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
another week in the life (5/16/11)
HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
okay so i would like to start this email off by saying THANK YOU!!!!!!!! thank you so much to all of you who sent birthday cards and packages. i felt really really loved this week and i truly appreciate it! thank you.
as i'm writing this i feel like i have really nothing to say. i hope that i don't bore you all every week with really lame emails. eh. if so, just don't read on and know that i love you :)
so as for my week... we had zone conference to kick it off and it was awesome. i was SOOOOOO excited for zone conference for several reasons. 1. i got my birthday packages :) :) :) and i LOVED them. and everyone was jealous because i got packages. that's right. it's my birthday! 2. i got to see PRESIDENT AND SISTER NELSON! sister nelson called right before zone conference and told us that she wanted to go out with us for the evening after we were finished. those calls are awesome, there's always that little bit of anxiety that you just PRAY that everything goes well and it's not one of those days that every single one of your appointments fall through and there you are with the mission president's wife and you have absolutely nothing to do. but it turned out really well. we saw judith and alexa and sister nelson was soooooooo good. they ended up being an hour and a half late because they were at mcdonalds (hence why i brought up the sinking feeling of when all of your appointments fall through) our lesson was on families and we talked to judith about talking to her husband about the gospel and she said she would! we are really excited to see what happens there :) other thoughts about zone conference -- it was all about finding new investigators and "fearlessing" people on buses and trains.. we had a practice and i had to practice fearlessing president nelson.. scary! but it was really good. we all got really excited about finding people and after that zone conference sister dumas and i saw TONS of finding miracles -- we found 6 new people this week and it felt so good to remember WHY we fearless people and why we have to "just do it"
so funny story of the week: sister dumas and i went on splits on friday. i went to a really good appointment with a lady that is learning english. the chinese elders stopped meeting with her because she can't go to church because she works. HOWEVER, she is friends with one of our members who asked us to meet with her in english and she is awesome. she reads the book of mormon with her little boy every day. they are HALFWAY THROUGH the book of mormon! and so i got to go teach her english and the restoration. AND the member that i got to go with is less-active and she talked to me a lot about her testimony and how she can make it stronger. i told her that she just has to live the commandments and do everything God has asked of her and that is how her testimony will grow. so she said that she is going to try it all out for a month. going to church, tithing, reading, praying, everything. :) we will see how it goes!
so the OTHEr half of the exchange is the funny story of the week -- i'm really glad i got to go to the appointment i did. sister dumas went with our sweet relief society president (who made me cupcakes for my birthday that a man told us had way too much glucose in them to eat -- dude. get over it. it's my birthday :) ) but the guy that they taught came into the church with those HUGE plastic sunglasses that clowns wear that are bright pink and blue and he had a cat in the hat hat on. well, he did a dance for everyone and it was really embarrassing. the entire young men's group were there and the bishopbric and everything. he was CRAZY and a street preacher too so i guess the entire time he tried to convert our relief society pres. and s. dumas. haha. thank you new york city :)
okay fam, i'm getting kicked off the computer. sorry that was really random and lame. love you all!
sister m smith
okay so i would like to start this email off by saying THANK YOU!!!!!!!! thank you so much to all of you who sent birthday cards and packages. i felt really really loved this week and i truly appreciate it! thank you.
as i'm writing this i feel like i have really nothing to say. i hope that i don't bore you all every week with really lame emails. eh. if so, just don't read on and know that i love you :)
so as for my week... we had zone conference to kick it off and it was awesome. i was SOOOOOO excited for zone conference for several reasons. 1. i got my birthday packages :) :) :) and i LOVED them. and everyone was jealous because i got packages. that's right. it's my birthday! 2. i got to see PRESIDENT AND SISTER NELSON! sister nelson called right before zone conference and told us that she wanted to go out with us for the evening after we were finished. those calls are awesome, there's always that little bit of anxiety that you just PRAY that everything goes well and it's not one of those days that every single one of your appointments fall through and there you are with the mission president's wife and you have absolutely nothing to do. but it turned out really well. we saw judith and alexa and sister nelson was soooooooo good. they ended up being an hour and a half late because they were at mcdonalds (hence why i brought up the sinking feeling of when all of your appointments fall through) our lesson was on families and we talked to judith about talking to her husband about the gospel and she said she would! we are really excited to see what happens there :) other thoughts about zone conference -- it was all about finding new investigators and "fearlessing" people on buses and trains.. we had a practice and i had to practice fearlessing president nelson.. scary! but it was really good. we all got really excited about finding people and after that zone conference sister dumas and i saw TONS of finding miracles -- we found 6 new people this week and it felt so good to remember WHY we fearless people and why we have to "just do it"
so funny story of the week: sister dumas and i went on splits on friday. i went to a really good appointment with a lady that is learning english. the chinese elders stopped meeting with her because she can't go to church because she works. HOWEVER, she is friends with one of our members who asked us to meet with her in english and she is awesome. she reads the book of mormon with her little boy every day. they are HALFWAY THROUGH the book of mormon! and so i got to go teach her english and the restoration. AND the member that i got to go with is less-active and she talked to me a lot about her testimony and how she can make it stronger. i told her that she just has to live the commandments and do everything God has asked of her and that is how her testimony will grow. so she said that she is going to try it all out for a month. going to church, tithing, reading, praying, everything. :) we will see how it goes!
so the OTHEr half of the exchange is the funny story of the week -- i'm really glad i got to go to the appointment i did. sister dumas went with our sweet relief society president (who made me cupcakes for my birthday that a man told us had way too much glucose in them to eat -- dude. get over it. it's my birthday :) ) but the guy that they taught came into the church with those HUGE plastic sunglasses that clowns wear that are bright pink and blue and he had a cat in the hat hat on. well, he did a dance for everyone and it was really embarrassing. the entire young men's group were there and the bishopbric and everything. he was CRAZY and a street preacher too so i guess the entire time he tried to convert our relief society pres. and s. dumas. haha. thank you new york city :)
okay fam, i'm getting kicked off the computer. sorry that was really random and lame. love you all!
sister m smith
PICTURES!!! (5/9/11)
1. sister dumas and i at the botanical gardens
2. me and sister dorsky on my birthday!!!
3. Birthday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks mom and dad and everyone for my presents :) and i'm way stoked to get birthday #2 tomorrow!!!! thank you
4. the trio the day of transfers -- i think this was our last picture together
love you so much family. thank you for everything.
sister mich!
2. me and sister dorsky on my birthday!!!
3. Birthday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks mom and dad and everyone for my presents :) and i'm way stoked to get birthday #2 tomorrow!!!! thank you
4. the trio the day of transfers -- i think this was our last picture together
love you so much family. thank you for everything.
sister mich!
I don't have anything for this line ;) (5/9/11)
Hi Family!!!!
Well, i spoke to several of you yesterday, so hey. hope you aren't sick of me! but i will be a good kid and write anyways because i realized that i didn't really tell you all a lot about my week. talking to you yesterday was awesome though. i LOVE my family! you are all amazing and said so many things that gave me a serious energy-boost. thank you. you are exactly what i need and i love you all.
soooo other big news of the week is that i am now officially 22. woot. my birthday was awesome. you all know that i love my birthday and so sister dumas and i planned it all out and we had an AWESOME day. we went to sister knudsen's house for dinner... she is adorable. sister kim and i met her two transfers ago and we just clicked. she was SO CUTE. sister knudsen's husband is not a member of the church and he hasn't ever been there while we were there. he comes to church basically every week with sister knudsen (the only exception is when their little girl is sick) and yeah. sister knudsen talked to us about him and told us that he likes a lot of the things about the church - the only problem is that his family is devout baptist and he knows it would break his mother's heart if he ever turned away from everything he has grown up with. SO -- here is the miracle now that you have the background. we were planning on watching the restoration dvd (after we had birthday cake :) ) but that just didn't work out. so it was one of those moments that i had absolutely no idea what i should share or what scripture i should give. i said a quick panic prayer and then grabbed my scriptures. i sat down and then their little girl was wanting to look at my scriptures so i got a picture book for her. brother knudsen was looking at it with his little girl and stopped at the picture of the first vision. he said he has been wondering for a while why there are two Jesuses in the picture. sister dumas and i got to not only explain that to him, but teach the ENTIRE restoration as well. it was AWESOME. everything just opened up and i knew that it was not anything that i did to make it possible for us to teach the restoration... miracle :). brother knudsen is now downloading the book of mormon onto his iphone (thank you technology!) so that he can read it on the train and he said that he would pray about it as well. awesome? yeah. happy birthday to me!!!!!!!!! it was a really good day. and THEN people in the ward were just really sweet to me.
the cuevas family (family from midwood) invited me over last pday which is pretty awesome because since i'm still in brooklyn i can go because they live in my stake boundaries. sister cuevas decorated the house with happy birthday banners and made sister dumas and i dinner and it was really sweet. they had invited the elders over for dinner... so as we left their house the elders showed up for their appointment.... they were PRETTY suprised to see us there :) haha. it was great.
another birthday miracle: we actually got to go to the botanical gardens this week! a less-active member invited us because she wanted us to teach her mother there and so we got permission and went. it was so awesome! there were SOOOOOOOOO many different cultures there. literally people from all over the world. we missed the japanese cherry blossom festival by a week, but it was really really pretty. i'm going to hurry with the email so that i can send pictures.
the rest of the week went really well. it truly amazes me how much Heavenly Father is in our lives and how much He loves us individually. we met a woman at church that is trying to come back -- she hasn't been to church in years and just decided to come back. we got to teach her and it was amazing for me to see the sincere desire in her to change and do whatever she needed to so that she can come back. it was really cool for me to see just a tiny bit into her heart and all i want to do is help her come back. she has a little boy that she wants to raise in the church and he is adorable. he has an amazing example of courage for a mom - i admire her so much for the strength it takes to change. :) -- that is all.
okay, i'm going to load some pictures for you all because i don't really know what else to say. life is good. love the mission. mother's day was awesome. love my mom!!! and it was really really good to talk to you all.
love you!
sister mich smith
Well, i spoke to several of you yesterday, so hey. hope you aren't sick of me! but i will be a good kid and write anyways because i realized that i didn't really tell you all a lot about my week. talking to you yesterday was awesome though. i LOVE my family! you are all amazing and said so many things that gave me a serious energy-boost. thank you. you are exactly what i need and i love you all.
soooo other big news of the week is that i am now officially 22. woot. my birthday was awesome. you all know that i love my birthday and so sister dumas and i planned it all out and we had an AWESOME day. we went to sister knudsen's house for dinner... she is adorable. sister kim and i met her two transfers ago and we just clicked. she was SO CUTE. sister knudsen's husband is not a member of the church and he hasn't ever been there while we were there. he comes to church basically every week with sister knudsen (the only exception is when their little girl is sick) and yeah. sister knudsen talked to us about him and told us that he likes a lot of the things about the church - the only problem is that his family is devout baptist and he knows it would break his mother's heart if he ever turned away from everything he has grown up with. SO -- here is the miracle now that you have the background. we were planning on watching the restoration dvd (after we had birthday cake :) ) but that just didn't work out. so it was one of those moments that i had absolutely no idea what i should share or what scripture i should give. i said a quick panic prayer and then grabbed my scriptures. i sat down and then their little girl was wanting to look at my scriptures so i got a picture book for her. brother knudsen was looking at it with his little girl and stopped at the picture of the first vision. he said he has been wondering for a while why there are two Jesuses in the picture. sister dumas and i got to not only explain that to him, but teach the ENTIRE restoration as well. it was AWESOME. everything just opened up and i knew that it was not anything that i did to make it possible for us to teach the restoration... miracle :). brother knudsen is now downloading the book of mormon onto his iphone (thank you technology!) so that he can read it on the train and he said that he would pray about it as well. awesome? yeah. happy birthday to me!!!!!!!!! it was a really good day. and THEN people in the ward were just really sweet to me.
the cuevas family (family from midwood) invited me over last pday which is pretty awesome because since i'm still in brooklyn i can go because they live in my stake boundaries. sister cuevas decorated the house with happy birthday banners and made sister dumas and i dinner and it was really sweet. they had invited the elders over for dinner... so as we left their house the elders showed up for their appointment.... they were PRETTY suprised to see us there :) haha. it was great.
another birthday miracle: we actually got to go to the botanical gardens this week! a less-active member invited us because she wanted us to teach her mother there and so we got permission and went. it was so awesome! there were SOOOOOOOOO many different cultures there. literally people from all over the world. we missed the japanese cherry blossom festival by a week, but it was really really pretty. i'm going to hurry with the email so that i can send pictures.
the rest of the week went really well. it truly amazes me how much Heavenly Father is in our lives and how much He loves us individually. we met a woman at church that is trying to come back -- she hasn't been to church in years and just decided to come back. we got to teach her and it was amazing for me to see the sincere desire in her to change and do whatever she needed to so that she can come back. it was really cool for me to see just a tiny bit into her heart and all i want to do is help her come back. she has a little boy that she wants to raise in the church and he is adorable. he has an amazing example of courage for a mom - i admire her so much for the strength it takes to change. :) -- that is all.
okay, i'm going to load some pictures for you all because i don't really know what else to say. life is good. love the mission. mother's day was awesome. love my mom!!! and it was really really good to talk to you all.
love you!
sister mich smith
...and then there were two (5/2/11)
Hi family!!!!!!!!
Thank you all SO SO SO MUCH for the happy birthday wishes!!!!!!! chad said it very well - it is really really weird to think that i'm almost 22. eh, whatever. i just realized that i forgot my planner at home so hopefully i don't leave out any incredibly important details!
this week was transfers and we had to say goodbye to sister mamon. it was really weird to see the missionaries go home this transfer -- sister de la mare (my trainer) went home as well as the spanish sister that i lived with my first three transfers and we were really close. weird. it was another realization that the time i have to be a missionary is incredibly short and going by really fast. i love this work and love the miracles that i get to see and be a part of every day. yeah. being a missionary is awesome because the church is true and it is the answer to everyone's problems. no matter who you are or what position in life you are in -- the gospel will improve your life and make you happier.
so yeah. transfers happened. and now there is just sister dumas and i. i don't know if i have explained the district here so here is some background. our district only has one set of elders and us. so our district leader (elder kinikini) got a brand-new companion, elder munday. and things are seriously changing in our ward. elder munday is extremely bold and he has a serious fire to him - the district goal for baptisms is more for the month of may than the ward has seen combined in more than a year. so we are all stepping up everything and this week has been really cool because we have seen a LOT of miracles happen.
miracle #1 - again our dear, dear ruby
we haven't met ruby this week because of her stupid school (i still advocate school and learning -- sometimes it just really gets in our way! :) ) but we called her this week and it was AWESOME. i was crying like a little girl because of all the changes that i have seen in such a short time. i felt the spirit SO strongly as i talked to ruby. she said that her daughter had a big huge miracle happen - ruby told us she couldn't explain the magnitude of it and that it is something she has been praying for for a very long time and something that only God could do. ruby told us that her daughter (sheena) was really touched in the young women's lesson about priesthood. we were talking about our fathers and something that we admire about them. she couldn't think of anythign because she doesn't speak to her father and was just about to sever all ties with him. but sheena told her mom that it really bothered her that she couldn't find anything in her father that she admired. so -- sheena called her dad and met up with him last week. ruby was so touched and like she said, she couldn't really explain the magnitude of it to us.
THEN in the same phone call ruby told me that she has decided that she wants to be baptized. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND that her school schedule opened up and honestly a HUGE HUGE HUGE miracle we have been praying for because it seemed impossible. yeah well, God doesn't care about things that are impossible :) so ruby wants to be baptized when she graduates in dec. 2012 -- we are going to work on that :) she is so ready and we want this for her to help her through school and help her with her whole life.
anyways, the work is exploding. sister dumas has a lot of energy and we have been coming home really tired which is amazing! all week we have seen a lot of our plans be changed to EXACTLY what Heavenly Father needs. yesterday we just had the thought to call a less-active young woman who is really having a hard time and take her on an errand with us to return an umbrella (which a member gave to us last sunday when we left her house and it was pouring and, of course, we forgot our umbrellas) -- we went and it was amazing. that couple told her things that she really needed to hear and i saw a physical change on her face. we all bore testimony that God is there and that He really does answer our prayers. sometimes our trials drive us to our knees because it is the only place that Heavenly Father can pick us up off the floor from. i love it. i know more than i ever have in my life that the gospel is real and true. God DOES exist and He DOES love us.
i love you all. i can't wait to talk to you this week!
love,
sister mich smith
Thank you all SO SO SO MUCH for the happy birthday wishes!!!!!!! chad said it very well - it is really really weird to think that i'm almost 22. eh, whatever. i just realized that i forgot my planner at home so hopefully i don't leave out any incredibly important details!
this week was transfers and we had to say goodbye to sister mamon. it was really weird to see the missionaries go home this transfer -- sister de la mare (my trainer) went home as well as the spanish sister that i lived with my first three transfers and we were really close. weird. it was another realization that the time i have to be a missionary is incredibly short and going by really fast. i love this work and love the miracles that i get to see and be a part of every day. yeah. being a missionary is awesome because the church is true and it is the answer to everyone's problems. no matter who you are or what position in life you are in -- the gospel will improve your life and make you happier.
so yeah. transfers happened. and now there is just sister dumas and i. i don't know if i have explained the district here so here is some background. our district only has one set of elders and us. so our district leader (elder kinikini) got a brand-new companion, elder munday. and things are seriously changing in our ward. elder munday is extremely bold and he has a serious fire to him - the district goal for baptisms is more for the month of may than the ward has seen combined in more than a year. so we are all stepping up everything and this week has been really cool because we have seen a LOT of miracles happen.
miracle #1 - again our dear, dear ruby
we haven't met ruby this week because of her stupid school (i still advocate school and learning -- sometimes it just really gets in our way! :) ) but we called her this week and it was AWESOME. i was crying like a little girl because of all the changes that i have seen in such a short time. i felt the spirit SO strongly as i talked to ruby. she said that her daughter had a big huge miracle happen - ruby told us she couldn't explain the magnitude of it and that it is something she has been praying for for a very long time and something that only God could do. ruby told us that her daughter (sheena) was really touched in the young women's lesson about priesthood. we were talking about our fathers and something that we admire about them. she couldn't think of anythign because she doesn't speak to her father and was just about to sever all ties with him. but sheena told her mom that it really bothered her that she couldn't find anything in her father that she admired. so -- sheena called her dad and met up with him last week. ruby was so touched and like she said, she couldn't really explain the magnitude of it to us.
THEN in the same phone call ruby told me that she has decided that she wants to be baptized. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND that her school schedule opened up and honestly a HUGE HUGE HUGE miracle we have been praying for because it seemed impossible. yeah well, God doesn't care about things that are impossible :) so ruby wants to be baptized when she graduates in dec. 2012 -- we are going to work on that :) she is so ready and we want this for her to help her through school and help her with her whole life.
anyways, the work is exploding. sister dumas has a lot of energy and we have been coming home really tired which is amazing! all week we have seen a lot of our plans be changed to EXACTLY what Heavenly Father needs. yesterday we just had the thought to call a less-active young woman who is really having a hard time and take her on an errand with us to return an umbrella (which a member gave to us last sunday when we left her house and it was pouring and, of course, we forgot our umbrellas) -- we went and it was amazing. that couple told her things that she really needed to hear and i saw a physical change on her face. we all bore testimony that God is there and that He really does answer our prayers. sometimes our trials drive us to our knees because it is the only place that Heavenly Father can pick us up off the floor from. i love it. i know more than i ever have in my life that the gospel is real and true. God DOES exist and He DOES love us.
i love you all. i can't wait to talk to you this week!
love,
sister mich smith
Happy Easter! Happy Birthday Week! Happy Transfers. (4/25/11)
Hi family!
soooooooooo transfers are tomorrow. it wasn't much of a suprise though. sister mamon is going home (well, we kinda new that one was coming since this was her last transfer) and sister dumas and i are staying together in bensonhurst. i just realized how bad i have let my grammar go in my emails to all of you. for anyone who is bugged, well it probably won't change. :)
the highlight reel of the week is pretty much easter sunday. ruby came to church!!!!!!!!!!! and sheena!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (her daughter) and alexander!!!!!!!!!!!! (her son) it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good to see them there. the missionaries actually had to sing in sacrament meeting and the elders are incredibly musically inclined and sister dumas has a really good voice too so they all split into the harmony and i was the only one singing the melody (don't worry, it was supposed to be that way) anyways -- who thought that i would actually consider singing in sacrament? but ruby and her family didn't get up and leave afterwards so i think it was okay. i'm sitting here trying to think of how to put into words what i felt the whole time at church yesterday. it was incredible. the change that has come over ruby in the very short time i have known her is amazing. and now her family gets to experience it as well. her daughter kept changing her mind and going back and forth about coming to church with ruby -- but she came and she loved it. she asked if i could go with her to all of her classes, so we worked it out to have some of the members be my companion during class and i got to stay with sheena. she is amazing. she has seen the change in her mom and that is why she wanted to come to church and learn more. she recognized the happiness and peace that everyone in church has and she has so much courage to step into an entirely foreign world and go to church. we talked about the priesthood in young womens and about how much the gospel blesses families and sheena loved it. the lesson made me take a step back and really remember what the gospel does for me and how i have no idea how families work without Christ there to be a foundation. i love those moments that i just remember why i'm here and why the gospel is so important.
Easter was wonderful. our ward was SO sweet. i think five or six families invited us over and so many people have called to see if we had plans and to make sure that we had somewhere to go. we spent Easter dinner with the Phillips family - they are so so sweet to us. sister phillips slaved away in the kitchen FOREVER to make sure that we had a wonderful easter dinner. the primary colored eggs for us and the young women made each of us a little easter basket. AND sister dumas had put a little candy on each of our desks so that we found it in the morning.
something really cool that happened this week - we were looking up some people that the bishop has asked us to work with and we passed the building that one of the members lives in. sister dumas wanted to go see the member... to be totally honest, i didn't really want to... but we had time, so we did. well, she wasn't home. so we knocked the doors on her floor and no one was interested. we got in the elevator and i accidentally hit the 1st floor instead of the lobby. i said sorry to my companions and they said well, it's probably a sign. let's knock the floor. so we did. and got rejected several times. we got rejected at one door and sister mamon recognized russian tv coming from the neighbors house. she got really excited and knocked the door. miracle! the woman was SO nice and normally Russian people aren't super open to the gospel but she was really really excited about the book of mormon. coincidence that in the last few days we have a russian-speaking missionary with us we knock on her door? yeah, i don't think so. we are going back today to give her the book of mormon in russian and i talked to her on the phone and it seems like she can speak english pretty well so sister dumas and i should be fine after sister mamon leaves. :) i love being a missionary!
i hope everyone had a wonderful easter! i LOVED it. it was really cool to have an easter that i wasn't caught up in what i wanted or having another holiday - i really got to study the Savior's life this week and i remembered how grateful i am that everytime i fall short, especially while i'm doing his work, it's okay because He makes up for it. i love you all so much and i hope mom, chad, and dad have a happy birthday this week! and i can't wait to talk to you all in 13 days!!!!!!! woot!
love you
sister mich smith
soooooooooo transfers are tomorrow. it wasn't much of a suprise though. sister mamon is going home (well, we kinda new that one was coming since this was her last transfer) and sister dumas and i are staying together in bensonhurst. i just realized how bad i have let my grammar go in my emails to all of you. for anyone who is bugged, well it probably won't change. :)
the highlight reel of the week is pretty much easter sunday. ruby came to church!!!!!!!!!!! and sheena!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (her daughter) and alexander!!!!!!!!!!!! (her son) it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good to see them there. the missionaries actually had to sing in sacrament meeting and the elders are incredibly musically inclined and sister dumas has a really good voice too so they all split into the harmony and i was the only one singing the melody (don't worry, it was supposed to be that way) anyways -- who thought that i would actually consider singing in sacrament? but ruby and her family didn't get up and leave afterwards so i think it was okay. i'm sitting here trying to think of how to put into words what i felt the whole time at church yesterday. it was incredible. the change that has come over ruby in the very short time i have known her is amazing. and now her family gets to experience it as well. her daughter kept changing her mind and going back and forth about coming to church with ruby -- but she came and she loved it. she asked if i could go with her to all of her classes, so we worked it out to have some of the members be my companion during class and i got to stay with sheena. she is amazing. she has seen the change in her mom and that is why she wanted to come to church and learn more. she recognized the happiness and peace that everyone in church has and she has so much courage to step into an entirely foreign world and go to church. we talked about the priesthood in young womens and about how much the gospel blesses families and sheena loved it. the lesson made me take a step back and really remember what the gospel does for me and how i have no idea how families work without Christ there to be a foundation. i love those moments that i just remember why i'm here and why the gospel is so important.
Easter was wonderful. our ward was SO sweet. i think five or six families invited us over and so many people have called to see if we had plans and to make sure that we had somewhere to go. we spent Easter dinner with the Phillips family - they are so so sweet to us. sister phillips slaved away in the kitchen FOREVER to make sure that we had a wonderful easter dinner. the primary colored eggs for us and the young women made each of us a little easter basket. AND sister dumas had put a little candy on each of our desks so that we found it in the morning.
something really cool that happened this week - we were looking up some people that the bishop has asked us to work with and we passed the building that one of the members lives in. sister dumas wanted to go see the member... to be totally honest, i didn't really want to... but we had time, so we did. well, she wasn't home. so we knocked the doors on her floor and no one was interested. we got in the elevator and i accidentally hit the 1st floor instead of the lobby. i said sorry to my companions and they said well, it's probably a sign. let's knock the floor. so we did. and got rejected several times. we got rejected at one door and sister mamon recognized russian tv coming from the neighbors house. she got really excited and knocked the door. miracle! the woman was SO nice and normally Russian people aren't super open to the gospel but she was really really excited about the book of mormon. coincidence that in the last few days we have a russian-speaking missionary with us we knock on her door? yeah, i don't think so. we are going back today to give her the book of mormon in russian and i talked to her on the phone and it seems like she can speak english pretty well so sister dumas and i should be fine after sister mamon leaves. :) i love being a missionary!
i hope everyone had a wonderful easter! i LOVED it. it was really cool to have an easter that i wasn't caught up in what i wanted or having another holiday - i really got to study the Savior's life this week and i remembered how grateful i am that everytime i fall short, especially while i'm doing his work, it's okay because He makes up for it. i love you all so much and i hope mom, chad, and dad have a happy birthday this week! and i can't wait to talk to you all in 13 days!!!!!!! woot!
love you
sister mich smith
another week in the life (4/18/11)
Hi family!
Once again, it was sooooooooo good to read your letters. thank you so much for all of your support! i love you and miss you all like crazy. Well, i read several "how are ruby"s and sadly, we didn't get to meet with her this week because she has some huge tests for school. HOWEVER, we did get to talk to her and she is amazing. doing awesome. she called and said thank you for checking up on her and she told us that she reads her Book of Mormon everyday because she cannot go throughout the day without reading some of it first. she says that her only regret is that she hasn't been able to read more... that she is still on 1 Nephi. Dear Ruby, it's okay. you are reading EVERY DAY and that is incredible!!!!!!!!!!! i cannot even tell you family how much i LOVE LOVE LOVE it when someone says "yeah i read" because reading the Book of Mormon WILL strengthen your testimony. no matter how strong it is. and ruby is doing awesome. she told us that she is still coming to church on easter and that her daughter is coming too and she is (as well as us) praying for her son to come with her as well. so this week we are going to be doing some major preparation to make sure that easter is the best sunday ruby has ever had in her life. :) i love my job!
the transfer is winding down really fast, this is the last week we have. sister mamon is going home next week and i'm PRETTY sure that sister dumas and i will be staying together in bensonhurst for at least one more transfer, if not two... so i probably won't have much "transfer news" for you next week, but we will get the call on saturday night.
this week we had interviews with President Nelson. i love my mission president and his wife! they are ADORABLE and President Nelson always makes me feel really REALLY good. i love that Heavenly Father always sends someone that knows just what to say to give you the boost that you need for another day. so yeah. there is my mission president shout-out :)
church was CRAZY amazing this week. we walked in and started saying hi to people... then we said hi to sister potter and saw that she was talking to someone that i hadn't seen before. i introduced myself and come to find out that sister potter met antoinette on the bus a couple of times and invited antoinette to church... well, just so happens that antoinette is looking for church right now. hmmmm.... well, you found the right one!!!!! and we had a former investigator call us sunday morning to let us know that she wanted to stop by church again. sweet. we can help you with that :) and THEN my time just got extended. woot! i love those days!!!!!!!! and then we saw that one of the elders' investigators brought someone else to church. and a little girl olivia (story in just a sec) was there too. and LO AND BEHOLD GUESS WHAT SACRAMENT MEETING IS ALL ABOUT??????????? yeah. the restoration. inspired? i think so. i just sat there, taking notes and chillin while my work was being done for me :) :) good day.
olivia story.
olivia came to judith and alexa's baptism; she is the friend of one of the little boys in the ward. the elders taught her while they were doing family home evening for her little friend and then she decided that she wanted to be taught too. so the elders went over and then olivia said that she wanted to be taught by sisters. :) so we went over on saturday and taught her. she is SO sweet. her dad was there and said that he just wants to listen for now... he is very Catholic as well as his mother, but he is open to whatever is truth. so we are really excited for olivia. her aunt came over during the lesson and oh dear. that woman is a character! she works in a morgue and was telling us all of the stories about her job -- i felt like i was in a comedy show. she has a very loud personality and she is pretty hilarious. so we laughed. a lot. and yeah. can't explain it, i know it's not funny in an email, but trust me -- she is funny. if you ever wanted to know :)
we also met a less-active member this week that has been having some heart issues and hasn't been able to come to church because of them. HOLY COW i laughed so hard. she was telling us all about her shopping addiction and how she looks "so clean" and "gets everyone's eye" when she walks in the room. i would have to reenact it, but she is late 60s and there was a WHOLE lot of "brooklyn girl" attitude in her. :) yeah.
well, i love you family. thank you so much for everything. you are amazing and i hope you know how much you all have helped me while i have been out. i LOVE YOU! and i hope you all have a good week and a wonderful easter. Christ is real and the atonement is amazing.
love you!
sister m. smith
Once again, it was sooooooooo good to read your letters. thank you so much for all of your support! i love you and miss you all like crazy. Well, i read several "how are ruby"s and sadly, we didn't get to meet with her this week because she has some huge tests for school. HOWEVER, we did get to talk to her and she is amazing. doing awesome. she called and said thank you for checking up on her and she told us that she reads her Book of Mormon everyday because she cannot go throughout the day without reading some of it first. she says that her only regret is that she hasn't been able to read more... that she is still on 1 Nephi. Dear Ruby, it's okay. you are reading EVERY DAY and that is incredible!!!!!!!!!!! i cannot even tell you family how much i LOVE LOVE LOVE it when someone says "yeah i read" because reading the Book of Mormon WILL strengthen your testimony. no matter how strong it is. and ruby is doing awesome. she told us that she is still coming to church on easter and that her daughter is coming too and she is (as well as us) praying for her son to come with her as well. so this week we are going to be doing some major preparation to make sure that easter is the best sunday ruby has ever had in her life. :) i love my job!
the transfer is winding down really fast, this is the last week we have. sister mamon is going home next week and i'm PRETTY sure that sister dumas and i will be staying together in bensonhurst for at least one more transfer, if not two... so i probably won't have much "transfer news" for you next week, but we will get the call on saturday night.
this week we had interviews with President Nelson. i love my mission president and his wife! they are ADORABLE and President Nelson always makes me feel really REALLY good. i love that Heavenly Father always sends someone that knows just what to say to give you the boost that you need for another day. so yeah. there is my mission president shout-out :)
church was CRAZY amazing this week. we walked in and started saying hi to people... then we said hi to sister potter and saw that she was talking to someone that i hadn't seen before. i introduced myself and come to find out that sister potter met antoinette on the bus a couple of times and invited antoinette to church... well, just so happens that antoinette is looking for church right now. hmmmm.... well, you found the right one!!!!! and we had a former investigator call us sunday morning to let us know that she wanted to stop by church again. sweet. we can help you with that :) and THEN my time just got extended. woot! i love those days!!!!!!!! and then we saw that one of the elders' investigators brought someone else to church. and a little girl olivia (story in just a sec) was there too. and LO AND BEHOLD GUESS WHAT SACRAMENT MEETING IS ALL ABOUT??????????? yeah. the restoration. inspired? i think so. i just sat there, taking notes and chillin while my work was being done for me :) :) good day.
olivia story.
olivia came to judith and alexa's baptism; she is the friend of one of the little boys in the ward. the elders taught her while they were doing family home evening for her little friend and then she decided that she wanted to be taught too. so the elders went over and then olivia said that she wanted to be taught by sisters. :) so we went over on saturday and taught her. she is SO sweet. her dad was there and said that he just wants to listen for now... he is very Catholic as well as his mother, but he is open to whatever is truth. so we are really excited for olivia. her aunt came over during the lesson and oh dear. that woman is a character! she works in a morgue and was telling us all of the stories about her job -- i felt like i was in a comedy show. she has a very loud personality and she is pretty hilarious. so we laughed. a lot. and yeah. can't explain it, i know it's not funny in an email, but trust me -- she is funny. if you ever wanted to know :)
we also met a less-active member this week that has been having some heart issues and hasn't been able to come to church because of them. HOLY COW i laughed so hard. she was telling us all about her shopping addiction and how she looks "so clean" and "gets everyone's eye" when she walks in the room. i would have to reenact it, but she is late 60s and there was a WHOLE lot of "brooklyn girl" attitude in her. :) yeah.
well, i love you family. thank you so much for everything. you are amazing and i hope you know how much you all have helped me while i have been out. i LOVE YOU! and i hope you all have a good week and a wonderful easter. Christ is real and the atonement is amazing.
love you!
sister m. smith
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