I am afraid that I going to forget everything that has happened here. There have been so many good experiences but at the end of the day I can’t muster up the energy to write them down in my Journal. There are so many things about this place that I love. I love the beautiful trees and mountains, I love the pupusarias on every corner, I love the tired old people who sit on the same street every day with the same expression selling the same bracelets or candies, or whatever you need really. Mostly I love all of the different kinds of people I meet every day. I am now sitting listening to our 30 something year old friend Carlos talk to another volunteer out on the patio. He is quite the character. He is a communist who LOVES Mic Jagger and The Who. He says he lived in San Francisco for years but he doesn’t speak a word of English. …..well except for the English he’s learned from listening to the Beatles. He says he did drugs in San Francisco, which is rather apparent by his jittery movements and comments. He has a crush on me and is constantly asking me if I have a boyfriend or to take weird pictures or if he can see my “bootiful, bootiful” hair because I often have it up in a ponytail. He comes over every night to play us his favorite oldies and in the morning he stops by to pick up anyone who would like to go running. He is quite the experience in himself.

Happy Birthday to one of the greatest men I know!

Today is the birthday of a very special man. My Dad is.....well to put it simply, Amazing! I am so grateful for the blessing of being taught and loved by this man as I grew up. My father has gone through some very hard experiences in his life as he grew up in a broken home in Las Vegas Nevada, and I am so impressed at the great man he has become. Among his strengths listed is being a great father. Through out my life I have always been close to my father and I have learned so much from him. I have learned to always do my best and then go the extra mile. I learned that we serve because we love people and if they need help we give it. I have watched my father love people regardless of who they were and what they had done to him and I have tried, not always succeeding, to model my life after his example. My father has taught me about the gospel and the blessings that come from living my life as close to the savior that I can. I could go on and on about who he is and how wonderful he is. He has tried his best to teach me so many things. I am definitely a slow learner and have a long way to go before I can hope to have some of the qualities my father has.

Out of all of my daddy's accomplishments his greatest is that I have never doubted and always known that he loves me (and the rest of his children) more then anything else in his life. I am so grateful for a father who knows that I am imperfect and still loves me. Many times I have felt very humbled by my mistakes and imperfections and I am so grateful that I have always been able to return to my father's loving and open arms, and then hear how much he loves me and always will. I think that I have learned more about my Heavenly Father's love through my earthly fathers example then any other experience.

Daddy thank you so much for teaching and loving me and helping me become who I am today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

EFY

Dear Sister,
Well I just got back from two of the most amazing weeks of my life! Being an EFY Counselor at Southern Virginia University was definitely a wonderful experience! I learned so much! I got there pretty anxious and nervous about the great trust the parents of these children were placing in me, as they dropped their precious teenagers off Monday morning expecting me to send them home spiritually fed and full of wonderful life changing experiences. Me, the girl who can't even make a straight face for a picture was supposed to do that.

I thought back on my experiences as a participant at EFY and became very excited for the weeks to begin. Sunday night I got the names of my girls and I was told who my co-counselors would be. I was originally in a three some but Monday morning a counselor who had been stranded at the airport for two days showed up and I was reassigned to him! When I got the list of names for the girls who would soon be my shadows for the next week I was amazed by how I instantly fell in love with them and I had never even met them!


Week one was amazing! Windows of heaven was so unified and excited to learn about the gospel. I was floored by how much these 16-18 year old girls looked up to me and listened to every word I said and were always watching. They opened up to me and shared things that I was amazed to hear them Sharing. It was one of the most amazing things Wednesday night when during my devotional I asked about the promptings they had been receiving that week from the spirit and for the next 20 minutes I got nonstop experiences and heart felt testimonies. I am so grateful for the power of prayer and the hand that heavenly father has in our lives. I kept telling the girls that Heavenly Father puts people in our lives for a purpose and to answer our prayers and it was am amazing testimony to me as I watched these girls lift and rally around each other to get through the VERY tough things that were going on in their lives!



The boys that week were daring too. I was amazed by how strong they were in the gospel and how willing and eager they were to honor their priesthood and the sanctity of womanhood.



My Co-counselor and I had so much fun with these kids and we really learned to love them like they were family. It was great to be able to watch them learn and grow and to send them home with a knowledge that their Heavenly Father knew who they were and loved them very much!



The second week I met with my new co-counselor (they change every week) and was so excited to repeat week 1 again. Boy was I in for an awakening! It proved to be the most taxing and difficult week I had had in a while. It was actually full of learning and growth, for which I am very grateful. About half of my girls the second week had trouble realizing why there were rules at EFY and the other half had never been and were not getting the wonderful EFY experience that every one raved about. I couldn't help but feel that it was primarily my fault because I let myself get to caught up in being the police of the operation.



They were beautiful girls and it was wonderful to get to Thursday and hear their sweet testimonies and how they had grown that week because it wasn't as apparent as the week before. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father knew that I am not perfect and created ways for the girls who needed help I could not give to receive that help.



As for the boys of the second week they were wonderful young men who were definitely growing and learning in the gospel. It was great to hear the ones who I could tell the first day did not have the rock solid testimony of who they were bare testimony that they had felt the spirit that week and knew that Heavenly Father was their father and "that Joesph Smith saw whatever he said he saw."



The "Fishers" taught me so much about the power of prayer and faith as I found myself on my knees at every opportunity pleading with the lord to help me find some way to get through to his precious children and show them how much I loved them!

It ended up being a wonderful experience. One that I have walked away from with many new friends and treasuring with my most precious memories.