were running around EVERYWHERE! I wanted to take one home with me. Amber you would have loved them. I took plenty of pictures of them for you, Ams.

Friday: We met with Charles and Vivian in the morning and received some bad news. Charles is renting an apartment in Pittsburgh for 8 weeks while he is receiving radiation treatment. Vivian will be with him on the weekends. Charles is going to be fine but it will falter their progression in the gospel. We were really working hard with them to have them on date for next month. That evening we were able to have dinner with the Schneider. It was a great visit with Karl and Janene. I just love them so much. We had a great conversation with Janene about the temple.
Conference: There were numerous times throughout conference were the spirit touched me so much that I got goosebumps throughout my entire body. I loved it so much. I could talk about it all day. Unfortunately I only have 2 minutes left on the computer.

All in all it was such a powerful week. I love all of you so much!

March 2, 2010

This week has been crazy! We had a very humbling experience to say in the least. The week started off pretty good then Wednesday hit and everything went downhill. We had four appointments set up for Wednesday and all of them were no-shows. The appointments we set up just two day prior were cancelled due to health issues. Even our meal appointment had to cancel. For 3 days in a row we visited over 15 people and they were either not home or not interested in learning more about the gospel. The funny thing is that I studied about the Christlike attribute of Patience this week. I guess the Lord was wanting to test my patience. I apologized to Sis. Vaughan about that. She was funny and told me not to study that topic again!

Even though we had a tough week we were still able to keep in good spirits. Sis. Vaughan is fantastic! I love her so much! We are working well together. A positive of the week is that Bill's baptism in getting closer and closer. This Sunday we will be teaching him his last lesson and his baptism in on the 13th. He is so excited and we are too! This past week he has been sharing the gospel with his family. He is going to be a great member of the church.

Sorry this letter is so short but there is not much to talk about this week. Next letter will be very detailed because we already have lots of appointments lined up. The Lord was just testing us on how committed we are to sharing the gospel.

You asked about Kent Island and how far we are from Annapolis. We are about 10 miles west of Annapolis and the Naval Academy. We are in the Annapolis stake and the Annapolis district so every Tuesday we cross the Bay Bridge (a 4 mile long bridge that leads to and from the Island) to go to district meeting and most of the time we get together as a district or a zone on P-days. It is great to get together with the Elders to play on Mondays! Also one other cool thing is that the Navy football coach is a member of the church.

There is another fun thing that happened this week. Every Monday we go to FHE at the McIntyre's house. They are so much fun! Last week we had a carnival. They decorated the house and each member of the family was in charge of a game. They have had a rough family situation with Sis. McIntyre almost ready to divorce her husband who is not a member and not supportive of the church. A year ago they were less active and now they are fully re-activated and enjoying the blessings of the gospel. Sis. McIntyre is preparing to enter the temple this summer with her oldest daughter Desiree who is preparing for a mission.

The gospel truly does bless our families. How grateful I am for the blessings of the gospel. I love all of you so much!
Love,
Sis. Bridges

Snow, Snow and more SNOW!

What a crazy couple of weeks. Sorry about last week. All of the libraries were closed due to the snow and then I never had a chance to e-mail the rest of the week.

Monday morning was supposed to be call-outs. Call-outs are when we find out about transfers, who is going and who is staying. We had a good feeling that Sis. Byers was leaving but I was a nervous wreck all day. Due to the snow, call-outs didn't happen till monday evening. Then monday night at 9:15 we found out that there was going to be an emergency transfer meeting the next morning at 9. Sis. Byers didn't have time to say goodbye to anyone. It was sad for her. Then at 10:15 monday night President Belliston called me and extended the call to serve as a trainer. I accepted the call then FREAKED OUT. Training at 6 months is nuts! I had a feeling that it would happen but never thought it would REALLY happen this soon. So Transfers were Tuesday morning and the greenies flight got cancelled and re-scheduled for thursday.

President Belliston let Sis. Lindsey and I spend a few days together before she headed back home to STG. Due to the huge snow storm that was coming our way tuesday evening and all of Wednesday President didn't want the both of us to be stranded in Kent Island so he had us stay at the mission home. I was so excited but the only problem was I didn't have a change of clothes. So all week I had to borrow Sis. Lindsey's clothes. It was tons of fun to be stranded at the mission home for a few days but at the same time it was hard. I was there with 4 missionaries who were going home.....which was great for the morale...NOT! I felt like my mission was over and I was flying home with them, it was weird! President and Sis. Belliston kept on asking me if I was okay then I would give some funny remark back. I just LOVE both of them dearly. Although, it was very weird to see President in sweats!

Tuesday evening we went to Baltimore City. We went to the famous Lexington Market and had some crab cakes. I LOVE seafood (what is up with that?)!!! Wednesday we were stranded all day inside. The snow kept on coming and coming. It was INSANE! The snow was well above my waist. We would jump off the deck and land in it. One of the Elders was doing back flips off of the deck and landing in the snow.

Friday I finally got paired up with my new "daughter"....SISTER VAUGHAN. She is so cute! She is from Great Falls, Montana and is a twin! She has a twin brother. We are getting a long so well. She just turned 22 in the MTC and is going to be a nurse. She is completely fearless. Knocking doesn't bother her. We have had some good times already. I can't wait to see what we can accomplish this transfer. I love her already!~! Yeah!

Just to let all of you know it is snowing right now again. I am starting to get a little sick of the snow. Oh well!!!!

I would like to thank all of you for the cute love notes that were found in my Valentine's package from home!!! It was so great to hear from so many friends and family!!! Thanks so much for the continued support. Serving a mission has been the best decision I have made thus far in my life. It is such blessing to be the Lord's representative.

Love you all, Sis. B