Tuesday

At around 6 am we drove over to one of the bishops houses that we cover to go on an early morning hike! At dinner, last Friday, they invited one of their family friends over, Ron. One of the funniest guys, he had us singing "Hey Jude" at the dinner table haha Anywho, Ron says that he has (as in owns) a mountain (hill) named after him, and that he wanted us to come and hike it with him. We told him that we would only be able to come if it was a missionary opportunity so he would have to invite a non member friend. Right then and there Ron picked up his phone and called his friend Dave! He said, "Dave, we are going on a hike Tuesday morning, and we are gonna meet Jesus!" To which we could hear Dave reply through his laughter, "I cant wait to meet him!".

6 am rolled along and we all met up at Ron's Peak and started the hill.  At the top Sister Curtis and I shared a scripture that talked about how we are surrounded by things that testify of God, the earth, the planets in rotation. Then we were able to see what Ron meant when he said we were going to see Jesus, we watched the sunrise.

When Elder Clark came to speak to our mission he talked a fair amount about retention with recent converts. Making sure that after they are baptized that they continue to progress.

This guy Christian was baptized about 2 years ago and is looking to serve a mission, so we decided that it would be a good idea to take him to do some family history work! 

We went to the center on at the Joseph Smith memorial building, the senior couple that serve there are the cats pajamas!  I am so serious, they sat Christian down, set him up and account, and got down to business!  Sister Curtis and I would occasionally glance over to find him smiling from ear to ear while he learned of new names from his family and how to do some effective searching. We planned to just stay there an hour, but what started as an hour turned out to be 2 and a half hours. We just couldn't pull him away! While we were walking with him to the parking lot he said, "I'm so excited! I have so many names to take to the temple.." HECK YES! 

Friday

We went and did a little scripture study with one of our investigators! We red in first Nephi with her where Lehi and his family went into the wilderness. Laman and Lemuel were told by an angel that Nephi would be made a ruler over them and that they didn't need to worry because the Lord would provide a way for them to get the plates.  

We went on to talk about how we can look to Nephi's diligent and obedient attitude etc..then the girl we were reading with said something to the effect of "I understand why Nephi's brothers were so upset, i'd be upset to if i was just told my younger brother would be made a ruler over me. I realize Laman and Lemuel murmur a lot but i feel like i can relate to them more, maybe Nephi should have expressed a little more sympathy towards his brothers and maybe taken the time to understand them."

We explained to her that in later chapters Nephi definitely shows love towards his brothers, but i thought it was so interesting how she was able to take a step back and think about how Laman and Lemuel might have felt. I honestly have never thought about it, how they might of felt, besides avoiding the error of their ways I never thought about how I can learn from the relationship between Nephi and his brothers. It just gave me a new outlook on a chapter I've read who knows how many times.

Saturday

The institute hosted an Asian basketball tournament, no joke. Students at the U who are on some committee and have been hosting this tournament for awhile now, member and non members who are from Asia and going to school- come and do this basketball tournament at the institute. So of course, 4 sets of missionaries were there to mingle around and get to know the people that came and played. We were fortunate enough to run into this Korean guy that we had met on the streets and we had a mini lesson when he wasn't playing basketball! 

(missionary moments wherever the Lord leads us)

We went to the tabernacle for Women's conference, and when we asked if we could have some water... This is what the Elder handed us. Not sure if that was truly all he had or if that is what he wanted the Sisters to drink from that day- haha

Sunday

A girl who just came home from her mission in Peru brought one of her friends to church! Her name is Helen and she stayed for all three hours. After Relief Society we asked her if she was able to understand the majority of the lesson since she is Korean and her English is a little broken up. She said "I didn't really understand, but I could tell there was a lot of love..."

That's what its all about, helping people feel that love is the essence of the gospel, to help them feel of Gods love.

Recently I was reading in True to the Faith under adversity, I really liked where it says that our happiness in this life and into the eternities is largely based off of how we react to trial. We have the power to CHOOSE to be happy even in the darkest/hardest of times. It went on to say that although our reaction to different trials might vary, something that should remain constant in is our reliance on the Savior. I believe this to be true through my own trial and error.

With the Christ as our constant... (adversity) however great or small can never diminish our flame of faith.

Its been another great week, and I am so happy to be serving here in Utah. Didn't think id ever say that one did you? lol I feel blessed to be here for General Conference and hope you all are preparing to hear these messages that have been prepared for us from Heavenly Father...  I hope all is well with everyone at home!  I love you all dearly! 

Sister Efnor

P.S. So Oma sent me this breath freshener (go figure), its straight peppermint oil and chlorophyll. Pretty potent stuff. Its in liquid form and i accidentally got some on my hands, making the mistake of wiping some in my eye. As soon as i realized with the growing pain in my eye i started yelling "oh no..Oh no...OH NO!" I ran to the sink washing my eye with water, that only lead to the poison spreading to the pores of my face! Most of you probably have never felt what its like to have had your face feel "winter fresh", lemme tell ya...ITS NOT PLEASANT 

So then my trusty companion comes bounding to the kitchen with her saline, to cleanse my eye. I open my eye and she jet streams the saline in to my eye, with my mouth open (i don't know why it was) i am now choking on saline. Another morning of personal study, with yours truly.

And these next to pictures are for Tanika Baker- You know why... :)