Glen Burnie here I come & I'm allergic to Mosquito Bites

Last Weeks Letter:

Welp. It's time to leave the nest of Charles Town.  I'm getting 

transferred!  I'll be serving in Glen Burnie, Maryland. It's like 6 miles 

South of Baltimore.  Yep. The city. We'll see how that goes......haha. 

My companion is going to be Sister Anderson.   I looked her up in 

the year book. She looks nice. haha. I dunno, you can't tell much 

from a picture. (:

This week has been weird.

So, Tifi, our new investigator. We saw him once last week. Stinkin 1 

time! We were supposed to see him twice, but he stood us up on 

Thursday. And then cancelled on Sunday. So, that's disappointing. 

But, he keeps texting us and wanting us to meet with him? We're 

going to be handing him off to the Elders. (: Because he's a single 

male. We would've before, but there's only been 1 Elder in Charles 

Town for the past 3 weeks, because his companion had to go home

for family emergencies. So, Elder Martineau has been staying with 

the Harper's Ferry Elders and covering C-Town by himself, with 

members going out with him. Talk about stress right? So, as soon 

as he gets a companion on Wednesday, the sisters here will pass

Tifi to them (:

Alright. Ready for this? Another choking story! Last night, we were 

at the Espinosa's last night for dinner with them and the Offutts (2 

of my FAVORITE families!).  I was sitting next to Brother Offutt, when 

he started choking on a piece of corn!  I'm tellin ya. It's Sister Jones 

and I.  People only nearly die when we're around! It's crazy.

I'll be honest, Father's day and Mother's day are really hard. 

Because you're in church, and everyone is talking about how 

awesome their parents are. I was missing daddy a lot yesterday. 

And I totally dropped the ball and didn't even send him a card or 

anything.  I did get my package!! (:  Thank you soooo much (: 

Although, I don't know how I'm going to transport my fry sauce. 

Because Sister Stewart dropped it and broke the lid. So this could 

be a problem.

I really can't think of anything else that has happened this week.  All 

I can think about is how much I'm going to miss Charles Town. There 

are so many people who are like a second family to me.  My plan is

to come back and visit a year after I come home.  Mom, Dad, Wyatt, 

and me. You all need to meet these amazing people!  Man, we're 

going over to Jeremy and Kathy's tonight, to say goodbye. I'm gonna 

cry. I can already tell. Same with the Espinosa's tonight.  Yep. The 

water show begins at about 7:00 tonight. haha.  It's okay, I'd rather 

be sad to leave, than happy to leave. I'm ready though. It's time to 

move on and meet more people. (:

Today, for our last Preparation day together, us C-Town Sister and 

Harper's Ferry sisters are going to go get some Sweet Frog! (An 

awesome FroYo place here.) It's gonna be great!

I love you all!

The church is true!

The book is blue!

<3/Sister Cas Brinkerhoff

This Weeks Letter:

Welp. Another week in the mish!

I have been transferred to Glen Burnie, Maryland. Otherwise known 

as the Dirty Burnie.   It's pretty gangster here. Slightly terrifying at 

night..but hey. Nothin I can't handle.  It's a half biking, half car area. 

We sisters bike 4 days out of the week. And we get the car Thursday, 

Friday, and Saturday.   Biking.........it's........great.   I've lost weight because 

of it.   I think.   At least it feels like it.   My legs are probably going to 

fall off today...but no big deal.   Get this...even though I'm in the city, 

there are STILL trees EVERYWHERE.  Our backyard is literally the forest. 

Another thing I've learned, is I'm quite allergic to mosquito bites. 

Didn't know that!  My legs are just covered. Luckily, some sister left 

behind this very lovely smelling bug repellent.  I have a nice little 

ritual of spraying down my legs and my arms before I step out of the 

door.  haha. Glen Burnie really is great, though. (:  And my companion, 

Sister Anderson. Holy cow. We are the same person.   I know I said 

that about Sister Jones.... But really. Sister Anderson and I...it's cray.  

We have connected so fast!

Hey, guess what? My 5 months is coming up in 6 days. *eyes glazed 

over, chin to the floor*  Have I really been out that long?!  That's 

almost a half of a year! I'll be hitting my 6 month mark this transfer! 

I don't even understand time... pretty sure it doesn't actually exist. 

(Rhonda: this next part is in reply to my email to her, we had the Santa 

Clara missionaries over for dinner on Sunday) I looked at all the photos 

before reading your email, so I saw Elder Cragun playing my guitar, 

and my first thought was "he better know how to actually play it...that's 

my baby!!!" So, I'm glad to hear that he does. And that he gave her a 

little TLC. (: She deserves it. Which reminds me, right before I left Charles 

Town we were talking to this guy that we had contacted a week prior, he 

was playing his guitar outside of his shop. I told him that I played, too. 

He handed his guitar over and said "lets hear it!" I WAS SO HAPPY!!!! I 

sat down next to him and started playing Strawberry Wine..unfortunately, 

I couldn't remember too much of it. So he played it for me. AH!! I was on 

cloud 9 after that. I miss my guitar way too much. 

It's good to hear that Trev is home! Tell him hey for me (:  I'm so 

stoked to see all of these guys that are coming home, just to see how 

much they've changed. 

Do the missionaries there get a lot of letters? Ask them. Because, 

Sister Anderson and I have been talking about it, and it really bites 

when you get hardly any letters.  Do we have Sister Missionaries in 

our ward/stake?! Please tell me yes. It makes me happy to know that 

my home is one of the homes that the missionaries feel comfortable 

in. (: They will always remember the memories they make with  you! 

Okay, here's a good story.  My first full day in the Dirty Burnie. 

We're on our way to see a Less Active. We're on the road she lives 

on...we drive past this house, and notice that there is an elderly 

woman walking up her drive way, in her underpants...................

Guess what house we were going to? Yep. You guessed it. 

Underpants lady. 

By the time we turned around and parked, she had made it inside. 

We gave her enough time to put on some pants...so we waltz on 

up to her door, her husband rings the door and says a bunch of 

jumbled words, we think to shew us off, but we were confused. 

She then came to the door. Did she have pants on? NOPE.

Most distracting conversation I've ever had. In my life. 

On a spiritual note..

We have an investigator on date! For July 5th.  Her name is Tansie. 

She is SOLID!!!  She recognizes truth. Which is AMAZING.  My first 

lesson with her was the Plan of Salvation, which was good, because 

her son had passed away awhile ago.   We told her that there is a 

life after death.   She said, "Wow. I never knew that! So, my son is 

learning what I'm learning?" Without a question or doubt in her mind, 

she believed it!  AMAZING MIRACLE!!

I LOVE YOU FAMILY!

<3Sister Cas Brinkerhoff

My District Leader looks like Tom Cruise

I have been so excited to write y'all all week!!

We have had an AWESOME week.  This is how awesome our 

week has been.  Our whole mission, for JUST this week, has 

gotten 200 NEW INVESTIGATORS.   Ever since we have been 

challenged to talk to 20 people a day by Elder Ballard, the 

work has been blowin up!  We have 6 investigators now. Our

1 progressing, ooooh my goodness. He is why I've been so 

excited to write you all week!  His name is Tifi. He's 27.  And

he's from South Africa, so he has a sweet accent.  We found 

him while street contacting. Here's the story of how we first 

met him..

So, we're walking down some sketchy roads in C-Town. We 

come up to this group of men, staring us down. I didn't really 

want to contact them cause it was a sketchy situation, but the 

Spirit wouldn't leave me alone!  I walked up to them, said "Hey! 

could we give you a card from our Church? We're missionaries 

from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."  They all say 

"Ohh, the Mormons!"  So the ice was broken. Good. 

Tifi was on the corner of the porch, eyeing us down. Looking so 

confused.  We come to find out, that  in his country, 'missionary' 

means militia.  We assured him that we weren't packin. haha.  He 

kept  looking at us with  the same look  though. He finally asked 

"What makes your church different?" I love this question! Because 

then  we get  to talk  about the  BOM.  (:   I pulled out a Book Of 

Mormon, and told him "that it is another Testament of Jesus Christ. 

When Christ  was resurrected He came to the America's and taught 

the people here."  He looked at us like his mind had just been blown!

He says, "wait wait wait...Christ. He came here???" We said 

"yes yes!!"  He then says "I need to come to church! I need to learn 

more!!"  So we conversed on where the church was and everything,

He then said, "So, when can you come back?" I pulled out my planner, 

and looked at Saturday, mind you, this was only on Thursday. I said to 

him, "How does Saturday sound?"  He then said! "Nooo. I feel that is 

too far! How about tomorrow?"  

THIS MAN IS SO READY FOR THE GOSPEL. 

So, we went the next day, but he got called into work. :/  We tried to go 

Saturday, but same thing.  We finally got to meet up with him yesterday 

(Sunday), and he was so eager to learn! He was disappointed when we 

had to leave after an hour. We're seeing him again tonight!  I would not 

be surprised if he was baptized at the end of this month. Not surprised 

at all!!!! 

We are so excited. And I can testify, from this experience, I have learned

that if we strive to obey our  Heavenly Father, and work our hardest, He 

WILL guide us to His children that He has prepared!! 

THE CHURCH IS TRUE, THE BOOK IS BLUE!!!

Nothing can stop the WORK OF SALVATION!!!

We are all so blessed to be apart of these Latter Days. 

I love you all!!!!

Thank you for you prayers and support.

It is felt clear over here in C-Town!!

<3 Sister Casidee Brinkerhoff

P.S.

Look at my little friend. I caught him in Jeremy and Kathy's empty pool.

His name is Gilbert. I miss him.

P.S.S. The humidity isn't too bad yet. Basically, just have to wear short 

skirts (short meaning, right below the knee..haha), light shirts, and hair up. 

All the time. But, apparently we aren't even in summer yet...CRAP. haha.

Moose Steak & Lady choking on IHop

Welp. There went 4 months. Crazy huh? 14 months left to go!! 

So much to do, so little time. 

Okay. Let me start this week off by saying...

WE HAD THE BEST DINNER. EVER. LIKE EVER.

Kathy and Jeremy fed us dinner. And they both are well aware of 

how much Sister Jones and I LOVE steak.  So, Jeremy decided to 

break out some Moose steak, and regular cow steak.  That's right. 

I ate MOOSE. Delicious. Along with this moose, we had red skinned 

potatoes. Asparagas. Breadsticks. And Koolaid. Mm mm. 

Okay..now on the actual missionary work. 

WE HAD AN AWESOME WEEK!!

Your prayers for us to find new people to teach have definitely 

been answered! We have talked to so many people this week. 

And we found 2 new investigators!! Thank you so much for your 

prayers family!!

Unfortunately, we did have to drop Kathy. She just wasn't progressing. 

Her day will come though! But, only because we dropped her, the Lord 

blessed us with new people to teach! Plus we got 3 solid referrals!! 

LOOK OUT C-TOWN! The gospel is a comin! 

Mmm. What else?

We went Laser Tagging today. Of course. 

Winchester Zone keeps it real. I sent a picture in another email (IT'S 

ATTACHED TO THIS ONE)  ..I look absolutely terrifyingly disgusting, 

because we had just finished and were glistening/dripping with sweat. (:

OH MY HECK. How did I forget about this! So, we went to dinner with 

some members in the ward to iHop.  The Sister Member's mom lives 

with them, who just turned 91. Which reminds me, there are a ton of 90 

year olds out here! Cray.  Anyway, we're enjoying a nice conversation, 

when all of a sudden grandma's face starts turning red, then purple....

we're all staring at her. I look over at Sister Jones and she had the 

calmest face. Apparently, I did, too. But on the inside I was flippin out! 

I did manage to say "she's choking...". The Sister Member calmly got up, 

looked around, and then proceeded to give her mother the heimlich.

Strange, strange, and terrifying experience! 

That's about it!

I love you tons!!!!

<3/Sister Cas Brinkerhoff

I haven't blow dried my hair for 2 weeks

Family!

 

So, this week, I have no idea what happened. It's been a long but 

fast one. If that makes sense.  We did go on exchanges though!

I love exchanges. I went with Sister Jacobs to Martinsburg, while 

Sister Jones stayed here in C-Town with Sister Hollis. Sister Jacobs 

and Sister Hollis are our Sister Trainer Leaders. They are awesome! 

We both learned a lot.  While on exchanges, I saw quite a few 

interesting things.  I thought Charles Town was interesting...nuh uh. 

Not compared to Shepherds Town (town right next to Martinsburg). 

We met some individuals that really made me smile (: It's odd that 

people live this way, but pretty cool that they're content with the 

simple things of life. 

 

Now, the news in C-Town.  

Ashley is off date :/ She's still getting baptized, but her parents 

want to push it back. So, we plan on going over and having a 

discussion with them. Kind of set some expectations. They want 

to be more involved with it this time around, which is awesome!! 

We're going to invite them to be taught with Ashley. It's gonna 

be good (:

 

Kathy is on a smoke plan. She tapers off a certain amount of 

cigarettes each day. Today, she should be on 4. She's been 

doing great!! She's also probably annoyed with us texting her 

24/7 making sure she's doing alright.  haha. 

 

That is about it for the C-Town. Oh, we received a solid referral 

last night from the Spanish elders. We're stoked! We haven't 

received a referral for like a week. A bit of a dry spell, I guess 

you could call it. 

 

I can't believe graduation has happened already. Where has

the time gone? Do you realize I hit my 4 month mark in 3 days?

 haha, Kathy and Jeremy are going to make cake for us, because 

of it. (: We're getting really close with Kathy.

 

I'm sorry to hear about Carole and Benita's mama. She is definitely 

in a better place now (: The Plan of Salvation is real.  Give them my 

love.

 

I'm so proud of Wy for giving a talk on being a member missionary! 

The work is hastening!  It is what the work depends on… MEMBER 

MISSIONARIES!!  And what a perfect match. Wyatt is a strong member 

missionary! AWESOME!!!!

 

Conversions are almost always more effective when members are 

doing the contacting and coming with the missionaries to teach! It's 

a real thing! I invite everyone who reads these letters (yes, I know that 

a few of you are stalkin my blog page haha that’s what it’s for) to 

really put forth the effort to share the gospel with EVERYONE. Us as 

Full-Time missionaries, have been challenged to talk to 20 new people 

a day. I challenge all of you to talk to 5 new people a day, about the 

Gospel! Bring it up in your casual conversations. You don't need to sit 

down and teach a huge lesson, all you need  to do is share your life!! 

 

I love this work. This IS the work of Salvation. 

It is crucial to finding our Brothers and Sisters. 

Make time for it! Waste no time! 

This stuff is important. 

 

I love you all so much (:

I pray for you every night. 

Be safe.

Be smart. 

And don't do dumb things. 

<3/Your favorite missionary,

Sister Cas Brinkerhoff

 

 

 

 P.S. Pictures

 

  

And that train, yeah. It STOPPED. We sat there for 30-45 minutes. Ridiculous. #onlyinWV

 

24 MPH? Really? There's one in the Martinsburg or somewhere that says 19 ½.

New companion Sister Jones

#VictoryforJesus

WOW.

This week.

Miracles upon Miracles!

Where do I even begin?

Let's start with seeing Elder Ballard on Saturday.  Ooooh 

my goodness. It's so powerful having an apostle of the 

Lord coming to speak to just us missionaries!  He has a 

way of really pumpin ya up!  He talked a lot about how we 

NEED to talk to everyone! And that each companionship 

should set a goal to talk to 20 people a day! It's hard. But 

not impossible. Sister Jones and I, we're stoked! 

We haven't had our temple visits yet. Although, on Saturday, 

we did get to go to the visitor center while we were waiting 

to go in to hear Elder Ballard. Because the stake center that 

we had to go to, was right next to the temple (: So , you can 

imagine how stoked all of us missionaries were. Elder Ballard 

AND the visitor center? Cray!

Also, on Saturday. We had Cafe Rio in Frederick. So that was 

definitely a miracle! OH! But for reals. We were all in line and 

a member (which is rare to come by) came up to us, handed 

us her credit card, and said "get anything you want. All of you." 

Like, are you kidding? Cafe Rio ain't the cheapest food and she 

bought not just 2 meals, but 5! Her and her husband definitely 

have a spot waiting for them in the Celestial Kingdom. (: Haha, 

it made us feel like Utah missionaries! 

That night, we had Jeremy and Kathy committed to coming to 

all 3 hours of church! Then on Sunday, they did! They stayed 

the whole time. For the first time! We were so excited!!!

Oh! Also at church, our 12 year old Investigator, Ashley, told 

us that her Dad said she could get baptized!!! AND that he 

might start coming with her and Hope (her older sister who 

was baptized in November) to church! AND that we can have 

our next lesson in their home! This miracle. Is HUGE. 

1. It took Hope 7 months to get permission to be baptized.

2. We have NEVER been into their home, because of their 

parents. 

3. Their Dad's heart is being softened little by little. Both of 

their parent's have to see how this Gospel changes people! 

Especially with these girls. They both shine with the light of 

Christ! I will be sending pictures, don't worry (:  So, we have 

Ashley on date!  #victoryforJesus

Alright, Alright. Now. The funny story portion of the letter.

So. Remember Ginger? The lady that came on Easter and 

yelled at Brother Tyrrell (the Gospel Principles teacher)? Well. 

She came back. Early yesterday morning we got a text from 

Sister Segura saying that Ginger had called her for a ride, 

because she really enjoyed it last time. So, first, that was 

confusing..because she pretty much hated everyone except 

for us. Second, my eye started twitching! That is how much 

this lady stresses me out. I know that isn't very Christ like. But, 

I can't control my eyeball muscle spasms!  Anyway, she came. 

She didn't yell at anyone. So this is good. But, she did get 

frustrated because we wouldn't stop and say a group prayer 

in the middle of class...other than that. It was alright.

But then, she gave some tights to throw away. I don't know. 

Ginger confuses me. She then asked when I was going back 

to Utah, so she could hitch a ride...? I don't get it. 

We're glad that she enjoyed coming though!!

Missionary life has some interesting turns. You literally are 

up and down, up and down, up and down in one day! But, I 

love it. I love being a missionary. 

That's a bummer you didn't get to go to Rugby State Finals..

but, it's kind of awesome that y'all just got to hang out for 5 

hours. Good bonding time (: haha.  I'm so excited they won 

though!! GO WARRIORS!!!! I swear, I will always and forever 

bleed vegas gold, navy blue, and forest green! #warrior4life 

haha

I'm very sorry to hear about Brooks Johnson and Austin 

McElyea.  It's not easy, because their families will miss them. 

The community will miss them. The whole warrior family will 

miss them. But, it's okay.  Because their loved ones will see 

them again! That's the beautiful part of life. It's not the end. 

Ah. Share the Easter Video with anyone you can. It's called 

Because of Him. If you go to mormon.org/becauseofhim, it'll 

be on that front page. It's only like 3 minutes long, but it's 

powerful. Watch it .  Let your students watch it, or tell them to 

look it up.  I know you're supposed to keep religion and state 

separate..but these kids need this! They need hope.  I will 

definitely be praying for Austin's and Brooks' families and friends. 

I already shared some of my testimony with daddy, but, since

I failed to last week..you're gettin it this week (:

I just want y'all to know how much I love this gospel.  I love 

Heavenly Father and Christ with all my heart.  My best friend, 

is Christ. I feel him every day, all day.  I know, without a doubt, 

that he died for me..but also, he lived for me!  I know that He 

lives. I know that, Because of Him, everything in this world is 

possible! He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer! 

Without Him, we are nothing!

I love my brother, Jesus Christ. 

I invite all of you to always strive to strengthen your relationship 

with Him! The stronger your relationship with Him, the more strength 

you have to resist temptation, to lead, to raise your children, school, 

work, play..EVERYTHING. Attempt the impossible. Live to pay Him back. 

I say these things, in the name of our savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love y'all so much!! 

Miss ya tons!

<3/Your Favorite Missionary!

Sister Cas Brinkerhoff