Okaaaay, so this week was a little slow in terms of appointments. Actually it was really slow. Never the less, there were still miracles popping up left and right.
Last night we had a
lesson with Maggie. She was the girl that was just recently baptized, we
met at the Vincents (senior missionaries) and watched the Restoration
DVD. I love that video by the way, the music and the actors, basically
everything just reeks of inspiration. Anyways, after the video we asked
Maggie what she thought about it. She LOVED it, because she said she
really felt like she could relate to Joseph. Maggie had been praying
for a
church that believed in Christ and practiced things that would help her
become more like Christ and then SHABAAAM the missionaries showed up!
Maggie is such a sweet person and genuinely just wants to help people,
hence her constant visits to Haiti where she looks to give service where
ever she can. I can already tell with her big heart, and big
personality
she is going to be a big influence in her ward.
We had Zone Conference this past week and it was the BEEZZ NEEZZZ!
The
main thing that i got out of it all was obedience, and the important
roll obedience has in the lives of us missionaries. Sister Eberhardt had
an Elder who is serving in Wyoming right now, come up and talk about
his experiences regarding obedience. this kids story was I N T E N S E..
Long story short, this kid fell off the deep end. He wasn't being
obedient at all, and one day he realized what he was doing. He realized
all the time he was wasting. With tears in his eyes he told us about all
the time he wasted that he can never get back. It made me wake and realize
that I might not be deliberately trying to be disobedient, but that
every moment i have here is precious. The minutes i waste in one day
don't get transferred to the next day like a bank account. That time is
gone. Things like waking up on time and going to bed on time don't seem
silly or unimportant to me anymore. I don't want to come home with
regrets. I will come home knowing i did the best i could from
beginning to end.
Here are a couple pictures of the map they had up at Zone conference to show us where we all came from. I loved seeing how many missionaries we have here in Salt Lake from Arizona!
Our Zone leaders taught in part of the zone conference, because they were last, and zone conference started at 10am and ended around 4pm....
they wanted to do something that would keep everyone awake. You know
those minute to win it games? Well in between slides about how we can
become better missionaries they would have two people (an elder and
sister) come up in front and have them do a minute to win it challenge. They had asked me
before hand if i would be in one of them because they knew i wouldn't
get embarrassed. I had to do the cookie challenge, how fitting haha... this is
where you stick the cookie on your forehead and without using your hands
you have to get the cookie in your mouth..pretty sure everyone got some
really amusing pictures in that one minute. Of course i creamed the
elder, had to represent the family name.
**Mom insert... (That's my GIRL!)...
I shook L. Tom Perry's hand. Boy he really does have
the grip of a marine, and he's so tall! Needless to say it was a really
powerful talk on the importance of strong companionship's. I didn't take a
ton of notes because i didn't want to keep looking down, i couldn't
believe i was sitting two pews away from him.
(He is a really big, strong looking man)
I also found my MTC companion! So nice to see her again!
Then the very next day i attended a devotional with
Maggie. SISTER OAKS! BABAMMMM! She spoke on service, gratitude, and
happiness. Sister Oaks told a story of a woman she visited in Brazil. The 70
year old woman had very little, concrete floors, a few plastic chairs,
and she was blind. Sister Oaks told of this woman's heart full of
gratitude. We all would see her as someone lacking, but this woman felt
as though she had everything because she had the knowledge that Christ
lives and her Heavenly Father loves her. Made me think about all the
things i am grateful for. I remember when one of my YW leaders gave a
lesson on prayer. She put it into perspective when she asked us " what
if you woke up and you only had the things you thanked heavenly father
for the night before in your prayer?". I find myself in more sincere
prayer, on my knees a lot more than i had ever been.
This past Sunday was the best. I've had RMs tell me they hated Sundays but i LOVE EM! We were busy busy from 9am till 9pm.
We're at a different meeting, different building, different classroom
every hour or 30 min haha, but i love it! Being busy and being
productive
is the best feeling. I really love the members in this area, they are
trying so hard. Constantly coming up with new ideas so they can help
find us people to teach or help us get into houses of inactive members. I
really don't want to leave this area anytime soon, transfers are in about two weeks, but sister v says she thinks im going to be in this
area for a
long time. I hope her Filipino self is right! hahaha
Today when we went out to get some more groceries i
tried to make better choices with my food even though i knew it would
cost more. I'm trying to be "healthy" whatever that means haha anyways,
when me and sister Villoso went up to pay a lady swiped her card for not
only mine but for my companions groceries as well. What a blessing,
and i thought it was even cooler that the guy at the register got to see
that happen. I could tell he hadn't seen something like that before. We
said thank you over and over at the register and when we saw the lady in
the parking lot we yelled thank you one last time to the giving sister
we were privileged to meet.
Then at the car wash (we are told to keep our car clean) the guy
who runs it let us go in for free and gave us the highest priced wash.
This is a dress that a member gave me so I thought Id just throw that picture in as well... I wear my Nauvoo boots EVERYWHERE! Yes, they are falling apart, but that's what super glue is for! Good as new! **Mom insert...(She has expensive good shoes and boots and refuses to wear them!)
Funny story..
I
have a lot of funny stories but some of them would just sound plain
stupid to type out haha here is a quick one, so yesterday we went to
these apartments to see a guy we had been told to contact through the
mission office, anyways..as we are going in this guy is coming out of
the apartments (clearly middle eastern decent) and my companion goes
"holla! como esta?" I was dead hahahhahahahaha i couldn't stop laughing
after he said in plain English "uhh i don't speak Spanish" after i was
literally in tears the guy started laughing too, and we told him to have a
nice day. I've seen him at the apartments a couple times so next time
we'll have to strike up a conversation about the gospel. It made my day.
A couple pictures...
**Mom insert (Love you Sam!)
I
really love this work, and i love the people around me. Sometimes i
love people a little less than others haha but im working on it through
constant prayer. I think i love Utah..Oh SNAP! never thought id say that
hahaha On to another week! I love you all so much, and i love the Lord.
Being a missionary is waaaay better than what i imagined. I hope all of
you have a great week, and for those of you who actually read all this
stuff, THANK YOU!
Love
Sister Dodie (STEPH)**Mom insert (Thank you so much for all the love and support Steph has been getting from you all... She loves the letters! A couple things... Steph is getting to teach hula!! She is so excited to get to work with some YW. So we were able to send her some music this past week. And lastly... Her Mission address is: Stephanie Michelle Efnor
Utah Salt Lake City East Mission
3487 S. 1300 E. West Entrance
Salt Lake City, UT 84106
She can get written mail more often than her once a week email. If you include your address then she will write you back. She has more time to do that then email.)
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