P.S. Being a Missionary is pretty legit

Oh my dear family!

I'm loving all of your letters. They make me smile from ear to ear. 

And maybe I get teary eyed,too..happy tears though!!

I have so much to tell you. 

So, I'll start from the last few days in the MTC. Saturday, man, that was
a rough day.  The Spirit had been working on me, to help me try and
improve myself, with little things such as patience.  Because, I had
moments where a dumb comment was made or something along those
lines, and it just got on my nerves! But, then I realized that the person
saying those things were a child of God, too. And that I would feel horrible
if someone was feeling that way about me. It really got me down.  During
Personal study, I was having a moment of Godly Sorrow, I guess you could
say.  My teacher, Brother S, came over to study with Sister H and I, and I
looked up and still had tears in my eyes (which I was totally embarrassed of), 

and he took the time to find out what was going on.  So I just opened up,
and shared what I had been feeling. He showed me a scripture that is really
close to him, it's Mosiah 4:2-3.  Wow.  It really helped. I am so thankful to
him that he felt impressed to share that scripture with me. It's now one of the
scriptures near my heart. 

Sunday, What a fabulous day.  As usual. At least it was going that way! Then
we came to lunch to find out that an Elder from our District had to go home
for a family emergency. We didn't get to say goodbye, or anything! We all
were pretty in the dumps after that.

Monday was packing, packing, and last classes with Sister H and Brother S.
Man.  Bitter sweet experience to leave the MTC.  You're so excited to leave,
but so sad to leave. Mix of emotions. haha. It was really great. That night,
during nightly personal study, we, as a District, sat around in a circle sharing
memories, and talking about the gospel.  It was so great. And then our Elders
gave all of us Sisters, Priesthood blessings. The Spirit was so strong, it was
tangible. 

Tuesday, we left the MTC!  It was insane. We got 3 hours of sleep. We were
ready by 4:30.  And the Travel Office told us on our travel plans to be there
at 5:30. So we had an hour to just chill.  Well, nope.  Because then we hear a
Man's voice outside of our door (which, uh, let me tell ya, freaked us out!) and
he says "Sisters. You were told the wrong time. You were supposed to be there
at 4:30."  By this time it's already 4:45.  So we panicked, got mad a little bit, and
rushed off to the Travel Office. It was a mad house up in the MTC. Then, when
we got to the train station we had 10 minutes to get all 14 missionaries off of
the bus, and on to the train.  It was risky.  But we did it!  With the Lord's help,
we did it!

The flight..it was so boring.  I mostly slept.  It was cool though.  Once we could
see our mission outside of the window...I fell in love. I knew that this where I'm
needed.  We spent that night at the Mission President's home.  Ate a fabulous
dinner, and then ate another fabulous meal, known as Breakfast, in the morning.
Then we were off the meet our Companions!  Then off to Charles Town!

Charles Town feels like home! I know I'm meant to be here. Without a doubt.
And I am so blessed to have such an amazing trainer! Her name is Sister W.
She's from Arizona. And she's only been out for 3 months! So we're learning
together. She's real laid back, low stress. Which, I'm pretty sure the Lord knew
I needed someone like that. It's perfect. We're becoming really great friends.
It's cool..she's carrying on the tradition of saying one miracle we saw during the
day, one thing we liked about each other, and one thing we liked about ourselves,
before we go to sleep at night. It's kinda cheesy, but I like it. It builds a bond,
ya know?

Okay. So. Uhm. YEAH. SNOW.  So... Much... Snow...   I officially came to Charles
Town on Wednesday and on Thursday, we were grounded because of all the
snow! Flippin ridiculous. Oh, we're a driving zone. So, I haven't even touched by
beautiful bike. I'm definitely okay with that, though.  It's so cold!  So, my first full
day in the mission field, all we did was shovel, shovel, shovel. Sis. W and I did 6
drive ways. It took us 4 1/2 hours. And then went back out the next morning for
another 3 hours. INSANE. I have never seen this much snow in my life. I guess it's
pretty unusual?  That's what everyone is saying, anyways. We met so many great
people!  AH! I LOVE CHARLES TOWN.

We live in a Town House with 2 other sisters, Sister D, who is from Draper, and
knows Bekah and Curtis! At least we're pretty sure. And Sister E, who is from
Saint George! She went to Desert Hills. So, it's fun to talk about home with her (:
Our room is so cute. It used to be a nursery. So it's pink. Super cute. haha.
Oh,and our place is huge! We have 3 floors. We use the bottom for exercising.
The middle floor has the kitchen..so we spend a lot of time there. And then top
floor is bedrooms.  It's really nice. 

Since Thursday, I've met a lot of great people. The first night we saw the N's.
They are some solid people. Brother N is really smart, and knows a lot about
the gospel. 

Ah, I can't even name all of the people I've met! Mostly because it's a lot of
names I'm not familiar with, so they're hard to remember. But, last night we
went over to the Espinosa's. I knew I was going to like this family, because
the first words out of Brother Espinosa's mouth was "Do you like bacon?".
Instant bond.  He had just made caramalized bacon. UHM. THE BOMB.
That family. Man. They're so great. So welcoming and loving. Especially
towards the missionaries. 

Also, last night I met Sister D. She has one eye! I can tell she used to be a
spit fire back in the day. She's so cute! Love her. She had a lot of fun stories. 

Oh, and to answer your questions of what we mostly do. We see members a
lot, so get referrals and such. We have a few investigators.  Like,Kathy. Her
hubby has been a member for like 35 years, but he's inactive.  She wants to
believe, and be apart of this church. But, she's just gotta kick that habit of
smoking.  So, I had the privilege to study for her.  And I had an idea of asking
for her cigarettes, and turning them into scripturettes.  What we did was throw
away the tar rolled up in paper, and rolled up pieces of paper with scriptures
on them. We gave them back to her yesterday at church, and she thought it
was so cute! And we told her to get that pack of cigarettes when she gets a
craving. Hopefully she's doing okay! I'm excited to go see her again.  That
definitely was the miracle of the week.  We were honestly so shocked she
actually gave them to us! When we asked for them, her husband, and her
sons were just staring at her, and then us, then her, then us...
it was pretty intense. But, hey, that's what you gotta do as a missionary.
You have to be BOLD!!

Well. Peace and blessings family!

I love you!

<3/ Sister Casidee Brinkerhoff

p.s. Being a missionary is pretty legit.