October 4th Email

hey everyone

i wanna start off by saying i love conference weekend!!! its such a great experience and a "spiritual refuel" for the next 6 months. my favorite talk this weekend and what spoke to me most was president uchtdorf's talk on the saturday morning session. it was one of those times where it felt like he was talking directly to me. too many times in my life when hardships have come do i want to "speed through the turbulance" and out here at times i crowd my days to make them go faster. that isn't the case at all. i need to slow down and ask myself what is the Lord trying to teach me here. i know that my mom can attest to me not letting the good things go by so i can have the great things. i am going to look at things in life in the big picture. at least try anyway :) no one is perfect. i tend to sometimes complicate things in my life that shouldn't be complicated at all. "simplicity is the ultimate satisfaction!" another one of my favorites was elder scott when he talked about character and faith. such a powerful talk! through my faith i want to excel my "righteous character" cuz it truly is your character that you use in time of hardship and temptation. how right was he when he said " only you can undermind your character." friends and family i am coming home absolutely different! i'm doing a spiritual overhaul! i'm going to build my righteous character because righteous character is what will carry us through eternity!! i really could talk about conference all day! it seemed to go by too fast this past weekend. i just wanted more and more! me and my companions have been hitting the weights really hard in the morning and drinking protein and i'm currently at an all time high of 190 lbs! i'm loving being back in shape :) we had 7 investigators attended some of conference and they all loved it! pierre was baptized after the afternoon session on sunday and he is glowing more than ever! the ysa had a bbq this past tuesday and we were running around like crazy! within and hour and a half between the three of us we gave 7 church tours! i love this work and love you all and will continue to strive to return with honor!

elder salmon