Week 9 - Three Missionaries Walk into a Bar

Hey everyone! 

This week has been quite the rollercoaster of emotions. We saw miracles and were reminded unfortunately that Satan still has an influence in this world. 

On Wednesday, we were making flyers (on the computers in the library) for another church tour we are doing. This kid named Joel came up to us and asked for a flyer. He told us he was super interested and even volunteered to help with our tour! We gave him our number and told him to call us. A couple days later, he calls us and still says he wants to help out. We had stake conference this weekend so we invited him to the adult session on Saturday night. He came and loved every minute of it. We've been teaching him and he's open to learning everything about our church! He's going to keep coming to church and is committed to praying about the Book of Mormon. Heavenly Father definitely sent Joel to us because he is amazing! 

This was the last week of being in a trio so my time as Hermana Smith is sadly coming to an end. I have personally seen the gift of tongues already happening. I only took a couple years of Spanish in high school so basically I knew nothing. As we taught this man named Gustavo, I was able to understand what they were saying! Ok not word for word, but I knew when he asked questions about the Book of Mormon and I knew when Hermana Wilcock invited him to be baptized. It was really cool to see how God uses us as His instruments. I even got to pray in Spanish after the lesson!

Ok now to explain the title...so on Thursday night we went to visit this 50 year old less active member named Brother Deveraux. He is trying to quit drinking but is having a really hard time. We knocked on his door a couple of times and no answer. Sister Morris says "I bet he is at the bar" and she starts marching over there. Hermana Wilcock and I just look at each other in fear. We literally walked into the bar and I wish I could've taken a picture of everyone's face when they saw us come in. They were so shocked! We asked if we can talk to someone and the bartender says that should be fine, but if the cops come, we have to exit as soon as possible (we were underage obviously). We see Brother Deveraux and he turns as white as a ghost. We pulled him outside and showed him a video. He went straight home after that and didn't finish his drink.

The next day we stop by his home again and offer to help clean his house. He is getting kicked out because he can't afford to pay rent. We practically forced ourselves in and we were horrified. Beer cans and trash were EVERYWHERE. We got right to work and filled 11 TRASH BAGS OF CANS! We weren't even half way done but he was getting embarrassed and made us stop. In the end, he was grateful for what we did and asked us to help him stay sober. We are going to get a group to meet at the church every week to help him overcome his addictions. I truly love this man; he never had kids so he calls us his daughters. He is the sweetest man you will ever meet. It breaks my heart to see Satan dragging him down this dark path but he has such a desire to change and I know he will. 

I'm finally done with my first transfer and I can't believe how fast it has gone! Sunday night was transfer calls so Sister Morris and I couldn't function at all! We were so nervous one of us was getting transferred. We even went to a members house to do companion study because we needed to be distracted. Luckily, no one is getting transferred and I still get Sister Morris all to myself for another 6 weeks! We had a 20 minute dance party after we found out we didn't have to leave Enumclaw - it was legendary. The work has only just begun and we have so much to still do here. Prepare to hear lots of miracle stories because I have a good feeling about this next transfer! 

The church is TRUE and I love being a missionary! 

-sis. smith 

"we are eating ribs tonight so protect your dresses with these."

My sistas

Danielle (fav member) got us socks from Alaska!

Finally found a full body mirror

The end of an era

Week 8 - Las Tres Hermanas (Trio Power!)

Hey!! 

A lot happened this past week so bare with me haha :) 

On Wednesday, the sister training leaders from Maple Valley came to Enumclaw for a blitz (mini exchange where both companionships stay in one area). Sister Watson and I were a power companionship - we were finding people left and right! We found this woman named Stephanie who just moved in a couple of months ago. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was pretty excited to read it! But that's not all....she recently got engaged and we were talking about temples with her. We told her she could get married in the temple and be sealed to her husband forever. She said that was something she definitely wanted! I'll keep you guys posted but please pray for us and Stephanie. She could be THE ONE!

Wednesday afternoon, the mission president gave us a call and said one of the sister missionaries from the Spanish ward is going home unexpectedly. We still have a couple more weeks before the transfer ends so the hermana left behind wouldn't have a companion for awhile. Long story short, I'm in a trio now! Hermana Wilcock moved into our apartment and she is the sweetest missionary I have ever met. Since she was in the Spanish ward, we have to double cover wards which had made our week busy, busy, busy. We get to teach English to Latinos and go to two sacrament meetings on Sunday. I've loved being Hermana Smith this week and getting to relearn Spanish. Being in a trio has benefits too. I basically have two trainiers so I'm getting lots of advice. Our apartment is super crowded but the more the merrier right?!

On Friday, we had a lesson with this guy named Dan. He had his father over and so we taught them both. Now Dan is NOT like his dad at all. Whereas Dan says maybe two words, the dad (Paul) can talk your ear off....and he's extremely deaf. We would try to ask Dan something and Paul would intervene would some elaborate story. By the end of the lesson, we were basically screaming at Paul because that was the only way he could hear us. I have no idea if the Spirit was there at all, but I've definitely never laughed harder after a lesson. 

On Saturday, we had Finding Festival day. The whole Seattle mission does it and basically we meet as zones and focus only on finding new people to teach. We have rotations with different companions and we get to visit different areas of the zone boundaries. We also have little competitions for each rotation and the companionship with the most gets a prize. Sister Vanderwerken and I won the challenge for bearing our testimony to people. It was super fun but we were all wiped out after.

Today half the mission got to go through the temple. It was AMAZING. The Seattle temple is absolutely beautiful and being there with a bunch of missionaries makes it even more special. We only get to go to the temple every 6 months in my mission so I feel extremely grateful to go during my first transfer.

I'm so thankful to be a missionary and a representative of Christ. Nothing has brought me greater joy than being here! I love you all and constantly keep you in my prayers.

Until next week!

-sis. smith 

 Finally finished our puzzle!

A member just gave us a gallon of blackberries!

Sister Morris and I holding a chicken during a lesson 

Going to the Temple :)

Sister Cowley and me

The classic zone group photo

Week 7 - A Shower of Blessings

Hello again!

To be honest, this week started off pretty rough. Sister Morris and I weren't getting anywhere with our progressing friends (investigators) and we weren't finding anyone new to teach. We both felt pretty discouraged and it was getting harder to stay motivated. Satan definitely knows when miracles are about to happen because that's when he tries the hardest to make you feel like a failure. It wasn't until Wednesday night that we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

We were going around visiting less active members and former investigators. We knocked on this one house and a girl my age opened the door. She happened to be a recent convert and the only member of the church in her family. Her name is Tawni and we asked her if her family was ever interested. She said no but she does try to bring up the Book of Mormon a lot. The next day we get a call from her neighbor and he sounded super excited. He tells us that last night Tawni's mom came home feeling super sick and asked for a priesthood blessing! He and the bishop were able to go over and give her one just moments after we had left Tawni's house. We don't know what will come of it but it was super cool to see this mom with no interest in the gospel have enough faith to ask for a priesthood blessing. 

On Thursday, we both received the inspiration to drop/stop teaching all our current friends. This was NOT easy and we went back and forth about making this decision. We have grown to love our progressing friends but if they aren't willing to live the gospel, there is only so much we can do. We decided that finding new people who are better prepared to hear our message was the best thing we could do. So we went by all of our friends' homes and made sure they knew how much we loved them, but we wouldn't be teaching them anymore. Some of them got a little heated and it ended in lots of tears on our part. I learned this week that missionary work truly isn't easy, but through Christ, our burdens can be lightened. 

On Friday, I went to my first zone conference and it was amazing. Zone conference is when 2-3 zones get together and the mission president and his wife come talk to us. We learned about working with members to find people to teach. Members have such a big role in missionary work because they provide that foundation of friendship that makes it easier for people to meet with the missionaries. We decided we want to work with the members more this week and we can already see blessings from it. 

The work is so good here. Since we stopped teaching our other friends, we have already found 3 new people who seem very interested. I know that our Heavenly Father blesses us when we follow the prompting of the Holy Ghost. I also know that He blesses us the most when life gets hard. I finally witnessed my first day of rain and it was CRAZY. One minute we were walking in misty air and the next minute, it was pouring rain! We were soaked from head to toe, but we call rain time miracle time. Lots of people felt bad for us being out in the rain, so they let us into their homes and we got to teach them! 

I've been in the mission field for almost a month now and I love every second of it, even the hard moments. Today Grandpa took us fishing (my first time and I caught two bass!) and made us breakfast. I'm so lucky to know people like him. He is probably the happiest man I've ever met and he loves the sister missionaries. 

Well, that's all for this week but please stay in touch! I'm grateful for you all! 

- sister smith 

my trainer

district group photo!

my favorite group of sisters

fishin'

the lake this morning wow

us and Grandpa!

Week 6 - Sasquatch Searches = Teaching Opportunities

Hi friends! 

Another busy week has come and gone! I have a lot to share but first, let me explain the title. So we've been visiting this less active member at the rehab center and he writes books about Bigfoot. Every time we visit him, he tells us about how he has spoken with "the forest people" and he's apart of this awareness group. We've met many of his friends that come to visit and they all shared their own personal experiences with sasquatches. Sister Morris and I were convinced and we wanted to see one for ourselves. So we've been hiking Mount Peak every morning for exercise time and still no luck....with seeing a sasquatch. We do get lucky with meeting lots of people coming up and down the mountain though. They always ask about our tags and we tell them we are missionaries. They ask us more questions and we get to teach a little. So there you have it: when you search for a sasquatch in the woods, you find new people to teach instead.

God is continuing to bless us with little miracles this week. We were out tracting and knocked on this house at the end of the street. No one was answering and just as we get ready to leave, a car pulls into the driveway. A woman gets out and we talk to her for a bit. We introduce the Book of Mormon and she says she's had a desire to start reading it this week. She was actually hoping missionaries would stop by and give her one! We were in shock. Sister Morris quickly writes our phone number on the first page and we give her the Book of Mormon. It was such a cool experience.

In district council, we talked about increasing the number of people coming to church. We decided to host a giant church tour so everyone could see what we're about. We made fliers and invited EVERYONE. We set up stations with TVs and taught the Restoration as we walked through the church. Mostly less active members and recent converts came. It was cool to see them being taught the Restoration again and to see their testimonies grow. We are definitely hosting another church tour next month so hopefully we can get our investigators there.

I LOVE being a missionary. End of story. Sister Morris and I are constantly amazed at how lucky we are to find so many people to teach. I have no doubt in my heart that this is where I need to be. Heavenly Father truly blesses us each day, we just have to take a minute and look. I have started a gratitude journal and it's made all the difference. 

Also...on another note, Sister Morris and I are trying to see how many puzzles we can complete before the transfer ends so send us puzzles if you want haha. Our new favorite thing now is to roll down all the windows and turn up the music (we have already started listening to Christmas music). I just can't get over how lucky I am to live here. 

I think about you guys all the time! Remember that happiness is a choice and it's the best choice you can make. This life is so short so make the most of it! If you are wanting to feel inspired, watch the "Because of Him" video (can probably find it on YouTube). It is my new favorite video EVER. 

-sister smith

 the sister training leaders and us

 face masks (yikes!)

 hiking Mount Peak again

 we saw a complete rainbow!

our cute friend Mary (we water her plants every week)