Service in Seattle: Week 45 & 46 - From the Ghettos to the Mansions

Helllllloooooo!

So lots of things happened these past two weeks! My last week in Tiffany Park was spent going to meetings and trying to visit all of our friends. We had zone conference on Tuesday that week and I had to say goodbye to my dear friend Sister Tibbits. Look out for her at Utah State!

Wednesday we had to drive up north to Issaquah because guess who got a speeding ticket? This girl! We had to go to court and luckily the judge was super kind. He just gave me community service to pay off the ticket! Heavenly Father blesses his missionaries. :) Friday we had missionary leadership council which is an all day event. Basically, President and Sister Rasmussen report to us what the area presidency tells them. Now the area presidency wants us to use family history more so that should be interesting. I've always been terrible at family history so I guess this is Heavenly Father's way of helping me to become more involved in it.

Our friends in Tiffany Park are progressing! We finally got in contact with Kathya and we're planning a family home evening with them. Also our Indian friend JP came to church and loved it! At least....we think he loved it. When we asked him what he thought, he said "It is good." He's a man of many words. He is planning to attend again so all is well.

And then came transfers....I've been kicked out of Renton and am in the north half of the mission. I'm currently living in the Cougar Mountain ward in Bellevue...also the richest area I have ever laid eyes on. There's seriously mansions on every street and they just tower over you. There are also lots of Asians here and they are super friendly, even if you can't understand a word they are saying. OH and guess who my companion is?? Drum roll please! It's Sister Cowley! We were in the MTC together and have been best friends in the mission ever since! This transfer is going to fly because we have so much going on!

We are both still sister training leaders so get ready for all the exchanges! When I entered the area last week, they already had someone preparing for baptism. Her name is Mona and apparently she is a MIRACLE. They found her right before the transfer ended and she just moved here from Colorado. She was looking for a church and came the first Sunday they invited her! She has two kids and wants to be baptized in a good Christian church. Lucky for her, she found the best church for that! We are also teaching a couple of people from China. One of them is named Lei and he's been in the military for years. He sees how families become stronger when they focus on God and he wants that for his own family. We taught him the Restoration this week and he is preparing for baptism as well! Our other friend (Kevin) from the great country of China is here by himself at the moment. His family is waiting to receive their visas so they can live here in America. Kevin is so cute and just loves everything we teach him! He has so many questions and will hopefully come to church this week.

Sister Rasmussen came out tracting with us this week and that was an adventure. She just called one morning and said "Sisters, I'm going to spend my time with you during your 5-7 finding period today." Sister Cowley and I just looked at each other with panic because this is the mission president's wife! She offered to drive us to the location of our choice and we just street contacted/ knocked on apartment doors. It was actually a lot of fun and every person we talked with was so nice! We found a man from India named Neeraj who happily accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. We shall see where it goes....

Ok that's all I have time for! Wish me luck in this place! Also we have the temple in our area so we are definitely planning our study sessions on the temple grounds this week!

Greatest compliment we received this week:
"Y'all got some dope energies" -Ty (the brother of a Seahawks football player whom we also met)

love,
sister smith