hi family!
it won't be super long because well. the library is closed. we got special permission to use a member's computer... but the whole district has to and so i have to hurry. but i wanted to let you know how much i really really love you.
this week has been wonderful! it's getting hot again -- but nothing like last year. it's in the high 80s plus humidity -- but last year it was in the 100s! so this week we got to start teaching the daughter of the part-member family i told you all about. she is going to girls camp on wednesday and we are super excited. we taught her about the book of mormon and it was awesome. her mom is going to the temple to do baptisms with us for the first time next saturday -- we organized a temple trip for all the young women and we get to go~!!!!!!!!!!!!! we have a recent convert, kenny, that will be going to the temple for the first time... so we get to go. and i'm really really excited.
the young women had a talent show this week to fund raise money for girls camp... so naturally i choreographed an AWESOME dance for all of us to do. and it was hilarious. we danced to the mormon tabernacle choir's version of the lion king. :) :) i made the elders do several lifts and dance moves and high kicks and it was seriously funny. BUT the best part was at the very end i was running and BIFFED it in front of the whole ward. i tripped over nothing and rolled three times INTO the wall of elders and we all cracked up. respect earned. :) it really was a good time.
the work is going so well. i LOVE jamaica and sister winterton. we have so much to do and we come home exhausted every day.... and it's really really good. the people here are so humble and ready to listen. we are really loving life.
family thank you so much for all of your support. really, i have the most amazing parents in the world. and i cannot tell you all how much you mean to me. thank you!!!!!! i miss you all - a lot. one thing i have definitely learned on my mission is how much my family means to me. thank you. love you!
sister m smith
7.25.2011
AND it's another beautiful week in the life (6/27/11)
Dear family,
i would like to tell you all that i love being a missionary. example of the morning.... sister winterton and i were speed walking to the library to get to email (because it's the highlight of our week honestly) and we were trying to beat the hermanas (they live in the same building as us and we were racing to the library) and we got some REALLY awesome looks as two little white girls who are most definitely NOT from new york were speed walking down the busiest street in jamaica (jamaica ave.) to get to the library :) :) sister winterton and i have a really good time. we find a LOT of things to celebrate -- so basically we have a celebration every day. like this week we decided that we would have a sister missionary pool party to celebrate summer -- so we filled up our tub and put shampoo in it to make a bubble bath and sat in our pajamas on the side of the tub with our feet in. :) we had some REALLY good days this week and a whole bunch of miracles and hopefully the computer won't erase this email so you will get the full story :)
I just realized that I forgot my planner so this might be a little scattered, but hopefully I get all the cool stories in. Tuesday was cool – it was really weird to have pday on tues. but we went to institute that night because one of the recent converts that we are working with… well, he ended up not showing up. We sat through the first little bit of institute and the thought “you need to go see Kenny” kept going through my head. I kept reasoning that institute was almost over and we could go in just a minute and THEN I remembered the story President Monson tells about sitting through a meeting, ignoring a thought and when he finally reached the man that he was supposed to see, the man had passed away. So I gave in and we left institute (and the chocolate cake that was for afterwards) and we went to go see Kenny. On the way, I felt really weird and just very unsettled. I saw a man and the thought came very clearly that I needed to talk to him – so we stopped and we found out that he had met with missionaries so many times before and that he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and hadn’t read it. I told him of all the change in plans that we had that night and that I really felt like we needed to talk to him… he then told us that he is never home and can’t meet with us because he really isn’t ever home except for that night and he just happened to be in the driveway when we came. After he told us that, he told us that God works in mysterious ways and that he would check out the Book of Mormon. As soon as we walked away, the weird feeling I had was gone J it was a really good night.
We met Keisha this week – so cute. She has four kids and one on the way and she just got on the church website because she wants a church to raise her family in. we got to teach her and it was awesome. Her kids all said prayers at the end because they couldn’t decide who should get to say it and then Keisha prayed for probably one of the first times in her life… and then Keisha said she wants to be baptized on the 10th! What?! It was awesome J
WELL, one really good night was Saturday – we had an emergency prepardness fireside and well, no one showed up. The missionaries were supposed to sing at it (the elders chose the song master the tempest is raging – it was a really good missionary type joke) well. We have had a huge emphasis on the young women this week because they haven’t even had a leader (like at ALL. No teacher. No president. No leader at all.) for a while and a brand new president was put in that has it SOOOOOOOO together. She was called on Sunday and on Wednesday she met with us to get everything figured out to have us get forms to the young women so that they can go to girls camp next week. Most of the girls have never gone to camp before and dear little sister anthea put everything together in three days so that they could go. We had one more form that we needed to deliver to the daughter of the part-member family I told you all about last week. She isn’t a member, but she likes church and she wants to go to girls camp and start coming to church (yeah something that a missionary would NEVER say no to!!!!!!) and so we left the fireside to get the form to her. God is real and a huge tender mercy came when we caught a bus right off (sometimes we have to wait for 45 mins.) and we were able to get to her house really quick (it was 8:00 and we have to be in by 9 and we needed to get back to the fireside too because the ward really needed our support) SO we dropped off the form and started back to the church which was 55 blocks away (a distance that we walk normally 3-4 times a day) and we were walking and a bus came which would have been AWESOME and another huge tender mercy to get us to the church --- well it totally left us. And we were RUNNING after it and looked quite hilarious. A cop car stopped and asked us if we were okay because you really don’t see two girls that look like us in dresses running full speed down the sidewalk. They offered us a ride to the church….. but we couldn’t go because we have to have another female in the car says the white handbook. Sister winterton and I were both TOTALLY bummed that we didn’t get to cruise up to the church in the back of a police car… but we decided that it was for a specific purpose and we were going to find it out. So we started talking to everyone and we found a boy named Dante who was really interested in the church. And, oddly enough, we talked to him and a bus came and picked all three of us up and took us to the church with just enough time to get home on time. It was a really cool experience and felt SO GOOD. J I love being a missionary!
K family my time is ending VERY shortly. I love you all so much! The church is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO true and it is amazing how much we need it. I love you. Thankyou all for your support.
Love you!
Sister mich smith
i would like to tell you all that i love being a missionary. example of the morning.... sister winterton and i were speed walking to the library to get to email (because it's the highlight of our week honestly) and we were trying to beat the hermanas (they live in the same building as us and we were racing to the library) and we got some REALLY awesome looks as two little white girls who are most definitely NOT from new york were speed walking down the busiest street in jamaica (jamaica ave.) to get to the library :) :) sister winterton and i have a really good time. we find a LOT of things to celebrate -- so basically we have a celebration every day. like this week we decided that we would have a sister missionary pool party to celebrate summer -- so we filled up our tub and put shampoo in it to make a bubble bath and sat in our pajamas on the side of the tub with our feet in. :) we had some REALLY good days this week and a whole bunch of miracles and hopefully the computer won't erase this email so you will get the full story :)
I just realized that I forgot my planner so this might be a little scattered, but hopefully I get all the cool stories in. Tuesday was cool – it was really weird to have pday on tues. but we went to institute that night because one of the recent converts that we are working with… well, he ended up not showing up. We sat through the first little bit of institute and the thought “you need to go see Kenny” kept going through my head. I kept reasoning that institute was almost over and we could go in just a minute and THEN I remembered the story President Monson tells about sitting through a meeting, ignoring a thought and when he finally reached the man that he was supposed to see, the man had passed away. So I gave in and we left institute (and the chocolate cake that was for afterwards) and we went to go see Kenny. On the way, I felt really weird and just very unsettled. I saw a man and the thought came very clearly that I needed to talk to him – so we stopped and we found out that he had met with missionaries so many times before and that he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and hadn’t read it. I told him of all the change in plans that we had that night and that I really felt like we needed to talk to him… he then told us that he is never home and can’t meet with us because he really isn’t ever home except for that night and he just happened to be in the driveway when we came. After he told us that, he told us that God works in mysterious ways and that he would check out the Book of Mormon. As soon as we walked away, the weird feeling I had was gone J it was a really good night.
We met Keisha this week – so cute. She has four kids and one on the way and she just got on the church website because she wants a church to raise her family in. we got to teach her and it was awesome. Her kids all said prayers at the end because they couldn’t decide who should get to say it and then Keisha prayed for probably one of the first times in her life… and then Keisha said she wants to be baptized on the 10th! What?! It was awesome J
WELL, one really good night was Saturday – we had an emergency prepardness fireside and well, no one showed up. The missionaries were supposed to sing at it (the elders chose the song master the tempest is raging – it was a really good missionary type joke) well. We have had a huge emphasis on the young women this week because they haven’t even had a leader (like at ALL. No teacher. No president. No leader at all.) for a while and a brand new president was put in that has it SOOOOOOOO together. She was called on Sunday and on Wednesday she met with us to get everything figured out to have us get forms to the young women so that they can go to girls camp next week. Most of the girls have never gone to camp before and dear little sister anthea put everything together in three days so that they could go. We had one more form that we needed to deliver to the daughter of the part-member family I told you all about last week. She isn’t a member, but she likes church and she wants to go to girls camp and start coming to church (yeah something that a missionary would NEVER say no to!!!!!!) and so we left the fireside to get the form to her. God is real and a huge tender mercy came when we caught a bus right off (sometimes we have to wait for 45 mins.) and we were able to get to her house really quick (it was 8:00 and we have to be in by 9 and we needed to get back to the fireside too because the ward really needed our support) SO we dropped off the form and started back to the church which was 55 blocks away (a distance that we walk normally 3-4 times a day) and we were walking and a bus came which would have been AWESOME and another huge tender mercy to get us to the church --- well it totally left us. And we were RUNNING after it and looked quite hilarious. A cop car stopped and asked us if we were okay because you really don’t see two girls that look like us in dresses running full speed down the sidewalk. They offered us a ride to the church….. but we couldn’t go because we have to have another female in the car says the white handbook. Sister winterton and I were both TOTALLY bummed that we didn’t get to cruise up to the church in the back of a police car… but we decided that it was for a specific purpose and we were going to find it out. So we started talking to everyone and we found a boy named Dante who was really interested in the church. And, oddly enough, we talked to him and a bus came and picked all three of us up and took us to the church with just enough time to get home on time. It was a really cool experience and felt SO GOOD. J I love being a missionary!
K family my time is ending VERY shortly. I love you all so much! The church is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO true and it is amazing how much we need it. I love you. Thankyou all for your support.
Love you!
Sister mich smith
A day late :) oops! but an AWESOME mission conference is my excuse (6/21/11)
Well family, I just barely typed this whole letter – and then it got erased. So I now got really smart and I am typing in word and sending it…. But it’s probably going to be a little bit shorter because I already spent half of my computer time. Oops. Sorry!
BUT this week was really really good. I’m going to go fast because I also want to send some pics –
The reason that I’m late sending this is because we had a mission conference yesterday and our pday was switched to today. Mission conference was amazing. Elder Gong and Elder Christensen came and spoke to us and it felt so good. We had a fireside with them too and they kept saying how excited they were to be with us and how much they appreciated us and loved the work we are all doing. They didn’t mention at all that Elder Gong’s flight took 8 ½ hours instead of four because of a storm. Or the fact that it was father’s day and they were spending the entire weekend with us. They were so sweet and they met us all individually and sister Christensen singled sister winterton and I out and was SO cute to us. She is super positive and thanked us and told us that we were doing a wonderful job and she totally made my day J the conference was about sacrament meeting and getting our investigators there and the real importance of the sacrament. It was REALLY REALLY COOL. We talked about the sacrament prayers and how much of the doctrine is taught in them and what the REAL importance is and how critical it is. So many times we just feel like we are pulling teeth to get people to church and sometimes we forget the real reason that they need to be there – so it was so good.
Other things that happened this week: we found a part-member family to work with because the mom had a talk to give and was scared so she called us to help. In the process we met her husband and daughter who aren’t members of the church. We are so excited to work with them – we
OH MY WORD there is a mouse in the library. Here I am trying to be all spiritual and sister winterton and I are freaking out. We are quite the sight right now. Haha. Some library man is trying to kill it and women all over the place are freaking out. Sister winterton was the one who found it when it ran under our computers. Haha.
Well, back to the part-member family. We are really excited because we really felt like we could complete a family this transfer. I am so blessed to have my family. You are the biggest support to me and I couldn’t imagine not having the support I have. And we REALLY want another family to have that too. Not to mention THE BLESSING OF THE TEMPLE!!!!!!! So yeah. We got to teach the daughter during youth Sunday school and she is going to be reading the book of mormon! J happy
Another happy thing. We celebrated my mission birthday this week! Sister winterton is adorable and she woke up early to make me crepes (with NUTELLA which made it a lot more happy) and she was so cute to me – she made me a card and everything too. It’s really weird to think that I have been here for a year. The miracles that I have seen and the experiences I have had are more than anything I could ever imagine a mission being. Now I know why so many people tell mission stories all the time! It’s been a REALLY good year J
Okay I love you family. I am going to send pictures!!!!!!! Happy. I love you so much and I cannot even tell you how much your support means. Miss you!
Sister M. Smith
BUT this week was really really good. I’m going to go fast because I also want to send some pics –
The reason that I’m late sending this is because we had a mission conference yesterday and our pday was switched to today. Mission conference was amazing. Elder Gong and Elder Christensen came and spoke to us and it felt so good. We had a fireside with them too and they kept saying how excited they were to be with us and how much they appreciated us and loved the work we are all doing. They didn’t mention at all that Elder Gong’s flight took 8 ½ hours instead of four because of a storm. Or the fact that it was father’s day and they were spending the entire weekend with us. They were so sweet and they met us all individually and sister Christensen singled sister winterton and I out and was SO cute to us. She is super positive and thanked us and told us that we were doing a wonderful job and she totally made my day J the conference was about sacrament meeting and getting our investigators there and the real importance of the sacrament. It was REALLY REALLY COOL. We talked about the sacrament prayers and how much of the doctrine is taught in them and what the REAL importance is and how critical it is. So many times we just feel like we are pulling teeth to get people to church and sometimes we forget the real reason that they need to be there – so it was so good.
Other things that happened this week: we found a part-member family to work with because the mom had a talk to give and was scared so she called us to help. In the process we met her husband and daughter who aren’t members of the church. We are so excited to work with them – we
OH MY WORD there is a mouse in the library. Here I am trying to be all spiritual and sister winterton and I are freaking out. We are quite the sight right now. Haha. Some library man is trying to kill it and women all over the place are freaking out. Sister winterton was the one who found it when it ran under our computers. Haha.
Well, back to the part-member family. We are really excited because we really felt like we could complete a family this transfer. I am so blessed to have my family. You are the biggest support to me and I couldn’t imagine not having the support I have. And we REALLY want another family to have that too. Not to mention THE BLESSING OF THE TEMPLE!!!!!!! So yeah. We got to teach the daughter during youth Sunday school and she is going to be reading the book of mormon! J happy
Another happy thing. We celebrated my mission birthday this week! Sister winterton is adorable and she woke up early to make me crepes (with NUTELLA which made it a lot more happy) and she was so cute to me – she made me a card and everything too. It’s really weird to think that I have been here for a year. The miracles that I have seen and the experiences I have had are more than anything I could ever imagine a mission being. Now I know why so many people tell mission stories all the time! It’s been a REALLY good year J
Okay I love you family. I am going to send pictures!!!!!!! Happy. I love you so much and I cannot even tell you how much your support means. Miss you!
Sister M. Smith
WELL I AM NO LONGER IN BROOKLYN... WEIRD (6/13/11)
Hi family!
sooooooooooooooooo the news is this. i have a ROCKING transfer ahead of me. i got transferred to jamaica, queens and i am companions with sister winterton. sister winterton is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she is from roosevelt, ut and she is so sweet. jamaica is awesome :) we have eight missionaries in the ward plus a senior couple - the rasmussens. the ward meets in a building above the food court of an outdoor mall so if you open the curtains in any of the rooms you see people eating -- RIGHT there. it's a little different, but i LOVE it. sister winterton and i have set a bunch of goals while we are together and it has been absolutely incredible to see so much change in so little time. we have decided to put a HUGE focus on the Book of Mormon and it is awesome :) we started carrying an extra copy around and we have it out so that we can read it with people on the street and WELL, it's awesome. we have picked up five new investigators just this week. and we also decided that we want to work mostly with the young women of the ward. and it's going to be awesome. we went to youth sunday school and taught young womens yesterday and it was SO GOOD. the girls haven't had a YW advisor or anything for the last couple of weeks and they are really excited for us to come in and help. they didn't konw what the term mutual meant and got really excited when we told them that we could help them do activities.... sooooooooooo sister winterton, the yw of the ward, and myself are going to get pretty tight! they are really cute girls and i am really excited to be with them.
hmmm other things -- i live in SUCH a nice apartment -- we live on the 8th floor and we have an amazing view. sister winterton and i go out on the balcony for just a few minutes before we go to bed and laugh and joke around and we are so lucky to be able to do that and see all of queens! :)
we have had so many miracles this week. we REALLY want to focus on completing a family because there are so many part-member families here. we had an awesome experience when we were setting goals as to who we wanted to work with -- and a name just came. we visited them a couple of times already and we are just praying to be able to do everything we can for them and leave the rest to the Lord. they are a beautiful family and i cna't even imagine the joy that would come from seeing them be sealed in the temple..... so we are working for it. :) another cool miracle - we prayed and told Heavenly Father EXACTLY where we were going to be and the times we were going to be there and we asked to please have the people that are ready put in our path.... well, we were going to an appointment and sister winterton and i started talking to some ladies and they invited us in, got us chairs, and we taught them all about the restoration and they said that they REALLY wanted to read the book we had (obviously the book of mormon :) ) so--- we will see how it goes! there also was another man, parry, that we talked to and he called us during church and told us that he has been on a spiritual journey for a while, but his spirituality was just opened up when he met us and things have changed since we talked to him :) :) we are meeting with him this week.
so -- this week summed up. the book of mormon is amazing. i LOVE THE GOSPEL. it truly is the answer to EVERY question and hardship we go through.
love you all
sister m smith
sooooooooooooooooo the news is this. i have a ROCKING transfer ahead of me. i got transferred to jamaica, queens and i am companions with sister winterton. sister winterton is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she is from roosevelt, ut and she is so sweet. jamaica is awesome :) we have eight missionaries in the ward plus a senior couple - the rasmussens. the ward meets in a building above the food court of an outdoor mall so if you open the curtains in any of the rooms you see people eating -- RIGHT there. it's a little different, but i LOVE it. sister winterton and i have set a bunch of goals while we are together and it has been absolutely incredible to see so much change in so little time. we have decided to put a HUGE focus on the Book of Mormon and it is awesome :) we started carrying an extra copy around and we have it out so that we can read it with people on the street and WELL, it's awesome. we have picked up five new investigators just this week. and we also decided that we want to work mostly with the young women of the ward. and it's going to be awesome. we went to youth sunday school and taught young womens yesterday and it was SO GOOD. the girls haven't had a YW advisor or anything for the last couple of weeks and they are really excited for us to come in and help. they didn't konw what the term mutual meant and got really excited when we told them that we could help them do activities.... sooooooooooo sister winterton, the yw of the ward, and myself are going to get pretty tight! they are really cute girls and i am really excited to be with them.
hmmm other things -- i live in SUCH a nice apartment -- we live on the 8th floor and we have an amazing view. sister winterton and i go out on the balcony for just a few minutes before we go to bed and laugh and joke around and we are so lucky to be able to do that and see all of queens! :)
we have had so many miracles this week. we REALLY want to focus on completing a family because there are so many part-member families here. we had an awesome experience when we were setting goals as to who we wanted to work with -- and a name just came. we visited them a couple of times already and we are just praying to be able to do everything we can for them and leave the rest to the Lord. they are a beautiful family and i cna't even imagine the joy that would come from seeing them be sealed in the temple..... so we are working for it. :) another cool miracle - we prayed and told Heavenly Father EXACTLY where we were going to be and the times we were going to be there and we asked to please have the people that are ready put in our path.... well, we were going to an appointment and sister winterton and i started talking to some ladies and they invited us in, got us chairs, and we taught them all about the restoration and they said that they REALLY wanted to read the book we had (obviously the book of mormon :) ) so--- we will see how it goes! there also was another man, parry, that we talked to and he called us during church and told us that he has been on a spiritual journey for a while, but his spirituality was just opened up when he met us and things have changed since we talked to him :) :) we are meeting with him this week.
so -- this week summed up. the book of mormon is amazing. i LOVE THE GOSPEL. it truly is the answer to EVERY question and hardship we go through.
love you all
sister m smith
WELL i just got sent packing! (6/6/11)
Hey family!
yep. transfers are most definitely tomorrow and i am most definitely being transferred. sooooooooooooooooooooo most likely president nelson isn't going to send me back to midwood because last time when my zone leaders told him they really wanted me to stay he said i needed to see more of the mission. which leaves astoria, queens and jamaica, queens and riverhead, long island (the hamptons) left. or i could open another area. like the island of BERMUDA!!!!!!! kidding. i have told president nelson about 57 times that i should go to bermuda and everytime he laughs and then looks at me and says no. :( but yeah! i said goodbye to everyone yesterday which is always kind of cool because people say thank you so much for your service and tell you that you are doing a good job and say lots of nice things -- which helps the heart-wrenching ripping feeling that you are being torn apart and leaving people that you have given literally everything of the last four months to. i called ruby immediately after i found out and it was really sad. thankfully i held it together yesterday, but there were several people that just started crying.... oops. missionaries really are like bad boyfriends. we come in, say we love you, and then just up and leave and don't call or text or anything. it's just over.
ANYWAYS, saying goodbye - well totally stinks but i'm excited for a new area and stuff. we had some really really good days this week - and i forgot my planner at home so we will see how well i remember them! bah. we went on exchanges again with the midwood sisters. i didn't get to serve in midwood, but it was really good. we prayed with one of our members before we started working in her area and we saw some really cool things happen. granted, every single one of the people we were trying to see weren't there, but we met one lady who was NOT about to listen to us. i bore my testimony to her really simply and she totally changed. it's crazy to see the PHYSICAL change when people accept to the smallest degree, Christ. the light of Christ is completely real and it's cool. and she took our card and she said that she envied us because she wants to believe in something that much and she said because of it, she was going to read the book of mormon. sweet! after we got done working in the area, we went back to the member's home and prayed with her again and it was really cool. one of the reasons was she gave us popsicles :) but it's cool to let other people see some of the miracles that we get to be a part of every single day. AND our members are awesome. :)
there was a day last week when it was another HUGE "guess what? you are on the Lord's errand and His hand is in your life soooooooooo much that there is no DOUBT it is divine" day. we didn't have any set appointments for the day, but there were a couple of people that we REALLY wanted to see because we knew if we didn't that satan would have a lot of time to work on them and anyways. we planned on seeing someone at 4 and we were just going to knock on her door because we had called and texted and she hadn't gotten back to us. SO at 345 we knocked on a potential investigator's door that was on her block and who do we see on the street? the woman we were looking for. out of the 18 MILLION people in the new york metropolitan area, she was on the street exactly where we were. yeah. THAT doesn't happen in brooklyn unless God wants it to. so she freaked out that she saw us and told her friend that was with her (who we actually also have talked to and given a pass along card to before -- hmm miracle) she told her friend that God sent us to her and that we are messengers of God and that she would tell anyone that who asked and she wants the whole world to know it. :) :) it was a really good day.
okay. time is really short today and i don't have any more time. i love you all so much though. i am excited to tell you where i'm going to be for the next little while. bensonhurst has been AWESOME and i'm way way sad to leave, but yeah. you will all know soon!
love you! have a good week!
sister m smith
yep. transfers are most definitely tomorrow and i am most definitely being transferred. sooooooooooooooooooooo most likely president nelson isn't going to send me back to midwood because last time when my zone leaders told him they really wanted me to stay he said i needed to see more of the mission. which leaves astoria, queens and jamaica, queens and riverhead, long island (the hamptons) left. or i could open another area. like the island of BERMUDA!!!!!!! kidding. i have told president nelson about 57 times that i should go to bermuda and everytime he laughs and then looks at me and says no. :( but yeah! i said goodbye to everyone yesterday which is always kind of cool because people say thank you so much for your service and tell you that you are doing a good job and say lots of nice things -- which helps the heart-wrenching ripping feeling that you are being torn apart and leaving people that you have given literally everything of the last four months to. i called ruby immediately after i found out and it was really sad. thankfully i held it together yesterday, but there were several people that just started crying.... oops. missionaries really are like bad boyfriends. we come in, say we love you, and then just up and leave and don't call or text or anything. it's just over.
ANYWAYS, saying goodbye - well totally stinks but i'm excited for a new area and stuff. we had some really really good days this week - and i forgot my planner at home so we will see how well i remember them! bah. we went on exchanges again with the midwood sisters. i didn't get to serve in midwood, but it was really good. we prayed with one of our members before we started working in her area and we saw some really cool things happen. granted, every single one of the people we were trying to see weren't there, but we met one lady who was NOT about to listen to us. i bore my testimony to her really simply and she totally changed. it's crazy to see the PHYSICAL change when people accept to the smallest degree, Christ. the light of Christ is completely real and it's cool. and she took our card and she said that she envied us because she wants to believe in something that much and she said because of it, she was going to read the book of mormon. sweet! after we got done working in the area, we went back to the member's home and prayed with her again and it was really cool. one of the reasons was she gave us popsicles :) but it's cool to let other people see some of the miracles that we get to be a part of every single day. AND our members are awesome. :)
there was a day last week when it was another HUGE "guess what? you are on the Lord's errand and His hand is in your life soooooooooo much that there is no DOUBT it is divine" day. we didn't have any set appointments for the day, but there were a couple of people that we REALLY wanted to see because we knew if we didn't that satan would have a lot of time to work on them and anyways. we planned on seeing someone at 4 and we were just going to knock on her door because we had called and texted and she hadn't gotten back to us. SO at 345 we knocked on a potential investigator's door that was on her block and who do we see on the street? the woman we were looking for. out of the 18 MILLION people in the new york metropolitan area, she was on the street exactly where we were. yeah. THAT doesn't happen in brooklyn unless God wants it to. so she freaked out that she saw us and told her friend that was with her (who we actually also have talked to and given a pass along card to before -- hmm miracle) she told her friend that God sent us to her and that we are messengers of God and that she would tell anyone that who asked and she wants the whole world to know it. :) :) it was a really good day.
okay. time is really short today and i don't have any more time. i love you all so much though. i am excited to tell you where i'm going to be for the next little while. bensonhurst has been AWESOME and i'm way way sad to leave, but yeah. you will all know soon!
love you! have a good week!
sister m smith
a day late :( (5/31/11)
well family i feel like SUCH a lazy BUM emailing you on tuesday... but i promise that it is for a reason and i have permission... reason - the library was closed yesterday and as we found out LAST monday holiday -- internet cafes aren't the most spiritually riviting places and missionaries really shouldn't be there.
okay, however, i have VERY limited time today. first, i would like to tell cousin rachel and kyle congratulations and i wish i could be there. love you. then, i would like to say that God is most definitely real and that prayer is amazing. an elder (elder call, one of my zone leaders) said in district meeting this week that "we are changing the course of the universe as we pray'.... yeah. it's so true.
well, obviously there is a story for that quote, so here it is :). we were following up and planning for the next day on i think last tuesday when we were setting goals for the next day. well, my companion told me that she wanted to put a 0 for "new investigators" because she feels like we didn't have anyone in specific that we could make a new investigator the next day. well, we had a talk after that and i told her that there was no way on this earth that i was putting a 0 for new investigators because i really wanted one. it made me realize though just how much i wanted to tell the Lord that i wanted to do anything He needed me to for this new investigator that we wanted to meet. so yeah. there's the background. the next day we went and did service for a member and met her mother who is a baptist pastor and taught their family. well, on the way home we saw some ladies on the steps of a building and i thought very clearly that i needed to talk to them. i almost chickened out. (i know right? yeah. stupid idea) BUT then we said hi and got to talking and WOW. we met Afrodite. she is AMAZING. by the end of the conversation she told me that she knew that God put me in her path and that we are exactly what she needs at this point in her life. it was amazing. she just opened up and told me EVERYTHING about her and all of the trials that she is going through right now and i was able to open up to her and let her know some of the things that i have gone through. the spirit was really strong and it was just plain awesome. miracles OBVIOUSLY still happen. i love it :) and we met with her and her mother and her sister this week and well, they are all reading the Book of Mormon and text us telling us that we are God-sent and that they know this is a miracle. pretty sweet.
other cool thing that happened, baptism on sunday. the elders worked with this kid that was baptized and ruby got to come and see it. it was REALLY really good. dad said that there is just a spirit about baptisms and yeah. there is. add that to a LOT of other things that happened on sunday and it was a really good day. besides the fact that i had to SING IN SACRAMENT AND ALMOST HAD A SOLO. yeah THAT ONE sure didn't happen. i was scared to death and so i made sister dumas sing my two lines with me that i was supposed to sing by myself :)
okay. i have to go. amazing how two sessions of a half an hour at the library is a LOT longer than just one. i love you all. thank you so much for all of your support. you are amazing.
love
sister m smith
okay, however, i have VERY limited time today. first, i would like to tell cousin rachel and kyle congratulations and i wish i could be there. love you. then, i would like to say that God is most definitely real and that prayer is amazing. an elder (elder call, one of my zone leaders) said in district meeting this week that "we are changing the course of the universe as we pray'.... yeah. it's so true.
well, obviously there is a story for that quote, so here it is :). we were following up and planning for the next day on i think last tuesday when we were setting goals for the next day. well, my companion told me that she wanted to put a 0 for "new investigators" because she feels like we didn't have anyone in specific that we could make a new investigator the next day. well, we had a talk after that and i told her that there was no way on this earth that i was putting a 0 for new investigators because i really wanted one. it made me realize though just how much i wanted to tell the Lord that i wanted to do anything He needed me to for this new investigator that we wanted to meet. so yeah. there's the background. the next day we went and did service for a member and met her mother who is a baptist pastor and taught their family. well, on the way home we saw some ladies on the steps of a building and i thought very clearly that i needed to talk to them. i almost chickened out. (i know right? yeah. stupid idea) BUT then we said hi and got to talking and WOW. we met Afrodite. she is AMAZING. by the end of the conversation she told me that she knew that God put me in her path and that we are exactly what she needs at this point in her life. it was amazing. she just opened up and told me EVERYTHING about her and all of the trials that she is going through right now and i was able to open up to her and let her know some of the things that i have gone through. the spirit was really strong and it was just plain awesome. miracles OBVIOUSLY still happen. i love it :) and we met with her and her mother and her sister this week and well, they are all reading the Book of Mormon and text us telling us that we are God-sent and that they know this is a miracle. pretty sweet.
other cool thing that happened, baptism on sunday. the elders worked with this kid that was baptized and ruby got to come and see it. it was REALLY really good. dad said that there is just a spirit about baptisms and yeah. there is. add that to a LOT of other things that happened on sunday and it was a really good day. besides the fact that i had to SING IN SACRAMENT AND ALMOST HAD A SOLO. yeah THAT ONE sure didn't happen. i was scared to death and so i made sister dumas sing my two lines with me that i was supposed to sing by myself :)
okay. i have to go. amazing how two sessions of a half an hour at the library is a LOT longer than just one. i love you all. thank you so much for all of your support. you are amazing.
love
sister m smith
it's the end of the world as we know it, and i feel fine :) (5/23/11)
Hi family!
okay so this week was cool and stuff but yesterday was amazing. seriously. i will look through my planner though and TRY to remember the whole week before i tell you about yesterday. oh and. at district meeting on friday my district leader gave us the "transfer gossip"... usually the district leaders hold out and don't tell us anything and hold it over our heads like "i know something you don't know" but this week i learned that, MOST LIKELY, i will be leaving bensonhurst the week after next. weird. i might have to actually leave brooklyn... weird. anyways, there you go. now you are filled in on everything i hear. but, it really isn't for sure. so yeah.
i'm not sure how big it was at home, but there were posters and preachers and subway ads all saying that the world was going to end on the 21st.... so we got a LOT of chances this week to explain to people that the world was NOT going to end and that we have a living prophet that tells us what God wants us to hear. i thought people would be a lot more crazy and that our day would be one to REALLY remember... but it was suprisingly calm. a ton of people asked us about it and it was a really cool chance to testify to them, but nothing really crazy happened. so yeah. it's pretty sweet that we have a living prophet and don't have to guess and try to figure out codes from the bible -- we have real time revelation! i love the gospel :)
we went on exchanges this week for the first time in my mission. the only other exchanges i have done is on pday when the spanish sisters wanted to do separate things (one couldn't stand the thought of shopping for ANOTHER pday and i was cool with it) and my very first transfer when my trainer dropped me off in queens overnight because she had meetings there for two days. so it was something different and it was REALLY good. sister dumas and i switched with the spanish sisters in our zone. i left her to go into the spanish program for the day and i brought back a brand new sister, sister hughes. the poor thing is trying so hard to learn spanish and i think it was really really good for her to have a break for a day and be able to speak the language :) she was so cute and it was really fun to get to know her. she is from st. george and we got to go serve a few of our members during the day and it was just a really good day. anyways.
so. yesterday we had a stake conference... we had it on saturday night too which was really good. it was cool. we all had to wear headsets and part of the meeting had to be translated into english from spanish and chinese. :) i love new york. anyways. stake conference on sunday was awesome. it was broadcast from salt lake and ruby came :) the WHOLE thing felt like it was meant just for her. they talked about receiving answers to your prayers and so much that she really needed to hear. and then Elder Craig Zwick spoke and he said some things that i really really needed to hear. HUGE answer to prayers. once again, i figured out how individually God loves us and how he is so aware of the answers that we need. after the conference we had a lesson with ruby that is one of those lessons that you tell your kids, grandkids, and well this email home about. it was awesome. we talked to her about the opposition she is facing and everything that is going on -- she is getting a lot of opposition from home and from the people that she wants to support her in her decision the very most. and so we talked about joseph smith and how he had so much opposition right before his vision and how literally moments before the biggest miracle of his life he was about to sink into despair. then we watched the Testaments. and it was AWESOME. we all felt the spirit SO strong and, like true girls, we all cried. but it was amazing. we told her how much the Savior knows us personally and how he knows her trials. and then we told her that we want all of the blessings that come from his atonement for her.... and then we invited her to be baptized. (again :) ) she told us that if it was up to just her, she would have been baptized yesterday, but she can't because of the things that she is facing at home. so we told her to set a date, move forward, and that God will clear all the obstacles for her. so yeah. it was AMAZING. and then she asked when we were leaving and we told her that i have a good chance of being transferred soon. she asked for permission to write president nelson a letter asking him to let me stay... and she sent it this morning :) it was really really sweet. i never thought NEVER NEVER NEVER expected that i could love people like this when i sent my papers in. i never thought that by losing yourself in the work i would find myself so much. it doesn't make much sense that i have gained the most right now because i have sacrificed the most, but it's the Lord's work. and it has been incredible for me to see the smallest fraction of the love that He has for them and also for me.
and that's about my week. i love you so much family. i cannot ever tell you thank you enough for your support. it means everything to me. thank you.
love you
sister m. smith
okay so this week was cool and stuff but yesterday was amazing. seriously. i will look through my planner though and TRY to remember the whole week before i tell you about yesterday. oh and. at district meeting on friday my district leader gave us the "transfer gossip"... usually the district leaders hold out and don't tell us anything and hold it over our heads like "i know something you don't know" but this week i learned that, MOST LIKELY, i will be leaving bensonhurst the week after next. weird. i might have to actually leave brooklyn... weird. anyways, there you go. now you are filled in on everything i hear. but, it really isn't for sure. so yeah.
i'm not sure how big it was at home, but there were posters and preachers and subway ads all saying that the world was going to end on the 21st.... so we got a LOT of chances this week to explain to people that the world was NOT going to end and that we have a living prophet that tells us what God wants us to hear. i thought people would be a lot more crazy and that our day would be one to REALLY remember... but it was suprisingly calm. a ton of people asked us about it and it was a really cool chance to testify to them, but nothing really crazy happened. so yeah. it's pretty sweet that we have a living prophet and don't have to guess and try to figure out codes from the bible -- we have real time revelation! i love the gospel :)
we went on exchanges this week for the first time in my mission. the only other exchanges i have done is on pday when the spanish sisters wanted to do separate things (one couldn't stand the thought of shopping for ANOTHER pday and i was cool with it) and my very first transfer when my trainer dropped me off in queens overnight because she had meetings there for two days. so it was something different and it was REALLY good. sister dumas and i switched with the spanish sisters in our zone. i left her to go into the spanish program for the day and i brought back a brand new sister, sister hughes. the poor thing is trying so hard to learn spanish and i think it was really really good for her to have a break for a day and be able to speak the language :) she was so cute and it was really fun to get to know her. she is from st. george and we got to go serve a few of our members during the day and it was just a really good day. anyways.
so. yesterday we had a stake conference... we had it on saturday night too which was really good. it was cool. we all had to wear headsets and part of the meeting had to be translated into english from spanish and chinese. :) i love new york. anyways. stake conference on sunday was awesome. it was broadcast from salt lake and ruby came :) the WHOLE thing felt like it was meant just for her. they talked about receiving answers to your prayers and so much that she really needed to hear. and then Elder Craig Zwick spoke and he said some things that i really really needed to hear. HUGE answer to prayers. once again, i figured out how individually God loves us and how he is so aware of the answers that we need. after the conference we had a lesson with ruby that is one of those lessons that you tell your kids, grandkids, and well this email home about. it was awesome. we talked to her about the opposition she is facing and everything that is going on -- she is getting a lot of opposition from home and from the people that she wants to support her in her decision the very most. and so we talked about joseph smith and how he had so much opposition right before his vision and how literally moments before the biggest miracle of his life he was about to sink into despair. then we watched the Testaments. and it was AWESOME. we all felt the spirit SO strong and, like true girls, we all cried. but it was amazing. we told her how much the Savior knows us personally and how he knows her trials. and then we told her that we want all of the blessings that come from his atonement for her.... and then we invited her to be baptized. (again :) ) she told us that if it was up to just her, she would have been baptized yesterday, but she can't because of the things that she is facing at home. so we told her to set a date, move forward, and that God will clear all the obstacles for her. so yeah. it was AMAZING. and then she asked when we were leaving and we told her that i have a good chance of being transferred soon. she asked for permission to write president nelson a letter asking him to let me stay... and she sent it this morning :) it was really really sweet. i never thought NEVER NEVER NEVER expected that i could love people like this when i sent my papers in. i never thought that by losing yourself in the work i would find myself so much. it doesn't make much sense that i have gained the most right now because i have sacrificed the most, but it's the Lord's work. and it has been incredible for me to see the smallest fraction of the love that He has for them and also for me.
and that's about my week. i love you so much family. i cannot ever tell you thank you enough for your support. it means everything to me. thank you.
love you
sister m. smith
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