More pics from the MTC.

Christal said:
Connor gave me his memory card when I saw him at the temple last week.  Unfortunately, he didn't write a letter explaining all the pictures like last time.  Dang, I know.  BUT... he did give me a brief explanation of some of the pictures.  I'll try my best to remember what he said.

  This is what they like to do on their P Days.  They take naps outside on the benches, when it's good weather that is.

This is Connor's little buddy that he met at the temple.  I think he said his name is Henry.  Isn't he adorable!!!  Oh my, I am totally obsessed with this little kid.  He looks like the little boy on Stuart Little.  Do you agree?

I'm not sure what is up with this robot tattoo, but I'd sure like to know.  It reminds me of when Daniel used to say, "Hey Con..nor. Want. To. Play.  Ro...bots?"  (That was my attempt at trying to make it sound like he was speaking in robot).  This was when they were little kids.  But then again, I guess they still say that to each other.

Connor told me that he likes this picture because there is both snow and flowers.  It's cool because there is a combination of two different seasons!  Anyway, he said it in a much better way than me.

This picture is awesome.

For Connor's birthday Mom (Colleen) sent him three packages filled with goodies and spiderman party favors.  They weren't all able to make it there at the same time so she made Connor promise not to open any of them until they had all arrived.  She wanted him to open all three packages together.  He told me how hard it was for him to wait, but he did it!  (I don't know why he has Red Bull.  Is that even allowed in the MTC?!  I''m sure Mom did not send that to him).  Connor loved his birthday party and the Elders in his district had a blast too.  

Apparently the laundry room is the hip happenin place.

This was from the day I went to visit.  I took this picture!

And this one.

And this one.  This Elder is from Oahu Hawaii (therefore he is my favorite).  Hang Loose.  

And this one too.  There are actually a lot more pictures, but I won't post them all.  This was the last night they had together as a district so they were taking a lot of pictures together.

The end.
Now Elder Bridge is in Argentina.  Can't wait to see Argentina pictures!

¡HoLa! ¿Como Anda? May 30, 2011

 I LIIIIIVVVEE!!! 

SO TELL ME WHAT MO NEEDS MY PROTECTION GREAT ANCESTOR; YOU JUST SAY THE WORD AND IM THERE. ANYONE WHO IS FOOLISH ENOUGH TO THREATEN OUR FAMILY, VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE!

       But seriuosly, i have woken up from my MTC stupor and life is amazing. My worries were in vain. My comp is a total stud, his name is Elder Moeller, hes from Alpine Utah, hes been out for a year, and he works his butt off. Entonces, we work our butts off. We teach hecka lessons, and in June were gonna baptize hecka people. WE get along awsome, we live in a tiny dirty apartment, witha broken bede (sad i know) In a town called Rio Cuarto (the fourth river) about 3 hours south of Cordoba Capital. Most of our investigators are the most humble people ive ever met, living in houses the size of our...house. just kidding haha theyre way tiny, and full of happy people usually. They love to feed us, and one of the poorest ladies in the branch does our laundry, and that same family has fed us twice. Friday we went over there and chopped a bunch of wood for them, and theyre awsome. WE got a pet yesterday in the form of a stray dog, who is missing tons of hair and is pretty ugly, but he follows us everywhere so we love him, and named him little john, cause hes our sidekick.  Its p-day so im in an internet cafe type thing, and im gonna tell you right now that im not going to have enough time to tell you all the little details that i want to tell, but ill do my best.

       The food here is pretty plain tasting usually, and nothing is remotely spicy. My greatest wish is to have more money so that i can go to Walmart( yeah we have one) and buy a decent frying pan and some good ingrediants, because as it is ive been eating cheap cold cereal, lunch with a member, and no dinner, and money is still tight-ish. Entonces, i havent really been able to take my vitamens, but its whatever. I tried to make omelettes for us this morning and while they tasted okey, they werent omelettes because our frying pan is so sucky, everything sticks and burns and stuff. But that led us to discover that our over is actually white underneath all the built up gunk, so we spent a good 45 minutes making it white again. its now clean. AFter this our whole zone is going to eat together someplace ive never been, and then hopefully go play some soccer, although suprise suprise i lost my shorts.

         Our Presidant is even cooler than i let myself hope for. I felt so awsome after my interview with him. He and I see exactly eye to eye on what a missionary needs to be, and how he should be motivated, entonces, we will not be focusing and wasting our time on what not to do. time is too precious. His wife is also the Cats PJ´s but doesnt speak english, so more on her in a few months haha.

          On day one Elder Moeller and i were stacked with appointments, and since than havent had a hard time getting more, and we do alot of good tracking and contacting an hymn singing and what not , all of which is productive. The only tough part, as im sure daniel knows well, is getting them to come to church, and to be home when you schedule appointments. In this, we need to work and learn some tricks, because its been tough. Any advice would be awsome. That is also what i will be fasting for this weekend, that our investigators will realize how much they need this in their lives, and that they will let us help them in making their souls a priority. the white handbook says not to ask family at home to join in special fasts, entonces, i am simply saying that that is what I am fasting for...hint hint.

             I am very excited for one of our appointments tonight, she is the daughter of a new convert, shes 13 and shes been to church like 5 times. she also is like a saleswoman for avon, which i thought was crazy for someone that young, but shes hecka smart and organized. Yesterday we gave her a Book of Mormon, and this morning elder moeller and i planned a lesson that i think will go really well. It was prepared with just making her feel the spirit strongly in mind, and then we plan to give her a baptism date (which we call fechas). so cross your fingers!

         Even with people who at first have no interest, if we can get them to listen to us sing a hymn, without fail we see their hearts softened, even just a bit. Sometimes they tighten them right back up when we keep going, but sometimes we can get them to let us come back another time, and even if they are doing it to get rid of us, we dont care haha. we´ll be back.

        Yesterday we went and at bishops house after church. his house very large for here, with really high ceilings and expensive everything, in the middle of a hard about as big as uncle gradens, meybe bigger. Thats very rare here, and the food was good, and his family is super nice, but i would rather have just eaten and left and got to work then staying as long as we did. they brother us desert, and then more desert, and then decaf coffee hahahaha i figured you guys would think that was funny. he was holding the can and kept saying like (yeah, its like coffee, but without caffiene! how awsome is that!) as if decaf were a new idea. anyway, funny stuff. Elder Moeller and i decided to put an hour and a half limit on every time were in a persons house, and only that long when were really in the middle of something important. so next time we´ll just have to make that clear.

       Every Saturday we eat with the Velez family, who are on the opposite end of the spectrum. tiny tiny house. they have a son named Delfin who is 17 who wants to go on a mission, a daughter who is like 12, i cant think of her name, and then a lil kid named Claudio, who is a funny little guy.They made us like alot of chicken and pasta, the 4 of us, and then when Elder Moeller told them it was my birthday, the mom jumped up and made me a cake, which the daughter frosted and sprinkled and put a candle on it. they sang feliz cumpleaños to me and pulled on my ear 21 times. i loved it. i took some pictures.

        I forgot to mention the two other Elders we work with haha they are so awsome. They are our zone leaders, both are Chilean and used to be friends before the mission. They names are Elder Crespo and Elder Lagos, and they are super awsome. The 4 of us share all our investigators, and that is awsome. We are looking for a new apartment so all 4 of us can live together cause it will be easier, and even though Elder Lagos speaks English, my Castillano (they never say spanish here...or adios for that matter) will get way better living with them. They are total goofs and theyre always making everyone laugh and stuff but also you know like super wise, kind of like me haha. 

         Entonces Familia Bridge, I miss you all, but i love it here. I am blessed in every way. All of my prayers so far have been answered, you can feel happy for how happy i am. Im safe, Im eating at least one square meal a day, i have an awsome comp and we dont waste no time. And i have a dog. so yeah, its all good in the barrio.

                                  Chao Chao! Nos Vamos!

                                                                                        -Elder Puente (Bridge is hard for them to say)

                 P.s i will be getting on around 11 every monday if anyone wants to say hey!

This was not at all planned....

Christal said:
Today, at exactly 12:45 pm, I went to the Provo Temple.  I just so happened to see missionaries walking around the temple grounds.  All of the sudden I saw Elder Bridge.  Yep.  My brother-in-law.  What a coincidence....

It was raining so I was worried that they wouldn't show up for their Sunday temple walk, but sure enough they did!  It was sooooo good to see Connor.  He was glowing.  I know that he is truly happy and has really enjoyed his time in the MTC.  I can't believe he leaves for Argentina tomorrow!

It was fun meeting some of the elders from his district, one of which took the picture of Elder Bridge and me.  As you can tell, he didn't really know how to use my camera.  I don't blame him though, it's really confusing!

Mom (Colleen), Connor wanted me to tell you that he really loves his new tie.  He wore it today just for you!

The Elder on the left is Connor's companion, Elder Hunt.  

Connor gave me another SD card with more pictures from the MTC on it.  I'll be posting them soon!

Good Luck Elder Bridge!  I know you'll be a great missionary and the people in Argentina will love you!

Also, Happy Birthday on Saturday!

Don't know when I'll be back again! May 19, 2011

 What it is family? Had another amazing week here, due in part to the fact that its THE LAST ONE! YEEEEEEE HAAAAWWW! Tuesday was awsome, cause it was the last one, and wednesday followed the trend! (if that didnt make sense ask brandon about it, last time i heard (which was forever ago) he is studying econ, so he knows all about trends and stuff). So on tuesday it was our final devotional, and for choir we sang Redeemer of Israel and it sounded really good ( i broke a small rule by bringing a tape recorder in and recording while we sang. so yeah, be expecting a tape, even though it may have the sound quality of a tape recorder in my pocket in the middle of the tenor section, which is the loudest. dont expect to hear the sisters sing at all. Sara, why do sisters sing so quiet like all the time? I felt like i was in high school choir again. But yeah, so you'll be getting a tape i think. And then after we sang guess who came and spoke? Elder Richard G. Hinckley! I dont think i could have asked for better speakers during my stay in the mtc. We've had 3 apostles and many great general authorities, that have made my tesimony of prayers being answered grow like a noxious weed (which is the only time i think being compared to a noxious weed would be a good thing, unless its an annoying contest). I feel very blessed by how perfect our teachers have been for our district. I think of some of the lessons theyve helped me learn, and others that theyve just helped me recognize that i need to learn, and i cant see it happening with anyone else but them. They are great examples and are going to go super far.

         So the other elders in our zone are getting kind of sad that we're leaving. Ive bonded with every one of them in a different way, and im gonna miss them a ton. I have spent too much time worrying about what kind of elders we would get because they have all turned out to be awsome. I would be stoked to run into any of them after this for a hang out. Did i say in my last email that ive decided to walk the path of daniel and never buy another xbox? at first i said no video games but i think i could justify something like a wii for when i have company over. There is too much i want to get awsome at, such as music, longboarding, and rock climbing. Im totally gonna do it. Ive already seen how hard work really can pay off, just like people tried to tell me for the first 20 years. I even have new abs that ive never seen before, on the sides! its so awsome, so hopefully i dont get lazy with the workout and stuff. Well fam, this time next week i will be unable to communicate with everyone, and grinning like an idiot, 8,000 miles away from home. I love you all, and i will miss you all, and want to tell you about every single experience. Mom, please send me the numbers of daniel, christal, brandon, and kass so that i can call them from the airport. and meybe a phone card would be sweet too. quick reminder, i wont get any dear elders written to me after friday morning, because ill be gone before they print them on monday. okay, gotta go. love you all, and ill make you proud!

                                    -Elder Bridge

Gee its great to be alive and in...the mtc. May 12, 2011

 HEY FAM!

       Everything is awsome here. Ive had by far my best and busiest week in the mtc which is why my letters have been slow. Dad i wrote you one yesterday but i havent mailed it yet, sara and jean marcell i am in the middle of one to the both of you. also sara i dont have time to read the talk but as soon as i can imma try to print it, you can only print one page here for some reason so it will take a couple weeks. A COUPLE WEEKS! MORE LIKE ONE AND A HALF! we got our travel plans yesterday and you will all be proud to know that i am the travel leader in our group of 8. i knew they finally recognize my potential at some point. We leave the 23rd, to atlanta for a 4 hour layover (in which im allowed to call family, so anyone who wants me to call them send me some numbers cause i only remember mom and dads. sarabi i guess i cant call you which stinks but everyone else (including my long lost family in new mexico) i am so excited to talk to you if you arent too busy. MOm if you can like send a phone card or something? that would be sweet. if not ill talk someone into loning me their cell phone. im good with strangers.

       My spanish is coming! like noticably. we have things here called progressing investigators, which are teachers role playing as someone they converted on thier missions and we teach them lessons throughout each week. Well weve had a few extra teachers in these last few weeks, one of them is one of my favorite dudes every, hes like a super wise yogi, but hes also a baller, so elder hunt and i nicknamed him yogi baller. please dont tell him that haha. anyway last night we didnt have time to teach him the lesson we had prepared so he said we could teach this morning, and i was like "aw but its P-day tomorrow" in my head, but outloud i said "ALright!" so this mornign elder frazier and i got up early and put our suits on and taught him a lesson. I used to dread having to try to mutter in broken spanish for more than 5 minutes, but today i muttered in broken spanish for an entire 35 minute lesson and wanted to go 20 more! it was awsome. I was asking the exact questions i wanted to and got him talking a ton! the only hard thing is that elder frazier still is where i was a few weeks ago so its really hard to involve him in the lesson, since he doesnt really know what either of us are saying. Im finding ways to involve him though through better planning and lots of prayer. Its been really paying off though.

       I realized today i havent been sharing many little details with yall, so ill think of a few. First of all, i have spent the last few days trying to figure out why quotes can mean so much to us be be so hard for us to apply, you know? i wrote about that in my journal last night, as a way of organizing my thoughts. I think i came to the conclusion that what someone says something great, it is great because the words carry so much truth to us, and sometimes it seems to be both what weve already known, and the key to solving our problems. I decided the reason it has that effect is because while they still may be truth, they arent truths we are ready for, in a way. So ive decided that the best way to let great words influence your life is to be the one saying them. If you constantly turn your thoughts to the heart of an issue, and youre prayerful, you'll eventually just kind of bump into something that is great, meybe just for you but is there a better way to start? i dont know where im going with this except that i feel like im becoming more capable of bettering myself and at the same time and finding way more things that need bettering, so its on my mind alot.

       On a more important topic, i eat oatmeal or cracked wheat every single day for breakfast, and a huge plate of salad every lunch and dinner, with whatever else they are serving. I feel healthy. My typical drink of choice is like 1/3 cranberry, 1/3 grape juice, 1/6 apple, and 1/6 sprite. Me Gusta. I usually use ranch dressing because theyre remodelling the kitchen so they dont give us italian anymore, someone should write a letter.

         Ugh, so much to SAY! Dad, i love getting your letters ! Mom, likewise! im seriously writing as often as i can and hopefully i will get a few sent today. Mom, brent must have got his letter because he wrote me back yesterday. Love that guy. Daniel, i swear you should have gotten my letter by now, but its awsome to hear about your job. if i dont hear from you by saturday ill write another this weekend. Sara, love the pictures of clementine and printed them out! BRandon, Kassidi, HAzel, Ole, I love you guys so much. and i miss you, and im leaving in less than two weeks and im sad that it will be even harder to write. Brandon, there are alot of things id like to tell you.

                   Alright, life is awsome, im doing well, my zone is amazing and we love each other. Elder Hunt and me and the new district of 12 dudes-3 of them are singing come thou fount in sarcrament this sunday and its going to be beautiful. I was blessed with a new district full of singers. oh yeah also neil L: anderson came and spoke to us on tuesday and it was a direct answer to my prayers. you wouldnt believe the blessings i am feeling in my life. Prayers are answered. have faith! Life is for us, and it is great, and families are the most important part, and i am thankful for all of you, and elder hunt says hi, and i am going to go because i have 20 seconds left.

          Love, Elder Bridge

                             P.>s mom thanks for the ties, love them. i have no yellow ties or ties with owls on them... (birthday?) lol love ya

HELLLOOOO‏. May 5, 2011

HEY! 

         Its a beautiful day here in the mtc, the sun is shining, the flowers are popping, and the room smells like laundry, which i love. Not only did i get emails from sara and jean marcell (which i loved) but i got one from my korean brother, juwon kim, who is doing very good, it was awsome to hear from him. im pretty sure his time in the military is finished. Other noteables are the letters i got on monday from mom, dad, and daniel, and another from mom yesterdaty. Seriously you guys i cant explain what those letters do for me. Thank you. To answer your question mom, no, i didnt get any of the ones you sent from sedona, but i got the one you sent monday (or saturday or sunday) and the one yesterday, so you did something right the last couple of times.

              Things are good here. Were working hard and learning very valuable things about teaching, the kind of things i know i need, but i dont know how i need them until theyre taught if that makes sense. Like for the last three days ive been trying to think of a way to like do a better job of cultivating the spirit in a lesson, just keep building it and building it without stopping, and yesterday hermano tingey gave us an awsome example of how to teach the first vision, which includes like 6 oppertunities to bare testimony and im really excited to get it down in spanish so i can put it to use in next weeks trc. I talked to presidant nally yesterday (the first counciler in the mtc presidancy) and he asked me and elder hunt to ask our teacher about the first vision and how it helped him teach on his mission, and then report back to him. It just happened that the first vision was hermano tingeys favorite thing to teach and he had great insight on how powerful it could be, more than anything else he taught on his mission. We did the math came up with a conservative 3000 times of him using it in the 2 years. what a question for presidant nally to ask eh? any other teacher might not have had that experience. Hermano Tingey said it was because Elder Kukuchi Came to his mission and taught them to teach it that way and then came 2 years later to check up and see how well they were doing it. Just a pretty cool coincidance i think, since coincidances dont happen to missionaries right?

            Ive been having an ear problem this week, but i got some like prescription nasal spray from the clinic that they say will fix it, and i went ahead and had them bill home haha, so pops i owe you a ten spot. With the new p-day we do the temple in the afternoon instead of morning, which i really like, its been been a really relaxing and rewarding few days, due in no small part to the powerful encouragement and love i received from yall on monday im sure,.

           Dad, i am so glad sedonas ride was what you wanted, i was thinking about you the whole time, we see riders on the road outside our window all the time and sometimes from a distance they look just like you, except meybe a little lazier.

        Mom, imma write you another letter today, hope you get it before the weekend but who knows.

           Everyone else, I love yall and miss yall, daniel and christal, imma hit you back.

              Bran and Kass, i know youre busy,  think ill try to send you a letter anyway but i wont fill it with questions. Tell your kids i love and miss them and want them to send me some pictures they draw.

                   Anyone else whos reading this, write to me, especially if youre a girl im not related too!

                                   Love, Elder Bridge

                           P.S i thought mom and dad would get a kick out of a certain package i got last week from a girl who lives in great falls. It had a ten page letter in it. Guess who? dun dun dun!

Elder ThaCondor Bridge Strikes Again. April 28, 2011

   hey fam. how is everyone? The entire mtc schedule changed this weeks so our classes are all messed up, the lunch line is 20 minutes long, and my p-day is now thursday. This of course means that i didnt get any emails this week, which are usually pretty nice to get, but its whatever. I really liked my easter packages from mom&dad and also from Daniel&Christal, both were well recieved. I especially loved the easy cheese, and the whoopi cushion, but everyone else loves the flarp, and moms easter egg things were a hit. We are all straight pounding candy 24/7 so when the buzz wears out in a few weeks i hope i can take a nap and eat some vegetables.

           Its been a pretty busy week. Ive been figuring out some important things in Spanish and it just makes me realize everything i still need to learn but its good, and i think i will have some better ways to practice by the end of this weekend. And we all got rocked in the TRC (i forget what that stands for but its where we go in and role play teach volenteers from around provo) so we have alot of things to work on in our teaching, and it will be really good to work on those imprvements so i have alot to keep me busy.

            Some other fun things have been happening, for instance, we got 12 new elders in our zone yesterday, all bright eyed and bushy tailed. Also, our favorite Elder, Elder Cranford, now has pink eye for the fourth time in his life, which is a real treat for all of us, fortunatly for him, he feels that wearing the same pair of thin latex gloves all day makes it okay for him to touch everything and were all kind of really terrified. He also didnt shower today, but thats nothing new for someone who has had pink eye 4 times.

        Ahh, we have fun.

           Alot of actually good things have happened too. Elder Frazier and I are starting to figure out that taking some time to prepare for a lesson really helps us teach as a team, so when we teach in English its getting pretty good, and soon we'll be able to use those methods in Spanish, so its pretty exciting. Also, it isnt very often to hear from 2 apostles in 2 weeks, but this tuesday night Elder Oaks and his wife came and spoke to us, and gave us some really good things to work on.

        Im starting to really wish there were books we were allowed to have, and time to read them, because everytime i read its the book of mormon and theres never enough time for that, but ive read some of David O. McKays talks and i really wish i had a book of all his teachings, but that will be somethings for after the mission i guess.

      So yeah, dont really know what to say. If anyone wants to talk, im still here, so ill write you back.

                                                                                                                                                        Elder Bridge

       P.S. Mom&Dad i dont know when youre getting home but i am going to write letters to you today and hopefully youll be home before the weekend to get them