So many panels, so little time

Jump-start on my internship this week. Spent the weekend in Boulder, Utah at the Anasazi State Park. Considering it's in the absolute middle of nowhere, I loved it there. As unique as the people were, I enjoyed them. Go figure, I was offered a summer internship with them. But more on that later. We spent a few days there working in the museum and cataloging various objects, then headed to Freemont State Park to see some petroglyphs, and do some hiking! I would highly recommend both of these museums if you are in the area!


We also made a pit stop at the Utah Territorial State House to check out my living accommodations. Little did I know that the place used to a jail, and that I would have the pent-house jail suite. Chains and all...

Where the heck is Erda?!

It's funny how you can live in a place for 24 years and pay no attention to what's around you. Sissy called me up this morning and asked me to go to a missionary homecoming for an Elder we served with. Best one hour road trip ever. As we go around the mountain a thick fog settles over the highway. Out of no-where sissy (who's driving) gets a little freaked out and asks "what is that large body of water?" oh... ya know... the Great Salt Lake?! We got to see a cat get run over, and a strange woman grab it by the tail and move it out of the parking lot. She kept telling us that the cat was already dead, but just kept getting back up on it's feet as a result of being dead.... as we leave the town after church we pass the drive-in theater, and this sign made my day :D
In other words... Today sucked (ok, the last few months sucked...) but the fishing will be better tomorrow :D

Nectar of the Gods?

I was driving home from a missionary homecoming a few weeks ago when I came across this sign out in front of a church. Of course I had to turn around and drive through their parking lot to get a picture. All I can say is Amen.....

Then of course I was craving bacon, and I found this recipe for bacon wrapped lil' smokies. What's better than bacon? various meats wrapped in bacon... so here ya go
Ingredients

• 1 pound Li'l Smokies
• 12 ounces, weight Center-cut Bacon
• FOR THE GLAZE:
• ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
• ¼ cups Maple Syrup (the Real Stuff)
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• A Small Pinch Of Cayenne (optional)

Instructions

Empty the smokies onto some paper towels and blot them dry. Dry smokies will allow the bacon to adhere better. Place the dried smokies in a single layer (keeping them separated) onto a small cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 45 minutes.

While the smokies are in the freezer, cut the bacon into thirds. Separate each piece of bacon and place on a large cookie sheet in a single layer. Put the bacon in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The well-chilled smokies and bacon will help to keep everything from getting too slippery when you wrap the smokies later.

When it is nearly time to take the smokies out of the freezer, preheat the oven to 350F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Make the glaze by whisking together the brown sugar, maple syrup, mustard, and cayenne (if using). Whisk the mixture well to ensure that the larger pieces of brown sugar have broken up.

Wrap a piece of bacon around each smokie, pressing firmly on the final edge of the bacon to better ensure it does not spring open during baking. Try not to stretch the bacon when wrapping the sausages. Place the bacon-wrapped smokies onto the foil-lined sheet pan, seam side down. Continue with the rest of the bacon and smokies. Using a spoon, put a little bit of the thick glaze on top of each bacon-wrapped smokie, trying to coat each one evenly. You should have just enough glaze to do the entire batch.

Bake the smokies for about 35 minutes or until they are lightly brown on top. Immediately transfer the smokies to a serving plate or a slow cooker set on low to keep warm. These a very addictive. I apologize in advance.

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Ventures at http://cookingventures.blogspot.com

Christmas Spiral Cookies!!

I found this AMAZING cookie recipe on Pinterest. I thought it would be fun to make some for Dale for his birthday, and I ended up keeping and eating most of them..... they were soo much easier than I thought they would be, and actually a blast to make! Here's the recipe from ouritaliankitchen.blogspot.com. Enjoy!!

Ingredients
2 cups flour, plus possibly a few more tbsp (the original recipe called for cake flour, but I just used regular old all-purpose flour since I was all out of a softasilk)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup unsifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (cut in chunks)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp of food coloring of your choice(and/or 1/2 tsp of any desired extra extracts)
1 1/2 cup holiday sprinkles

Directions
1. In a stand mixer, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugars with paddle on medium until well blended.

2. Add butter in, gradually, and continue mixing. Add in vanilla extract. At this point, your dough will form a ball on your paddle.

3. Remove all your dough and divide into two equal parts. Return one portion back in to the mixer and add the food coloring and any extra extracts. I used Wilton gel food coloring in leaf green and vanilla extract for this batch. You could coordinate your colors and flavors, for example green food coloring matched with a mint extract or yellow with a lemon extract, etc. Also, if you are using liquid food coloring, you will need to add a few tbsp of flour to keep the dough from becoming too wet. Mix until the color is spread out evenly.

4. Roll out each portions of your dough, between two sheets a wax paper until is reaches about 11 x 9 inches and is 1/4 inch thick. Slide both unto a cookie sheet and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. (side note, I didn't wait the full hour... maybe 1 hour. They were really hard by then, so I had to wait about 30 minutes for them to soften up enough to roll them)

5. When firm, remove the top sheets of wax paper from both. Brush the uncolored vanilla dough lightly with water using a pastry brush. Then flip the colored dough onto the vanilla uncolored dough so they are stacked atop each other and even. Press the edges lightly with your fingertips to seal them together. Using a small pairing knife, trim the edges of the dough to make straight, even lines.

6. Pour out sprinkles onto a large platter and set aside. Be sure your dough is still cold, but flexible. Once it's ready, begin rolling the long side of dough into a swirl, jelly-roll style. Now, don't get nervous if the outer layer of uncolored dough tears a bit. It's no problem, just pinch and pat those tears and voila, then just keep rolling. (it might take a while before it's soft enough to roll! be patient!)

7. Now gently lift your dough log onto the sprinkles and roll away. Cover the log completely with your sprinkles. Wrap the colorfully decorated log in plastic wrap twice. Depending on when you want to bake the cookies, either place the wrapped dough into refrigerator for about 3-4 hours or you can put it the freezer and keep it there for up to 2 months. (If freezing, give yourself time for the dough to defrost in the fridge overnight before cutting.)


8. Slice your dough into 1/4-1/8 inch slices and bake on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes until edges are slightly golden. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then move them to a cookie rack to finish cooling. Enjoy your whimsical Christmas cookies

Time flies when you drag a tooba around...

Howdy... been a while.... sorry 'bout that. Wanna see what I've been up to the last few months? I can sum it all up in 3 words.... PRIDE OF UTAH! Go band.... Sad to say, but it's my last year marching. If all goes according to plan (which it never does) I will graduate with my degree in May of next year. Super. Plans for the blog include a detailed play by play of my internship in filmore. ok... detailed meaning that I will update with pictures and stuff as I remember to do so. Speaking of internship, Surprise!! I'll be helping re-vamp an archaeology museum in Filmore. I get a FEMA trailer and everything. yay for running water. I have no idea what to expect, but I know this is such a great opportunity! Hopefully this leads to a full time job with the Division of Natural Resources (or anywhere....) that I can jump right into when I graduate! College might pay off!
That's all, Physics assignment due tomorrow.
PS I know that's not how you spell tuba. But technically it's a sousaphone, and that's just too long to write all the time. So now it's tooba.

Trax Riding 101 Midterm

For this exam, please indicate how many statements in the following conversation are lies.
Girl- (helps a man out by pushing the door open button while the door is closing on his arm, then goes back to reading a book.)
Scary Man on Trax (SMOT)- (Creepy smile and then sits in front of her...)
SMOT- Great day for a jog, isn't it? (keep in mind that it's in the middle of a blizzard)
Girl- yep (goes back to reading)
SMOT- You have a beautiful smile
Girl- Thanks...
SMOT- where are you going?
Girl- Temple Square
SMOT- What's your name?
Girl- Emily
SMOT- I'm soo glad I decided to be baptized in two weeks.
Girl- Congratulations (still has book open)Who are your missionaries?
SMOT- well.... I don't have missionaries.... My friend is going to baptize me when he comes back.
Girl- oh cool.
SMOT- What are you doing at temple square?
Girl- Meeting my fiance.
SMOT- oh... (grabs girls left hand) Is this your birth stone? (pointing out class ring on left middle finger)
Girl- no, school colors.
SMOT- What would your fiance say if you showed up with a ring pop on your finger that a guy on trax gave you?
Girl- huh... (book)
SMOT- Ya know, I knew you were a mormon when I got on the train.
Girl- huh...
SMOT- I noticed that about mormons, everyone Glows.
Girl- thanks....
SMOT- I can't wait till I get that.
Girl- Well it's the holy ghost, in two weeks you can have it. Goodbye

Please indicate what statements are false, and what you feel the girl could have done to avoid this situation. Turn in by Thursday.

Dating Research 101

What's better than a Prophet of God telling young people to get married? Watching people try. It amuses me. It's cute when a guy gets nervous around a girl he likes, or watches a stupid chick flick because he knows it'll give him brownie points.
I'm not here to talk about what I think is the "right way" to date, but to compile some ideas that I've found recently about the art of dating and courtship.

Love Languages:
One of the hardest things about being a missionary and having a 24/7 companion is learning how to express and recognize love. Many of my companions were asian... I learned just how different we were when it comes to showing our appreciation and love. She might not talk or express herself in words. well guess what, I need to hear that I'm good at something. She needs to hear that I'm thankful for what she did, but I'm prideful and would rather just give her a hug. Do you see the dilemma?
During a very emotional transfer, my wonderful mission president suggested that we discover what our "love language" was. Excuse me, what? Little did I think that this would save me in soo many ways!!
So what is a love language? First of all it's a book... i'm sure it's good and I'll read it one day. The author says about it
After many years of counseling, Dr. Chapman noticed a pattern: everyone he had ever counseled had a “love language,” a primary way of expressing and interpreting love. He also discovered that, for whatever reason, people are usually drawn to those who speak a different love language than their own... Of the countless ways we can show love to one another, five key categories, or five love languages, proved to be universal and comprehensive—everyone has a love language, and we all identify primarily with one of the five love languages
So what are these languages?
Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.
The point of this is to 1) find out which one you react to, and 2) ask the significant other what they react to. I can't expect a boyfriend to just "know", or fault him if he doesn't express love exactly in the way I want him to. Easier said than done, yeah?
If you wanna take the test and see what your love language is you can take the test...
http://www.5lovelanguages.com/assessments/love/
And if anyone wants to know... my love language is "words of affirmation," and "physical touch."

Mormon Man vs. Mormon Woman:

Last night at the flat I discussed with jason and ammon a list of "what men/women want" they received at FHE. I thought some were kind of stereotypical, but there were many that made me stop and think. I think one of my favorite was about how men need to feel like hero's. Girls, how often do we shoot guys down, or fail to recognize when they do something that is a big deal to them? Ammon made the point that after fixing the car he feels great about himself. Like he could accomplish anything. Well great, I don't want to ruin that.
I did a bit of research online this morning about what LDS bloggers are saying about dating and the role of women and men. I was quite surprised. There seemed to be blogs on everything from feminist movements to stereotypical housewife recipes. One particular blog, Mormon Men, caught my interest almost immediately (http://mormonmen.wordpress.com/). The author is divorced, active, and very open with his comments on women. Oddly enough I agreed with him on almost everything. His most recent article, the martyrdom of modern mormon women, was his rebuttal to an article written in a popular LDS blog about how it's all men's fault that girls don't date. He had a lot to say about that. one of my favorite quotes "Too many women, even those in the Church, have turned into narcissistic harpies who want to have their cake and eat it too. She believes that the sexual revolution has made women more valuable to men when it has done the exact opposite – it has turned them into our competitors." I might be guilty of this. How often do we as women get caught up and think that we will need to "compete" with our husbands? I'm competitive enough, why would I want that in my family? I want a companion, not a competitor.
On the opposite end of all this, I found a very interesting blog called "Feminist Mormon Housewives." This seems kind of contradictory to me. If you know me, you know that I am all about women's rights. But there are certain things that men do that we can't. Also, there are things that women do that men can't!! It's all part of our Heavenly Fathers plan for us! This blog does make me laugh... especially the coloring book article. She faults Disney for exploiting womens bodies (like tinkerbell) and making us object instead of people. What problem do I have with this? What's wrong with dressing nice to impress someone?! When I'm married I don't want to dress frumpy and ugly just because I don't have to "find" a husband any more. I want him to be happy too! You can still look hott (or dare I say... sexy?) and still conform to standards.
well this got off topic... I have to go to class...

Homecoming!!

Howdy Ya'll! I finally get to write this myself. I'm soo thankful for all of your support and love during the best 19 months of my life!! my Homecoming will be on December 26th, at 0900. It will be at the LDS chapel on 1000 East and 11400 South. Food at my house after!!! Can't wait to see ya all there!!
Love, CharChar

Don't Forget! Charlene will be home tomorrow! Yea! Airport 7:30 am Delta!

THE LAST!

This is me, Sister Watanabe, and Sister Alexeenko. Two of my best companions. This was this morning's aloha' oe'. I had been crying, so I look bad. I love you all! Can't wait to see you soon!


OFA LAHI ATU!
Sister Bridge

Temple Dedicated!

Alooha!!!!
I'm so glad that I finally get to report that the temple is OPEN!!! It's hard to believe it, but yesterday was the dedication and today people have been going in! My entire mission I’ve been waiting for it, and now, with a week left... It's done. Last week was so great. We had our mission tour with Elder Piper of the Quorum of the Seventy, and we drove down to Kaneohe to meet with the other zones. He taught us so many great things about receiving personal revelation, and companionship unity. One thing that stuck out so much was how we can really make or break our church meetings by how we prepare ourselves to go. We, as missionaries, showed up and started talking to our friends we hadn't seen in a while, and weren't being as reverent as we should have. He kind of chastised us, and we deserved it, but it's so true. If you show up early and prepare yourself to be taught by the spirit, you learn so much more.

Another exciting thing about this week... the Prophet was here to dedicate the temple! He came Friday I think, and left last night after the dedication. There was definitely a different spirit throughout the islands. The temple dedication was so great, and it has been such a blessing and a privilege to serve near the temple on my mission. I realized it when I was full proselyting, but we are so lucky to be visitor center sisters, because the spirit is so strong here! We don't have to work as hard to bring the spirit because we are already on sacred grounds. Granted, we still have to teach by the spirit and help them recognize it, but with the temple so close it's hard to NOT feel the spirit.   The temple is open today, and I get to go do a session next Wednesday before I go home. I am so excited!!!! 

This week we've got a lot of potential investigators we are going to try and find, and hopefully this will help whichever missionary will be taking my spot. It's hard to believe that I'll have to leave Laie, this place has become my home. I love the special feeling that is here in this community.

I have had such a wonderful mission, I am so thankful that I was called to serve in Hawaii, and that I was able to meet and associate with such amazing people from all over the world. I know that this is the Lords Church, and that we are doing His work. I know that the Gospel was restored through Joseph Smith, and that we have a living Prophet today! I know that God lives, and that the Atonement is real. I know that if we rely on the Lord, and are Obedient, He can help us through anything. I love this work!!! I love the temple, and I know that by going we can receive the revelation we need to truly happy!

Ofa lahi atu, and Aloha 'oe!
Sister Bridge

PS the picture is me and Sister Alexeenko in our new Pule Tasi's (or pule taha in Tongan)

Charlene's schedule

Char will leave Honolulu, Hawaii Dec. 2nd in the evening and arrive Dec. 3rd at 7:27 am. Her flight is Delta 1104.

If you can be at the airport that would be great. If not, please come to the house (aprox. 8:30) for breakfast. She will love to see any of you that can come over. If you need the address, email me at bridgecj@ldschurch.org. I will get you the address.

Hope to see you then!
Connie (her anxious, excited Mom!)

Alooooha!! Sorry it's been soo long... The open house is over and we have a full p-day once again! It's been about 4 weeks, and I'm ready to relax for a bit. (But not too long because I need to take Sister Alexeenko to the Polynesian Cultural Center soon!)

The open house was amazing. We had about 54,000 people come through, and many of them asked to have missionaries come teach them more. It was such a great experience, and I'm soo grateful that I was able to be a part of it.  I realized at the beginning that if I hadn't extended my mission I would have missed this completely! 

We were soo busy these last few weeks. We had shifts at the Visitors Center, at the open house, at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and still had to work with the people we're teaching in our areas.  The open house was a lot of fun. We weren't allowed to proselyte (of course), but we could answer questions if they asked us. So 4 missionaries were always stationed in the refreshment tent so if people had questions after they came out of the temple they could ask us. This was the best, because we were always answering questions, and teaching. I think I taught the first missionary discussion (restoration) at least 6 times. Other than that it was a lot of questions like "Where are your regular services held?" and "What do the oxen mean in the baptistry?" And a lot of people had questions about the priesthood, and the role of women in the church. 

The best part, for me, was seeing all the people from all over the island that I had met during my mission. The Lord always put me in a position where I could see my recent converts, or families I had worked with. It was hard, kinda like saying goodbye again, but what a blessing it was to be able to see them one last time. Especially the ones I never got to say goodbye to in the first place.

One experience I had: A couple came into the reception tent after going through the temple, and they were talking with a senior missionary about the rooms inside. He was very impressed, and said "I knew a girl who was Mormon, she always glowed. Now I know why, because she went to the temple." 

I am soo grateful for temples, and the opportunity to serve near this one. It has been the greatest experience of my life, and to top it off the prophet is coming on Sunday to dedicate it. After that (10 days, I think) I will get to go inside with all the missionaries who are going home with me, and once again feel the spirit that is there in the Lords House!

Ofa Lahi atu, aloha 'oe
Sister Charlene Bridge

SO CLOSE!

Charlene and companion
"us yesterday on tram. we took a picture while the movie was playing :D"

"This is my week.... in pictures? Since I don't want to write a blog :D and we had a group of 70 bashers from the Assembly of God come to the Open house yesterday. I have learned patience! That was my test! I didn't say anything mean! Can't guarantee I won't next time... But I think I passed!!!!"

"My grass skirt and sarong! cute, huh?!
"Sister Apina sent me an authentic Ti Leaf skirt from the Big Island. She made it herself! I'm not sure how I'll get it home, probably ship it... because it's amazing! She had her ward members bring it to the island for her. So now I have an awesome hawaiian grass skirt... and an ukulele!"

Connie says:

Charlene will be home on Dec. 4th. Here is her flight information:

Delta flight DL1104 arriving in Salt Lake at 7:27 AM Friday December 4th.

I know, I know. For all you night owls, that is pretty early. If you can't make it to the airport, come by the house for pancakes and see her then. She will be happy to see you at either place. We are so excited to see her.

I will get more information out as I receive it. Thanks for all your support!

Hawaii Temple Open House

Aloooha!!!

Sorry my blogs have been a little small lately (or no blog at all...). It’s just what happens when you prepare for a Temple Open House. Just no time... Sorry :D But this week we have some good news, and some pictures!

Sarah was Baptized on Saturday! It was so great. She was baptized by her father-in-law, our old Stake President. He also confirmed her on Sunday. She has such a great testimony, and I’m so grateful that I was able to teach her and see her baptized!

The temple open house starts Wednesday (two days of media and VIP, public comes Friday) and I am so excited! I’m so glad I extended my mission so I get to help with this. I’ll attach some pictures of the temple at night. It’s so amazing!

So the big news... Transfers.... I’ve been a little nervous because Elder Eubank has been dropping hints that I might go full proselyting again. He told me not to be too disappointed, because they really need sisters out full proselyting. So I was preparing myself for the disappointment. This morning when he did transfer news he did mine last... and said something like “Mililani (an area in the middle of the island) needs another sister... but it won’t be Sister Bridge because she will be training our new Russian Sister from the MTC.” I could have cried... no one told me I was training, surprise to me! So that’s the news I’m staying in my area, but training a new sister. I’m super excited. I pick her up at transfer meeting Wednesday morning.

I won’t be having real p-days for about 4 weeks. Sorry. So the e-mails will be at super random times. We have a few days each week where we get an hour or two to do shopping and e-mail, then to laundry another day, and do other things... So I’ll try to write a few words during that time. I can’t promise anything... so you should just write me and I’ll respond that way :D

I heard an awesome quote the other day about church meetings. “If the service is a failure, you have failed. No one can worship for you.” ha ha I liked that... You take out what you put in. I need to learn that more. Church can be a wonderful experience if we go with the attitude of learning and reverence. Not just going because we have to. See.. It only took me 17 months...

Well I’m off.... Ofa Atu!
Sister Bridge




Temple open house

Aloha! Things are going good!

We're getting ready for the open house which is coming very very soon! I'm really excited to actually go into the temple and to see what it looks like. I can't believe I've been here soo long and I've never been inside. Oh well... soon.

Sarah had her baptismal interview yesterday, she passed :D Her baptism is set for Saturday! We're pretty excited for her.

Transfer news in on next Monday, so I should know what's going to be happening for next transfer! That should be exciting.

We've had a lot of training for the open house, because we're expecting a lot of... not so friendly people. Of course those are sometimes my favorite, so it's good practice! The open house is going to be amazing. We will be doing what most missionaries do at open houses... There will be tents for the people to go to before they go into the temple and that's where we will be at. Then once they watch a video there, we will send them inside. If they go to the Visitors Center after, there will be Sisters  that can answer more questions. So we'll be doing that along with our regular shift, the tram shift, and the Referral Center. We won't really have much area time or P-day time. We'll see what happens! Either way... I'd much rather have my last transfer be my busiest. But I'm trying not to think of that.

That pretty much covers it!  Much aloha!
Sister Bridge

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

Hey fam. I don't have too much to write about.

The Hocketts came to the Visitor Center. That was my highlight.

I've started the registration process for the U of U. Seems like I'll be in school forever. I have to go thru the process of becoming a resident of Utah because I have been out of the state for more than a year. Have to hurry this process along so I can register before Nov. 1 deadline.

The temple looks amazing. It's all lit up and pretty all the time. I'm soo excited for the rededication in November. 

I finally got Polynesian food again. I ate way too much. I love the tarrot, and the 'ufi, and sweet potato... Soo good!

I love doing the tram tours, we get to see soo many people every day. There's honestly not much to report on... I'll send pictures... when I figure it out...

We've been walking a lot. And I pulled my clarinet out to play the zone conference song. it should be interesting. It's been a year since I played... we'll see!!!

Love you lots!
Char

New Transfer

Since we last met... Sister Hockett was baptized... it was amazing. The perfect way to end my stint in Aliamanu and Halawa.

On that note... I've been transferred back to the Visitors Center. I knew it was coming... and I'm very excited :D Just in time for the open house and re-dedication of the La'ie Hawaii Temple!!!  2 more transfers to go... as crazy as that sounds, and I'll stay here till I "die."

Things have changed a lot around here while I was gone. Now we take tours as companionships, I really like that.  I don't really know anyone, they are all new, but the sisters here are great!

My new companion is Sister Han from South Korean, and oddly enough she was the first person I met in the MTC. We went in the same day, and we’ll go home together. That's kinda funny. She's hilarious, and I'm soo excited to be her companion.

We had transfer meeting on Wednesday. I love transfer meetings because you get to see all the missionaries. My companion (sister Apina) was flying back to Big Island, and I had to wait for Sister Magno and her greenie to finish their new missionary orientation stuff. Sister Apina and I didn't have much to do...  so we were hanging out with the AP's for a while (the assistants to the president). We had to run to Walmart to grab something, and Elder Hatch let me take their truck! Soo much fun. We took the long way around Honolulu to get there. 

We've had some great guests at the VC. I love this place soo much. The spirit is always soo strong in here. It's not like you have to try extra hard to have it. It's soo much easier to teach by the spirit here also, because there are soo many things to show people, and to testify of. We have been using this big presentation called "Gods plan for His family" a lot. It's one of my favorites because it shows the plan of salvation in such a simple way, and showing how knowing this plan helps families. We always come out of it feeling the spirit and having our testimonies strengthened on the importance of eternal families :D Good stuff.

That’s about it...
Ofa Atu!!
Sister Bridge

Best weekend ever!

Best weekend ever :D Sister Hockett was baptized Tuesday night, before I came out here. It was amazing!

I'm in Laie, covering a family ward, and 2 BYU wards. Yeehaw. I'm with Sister Han, she's awesome. We go home together, and came into the MTC the same day. President called me Monday night and said that I have a special assignment, but won't tell me what it is yet.

So I'll e-mail Monday and tell more! Love you lots!
Char