Week 17 & 18 - Spiritual Ditches

Hello friends! 

Sorry I was lame and didn't send out a weekly email last week, but life has been crazy in the best kind of way! 

These past two weeks we've really been working with J'nell and Rod. J'nell definitely did her research and she had some good questions. We actually ended up going to the library this week to do some more research so we could understand how to help her. Last night we brought a member with us to their home and it was amazing! This lady is Sister Thorley and she is the most knowledgeable woman I've ever met. She had an answer to every question J'nell had and explained everything in such a logical way. I swear every time I listen to her, I am more converted to this gospel. She knows how to teach to one's understanding and the Spirit is so strong when she testifies of Joseph Smith being a prophet. After we answered all of J'nells questions, we both offered our personal testimonies of the Book of Mormon and I could just see something change in J'nell. She was becoming converted too. Now with the questions out of the way, we can start discussing when Rod wants to be baptized and they are going to start coming to church! This family has seriously been a blessing to us. 

We've made a few new friends these past couple of weeks. We found Brad last week during our mini finding festival and he's a pretty cool guy. He's around our age and we've only had one lesson with him, but he's on date for baptism in November! Hopefully all goes according to plan. We also had a lesson with a referral from some of our favorite members, the Knapps. This woman named Eva is from the Czech Republic and she's been living in the US for quite a few years now. She met Sister Knapp at work and ended up living with them for a year due to some financial/medical problems. Her husband is still in the Czech Republic receiving medical help and so Eva is all alone here. The Knapps found her a little apartment and she's come to church with them before. We taught her the Restoration and Brother Knapp blessed her new home. We were all in tears by the end because the Spirit was so strong. Yesterday we talked with a man named Mark who likes to show us videos of old British singers lol. When we first met Mark, he did not want to talk to us. We started asking him questions about his life and he opened up. Once he saw that we were genuinely interested in what he had to say, we were able to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon with him. We are going back tomorrow so hopefully we can discuss more about the gospel. 

This past Tuesday was an interesting day....we were trying to find Brad's house and literally took a turn for the worse. Sister Deruvo was the one who had found Brad when we were on splits during finding festival day so only she knew where he lived. She was trying to direct me where she thought they parked last time. Now, you have to understand that Enumclaw has these huge ditches on the side of the roads, but they are covered with really tall grass. So when you are just looking at the ditch from the front view, it looks flat. Sister Deruvo says "oh I think we parked there" so I go to park and instantly regret it. Our car starts to sink sideways and we are totally stuck. Not to mention that this is a busy highway we are stuck on the side of so we are in a pretty dangerous situation. We call Brad to reschedule and then our mission vehicle coordinator. He tells us to get out of the car immediately and to call a tow truck. The car is slightly teetering so getting out was a challenge, but we made it. Just as we are trying to call a tow truck, the police show up. The officer asks us what happened and he calls a tow truck for us. The funny thing is that all these members (many of them not even from our ward) pulled up as they were driving past and asked us if we needed any help. The police officer kept commenting "wow you know everyone here." Really we don't, but as missionaries we tend to have lots of people looking out for us. Oh, and I forgot to mention that after they towed our car out, the battery died, and so when I tried to back up, the car slid into the ditch again. We had to call someone with jumper cables and pull the car out of the ditch a second time. It was a hilarious/scary experience I never want to go through again. 

Getting stuck in the ditch did help me learn a valuable lesson. Sometimes in life we found ourselves in mental/spiritual ditches and we have no idea how to get out. When we look to trusted people that have been given the authority to give us guidance (the prophets), then we can find our solution to these spiritual ditches. We also have to learn to laugh when things don't go our way. Life is full of making mistakes and instead of letting ourselves get down about all the things we could've done better, just laugh and move on. Use your mistakes to help you move forward and you will be happier. I must admit it's not always an easy thing to do, but I have found it truly works, especially when you're a missionary. 

Anyway, the rest of the week was great! Mike and Chelsea, the young couple we have been teaching, have finally agreed to come to church with us this Sunday! Also Joel is doing well. We had a great lesson with him at the Knapp's home Wednesday night and we are preparing him to receive the Aaronic priesthood. He has been going to the Maple Valley YSA ward for the last couple of weeks and our ward has

been missing him. They love Joel so much and they always ask us how he's doing. Our ward is just the greatest! I hope I get to stay here for the holidays :) 

Thank you for your emails! I love reading about everything you guys are up to! Enjoy my favorite season for me and go hike a mountain or something. Have a great week and remember to always put Christ above all! 

lots of love,
sis. smith

I be(leaf) in Christ....pun intended obviously

Fall is here in Enumclaw!

 My companion being attacked by nature

Rip the car 

Week 16 - Italy is Better than Utah Apparently

Ciao!

So my new companion is the coolest person ever. She's from Italy and her English is amazing. She was called to the Temple Square mission in Salt Lake, but I guess it's a completely different kind of mission. They work with people online a lot more than we do and they get to give tours to everyone! The temple square sisters get a chance to receive a second mission call to serve somewhere else for 2 transfers to see what it would be like. My cute trainee, Sister Deruvo got called here and she is seriously amazing. She's going to teach me some Italian whether she wants to or not, lol. It's honestly so funny to see the reactions of people when they ask where we are from. I'll say "Utah" and get no reaction. Then Sister Deruvo will say "Italy" and everyone's eyes just get big. They start asking a bunch of questions like "Wow do they have many members in Italy?" or "Are you a convert to the Church?" 

Anyway, even though my "trainee" has been out longer than I have, I'm still called to be her trainer. Everything from our schedule to finding people to teach is way different than the Temple Square mission so she kind of has to relearn/adjust to some things. It's been good though and she has a lot of patience with me. I'm not going to lie...it's been a rough couple of days adjusting. I feel like I went from being the baby of the family to the oldest kid within a day and it's given me a lot of responsibility. Sister Deruvo only brought her tablet so I've been on phone duty and driving duty this week. IT'S BEEN HECTIC. We may have gotten lost more than a couple of times, but all is well. This experience has been much needed and I definitely feel more humble than when I first came out. We've spent most this week knocking on doors, partly because I want Sister Deruvo to get comfortable talking to people on their doorstep and partly because we need more friends to teach. Other than Joel, our other friends have not been progressing very much lately. HOWEVER....we saw a lot of promise with tracting this week and hopefully we will have some new people to teach soon! 

J'nell and her family (the ones who got involved in a lot of anti -literature) finally reached out to us! They have been dealing with a lot of problems lately and have been keeping in contact with us all week to get the help they need. I think it's incredible that when people go through hard things, they always seem to find their way back to the gospel. I know that Heavenly Father truly gives us trials out of love. He knows that when hard things come, we can choose to grow closer to Him or to fall away. It's in those moments when we look to the gospel for help that we understand the power of Christ's Atonement and the comfort it can bring us. I hope J'nell is realizing that and I know that her heart has been softened. We are going over tonight to answer all their questions so PLEASE PRAY FOR US! Also, J'nell and Rod still want to be married by our bishop so that's a huge step in the right direction :)

Joel is doing well and is getting involved in the young single adult ward up in Maple Valley. I think it will be good for him to meet other kids his age in the Church; our ward is full of old people haha. Also, he did finally find a job and luckily he doesn't have to work on Sundays! We are now teaching him the new member lessons and it's been really cool to see how far he has come. He understands the Restoration way more than when we first taught it to him. We really want him to serve a mission because we think he'd be amazing at it. Joel is the type that will talk with anyone he sees and have a two hour conversation with them so he's basically a pre-trained missionary. Also, he went to all four sessions of General Conference and even took notes! We are so PROUD of him!

Not much else has happened, but I know we are about to witness an abundance of miracles here in Enumclaw very soon! I've been thinking about one of the overall themes of General Conference lately and I love the idea of "shepherding" to others in need. Christ was the Good Shepherd and He served everyone no matter who they were. As members of His church, we too have been given the responsibility to serve others and to be His hands in this great work. We may not realize it, but there is so much to be said in the small acts of kindness we do every single day. I encourage you all to be kind to one another and to love each other as the Savior would. Each person has a right to feel the love of God! Service is the best medicine for sorrow and I have definitely found that to be true as a missionary. 

I love you all and I wish you the best week ever!

love, 

sis. smith

  this is where i live. so pretty.

our hike today

Week 15 - Baptism, General Conference, & Transfers

Hey everyone! Oh my gosh this week has been the craziest week of my mission by far!  I know I say that every week but it's for reals this time!

So our little friend Joel finally got baptized!! It was the greatest experience  ever and I'm so humbled I got to be a part of it (it's pretty rare here in Washington to have a baptism during your two transfers of training). Also, our ward is actually amazing. So many members came to support him and we ended up filling the chapel! My cute companion sang "Nearer My God, To Thee" with our ward mission leader's wife and it was beautiful. The spirit was so strong in the chapel.

And....Joel brought his mom to his baptism! Not only is she the coolest, most supportive lady ever, but she asked our bishop if she could go up and bear her testimony! After Joel was baptized, his mom went up and shared her thoughts about how her faith in God has grown. She ended up talking for like 15 minutes but it was such a powerful testimony. At the end of the baptism, she gave us her phone number and asked us to keep an eye on Joel. She has so much trust in us and we barely just met her! 

A couple days later we went by Joel's apartment to drop off some things he left at the church. We asked him how he felt after being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. He said he "felt lighter" and I definitely could see it. I wish you could see how he used to be. He used to be so negative about the future and his self-image. Now he's happier and knows he is cared for by the ward. He shared with us that he quit his only job because they asked him to start working on Sundays at the same time church starts. He only has like $10 left and no idea where he's going to find a new job, but he's so hopeful. If that's not faith, I don't know what is! 

Ok now can we talk about General Conference?? Best birthday present ever. All the missionaries got to watch it in the chapel and we just partied in between sessions. I love love love our prophet so much. So much revelation received! I'm taking the challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year and I encourage you all to do the same. The Book of Mormon has brought me so much comfort and knowledge during my mission. It is truly what will be the foundation of our eternal conversion. 

Now something crazy to tell you! So transfers are here and we've all been dreading it. Most of the missionaries in our zone have been here for at least 3 transfers so we knew the zone was about to get scattered. For the last couple of weeks everyone has been telling me I was destined to train next transfer. I blew it off because I thought there was no way our mission president would trust me to train someone right after I just completed training. But it's not the mission president's decision....it's God's decision. So anyway, I've been super nervous about taking over the area because I knew my trainer, Sister Morris was going to leave me next transfer. Then, on Sunday while we were watching the morning session of General Conference, without warning I heard a voice say "You are going to be a trainer." It totally threw me off and I kinda looked around. The feeling came again and even stronger. I silently told Heavenly Father I wasn't ready to be a trainer, but then I felt an overwhelming feeling of trust and I knew this is what He wanted me to do. I can't remember who gave the talk during that moment, but he was talking about letting our faith in Christ overcome our fear. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Sunday night transfer calls came and sure enough, my trainer was leaving me. On Monday, I helped her pack and we went to say goodbye to all the members and our friends. Mondays are also the days we are informed if we have been assigned a leadership calling. While Sister Morris and I were studying, the phone rang and it was the assistants to the president. My heart dropped as Elder Corbett told me I would be a trainer next transfer. These were his exact words: The Lord has a lot of trust in you Sister Smith. You will either make or break this sister's mission." Then he hung up. Talk about a lot of pressure! I definitely freaked out but after some much needed encouragement and advice, I feel better about training this next transfer. 

The mission truly is there to push up and mold us into what He needs us to be. I hope to be the best trainer for this new sister. I know that my faith in the Lord's plan for me will mean everything these next couple of months. Please pray for me and wish me luck! 

Grateful for you all and please never forgot how much you are loved!

Love, 

Sister Smith

Week 14 - 3 Months Out

Hey everyone!!

First of all....thank you guys so much for all the early birthday wishes!! Seriously means the world to me ❤ I feel so lucky to have my birthday fall on General Conference weekend again because we get to hear from the prophet! Best birthday present ever! 

Honestly I have no clue what happened this week! The time just speeds up the longer you are out. I can't believe it's been 3 months already and I'll be done with training in a week so pray for me haha. 

Joel's baptismal date is finally set for this Wednesday, October 3rd. We found him at the beginning of this transfer and now he's getting baptized right before next transfer. It's super rare to find and baptize someone in one transfer so Sister Morris and I are very blessed. We often laugh about how crazy it was that Joel found us. A week before we met him, we were making absolutely no progress. During our weekly planning session, we finally just threw our hands up and basically decided to give up looking for people to teach that week. We felt like Heavenly Father had seen our efforts and would bring someone to us. A couple of days later Joel asks for our church tour flier at the library....and calls us about wanting to go to church that weekend! It was not a coincidence and Heavenly Father definitely answered our prayers. I can't wait for my first baptism of the mission, it's going to be so good! 

This week we've been spending most of our time knocking on doors. Our current friends have all failed to progress so we've been focusing on finding new people to teach. We've been trying this new door approach where we ask people how they are preparing for the Second Coming of Christ. Most are just taken aback and they have to sit and think about it for a minute. We then proceed to tell them how Christ restored His church through a prophet and gave him the proper authority to act in God's name. Then we say that we represent this restored church and we help people prepare for the day when Christ will come again. Many have responded positively to this approach and they'll usually let us talk with them. We even made a new friend. Pam is an older woman who has been looking for a different church. She has so much faith, but she is lost without the complete truth of the restored gospel. We taught her the Restoration and she was pretty insistent about checking out our church on Sunday. 

We've also been singing to everyone this week. Sister Morris is pretty good with the ukulele and she's been learning a bunch of hymns and primary songs. We take the uke around when we go tracting and ask people if we can sing to them. Most people will let us and the music invites the Spirit. Almost everyone we have sang to is more open to hearing us share a scripture and our testimonies of the Book of Mormon with them. 

We've been very blessed with sunshine this past week, but now fall has officially rolled in. We tried to go hiking this morning to get a good view of Mount Rainier, but we were all freezing and the fog covered up the view. It was still such a pretty hike and the leaves are finally starting to change colors! Anyone who knows me knows that I love fall the most out of all the seasons, so despite the sudden cold air, my heart is full of joy. 

Thank you everyone for your amazing support! I hope you all have an amazing week wherever you may be! 

Love, 

Sister Smith

 Enumclaw=farm country so basically cows everywhere

The Halloween costumes have started to appear in every store so naturally...this happened

This dog tried to attack me with its love

 On top of the world

 My cute companion

Sunrise hike with the sistas. 

Look it's finally fall!!!