El Dia de Madres

It was SO wonderful to talk to my Momma yesterday. It's so funny how it's SO anticipated, and then its over before you know it. BUT nonetheless, really great to tell my Momma that I love her. And Linz and Ty and the boys, and of course my Joe Joe. Who will soon no longer be MY joe joe... but someone else s. But that's ok, soon I will just have a Joe Joe and a Ja Ja (for Jamie... Congrats you guys!). I loved saying hello to Chan Chan and Haleigh girl too. And of course the quick hello to my sweet Jayne. I love you all! I missed the others that couldn't make it, but I totally understand the business of your lives! Know that I love you all and think of you often.

The first thing my Mom said was "You know that you can come home honorably at any time, right?". Thanks Mom, I did know that. And I think I'll stay. This is too good, in so many ways. Even the hard ways, this is too good.

Let's see. What to write about this week. I wish I could say this whole explain-everything-that-happened-to-you- in-40-minutes thing would get easier as the months go by, but they DON'T! News flash. I'm am becoming a killer typer though. And I was pretty good before...

So this week is transfers. So crazy. I'm about to begin my 6th transfer! And I only have 12 total! AGH! SLOW DOWN TIME. I'm not sure what is going to happen. I got a call from President saying he wanted to see me tonight which could mean a couple things... but I'm not sure what is going to happen. Tune in next week to see :) I really can't believe this transfer is all ready gone. I have to be honest, this transfer was the hardest one yet for sure. Lots of stress with a new area, a HUGE area at that with a LOT of people who don't exactly love missionaries coming to their door, a lot of great people that we are teaching with a lot of issues to work through, personal doubt and frustration with myself... just a hard transfer. And on top of that, I've gotten to the point that I never thought I'd get to: I just don't care about what I look like anymore. SO on top of being a tad stressed, I look really bad for the most part. But it's ok, because I'm on the Lord's Errand, right? I can look better when I get home. (hopefully... I will need some serious help...)

Megan is doing really well. Her baptism is this Saturday! We are going to have to "cram" some lessons though because she has been in and out of town and we've had a hard time getting together. But all will be fine. Her boyfriend, Justin, is baptizing her and we are just so excited for her. She is really happy about it. I hope there is a good turnout from the UCLA ward. She's awesome and I'm so excited for her.

Kaz... is... amazing. She is so cool. Yesterday, she came to church and it was hard. It was super noisy and there were a lot of kids sitting right in front of us and I thought Kaz was going to eat one of them (she even said she was about to punch something... haha shes so funny). Kaz really doesn't want to do this just to fit a mold, so we are trying to help her understand that this is NOT about joining a religion or becoming "mormon". This is about following Jesus Christ and becoming clean through his atonement. She is progressing, although she is frustrated that God isn't answering her prayers. We talked a lot about prayer yesterday and why we pray the way we do. It is definitely an adjustment for her. She wants to do things HER way, but she completely accepts the fact that God is not going to let that happen because He wants things done HIS way. I think we can all relate to that a bit. It will be amazing the transformation that happens when she trully succumbs her will to the Lords.

I had a neat experience at the Visitors Center with a couple Elders and their investigator. Elisha doesn't really know if God is there... She feels like she has done everything on her own, and she has been through some HARD things. She said she doesn't really think she needs God, that she is fine and she doesn't need to know what happens after this life, that she is content just being. But I could tell differently. I could really see that she was putting on a huge front that she was fine even though inside she was screaming. At the beginning, she was very closed off, didn't really want to open up, but then we got to talking and I really felt like I should be very bold to her. I said "I know you think you are fine... and it is truly amazing that you have come out of those hard things... But I have to be bold. You are not fine. You are broken and only God can put the pieces back together. You have to let him. You have to find out if he is there and give Him a chance to heal you." It was really crazy because I was looking into her eyes, and I felt so strongly that that was what I needed to say to her. Tears welled in both of our eyes and by the end of the time we had together, she had decided she would pray to know if He was there. I truly believe that God will show her he is there and she will be so blessed. Tender mercy.

 

 Jeremiah stopped in to say goodbye before he takes off on his cruise. Always great to see people who I love. I love hearing about the success all of my dear friends are having! Congrats to everyone, I love and miss you all. (Brittany Bowman I want a letter please :) Good luck to Jer. Don't you forget what we talked about.

Not sure what else to talk about so I think I will close. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I was telling my Mom... "I know that you know that this is hard sometimes. But the good totally outweighs the hard because this is so worth the rough days!" And that is totally true. I love being a missionary and I love the things I am learning. I love the Book of Mormon. Read it everyday.

Love

Sista Brink

May Has Begun.... What?!

I am truly amazed that it is May. People keep coming in from BYU and I say "So are you just here for the weekend? Is there a break on Monday?" And they say "No, the semester is over!" And it blows my mind every time. I can't believe I've all ready been here for 2 semesters... My time at school NEVER went as fast as it has gone here. Redonkulous.

So do you remember the story in Alma where Alma and Amulek are in prison in Ammonihah and they have to watch all of the wives and children of the believers burn? Amulek says something very interesting that really stuck out to me this week (it actually ALWAYS sticks out to me, so maybe I wrote about it before... I love Alma 14). So as they are watching them burn, Amulek suggests that they "stretch forth their hands and exercise the power of God... and save them from the flames." but then Alma, oh Alma... What a guy..., says "The spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand, for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself in glory. And he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts..." and then Amulek says, in what I think a serious cry, "Behold perhaps they will burn us also." And then Alma says "Be it according to the will of the Lord. But behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not."

Ok so why does this stick out to me every time I read it? There are a few reasons and a lot of it has to do with whats been going on for Sista Brink in LA.

Sometimes, we have to sit back and let things happen the way the Lord wants them to happen. EVEN if they are hard. Even if we are watching the most awful thing happen, sometimes we must be "constrained" like Alma and trust that the Lord will take care of everything. That takes a LOT of faith. The Lords plan is SO much bigger than ours. And we just have to trust it! That is why we are here, to trust the plan that the Lord has given us. Alma let them suffer because he knew that it was part of God's plan... He let them suffer to receive something greater than just surviving a fire that some really bad people put them in. That something greater is Eternal Life! And so it is in our lives. We have to get through the hard things, to receive the greater things. Kind of like the "good better best" principle that Dallin H. Oaks talked about in Conference a while back. So then Amulek wants to take the easy road because it seems to hard to bear. He wants to just die with them. That would be the easier thing to do than to watch THEM die and to keep on going and living. How many times do we want the easier way? I know I want it ALL of the time. I want the effects, without the work. But then Alma, wise Alma, says " behold, our work is not finished." He knew that there was more people to help, more things to do, more lessons to learn. He knew that God had great things in store, rather than shrinking and allowing his "fire" to destroy him. Nothing, not even watching people that he loved and cared about burn, would keep him from accomplishing the will of the Lord. We all have our fires! And sometimes it would be easier to just let it burn us to a crisp. But the higher road, and the sometimes harder road, is what will bring us true happiness. What a story. I LOVE IT! I hope you understood what I was saying...

This story really relates to a gal we are teaching. She is amazing. She is really at a point in her life where she knows the will of the Lord is that she be here, with us, learning about God. (She calls herself an SOG, Student of God, and it's really funny. She's super witty. So of course I love her. I love witty people) She says her "resources are all dried up" and that that is why she meets with us, that is why she came to church yesterday even though it really is the LAST thing she WANTS to do. She is truly having a change of heart because she is doing the will of the Lord. With the things she has had to deal with in her life, it would have been really easy for her to just say "Nah... I'll just let the fire burn me. It might hurt for a second, but then it will all be over... who cares..." but she didn't. She has trusted the feelings that she has felt in talking to a member friend of hers and knows that God wants her, and he wants her badly. I know God wants her too! She is bright, smart, and extremely honest (sometimes a little brutally, like yesterday when she figured out how to shrink sacrament down 30 minutes... it was funny). She is starting to break down walls and starting to open up to us and I am just so grateful to be able to teach her. In our lesson on Saturday, she had a hard time looking at me and was like squinting her eyes and then she was like "I'm sorry I'm looking at you funny, it's just that you are SO bright! I seriously can't look at you because it hurts my eyes!" which was something I had never ever ever had anyone say to me before. She recognizes the spirit SO well and describes it SO well using words like dense, thick, heavy, natural high... She's super artsy so I love her even more. In church yesterday, I could tell she was uncomfortable and having an inner battle of "I know God wants me to be here. But I hate this. So I will stick it out" so I showed her a scripture in the Old Testament about fighting battles, and how they aren't really OUR battles to fight, but Gods. She read it, looked at me sort of broken-like, and then just touched her heart. THAT is why I am here. She is preparing for Baptism on June 4th.

Megan is doing really well. She is just smooth sailin towards her baptism on May 14th. Her boyfriend is coming up from Salt Lake to baptize her which is way neat. She is just amazing. She's my friend.

Yesterday was one of the most special evenings of my mission. A while ago, I met a girl at the Visitors Center named Ashley. She had the most adorable kids and we talked for a really long time and really connected and had a lot to relate to each other. Come to find out, her husband, Mike, was in the teaching room with Sisters Hanselman and Green and was investigating the church but was VERY slowly moving along. Ashley and I just had a great talk and I really love her. So THEN I got to know them a little bit more as they came back for lessons with the Sisters. This was back in January probably. Then Sister Hanselman and Green asked me if I would do a lesson for them, just singing and talking about the songs I sang because Mike was having a hard time recognizing the spirit and they thought maybe if he heard music it would help. So of course I was so happy to. It was a pretty neat experience. This was in the middle of March probably. The lesson was really spiritually packed, and then at the end, Mike said a prayer out loud (very rare for him) and it was SO cool! Just amazing, I was tearing up. At that point he was having a really hard time with tithing. Anyways, so then I get this text probably 3 weeks ago that was forwarded from Ashley asking if I would sing "Savior Redeemer" at Mikes Baptism May 1st. UM DUH! of COURSE I was SO thrilled to do that. The baptism was truly amazing. PACKED because the ward has just been so excited for Mike. Ashley was less active when they got married and its just amazing to see them now. His testimony at the end was SO sincere, so touching, so genuine. Truly amazing. I was so grateful to be a little part of it. At the end, Mike said "Sister Brinkerhoff. That night you sang really paved the way for me to decide to get baptized. There was somehting about that song, and then "I know that my redeemer lives" that really touched me and I KNEW that was the Spirit. Thank you". One of those things I will never ever forget. Ever.

 

SO. I was 6 feet away from Elder L. Tom Perry. And THEN I was on the stand with him because I lead the music at the Mission Conference. He is AMAZING! And SO huge! Seriously such a big man. And so sweet to his wife, Barbara. They were just the cutest thing. He talked about the 5 points that Elder Holland talked about for the Worldwide training thing. It was pretty incredible how strong the spirit was when he walked in. Man. I took seriously good notes, don't worry.

This has turned in to a super long email. Yesterday, Nina and Janette and Nina's friend-boy Chris came to the Visitors Center! I saw them outside and just ran and gave them a hug. It was SO much fun to see them. Oh my goodness. I love them so much.

Welllllllll I think I will check out for now. I get to talk to my Momma in 7 days. That's the greatest news EVER!

I love you all. This gospel is so very very real and so very very true. I KNOW that.

Sista Brink

So Long, April

Here I am again. Staring blankly at the screen wondering where to even begin. I'm not sure e-mailing will ever get easier.

First off. Everyone, thank you for the letters! There really is nothing like receiving letters as a missionary. It's kind of embarrassing how wonderful it is. So thank you. And I am sorry if my responses are delayed... our time is really limited on P-days for letter writing, but I really do make an effort to write back. Keep the updates coming! Love you all.

Goodness gracious.

Don't know what to do

Or say.

Ok... Megan. Is. Awesome. She is still getting baptized on May 14th. Hoorayyyyy! She is so wonderful and has seriously good questions about things. She really does want this and God really is answering her prayers. Such a blessing and the miracle of this gospel! God wants us to prove him right! And what is interesting is that in Moroni 10 vs 4 he doesn't say "I will tell you it is right" he says "ask God in the name of Christ if these things are NOT true". I think we sometimes are waiting for god to say YES! It's True! But really, he wants us to recognize that the subtle, good feelings just supporting its truth are our answers. Unless something says NO! inside of us, it is usually a good thing. Just like Moroni says in chapter 7... Man, he was a great guy, don't ya think?

We another investigator named Kaz who is really amazing. She has a lot of desire to learn, and realizes that she has to humble herself to do so. We had a lesson the other day and the spirit was SO strong. Like THICK strong. It was pretty amazing. She is a really cool person.

I'm at a loss. This has been a whirlwind of a transfer and I am not really sure what has even happened. Good thing I'm a good journal writer because my blog letters have been FAILING.

I had a couple visits this week. John, Alyssa, Johns Sister in law and adorable nephews and Jeremiah with a couple friends from his cruise. SO fun! It's really weird to be in a place where people can just show up and see me. I LOVE it, but then I hate it all at the same time because there is so much to tell, so much to want to hear, and not enough time before I have to get back to work. You also have to be really careful to not get out of the "zone" of missionary work which is sometimes hard to do. I have never felt like I couldn't get back into focus after visits, I think I just feel badly because I can't REALLY give of myself or my time to them when they come. And then they leave and I think of all of the things I should have told them, or asked, and then it's sad to think that it will be a while before that is possible again. But then its back to work, and it's totally ok. So to you friends, I love you and I am grateful you came... and I'm sorry I couldn't really be "bay" but I only get to be Sister Brinkerhoff for a short time. Thank you for your support and love :)

I really don't think I have anything else to say today. LAME letter, I know... Next week will be better.

THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!!!!!! It truly truly is

Sista Brink

Where is April?

Really though. Where did April go? It is almost over and I'm not even really sure what happened... It's been a whirlwind of a month that's for sure. And the wind keeps a blowin!

Starting these e-mails is always a bit of a task because I can't ever REALLY put my thoughts into words very quickly. Or remember everything that happened. The weeks seem like years when you look back at them, but then it's amazing how fast time flies.

This week was a lot of preparation for Sarah's baptism. She planned EVERYTHING to the T and was so excited for her baptism. It was really neat to see her plan everything with the excitement she had. She is so awesome. Her baptismal interview was Tuesday with Elder Jacobboogar (it's really Jacobberger... He's AWESOME. But I did see him picking his nose in the car once and so now he will forever be Jacobboogar) and it went really really well. She was in the room forever which meant she was probably telling him EVERYTHING which is awesome. Her baptism was Saturday and it was so amazing! We had a Mini Missionary (Sister Frankerhoff. But really her name was Stephanie Camano, we just named her Frankerhoff  because we thought it was funny. And it was.) and she was such a brave soul and even spoke with us during our "Missionary Moment". I sang "Did you think to pray" at Sarah's request and it was fun to be able to share that with her. She is so great and we are so excited for her. Miracles in Bel Air!

Paulette. Saddest Story ever. We had a lesson with her on Wednesday and the first thing she said was "I read the chapter in the Book of Mormon you wanted me to read and I agree. I want to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized (it was 2 Nephi 31... all about Baptism and the doctrine of Christ)." Um. Ok?! So we had a great lesson and talked about the Restoration and watched the Restoration video and I really don't think she blinked once. The Spirit is always so strong during that video. I love it. Anyways, she was all gung ho and then the next day we got a phone call from her and she was really upset because she had lunch with her step mom (the wife of an Emmy award winning composer.... ) and Paulette told her about being baptized a mormon and the step mom blew up at her and started telling her all of the rumors that are SO not true about the church and won't let her get baptized. Paulette has to follow her rules because she is under her guardianship because of some emotional problems. So sad. She is really sad about it. She will be able to be baptized someday, I have faith. We will still go visit her but we just might get yelled at by the woman who takes care of Paulette who has strict orders to not let us in. It really is so sad that some people are so mislead about things we believe that are just so far from the truth. If only they knew... I guess we wouldn't need missionaries if they did.

Megan is doing awesome! We had dinner with her the other night at our favorite member of the UCLA ward, Ang, and had a lesson too. It was awesome and she really feels like God is answering her prayers about the Book of Mormon. And guess what? HE IS. Duh. She is just solid. So solid.

We had Stake Conference yesterday and it was pretty amazing. Sis Franks and I were lucky enough to have had dinner with the Stake President and his family on Thursday and really got to know them and I fell in love with them! And then to see Pres Bragg speak at both the new member/investigator meeting and then the actual conference just made me respect and admire him even more. He really is an exemplary man and I'm pretty sure he's next to be a General Authority. Just a humble, kinds, wise, good man. I need one of those someday. He talked about Building the Kingdom and how it is SO important that we help do just that! In fact, it is a commandment. Sometimes I get questions like "what can I do to help you Sis Brinkerhoff?" from people back home and this is my response. HELP THE MISSIONARIES! Talk to people about the Gospel! Give referrals at the Visitors Centers! FEED the missionaries and prayerfully think about someone you can invite! All things that I would love :) I hope that someday I can be a good member-missionary because nothing makes you realize how important it really is than when you are needing the members to help.

I am not sure I have anything else to really write about. Seems like a lot more happened that I am missing, but I think I've come to a conclusion that that is just how it will always be. For the next 10 months (woa... thats all I have left) I will never feel like I express exactly what I wanted to. Oh well.

The Gospel is TRUE!

Sista Brink

Bel Air is On FIRE!

This week was truly a week of miracles. I don't even know where to begin!  I am so grateful to be a missionary. Best experiences of my life.

I really just stared at the screen for a precious 30 seconds of could-be-typing time because I really have no idea where to start.

Ok.

I'll start with Paulette. Paulette was a self-referral from the VC, meaning she came into the VC and after a tour, decided to have the missionaries come over. SO we are the lucky ones who get to teach her! We had a first (and only thus far) lesson with her on Wednesday. She lives in a really cool apartment close to UCLA campus and is a super talented painter. (yes, I am jealous). She has pictures of her mom all over because she was an actress who won an academy award for something, I can't remember what. Her Dad won an emmy too for some old TV show. Crazy. Anyways, we had a lesson with Paulette and she agreed with everything like right of the bat. Great, right? It's funny though because as a missionary, you expect their to be conflict, so when we talk about the Joseph Smith story and ask if they believe that could be true and she says "yes" (thats all. Just a "yes") you're almost tempted to question them and be like " What?` How do YOU know that?!" Haha. It's interesting. But we invited Paulette to prepare herself for baptism on April 30th, and, of course, she said yes. Woa. Unfortunately, she couldn't get to church yesterday so we will have to postpone her baptism a week or so because they need to attend 3 times. But such a miracle. Paulette is a very unique and interesting soul... But I absolutely love her and am very excited for her.

Megan Mahlstedt. Oh my goodness Megan Mahlstedt. Megan is a Bel Air "Legend" because she was a "golden" investigator for some elders about a year ago. She was progressing beautifully and then just fell off the face of the earth. Then 3 sets of missionaries tried and tried to meet with her consistently with no success. And then, when I got here, I learned more about her and things and just had a really good feeling about her even though she hadn't been in touch with the missionaries for a long time. And then on Thursday night we were doing our planning for the next day and I said "lets go see Megan Mahlstedt tomorrow... just see if we can get in touch with her" and then not even 5 minutes later we had a text message from Megan Mahlstedt saying "Hey sisters, I don't know if you even have my phone number anymore but this is Megan Mahlstedt and I was wondering if I could come to church on Sunday?" WHAT?! Yeah, I about peed. I tried to play it cool when I texted her back even though I wanted to call her and say "YES YOU CAN COME! DO YOU WANT TO BE BAPTIZED YET?!" but we set an appointment for Saturday. We met at the VC and just talked. She is adorable by the way. A total babe. And my friend. Anyways. We had a great talk about what she really wants and by the end, she had committed to a baptismal date for May 14th. And she is so excited about it and, of course, I am SO excited for her and so grateful that the Lord is so aware of all of us. Ahhh. The miracles. She came to  church yesterday to the UCLA ward and it was the Primary Program so it was hilarious. Made me miss my little ones at home :( She liked it, and everyone was super friendly. Wooo hoo!!!

Melinda Ho's baptism on Saturday was lovely. She is the smartest 10 year old I have ever met. Her baptism was very sweet and she was so excited. She is such a doll and I am so happy I got to be a part of her baptism! I am so excited for her and her family. What a sweetie pants.

A few days ago a group of 80+ Hindi people came to the VC for a tour. And I got put in charge of it along with the Directors Elder and Sis Macdonald. It was an amazing amazing amazing experience. One I will remember forever. I could not believe how these wonderful people showed their faith in everything that they do, wear, say.... Everything! We were able to have some very special experiences in talking about service, the family, and Jesus Christ. Even though they don't believe he is the same being we believe him to be, we were able to really find common ground and share in the feelings of the Spirit. I admire those beautiful women wearing their beautiful, colorful, hand sewn clothing. Ah it was amazing. A lot of them were curious about the Book of Mormon, so it was introduced and then anyone who wanted one could request it in Hindu or English. A lot of them requested it. My view or perception about other religions has really changed over the past 7 months. I know that God is so aware of so many people who are doing the absolute best with what they know, and are doing their best to worship God and try to help others. These people were a wonderful example of that and I am so grateful I was able to be with them for a couple of hours. Tears were shed and lots of smiles shared.

The Lord REALLY does lead us to where we need to be if he wants us to be there. The other day we decided to go see a potential investigator Darina. We went to the apartment complex, miraculously got inside (it's ALWAYS miraculous if you can get in... ) and then realized we didn't have her apartment number. But I had written 313 down in my Planner for another address so for some reason I said lets go knock that door. It was Darina's apartment! So weird. But Darina wasn't home, but her roommate, Holly from China, answered and let us in. We basically taught a 1st lesson about the Restoration and she was really amazed and was listening very intently. The Spirit was VERY strong and I know she felt it. She didn't want to set a return appointment because she wanted to think about it but she will call eventually when she is ready. But my testimony was really strengthened that night that the Lord will always place us in places that we need to be to help someone else. Always. I am realizing how much I need to depend on the Lord for EVERYTHING. Often times we will be stuck, not knowing where we should go or what we should do and then we will pray and I will know what we need to do next. And then a miracle happens.

Ok this is a tad long. I am just so happy to be a missionary! It's really funny to walk around UCLA campus and talk to people because they just think we are so weird haha. But then they talk to us and realize we aren't (hopefully). But it is so neat to be able to have this tag on, to know that nothing else really matters but what we are inviting people to do, and that it really doesn't matter if people think we are crazy because we AREN'T! this is TRUE! Ah it really really really is.

Sista Brink

 Pictures: Melinda Ho's baptism, the Beach Pday, Saying goodbye to Sis Cass, Browning, Elders Tuttle and Hoehne

Sister Franks, (New companion), and Melinda

 

Fresh Sister of Bel Air

Yep. I am now serving in the Bel Air/ Beverly Hills area. WHAT?! Larry King's wife is in my ward. And Dr. 90210. And Rob Moffat (equally famous). Pretty cool, eh? I haven't met tons of people yet because of conference so we obviously didn't have church... But I am very excited to meet everyone. My companion-- Sis Franks who is still a little baby in her second transfer-- and I have our work cut out for us. Sis Franks got to know the area sort of well, but not extremely well so we are really figuring things out together. We cover 2 wards, the Westwood 1st ward and the UCLA student ward which is way fun. UCLA campus is way neat and it's fun to drive around and see all the students and everything. I'm excited to teach younger people too! The freshman in that ward are super into missionary work which is awesome. The area is surrounding the temple and up to Beverly Hills so it's a pretty "hard" area because it's a very rich area but I am absolutely stoked about it. My companion and I are really getting along great so I am happy as a clam. A little stressed with the work that needs to be done in this area and how to go about doing it, but it's ok. Oh yeah, I am driving again for the first time in 7 months. I sort of felt like I was 16 again getting on the freeway and stuff. I was just imagining the first time Troy Brinkerhoff the MASTER of driving (at least he thought so) and I drove on the freeway together and what a frightening experience that was. Now multiply that times 100 and that's driving in LA for ya.

We have a couple baptisms coming up. One is an 11 year old girl whose family has been less active so she wasn't baptized at 8. She is darling and SO smart. She might know the Gospel better than I do! Her baptism is this Saturday and we are so happy for her and for her family that they are progressing so nicely. The other is Sarah. Sarah has been a LONG process, but she has finally decided to be baptized. I actually knew her before I was transferred into this area because she came into the VC quite a lot so that was nice. Her baptism is on the 16th and she is so excited. This will be the first baptism in the WW 1st ward for a couple years so that is way exciting. She is way cool and I am so grateful to be a part of her conversion process.

Oh by the way... I am now in the Westwood Zone. Which is just funny because it makes me feel like I am in High School again because our zone leaders say things like "Tear it up Westwood". And I have a flashback. Just a funny side note.

SO. I guess I should do an update for the week.

Saying Adios to a big chunk of sisters was sad, but also exciting because I am excited to see what great things come their way. I will miss them of course, but 10 months will fly by and I will be able to see everyone again! They were all so funny about leaving. Everyone says that happens to everyone, but I'll believe it when I'm there I guess. I guess I just don't think it needs to be as dramatic as it turns out to be. Now just watch, I'll be sobbing and someone will have to pull me away from LA when it's my time to go haha.

And then Wednesday was transfers. What is crazy is that all day Tuesday, when everyone is wondering what is going to happen, I KNEW that I was going to Bel Air with Sis Franks. I really just knew that was going to happen. And then at 9:30 we got the call and I was right! Haha. It was hard to call everyone from my beloved Santa Monica 1st ward, but also really exciting for a new change. I will always keep in touch with that ward because I love everyone there so much. RWLJ was of course bummed, but we will still see each other at the VC. "We will always be friends. And you might be Bailee Brinkerhoff to the world, but you will always be sister Brinkerhoff to me! MY missionary!" was what he said to me :(. Tender. I don't know if I will ever meet someone like RWLJ. In fact I know I won't. He is truly one of a kind. And a GREAT kind. So then wednesday morning we drove to Sis Franks apt (that was when I drove for the first time in 6 months) and loaded all of her stuff to come move in with me. Yea, pretty lucky that I didn't have to move. Truly a blessing with all the schtuff I have accumulated. (Not that that would be a surprise to anyone). And then we drove back to the temple apts and moved her in... Then we worked at the VC after I gave a LENGTHY description and instructions for the sisters staying in Santa Monica. I want them to take care of my peeps, of course. They are in good hands, that's for sure.

The real treat was Saturday because the days before we had little appt's here and there, and then worked at the VC but Saturday we had from 3-9 in the area and we had 2 girls from the UCLA ward with us. We went tracting in Beverly Hills. Um. Scary. We got yelled at a bit. But then Sis Franks and I tracted an apt building on Campus and I met a girl who is a broadway performer so of COURSE we hit it off. We are going back in a couple weeks and hopefully she will want to read the Book of Mormon. She was way cool. It was a tender mercy from the Lord to meet her because we had had NO success, NO one would talk to us, and then this lovely performer talked to us for like 20 minutes and she and I really did become friends. She is darling and said she would come to the VC in a couple weeks. She saw "Next to Normal" here in LA an said my friend Preston did a FANTASTIC Job! (Linz- send Preston a message and tell him that. And that I love him. And that I am sad I missed him all 3 times he tried to visit me. Such a bummer). It made me so proud of my dear friend Preston. LOVE YOU PRESTY! Anyways, so fun to meet her. Her name is Julie Garnye and she has stuff on youtube if you wanna check it out.

Lets see.

Oh I got a lovely surprise visit from Jeremiah at the VC! It was so fun to see him. And his friend Greg which was way fun to meet him too. So much fun.

OK conference. MAN!!!! It was AWESOME and I'm sure you all agree. I seriously was so exhausted after every session because of how strong I felt the spirit throughout. I LOVED Elder Oaks talk about desire. I LOVED Richard G Scotts talk and I just want someone to love me someday like he loves his wife. So sweet.I definitely teared in that one. I LOVED Elder Holland's talk (of course). I am just so grateful for revelation. The fact that these men can talk about things that might not exactly apply to what I need (how to help Bel Air, for example) but I can receive answers and "tips" through the spirit to guide me is an absolute testimony to me that these men are called of God and have a responsibility and sacred calling to give us that guidance. I hope we were all able to understand what we can do better, differently, and change. I learned a LOT about who I am, what I want to become, and how I can become that person. I am so far away from the person I want to be, but thanks to the Atonement, I can inch toward that person. And just like Elder Bednar taught, sometimes it is actually a inch forward. Which can be very frustrating, but we must be patient with ourselves and allow ourselves an opportunity to grow through adversity. That was a HUGE subject throughout and I really believe and have a testimony in that principle. We really are refined as an outcome of our weakest, hardest and darkest experiences. How grateful I am for the atonement. Whew. I could go on all day.

We went to the BEACH today! Don't tell President. Just kidding, he was there, and so were a lot of other missionaries. We had a "beach p-day". SO those of you who are expecting a reply to a letter, I wasn't able to write today because our rules changed and we are no longer allowed to write letters while working at the VC and I was playing volleyball at the beach, not writing letters sorry :( . But I love you all! And guess what? I definitely saw my favorite AVP and Olympics champion Walsh practicing today at the beach. I can't remember her first name. But she was there. With her 12 pack abs. No worries.

Well I think that is all for today. I am so happy to be a missionary! I love you all very very much, thank you for your support, love, prayers, friendship, thoughts, lives, smiles,... Whatever.

XOXO (Ps RWLJ and my Mom are now pen pals. And RWLJ thinks its so adorable that my Mom writes xoxox on all of her e-mails, so he now does it too. Haha)

Sista Brink