HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE SISTER!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY NOEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Weird! You are 19! Really weird! But i would like everyone to know how much i love my GIRL. dear courtney, i love you more than gangstas love low-riding their pants, more than new yorkers love honking their horn, and more than missionaries love mail (yeah -- that's a LOT) love you. and i hope you have a good birthday.

ALSO, i would like to wish my parents a happy anniversary. i love you both more than i can ever tell you and i am so grateful for you. and i can't wait to talk to you :)

WELL, this week was great. REALLY great. it went by really really fast and i am SO EXCITED for Christmas!!!!!!! we saw about a billion miracles this week and i realized just a little bit of how blessed i am. and that's a lot.

miracle #1 - RACHEL. we went over to rachel's house and she told us about a dream that she had. she was there and Christ came - she ran to the church to be saved, but it was already full. she was really sad in her dream and she told us that she realized she needed to be baptized before Christ comes. we talked about the parable of the ten virgins and how her dream really is exactly right. procrastination - bad. preparation - good. she said she wanted to be baptized on the 2nd of January!!!!!!!!!!! it was really cool to be there and to see the change that has come into her life. her husband really doesn't have much to do with churches, but he has been reading the book of mormon and told us that he would come to church with us because he has seen the change that has come over his wife and he knows that the church is good because of that. i really can't describe how awesome it is to see people change their lives - to give up everything and say i'm ready to follow Christ. and the light that comes into their lives when that happens. the gospel is true and truly incredible.

miracle #2 - SERGIO. we have only taught sergio once. we talked to him on the street and he said that he had seen missionaries in haiti all the time, but it was a very very long time ago. well, we gave him the book of mormon in french and english so that what he doesn't understand in english he can get it in french -- well, he has come to church twice, even when he was in the hospital the night before getting a cortizone shot for some major pain in his shoulder (i think his shoulder - eh, something like that) well, we took a member over to his home and they really clicked and we talked about the restoration - sergio said that he gets it, that he has been to a LOT of other churches before and he doesn't ever bother with them. BUT he knows that the book of mormon is true and he believes everything. well, we asked him if he wanted to be baptized on jan. 2nd and he said yes! we taught him again on sunday and he is just soaking everything up. a really really big miracle. just some guy on the street, we see honestly thousands of people on the street, but somehow we are always guided to the right place and placed in the path of the people that are ready for the gospel. cool? umm yeah. really cool.

miracle #3 - BLAISE. blaise has been awesome. he is soaking everything up too, but he doesn't feel ready for baptism. he says he needs several more months to a year before he will be ready. and then he texted us this week and told us that he was so happy to announce that he is ready and he will be baptized the first week of january. he doesn't know the date because he doesn't have his work schedule, but he is ready. miracle? yes. i think so.

some funny, random moments of the week -- as i was walking here to email, some older man stopped me on the street and asked what church i was with. so i started telling him about our church and the book of mormon - then after we talked for a while, he took my hand and told me i had beautiful eyes (he is about mid 70's) and he told me that i would have a soulmate come into my life very soon. and then he told me that if he were younger, he would chase after me. well sir, i'm sorry to break this to you, but i'm a missionary :) and i will be for a while. sorry!
-someone in sunday school asked some very weird questions yesterday and a woman in relief society's phone rang -- well she just answered it and had a full on conversation right before and during the prayer. it was kind of tough to not giggle.
-we had SINGING practice again this week..... enough said
-i got a call from one of the senior couples and they asked me to be the speaker in our mission christmas music devotional -- i'm REALLY excited. me and an elder are doing all of the speaking, but they have 3 Julliard students coming to play the music and one was the world's best youth violinist. that is next sunday so we are all really excited
-we find out about transfers on saturday -- bah!

and that is about everything that happened this week, i think. or everything that i can remember, which is actually not very much. once it gets to monday my brain basically shuts down until we go out to work at 6 -- so sorry! you all get the scatterbrained stories and i forget most of them... oops! forgive me :)

i love you all so much and i hope you have an incredible week. 12 days till Christmas!!!!!!!! woot. i love that i have the chance to testify to people of Christ and help them see why Christmas really is incredible. think about it -- the world (well, most of the world) only really shuts down on one day to be with their families and reflect on their lives, and that is the day to celebrate the birth of our Savior. pretty amazing. love you! have a good week.

sister mich smith