...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