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
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