Ping Pong, Parents, and Pho.

Ping Pong, Parents, and Pho.

Parents. I spent half my week in Ljubljana with my "mission mom" or my trainer, Sister Kanell and it was so good! Serving with Sister Kanell is definitely a highlight of my mission. I don't think I appreciated her while we were companions as much as I realize now that I should have. Shout out to a stellar missionary who the ANM will definitely miss when she heads home next month. We had a great exchange and she sent me home to Maribor with a little more energy and excitement to go at it and do the Lord's work.

Ping Pong. We had a wonderful branch activity this weekend where Sister Squires demolished the ping pong tournament. She even gave President Fidler a little taste of humility :) We had a blast and it was the most successful and enjoyable branch event I've yet seen out here. It is always good to bring people together and to have fun!

Sometimes we get so weighed down the heaviness of the things ahead of us that we don't smile and enjoy our lives. "men are that they might have joy." Our Father in Heaven is loving and He wants us to have joy.

It doesn't mean that circumstances will be easy, but we always have a choice to smile. I mean to be light hearted because I know that people experience very very trying and difficult things which I can't even begin to imagine, but I do think that God will help us to be happy even through the hard times if we will turn to and trust in him. He will strengthen us to be able to bear up our burdens and smile.

Pho. There is this great vietnamese restaurant. To be honest, I didn't eat Pho there. I can't actually even remember is Pho is Vietnamese or not, I just needed something that started with a P for the headline of the email. I digress. The food is really great there. As we were walking past the restaurant the other night, I looked through the window to see a man and a woman doing dishes. They looked like they were closing up. I had the thought that maybe we ought to go inside and my immediate reaction was to reject the idea. They look busy and I don't want to interrupt. They're anxious to get home. We're anxious to get home. It's late. Etc. Well, I mentioned it to Sister Squires and we headed in. We were able to meet with this couple later in the week and share with them about God's loving plan for us and the restoration of his gospel and authority to the earth. They werew so thrilled as we gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon in their native language - Vietnamese and Slovene. I know the Lord will lead us as we desire to listen and have courage to act. I have seen my life changed and blessed and lightened as I study the word of God contained in the Book of Mormon and I really believe that God loves us and leads us through a living prophet, Russel Nelson.