She kills the bugs, I park the car.

Hey Family!

Okay, first. Could Wyatt be any taller?! Or look any older?! And could 

he smile any bigger when girls are talking to him? haha. Oh man. I 

can't even believe it! What a stud.  I'm a little bummed I'm missing out, 

but, I'll be there next year to see it all! 

This week has been sweet. 

Alright, so the miracle and the funny story run together..

Here we go..

So. To start off...the whole mission had a 'Car Fast' on Thursday. 

Meaning, no one drives cars. We walk or ride bikes. Sister 

Anderson and I, did both!  In the evening we decided to walk, so our 

thighs wouldn't be worthless the next day, so we walked to people 

who were near home. 

We decided to go to a member's home we didn't know. His name 

was Brother C.   We get there, and his truck out front has a BYU 

sticker, and an 'Equality' sticker underneath it..  obviously, this is 

confusing. Whatevs. We continue.

We knock on the door, and he was so excited to see us! We talk to him 

for a bit, get to know him, ya know..the usual.  I could tell both Sister 

Anderson and I, were confused..  He kept saying 'We..', for example, 

we asked..  "How long have you been in the area?"  He said "Oh, we've 

been here for awhile.."  When finally, he says, "Yeah! Me and Chad..

something something something..."  And then I see a picture of him 

and Chad....  literally, I could feel both Sister Anderson and I mentally 

go "oooooooh.."  So, we're awkwardly trying to get out because we're 

realizing he is technically single, and we shouldn't be there!  But, what was 

cool...is we both had an amazing eye opener...

As we were talking, Brother C kept saying how Heavenly Father had 

answered his prayers, and had given him so many blessings.  We both 

realized, Wow. No matter what sin we are actively doing, or have done, 

or will do,  Heavenly Father still loves each and every one of us! He loves

the sinner, but hates the sin.  I mean, I already knew that God loves EVERYONE. 

But, the phrase is sometimes over used, so it loses it's meaning...but when you 

see it, right before your eyes...it's really something else.  It was one of the most 

amazing spiritual experiences I've had, ever. 

Anyway, there are a ton of other miracles that happen daily. 

But that one, was definitely one of my favorites! 

Welp. That's it folks!

The Church is true!!

I love you!

<3/Your Sister Missionary

(The following is the email she replied to me <MOM> after I inquired 

about how she is "really" doing. I would normally just file this, but it's 

a lovely testament so I thought I would share.)

I'm doing fine. I've been a little homesick this week, but nothing I can't handle 

with some prayer. Don't worry about it...it's just the trial I have during my 

mission.   Everyone has their one trial they have to get through, homesickness 

is mine. But, I know I'm strong enough to deal with it, and it's not forever. And 

honestly, what I'm doing now, is a lot more important. I know I have a family, 

and I love them, but I love Heavenly Father and Christ, too. I need them to know 

that. I need to keep going.  Don't worry Mama, I love my mission so much! Even 

though sometimes it's really hard, and sometimes I have days, just like every other 

missionary, when I just want a break....but, I know what's really important and why

I'm here.  I know that this is exactly where Heavenly Father wants me...here in the MBM. 

Slurpees for Souls

Thank you so much for my package! I got it on Saturday, and we've 
been coloring in our lovely coloring books every night after planning (:

It's so great.  I LOVE the Paul Mitchell stuff! Smells so good. haha. 

Alright, so this week.  First thing is first..

Unfortunately, Maria did not get baptized this past Saturday.  Some 

stuff came up, paper work and such, that needs to be taken care of, 

first.  Hopefully we can get that all sorted out, so she can receive the 

Gift of the Holy Ghost!!

Miracle of the week!

We had an awesome week.  We really concentrated on asking for 

Referrals! For some reason, it's so darn flabbin' hard to remember

to ask for a referral from everyone! So, this is what we did.  I wrote 

2 R's on my watch to remind me, then..  We set a goal. We agreed 

that if we asked for a referral 5 times, we could get a Slurpee from 7/11. 

Well, dag nabbit.  WE DID IT.  We were so proud of ourselves.  And the 

2 referrals we did receive we have appointments with!  We're stoked. 

It just goes to show that as long as we do our part,  Heavenly Father 

will provide! 

Okay, Funny Story of the week!

We were out, Street Contacting.  We stopped to talk to this guy, 

Andre.  He is a born baptist. And has strong faith in Jesus Christ.

He was awesome. We were having a great conversation about Jesus,

and how people speak his name, but don't act like their Christian, 

when this shirtless, drunk guy passed us, got about 15 feet away, 

and just watched us talking to Andre.  I'm thinking "What the heck? 

Whatever. We're talking about Jesus."  He kept scooting closer and 

closer.  He finally came up and said "What? You talkin' bout religion 

or somethin'?"  We all say "Yeah!"   And then I said "We're talking 

about Jesus!" I was about to invite him to join, when...

He started accusing Andre of being muslim.  He started yelling at him 

saying, "Don't be talkin' muslim round here! Don't be talkin' muslim 

round here!"  Andre looks at him, puts his hand up, as if to block him 

out, and says to us, "Do you see what I'm talking about?" 

We couldn't laugh right then. But, oh my goodness. It was hilarious! 

The drunk shirtless guy stomped off, and we continued our conversation. 

When Andre's bus came, we continued on as well, but we had to stop for 

a good 5 minutes and just laugh!  Haha, the things you see on a mission. 

I love it. 

This week has been pretty darn great.

Oh, and today, we're going to Inner Harbor again! 

We'll be sticking to the Touristy part though... (: 

I love you family!!

The church is true!

<3/You Sister Missionary

Praying on hard wood floors bruises your knees

What a week!

Alright. We'll start at the beginning.

So, on Saturday we went to see Sister H, because she just had a 

surgery on her sinuses.  Had to make sure she was doing alright! 

Her friend from New York, Marie, is staying with her and helping 

her out.  Sister H told us to come back on Tuesday and teach 

Marie the Restoration.  We were excited! But, a little nervous, 

because we didn't know much about Marie.  Just that she's from 

New York and has a sweet accent! 

So we go over, the spirit was there. It was amazing!  We then made 

plans to go to the Temple Visitor Center the next day.  Again, amazing!

We watched 'Joseph Smith, the prophet of the restoration'.  We all 

felt the spirit so strong!  That video gets me every time. EVERY TIME. 

I was bawlin' like a baby. (:

But rewind, while we were at Sister H's on Tuesday, we were eating 

dinner when the phone rang.  It was Sister Phelps calling to tell Sister 

H that Maria, a friend that had been staying with her, from Baltimore,

wants to get baptized!  Sister H says "Well hold on one sec..."

And then hands the phone to me.  We were so excited! We went over 

the next day, taught her the restoration. She knows it's true! We set a 

date for Baptism.  The 23rd of this month!  WE ARE SO EXCITED!!! 

Maria is solid.  We love her to death!!

With all of that happening, we were in the midst of packing, and 

moving! We found out on Monday night that we would be moving on 

Thursday by 2:00. So, really, we had 48 hours to pack and clean the 

apartment.  It was so much fun!  It took us about 2 hours to pack all of 

our stuff up, clothing, and food..stuff like that.   Then it took us 4-5 hours

 to deep clean the whole apartment! That place was spit spot clean by 

2:00 Thursday.

So, we moved out of our apartment on and the Elders moved in.  We 

moved into a new apartment on 1st Avenue, and it is so adorable!!

It's a split house...we get the upstairs, and a family lives beneath us. 

We have 2 bathrooms. 3 Bedrooms. A spacious kitchen. And a huge study

room!  I'm not making this up. We are totally spoiled.  Plus, our Landlord 

is so sweet! He lives in San Fran, but his extended family lives beneath us. 

They're so sweet (:  They speak Spanish, so some times there's a little bit 

of a language barrier, but hey...the gift of tongues is real ;) haha. 

Oh! And we have a car full time now!  Elder Bell and Elder Larsen were 

shotgunned out of the area, into Brooklyn Park.  The Brooklyn Park Elders 

came here, and they're Zone Leaders.  All leaders have to have cars full time. 

Which means, we get a car full time, too.  It's weird. 

We don't sweat...we can do our make up....haha. I kind of actually miss it, 

though. I love biking. 

That's about it family (:

The work is moving along!

Remember to be awesome Member Missionaries and Hasten the Work of Salvation!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

The Church is true!

The book is blue!

<3/Your Sister Missionary

Slurpees! Slurpees! Slurpees!

HEY!

Oh. This week. 

We went on Exchanges!  I went to Chesapeake/Baltimore area 

with Sister Davis, and Sister Anderson stayed here in the Dirty 

Burnie with Sister Long. 

I had so much fun with Sister Davis! We didn't have to do the 

awkward get to know each other,  because we lived with each 

other for 3 months! (when I was in Charles Town, and she was 

in Harper's Ferry) The city is amazing, and terrifying. It's great. 

I can't wait to come back here with y'all.  You're going to love it!

While I was gone, Sister Anderson and Sister Long found a lot 

of Potentials! We're still working on following up with them (:

So, Transfers are this Wednesday. Both Sister Anderson and I are 

staying. But, the Elders are being shotgunned out,  and then our 

Zone Leaders are being shotgunned in.  So, they're switching places..

weird.  But, we get a car now. Which, I have mixed feelings about. 

I love biking! I'm building all of this muscle!  I don't want to lose it. 

So, we have a plan. We're going to drive to an area..then bike 

around in that area.  It's going to be great.  We are moving soon, 

not sure where, or when. All we know is soon. So, stay tuned for that...

There's a couple of photos attached. 

First one is of Our lunch on Friday. 

And then our lunch on Saturday...

We have a slurpee obsession.....darn 7/11 everywhere!!!

The Church is True,

The book is blue!

I love you!

<3/Your Sister Missionary

Sister Cas Brinkerhoff

p.s. Shotgunning means taking both missionaries out

Forehead sweat...a great missionary tool.

Hey Family (:

This week has been pretty great!

We found 3 new investigators, soon to be 8!  It's the Savage family. 

We only met the mom, and 2 daughters last time.  They're actually 

former investigators, and their name just happened to show up on the 

GPS. So we stopped by.  It started with her telling us they decided to 

go to another church.  Then I wiped some sweat off my forehead, and 

she said,  "Oh my! Do ya'll want some water? I can't believe ya'll bike 

out in this heat!"  Forehead sweat...a great missionary tool. 

So we go in. She gets us some water. We sit down at her kitchen table 

with her. We talk about how the missionaries were coming over but then

just stopped.  So, we took the approach of "Man! We feel bad that they 

did that. Can we come over like once a week and keep sharing those 

messages with you?"  She said, "Yeah! Wednesday night at 5:00 would 

be great!"  PERFECT. 

So this Wednesday, we're going to teach them the Restoration, and 

Commit them to BAPTISM!! (:   I'm so excited!! This family is awesome. 

They already read the bible on a regular basis.  They're gonna be baptized! 

So, funny story of the week.  On Tuesday, we were at Gino's for lunch 

after District Meeting, when it started to just down pour.  Water was 

running down the roads.  It was insane! We don't see much of that kind 

of rain in good ole St.Geezy. It's like a regular thing here, apparently. 

Because NO BODY was amazed, except for me. haha. 

Anyway, we got home, changed into dry clothes, took a video of the 

craziness.  And went back out!  It had started to let up a bit. We had 

walked about a mile away from home, when we decided to check our phone.

7 MESSAGES?!  This never happens.  6 of them were from a member in the 

area, telling us that a TORNADO was headed  East of Severna Park. 

WE'RE EAST OF SEVERNA PARK!

But, we looked up at the sky, it looked pretty calm.... We then read our 

7th text message, it was from the Elders/our District Leader.  They were 

wondering if we were getting all of the weather texts, as well. 

So, we decided to casually walk back close to home....nothing happened.

No tornado. NOTHING. All of those panicked texts for nothing! haha. But 

the funny part was, everyone around us was obviously flipping out, while 

here are these 2 girls in skirts, just strolling down the street. They say 

ignorance is bliss (: It's true. haha. 

 ( NOTE FROM MOM:  I told her she wasn't Dorothy and she had no Toto, 

so she better dang well be heading the warnings next time, cause I don't 

want her getting whooshed away.  Her response was, "I'm not in Kansas 

either."  Smarty Pants, don't know where she gets it. :/ )

UM. EXCUSE ME. IN 8 DAYS IT'LL BE MY 6 MONTH MARK. WHAT THE 

HECK?!  I'm not so sure I like that. Granted...after that I have a little over a 

year left. Because I'll be flying home on August 12 or 13..but STILL. That 

means at this moment, I only have 13 months left. ONLY 13 MONTHS. I 

don't know how I feel about this! Like, wow, time has flown by, and only 13 

months till I see my family and friends...but ONLY 13 MONTHS TO SHARE 

THE GOSPEL WITH EVERYONE I SEE. ONLY 13 MONTHS TILL I HAVE 

TO PARTICIPATE IN REAL LIFE AGAIN. WHAT. WHAT. 

Oh, and Mom. You'll be happy to hear this. I'm really thinking about going 

back to school after the mish. For a couple of reasons. 

1. If I don't, Sister Hosner (coach Hosner's sister) will hunt me down. 

2. I know I can do it. Even when I don't want to. 

3. I need to. (: 

That's about it family!!

I LOVE YOU BUNCHES!!

The church is true!

The book is blue!

<3/Your Missionary, Sister Brinkerhoff

 Sister Anderson & Sister Brinkerhoff July 2014

Sister Brinkerhoff's Tan Line

1 Day. 6 Slurpees.

FAMILY!

This week has been legit.

We've found a lot of Less Actives that have 

been prepared to come back. It just goes to 

show that as long as you're being exactly 

obedient the Lord leads you to those who will 

recognize you as a servant of God! 

We went to Inner Harbor today for Preparation 

Day. The touristy part is sick. The not touristy 

part...terrifying. haha. I would never last in the 

real city. Glen Burnie is pushin my cityness. haha.

I'll attach some photos. I only took like 4 photos...

haha. Whaterrs. 

It was cool, though. We talked to quite a few people 

who came up to us and asked "hey! are you Mormons?" 

or "you Latter Day Saints?" 

Haha, when we got back, this guy asked us for our

tickets, so we gave it to him. But then of course we 

gave him a Mormon.org card. He then tried to hug me. 

A lot of people like to hug the Sister Missionaries. 

Yes, including the members. haha. Keeps your guard 

up, though! 

So, we might be moving pretty soon. Our apartment is

in a pretty sketch area. We told President and he's having 

us move, pretty darn soon. We think they've already found 

an apartment for us. SWEET. 

Other than that, it's been a normal week of missionary work! 

LOVE YOU FAMILY!!

<3/Your missionary

P.S. Your weekend with Cindy and Kim sounds like fun! 
Even though there was no Spinny Park involved ;P hahaha. 
That was a weird night..

.

Hazard lights in Glen Burnie, don't mean what they're supposed to mean (:

Hey Familia (:

This week was AWESOME!!

First off, lets start with TANSEY'S BAPTISM!!!!  Oh man. The spirit was 

thick!  It's amazing how strong her testimony is. She bore it like she's 

been a member for years!  SHE'S AMAZING.  I will send pics next week. 

I've lost my camera converter, and I forgot my camera...(: haha. 

For the 4th, we went to the combined ward breakfast picnic.  That was 

sick! We ate a load of pancakes.  Jumped rope.  Took pics.  Pretty legit. 

That night, Sister Hosner and Sister Rigsby, 2 of the most amazing women

I've ever met, took Sister Anderson and I out to Golden Corral. Dang. We 

ate a lot there, too.  Sister Hosner had to roll us out of there! haha. 

It was awesome. 

That night, we weren't able to see any fireworks, because we live in the 

woods, (yes, even in the city) but we listened to some Nashville Tribute 

(Christian Country Singers), updated our area book and GPS's, talked 

about our families, laughed, and just had some fun! 

It was awesome (:

Sounds like y'all had an awesome 4th!  Redneck fireworks and all. SWEET. haha. 

Well, family, I love you!

<3/Sister Brinkerhoff