HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN QUINN!!!!!

If you are anywhere near Lauren Quinnfield from now until July, pinch yourself. Because you're exactly where I want to be. Please celebrate her life, her wit, her amazingly saucy good looks and everything about her. Make sure you feed her jordan almonds or mother's apple pie truffles from See's. And then if you want, take her for a pedicure. She loves those. Or you could take her for a nice drive out to the beach, or Chico. Hay!!! Don't forget the good music. I love you so much Laureny!!! Have the best birthday EVER!!! We'll celebrate in December... on the plane to Europe. :) LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!

• New Video !!!! -- I am a HUGE fan of all the sassy new videos. Here is Nadia. From London (love it). Speaks Farsi (hello high school prom date!!!). Yay multicultural!!



• Tangled! In leiu of Tangled...I must talk about hair!! THANK YOU SO MUCH ANDREA!!!! My beautiful cousin thought she'd send a little love my way for my birthday. SO THOUGHTFUL!!! I dyed it the other night....and WHEW! I feel like a fresh woman. Me gusta mucho. Seriously. I love my new hair!!!! Fresh!! AND...if you've ever seen Tangled, like I have, then you'll know how obsessed you can become from the creepy flower song. I LOVE that creepy flower song!! I often sing that to Sister Chen. Often.



• Steve the mailman from New York -- Seriously. Amazing. He was hilarious. He wants to learn more about Jesus. Ok. We can help with that. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are good places to start. He is so excited to learn more with the missionaries in New York. We always get a "God bless you" when we hang up the phone with him.



• Swedish boyfriend -- YAY!!! Finally!! Danes!! I thought for a while that I had met all the Danes I could. Nope!! They're back!! We got to meet a DARLING, very Danish family. 2 little girls and their mom and dad. The parents are not together anymore, but still think that it's important to do things as a family. Pretty cool, methinks. So, what does little 2 year old Pia say to me upon introductions?
  •Pia: "Hej! Jeg har en kæreste"
  •Me: "Er det rigtig?"
  •Pia: "Ja. Han er Sven"
  •Me: "Nohh.....Ok. Er han fra Svenska?"
  •Pia: "Oh ja"
  •TRANSLATION:
  •Pia: "Hi! I have a boyfriend"
  •Me: "Is that right?"
  •Pia: "Yep. His name is Sven"
  •Me: "Nohh.....Ok. Is he from Sweden?"
  •Pia: "Oh yeah"
  •I LOVE DANES!!!!!



• Don't mess with Samoan Aunties -- So, Sister Chen and I were heading up to the Christus this week. We had just opened one of the movies here, and met a Samoan family. There was about 15 of them. Well....because we can, we decided to play the Christus naration in Samoan. Be-a-u-ti-ful. Then, Sister Chen and I felt like, hey, family=family presentaion. We have a brand new version of a presentation here called "God's Plan for Families". I really like it. Anyone can appreciate families. It's great because you walk into a baby's room, a grandma & grandpa's house...all sorts of stuff. So, at the end, we have about 15 minutes before the buildings close, but one of the Samoan aunties says, "Sisters. I'd like to say something. Is that ok?" (Do you think I'm going to say no to a Samoan auntie?) Well, she gets up and is bold. She says, "Sisters, there are 3 people in this room who don't know about the restored gospel. Aofia, Josepha, Faaololi...I love you so much. I want to be with you forever. After I die, I want to continue this. This isn't the end. I want that so bad. The way to make that possible is through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ". The whole room was so quiet. They all knew Auntie was serious. I learned a lot from them. Bold-not cold. That's love. Everything else isn't.



• I am a HUGE fan of polynesian people. HUGE. Bay area!!!! YAY!!! Here is a person named Gabe. Nothing is better than a big tough person appreciating family, friends and faith.



• Stine -- HURRA HURRA HURRA!! It was SO fantastisk to see you!!! HOORAAAYYYYY!!!! I want to hear all about this Little Cottonwood Canyon romance... :) Oohh la la. Maybe we'll need to ride bikes together someday. San Francisco? Ok. Tak.



• Lauren's lotion kit -- THANK YOU SO MUCH QUINNIE!!! I love my fresh hands for humid Utah. So humid. Sweating buckets. Drip drip. I was so ridiculous. Humid? Ha!! And I was like, "No. Really. It is SO humid there. Seriously. So bad" Seatbelts anyone?



• Lashelle -- You look great! So good to meet your friend!! I hope you had fun at the concert!!



• "Shin" (part of leg. and yes, love the band...) -- Word of the week with Sister Chen= "shin".

YAY for summer. Yay for sunshine. Yay for JOY. All week long.

LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE
Hermana Harmer

So much has happened this week. Today was a pretty special day too. Birthday!! Yeeaayyyeahhh!! I thought it would be a little anti-climatic... but alas, we are having a grand time!!

This morning, I took Sister Tizhanina, from Russia, to the dentist. She needed some work done, so Sister Chen and I went on a little exchange. Anywho...I decided that I would write up some key points for today's e-mail while I was in the lobby, staring at pictures of cracked and shattered teeth. Seriously, those pictures frightened me!! I'll tell you what. I definitely will stop biting my nails for at least a week.

• BIRTHDAY LOVE!!!


• THANK YOUS!!!!


• Grandmas and Grandpas!!! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!


• Margaret!! Thank you for sweet gifts!! YOU are so thoughtful!! I will be sing that stationary to write you!! :)


• Pancakes from room mates this morning.


• Tiffany, Chelsea, Inez, Nicole, Mom and Dad.....I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! THANKS for the Birthday love and love!!!


• Brownies from Sister Kim & Tizhanina


• Cake from Sister Kemsley


• Awesome hand made card from Sister Chen


• Boba!!


• Jennifer!


• Paige, Steph and Mama Knudsen!! So crazy. :) Love you!! You are family.

French Book of Mormon vandal
So this story is actually pretty funny. Sister Chen and I met this guy from France last week. He told us that he grew up Catholic, but that he considers himself atheist. I told him that most of my closest friends are either atheist, agnostic or "spiritual" of sorts. He then kept peppering questions to us about how we knew for ourselves if any of this is true or not. Study and pray my friend. Study and pray. We talked about the Book of Mormon. He was FASCINATED by it. We told him that if he wanted one, he could have one from his local missionaries for free and could continue to learn with them if he wanted. He didn't want that. Well...we parted ways. About an hour later, Sister Chen and I walked by the display with tons of different Book of Mormons in all sorts of languages. Yep. French was missing. Swoop!! We laughed an awkward laugh.

"I Sit All Amazed"
Last Sunday for church, we got to hear Steve and Carol Mikita speak. They are a brother and sister team. Steve is paralyzed. I'm not really sure what his exact diagnosis is, but he needed help tilting his head to the microphone to speak. Once he has help to the motor on his wheelchair, he can maneuver the chair. Here's the thing, even given his circumstances, Steve Mikita went on to be an attorney general, and recently an author. (That's the title of his book, "I Sit All Amazed")He spoke with us about choosing our attitude, regardless of our situations. SO incredible. He then shared with us the love he has for the gospel. And or the perfect plan of happiness. All unfair things are made up through the atonement. Here's another person named Luis Vance who lives life with a wheelchair.

Hope Gallery
Hooray!! We got to visit the Hope Gallery in Salt Lake City this week. Highlight of my week. And what kind of art do they feature? Yep. Scandinavian artists, with a focus on Carl Bloch. AND Louise (my friend from Denmark) worked there this spring for about 6 weeks. Why have I not been there sooner??

Ron from Georgia
73 years old. Came to Temple Square a few years ago, but didn't want to learn more back home. Ron got in touch with us and told us that now he thinks it's about time that he learned. He told us that on Wednesday, he and his wife drove 25 miles to find his local LDS chapel. No one was there, but now they know where to go when they go on Sunday. That to me is faith. Doing. Action. Experimenting. Not just discussing. And thinking, but really acting.

2 cockroaches in one week Disgusting. Enough said.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!
Hooray!! Everyone eat cake today!! :)
Sister Amy

Hooray! And my new favorite video of the week!!: Moments that Matter Most

"Wow, You're normal."

~~ALOHA!!!!~~

That's Sister Chen's favorite greeting. She went to school in Hawaii before serving her mission here. THANK YOU DAD!!! I got the fun package filled with love!! And candy!! And AMAZING pictures. I loved the NCYLS one!!! THANK YOU!! And so exciting to hear about San Jose!! I told a few Sisters here. You know...water cooler talk. You have no idea how excited they got. Seriously. SO GREAT!!

THANK YOU
--Josafat!! I loved the Samurai hat and the balloon. So did the sister missionaries here from Japan. They were pretty impressed. :) Thanks for the updates too! I can't wait to buy a pair of pants from you someday!!
--Margaret!! It sounds like you're getting into the whole Nevada scene. YMCA and callings to boot! THANK YOU so much for your sincerity and endless friendship. You have NO idea what a good example you are to me.
--Seanold!! Skydiving?? Nice. Sounds like you are doing really well! Happy happy!!

I'm going to cut to the highlights for this week. Way too many to include:

• It's official. I can now take Danish tours. In order to take language tours at Temple Square, sisters need to pass off with another sister who speaks that language. Before this week, I just bump into miracle Danish people on the square. Now, when we get Danish motor coaches or people requesting a tour in Danish, they will page (yes, like 1990s pagers) 2 people. Sister Andersen, from Copenhagen, and yours truly. You have no idea how grateful I am for Danish people. Being able to help them understand eternal hygge is a really great thank you I think. :)


• Yesterday, Sister Chen and I got to see President Monson. This week marks the 100 year anniversary of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Tons of celebrating going on here. We saw him. The thing is, I know that Thomas S. Monson really is human, like everyone else. At the same time, I know that he really does have a lot of responsibility. He serves as a living witness of Jesus Christ. Just like Noah (no...not the San Jose based bagel shop). Sister Chen started shouting "Zai Jian!!" (Bye!!) and waving on his way out. I am so obsessed with her. She's hilarious.


• One of my favorite moments of the week: 2 couples from Pennsylvania. 50s-60s. Best friends. 4 people. 4 different faith backgrounds. After about 15 minutes with Sister Chen and I, walking around Temple Square, one of the women said, "Wow. You're normal. I don't know why I didn't think you would be" Breaking down prejudices about Mormon missionaries: mission accomplished. Isn't that beautiful? I love that! She was able to relax!! And then she was open to understanding some of the beautiful meaning behind the things there.


• I am really grateful for Sister Chen. Something that I'm learning is that loving who we're with is SO important. I really feel like I can trust her. THAT, is a gift. Can you imagine if we all trusted the people around us? She has taught me so much about authenticity, history and laughing. We get to ENJOY every day!! That is HUGE. Such a blessing. SO many miracles with her. Including many Chinese motor coach tours. FILLED with sincerity and care for the people we get to meet. I love it.

Thank you all for EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!

Love you!! We're off now to the mall. To find a Boba drink (reminds me of the Bay Area) and get our eyebrows waxed. And tonight, we're watching Tangled.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!
Sister Amy

Happy Loyal Dragon

Wa da ming zi shi han long yue. (hor shi Harmer jie mei)!!

Which means: My name is happy loyal dragon. (or Sister Harmer). I've been practicing all week.

Hooray for another week of JOY. Hooray for that. I attribute much of that to Sister Chen. Hooray for the opportunity to laugh and work hard all the time.

FIRST OF ALL....SOME VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! YAYAYAAYAYAYAYYA!!!!!
AND STEPHANIE!!!!!!! Remember our bike ride? Tour de Los Gatos much? That's where my head is going today. I love you!! Thanks for the DARLING pictures of you and your life. Pretty sure you're still a babe. And pretty sure I wanted to be part of the Post-it note experience. For probably like 15 minutes.

AND MARA BROWNTOWN!!! OH my gosh. Please have Jacobo make you every dessert. And sprinkle all sorts of raspberry sauce on it. Yum. MB!!! Or maybe you could eat Danish birthday cake. Hey...also, I really want to go to the rock paper scissors tourney next year. We're going. I don't know what would be better, that, or a sequel to King of Kong. Best movie of my life. Seriously.

SO....here's some of the highlights for my week:

• The other night, Sister Chen and I decided to eat Popsicles and enjoy the warm summer night. We sat outside for about 45 minutes just soaking in the best summer night that Utah's had to offer in a while. Simple is best.



• Honestly, its a miracle to me that I meet the amount of Danish people that I do. EVERY week people. That is a miracle. At Temple Square, we have 150-200 missionaries that serve here. But who (consistently) gets to meet them all the time? Yep. I do. Yesterday, we helped Sister Andersen (from Copenhagen) and her companion, Sister Higa (from Japan/Brazil) with a big Danish motor coach. The tour guide for their group started talking to the four of us after the tour. He told us that back in Denmark, he'd had missionaries over for dinner a few times. He said that he fed them a few hamburgers. :) And hey, when I go back to Denmark, if I want to go visit his family, we are always welcome. SO sincere. So nice.



• After the Danish motor coach, Sister Andersen went home for her Preparation Day. Well, little did we know, the Danes would still be exploring Temple Square for a few hours. Sister Chen and I went and took two groups of Danes through the Beehive House. Seriously, its crazy to me how much Danish I am able to speak.



• Sister Chen and I got to talk to a man named Harold. He was hilarious. From L.A.. He wanted to know how to strengthen his faith and understanding about Jesus Christ. Ok. Sure. We can help. He recited some of his favorite prayers from when he grew up. We decided to teach him how he could also pray from his heart. Well, Harold took the ball and ran with it. Yep. No joke--15 minutes Harold prayed. I wasn't sure if he breathed very much.



• So, because I am a cyber fanatic, I love this whole link capability. I have two favorite links for the week



• This one reminded me of Remember the Titans, with a spiritual perspective.



• This one reminded me of Northern California. And all my rock climbing friends. I miss that.



• We met a guy from Orange County who was in town with a big group. They are performing this weekend for a special concert. He was scheduled to play the Tabernacle organ. It was pretty funny. He was like Dad as a kid at Christmas time. I thought I'd need to pull out the tranquilizers. This guy was so thrilled!!

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!! I am so grateful that I get to walk the same ground that so many pioneers sacrificed so much for. I am grateful for all of the experiences I get to enjoy.

LOVES!!!!
Sister Amy