Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Monday, April 28, 2014
What a week but Sunday was the best---So many investigators came to feel the spirit at Church and wonderful ward fellowshipping
Oh goodness I can't even begin to express how excited and overjoyed I am with everything that's been happening here in the the Anderson row of the Lord's vineyard! Maybe I'll switch it up and go backwards through the week. haha, I know you're all thinking that my "Sis smith's emails are hard enough to follow normally, now she's going backward?!" well, enjoy!
Sunday: Hello best Sunday ever! Minus the fact that I left my tag home and had to run and grab it-I went all through ward council w/o my tag, luckily I had my hair down to cover my sin-but I felt so naked without my tag, it was a horrible feeling. I’m really glad I won’t have to deal with that feeling for another 9 months.
Church was fabulous today, first came Ladaisha and Sis Allen. Next Alisha came down the hall with Sis Campbell. Later Mike and Daniel came in with Adam. It was beautiful the way the members perfectly stepped in and were loving and friendly and just took over the reins. I know this is how the Lord intends for members and missionaries to labor together to care for his little lost sheep. At first I was overwhelmed with it all until I realized we didn’t have much to worry about. Right after sacrament Emily Stafford came up and took Ladaisha with her to YW’s, we were able to send Daniel with Bro Moss and the Young Men, Mike stuck with Adam and Alisha stayed with Sis Campbell. I kept catching all of them leaning over to ask questions-and I was so happy they weren’t asking us. I will only be in Anderson for a couple more months, although I love these people so much, I love them enough to know what’s best for them are these member relationships. A great surprise of church occurred right when we exited the chapel. I spotted a balding man in a blue powder suit, I turned and grabbed sis Hendrix “It’s the Allens!—I mean, It’s Allen and Sharon Robbins!!!!” Hugs were exchanged, Sharon told me she was going to lick me when we got home because we weren’t waiting in the parking lot like we said we would, but Alan explained they showed up late. Just like we experienced this morning the members stepped in, the Carpenters saw them and after sacrament showed them to primary to drop off Nevaeh, Kiara and Hayden. We had 6 investigators at church!! They all loved it too! The feedback we received from the members was that Alisha has some questions about the Word of Wisdom and temple sealings, Sharon is planning on coming back next Sunday, Mike sounded out the first 7 verses of 1 Nephi, Daniel said he read through to Jacob and some other little birds told us Ladaisha was participating in young womens answering a bunch of questions!
Sat: When we stopped in briefly on the Robbin's Sharon was no longer sick and was overjoyed that she could hug us again. When we asked about their reading or if they’d be able to come to church, Allen was very serious when he responded that he knows he really needs to sit down and read and that more than anything he wants to get back in church. Then he called Sharon over, and had one of those husband to wife moments. It was intense, he said that he felt like they really needed to go church. I could tell this time was different than before, he told her basically that this was something they had to do. It was pretty cool.
Friday: While at Alisha’s Mike had called and left a message, he was wondering if we were going to stop by tonight and let us know he’d be home. We got so excited when we heard that, we’re just overjoyed at how enthusiastic he is about it all. We drove down and were able to drop off the BOM on CD. Well at least the beginning through 1 nephi 10, I’ve yet to download the rest of it. He was busy grilling and we got to see Daniel his little brother as well. Daniel is actually the one who started it, by divine intervention we knocked on their door late one night, pretty sure it was the last door of the night, he said we could come back another time-and we did!
Anyways, we got to talk with both of them and Daniel is all for meeting with us and coming to church. Mike said that quitting’s been coming along and a comment that warmed my soul was when he let us know that we’d have to show him how to tie a tie! That means that while he denied help from Brother Addison because he’s not one to accept too much charity, he went and used his own money to buy a shirt and tie to use!
and that was only the weekend! In other news, we assisted some baby ducks find their mother, were lovingly bible bashed, were given a mustache necklace from a small child in the ward, gorged ourselves at a pizza buffet with the Bro and Sis Bonds and immersed ourselves in the glorious restored gospel of our savior:)
life is good:)
love y'all!!
sis lindsay smith
Sunday: Hello best Sunday ever! Minus the fact that I left my tag home and had to run and grab it-I went all through ward council w/o my tag, luckily I had my hair down to cover my sin-but I felt so naked without my tag, it was a horrible feeling. I’m really glad I won’t have to deal with that feeling for another 9 months.
Church was fabulous today, first came Ladaisha and Sis Allen. Next Alisha came down the hall with Sis Campbell. Later Mike and Daniel came in with Adam. It was beautiful the way the members perfectly stepped in and were loving and friendly and just took over the reins. I know this is how the Lord intends for members and missionaries to labor together to care for his little lost sheep. At first I was overwhelmed with it all until I realized we didn’t have much to worry about. Right after sacrament Emily Stafford came up and took Ladaisha with her to YW’s, we were able to send Daniel with Bro Moss and the Young Men, Mike stuck with Adam and Alisha stayed with Sis Campbell. I kept catching all of them leaning over to ask questions-and I was so happy they weren’t asking us. I will only be in Anderson for a couple more months, although I love these people so much, I love them enough to know what’s best for them are these member relationships. A great surprise of church occurred right when we exited the chapel. I spotted a balding man in a blue powder suit, I turned and grabbed sis Hendrix “It’s the Allens!—I mean, It’s Allen and Sharon Robbins!!!!” Hugs were exchanged, Sharon told me she was going to lick me when we got home because we weren’t waiting in the parking lot like we said we would, but Alan explained they showed up late. Just like we experienced this morning the members stepped in, the Carpenters saw them and after sacrament showed them to primary to drop off Nevaeh, Kiara and Hayden. We had 6 investigators at church!! They all loved it too! The feedback we received from the members was that Alisha has some questions about the Word of Wisdom and temple sealings, Sharon is planning on coming back next Sunday, Mike sounded out the first 7 verses of 1 Nephi, Daniel said he read through to Jacob and some other little birds told us Ladaisha was participating in young womens answering a bunch of questions!
Sat: When we stopped in briefly on the Robbin's Sharon was no longer sick and was overjoyed that she could hug us again. When we asked about their reading or if they’d be able to come to church, Allen was very serious when he responded that he knows he really needs to sit down and read and that more than anything he wants to get back in church. Then he called Sharon over, and had one of those husband to wife moments. It was intense, he said that he felt like they really needed to go church. I could tell this time was different than before, he told her basically that this was something they had to do. It was pretty cool.
Friday: While at Alisha’s Mike had called and left a message, he was wondering if we were going to stop by tonight and let us know he’d be home. We got so excited when we heard that, we’re just overjoyed at how enthusiastic he is about it all. We drove down and were able to drop off the BOM on CD. Well at least the beginning through 1 nephi 10, I’ve yet to download the rest of it. He was busy grilling and we got to see Daniel his little brother as well. Daniel is actually the one who started it, by divine intervention we knocked on their door late one night, pretty sure it was the last door of the night, he said we could come back another time-and we did!
Anyways, we got to talk with both of them and Daniel is all for meeting with us and coming to church. Mike said that quitting’s been coming along and a comment that warmed my soul was when he let us know that we’d have to show him how to tie a tie! That means that while he denied help from Brother Addison because he’s not one to accept too much charity, he went and used his own money to buy a shirt and tie to use!
and that was only the weekend! In other news, we assisted some baby ducks find their mother, were lovingly bible bashed, were given a mustache necklace from a small child in the ward, gorged ourselves at a pizza buffet with the Bro and Sis Bonds and immersed ourselves in the glorious restored gospel of our savior:)
life is good:)
love y'all!!
sis lindsay smith
Monday, April 21, 2014
Because of Him
Hope y'all had a great Easter, it was a beautiful one here in the Palmetto state! I love the strong christian morals here, while not everything closes most Sundays. Sis Hendrix and I enjoyed a peaceful drive Easter morning happy to see big empty parking lots and few people on the road, because everyone was going to church to celebrate the miracle of his resurrection. May we always remember the glorious message that he lives! (mormon.org/becauseofhim)
here's snapshot of my week and a taste of the many miracles that occur all because of my Savior and what He did:)
Wednesday: We had the most miraculous lesson tonight! Our other backups had sorta fallen through so we decided to go check on a past lead, Mike. When we got there Mike was free to meet with us but there weren’t any women home so we couldn’t go inside. We told him to wait 10 minutes and we’d get a member to come over, we called Bro Addison and asked if he’d be willing to bring Mike to the church for a lesson. So we went over to the church, did a mini chapel tour with Mike and had an awesome lesson! Mike really opened up about how he only has a 3rd grade reading capacity and 5th grade math, he just wants to be able to turn his life around. Grew up in foster care, at one point had been incarcerated (didn’t say for what) but he said that he had left those ways behind. We let him know to feel free to ask questions and he let us know he’s more one to sit back and soak it all in. At the end Sis Hendrix was feeling inspired and invited him to be baptized. I invited him to be baptized the 3rd week in May and he actually chimed in that his birthday was May 11, so we put him on date to be baptized May 10, and confirmed May 11th! Before we left we arranged for Bro Addison to bring him to church on Sunday! It was so great! We floated out of there, and the next day called into SCCM for a miracle moment. We had applied everything we’d been taught at the specialized training meeting, and this time Heavenly Father saw fit to show us a miracle.
Friday: We had a fantabulous lesson with Alisha and Sister Campbell. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and focused on faith. We talked about how faith requires us to sometimes take a step into the darkness in order to find out there’s light up ahead. Sis Campbell shared about her own conversion and times when she had to take a leap of faith. Without prompt Alisha commented that she hadn’t taken that step of faith yet. She recommitted to reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church with us next Sunday. The lesson was so inspired, as we moved on through the lesson Sis Campbell felt the need to delve deeper into the Holy Ghost, it was totally Ammon status as she perceived what Alisha was feeling. She explained with beautiful simplicity how the receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism in no way meant she hadn’t felt the spirit before. I had always had the questioned before of why weren’t we born with the gift of the Holy Ghost, I had come up with some ideas to appease me for the time, but it always didn’t sit right with me. It was so neat as I had the spirit teach and testify to me via Spiderman. “with great power comes great responsibility” or in D&C terms “where much is given much is required”. I explained how Heavenly Father isn’t going to force us to have the Holy Ghost, or even the responsibility to live worthy of it. If we were born with it, we would be under greater condemnation for losing it. But as a loving father he allows us to choose to receive that gift after qualifying for it through baptismal covenants. One of the best lessons with her so far, and as we were walking out we mentioned again the Book of Mormon, and asked where she was planning to start reading from. She told us from the beginning, opened up to the table of contents and while pointing to the first book of nephi said, “I should be able to finish that one by our next meeting (one week later), and if I finish that I’ll move on to 2 Nephi”. Haha, I wasn’t going to doubt or limit her, but will be ecstatic if she makes it to 2 Nephi by then!
Friday: Sharon was too sick to have our lesson so we offered a priesthood blessing and she accepted. It was super quick, we went in explained, blessed and popped out. The next time we went over Allen couldn’t stop expressing how grateful he was for what we did, and how much it uplifted him. Sharon was so impressed as well, she said as soon as they started praying she immediately felt her ears draining and she could suddenly hear again!
Sunday: Mike couldn’t have picked a better Sunday to start coming to church. Easter Sunday he got to experience a beautiful spirit filled meeting, in Sunday school we went over the atonement. He really desires to have that forgiveness and Sis Hendrix and I could tell it really spoke to him. He kept nodding his head and readily raised his hand when Sis Addison asked who desired to change and become better? The 3rd hour of church was a miracle hour. In priesthood we found out later from the Elders that they had spoken about the Word of Wisdom and they were able to talk to Mike about it. Mike smokes and both S.Hendrix and I had been wondering about when we should teach it or bring it up-tada! Heavenly Father had it scheduled. Did I mention that the WOW wasn't even in the literal lesson plan, in relief society we went over the Joseph fielding smith lesson about building up the kingdom of god, NO IDEA why they went over the word of wisdom in elder’s quorum.
well we're off to go see what leftover Easter candy we can raid from walmart;)
love y'all!
here's snapshot of my week and a taste of the many miracles that occur all because of my Savior and what He did:)
Wednesday: We had the most miraculous lesson tonight! Our other backups had sorta fallen through so we decided to go check on a past lead, Mike. When we got there Mike was free to meet with us but there weren’t any women home so we couldn’t go inside. We told him to wait 10 minutes and we’d get a member to come over, we called Bro Addison and asked if he’d be willing to bring Mike to the church for a lesson. So we went over to the church, did a mini chapel tour with Mike and had an awesome lesson! Mike really opened up about how he only has a 3rd grade reading capacity and 5th grade math, he just wants to be able to turn his life around. Grew up in foster care, at one point had been incarcerated (didn’t say for what) but he said that he had left those ways behind. We let him know to feel free to ask questions and he let us know he’s more one to sit back and soak it all in. At the end Sis Hendrix was feeling inspired and invited him to be baptized. I invited him to be baptized the 3rd week in May and he actually chimed in that his birthday was May 11, so we put him on date to be baptized May 10, and confirmed May 11th! Before we left we arranged for Bro Addison to bring him to church on Sunday! It was so great! We floated out of there, and the next day called into SCCM for a miracle moment. We had applied everything we’d been taught at the specialized training meeting, and this time Heavenly Father saw fit to show us a miracle.
Friday: We had a fantabulous lesson with Alisha and Sister Campbell. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and focused on faith. We talked about how faith requires us to sometimes take a step into the darkness in order to find out there’s light up ahead. Sis Campbell shared about her own conversion and times when she had to take a leap of faith. Without prompt Alisha commented that she hadn’t taken that step of faith yet. She recommitted to reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church with us next Sunday. The lesson was so inspired, as we moved on through the lesson Sis Campbell felt the need to delve deeper into the Holy Ghost, it was totally Ammon status as she perceived what Alisha was feeling. She explained with beautiful simplicity how the receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism in no way meant she hadn’t felt the spirit before. I had always had the questioned before of why weren’t we born with the gift of the Holy Ghost, I had come up with some ideas to appease me for the time, but it always didn’t sit right with me. It was so neat as I had the spirit teach and testify to me via Spiderman. “with great power comes great responsibility” or in D&C terms “where much is given much is required”. I explained how Heavenly Father isn’t going to force us to have the Holy Ghost, or even the responsibility to live worthy of it. If we were born with it, we would be under greater condemnation for losing it. But as a loving father he allows us to choose to receive that gift after qualifying for it through baptismal covenants. One of the best lessons with her so far, and as we were walking out we mentioned again the Book of Mormon, and asked where she was planning to start reading from. She told us from the beginning, opened up to the table of contents and while pointing to the first book of nephi said, “I should be able to finish that one by our next meeting (one week later), and if I finish that I’ll move on to 2 Nephi”. Haha, I wasn’t going to doubt or limit her, but will be ecstatic if she makes it to 2 Nephi by then!
Friday: Sharon was too sick to have our lesson so we offered a priesthood blessing and she accepted. It was super quick, we went in explained, blessed and popped out. The next time we went over Allen couldn’t stop expressing how grateful he was for what we did, and how much it uplifted him. Sharon was so impressed as well, she said as soon as they started praying she immediately felt her ears draining and she could suddenly hear again!
Sunday: Mike couldn’t have picked a better Sunday to start coming to church. Easter Sunday he got to experience a beautiful spirit filled meeting, in Sunday school we went over the atonement. He really desires to have that forgiveness and Sis Hendrix and I could tell it really spoke to him. He kept nodding his head and readily raised his hand when Sis Addison asked who desired to change and become better? The 3rd hour of church was a miracle hour. In priesthood we found out later from the Elders that they had spoken about the Word of Wisdom and they were able to talk to Mike about it. Mike smokes and both S.Hendrix and I had been wondering about when we should teach it or bring it up-tada! Heavenly Father had it scheduled. Did I mention that the WOW wasn't even in the literal lesson plan, in relief society we went over the Joseph fielding smith lesson about building up the kingdom of god, NO IDEA why they went over the word of wisdom in elder’s quorum.
well we're off to go see what leftover Easter candy we can raid from walmart;)
love y'all!
Sister Smith
Monday, April 14, 2014
A Great Week!!!
dah, not much time today. So not that my emails are ever very grammatically correct, but today's might be a bit worse than usual...here's bits from my week!
Later that night was my favorite part of…my life, k not quite that dramatic but I’m real excited. We had a lesson with Alisha. We walk up and they welcomed us right in. We gathered around the table; me, sis Hendrix, Alisha and Paige also joined us. We taught all about the importance of the Book of Mormon in her gaining her answer and knowing for herself it’s true. She totally understood near the end when we asked her if she believed the Book of Mormon to be true she said she did. We brought up baptism, and how it’s the next step after knowing and how this is only the beginning for their journey. That they’ve come so far, and Heavenly Father desires to raise them even higher. We questioned Paige about how she was feeling, even though she hasn't had a chance to read yet. She said she felt like she could trust us, and that she’d be very disappointed if she was to come to find out what we were saying wasn’t true. Together we pulled up Elder Holland’s “Testimony of the Book of Mormon” Mormon message-and it was so powerful. Alisha commented that it must be true, why else would they have gone through all of that? We were lead to scriptures, questions and experiences and were really able to get them to open up and understand.
Here’s a new one you don’t hear every day in the south. Sis Hendrix is backing me up out of where we were parked in an apartment complex. A truck pulls up, I assumed they were going to give her grief but here’s how the conversation went…
Lady in truck: “are y’all Jehovah witnesses”
S.hendrix: “no we’re missionaries from the church of…etc”
lady: “oh, well do y’all have bibles you’re passin out”
Hendrix: “no, but we have a Book of Mormon!”
Lady: “oh, I already got one of those”
Annnnd then she drove off.
My birthday was the greatest-I love being a missionary! April 11: Yup today is the day, 21 yrs ago that I left my Heavenly Father’s presence because I wanted to be something more. I wanted to become like my Dad and do everything he said-because he’s always known best, and He’s only ever had my best interests at heart. 21yrs ago he sent me to my family-I said farewell to my 2 little brothers and hello to my parents and big sisters. He gave me a family, because he loves me. That Easter day in 1993 my father blessed me with being born in the covenant where I would have the opportunity to be raised in the gospel, and while I never saw it, He knew I was being prepared to share that gospel with the people of SC one day. I used to think it was cool to say I was born on Easter because it was a holiday, but as I’ve come to learn more about my Savior, I love that the day I came to this earth, is the worldwide day recognized to celebrate the day Christ rose, and brought life to all men. I know that Christ lives. I know his gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, and I know that true happiness now and forever will come through the power of Christ's atonement:) oh yeah, in celebration we got ice cream, I made a cake annnd we decided to have a southern experience and went to Roy's diner. Enjoyed some good 'ol greasy home cooked meals and got to contact and chat with Roy himself about the gospel!
love y'all!! happy easter!!
Sister Smith
Later that night was my favorite part of…my life, k not quite that dramatic but I’m real excited. We had a lesson with Alisha. We walk up and they welcomed us right in. We gathered around the table; me, sis Hendrix, Alisha and Paige also joined us. We taught all about the importance of the Book of Mormon in her gaining her answer and knowing for herself it’s true. She totally understood near the end when we asked her if she believed the Book of Mormon to be true she said she did. We brought up baptism, and how it’s the next step after knowing and how this is only the beginning for their journey. That they’ve come so far, and Heavenly Father desires to raise them even higher. We questioned Paige about how she was feeling, even though she hasn't had a chance to read yet. She said she felt like she could trust us, and that she’d be very disappointed if she was to come to find out what we were saying wasn’t true. Together we pulled up Elder Holland’s “Testimony of the Book of Mormon” Mormon message-and it was so powerful. Alisha commented that it must be true, why else would they have gone through all of that? We were lead to scriptures, questions and experiences and were really able to get them to open up and understand.
Here’s a new one you don’t hear every day in the south. Sis Hendrix is backing me up out of where we were parked in an apartment complex. A truck pulls up, I assumed they were going to give her grief but here’s how the conversation went…
Lady in truck: “are y’all Jehovah witnesses”
S.hendrix: “no we’re missionaries from the church of…etc”
lady: “oh, well do y’all have bibles you’re passin out”
Hendrix: “no, but we have a Book of Mormon!”
Lady: “oh, I already got one of those”
Annnnd then she drove off.
My birthday was the greatest-I love being a missionary! April 11: Yup today is the day, 21 yrs ago that I left my Heavenly Father’s presence because I wanted to be something more. I wanted to become like my Dad and do everything he said-because he’s always known best, and He’s only ever had my best interests at heart. 21yrs ago he sent me to my family-I said farewell to my 2 little brothers and hello to my parents and big sisters. He gave me a family, because he loves me. That Easter day in 1993 my father blessed me with being born in the covenant where I would have the opportunity to be raised in the gospel, and while I never saw it, He knew I was being prepared to share that gospel with the people of SC one day. I used to think it was cool to say I was born on Easter because it was a holiday, but as I’ve come to learn more about my Savior, I love that the day I came to this earth, is the worldwide day recognized to celebrate the day Christ rose, and brought life to all men. I know that Christ lives. I know his gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, and I know that true happiness now and forever will come through the power of Christ's atonement:) oh yeah, in celebration we got ice cream, I made a cake annnd we decided to have a southern experience and went to Roy's diner. Enjoyed some good 'ol greasy home cooked meals and got to contact and chat with Roy himself about the gospel!
love y'all!! happy easter!!
Sister Smith
Monday, April 7, 2014
Training again, Teaching at MY Taco, General Conference, oh and can't believe at 9 month mark
I don't think I've ever experienced a better April 7th, prrrooobably because this is how great my week was....
We all gathered together before heading out to go tracting with the new trainees. President asked them who of them was nervous to go out-jokingly I raised my hand along with them and my companion for the day Sis Hendrix looks at me with a terrified look, saying “wait-you can’t be nervous!” The whole room busted up, it was hilarious, I assured her it was going to be just fine-and it was! She was so natural, and personable, jumped right in and testified-she was great. We also had one of the most diverse knocking experiences I’ve ever had. We met people who were Catholic, Baptist, atheist and RLDS. We experienced a door slam, passed out a BoM and had a lesson. A favorite experience was this guy Ken opened up, said he was Catholic and was never going to be converted…we’ll see. We were a little persistent and started teaching about the restoration and what we do, Sis Hendrix talked about the BoM. By the end of it all he accepted a copy, said he was house sitting for the next 2 days and would read it, and after we testified of the power of the BoM he even confessed that he was going through a hard time right now. She loved it and said it wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it’d be. It all brought me back to that blazing sweaty day in July when I went out with Sis Young for my first time. Can’t believe I’m actually in the middle of my mission (the 9mo mark is in 9 days!). While we were waiting to get picked up in the van, Sis Hendrix was so joyful and was like, “this was so great-I really hope that we get put together”. Me too! Ever since we first sat down to eat lunch with them at the church, dining on the typical uncrustables pb&j, I kept getting a feeling of how mature and prepared these 3 sisters are. My prompting was confirmed when I was able to go out, and I would love to be able to be companions with Sis Hendrix. With only 3 sisters the odds are pretty good. Turns out she was prophetic and the next day it was announced that Sister Smith would be training Sis Hendrix. woot!
Sis Sarah Hendrix is fantastic. She's from Logandale, nevada, we went to SUU together and had mutual friends and she's got a fire for the work and a sweet desire to love the people even more.
We had planned our entire night around a member who was going to feed us dinner and lived a little ways away. A couple hours before dinner she dropped out on us, meh, but that’s ok because Heavenly Father had a grander plan in mind, and we were just hungry. We set out to go into town to find something to eat. Sis Hendrix wanted something southern, but we couldn’t find many options. We walked in multiple restaurants and they didn’t quite fit into our budget. We finally stumbled upon “My Taco” which had a quesadilla for $3.25, we could do that. Heavenly Father just placed us perfectly at My Taco, the owner was super nice and friendly and we started talking about the church and gospel. He has a cousin who’s Mormon, went to BYU and was now living in Denver, Utah (we never had the heart to tell him Denver wasn’t in Utah). We talked more and explained the BoM, and how those were his ancestors who Christ ministered unto. He welcomed us back-which wasn’t uncommon seeing as how we were giving him business-but also said we should bring a Spanish BoM as well. Now he may just be doing this for good customer service, but I’ll take any opportunity that will get him to give what we’re teaching a chance.
Conference at the Dials was still great even though Jessica never showed, after we went to pick up Alisha. I almost died when I saw that their car wasn’t there, but Shane assured us she’d be right back and had just run to the store fast to grab some gum. Sigh.of.relief…she volunteered to take us with her in her truck to save us miles, which also provided great opportunity to talk before and after. Sis Campbell was great, had a sweet spread of goodies, and the speakers had a wonderful array of spiritual goodies. Alisha loved the choir and sat silent, intently listening to each speaker. Afterward we talked for about an hour about the priesthood, temples, families and Sis Campbell’s own conversion. The spirit was so strong as we all bore testimony. She said as she’s been studying she’ll just have to pray and receive an answer for herself. She explained how the priesthood makes sense to her and that if it happened back in bible times it makes sense that it could be set up the same way today. When the spirit was peaking I invited her to be baptized when she got that answer and she said she would. Sis Hendrix invited her to pray with us right then, after a moment of silence she said she just wasn’t comfortable praying in front of other people. We had a good long chat in the car afterward about what she liked and didn’t like in other churches she’d experienced. She explained to us why Shane wasn’t interested and said it was because their current preacher had counseled them to avoid associating with people of differing faiths. She even shared how Shane had resisted church for years, but after the first time we stopped by he had come to her saying he wanted to go to church. After the second time we came back he came to Alisha and told her they were definitely coming to church this Sunday. While I wish he had chosen to come to OUR church, I know that the Lord's hand is in this family's life, and when the time is right they will all be able to come to a knowledge of His truth found in the restored gospel.
oh and I also found out the whole chicken and waffles thing is a southern myth. We were talking with some natives who said they'd never had such a thing and didn't really have any clue where to find it either.
welp, love y'all and pray you'll go back over conference and pray to know who you could reach out to with one of the talks that were given. They'll be available to print out in a few days, and the rest is up to you. I promise that if you pray with real intent the spirit will guide you to one who needs to be brought closer to christ:)
-Sister Lindsay Mae Smith
We all gathered together before heading out to go tracting with the new trainees. President asked them who of them was nervous to go out-jokingly I raised my hand along with them and my companion for the day Sis Hendrix looks at me with a terrified look, saying “wait-you can’t be nervous!” The whole room busted up, it was hilarious, I assured her it was going to be just fine-and it was! She was so natural, and personable, jumped right in and testified-she was great. We also had one of the most diverse knocking experiences I’ve ever had. We met people who were Catholic, Baptist, atheist and RLDS. We experienced a door slam, passed out a BoM and had a lesson. A favorite experience was this guy Ken opened up, said he was Catholic and was never going to be converted…we’ll see. We were a little persistent and started teaching about the restoration and what we do, Sis Hendrix talked about the BoM. By the end of it all he accepted a copy, said he was house sitting for the next 2 days and would read it, and after we testified of the power of the BoM he even confessed that he was going through a hard time right now. She loved it and said it wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it’d be. It all brought me back to that blazing sweaty day in July when I went out with Sis Young for my first time. Can’t believe I’m actually in the middle of my mission (the 9mo mark is in 9 days!). While we were waiting to get picked up in the van, Sis Hendrix was so joyful and was like, “this was so great-I really hope that we get put together”. Me too! Ever since we first sat down to eat lunch with them at the church, dining on the typical uncrustables pb&j, I kept getting a feeling of how mature and prepared these 3 sisters are. My prompting was confirmed when I was able to go out, and I would love to be able to be companions with Sis Hendrix. With only 3 sisters the odds are pretty good. Turns out she was prophetic and the next day it was announced that Sister Smith would be training Sis Hendrix. woot!
Sis Sarah Hendrix is fantastic. She's from Logandale, nevada, we went to SUU together and had mutual friends and she's got a fire for the work and a sweet desire to love the people even more.
We had planned our entire night around a member who was going to feed us dinner and lived a little ways away. A couple hours before dinner she dropped out on us, meh, but that’s ok because Heavenly Father had a grander plan in mind, and we were just hungry. We set out to go into town to find something to eat. Sis Hendrix wanted something southern, but we couldn’t find many options. We walked in multiple restaurants and they didn’t quite fit into our budget. We finally stumbled upon “My Taco” which had a quesadilla for $3.25, we could do that. Heavenly Father just placed us perfectly at My Taco, the owner was super nice and friendly and we started talking about the church and gospel. He has a cousin who’s Mormon, went to BYU and was now living in Denver, Utah (we never had the heart to tell him Denver wasn’t in Utah). We talked more and explained the BoM, and how those were his ancestors who Christ ministered unto. He welcomed us back-which wasn’t uncommon seeing as how we were giving him business-but also said we should bring a Spanish BoM as well. Now he may just be doing this for good customer service, but I’ll take any opportunity that will get him to give what we’re teaching a chance.
Conference at the Dials was still great even though Jessica never showed, after we went to pick up Alisha. I almost died when I saw that their car wasn’t there, but Shane assured us she’d be right back and had just run to the store fast to grab some gum. Sigh.of.relief…she volunteered to take us with her in her truck to save us miles, which also provided great opportunity to talk before and after. Sis Campbell was great, had a sweet spread of goodies, and the speakers had a wonderful array of spiritual goodies. Alisha loved the choir and sat silent, intently listening to each speaker. Afterward we talked for about an hour about the priesthood, temples, families and Sis Campbell’s own conversion. The spirit was so strong as we all bore testimony. She said as she’s been studying she’ll just have to pray and receive an answer for herself. She explained how the priesthood makes sense to her and that if it happened back in bible times it makes sense that it could be set up the same way today. When the spirit was peaking I invited her to be baptized when she got that answer and she said she would. Sis Hendrix invited her to pray with us right then, after a moment of silence she said she just wasn’t comfortable praying in front of other people. We had a good long chat in the car afterward about what she liked and didn’t like in other churches she’d experienced. She explained to us why Shane wasn’t interested and said it was because their current preacher had counseled them to avoid associating with people of differing faiths. She even shared how Shane had resisted church for years, but after the first time we stopped by he had come to her saying he wanted to go to church. After the second time we came back he came to Alisha and told her they were definitely coming to church this Sunday. While I wish he had chosen to come to OUR church, I know that the Lord's hand is in this family's life, and when the time is right they will all be able to come to a knowledge of His truth found in the restored gospel.
oh and I also found out the whole chicken and waffles thing is a southern myth. We were talking with some natives who said they'd never had such a thing and didn't really have any clue where to find it either.
welp, love y'all and pray you'll go back over conference and pray to know who you could reach out to with one of the talks that were given. They'll be available to print out in a few days, and the rest is up to you. I promise that if you pray with real intent the spirit will guide you to one who needs to be brought closer to christ:)
-Sister Lindsay Mae Smith
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