11 months .... wha??

This. Week. Was. AWESOME!

It was so exciting to talk to ya'll!  Definitely the highlight of the week (: 

I can't believe how deep Wy's voice is! AH! I've been dying over his 

impersonations...hahaha. Especially the Owen Wilson one..hahaha.

So we weren't allowed to proselyte on Christmas Eve or on Christmas. 

So, on Christmas Eve, the zone got together and played volleyball, 

basketball, and a few of us played Cranium..that was fun! We also 

had a white elephant exchange..someone got that farting putty stuff...

that entertained Sister Earnshaw, Elder Howells, and Elder Rodrigues,

 and I for most of the day..hahaha. It was great.

Christmas was great.
We had breakfast with the Morrey's. Sister Morrey is from Riverton, 

and Brother Morrey is from Murray! haha.  So, we bonded, obviously.

 (MOMS NOTE: I'm from Riverton and John is from Murray)  

We had lunch with the Webb's, which is where we skyped, as well. 

That was fun. We watched Frozen....again. haha. Then we had dinner 

with the Dickson's. That was fun! We played Settlers of Cataan...

I guess it's a game that Mormons like..?  I figured, since I'm Mormon, 

I should play it..

Okay, miracle time!

Our Investigator. We've been working with her a lot, on and 

off. She's been going through a lot.  To numb her pain, she had 

been drinking and smoking.  She wasn't willing to keep any of the 

commitments we extended to her. So we had to hold off with her. 

BUT THEN.
She called us, telling us about an experience she had while praying.

She felt the Holy Ghost! We set up an appointment for the day after 

Christmas. We went over, and she was back to square one.  We 

talked with her for a long while, trying to figure out how we could help 

her, but she wasn't willing to change.  

She kept calling us several times a day, but we couldn't help her, as 

heart breaking as it was. 

WELL. 

She called us yesterday, during the day, and had told us that she felt 

horrible.  She felt like she had hit rock bottom. She purposely hung up 

on us, because she was tired of crying to us. After trying to call her 

back a couple of times, we debated and questioned if we should go over...

We both felt that we needed to be with her.  The day before she had 

called us her friends.. If we were to be her missionary best friends, 

and a representative of Christ, we had to go over. 

When we got there, she was sitting in the dark, smoking and drinking.

We sat down, after turning on a light, and listened to her. She really 

opened up.  We told her what she needed to do, and that was to do the 

things we had already invited her to do.. read the Book of Mormon, pray,

live the word of wisdom.  She agreed to keep reading and praying.  

I asked her if we could take her alcohol and ciggs. She looked at me like 

I had chopped her arm off.  It was a battle. She wanted to give it to us, 

but then she didn't.  In the end, she wanted to keep them so she could 

make the decision to not drink them.. it didn't make sense to me, but the 

Spirit was telling me to not push.  To just do what she felt she needed.

We agreed to leave them. BUT, in the middle of discussing all of it, she 

just started to laugh! Not even a fake laugh, either.  A REAL laugh! More 

than once!  I've been here for almost 4 weeks, and have never seen her even 

smile.  We all laughed together.  She felt a lot better, you could visibly see 

the change.  

We called her later that night to check up on her. Before hanging up I asked 

her if she drank and smoked anything since we left. She said that she had a 

swallow, but she didn't feel like drinking it any more, so she went to bed.

WHAT?!?! That was so good! Such progress!  

While on the phone she told us all of these things that had 'clicked' in her 

head because of our talk.  We are so excited to work with her more, and to 

see her grow in the Gospel!  I'm excited to see her live up to her great potential!

Now the Funny stuff...

I keep scaring Sister Mecham. We'll turn off the lights for the night,

then she'll get up to go to the bathroom, then I hide, she comes out,

and all I have to say is "BOO!" and she screams. haha. 

My favorite was the other night. I stood right outside of the bathroom door, 

when she opened it I whispered "boo.." she jumped so hard, and said 

"I hate you so much right now!"  

hahahaha. 

That's it for this week!

Sorry, this is a pretty lengthy one!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Also, there's photos attached to this email!

Photo 1: Me, keeping tradition. Picture next to the Christmas tree in my pjs! 

 

Photo 2: I feel so blessed! This is a combination of friends, family, and 

ward members! Heavenly Father definitely has put people in my life who 

are WONDERFUL! (:

Photo 3: This is what President and Sister Richards gave us all. 

Cool huh?! I love it.

December 22, 2014

THREE. DAYS. TILL. CHRISTMAS!!!!

I am so excited to talk to my family!

Alright..this week has been great!

From Tuesday to Thursday morning, we went on exchanges. 

Sister Duke came here, to Columbia 2, with me! We had way 

too much fun! After exchanging back on Thursday morning,

we had Specialized Training, aka a meeting that you get
really hyped and nervous about, only because you teach 

your President. Yeah, no big deal.  It went so well!

We've been focusing on making our lessons 10 minutes long.

Which, is difficult...I mean, try to explain the Plan of Salvation 
in 10 minutes. President is wanting to truly simplify our 

teachings. Sister Mecham and I were assigned to teach the 

Gospel of Jesus Christ. To be honest..we only role played it twice..

But we did so good! (Not to be prideful)  But, I am so proud of us! 

We have a great teaching pattern together.  President even used us 

as an example of awesomeness! I promise I'm not bragging...

I'm just so darn proud of us!

Saturday, we went down to the temple with the Webb's and Janae 

(a nonmember). She's 12 years old, and is adorable! We went to one 

of the concerts at the Visitor Center. It was fantastic!

Last night, we went to the temple again! With another member family 

and their nonmember friend! It was very last minute, but was awesome!

Today...

Preparation day...

President gave us all permission to watch G rated Christmas movies,

only during this week, though! 

Well...our zone chose....brace yourselves...

FROZEN. 

That's right.  I watched it. 

Not only that...  I loved it. 

Olaf is my favorite. I laughed so hard. 

It took a lot of humility to admit that!

I can literally hear Amy saying "I TOLD YOU SO!!"

(NOTE FROM MOM: She absolutely refuses to watch movies that 

people freak out about, it takes her a while, she still won't admit to 

liking Tangled.  I forced her to watch that one with me. haha I wonder 

where she gets that stubbornness from? :D)

Oh! Another fun fact about this week..

Saturday was my 1 year mark of receiving my call! 

I'll be sending photos (:

I LOVE YOU FAMILY!

3 days till we get to see each other's faces! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Love, Sister Casidee Brinkerhoff

P.S.

Photo 1: This is our new car. His name is Andre. He's a 2015 Chevy Cruze.  No big deal.

Photo 2: Probably the biggest christmas tree I've ever seen....

Photo 3: Me and Brenda at her BAPTISM!!! :D

Photo 4:  Our tiny little christmas tree! Cute, huh?

Photo 5:  Hot chocolate that is to be used for Entertainment purposes only...?

Photo 6:  Proof that I watched it!  Also...all of the songs are stuck in my head...

Photo 7:  Sister Mecham and I.

Photo 8:  Sister Mecham and I.

Photo 9: The cutest, littlest, pit bull I've ever seen. Her name is Sticks. (: 

Found her at the same house as the huge Christmas tree!

December 17th

Hey Family (:

This week has been great!

I've had so much fun getting to know the Columbia 2nd ward.  This 

ward is huge...well, compared to wards out here. It's like the size of 

small ward in Utah. 

The Ward Christmas party was this past Saturday.  I met our 

investigator, Viola and her husband Jon..he's a member.  They're so 

cool. They have the cutest little boy, named Jack.  Jon and I bonded 

over guitars and St. George.  He has 2 nephews who graduated from 

DHS. 

It was funny..on Sunday, the 1st councilor in the bishopric was 

conducting  sacrament meeting. While he was speaking, I was looking 

around,  ya know, people watching, thinking about plans we have for 

this ward, when I hear him say "and now we'd like to invite our 2 new 

missionaries up, Elder Mason and Sister Brinkerhoff, to bear their

testimonies.."  uhhh...that caught my attention real fast. He could tell, 

too. I dunno, maybe you had to be there...it was funny, though!

Oh, we've started this game called "Count how many times someone 

asks me if I'm from Germany, speak German, or if my name is German". 

...I've lost count. But, there's this guy in the ward, both Sundays, he comes 

up to me and calls me Schwester Brinkerhoff, and says something in 

German, all I can do is smile and nod. haha. Oh man...I love my name. 

It provides great entertainment! 

I'm so excited for Christmas. 

We're getting a little Christmas tree today! Hopefully...(:

OH! My goodness...how could I forget to include this.  Yesterday night, 

we get a call from a number that I recognized, but couldn't place. It was 

the Charles Town Sisters! Sister Newhouse says "Sister Brinkerhoff, I have 

someone here who wants to talk to you..."  I hear this "Hey baby girl!"

I'm obviously confused...cause that's what my mom calls me.  I reply with 

this quite befuddled "Heyyyy...?" She says "It's Brenda!" I, of course,

remember she calls me baby girl, too! haha. Well. Let me brief you on 

Brenda. She is the Ward Mission Leader's wife. She has been coming to 

church for 12 years, but has never been baptized.  While I was serving 

there, I knew she would get baptized, I just wasn't sure of when. WELP. 

That is why she called me! She said.. "K, listen listen...here's the deal. I'm 

getting baptized tomorrow night at 7:30.  I told President that I want you 

there. Can you come?"  UHM. DUH! haha. THIS IS A MIRACLE! I'm so excited. 

We are scrambling to find an investigator or less active member to go with 

us, so we can go!  We have a ride...just not an inv or la!  We've even tried 

people from Glen Burnie and Baltimore! Sister Mecham is in the process of

finding someone from Berryville, which would be perfect, because Berryville 

is 15 minutes away from C-Town. I'm so giddy! I can't even stand it!!!! (:

Well. That's about it for this week.

I LOVE YOU ALL! Talk to you soon ;)

<3/Sister Casidee Ann Brinkerhoff

Cat Boogers

Hey family (:

Big news. 

I'm being transferred, to the Columbia 2nd ward, 

my companion will be Sister Mecham.  I'm excited!

But, I'm heart broken to leave my Glen Burnie. It's 

actually really hard, because they're closing the area 

to Sisters.  There's only going to be 1 set of Elders.

This transfer is crazy. They're taking us out, AND 

taking the Elders out, and putting 2 new Elders in.

Not going to lie, it's really hard for me to leave...

but, I know that the Lord needs me elsewhere. 

After going to bed last night, pretty upset, I woke 

up this morning with the song, "I'll go where you 

want me to go.." stuck in my head.  Alright..fine. haha. 

I'm really excited to go to Columbia! Sister Simsonsen 

served there awhile ago..so she'll be telling me all 

about everyone (:

Thanksgiving was amazing. We spent some time 

with Sister Hosner and her family, it was so much 

fun! Her family is hilarious. Then we went to the 

Hanratty's. SO MUCH FOOD. haha.  The Elders were 

there, too.  The funniest thing happened...

So, the Hanratty's have cats. They have one, named 

Jake, that LOVES the missionaries. He also has a cold. 

Which means, yep...cat boogers. haha.   He had a boogie 

hanging out of his nose, and was trying to climb all 

over us. So, I caught him with the intentions of just 

putting him on the ground.  But, then Elder Hall 

grabbed a napkin..  So there we are..me holding the 

cat's head in my hand, and Elder Hall wiping it's nose..

hahahaha. It really was so hilarious.  The room went 

silent while this took place. I can't get over it....it was 

SO funny!  Better believe that made it into the journal! 

hahaha.  So good.

This week has actually had a lot of funny things happen..

We've had a lot of fun, which I'm glad, because it was  

Sister Simonsen's last week. It's weird that she'll be in 

Utah in 3 days.  I'm going to miss her. 

Welp. That's about it. (:

I love you family!! 

<3/Sister Casidee Ann Brinkerhoff

Photo 1-3: SNOW. It snowed on Wednesday. Was I okay with this? Nope.

Photo 4: One of my BFF's...Cali. She's sportin an ice red rain jacket. (:

Photo 5: Art. #utah

Photo 6: Bro & Sis D

Pic 7: Seagulls be errwhere. 

Photo 8: Sister E.

Pic 9: We helped Sister R decorate her tree!

Pic 10: Me wearing Chance's shirt. (: 

Photo 11: The U's

Photo 12: Bishop & Sister Yocum (Cool story about Bishop. He's an amazing artist, and writer. I told him about a painting that I think would be cool for him to paint,

and he's going to! I told him last night, and he broke out his sketch book to make a sketch of it.  If you've seen the painting "While Mary sleeps.." That's his. Look it up! 

While Mary Sleeps, by Lester Yocum. 

Manna from Heaven

Hey Hey!

Well. This week hasn't been too shabby!

Back on Tuesday, we taught Doris again.  Towards the beginning 

of the lesson she said that she's wasn't sure about all of this, and 

that she isn't a fan of change. But, by the end she was excited for 

us to come back!  We're excited, too. (:

Oh! And a way cool miracle. I think that same night, we were street 

contacting before dinner, and we saw this little old lady pushing her 

trash out to the road. She was using a cane, so perfect opportunity 

to serve! So, we go trompin' through the bushes and trees in to her 

drive way,  she looks behind her to see us emerging from the woods.

We wave enthusiastically and offer to help. She declined our offer, but 

we asked if we could leave her with a card from our church. She asked

what church, so we explained. She said, "Oh! I would love to have a 

card from the Mormons!" Her name is Susan, and turns out she and 

her sister were baptized back in the 70's! Sweet, huh? We invited her 

to church, and asked if we could come back some time next week.

She was delighted to have us come back!  She's moving, too...so she 

said we could come help pack! We're stoked. We found a long lost 

member! I love it when that happens. 

A couple of days later, we went over to Sister Tripplett's house with 

Sister Cullen to help get things together, and to decorate for 

CHRISTMAAAAAAASSSSS!!!  Holy smokes, that got me so excited! 

I can't wait for Christmas. 

Now, yesterday...AWESOME day. 

We had so many lessons, found Tiara, talked to every single person 

we saw. We were on a high!  We were a little early for our dinner 

appointment, so we were walking around trying to meet people, 

when on our way back we saw a sticky note on our car.  I ran over

to get it, and it said, "Your plates have been reported to the police 

department for you going too fast through the neighborhood. 

You almost hit my son." UHM, WHAT? We can't even speed due to 

Tiwi! (annoying computer that yells at you) And there weren't any 

kids in the road.  So, we get in the car to speculate. 

We concluded that either whoever wrote the note had the wrong 

car, or there was someone who doesn't like mormons.  We went 

into dinner and forgot about it. Afterwards, we came out and it 

dawned on me, "Hey, what if it was the Elders who wrote the note, 

as a joke?"  After speculating that idea for a minute, we decided 

that they weren't that immature, they wouldn't do that. We then get 

a text from Sister Cullen saying, "Hey, the Elders told me to tell you 

it was them, and they're sorry?" Oh hohoho. So, we came up with a 

plan.  We were going to get them back.  We called them and told 

them that we had called President, and he said that we couldn't 

drive our car until he could call the Police Department to get it all 

situated.  We thought we were so clever. They didn't even buy it!

So, now, we're in the works of figuring something out to get them 

back.  Because, wo, that wasn't funny! Okay, it was....but we were 

really stressed out about it! hahahaha.

Oh! I almost forgot. Rewind to Saturday night.

We had come home for dinner. I was wondering what I could do, 

because I was out of food and only had 4 bucks left on my Agency 

Card. I picked up the package and jokingly said, "Hey, maybe my 

family sent me food!"  I opened the box, and lo and behold!

MANNA FROM HEAVEN! 4 loaves of dad's homemade bread! 

I cried. I won't deny it.  I'm so thankful family! What would I do 

without ya'll. We kept 1 loaf, and gave the other 3 to our next 

door neighbor, the Cullen Clan, and the Durrants. Thank you so 

much! Oh dad, everyone says your bread is amazing.  Sister Cullen 

has been raving about it ever since. haha.  She wants the recipe, 

I told her it's a family secret..of course knowing that you probably 

haven't written it down or anything..haha. (:

I love you family!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

<3/Sister Casidee Ann Brinkerhoff