Week 25 - Little Christmas Miracles

The Christmas holiday is among us and we have never been busier!

Remember how last week was pretty rough and I said the Lord was going to provide us with some Christmas miracle....well, it happened! It all started Monday when our good friend Grandpa brought us a real Christmas tree to decorate. He then told us about a family who is ready to receive the gospel. The dad is currently an inactive member in our ward, but he wants to change and get back to going to church. His wife is not a member and they have three cute little kids. We have only met the dad, but he is such a solid person and we can't wait to teach their whole family! We are planning to meet them tomorrow with Grandpa so wish us luck!

Other members have reached out to us as well this week. The Otto's asked us Monday night to help them deliver cookies and DVDs of the Light the World videos to families in their neighborhood. It was so much fun and the Otto's are the most genuine people you will ever meet! We sang Christmas carols and watched as all the kids gathered around to hear the music. It gave me the idea of singing to everyone we talk to and that is exactly what we did this week. 

We spent this whole week singing to people. Every single person we saw in the streets or every door we knocked on, we just asked if we could sing them a Christmas carol. Some were caught a little off guard, but they never rejected us. I watched their hearts softens as we sang, and we were then able to share our message of Christ with them. As we shared our favorite Christmas traditions and how we remember Christ this season, we were able to introduce the Book of Mormon as another way to remember Christ all year long. You'd be surprised at how many people actually accepted copies of the Book of Mormon and said they would read the introduction. It was incredible and I've never felt more joy in my heart! And it all happened just by singing "Silent Night" to everyone. The power of music is real my friends! 

We also had another member reach out to us this week from a little town called Orting. He told us about his work buddy who happened to live in our ward boundaries and he was interested in learning more about the Church! The member sent us his phone number and address so we called right away. They are a young family as well and we are pretty excited to meet them! We were supposed to meet with them last week, but his work just got super busy so we will have to wait and see. Keep them in your prayers!

This Saturday we had the ward Christmas party and our friends Doug and Carol came! We invited a lot of other people too, but so many have been getting sick lately. Our ward is full of amazing member missionaries; they just flocked to Doug and Carol's table and started talking about the gospel. It was great! We also had a family come who is trying to get active again. They are amazing people and they have been through so much. I know the gospel will be the answer to every single problem they're facing. 

There's no better time than Christmas time to share the love and invite people to feel the pure love of Christ. As we have visited our friends and members this week, I now know what it means to "Give as He Gave." Christ was our perfect example and He gave us everything. Even in the hardest moments of His ministry, I truly believe He was the happiest person to ever walk the earth because He understood eternal joy. This joy cannot be wrapped or handed off; it only comes as we forget ourselves and look to serve others. 

I love you all and I hope you have a merry CHRISTmas! 

love,

sis. smith

Week 24 - Planting Seeds of Faith

Hi friends!

   Well this week was kind of a rough one for us, but that's ok because we know the Lord is just preparing us for a Christmas miracle. And we did see some little miracles along the way this week!

   Monday night we found a lady named Elain. We were actually trying to see her neighbors, Douglas and Carol, but they weren't home. Elain was a referral from some members and she usually was never home when we stopped by. Well of course the one night we try and see her neighbors, Elain pulls into her driveway. She walks with a cane and she was struggling to get her groceries in. We all just look at each other and jump out of the car. Elain let us help her take her groceries in and then invited us to sit down and talk with her. We found out she's been taught by missionaries for almost 20 years and she already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She wants to be baptized, but her older sister is totally against the church and Elain fears if she gets baptized, her sister will go off the deep end. So Elain is waiting for her sister to pass away and then she will get baptized...her words, not mine. Super cool lady and has such amazing faith, but not exactly sure how to help her in this situation. We are going to start trying to get her to come to church again. That's a good start right? 

    Wednesday was an interesting day. We spent almost all morning helping at the local food bank which is something I can't complain about. I love the food bank and the volunteers there are so amazing! Then we put together our Light the World handouts consisting of pass along cards and candies stapled to them. Our plan was to sing Christmas carols to people in town and hand out the cards. Wednesday night we went tracting and I felt like we needed to knock this one house. We met Kevin and asked him if we could show him a video. We showed him the first week video of Light the World and I saw tears in his eyes. We talked about Christ being the center of Christmas and also the center of our lives. He told us he had many friends who were members of the Church and he always noticed how happy they were. I told him it's because they have knowledge of the restored truth and introduced the Book of Mormon. He willingly took my challenge to read the introduction and invited us to come back the next day. We did and sadly, he gave the Book of Mormon back, but I know something we said touched his heart. We were just planting a little seed of hope in his heart and one day he will accept the gospel. 

   On Saturday we had exchanges and Sister Devol came to our area. First of all Sister Devol is the coolest sister ever! She was originally called to the Russian speaking mission in Washington, but she went home early due to medical reasons. I won't share her whole story (because I don't have the time and it's pretty personal) but just know that Heavenly Father must have really needed her for a reason. After her medical scare, she decided to come back and is now serving English speaking. This is only her second transfer back. Seriously, Sister Devol is my new role model. 

   Anyway, so many things happened on exchanges! We've been trying to get in contact with our friend Arianna for weeks, but she never is home. Well, we weren't even planning to see her on Saturday, but we were going to see a less active member who lives in the same apartment area as her. The member wasn't home, but we saw Arianna's car parked and decided to knock on her door. She didn't answer so we knocked on her neighbor's door and had a chat with Megan. Midway through our conversation, Arianna comes out and listens in on our conversation. We invited both of them to church and finally got Arianna's phone number (something we have wanted for a very long time). They both said they would consider it so we'll have to see. 

    Later that night, we grabbed our Light the World cards and went to the only area of civilization in Enumclaw. We sang "Silent Night" and handed out the cards to random people walking out of the shops and restaurants. We even went inside a cafe and asked the manager if we could sing "Silent Night" to the customers. The manager thought it was a great idea and we got the whole restaurant singing! It was incredible and people were pulling out their phones to record us haha. After, we invited everyone to go check out the Light the World videos on lds.org. This one woman we sang to was carrying groceries and we offered to help her. She was so touched by our song and service that she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said she would come visit our church. She told us she was looking for a place to feel uplifted and safe and we were an answer to her prayers. Such a neat experience!

    We still had some time left so we went to the Safeway grocery store and offered to help people with their groceries. Some people were weirded out, but others were appreciative of our willingness to serve. Many seeds of faith were planted that night. 

    This week we may not have seen the outcome of our efforts, but I know that the people who we did talk to will remember us. They will remember the light of Christ and some day they will have the desire to know more. Missions are more than just baptizing people; our purpose is to invite and help people see that there is a God who really loves them. That's the best message we can bring and if they are ready, they will accept the rest. 

Have another amazing week and remember to share the light of Christ with others! Love you! 

love,

sis. smith

Our little Christmas tree

Light the world!!

We made pizza this week because it's a requirement for having an Italian companion

So many farms in Enumclaw 🐄

Preaching to the pigs

Exchanges

Just some of my favorite members aka the Knapps 

Week 23 - Happy December!

Wow how is it already December?! Time seriously flies as a missionary! I love this time of the year because it brings out the best in everyone. We've been busy serving our community and "lighting the world" this week and it's been incredible. There's no joy quite like the joy that Christmas brings!

We had a lesson with Brad on Wednesday and our goal was to see what his needs were. He has a copy of the Book of Mormon from the church tour but he wasn't reading it. We asked him some questions and he opened up about reading being a struggle for him. We shared stories of our own personal weaknesses and how the Book of Mormon has given us strength to overcome them. We offered to read with him and then asked if he would be willing to read some small passages on his own. He said he felt like he could do that so now Brad is finally reading the Book of Mormon! I have a firm testimony in the power of listening. It can be so easy to always be thinking of what you want to say next. In past lessons with Brad, we felt we weren't getting anywhere because we weren't truly teaching to his needs. By asking him how he felt about the Book of Mormon and what he wanted to learn, we could adjust our teaching to better help him. This world needs more listeners. Not just people who will hear with their ears. We need people to listen with their hearts and also listen to the Spirit. When we listen to the Spirit, we offer ourselves as an instrument in the Lord's hands to help bring about His work. Listening will take one further in life than just hearing. It definitely helped us with Brad. 

Thursday we had a few miracles! There's this man named Gary who we have stopped by in the past. We tried to get him to read the Book of Mormon, but he didn't really seem interested. His neighbors are some of the most amazing members of our ward and they would always update us on him. Usually, it was nothing new: Gary didn't have a desire to read the Book of Mormon. Still, Sister Deruvo and I never felt like we should give up on Him. We went by and his sweet wife happened to be there. She welcomed us inside and we had a nice chat. I asked Gary if he had read yet. I was expecting him to just say no and leave it at that. Instead he said "No, I haven't read yet, but show me a good place to start." We were all so surprised as Gary grabbed his Book of Mormon and highlighter. He gave it to me and I highlighted the introduction and the Testimony of Joseph Smith. He said he would read it by next week and his wife said she would read it with him! It was such a miracle! 

We also ran into Eric (a friend we had previously taught months ago). He let us in and we had a good discussion about the Book of Mormon. He said he would be willing to read it again and let us come by again in the next week! On the way out, we got talking about hunting and he disappears for a second. He comes out with a bag of frozen deer meat and says "some deer meat for a scripture assignment." So yeah, now we have a huge bag of frozen deer sitting in our freezer. People are the greatest :) 

Friday we had to take our car in to get the battery replaced (it was needing to be jumped literally every other day). We were basically there all day, so nothing much happened. We did get to go with Brad and some members to the big nativity event they do every year at the church in Maple Valley. People offer their nativities to be put on display (many of them from different parts of the world) and everyone just walks around to look at them. They also had live musical performances and a photo booth. We got Brad to dress up as a shepherd and take a picture with us. He wasn't super excited about it haha. 

Saturday was incredible! We spent all morning bringing little Christmas treats with scriptures attached to our friends and members for our Day of Service activity. Then we had to drive to Bellevue to hear Elder Gong of the Quorum of the 12 apostles speak to our whole mission. It was AMAZING! There's nothing quite like being in the presence of an apostle. Some members of the seventy came as well and spoke to us. My hand cramped up so many times from trying to write everything down! They are truly inspired men of God. Elder Gong talked about how we as missionaries/members need to "lay everything on the alter" for the Lord so we can become better instruments. When we fully submit ourselves to our Heavenly Father, we have nothing to hide and everything to give. We can go to Him in full confidence, knowing that we have done everything we possibly could. This was definitely something I needed to hear! 

I'm so beyond thankful for this wonderful time of the year and I know we are going to see more miracles along the way. I hope you all take the challenge to "Light the World" this holiday season and reach out to those who need some love! Have a great week!

love, 

sister smith

Hot chocolate on the daily

The nativity!!

 Our group photo feat. Brad our best friend (hint: he's not smiling) 

 Love my little angels

Saw my mom (trainer) and almost cried 😢😍

Sister Vanderwerken aka godmother

It's December and we still go hiking

Look at these mushrooms what?!

Us waiting for a new car battery...for 3 hours