Christmas Miracles

I just can't get over how happy where I am, doing what I'm doing, with the people I'm doing it with! I love sharing the gospel, I love teaching, serving, smiling and knocking on doors that no one answers. I love finding with faith, sharing my testimony and studying the doctrines of Salvation. I'm so grateful for the many Christmas miracles that are being placed in our path everyday. Here's a glimpse of my miraculous week!

Christmas Miracle #1: We were going to Rhi’s like we had planned last night, but when we pulled up to her house, neither of us felt like we should be there. We said a prayer, and concluded the spirit was restraining us from being there, so we carried on with our plans. We decided to go drop by Elena’s (a recent convert), we tried calling all THREE of her phones, no answer, but we still felt good about dropping by. It turns out she had her friend Barry over, we asked if we could do a quick lesson with them and he was all for it. We then presented, through the power of the Holy Ghost, one of the best restoration lessons. Barry loved it, and could really feel the spirit. He told us he felt hope, and a desire to learn more. He was so excited, and felt like he could finally get answers to his questions. Elena was amazing and bore a powerful testimony about how the gospel and church had helped her through some of the darkest times of her life.. We committed Barry to be baptized Dec. 27th, he said of course. He’s stoked to go to church with us this Sunday, and get this! He lives right next door to the church! Miracles are out there, and I’m so grateful for the spirit that kept pushing us towards Barry. He kept saying at the end what a miracle this was, there was no coincidence. You know, I’m kinda really grateful that Heavenly Father allows us to act in faith. When we decided to not go to Rhi’s and continue onto Elena’s the spirit didn’t say, “you can’t go to Rhi’s, and you need to go to Elena’s because there’s someone there you need to teach”. And then when we tried to call her 3 different times and she never answered, the spirit didn’t chime in and say, “no, you still need to go to Elena’s there’s this guy named Barry and he’s super prepared, so just keeeep on driving”. No. we didn’t get that, but we carried on, and ta-dah, MIRACLE! J

We had a birthday dinner and lesson with Sis Lincoln and of course the rest of the family. We talked about, ENDURING TO THE END! And related it to how we need to endure to the end in minute to win it games. Their family is doing so great, the other day when we taught them about temples Sis Lincoln told us how excited she was to go to the temple. I love this family so much! We did the oreo game, when you have to wiggle an oreo down your face into your mouth. Bro Lincoln decided that the oreo wasn’t worth the work, so he gave up after 2 tries. Haha, he said that, like life, you have to be working towards something that’s worth the work. Eternal life is always worth it, so we need to sacrifice whatever it takes, however money and recognition aren’t so why “labor for that which is of no worth”.PS: Sis lincoln told us how excited she is to go to the temple one day! :):)

During lunch we went to town decorating our apartment for the most wonderful time of the year. Paula donated a full size Christmas tree, but when we pulled it out of the box to set it up, we realized it was missing the top piece, we improvised, and with a little fluffing, ornaments and lights we the the best Christmas bush this side of the Mississippi. We hung snowflakes from the ceiling, arranged a little nativity set, colored a big “Joy to the World” banner and just basked in the majestic feeling of this wondrous season. I couldn’t be Jollier!!...even if Jollier isn’t a word;)

Sunday:
During my morning prayers, I was just smiling the whole time. We saw some great miracles as well, a whole bunch of people came to church, they even had to open up the overflow! Morgan got confused about the Christmas devotional, and that little diligent guy came to the church at 8AM! We felt so terrible, but he ended up coming back again at 8PM. Another miracle, we were panicking because we couldn’t find anyone to come to Kitt’s with us, but at the last minute we called Elena and she came through for us. Kitt’s so funny, he lets us teach the new member lessons, simple stuff like tithing and fast offerings today, but as soon as we finished, he was like, “ok, finished with that, now I have some questions!”. Kitt’s so funny, and was asking all about Christ real birthday and how it coordinates with the Jewish calendar, aw man Kitt, I told him that I’m learning so much from just teaching him. He literally studies the gospel all day. He’ll bust out these student institute study manuals and flip all through it showing us different sections and then ask some crazy question. He’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met-I love him so much!\

Love y'all, go lip sync to some Christmas tunes, enjoy your family and share the He is the Gift video with someone from christmas.mormon.org
LOVE! SISTER SMITH!
PS:guess what, only 16 days til christmas!!!!!!! haha, and even better only 12 days until Morgan's baptism!)