June 22: Hello Eldersburg!

Yes, hello, hi! 

Well. This week has been crazy great!

So, as you know, I'm in Eldersburg now. Last area, last transfer! 

Um..what? Okay, weird.  My companion is Sister Stolworthy. 

It's her 2nd Transfer.  She is UH.MAZE.ING.  She's a hard worker, 

obedient, and she just gets it! Just oozing with common sense. 

She's from Vegas...so we can definitely relate with our foreigness 

to humidity. #frizzyhair 

Eldersburg ward is great! There's a lot of work to do!

This is going to be a great transfer! I can feel it! 

Something that has been on my mind heavily this week is Joseph 

Smith and missionary work. Obviously, I've talked about both a lot 

over the past 17 months.  But, this morning, we watched Joseph 

Smith:Prophet of the Restoration. I ain't gonna lie..I bawled. No 

shame, no shame!  Every time I study the Restoration (which is a 

lot..like almost every day), or I watch these movies, my testimony 

is strengthened. This work is true! There's no way it's not. Joseph 

Smith was either a Prophet or he wasn't. 

Point blank.  HE WAS! 

He died for this restored gospel...okay, nobody would do that unless 

it were TRUE! And then I thought about missionaries..  I don't know 

about ya'll. But if I didn't know this work was true, I definitely wouldn't 

be thousands of miles away from home, in a land I'm a stranger to..I 

wouldn't be out here having people yell at me to get off their porch, 

I wouldn't let people tell me I'm going to hell because we use water 

instead of wine for the sacrament, I WOULDN'T BE A MISSIONARY IF 

THIS WASN'T TRUE.  Nobody would.  

But, because it is true, I go into stranger's living rooms and poor my heart 

out. I talk to random people on the street about the Book of Mormon and 

that we can come closer to God by simply reading it, and then praying to 

know if it's true! I become best friends with people I may never see again 

in this life time.  I leave my heart in places I don't know I'll be able to come 

back to. Because it's true..I'm a missionary.

 

I feel very blessed and humble to say that I am a representative of Jesus 

Christ.  This has taken me a long time to understand...and I still don't completely..

But I know that Christ is with me and my companion with every single thing 

we do. I know this gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true! I intend to work 

for Him for the rest of my life..not just for the next 6 weeks. He is my Savior, 

and my big brother. I owe it to Him! 

I love you all. Know that your prayers are felt and answered!

At times when I'm not sure if I can possibly take another step, or keep going..

they are much felt!

THANK YOU!

Love, Sister Brinkerhoff

P.S. Happy Independence Day this week! 

(I discovered all the emoji's on here today....where have these been my whole mission?!)

June 22: Oops! ;)

Heyo Family!

Okay..first. I'm a total SPAZ and didn't send a main email 

last week. We got half way home when it dawned on my. 

Oops ;)

On a fun note...a man with very squeeky shoes just walked 

by. It made me laugh. 

ALRIGHT.

Where do I even start for the past 2 weeks? Well. I'll list off 

our investigators..How bout that? There's Sarah..who is AMAZING. 

She is more solid than a well built brick house! She is going to 

be baptized! She said so herself!!!

Then there's Lydia.. SHE IS ON DATE TO BE BAPTIZED ON 

JULY 25TH. HUZZAH!!! She's amazing (:

Then there's Robin..

Who is as excited as a fat kid eating cake about the gospel!

SHE IS SO DARN LEGIT!!!

*I realize I'm using a lot of caps in this email...#sorrynotsorry*

Those are our 3 progressing investigators. HOLY SNAP. 

The following is sung to the tune of "This girl is on fire"

WESTMINSTER ON FIRE! FIRE! FIIIIRRRREEE!

Unfortunately, transfers are on wednesday and BOTH Sister Fenn

and I are being transferred! There are 5 areas being shut down, 

due to the lack of sisters, and ours is one of them! I have no doubts 

that the Elders will take good care of our peeps! I will be going to 

Eldersburg (Mom I will get you the address next week). My companion 

will be Sister Stolworthy..she's a baby! She's only been out for a transfer! 

We're going to have so much fun!!! 

 

AH..running out of time!

Here's a quick miracle..

We were walkin a long in the rain..what news, huh? And we see this 

group of questionable looking people. We, of course, walk a little 

faster towards them! We start talking to all of them..all but one left.

The one..his name is Brian. He is a big man..who is slightly on the 

terrifying side of things. He talked to us about Jesus and Religion. 

We told him about the best book ever.. He said he would read it.

We gave him a copy. That night, at 2 in the A.M... He texted us 

(of course, we both were OUT like all of the doorbells in Maryland)..

But he said "I like the book...Imma keep readin it" AH WHAT?! AH AH AH!

He's going to get baptized one day (:

Well. Peeps. I gotta be going!

Sister Vanderhoof is taking us to The Cow! (the best Frozen Custard place EVER)

I love you all, a ton!

PEACE!! 

<3/Sister Brinkerhoff

June 8: Thus is the life

Hey Fam!

This week has been so great!

I have to start with last monday..

That night we didn't have the car. So we were on bikes.

Well, little did we know, a huge storm was headed our way! 

Literally, we hear thunder, and then it all comes crashing down.

We run down this little side road, and park it under a tree for 

a minute, because normally it rains really hard for just a few 

moments, then lets up. NOPE. Not this time! haha. We were in 

a pickle..my back pack isn't rain proof, the phone and GPS was 

in it. We really can't get those wet..because we need them! We 

weren't that far away from the church, so we decided that we 

could bike to the church super fast, wrap the phone and GPS in 

a garbage bag and head home.  Before we started off though, 

we said a prayer that they would stay dry.  We get to the church 

about 2 minutes later, my whole bag is soaked.  Pamphlets and 

a Book of Mormon were destroyed!  We open up the pocket that 

the phone and GPS were in..everything around it was soaked, but 

they were bone dry! The Lord is so aware! So that was a tender mercy (:

We then, started biking home in this crazy storm, it was so much fun!

There were a lot of hills, so we had to get off our bikes a few times 

and just trekin' it. People probably thought we were insane, because 

we were these 2 girls, in skirts, pushing our bikes up these hills, while 

singing Called To Serve and Ye Elders of Israel at the top of our lungs. 

We finally got home, right in time for curfew. 

One of the coolest things, though...people really feel drawn to talk to 

you when you're standing outside of their door, dripping, rain rolling 

down your face. We felt prompted to knock on this certain door..so we did. 

No on answered for a minute..but then an older gentleman came from 

around the back and asked if we needed something. We told him who 

we were, and if though it was down pouring he stood and listened to us! 

He said "I'm not interested right now..but give me your card. I'm going to 

keep this in mind." Okay, so we didn't find a new investigator..but it was a 

testament to me, that no matter the conditions, our message is still true, 

and everyone needs to hear it! 

Also, we found 2 new investigators!  We have a total of 3 now! 

There's S, K, and L.

S is our across-the-street neighbor. She is amazing! She came to church 

on Sunday, and loved it! I asked her how she liked Sacrament meeting, 

she said it was different, but a good different! She likes that we use 

water instead of wine or grape juice, and she likes that we use real 

bread instead of wafers. She's so great (: And the ward was amazing with 

welcoming her, and making her feel loved! Which is perfect.

K, is a young mom, she's married, and has 3 kids. Her youngest is about 1, 

and has down syndrome..seriously the cutest! His name is J. She has met 

the Elders before, but we actually found her through knocking on her door. 

So, that was awesome! We have an appointment with her tonight (:

Hopefully her husband, J, will be there, too! #eternalfamilies

And L. I am in head-over-heels in love with her and her family! Especially 

her little boy.  His nickname is Bear. He's 2, and is my buddy! We always 

play "Eat the fruit snack and keep it in your mouth", he colors in my planner 

a lot, too. Great artist ;) L is single, going through a divorce right now. She 

has a total of 6 kids! I don't know how she does it..she is so strong! Amazing. 

Her little girl, who is about 4, she is really getting her back into church. About 

a week ago, L, and her daughter, and L's mom and dad were driving down 

Bond Street, where there's a catholic church. It was about 9:45 at night. Her 

daughter started pointing up to the sky saying "Mommy, I see stars and angels. 

I want to go to church!" UM. WHAT. So this really snapped L into reality. She 

loves the LDS faith. She loves that we can be together for eternity! She knows 

that Heavenly Father is going to lead her to a man who is better than her almost 

x-husband. She really is so amazing! I love her, tons!

Family, I know this church is true. 

I know, that the Atonement is real, and that we all are worth every drop of 

blood that Christ spilt, every bead of sweat...we're worth that. Heavenly Father 

loves us. He and His son are always with us.  

I love you all!

Have a great week (:

<3/Sister Brinkerhoff

June 1: I never turn down a popsicle

Heyo family!

What. An. Awesome. Week!

To start this week off...we had to turn our car in. 

We're now sharing with the Elders. Woooo....haha. 

No big deal, really. I've been doing this my whole mission! 

BIKES! I bought myself a real cushy bike seat today...I am 

stoked to use that baby!

Other than that..

WE HAVE A NEW 

INVESTIGATOR!!!!

Her name is Sarah. She's our neighbor across the street! 

The Gee's, members who live 2 doors down from us, told 

us about her. When we first met her, she told us how 

people think she's crazy for her beliefs. So I was expecting 

her to start telling us about witchcraft or something crazy 

like that... But then she says "I don't believe in homosexual 

marriage, and I don't believe in abortion..people think I'm 

crazy for believing that". UMMM. NOT WEIRD. NOT CRAZY. 

We told her that we believe the same things. Which, I think 

is what made her let us come back! We went over last night, 

with Sister Lamb. We did some How To Begin Teaching. It 

was really cool..at first she was getting ready to send us away 

because of some stuff she has heard, but then she asked us 

about those concerns..plural marriage, holidays, etc. All of the 

things she had heard was incorrect information, which put 

her at ease. She told us about herself, and the challenges she 

faces, it was great. We then started to talk about the Holy Ghost.

Sister Lamb bore sweet testimony of the Holy Ghost and the love 

Heavenly Father has for us, and of the Book of Mormon. Sarah was 

feelin' it! We invited her to be baptized, and she said "Well...when 

I'm ready..yeah." WE ARE PUMPED!! ( :  The Lord has plans for 

Westminster. It's on FIRE!!  I'm so thankful to be here with Sister

 Fenn, Elder Solomon, and Elder Watterson!

Missionary work is the best thing in the world. 

I love you all, so much!

Have a great week!

<3/Sister Brinkerhoff

May 25: Pudding. Broken bikes. Teaching the gospel!

Hello Family!

This week has been great (:

We found a new investigator! Her name is Kia, her husband 

is James (we haven't met him quite yet), and she has 3 small 

children. So cute!  When we met with her, we gave her a Book 

of Mormon.  She was excited to read it! She said "I'll probably 

have this whole thing read by the time you come next".

Um..yeah! Do it!

We have an appointment with her this week (:

We're stoked! 

It's been a great week full of spiritual lessons. 

I love this area (:

The people are amazing! 

It took a minute to really adjust from city to country...

But it's great. I'm excited for this transfer! 

I'm sorry this email is so short, I'm running low on time! 

I love you all, so much! 

Have a great week!

Remember to read and pray daily!!! (: 

<3/Sister Brinkerhoff

May 18: I held a snake!

Hey Family!

We've hit it hard this week! The work is great (:

MIRACLE!

This was really cool. But first, I must preface by something 

I've learned in the past couple of months. While I was in 

Columbia with Sister Haupt, she was sick and I was reading 

'Our Heritage'.  The first missionaries baptized 1000's of people. 

This is amazing! All they had was the Book of Mormon and 

their testimony. They didn't have all of the tools we have now.

 

It occurred to me, why are we missionaries having such a hard 

time with this? Well. After much thought, I've come to the 

conclusion, that yes, the world is different now.. there are quite 

a few more distractions now, and opinions.  But, the Book of 

Mormon is still the same! It is still the word of God. It it still true!

Before setting out to Street Contact, we made sure we had a 

Book of Mormon in hand.  We did nothing but testify of the 

Book of Mormon! Which, yeah..duh...is what we do.  But instead 

of doing the whole "We're in the neighborhood today sharing a 

message about how families can be together forever..." We simply 

said "We wanted to talk to you about the Book of Mormon and 

the message it holds." Then a brief explanation of what it is, and 

the blessings it has brought us personally and to our families. Well. 

We did this approach with a woman named Michelle.  She was 

babysitting, and had stepped outside to take a smoke break. 

*Smokers and dog walkers are the #1 people approached by 

missionares;)*

We started by introducing ourselves. She was not a huge fan.  

When we said what church we were from, she shook her head 

and said "Nuh uh.." I said "Oh, you've heard of us?! What have 

you heard?" She said she hadn't heard anything good. I told her 

that was unfortunate.. She then told us to tell her something 

about the church that was good. Because "ya never know, they 

could've just been bad mouthing the church.." We testified of the 

Book of Mormon.  Her whole presence changed. Her heart opened 

right up.  She couldn't listen to our message right then, because 

of babysitting, but she actually lives in our neighborhood and 

wants us to come by.  It was a huge testament to me of how 

powerful the Book of Mormon is.   I love it!

I hope you all have a great week! (:

I love you all!

<3/Sister Brinkerhoff

May 11: I have a butt chin. Wyatt has whiskers. #skyping

Hey Family!

Well, I don't really know what to write about..because I just 

told you everything yesterday! haha

That was pretty great, huh?  I love skyping ya'll (: Can't believe 

that was the last one! SO WEIRD!! Next time we'll be in person. 

I know I told mom this...but the time that I have left became 

reality yesterday.  I'm so excited to continue to work as hard as 

I can. To fall into my bed at the end of the night. To fall into my 

family's arms when I return home. I look forward to continue the 

times where I don't know how or what is keeping me going...the 

times where I'm not sure if I can take one more step, but some 

how find the strength to do it. I'll tell you something, a mission 

would be impossible without my Savior's help. Without Him, I'm 

nothing. I can't do anything without Him, nor do I want to!  If I've 

learned anything these past 15 months, it's that the Atonement is REAL! 

I've met a lot of different people...Christians, Baptist, Lutheran, Indian,

 Muslim, Athiest..So many different people with different personalities, 

interests, needs, concerns..but, the Atonement applies to every single 

one of them! No matter what any one has done or who they are..it applies! 

This has been taught to me over and over again. 

The Easter video that just came out is one of my favorites, because it 

depicts just that! The Atonement is for everyone!

http://www.mormon.org/easter

Here's the link ^^ (: If you want to watch it! 

I wish ya'll a fantastic week. 

I invite you to look for moments this week to recognize the Atonement 

working in your lives, and write those moments down! They are so crucial 

and shouldn't be forgotten (:

I LOVE YOU!!!!

<3/Sister Casidee Brinkerhoff

May 4: SUMMER!!!!

Hey Family!

This week has been awesome (:

Summer is FINALLY here! It feels so great!!! 

First, Yadira is doing great! Still on track to be baptized 

on the 16th! WOOOO!!!! We are so stoked for her!

We just finished an exchange last night, which was so much 

fun! Sister Mahoni came here with Sister Deakin and I, and 

Sister Fenn went to Damascus with Sister Payne.  While on 

exchanges, we saw so many miracles!

We were talking to Leeann, Ricky, and their 9 yr old son, Earl, 

out on their porch. Doing How To Begin Teaching. We were 

about to talk about the Holy Ghost when the Santos family, 

who knows these 3, came walking down the road to come over 

for dinner! BOOM! Member Present! Talk about AMAZING!!! 

As we taught about the Holy Ghost, we asked Leeann what 

she was feeling, and she started crying! We invited them to be 

baptized, Ricky said yes. Leeann and Earl have been baptized 

before, and Leeann is nervous because her family doesn't approve. 

We feel that these concerns can definitely be resolved (: We were 

able to pick them up as investigators! So, as of right now, we 

have 4 investigators!  The Lord has plans for Westminster! (:

I love it here (:

Sorry so short for this week! Running out of time!

I love you all!

Have a great week!

<3/Sister Brinkerhoff

(NOTE FROM MOM: THIS IS A NOTE SHE WROTE ME IN MY 

EMAIL. WE HADN'T MENTIONED THE RIOTS IN BALTIMORE 

BECAUSE WE KNEW SHE WAS SAFE AND WE REALLY 

WEREN'T VERY CONCERNED OTHER THAN THE NORMAL).

I was wondering if you even knew about the BMore stuff, because 

you haven't said anything. haha..I wasn't going to tell you if you 

hadn't ;) You're right, though... Faith can do anything. It can move 

mountains, and it can stop the craziness in Baltimore. The whole 

mission fasted for Baltimore yesterday. Not just the missionaries, 

but all of the members, too. We expect to clear up here, pretty soon. (:

It was cool, the other day we had dinner with a family, the husband 

is a state trooper and has been working down in Baltimore. He told 

us what happened and such things, then the same night, we met a 

man who had been protesting down there. His voice was gone. And 

I remember thinking "How sad." I am so thankful to have the gospel. 

I'm so thankful that I've grown up in an area that has the gospel, as 

well! Without the gospel...well..