A couple of weeks ago, President Beardall pulled me aside and told me that many missionaries are asking to go home at different times in the month of December due to starting school on time. Our next transfer starts on December 3rd, but he let me know I didn't have to go home at the end of the transfer. He felt bad that I had 2 months of my mission taken from me and offered to send me home at a later time in December. After talking with my parents and Heavenly Father, I gave President the thumbs up. So now I will be coming home on December 14th! I'm so excited to get two weeks more of my mission. I know it doesn't seem like much, but it means a lot to me.
UPDATE: So much has happened in the last couple of weeks! We went to the temple with a recent convert (Jimmy) so he could do baptisms for the dead. We got to participate too and the spirit of the temple was needed. The temple grounds are just stunning at this time of the year. The trees are colorful and bright, and you just have to take a minute and thank Heavenly Father for creating the fall season.
LEILANI: She's the daughter of the Primary President in this ward and she has a son named Jensen. She is one of my favorite people to teach because she just soaks in the gospel of Christ like a sponge. She is preparing for baptism on November 23rd and she came to church this week!
AMUJI: He came to church this week too! He is progressing, but it's at a slower pace. We had a couple of lessons with him these past weeks. The first one was at the Porters' home. They are this cute young couple in the ward and they go above and beyond with member missionary work. They bought pumpkins to try and make a homemade pumpkin pie. Amuji had never heard of pumpkin pie and so they invited us to come over and try their pie. It was the best pumpkin pie I have ever tasted. Amuji was unsure at first and kind of freaked out when we put the whipped cream on, but he loved it!
The next lesson was at his home. He wanted to cook lunch for us before the transfer ended.....We brought a member with us and it was just hilarious. Amuji loves to go all out for his visitors and he enjoys cooking his "fancy" authentic dishes from Africa. However, us Americans do not stomach it very well. He set this big pot down and we all just looked at each other. Sister Campbell lifted the lid and it just looked like mystery meat. I guess he made us turkey with some kind of meat goop. It had crawfish, spinach, and possibly beef? He served us foofoo too which is a white yam they love to eat. It doesn't have much of a taste, but it's sticky and you roll it into little balls. Then you dip the foofoo into the meat sauce. It was all quite interesting. Brother Avila (the member we brought) told Amuji he had just eaten, but Amuji doesn't care. He gave us each a huge serving and Brother Avila just mumbled "thanks sisters, thanks for inviting me." We all couldn't help but laugh because Brother Avila always gives us a hard time....in a loving way of course. :)
On the bright side, we taught Amuji about keeping Sunday a special day and dedicating our time to serving the Lord. We each shared our testimonies of the importance of showing what kind of sign we want to send God when we do things on Sunday. Amuji likes to go shopping at Goodwill on Sundays, but now he realizes that there are better things. He told us he learned that he was making other people work on Sunday and he wanted to show God a better sign of his love for Him. It was a small victory.
We put together a night of music this past Sunday at the church. We asked people in the ward to sing or share their musical talent. We even sang and let's just say no one covered their ears so that's a good sign hahaha. It actually went well and the members want us to sing again sometime....yikes! We had a good turn out and Amuji came! Our friend that we met at the gas station came too! We were getting the gas receipt and we invited him to our music night. And he actually came! His name is Sandhu and we think he's from Iraq.
Ok transfer news: the trio is being broken up sadly. Sister Campbell is going to Tiffany Park where I served months ago! Sister Cowley and I are staying here. You know what they say: "start the mission together, end the mission together." Ok no one says that, but it's a thing now. We are hitting this last transfer at FULL SPEED! Stay tuned!
Anyway, love you all!
love,
sister smith
Picture overload:
exchanges and tacos 🌮
this is our view in the mornings
decorated Jimmy's door for his bday
a pumpkin pie in the making
the district
tis' the Halloween season
trio!
our cute neighbor downstairs brought us flowers, pizza, and candy!
a transfer must: creepy facemasks
brother Hampton is our favorite
last day together
amujis fish stew....
amuji bought us mom purses lol
❤❤
