Pictures of our girl in the MTC... February 14th, 2014

Ok, well here are "some" of the pictures that Sister Stephanie Efnor

sent via email today.  Please excuse my amateur blogging skills.

I hope to become as good as Jolene Ridd in the future! haha!

What she does on Courtney's page is beautiful.  

BUT

for now this is it.

Stephanie looks amazing, like her same old HAPPY self.

Hopefully next time I'll be able to include the pic's on the letter post!

 LOVE THIS!

 Love from Home

 She knows I'm shaking my head at all those wrinkles!

 Valentine Decorations sent from home...

 Sisters/friends from back home... Courtney Ridd off to Paris and Steph off to Park City Utah!

 I sure miss that big beautiful hair!

Finally! Our second letter from the MTC...

I really do hate this whole "mail" communication thing, it has me so confused. I never got to email oma, I just sent her a letter, and because its like the twilight zone over here I really wouldn't be able to tell you what day I sent any of those letters on haha. My perception of time right now is so warped!  MOS GARLIC ROLLS?! I'll most definitely be checking the mail after i get off my emai!  Well...i cant remember all the stuff that ive already sent you guys in emails so i apologize if some of this stuff is old news to you..

So, I had to wait more than a week to get on my email because i started my visitors center training! Due to the change of schedule my pday was changed to today, so sorry about the confusion.  Anyways..this past Wednesday all the visitors center sisters got to take a bus to temple square, it felt so weird being outside of the MTC.  At temple square we took a tour with some sister missionaries and they told us about the importance of being a visitors center sister. It is way harder than i thought it would be, so all ya'll hatin on people getting called to visitors center missions can just pipe down. :-) They told us about their experinces that they've had and then we went to an orinetation on visitors centers, it had me seriously pumped! 

I dont know if i already told you but i am going to be at the visitors center in Park City!  It is really small hahaha its all about family history, and i was told by the guy giving us the orientation that it had the highest return rate, because everyone loves learning more about their family! 

I was really happy to hear that.  Sister Nelson and I are leaving the MTC Tuesday morning..it was pretty funny when the others sisters in our district were all getting their traveling itineraries in the mail, and it was telling them what flights they needed to take and then mine and sister Nelsons came in the mail and it was telling us when the front runner was going to be leaving the train station! hahaha

For our visitors center training we got to chat online with people! How cray cray is that right?!  We all got our own laptops and headsets.  I felt like i should have been directing a space shuttle landing haha, but yeah, so when someone wants to chat it would pop up on both mine and sister Nelsons screen and we could talk to them together!  We had some pretty cool experinces with people really wanting answers to questions they had, and then there were some...ODD ones..hahaha. 

For example, this one guy wanted to know if realating the gospel to Thor was blasphemy... Sister Nelson and I looked at eachother and started busting up laughing...which i guess wasn't very nice, but you would of had to have seen the other stuff he said before that haha... He felt like he could help non members come unto Christ better if he could relate it to Thor, which i kinda see where he's coming from with the whole "Thor gets sent down to earth by his father, he saved the world, and then gets to return home"  BUT we promtly sent him some links to church websites that would be helpful to use haha... so that was a pretty funny experince. 

All of the other sisters in out district are gone, they all left to Canada this past Tueday, so its just Sister Nelson and myself, all alone in our rooms..Which has actually been pretty nice because now we can use one of the desks as a pantry. Mom, we literally have a pantrys worth of food in our room, its kind of riduculous.  We have shelves stocked with food and i dont know what we are gonna do with all of it..  We might open up our own store in our room and make some profit? hahaha 

Im still loving it here, just when i think that ive had the best day ever, i go to bed and wake up and end up having an even better day the next day.  Im loving my visitors center teachers they are amazing sisters and they have such strong testimonys. Im really excited to be able to go out in to the feild but ive learned and grown so much here that i dont want to leave at the same time.  

I have been getting so many packagas from people and i am so grateful for that, (If I haven't had the chance to write you personally please know how much I love that you thought of me!) Saturday is my last day to get mail though, so tell anyone if they were planning on sending me something to not do it or to wait until im at my mission home. just an fyi :)  Debbie i loved those cookies and our letter!  Tell Clint his letter is coming soon so he can stop crying about how much he misses me.. Ronnie i love getting letters from you about school.  I miss picking you up all the time and getting to here about how your day went.. Dad i love you so much and i really appreciate you writing me all the time and all you share with me about the scriputres. Mom im pretty sure your the reconrd holder for most dear elders in a day hahhaha, but i love it!  Give grumpy a pat on the head and treat for me.  Thank you for giving me updates all the time on my baby hahah!  

I love you all so much and everyday i am reminded more and more that this was the best decision i could have ever made.  I love this gospel with all my heart, and being here has changed me in ways i didn't know were possible. 

I love you all so much!

Love Sister Efnor

Holla Atchya Sister!

Where to begin?! I'll start by saying that the MTC is so much more than what I ever expected. The first day I got here it was nothing but GO! GO! GO!. We went straight to a meeting with all the new missionaries.  I remember the whole time thinking "Oh crap, this is real, I am here." 
When 10:30 rolled around I knocked out like a light!  Getting up that next morning wasn't hard like i thought it would be... (You know me and getting up.)  I praised the heavens when i found out you don't have to be with your companion while you are in your residence halls (basically a dorm).  I thought i was going to have to coordinate shower times and junk like that, but since its just a bunch of girls in the residence halls you can do whatever you want. Which is really nice because sometimes you just need a little personal time on the toilet if ya know what I'm sayin.

My district is the best!  So, its my companion and I, and then we are rooming with two other companions. Everyone looks at us like we are crazy when we tell them that we haven't had any problems and we all are getting along. Most of them are from Utah and one is from Colorado. Sister Pippert is the oldest of us, she 23. She is taking two years off from the army, she just got done doing a tour in Afghanistan!  She doesn't get much mail, not really any at all because i guess her family isn't that close. If you could send her a dear elder that would be such a help. She needs to have some support just like the rest of us.  Two of the girls in our room have boyfriends so they have been getting packages and letters that smell like boys almost everyday -__- so its sad when sister Pippert doesn't get anything when we check the mail.

We have a main classroom that we spend most of our time in and we have two main teachers, besides the Lord of course ;) Sister Porter is one of them. The first day i was with her i was like HALLELUYERRR!  Right off the bat you can tell she is a spiritual giant ,and so sweet.  Her testimony of the gospel is so solid.  She and I get along really well , and she has helped me so much.  My other teacher is Bro Crockett actually served in Arizona, he is also awesome. 

My branch presidents are the sweetest people ever, theirs wives will sometimes stop by our rooms to talk to us and give us hugs before we go to bed.  Me and sister nelson ,my companion, are sister training leaders over our zone. So we will be showing all the newbies that come in today where everything is ,and we will be checking on them while they are here.  Like going to their room and and checking on them and making sure they are adjusting okay.
Getting that calling was a shock because i thought for sure these other sisters were going to get that calling.  It has been such a humbling experience getting to go to these extra meetings with the branch president.

I had the worst TRC experience (ask Clint what that is) just to give you a feel for how wretchedly awful it was ill share something that i said during the conversation. I mentioned something about the pre- existence and the lady went off on me saying "whats that?! Were we just beamed down here from some unknown locations not traceable through GPS?!"... and my response was "NOPE, ya sure cant put heaven into a GPS system" at that point i wanted to morph into the couch, or crawl out on my knees which ever was faster.  From that point our appointment with her just got worse. She said she didn't even believe in God ,and when i heard that i had no idea what to say and i just left my poor companion hanging. That was the worst day ive had, and then i really started to miss you guys and i wanted to literally quit. That night i got a blessing from the Elders in my district and the blessing really helped.  I have literally never prayed so hard and so much in my entire life. I was feeling like... if i cant even do a practice situation that there is no way i can do this in real life.
That night i prayed so hard for help and guidance.  The next day was the best day i have had here! We went back to the same lady and our lesson went great!  She opened up to us about her past drug problems ,and we were able to share scriptures with her.  I had her laughing so hard.  It was just the thing i needed. I don't have much time left.... I have learned so much guys, and i have grown so much more than i ever thought i could.  Everything makes sense, and my testimony of prayer and having pure faith in the Lord and in his plan has been strengthened by leaps and bounds. I already know I'm going to be so sad when i have to leave here just because being surround by missionaries 24/7 is the most enriching feeling in the world.  Ive gotten so much better at teaching and leading by the spirit.  I pray every time before i enter a room where I'm going to be sharing a message, whether we are just role playing or we are doing it for real.  I love this gospel so much Mom and Dad, i cant even tell you how grateful I am for your example. 

Going on a mission was the best thing i have ever done. It's the best choice i could have ever made, and i know its going to bless me so much. I love it here guys.  I miss you all so much!  Please dont stop writing me!  It helps me so much!  I know the gospel is true and i cant wait to learn more.  I just want more and more as the time goes by.  I cant say enough how much i love you guys, and pray for you guys all the time! 

Love Sister Dodie

 

(PS Quick note from Mom... For those that don't know... Dodie has been her nickname since she was an infant) Excuse her typo/errors... I was emailing her when I knew she was on so she had to talk to me while she was writing this letter... As well as this is Last weeks Mail.  I just got her  Blog password .

"3..2..1..We have lift off!"

[I knew I wouldn't be able to get on my blog after I was set apart, so I wrote this and I'm having my Mom see that it get's posted up onto my blog and connect it to FB until she can get everyone's emails organized]

Well, it's almost time. Getting ready for this day has been a whirlwind, but now the real adventure begins. Goodbyes have been rough, but after every rush of tears I've felt a rush of happiness. I know that's the spirit telling me that I am where I should be.

So many people want to help and give me advice for what's ahead, and I've been very grateful since I haven't had an older sibling go through any of this. A couple of the best pieces of advice I've gotten..

• Love the people you serve
• Work everyday like it's your last day
• Don't kill your companion

I'm sure I'll have some nerves once I get in the car tomorrow morning, but right now I'm feeling nothing but excitement as the day draws nearer. I never thought I'd be here, taking this path in life. The thought "HERE I AM!" keeps coming to mind. Over coming personal obstacles, hours of preparing, and HERE I AM! Still here going strong, now to just keep this same momentum as I go out into the mission field. I love my family, and I love the Lord, I can't wait to show em what I got!

17 more days..

Having never had the desire to serve a mission in my youth, I can't help but smile as I make my first post on my very own missionary blog; a blog that will accumulate emails and pictures of the most fulfilling 18 months of my youth. Always giving mad props to those that went out and served diligently and faithfully, I just couldn't envision being a successful missionary. The past can be a daunting thing, and I started talking myself out of the idea of a mission all together because of it. The age girls could leave wasn't right, I'm not smart enough, I'll miss my family too much, the list went on and on. Oh boy, does the Lord have a sense of humor: not too long before I was going to turn 19 the age for girls to leave changed. At that moment I had a clear vision in my mind of Heavenly Father looking at me saying, "What now? Can't use that excuse anymore."After girls all over the world were running to submit their mission papers, and dumping their boyfriends, I still didn't feel that same desire. Taking some time to step back and see the path I was on wasn't leading me to where I essentially wanted to be, I decided changes had to be made. Putting my life in accordance with the Lord, and eventually being asked by my bishop if I wanted to serve a mission I thought, "Well, why not? I can prepare and if in the end I don't think it's right, then I won't submit my papers, but I'll be a better person because of it." I began to read my scriptures more than I ever had, I was asking earnestly for guidance daily. Before I knew it I was submitting my mission papers with a testimony stronger than ever. Before I knew it, in my hands was the letter telling me where I was going to spend 18 months of my life. It read "You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Utah Salt Lake City East Mission."Immediately I loved it, everyone there, everyone I would serve with, and I had no idea who these people even were. Even though I had already gotten my call, it was at that moment that I knew I was going to serve. I was going to wear the Lord's name over my heart for 18 months and be a part of spreading the gospel to all corners of the earth.