A couple days ago I got a text from Sister Aiasau telling me that Sam, the kid who quit smoking and drinking, had an appointment to get his patriarchal blessing this passed Sunday! What a blessing! Getting to be even a small part of these peoples journey back to their Heavenly Father gives me a feeling that I cant put into words, I am just so happy about where I am!  The places that I've been, and where the Lord is going to direct me in the future.

This past week we were blessed with quite a few new people to teach.  A couple young families where one spouse is a member and the other isn't.  Serving in YSA and even in my past areas I never had the opportunity to teach young families.  Its made me study a lot more about how the gospel blesses families so that I can better emphasize that in lessons. 

Its been a great learning experience for me and it has me so pumped to help them build families that are centered in the gospel.  I've been through a lot of homes, seen how a lot of different families operate and function. Not being a member of the church doesn't mean you cant have a happy family, but the ability to come together spiritually, to have a bond that will take you and your family into eternity is something that can only be done in the temple.

That's something that I cant wait to share with these families!

There is an older couple that has recently joined the church and they are preparing to go do baptisms for the dead. We met with the high counselor over missionary work yesterday and talked about the retention in Green River.  Its not doing so hot, we don't have good records of where recent converts are, if they have received callings, if they have made it to the temple etc.

We want to make this our focus, seeing that families are getting to the temple, that people are receiving callings, getting ordained.  Along with finding those that the Lord is preparing, we want to find those that are lost and bring em back!

As a mission we are studying Charity, a couple days ago I read a talk by President Monson "Charity Never Faileth"- I would just tell you all to go read it, but I know that if I was reading this letter I most likely wouldn't go look up the talk… So, i just included one of my favorite parts! 

This is a true story~  A woman by the name of Mary Bartels had a home directly across the street from the entrance to a hospital clinic. Her family lived on the main floor and rented the upstairs rooms to outpatients at the clinic. One evening a truly awful-looking old man came to the door asking if there was room for him to stay the night. He was stooped and shriveled, and his face was lopsided from swelling—red and raw. He said he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. “I guess it’s my face,” he said. “I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says it could possibly improve after more treatments.” He indicated he’d be happy to sleep in the rocking chair on the porch. As she talked with him, Mary realized this little old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. Although her rooms were filled, she told him to wait in the chair and she’d find him a place to sleep. At bedtime Mary’s husband set up a camp cot for the man. When she checked in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and he was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, he asked if he could return the next time he had a treatment. “I won’t put you out a bit,” he promised. “I can sleep fine in a chair.” Mary assured him he was welcome to come again. In the several years he went for treatments and stayed in Mary’s home, the old man, who was a fisherman by trade, always had gifts of seafood or vegetables from his garden. Other times he sent packages in the mail. When Mary received these thoughtful gifts, she often thought of a comment her next-door neighbor made after the disfigured, stooped old man had left Mary’s home that first morning. “Did you keep that awful-looking man last night? I turned him away. You can lose customers by putting up such people.” Mary knew that maybe they had lost customers once or twice, but she thought, “Oh, if only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear.”  After the man passed away, Mary was visiting with a friend who had a greenhouse. As she looked at her friend’s flowers, she noticed a beautiful golden chrysanthemum but was puzzled that it was growing in a dented, old, rusty bucket. Her friend explained, “I ran short of pots, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, until I can put it out in the garden.”

(my favorite part!) --->  Mary smiled as she imagined just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when He came to the soul of the little old man. “He won’t mind starting in this small, misshapen body.” But that was long ago, and in God’s garden how tall this lovely soul must stand! Appearances can be so deceiving, such a poor measure of a person. Admonished the Savior, “Judge not according to the appearance.” 

I love this message of not judging, I am not perfect and still do it from time to time, but when I have done as the 

Savior would have done, I have seen miracles happen in others lives, and in my own.

Sister Efnor

Steph and her fun companion!

 Rough Sunday!! lol