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!)
Monday, December 8, 2014
Monday, December 1, 2014
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| Sisters and Elders Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl |
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Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without Mac and Cheese
Welcome to December, and this week's edition of The Lord's Vineyard: Summerville, South Carolina Edition...I'm your host, Sister Smith and I'll be filling you in on the miracles, adventures and happenings of my time serving as a full-time representative of our Savior Jesus Christ, hope you enjoy and feel a little more joyful after reading!!
Nov 24th:
The Cicon’s had Morgan over for FHE tonight. I love how we’re on such a steady schedule with morgan. Every Monday we go over and he follows us to a members house to have FHE, then every Friday at 10:30am we meet in his driveway on camp chairs and have a lesson. He’s the greatest. He told us he’d finally finished 2 Nephi, he’s a little nervous for his baptism, but he’s getting excited as well. The Cicon’s had no idea he was getting baptized, so when they started asking him how he was feeling about the church and such, he piped in, well I’m getting baptized Dec. 20th. They were like, “WHAT!?”, they had the peeeerrrfect reaction, as they both shouted and congratulated him with jubilance. Which is how it should be, this is one of the most life changing decisions, he’s making an eternal covenant with God, I think it deserves a few emotional pyrotechnics.
Nov. 26th:
After unexchanging with Sis Havens, we went to the Haynes for our lesson. We taught the little munchkins about the plan of salvation. We started with having them color their own, and I did my best to help the 6yr old not “scribble-scrabble” all over, because as she told me, “you can’t scribble-scrabble, it’s dangerous!”. We cut them out, and laid it out piece by piece explaining it all. I love breaking things down to a child’s level, that’s the simplicity we should all be looking at things with. We mixed up all the pieces and challenged them to put it all back together again. Izayah, the 10yr old was great, we’d only asked him to rearrange the pieces in order. He not only did that, but proceeded to explain to us about what each piece was, and how it fit into the plan. He was a little confused about what temples are, and told us that’s where all of our bodies are kept, we quickly cleared that one up, haha.
Nov 27th:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
HAPPY HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I couldn’t be more grateful to be where I am right now. Smack dab in the middle of the Lord’s vineyard, sporting a shiny black nametag bearing the name of Jesus Christ, and his Church in these Latter Days.
For the first time ever, I got to participate in the Turkey Bowl. It was a blast, and felt so good to play a competitive sport after such a long time. Our ward was combined with the 3rd ward, so we got to play with the other sisters and elders as well. We layered up, and headed out. Sis Wheelock was so pumped, the day before she’d been sick with the flu, but sure enough she shook it off, and said there was no way she wasn’t playing in the turkey bowl because of some little flu. Sis Mathias was a little unfamiliar with it all, but she caught on fast. We randomly split up the teams, making sure companions stayed together to make sure companionship unity was maintained. We played 2-hand touch, only sisters could guard sisters, but if a sister caught a pass it was an automatic down. We did pretty good, and I think represented the face of all sister missionaries everywhere. Sis Burbank caught a touchdown pass, I played more on the defense and tipped a few passes, took down a few runs and caught a interception, and Sis Wheelock had the same. haha, and this was sis Mathias' first time playing american football, and she didn't do too shabby.
Our first thanksgiving meal was with Doris, her son and her 6 grands. It was so much fun! They’re just a good ‘ol southern black family. The meal consisted of yams, rice, collard greens, potato salad, mac-n-cheese and a Tur-duck-hen. Not all of your traditional western thanksgiving foods, but when we told them that back home I’d never had a thanksgiving with mac-n-cheese they were appalled. Keenan exclaimed, “what?! That’s the only thing I look forward to eachthanksgiving!” The rest of our Thanksgiving was with the Blonquist family.
Nov. 29:
All afternoon we were struggling to find anyone to let us in and teach. We pulled up to our last plan, and it was only 7:30…I prayed for a miracle, and that some way these people would let us in, and we’d be able to teach them. We knocked in the Peterson’s neighbor’s door. We’d tried before to meet with her, because the Peterson’s told us they might be interested. She answered and let us right in! We got to teach her, Amy, and her boyfriend, Joe! They’re middle aged, with families of their own and were the sweetest little miracle of the night. Looking back I can tell how the spirit guided us, we were lead in our questions and we taught in a different way than we ever had. It was doctrine focused, but applied in a casual way that testified of how ultimate truth is out there, and it can bless their individual lives. They areed to read from the Book of Mormon, and said we were welcome to come back, and even sent us on our way with a big bag of chex mix! I’m smiling just thinking about how sweet Heavenly Father was in leading 2 cold, lonely, rejected sisters to their home, so we could be an instrument in His hands.
ok, this episode ended up being an extended addition! But there was just too much goodness and blessings this week! hope y'all experience the same! miracles are out there, go get em!!
Love y'all!
Sister Smith
Nov 24th:
The Cicon’s had Morgan over for FHE tonight. I love how we’re on such a steady schedule with morgan. Every Monday we go over and he follows us to a members house to have FHE, then every Friday at 10:30am we meet in his driveway on camp chairs and have a lesson. He’s the greatest. He told us he’d finally finished 2 Nephi, he’s a little nervous for his baptism, but he’s getting excited as well. The Cicon’s had no idea he was getting baptized, so when they started asking him how he was feeling about the church and such, he piped in, well I’m getting baptized Dec. 20th. They were like, “WHAT!?”, they had the peeeerrrfect reaction, as they both shouted and congratulated him with jubilance. Which is how it should be, this is one of the most life changing decisions, he’s making an eternal covenant with God, I think it deserves a few emotional pyrotechnics.
Nov. 26th:
After unexchanging with Sis Havens, we went to the Haynes for our lesson. We taught the little munchkins about the plan of salvation. We started with having them color their own, and I did my best to help the 6yr old not “scribble-scrabble” all over, because as she told me, “you can’t scribble-scrabble, it’s dangerous!”. We cut them out, and laid it out piece by piece explaining it all. I love breaking things down to a child’s level, that’s the simplicity we should all be looking at things with. We mixed up all the pieces and challenged them to put it all back together again. Izayah, the 10yr old was great, we’d only asked him to rearrange the pieces in order. He not only did that, but proceeded to explain to us about what each piece was, and how it fit into the plan. He was a little confused about what temples are, and told us that’s where all of our bodies are kept, we quickly cleared that one up, haha.
Nov 27th:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
HAPPY HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I couldn’t be more grateful to be where I am right now. Smack dab in the middle of the Lord’s vineyard, sporting a shiny black nametag bearing the name of Jesus Christ, and his Church in these Latter Days.
For the first time ever, I got to participate in the Turkey Bowl. It was a blast, and felt so good to play a competitive sport after such a long time. Our ward was combined with the 3rd ward, so we got to play with the other sisters and elders as well. We layered up, and headed out. Sis Wheelock was so pumped, the day before she’d been sick with the flu, but sure enough she shook it off, and said there was no way she wasn’t playing in the turkey bowl because of some little flu. Sis Mathias was a little unfamiliar with it all, but she caught on fast. We randomly split up the teams, making sure companions stayed together to make sure companionship unity was maintained. We played 2-hand touch, only sisters could guard sisters, but if a sister caught a pass it was an automatic down. We did pretty good, and I think represented the face of all sister missionaries everywhere. Sis Burbank caught a touchdown pass, I played more on the defense and tipped a few passes, took down a few runs and caught a interception, and Sis Wheelock had the same. haha, and this was sis Mathias' first time playing american football, and she didn't do too shabby.
Our first thanksgiving meal was with Doris, her son and her 6 grands. It was so much fun! They’re just a good ‘ol southern black family. The meal consisted of yams, rice, collard greens, potato salad, mac-n-cheese and a Tur-duck-hen. Not all of your traditional western thanksgiving foods, but when we told them that back home I’d never had a thanksgiving with mac-n-cheese they were appalled. Keenan exclaimed, “what?! That’s the only thing I look forward to eachthanksgiving!” The rest of our Thanksgiving was with the Blonquist family.
Nov. 29:
All afternoon we were struggling to find anyone to let us in and teach. We pulled up to our last plan, and it was only 7:30…I prayed for a miracle, and that some way these people would let us in, and we’d be able to teach them. We knocked in the Peterson’s neighbor’s door. We’d tried before to meet with her, because the Peterson’s told us they might be interested. She answered and let us right in! We got to teach her, Amy, and her boyfriend, Joe! They’re middle aged, with families of their own and were the sweetest little miracle of the night. Looking back I can tell how the spirit guided us, we were lead in our questions and we taught in a different way than we ever had. It was doctrine focused, but applied in a casual way that testified of how ultimate truth is out there, and it can bless their individual lives. They areed to read from the Book of Mormon, and said we were welcome to come back, and even sent us on our way with a big bag of chex mix! I’m smiling just thinking about how sweet Heavenly Father was in leading 2 cold, lonely, rejected sisters to their home, so we could be an instrument in His hands.
ok, this episode ended up being an extended addition! But there was just too much goodness and blessings this week! hope y'all experience the same! miracles are out there, go get em!!
Love y'all!
Sister Smith
Monday, November 24, 2014
Hey y'all, Another great week flew by, seriously where did November go?!?
Hey y'all, Another great week flew by, seriously where did November go?!?
well at least I have evidence that it happened based off of these little weekly email things, but otherwise I'd hardly believe that 7 more days just passed by!!
check it out!
....
Morgan followed us over to the Dunn’s for a family home evening with their family. It was so fun, talked about humility, he was a little nervous at first, but it soon lightened up and he told us that his favorite part was playing apples to apples with them all at the end. We were a little nervous at the end when the Dunn’s started talking a lot about polygamy and such, but Morgan didn't skip a beat, he’d already researched that and learned about how it was needed for a time, and that God had commanded it. He’s so great!
We’d texted him about how he was feeling about the Dunn’s and his baptism and we almost died with every text he sent, I’m just going to type it word for word.
Morgan: I’m feeling good about it grandma (his grandma in Utah) and I discussed it some and she fully agrees with y’all that I shouldn't wait any longer. She also, like y’all told me that the doubt is the devil trying to convince me that I shouldn't go through with it. So hearing it from y’all and her, and based on how I feel as I've been progressing I feel fairly confident about doing it the 20th!! Sis Burbank and I were going nuts, he’s the best!! He sent a bunch more about how the gospel has been blessing his life, how he feels when he studies from the scriptures, how much he wants his family to accept this, and so much more:)
The Lincoln lesson was a blast, and I’m so glad Sis Harvey was there. You’d never know that she’s a newer missionary, which is how it should be. She had a member tell her once that she “looked” like a greenie, that you could tell her companion was a long time experienced and seasoned missionary, but that Sis Harvey looked “green”. I told her that wasn't true, and that being told you’re green is a compliment. I had a good friend give me the advice before I came out in the field to “stay green”. No matter how long you’ve been out stay that on fire, obedient, humble, submissive, always looking to improve green missionary.
But anyways with the Lincolns we taught the 10 commandments and had them break up in groups, learn about a few commandments and then present a mini lesson. At the end I taught them the hand signals to remember the 10 commandments with, then we did a game where I would call out a number, commandment or do the hand sign and they’d have to give which commandment was associated with it. I was able to give Gabbie my little picture I drew for her, along with the CTR earrings my mom gave me, and she loved them and put them in right away!
-went on 3 exchanges this week, with my favorite Sis Harvey from Kaysville, Sis Vaifanua from Cali (haha, nobody messes with her here, because she's Samoan, haha, but alot of people mistake her for being black), and Sis Mathias my favorite German sister!
Aw man! We went over to Elena’s for smores, and due to the fact that the fire kept EXPLODING, we got a little distracted and weren't able to include a lesson. That bothered me, but I’ll make sure to make it a priority next time. Her logs she had were wet, so when the water heated up the pressure would build then WHAMO! Explosion complete with plumes of sparks and flying coal. It was quite exciting, and made smore making a dangerous activity. It really was pretty scary though, eventually we backed away, not far enough though, I got hit in the head with a big chunk of wood, and Sis Burbank got burned when a small piece of coal fell down her shirt, it was so crazy! Haha, something really crazy for me was that she just made the fire on her back patio, didn’t clear the area, didn’t worry about the piles of dry leaves everywhere, it’s so humid they don’t have a real fear of wild fires starting up. I’m not in Utah anymore that’s for sure, haha, she kept laughing at Sis Burbank and I because we were nervous about not having a firepit, or about all of the dry leaves just hanging around, or the fact that the fire kept exploding and burning logs would fly all over the lawn, we even heard one fly up and hit the roof.
I'm, so grateful for everything! But that's a silly cop out, I've found a lot of joy as I pray more specifically. Today I'm especially grateful for my Heavenly Father's grand plan to help us learn how to make decisions. Yes he wants us to rely on him, but he duly wants us to become like him so that we may know in each situation what decision He would make.
Gee whiz there are some good days ahead!
hope y'all have some too!
LOVE,
Sister Smith
Love y'all!
well at least I have evidence that it happened based off of these little weekly email things, but otherwise I'd hardly believe that 7 more days just passed by!!
check it out!
....
Morgan followed us over to the Dunn’s for a family home evening with their family. It was so fun, talked about humility, he was a little nervous at first, but it soon lightened up and he told us that his favorite part was playing apples to apples with them all at the end. We were a little nervous at the end when the Dunn’s started talking a lot about polygamy and such, but Morgan didn't skip a beat, he’d already researched that and learned about how it was needed for a time, and that God had commanded it. He’s so great!
We’d texted him about how he was feeling about the Dunn’s and his baptism and we almost died with every text he sent, I’m just going to type it word for word.
Morgan: I’m feeling good about it grandma (his grandma in Utah) and I discussed it some and she fully agrees with y’all that I shouldn't wait any longer. She also, like y’all told me that the doubt is the devil trying to convince me that I shouldn't go through with it. So hearing it from y’all and her, and based on how I feel as I've been progressing I feel fairly confident about doing it the 20th!! Sis Burbank and I were going nuts, he’s the best!! He sent a bunch more about how the gospel has been blessing his life, how he feels when he studies from the scriptures, how much he wants his family to accept this, and so much more:)
The Lincoln lesson was a blast, and I’m so glad Sis Harvey was there. You’d never know that she’s a newer missionary, which is how it should be. She had a member tell her once that she “looked” like a greenie, that you could tell her companion was a long time experienced and seasoned missionary, but that Sis Harvey looked “green”. I told her that wasn't true, and that being told you’re green is a compliment. I had a good friend give me the advice before I came out in the field to “stay green”. No matter how long you’ve been out stay that on fire, obedient, humble, submissive, always looking to improve green missionary.
But anyways with the Lincolns we taught the 10 commandments and had them break up in groups, learn about a few commandments and then present a mini lesson. At the end I taught them the hand signals to remember the 10 commandments with, then we did a game where I would call out a number, commandment or do the hand sign and they’d have to give which commandment was associated with it. I was able to give Gabbie my little picture I drew for her, along with the CTR earrings my mom gave me, and she loved them and put them in right away!
-went on 3 exchanges this week, with my favorite Sis Harvey from Kaysville, Sis Vaifanua from Cali (haha, nobody messes with her here, because she's Samoan, haha, but alot of people mistake her for being black), and Sis Mathias my favorite German sister!
Aw man! We went over to Elena’s for smores, and due to the fact that the fire kept EXPLODING, we got a little distracted and weren't able to include a lesson. That bothered me, but I’ll make sure to make it a priority next time. Her logs she had were wet, so when the water heated up the pressure would build then WHAMO! Explosion complete with plumes of sparks and flying coal. It was quite exciting, and made smore making a dangerous activity. It really was pretty scary though, eventually we backed away, not far enough though, I got hit in the head with a big chunk of wood, and Sis Burbank got burned when a small piece of coal fell down her shirt, it was so crazy! Haha, something really crazy for me was that she just made the fire on her back patio, didn’t clear the area, didn’t worry about the piles of dry leaves everywhere, it’s so humid they don’t have a real fear of wild fires starting up. I’m not in Utah anymore that’s for sure, haha, she kept laughing at Sis Burbank and I because we were nervous about not having a firepit, or about all of the dry leaves just hanging around, or the fact that the fire kept exploding and burning logs would fly all over the lawn, we even heard one fly up and hit the roof.
I'm, so grateful for everything! But that's a silly cop out, I've found a lot of joy as I pray more specifically. Today I'm especially grateful for my Heavenly Father's grand plan to help us learn how to make decisions. Yes he wants us to rely on him, but he duly wants us to become like him so that we may know in each situation what decision He would make.
Gee whiz there are some good days ahead!
hope y'all have some too!
LOVE,
Sister Smith
Love y'all!
Monday, November 17, 2014
I'm Dreamin' of a White Christmas the Missionary way
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!..haha, but not like the ones I used to know in utah with snow and what-not. Well the snow would be nice, who knows maybe we'll get a little this year! But what I'm ever so excited about is the baptism that'll be happening dec 27 with morgan in his WHITE baptismal suit.
Sis burbank and I keep asking ourselves how have we been blessed with such an awesome, elect person to teach??
Morgan came with us to Bishop Walker’s home for an FHE lesson with the Walker family. It was so perfect, their family is amazing and it was cool to see Morgan participating in the lesson, and not being afraid to speak up. I was eavesdropping when bishop was talking with Morgan about going to institute, Morgan seemed pretty interested!
A few days earlier we'd committed Morgan to watch at least one talk by President Monson, the next day he texted us and said that he'd read 2 already. He told us how he could feel the power of the spirit when he spoke. He also made the connection that whenever he reads the Book of Mormon he feels good and peaceful and that he gets the exact same feeling when he'd study President Monson's talks! so cool!
I had such a joyful surprise, our first lesson of the exchange was with Becky! miracle moment!! I had taught Becky back when I was with Sis Willis, she’s the sister of a less active/recent convert in our ward (Paula). She’s the greatest, always has a fabulous analogy on hand to relate to what we’re teaching her. We even committed her to baptism, and then she moved back home and I hadn’t seen her since. Becky lives on the edge of the Walterboro sisters area so they’d only had a chance to meet with her once. She was surprised to see me standing behind Sis Allen. It was such a joyful reunion, similar to when the sons of mosiah are reunited after their missions, and our joy was even greater because she’s still interested in baptism and learning more. We went over the plan of salvation again, and she told us how it answered so many questions. I’m so grateful for the plan, and even more grateful that our Heavenly Father decided to let us in on the plan and gave us a few details about what’s happened, what’s happening and what will be happening in His planJ Becky committed to prepare for her baptism for Dec. 13th.
Sis Burbank and I were able to spend a whole whopping hour together, and then we swapped again and I headed out to James Island with the lovely Sis Kayla Stout. I was so glad to be with her, I came out with her and I’ve never really gotten to know her besides the few nights we stayed in a hotel together at the beginning of our mission.
We got to teach a man who may or may not have multiple personalities, but he's super intelligent and has a desire to learn.
Sunday was Sis Burbanks birthday! yup, the big 2-1!! we celebrated with a big breakfast with the other sisters and then running off to our regular Sunday meetings. It was SUCH a good day, we had Kitt, Alysa, Gerald, Alyssa (#2), the Haynes family, Elena and Morgan all at church!
Love y'all so much! How blessed are we to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, I know that it's through our savior that we can truly "lay hold upon every good thing". Through the enabling power of the atonement I'm able to have the strength to change and improve, and when I fall short I know that the redeeming power of the atonement is there to cleanse me.
It was a little disheartening to meet with a less active woman sunday, she'd been raised in the church, her parents were converts. She attended BYU-i, and byu hawaii, sealed in the temple, her husband converted. But because of the world, and some anti-material she's now fallen away, and not just from the church, but she no longer believes there's a Savior or a Heavenly Father who loves us and cares about every aspect of our lives. What a way to live?
Go out and spread the love y'all!!
signing out!
Sister Smith!!
Sis burbank and I keep asking ourselves how have we been blessed with such an awesome, elect person to teach??
Morgan came with us to Bishop Walker’s home for an FHE lesson with the Walker family. It was so perfect, their family is amazing and it was cool to see Morgan participating in the lesson, and not being afraid to speak up. I was eavesdropping when bishop was talking with Morgan about going to institute, Morgan seemed pretty interested!
A few days earlier we'd committed Morgan to watch at least one talk by President Monson, the next day he texted us and said that he'd read 2 already. He told us how he could feel the power of the spirit when he spoke. He also made the connection that whenever he reads the Book of Mormon he feels good and peaceful and that he gets the exact same feeling when he'd study President Monson's talks! so cool!
I had such a joyful surprise, our first lesson of the exchange was with Becky! miracle moment!! I had taught Becky back when I was with Sis Willis, she’s the sister of a less active/recent convert in our ward (Paula). She’s the greatest, always has a fabulous analogy on hand to relate to what we’re teaching her. We even committed her to baptism, and then she moved back home and I hadn’t seen her since. Becky lives on the edge of the Walterboro sisters area so they’d only had a chance to meet with her once. She was surprised to see me standing behind Sis Allen. It was such a joyful reunion, similar to when the sons of mosiah are reunited after their missions, and our joy was even greater because she’s still interested in baptism and learning more. We went over the plan of salvation again, and she told us how it answered so many questions. I’m so grateful for the plan, and even more grateful that our Heavenly Father decided to let us in on the plan and gave us a few details about what’s happened, what’s happening and what will be happening in His planJ Becky committed to prepare for her baptism for Dec. 13th.
Sis Burbank and I were able to spend a whole whopping hour together, and then we swapped again and I headed out to James Island with the lovely Sis Kayla Stout. I was so glad to be with her, I came out with her and I’ve never really gotten to know her besides the few nights we stayed in a hotel together at the beginning of our mission.
We got to teach a man who may or may not have multiple personalities, but he's super intelligent and has a desire to learn.
Sunday was Sis Burbanks birthday! yup, the big 2-1!! we celebrated with a big breakfast with the other sisters and then running off to our regular Sunday meetings. It was SUCH a good day, we had Kitt, Alysa, Gerald, Alyssa (#2), the Haynes family, Elena and Morgan all at church!
Love y'all so much! How blessed are we to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, I know that it's through our savior that we can truly "lay hold upon every good thing". Through the enabling power of the atonement I'm able to have the strength to change and improve, and when I fall short I know that the redeeming power of the atonement is there to cleanse me.
It was a little disheartening to meet with a less active woman sunday, she'd been raised in the church, her parents were converts. She attended BYU-i, and byu hawaii, sealed in the temple, her husband converted. But because of the world, and some anti-material she's now fallen away, and not just from the church, but she no longer believes there's a Savior or a Heavenly Father who loves us and cares about every aspect of our lives. What a way to live?
Go out and spread the love y'all!!
signing out!
Sister Smith!!
Monday, November 10, 2014
Our Church smells like popcorn
The quote of the day comes from a billboard we saw the other day, it read, “Our church smells like popcorn”. It was an advertisement for their church. While MY church may not smell like popcorn, I’m so grateful for the blessings and eternal happiness that it offers insteadJ
Well, it’s a beautiful fall day in Summerville, South Carolina, and once again, here we are, at our computers reading about sister smith’s week. Thanks for tuning in, and I hope and pray something I say will...
A. motivate you to come closer to our Savior
and/or
B. bring a wee bit of sunshineyness to your day!!
here's the week!...
We ran down to the Lincolns and got to sit in on their FHE. I felt like a proud parent watching them put on this awesome FHE lesson about rising higher than our trials, they made analogies to kites and how kites need wind to fly. Then we each made kites and enjoyed a little kite decorated cookies. So precious. Gabby, the 7 yr old showed us the mini Book of Mormon she had made for her doll-so awesome! Love this family:D
We drove our usual 2hrs to Columbia for MLC this morning, I LOVE MLC (mission leadership conference)!
The spirit was super strong, and we spoke all about how we can now implement becoming better planners and finders. There are a few new policies no longer are we saying, “Hi, we’re the missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints…”, now we start by saying, “Hi, we’re your missionaries!”
Our usual Friday morning lesson with Morgan was just splendid! As alwaysJ He’s just finished 1 Nephi, and had all of these awesome questions for us about, “who are the gentiles? What’s the devils church? What’s the gathering of Israel, the house of Israel?” He’s big history buff, so he loved the chapters of when Nephi is shown a vision of the future by the angel. Morgan even recognized that when it’s talking about the Jews and Israel, how it connects with what’s happened in history. He readily accepted tithing and fasting, and said that he’d no doubt following it after he was baptized. He still has such a fire for it all, and he’s changed so much. Instead of being more reserved and not confident about the gospel, when there are pauses during the lesson he’ll chime up. We had just shared about the widows mite and he pipes in, “God doesn’t really care about how much we make, he wants us to give all that we have”. He’s feeling excited about his baptism, but asked us if he’s not ready when the time comes, will it be a big deal if he drops out? We told him, of course not, that this is his day, but that honestly he’s ready, and those feelings of doubt and uncertainty are only going to increase as the devil tries harder to dissuade him from doing this. No matter what though, Heavenly Father will be there through it all.
When Bro Lincoln came with us to teach the Haynes family, he shared a little more insight into his family, and it melted my heart!
We knew that a few weeks ago he and his wife had taken each of the girls aside to ask them how they were feeling about the missionary lessons and such. Isabella told him, “there’s no other option, this church is where we need to be”.
He also said that about a year ago, before we’d even started teaching, Gabby was at a Lutheran church with her mom and said, as a 6yr old at the time, “I don’t believe this, I want to go to church with Papi”
This church is true, and children are some of the most pure Christ like vessels for the spirit to work through!
Have a great day cause it's the most wonderful time of the year. Naw, regardless of the holiday season it's a beautiful time to be alive, it's the most wonderful time of this dispensation!
Love,
your missionary,
sis smith
Well, it’s a beautiful fall day in Summerville, South Carolina, and once again, here we are, at our computers reading about sister smith’s week. Thanks for tuning in, and I hope and pray something I say will...
A. motivate you to come closer to our Savior
and/or
B. bring a wee bit of sunshineyness to your day!!
here's the week!...
We ran down to the Lincolns and got to sit in on their FHE. I felt like a proud parent watching them put on this awesome FHE lesson about rising higher than our trials, they made analogies to kites and how kites need wind to fly. Then we each made kites and enjoyed a little kite decorated cookies. So precious. Gabby, the 7 yr old showed us the mini Book of Mormon she had made for her doll-so awesome! Love this family:D
We drove our usual 2hrs to Columbia for MLC this morning, I LOVE MLC (mission leadership conference)!
The spirit was super strong, and we spoke all about how we can now implement becoming better planners and finders. There are a few new policies no longer are we saying, “Hi, we’re the missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints…”, now we start by saying, “Hi, we’re your missionaries!”
Our usual Friday morning lesson with Morgan was just splendid! As alwaysJ He’s just finished 1 Nephi, and had all of these awesome questions for us about, “who are the gentiles? What’s the devils church? What’s the gathering of Israel, the house of Israel?” He’s big history buff, so he loved the chapters of when Nephi is shown a vision of the future by the angel. Morgan even recognized that when it’s talking about the Jews and Israel, how it connects with what’s happened in history. He readily accepted tithing and fasting, and said that he’d no doubt following it after he was baptized. He still has such a fire for it all, and he’s changed so much. Instead of being more reserved and not confident about the gospel, when there are pauses during the lesson he’ll chime up. We had just shared about the widows mite and he pipes in, “God doesn’t really care about how much we make, he wants us to give all that we have”. He’s feeling excited about his baptism, but asked us if he’s not ready when the time comes, will it be a big deal if he drops out? We told him, of course not, that this is his day, but that honestly he’s ready, and those feelings of doubt and uncertainty are only going to increase as the devil tries harder to dissuade him from doing this. No matter what though, Heavenly Father will be there through it all.
When Bro Lincoln came with us to teach the Haynes family, he shared a little more insight into his family, and it melted my heart!
We knew that a few weeks ago he and his wife had taken each of the girls aside to ask them how they were feeling about the missionary lessons and such. Isabella told him, “there’s no other option, this church is where we need to be”.
He also said that about a year ago, before we’d even started teaching, Gabby was at a Lutheran church with her mom and said, as a 6yr old at the time, “I don’t believe this, I want to go to church with Papi”
This church is true, and children are some of the most pure Christ like vessels for the spirit to work through!
Have a great day cause it's the most wonderful time of the year. Naw, regardless of the holiday season it's a beautiful time to be alive, it's the most wonderful time of this dispensation!
Love,
your missionary,
sis smith
Monday, November 3, 2014
Halloween photo fun
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| Sister Burbank and Sister Smith Match---What |
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| What Sister Missionaries do when locked down for Halloween |
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| Where to take all the muffins????? |
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