Okaaaay!   So i got all your videos!  I watched the one of Joe 5 times already. Someone really needs to tell that kid to postpone growing because i cant take it haha thank you for all the pictures, i opened up my email to 30 new messages haha what a treat!  I know I'm spoiled! 

Anyways, i got a letter into the mail today so that probably wont get to you till... well, forever from now...

Did I say... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY??  because I DO!

(just skimming through my journal... Where to start this week...?)

We went to this older couples house a couple days ago. The wife is a member and the husband isn't, we were told that the husband never wants the missionaries over, but that he asked if we would come over...but just once.  So, everyone was super excited that we were finally getting to go into their home.  We get there, and they end up giving us a full tour of their house, all these paintings they've collected etc.  So after like an hour tour of their house i finally asked if we could share a message with them.  The wife said yes.  So i read a scripture and a quote by Holland.  In the quote it says "This is the true church.." as soon as those words slipped out of m mouth the husband stood up. He then said, "My hearing aid battery just died and i cant hear anything, excuse me while i go change it.." he promptly left the room..I continued with my message and while doing so i can see that the husband is now in the kitchen fixing himself a sandwich and sippin on some iced tea -__- Hearing aid MY EYE! lol  We asked the wife if we could come back soon and she basically said no... Come to find out AFTER we had already left their home, it took their home teacher YEARS to get into their house, and YEARS to get the husband to even sit in the same room.  Their home teacher has never shared a spiritual message because the husband doesn't believe in God... Wow, that would have been useful information to know!  We went back later and stuck a sticky note on their door saying we loved visiting with them, and we cant wait to come back...(We haven't heard from them)

So... we did exchanges this past week.  That is where you switch companions.  We switched with this three some companion ship, so sister V went to their place and one of the sisters came to our place with me.  So i don't know this area very well and i don't have a ton a of the streets memorized. Being the one from the area i had to lead out our day!  We only had one appointment and i was suppose to fill it up with people while i was carting around this new companion. 

I'm just scrambling to figure out what im going do with this sister all day long when i get a phone call... What?  My appointment cancelled...my only stinkin appointment, GREAT!  So now i have zero. 
We ended up finding an old relief society president who gave us the name of widows we could visit, thank goodness for widow. They seem to be the majority of people that will actually let us into their homes.  Anyways, we visit them..which turned out to be great visits.  So I'm really grateful we got to do that. 
Then we go home and go to bed.  The alarm clock rings and i asked (lets call her) Sister A, if she wanted to shower first, and she said yes.  So she gets in the shower, girl is in there for 45 MINUTES.  What the heck are you getting ready for?!  Your wedding?!  Anyways...she finally gets out and right as i am about to get in the shower the phone rings, its brother and sister Nielson reminding me that they are going to be over around 8 to check our place, uhhh EXCUSE ME?!  8 oclock was gonna come around in 15 minutes!  So i jump in the shower, where in i soon find out that sister A has used allll the hot water.  Yipee, So i take a 5 minute ice bath, run out tooth brush in hand as I'm putting gel in m hair with nothing but a towel on.  I'm running around picking up stuff off the ground, at the same time trying to put some clothes on because I'm down to like 2 minutes at this point.  All the while sister A is blow drying her hair like shes getting ready for prom -__- oh mom, i was praying for patience hahhaha!  I hear a knock at the door and as i am running to the door i am putting on my shirt..our place looked fine for brother and sister Nielson.  What i learned that morning, take a shower first, and always appreciate your Filipino companion hahaha 

We are getting everything ready for Maggie's baptism this Saturday!  I am so excited!  We met with her last night, and she said that she didn't want to get to excited about her baptism...We asked her why, and she said it was because she didn't want Satan to try and detour her.  So she's trying to lay low and fly under his radar haha I thought that was really sweet.  She is so excited to be baptized, and she has such a strong testimony.

The work is moving along here in the Monument Park stake!

Thank you all for all the emails, I'm sorry if i didn't write you back this week.  I really do gain so much strength hearing from everyone.
 

The Gilbert Temple Celebration sounded like a blast and the clips mom sent me were awesome! I miss all the youth that we got to teach those dances to!  You guys were awesome.  I loved when they all held up their flags, it touched my heart.  So inspiring to see all those youth standing together.
I love you all!   The church is true!

Keep it fresh

Keep it fly

 

 

KEEP it RIGHTEOUS!

LLOVVVEEEEEEE!

Sister Dodie 

January 29th... Leaving the MTC... and a WEEK out in the field!!!

Leaving the MTC was sad but also exciting!!  I learned so much there and will never forget what a blessed, wonderful time I had there... Miracles and many lessons learned...

First week out in the mission!  What a wild ride its been!  So, i get off the bus that brought all of us to the front runner, I'm helping unload bags (because there were some wimpy elders not helping haha), I turn my head and who is walking/running toward me?!  My Tuinei family!  What a tender mercy that was, seeing them was the best thing that could have happened to me before i had to leave to the field.  I was so happy, it had me smiling the whole way to the mission office.  

So we get to the mission office and they fed us breakfast, and we met a bunch of our leaders... Who by the way, are all amazing people and I love them!  The mission president and his wife are the sweetest people and i feel so blessed to be in their mission helping the work move forward.  Transfers were that same Tuesday that i got there.  We each had to go up to the mic and say where we were from and bare out testimonies.  When i said i was from Mesa a ton of people started yelling and whooping.  Like half of the people called to this mission are from Arizona... well maybe not half, but there were a lot.  :))

After all that I finally got to meet my companion... Dundundundunnnnn... They called out, "Sister Efnor your companion is....Sister Villoso!"  I stood up and looked for my new companion..then she stood up... She is half my height and from the Philippines!  

She is such a sweet sister, shes been out 11 months and i have learned so much from her.  It was so funny when they called hers and my name because then we went to each other, and hugged i had to bend down haha!  I think it's funny because shes my trainer "mom" and I'm her trainee "baby" and I'm way bigger than her hahaha.  

Anyway, we are living in the bottom of a members house, she is the sweetest lady ever and her name is Linda, so i just imagine that I'm living in Omas basement!  It makes it feel more like home :) I have absolutely been loving it here, there were a couple days that snowed but then it would warm up and melt away.  My first day was so nice, we went around to different member families.  They were all so nice and loving.  

Our senior missionaries for our area are brother and sister Vincent, they are so helpful and it literally feels like all these senior missionaries are my grandma and grandpa, it's weird, but i love it.. 

My first dinner was a salad, which was a blessing from above, ill tell ya that! my internal organs couldn't take any more of that mtc food hahaha.  Waking up every morning hasn't been hard, surprise, surprise... And going to bed at 10:30 is no problem for me either.  

The first night i got here i knocked out like a light! Our first couple of days were kind of slow in regards to getting referrals and actually finding new people to teach..but then we went to one members house and he gave us like 13 referrals all for less active or non members in the area. That was such a blessing, my companion and I were so happy we finally had new people to  see...

So the next day we started knocking on these peoples doors, one by one, ...all told us in their own "special" way to never (emphasis on the never) EVER come back..(insert door slamming in face) haha

The first couple of doors didn't phase me, and then when i realized that we weren't going to have any success that day.. that's when i started getting depressed/angry haha not very sister like of me... Anyway, that day was just awful and i didn't feel motivated at all...then i had my first Sunday here..i had to speak in Sacrament meeting on missionary work and i talked about service..i had them laughing pretty good and guess what?  I only used one piece of paper!  Just little bullet points, and my talk lasted over 10 MINUTES! I thought that was crazy because if you know me you know I'm very nervous and would write pages.  I messed up a couple times, but i had a lot of people come up and tell me that they loved it. Whether or not they were telling me that out of pity i didn't care because it made me feel good!  Then from sacrament we went to go check on an investigator we have been teaching.  We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and guess what?....We committed her to be baptized!  She said yes!  Right after we gave the lesson my companion asked her and asked her to kneel right then and there in this members home..and that's exactly what we did!  We knelt in prayer and she prayed to her Heavenly Father if she should get baptized and, with tears in her eyes she opened them, and said that her answer was YES!  I wanted to stand up and yell "HECK YES!", but i figured that would drive out the spirit... :))

When we got into our car my companion and I were yelling so loud!  Can you believe it? 

That was a blessing!!... In my first week we have already committed someone to be baptized!  I'm  so pumped right now!  The rest of our night all of our lessons went great! 

I was told by the area missionaries that this is the second toughest area besides Park City in our mission... Because if the people here aren't already members then they have already been hounded by missionaries so they wont give us the time of day...

It doesn't matter to me because i have been so blessed by the Lord, and I'm going to try and take this momentum from scheduling this new baptism and carry it on through my mission. 

I love it out here, everyday that i am here is another testament to me that the Lord knew exactly what he was doing when he sent me here. 

Side note, we woke up yesterday to three eggs smashed on the side of our car..who new Salt Lake had haterzz haha probably one of the referrals that we talked to that one day...lol 

As for my visitors center stuff, i don't think ill be doing anything with that until i get assigned to Park City where the family center is. I don't know my address off the top of my head but i sent you guys letters with my new address on it.  Its the mission office, because if you send it to the house I'm at, i could get transferred and then its a hassle to get the mail from where ever it got sent. 

Anyway, sorry there are so many spelling errors... 

I love it here guys, its the best place on the earth (and the best mission)!  Teaching people about he gospel and growing to love them is the best feeling in the world.  I love this gospel, and I love my family, and the knowledge that I can have mine FOREVER.

Thank you all for your prayers ( i need em!)

Love Sister Dodie (Efnor)

PS... Pictures coming, and snail mail sent!

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.