Connor's Latest. April 22, 2011

Ugh. It has been an extremely quite day here on "The Ranch". This is because today was the first day of our week of pure spanish speaking. the only words i have uttered in
English have been at the temple this morning, other than that, i spend most of my time doing things like looking up words in the dictionary or not talking haha. Its been fun though so far and its probably been the least ive spoken in my entire life. It feels good to type so freely.

        Little slow on the email front this week, just one email from Jean Marcel, so i have a little more time to type. Jean Marcell, i loved your letter and it was good to hear from you. I am going to write you a reply and send it to mom so she can read it to you. Other notables on the wall of fame are Daniel, Christal, and Mom and DAD! yes dad, i have been getting your letters, and i have been replying to them, so i hope youre getting my letters back. Mom, thank you so much for the package! everyone in my district loved the things you made, and i love easy cheese. it was a great picker upper for me.

         We had a really nice temple visit this morning, and its sunny and perfect out again, for the first time this week. Weather is always good on P-day, im starting to count on it. Ive decided i might be one of those people that need some sun, at least once a week.

         The work is going well here. Yesterday we had a substitute teacher, and he was really good, so we had a long discussion about the fulness of the gospel and how to explain the apostasy better to people. I feel like i  got alot out of it.

          Theres also the fact that Richard G. Scott came and spoke to us in this weeks devotional tuesday. You know how i feel about him. It was an answer to my prayers, and after talking to others in my district, and answer to theirs as well, in different ways. He didnt come a minute too soon. He gave us alot of advice on alot of different things, but id say that the most pertonant to you is this. "We dont have nearly enough couples to go around, so if you've got anyone you could convince to go, do it. We could surely use them." He said it first thing, and he meant it. They have talked about it the last 3 devotionals. So many missions around the world need senior couples and i think they almost have half the amount they need...so if anyone knows anybody ; )

       Other than that, he talked about goals, and about diligence, and he blessed us with the gift of tongues. All of us. which is why im so glad to go a week without speaking English. If we show faith by putting in the necissary work towards a goal, i know the Lord will bless us. So this is us, doing the work. I bought a little notebook and a new pen to keep with me at all times and write down everything i cant say. A week of that should see some progress i think.

       Daniel, your letter is written, and waiting to be sent. Christal, yours will be written soon after and i will mail them both together. Mom and pops, youre in arizona i think so meybe ill wait till next week to write so you will get the letters, but say hello to everyone down there please! i will too. right here.

        Hi everyone in Arizona, i miss you guys and wish you could come visit me. I am working hard and everyone loves my suit~!! Hope to hear from you alright?

             Well i gotta go, clothes to be washed. Hope everyone is doing awsome.

                                                                                                    Love

                                                                                                           Elder Bridge

                                                                                                                             P.S.

                                                                                                                                    I hope someone tells cousin johnny i was saddened to not recieve an email from him, and that i hope to get a dear elder either tomorrow or monday from him. thats all

April 15, 2011

Hi! That time of the week again. How is everyone? First, acknowledgements. Sara, thank you for the letter and email, i loved hearing from you and am going to mail a real letter to you today, Brandon, likewise, feel free to hit me up no matter how tired you are. Mother, i loved you letter and package and the tennis balls are working perfectly. Christal, loved the postcard and its hanging up in my classroom so we can daydream about hawaii. If i have missed someone im real sorry but its been a long week and i havent been able to write paper letters until today, ive been supre busy, but i am going to be writing to everyone. Jean Marcell, i want to hear all about how you last few months in Korea arem, and Kassidi, i loved your last email, keep them coming! WHoo hoo for all you guys i seriously have a great time thinking about how all of you are doing, and you all make me work harder every day. Sara and Brandon both gave me very good advice about spanish. I need to relax. it may be hard to imagine but i get wound pretty tight after a tough lesson in spanish. it reminds me of high school when i was in algebra 2 and didnt know how to do algebra 1. im still going to the tutor and i really am going to try to relax, its gonna be awsome.

           Gospel wise things are super awsome..and stuff (nacho). Cause like people think i dont know a butt load of crap about the gospel, but i DO! just kidding, they know. But seriously it is the highlight of my day when our teachers start teaching gospel lessons. i felt like it would be alot more assigned reading and such, but we are totally the captains of our souls. each lesson they find creative ways to change our perspectives and help us learn about asking questions, and man it has just been a super awsome week. WE literally have the best 2 teachers in the mtc, everyone has so much respect for them, no one on the corner got teachers like us. Theres another guy who teaches the TE and he is really smart and always gives me good advice. i told him that our mdt lesson didnt go so well this week and that it was a little discouraging and BAM! he tells me to look up a talk by neal A maxwell i forget what its called but i want you all to read it. just go on the church website and type in neal a maxwell and discouragement or something it should work. anyway, its amazing, and powerful and im going to take quotes from it and make a poster today as a way to remind myself to be couragous every morning. I am learning so much but each thing i learn shows me how much i dont know. ill keep getting better though 10 seconds i love you all bye!

Pics!

Christal said:  Connor sent me his SD card with a letter explaining all the pictures.  The MTC looks like way too much fun!  Also...I totally dig his pin striped suit.

The temple pictures are from three different days.  The first bunch is from our first day.  

There are a few of Elder Peterson and I trying to eat giant marshmallows without using our hands (he cheated).  We choked a lot and I deleted the pictures with most of the drool.

We got into a big karate fight in the hall one day and started using Matrix moves and didn't worry about gravity, so things got pretty acrobatic.

The picture with the map is cool because we are all going to the same mission.  From left to right its Elder Hunt, Peterson, Holtby (pronounced Holt-bee), Thorup, Frazier (my companion), Cranford, and me!

A good shot of me putting my new pocket protector to use.

The next day it snowed so there are some cool snow pictures of around the MTC and the temple walk we took.  The trees were so full of snow that if you kicked them a ton fell down.  Elder Hunt took the picture too soon so instead of having snow dumped on me, you just see me doing a rad kick.

Getting boosted up to the ceiling.

My clean desk.

And the Argentina flag.

For the Whole Fam. April 8, 2011

GAH! time is short as always but i will say what i can, first of all, thank you so much daniel christal mom and dad for hitting me with dear elders this week.  they saved me. thank you kass and sara for the updates, sara, dearelder is like email but they print it here and i  get it that day, so any time during the week you write me, i get it that day and have all the time in the world to respond. i didnt have time to read the emails from kass and sara but i printed them off so i can tonight. Kassidi and Brandon, if my letter to you guys didnt get there yet it should soon cause i sent it a while ago, and sara, i sent you one but dont have your adress so i sent it to mom so that she could read it to you. daniel and christal, youve got one on the way, along with a disc with a few photos.

 

       SO. MTC. very awsome last couple of days. I am starting to absolutly crave class time because our teachers are great so their gospel lessons are the tops and they know it. spanish is very hard but my companion and i are going to the tutor every week and setting goals to help us learn faster. Thursday we do something called trc where we go and teach simulated lessons to volenteers from around provo, it went better than i expected and we felt good about it. im glad that i can go into a lesson semi confidantly as long as its in English. The spirit is always strong when we get into a lesson and i never want them to end. Speaking of the Spirit, today was by far my best day at the temple. for starters, MTC breakfast is starting to for like a rock in my stomach that never leaves, i always just feel full and ugh but i mean i keep shoveling it down so it must be good, but we went to the temple early today so that we could have breakfast there. best decision of my life. i had like a super tasty omelet, though not as good as one of mine, and biscuits and gravy, and hashbrowns, and cobbler. and apple juice. it was so good. and then i dont know why but i got so much out of the session. i dont want to like expect it to be like that every time in case it isnt but it was a very special morning, and i recieved some important answers. The walk to the temple is always so beautiful in any weather but today there was like this low fog over the mountains and it was snowing and it was just like wow. so awsome.

         P-day is always fun, i love wearing regular clothes and have a chance to catch up on my letters and do some GTL. I showed dads bike to a ton of people and one guy was like whoah how much was that like 400 bucks? and i was like yeah buddy.

I miss you guys alot but im staying very busy.whenever its nice enough outside we go out and read the book of mormon for an hour or so, im glad we decided to make time for that, and its totally having a positive effect on the rest of my days.

      We have a fireside every sunday and every tuesday, and last sundays after conferance was awsome. I cant explain the whole thing right now but his name was Vai Sikahema and he used to play for the Packers. His whole talk was just on how awsome it can be to share the gospel and how its okay to get creative. There a was this program in philadelphia where he was a sportscaster, where they like do an ad every wednesday for a child in foster care to try to find a family for them. its called wednesdays child, and they were trying to find a good slogan for the program to put on all their commercials and billboards and stuff. then he showed us a bunch of clips of the commercials saying "so and so is a child who loves baseball, dancing, and wants to find a forever family" and they were all like that. and theres like a huge billboard now that says forever families. hes a sneaky one but very cool.

   Oh jeez, running out of time. i wish i had more. please, everyone im dieing to hear from you, i promise i will write back in full, i always do.

      I love working hard to learn to be a missionary every day. I have been through some challenges, but God answers our prayers every time. He wants to fill our life with his light and he wants to give us his blessings, he is just waiting for us to show him the necissary faith, i promise you that. Act in faith and you will know that you walk the right path. He is showing me that in a different way every single day.

     I love you all. i miss you. I'll write back. Im awsome.

                                                                                           Love, Elder Bridge

p.s. please email me new pictures of all the kids. I want to see them! `

Hola mi Familia! April 1, 2011

 I'm sorry I cant email each of you right now but i have 15 minutes left of my alotted half hour due to reading a whole bunch of awesome emails from you guys and I love it so much! it was awsome to hear from you but im going to have to write my longer responses on paper since i have 15 minutes left... yeah just said that i guess. heres something I want y'all to know though, mom has been sending me dearElder letters (dad wrote one too) and i get those the day they are sent! thats any day except Sunday, i could be getting same day mail from you, and that way i can spend real time reading them and writing responses, so please, lets represent eh? two of the guys in my district have been getting gratuitous amounts of mail and I'm pretty sure you guys love me more than their families love them so lets prove it yeah? so good to hear from everyone.  Sara, you were right, things get tough, but I've been very blessed with my district and companions and we support each other a lot, its pretty incredible for me.

we went to the temple today and went through a session, the provo temple is so beautiful. I took some pictures and yall will see them when i send that disc to christal. christal, do you still want to do that blog? cause im taking mad pictures.

          spanish is really hard and its been frustrating for me because i expected to pick it right up, but due to a few things its not coming so easily, but fear not. i am not discouraged, my companion and i have set some goals and we are going to take advantage of every tool offered to us. i havent had alot of time for just studying scriptures or preach my gospel because it seems we always have some lesson to prepare in spanish or words i need to learn and on and on, but im learning to manage my time, and this morning we started reading King Benjimans speach together because its one of my favorite parts and he kind of lets me make the decisions on most things.

       the weather has been beautiful the last couple of days and weve been able to go outside for our personal study time, and i cant express how thankful i am for that, wearing real clothes has been nice today as well. mack hicken is here and i see him every day, it always puts a smile on my face. today he was wearing a pocket protector full of pens so i went and bought one as well, and i think it really will keep ink from leaking on my pockets, so thats a blessing.

  sara, i wish i could spend time holding clementine as well. learn french thats awsome! im planning on learning it as soon as i get home while spanish is still fresh (assuming i can speak it by then)

          brandon, that is my mountain. with the big point at the top right? i stare at it every day, and if i go to byu (im starting to love the idea) my goal is to scale it within the first month. i feel like standing atop it will be glorious indeed.

             i play 4square every day in gym. i want to say im getting good and i kind of am but its hard to measure because while i have been putting in alot of practice, my lack of sleep has been messing with my motor control. im hoping that when i feel back to normal i will be pretty good at it.

    time is running short. kass, i love that you thought to write me and i agreet that this can be an awsome way for us to write to each other, i will be writing to you today. dad, i got your dearelder yesterday, the day you wrote it, and thanks for it. i sent you a letter yesterday morning but that was before i read yours. im hoping you send me an answer to mine soon ( like as soon as you get it yEAH? hazel and ole, i love you kids. clementine, you too. jean marcell, i want to hear from you, you have learned new languages alot and i need advice!  time is out, i love you all, i miss you all, and you are constantly in my thoughts.

buena suerte

    elder bridge

Hot Diggity! March 26, 2011

Yes I got email...

but only for a half hour each p-day while we do laundry, and usually p-day will be friday but since this is the first week its a little wierd. how are things at home? i got your letter and the two packages, keep up the good work! i mailed you a real letter yesterday so you will probably get that like tuesday, and i dont want you to get the same message twice, so you'll just have to wait! i do love it here though, and my district is awsome. we all have a bit of an off sense of humor so it stays fun, but we all want to work our butts off so we keep each other on our toes. i only have a short amount of time to write, but lucky for you, you only gave me one email adress! so until another member of my neglectful family takes a minute to shoot me a line, you get my full attention lol. (p.s. the bits of green on everything were a nice touch). and also you can let dad know that alot is going on here that he'd like to hear about, but until i get a letter from him i wont be able to share, and the longer he waits, the more ill forget and the less time ill have. we are very busy. so far i have learned how to pray and bare my testimony in spanish but it is tricky to not say the same thing every time, so i could spend hours working on that. hours that i dont have. on top of that. every missionary prepares a talk every week, just in case, so i have one to write for tomorrow, and then my companion elder frazier and i need to prepare a 20 minute lesson on the restoration for monday. in spanish. but we are all feeling the Lords blessings every day, and we have some great examples here in our leaders, teachers, and other missionaries that have been where we are and are very understanding. There are a few tough guys in the hall that dont say hi back, but i dont let them get away with it unless the ignore me two or three times. my district set a goal to bare our testimony in spanish at least 3 times a day to a stranger, so far today ive done it  once, and i drew a few blanks but it felt good, and it will only get easier. i really expected to get on and have some email so im a little bummed, oh well. the food here is good, and there is alot, and i have been eating way too much. i vowed to reign myself in and stop eating so much, but tomorrow is fast sunday so tonight at 6 i am planning on a colossal binge, probably all three entrees and any desert i can stuff down after (ambitious, i know, but i need goals right?). i actually have never had so many goals in my life. i thought of that today when i was working on some spanish on a computer program and thought i could get away with falling asleep for a few minutes (we are all permanently tired mentally and physically) but i decided not to, not because i might get caught, but because i would know, and i really dont want to waste a second. it was a new feeling for me, but i think it means the Lord is helping me. Although we have so much going on, i dont feel stressed, i just hope i will be able to keep up with the other elders. my district is a very smart, hard working group, that all had good parents, you can tell, so i am just trying to keep up. i have been writing in my journal every day until the minute before lights out, i seriously wish i had that hourglass the hermione has so that she can go back in time. if i had about 3 more hours of sleep, 4 more hours of personal study, 2 more hours of gym, 1 more hour of companionship study, and 8 more hours of language study a day, i might be able to get caught up on everything i want to accomplish. i never thought 16 hours wouldnt be enough haha. things are great though. im happy, im working, im well fed, and our classroom has the best view in the mtc.

my letter says i dont want more candy, but i changed my mind. you cant send enough candy, but coconut isnt a hit (i like it though). and please tell everyone that i cant write to them until they send me an email so i have their address, and i dont have alot of time for letters and probably wont until im in the field so ill do what i can but they probably wont be super long. I love being here Mom, and the Lord will bless us all during this time. no pictures yet but there will be time soon, were walking to the temple tomorrow so ill take some then. love you,

                                            elder bridge.

  

  p.s. things i love, crackers and ez cheese, beef jerky, gardettos, sweet and salty bugles, chocolate peanut butter bugles.