This past week has had many ups and downs. Our area president came to visit us and wow, he is an inspired man. I loved learning from President Pearson and I've taken much of it to heart. He talked about becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and shared intimate experiences from his own mission. I think some missionaries tend to get caught up in thinking they only have to "do this" for 18 months to 2 years, and everything will be back to normal after. The truth is, your mission is supposed to set you up for the kind of person you are going to be for the rest of your life! For me, it has been an experience that has impacted me forever. I realize that becoming a disciple of Christ is a long-term goal. I am eager to apply the things that President Pearson taught me to my life after the mission because from the time I put that nametag on and was set apart, I made a commitment to change. And I'm happy to say that I have changed and have no desire to go back to what I thought was "normal." I am ready for whatever comes next and I find joy in self-improvement!
Ok update for the week: our friends Lizzie and Amuji are basically members...just need to be baptized, that's all. They come to church almost every week and keep all of their commitments. I just keep praying that one day something will click for them and they will see what they have been missing out on. There are so many more blessings to come after becoming a member! Baptism really is the gate or the starting point. We continue to find elect people every day. Our bishop informed us about a member who had her records removed years ago and wants to come back now! We will get to teach her and help her to reenter the waters of baptism. I love seeing people come back to the church!
Speaking of people coming back to church: we had a cool member and missionary experience this week. A member in our ward had been thinking about this less active named John Reid. He is a convert of 5 years and has fallen away because he feels guilty about the mistakes he made since his baptism. The member asked us to pay John a visit, which we did. John was so sweet and we shared a short message with him. Then, we invited him to our ward potluck and he came! He felt so much love at the potluck that he came to church yesterday as well! He hasn't been to church in years so that was a lovely little miracle. I love when members and missionaries work together; we can accomplish so much more!
We also got a cool referral this week from the Hawaii temple visitor center. The sister missionaries there were so cute and gave us a call to make sure we understand this human's circumstances and needs. He is from another religion, but was also interested in Christianity. He had a friend who was a member of the Church and wanted to know what made us different from other Christian churches. After much asking, he finally decided to read the Book of Mormon. We have to order one for him in Arabic and we will get to meet him this Wednesday. He wants to know the truth for himself and has put in the time to search. His name is Wisam (Sam) and I'm so excited to teach him!
This is my last week of being with Sister Cowley. She goes home exactly a week from today and I can't wait for her to see her family! She is such a dedicated missionary and deserves every blessing that's coming to her. I am so grateful I was able to serve alongside her many times in my mission. As for me, I have no idea what will happen after she leaves. I think President Beardall will put two new sisters with me in Star Lake until I leave. Guess we will know next week!
ok love you all and happy Thanksgiving! I think it's no coincidence that Thanksgiving is right before Christmas. When we take the time to be grateful for what we've been given, we are humbled and can see God's hand in our lives. It prepares us for the celebration of Christ's humble birth and the miracle of His life. I love this season and I love my Savior!
love,
sister smith
Monday, November 25, 2019
Monday, November 18, 2019
Week 72 & 73 - Little Africa
Ok I realize that my weeks for my emails may or may not be off but too late to go back and fix it!
Anyway, happy November everyone! Wow, and it's already more than half way through. It's been some of the busiest weeks of my mission and it's about to get crazier. We had a couple of exchanges at the beginning of our weeks. I got to go on Vashon Island which is this island right off of Seattle and you have to ride the ferry over. It was so fun and I felt like I was on a mini cruise ship! Ok maybe not that glamorous. Vashon Island is full of quirky people and we had quite a terrifying encounter with 9+ raccoons. Sister Reda and I were trying to visit someone and we came across like 9 pairs of beady little eyes staring at us. One of the raccoons stood on its hind legs and started screeching. There was a man out on his deck above the raccoons so I said very casually "Excuse me sir, do you realize you have a pack of raccoons underneath your deck?" He told us how he has lived here for a very long time and he actually feeds the raccoons so they are practically his pets. I did say they were quirky people on Vashon, right?
On the other exchange, I went to the Jovita Creek area (it's also in Federal Way) with Sister Burgess. We taught this spunky lady named Candy (no joke) and she is just a hoot! She had a boyfriend who was a member and that's how she was introduced to the Church. She loves it and wants to be baptized eventually. She lives in a senior center and they do activities almost every hour. After our lesson, she checked the clock and said "oh no! The ice cream float social is almost over! We must hurry down!" So she pushes us out of her little room and practically runs for the elevator. We get down just in time for the ice cream and she breathed out the biggest sigh of relief. I've never seen someone get so worked up over ice cream!
We found this man named Xavier a couple of weeks ago. He was kind and willing to talk with us. We haven't been able to get in contact with him since, but whenever we drop by, we always find his wife at home. Last time we dropped by, I asked if I could use her bathroom and she let us in. We were able to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon with her and she asked "Oh, what's his story again?" (referring to the prophet that wrote the verse). We thought she was thinking it was from the Bible so we quickly explained it was from the Book of Mormon. She told us she recognized it and she had read the whole Book of Mormon when she was a teenager! She had friends who were members and they had a study group every week. She went to church with them frequently and really liked it. She then told us how her and her husband have been looking for a church and my heart just skipped a beat! We told them they are more than welcome to come to ours, but totally spaced it on giving them the address and time. Our bad! We will definitely go back this week!
Amuji and Lizzie are doing great! They both came to church yesterday and loved it! Now we just gotta help them take the next step which is much easier said than done....please pray for them!!!
Ok that's pretty much it! Love you all!
ps. our area is basically little Africa because we keep finding Africans to teach! They are awesome!
Oh. And I chopped my hair 💁🏼♀️✂️
love,
sister smith
Anyway, happy November everyone! Wow, and it's already more than half way through. It's been some of the busiest weeks of my mission and it's about to get crazier. We had a couple of exchanges at the beginning of our weeks. I got to go on Vashon Island which is this island right off of Seattle and you have to ride the ferry over. It was so fun and I felt like I was on a mini cruise ship! Ok maybe not that glamorous. Vashon Island is full of quirky people and we had quite a terrifying encounter with 9+ raccoons. Sister Reda and I were trying to visit someone and we came across like 9 pairs of beady little eyes staring at us. One of the raccoons stood on its hind legs and started screeching. There was a man out on his deck above the raccoons so I said very casually "Excuse me sir, do you realize you have a pack of raccoons underneath your deck?" He told us how he has lived here for a very long time and he actually feeds the raccoons so they are practically his pets. I did say they were quirky people on Vashon, right?
On the other exchange, I went to the Jovita Creek area (it's also in Federal Way) with Sister Burgess. We taught this spunky lady named Candy (no joke) and she is just a hoot! She had a boyfriend who was a member and that's how she was introduced to the Church. She loves it and wants to be baptized eventually. She lives in a senior center and they do activities almost every hour. After our lesson, she checked the clock and said "oh no! The ice cream float social is almost over! We must hurry down!" So she pushes us out of her little room and practically runs for the elevator. We get down just in time for the ice cream and she breathed out the biggest sigh of relief. I've never seen someone get so worked up over ice cream!
We found this man named Xavier a couple of weeks ago. He was kind and willing to talk with us. We haven't been able to get in contact with him since, but whenever we drop by, we always find his wife at home. Last time we dropped by, I asked if I could use her bathroom and she let us in. We were able to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon with her and she asked "Oh, what's his story again?" (referring to the prophet that wrote the verse). We thought she was thinking it was from the Bible so we quickly explained it was from the Book of Mormon. She told us she recognized it and she had read the whole Book of Mormon when she was a teenager! She had friends who were members and they had a study group every week. She went to church with them frequently and really liked it. She then told us how her and her husband have been looking for a church and my heart just skipped a beat! We told them they are more than welcome to come to ours, but totally spaced it on giving them the address and time. Our bad! We will definitely go back this week!
Amuji and Lizzie are doing great! They both came to church yesterday and loved it! Now we just gotta help them take the next step which is much easier said than done....please pray for them!!!
Ok that's pretty much it! Love you all!
ps. our area is basically little Africa because we keep finding Africans to teach! They are awesome!
Oh. And I chopped my hair 💁🏼♀️✂️
love,
sister smith
riding on the ferry
my greatest nightmare (raccoons are ferocious and I don't like them)
Redondo beach
tracting in the pitch black
some of our favorite members
our friend Lizzie's cat who was taking the Book of Mormon hostage
a baptism we attended yesterday (the Star Lake sisters found Nate and referred him to the YSA ward)
Monday, November 4, 2019
Week 70-71 - Can you be(leaf) it's November?!
Ok I'm gonna be honest here...I'm having such a hard time remembering what happened in the last two weeks. It all just blends together!!
Here is the overview of people we are working with:
Gib: We found him raking his neighbor's leaves. He is this cute old Hispanic man and his neighbor hurt his foot and Good Guy Gib was raking his whole yard for him (sooooo many leaves). We offered to come back the next day and help him rake. He just kept saying "REALLY? You don't want to do that!" But we persisted so he told us to come back at 11AM the next day. We left him with a pamphlet that talked about the Plan of Salvation. Ok, fast forward to the next day: we brought a member with us to help rake the leaves. Gib was still in shock that we actually came back. He told us he read the pamphlet we gave him and was amazed at how much sense it made. He wouldn't stop talking about it! We talked to him more while we were raking and I guess he had met with missionaries before, but it never went anywhere. He told us about his girlfriend, living in Kent, and her daughter who was baptized a couple of months ago. After raking, we invited him to our ward Halloween party. Well he actually showed up to the party and he brought his sweet girlfriend with him! She recognized Sister Cowley, but we didn't know how. Finally, we found out that the girlfriend's daughter had been baptized in the Spanish branch in Kent in the same church Sister Cowley had gone to when she served there! It was crazy! Her daughter was a member and the mom had actually attended church with him a couple times. So Gib has so many connections to the Church and hopefully we can teach him more!
Janet: We met Janet on our Finding Festival day. We were just knocking on doors, and she let us right in. She has been looking for a church and fell in love with the Book of Mormon. Pray for her!
Katie: She is the definition of "cat lady." Guess how many cats? 14 cats!! And they all live in her house so lessons get pretty interesting. We ran into her when we were knocking doors and she is the sweetest lady. She has been reading/listening to the Book of Mormon and we have been raking her leaves this week (she has a lot too!). Now we just need her to come to church!
Leilani: She has a steady job now so that's been really good for her! She still wants to be baptized on the 23rd of this month, so this week she will be quitting smoking entirely. PLEASE PRAY FOR HER! She is doing so well and has such a desire to come closer to Christ.
Amuji: He is progressing...haha that's all I can say! Thank goodness we had no weird food lately. He went from reading the Book of Mormon once in awhile to almost every day! And he is coming to church more frequently. We tried to get him to our Halloween party, but I guess Halloween is a celebration of Satan in his country....Anyway, all the members of the ward love him and also invite him over for lessons and dinners. It's just awesome!
Ok that's it for friends. This Halloween was fun! We had to be in by 7PM but still had to go finding from 5-7. Well, Sister Cowley and I were not about to knock doors with little trick-or-treaters running around. So instead we set up a booth in front of one of the members' home and taped candy to pass along cards. We had a little game and some Book of Mormons displayed too. The first hour was a little rough because no one was out yet. But by 6PM we got quite a few and handed out lots of cards. We were both freezing by the end though!
Ok, that's all I can remember which is way more than I thought! Have a good week and love you all!
Love,
sis. smith
Pics:
Here is the overview of people we are working with:
Gib: We found him raking his neighbor's leaves. He is this cute old Hispanic man and his neighbor hurt his foot and Good Guy Gib was raking his whole yard for him (sooooo many leaves). We offered to come back the next day and help him rake. He just kept saying "REALLY? You don't want to do that!" But we persisted so he told us to come back at 11AM the next day. We left him with a pamphlet that talked about the Plan of Salvation. Ok, fast forward to the next day: we brought a member with us to help rake the leaves. Gib was still in shock that we actually came back. He told us he read the pamphlet we gave him and was amazed at how much sense it made. He wouldn't stop talking about it! We talked to him more while we were raking and I guess he had met with missionaries before, but it never went anywhere. He told us about his girlfriend, living in Kent, and her daughter who was baptized a couple of months ago. After raking, we invited him to our ward Halloween party. Well he actually showed up to the party and he brought his sweet girlfriend with him! She recognized Sister Cowley, but we didn't know how. Finally, we found out that the girlfriend's daughter had been baptized in the Spanish branch in Kent in the same church Sister Cowley had gone to when she served there! It was crazy! Her daughter was a member and the mom had actually attended church with him a couple times. So Gib has so many connections to the Church and hopefully we can teach him more!
Janet: We met Janet on our Finding Festival day. We were just knocking on doors, and she let us right in. She has been looking for a church and fell in love with the Book of Mormon. Pray for her!
Katie: She is the definition of "cat lady." Guess how many cats? 14 cats!! And they all live in her house so lessons get pretty interesting. We ran into her when we were knocking doors and she is the sweetest lady. She has been reading/listening to the Book of Mormon and we have been raking her leaves this week (she has a lot too!). Now we just need her to come to church!
Leilani: She has a steady job now so that's been really good for her! She still wants to be baptized on the 23rd of this month, so this week she will be quitting smoking entirely. PLEASE PRAY FOR HER! She is doing so well and has such a desire to come closer to Christ.
Amuji: He is progressing...haha that's all I can say! Thank goodness we had no weird food lately. He went from reading the Book of Mormon once in awhile to almost every day! And he is coming to church more frequently. We tried to get him to our Halloween party, but I guess Halloween is a celebration of Satan in his country....Anyway, all the members of the ward love him and also invite him over for lessons and dinners. It's just awesome!
Ok that's it for friends. This Halloween was fun! We had to be in by 7PM but still had to go finding from 5-7. Well, Sister Cowley and I were not about to knock doors with little trick-or-treaters running around. So instead we set up a booth in front of one of the members' home and taped candy to pass along cards. We had a little game and some Book of Mormons displayed too. The first hour was a little rough because no one was out yet. But by 6PM we got quite a few and handed out lots of cards. We were both freezing by the end though!
Ok, that's all I can remember which is way more than I thought! Have a good week and love you all!
Love,
sis. smith
Pics:
Gib!!!!
the lighting was cool 😎
I saw Sister Woolwine again and this is basically us in a nutshell
we were the judges for the ward chili cook off
helped our friend Lizzie get ready for her Halloween concert
this is what we have to work with when we teach Katie Cat Lady
we gave the zone leaders in our apartment complex a Halloween surprise
cute little Larry the Cucumber!!
pumpkin carving contest with the zone
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