Malo e Lelei!!   Aloha from Laie.

I have some great news... well lots of great news... The temple is finally all lit up and they have taken the gates down. So for the first time in my mission I can walk up to the front gates of the Temple. I am soo excited. It is soo beautiful, and I can't wait to go inside. The open house is scheduled for October 22- November 12 ish.... So we're getting really busy. I still think it's amazing that I go home a week after the temple opens. Talk about timing... I just hope we get to go once it's dedicated.

We had zone conference this week... and with the new changes in schedules we only have zone conference 4 times a year. So this was my last one! I couldn't believe it when the AP's told me I was going to have to give my dying testimony. I still have lots of time left! A dying testimony is basically your testimony of what you learned on your mission.... How it's helped you... stuff like that...  I cried a little. It was a good conference though. We did our musical number and it went great. I pulled my clarinet out for the first time in a year, it worked well enough, but now its going home :) We focused a lot on the Book of Mormon, and using it to resolve the concerns our investigators have. Speaking of concerns and investigators....

I've had a lot of bashers come in the Visitor Center this week. I'm not sure what it is... I guess when great things are being accomplished Satan always tries to bring you down. One instance that stands out: I was talking story with the Zone leaders in the back when this random guy comes walking down the ramp and makes a quick sweep of the back of the Visitor Center. I excuse myself to follow him, and he quickly brushes me off. So I go the other way to cut him off by the doors. When I get to the front his friend has got one of the sisters cornered asking her all these questions about the Book of Mormon. This sister is amazing. She came from Temple Square so she knows how to deal with bashers.... But it was obvious that her English wasn't quite enough for this guy, and he had a thick southern accent so she had a hard time understand as well. I watched for a second and while he's talking he pulls out his camera phone and is taking pictures of the Christus statue, and him and her together talking. So I decided to be her companion for a few minutes. We had a nice little talk, he wanted proof of all these things, and I thought I did better than I normally would. I was a lot nicer. I think I’m becoming more patient. Thank goodness for the mission. So long story short, Basically Mormons are over-achievers in his eyes. But I already knew that. He left with his friend who was still probing around the Visitor Center (I think the elders got to him).  That was one of the most interesting tours this week....

On a happy note... We committed one of our investigators to baptism last night, and she said yes. We're working towards October 16th for her. She is soo cute. She just married this returned missionary, and the family is soo great. We had a great lesson about the Doctrine of Christ, and the Atonement. We watched the Lamb of God DVD... which I honestly hadn't seen all of before last night... go figure. Sister Han did a great job of bringing the spirit and inviting her to be baptized. It was an amazing night!

So that's really long, but I guess it makes up for me being lazy and not writing last week.
I'm off to the dentist.
Much aloha!
Sister Bridge