Up on the projector zone by zone everyone was seeing who there new companion was, where they were moving to...not me. Then Park City popped up, no dice. For a second I thought that they had forgotten to assign me somewhere because all of the zones had already been shown. HA!
Then in bold letters WYOMING pops up. I shot a glance of terror over at my old companion Sister Nelson..was this real life? Literally the very, very, very, last name to pop up on the screen was mine. Sister Efnor and Sister Vanderziel-Green River Wyoming. I just died laughing. The whole time I was packing my stuff in the car I had elders and sisters patting me on the shoulder saying things like "good luck" or "bye forever" LOL
I am ,however, very happy to report that I absolutely love it here. I loved serving with the single adults in Utah, but serving in a family ward definitely has its pros. My first visit was with a less active family there were huge English Mastiffs jumping on me, and when they weren't jumping on me the kids were. I went into a bit of shock lol babies in diapers running around the house isn't something Ive seen in a couple months. lol
Green River is for sure one of a kind, small town with some beautiful sunsets.
If your going to live here you can only drive a truck, it cant be any truck though, it has to be a huge super duty. If your going to consider yourself a native you must also put deer meat in your lasagna.
Instead of "I saw.." it must be changed to "I seen..". Get those three things down, and mount a couple dozen elk/deer antlers to your wall and you're good to go!
As far as work, there is a lot to be done. We can get in about 19 less active lessons a week, eeeasy. There are a lot more members here then I thought there was going to be, but most of them just don't go to church. But there are also a lot of families that just within the last month are becoming active again.
Lately my thoughts have been turned towards agency. In a talk given by Boyd K.Packer on repentance he said,
"The old saying “The Lord is voting for me, and Lucifer is voting against me, but it is my vote that counts” describes a doctrinal certainty that our agency is more powerful than the adversary’s will. Agency is precious. "
Many people that I have talked to are so enveloped in circumstances, alcohol, and whatever else..that the realization that they have the ability to literally choose Heavenly Father and eternal life just doesn't seem attainable to them. Obviously its a lot easier for me to sit down and type this, I grew up with both my parents being active in the church, grew up in a nice area, with nice schools, and now i spend all of my time serving the Lord. Life has been pretty dang good to me.
Having the complete opposite in all those circumstances would have made it harder for me to choose to be where I am right now.
However, something beautiful about the gospel is that it's all about change, its all about becoming. There is no cavern to deep, no cliff to steep, that the enabling power of the Atonement cant pull us up from, but we have to decide. Its OUR vote that is going to count in the end.
In a talk titled "The Fourth Missionary" it says,
"You not only can be changed to become more like Christ, the whole of the plan of salvation is designed in favor of your success. The plan of salvation is a not a level playing field. It favors you. It favors not only your success but the success of each and every one of God's children. Everything has been organized to maximize your opportunity to succeed."
And here's one more thing that I absolutely love from that same talk regarding our will/agency to choose "In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have. If you give your time, two years, and your strength, you give only that which He grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw. If you dedicate your gifts and talents, you only return to Him what He already has given to you. If you pay tithing you only return to Him a tenth of what he has already given to you. Everything that you have to give to the Lord, has its origin in Him, except one thing: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to Him. It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have. And so when you give yourself, you truly give everything to Him."
When we make the first step towards giving our will to Him, I know that blessings will follow and we will be able to see a change greater than we could imagine.
I'm stoked to be serving here with the people of Green River, I love you all and appreciate all the emails/mail/love, it helps me everyday. Keep on keepin on!
Love
Sister Efnor
