With wings as EAGLES

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

"Endurance is even more than elasticized courage, for it underwrites all the other virtues across the expanse of life. Without endurance, the other virtues would be episodic; faith would be fitful, and virtue transitory." - Neal A Maxwell

There was a lot of talk about opposition in conference. Whenever we are consecrating ourselves to the Lord we are just ASKING to walk the path of opposition (see President Monson's talk on walking the paths of the Savior). We must learn the extremes to understand the character of God in ways we otherwise wouldn't be able to. Understanding the character of God builds our foundation of faith. Faith and patience make a great companionship. I had an interesting thought on patience as I lied in the apartment sick: patience enables us to undergo a character change similar to repentance, that cannot come through anything else except patience itself. It is a godly virtue, which is interesting because it revolved around time, which God doesn't have because He is everlasting. There is no other way for true growth to occur. I think of the people of Alma in Mosiah, when they were doing exactly what the Lord had commanded them to do, were required to endure a trial that would test their patience. It was necessary to their growth and development as consecrated followers of the Lord.

"And on gods time ... Who knows what he has. He may have time, just lots of it. But it does take time to acquire and test attributes of character. That is why the old are much different than the young. The old wise folks who had chosen time and time again to build character feel different than the youth who choose to pick things that develop character. Time is a big piece in the equation of becoming as God is. I guess that's why our spirits continue to progress even after this life!" - my mother

The Gospel allows us to have the extended vision of the purposes of life that enable us to learn and grow. "Where there is no vision the people perish." We cannot reach a destination we do not have. The Gospel gives us the destination, and sets markers lining the way to reach that destination.

D. Todd Christofferson, WHAT A MAN! I loved his talk! How fun it was to see Sister McConkie up there Sunday morning and what an incredible, sustaining talk she gave.

Conference was a testimony to me that the Lord calls normal men and women to do His work. He truly does qualify the called if we choose. I love how President Eyring always quotes D&C121. The General Authorities of the church manage to convey such pure love and real intent whenever they speak. Nothing was new in conference, we will continue with the same patterns the Lord has established, but I love the way they present them. It always brings a new zeal and drive to follow the Savior.

I learned that it's a good idea to listen to your companion, even when they urge you to do things you wouldn't want to do. We went to district meeting Wednesday and I felt AWFUL. She encouraged me to stay in, and I did. I had a 101 degree fever. Resting gave us extra time to read BYU talks that I've been dying to read, but just haven't had the time. President Stoker challenged us to read the WHOLE Book of Mormon by October 22nd, going at 18 pages a day now. I was so behind. It was nice to have time to dive deep into the scriptures and ponder, and SLEEP. I'm still recovering, but doing better, still just exhausted. As of Friday evening we are back on the normal schedule.

Incredibly, all 5 of our investigators watched conference and had uplifting experiences. Jessica and Chris started by watching the Priesthood session. We thought they were watching the normal sessions. We get a text from Jessica asking "where are all the women?" Oops... our bad for not letting them know there's a Priesthood session! All was well though. We made them a scripture progression chart to mark where they are in the Book of Mormon. Jessica went ALL YESTERDAY WITHOUT COFFEE.

She asked why men don't hold the Priesthood and this answer came flying out of my mouth, and helped me understand the Priesthood so much better! Women are the portal to bring souls into this life. Men help them to return by providing the necessary power to bind us back to God through covenants. Women help us here, and men help us home. It's not a power struggle. My personal opinion on this whole women and the priesthood thing is that people are ignorant. If they just take their questions to the Lord and go to the temple fasting with a prayer in their hearts, they will receive and answer and the Spirit will surpass their understanding.

The Ortega's are so funny. We are teaching them how to do family home evening with them. The more I am around them, the more I realize that our relationship didn't start when I was a missionary. They are so dear and special to me.

Teaching is becoming so much easier because my love is growing and deepening. The Spirit has an interesting way of improving the quality and quantity of our love, because God is love.