Week 47 - The Weight of the Calling

Ok, not gonna lie...this was a hard week for me. Mission life can just become so stressful and you don't realize how much you take on until people tell you to slow down. Then it just hits you all at once and you are reminded of the many problems you face in the field. As missionaries, we literally just absorb the hardships of others and it can be quite a burden. Not only that, but Satan is the WORST out in the mission field. He wants you to feel like you aren't doing enough and the work is hopeless. I think my mind became accustomed to feeling that weight so I was totally numb to all the stress my body was going through. Well, then it started to affect me physically and that's where I drew the line. After receiving a priesthood blessing and some additional help, I'm headed in an upward direction again. I'm telling you this because MISSIONS ARE HARD. We talk to people everyday that come from all over the world. People who have terrible family conditions or are working 5 different jobs just to provide food for their kids. As representatives of Christ, people tend to open up to us and they just want someone to understand. With our calling, we have the ability to heal those wounds and to give these people hope. And that's what made these past 10 months worth it. Even with all of the stress we take on, the ability to bring peace to a broken family mends this fragile heart of mine every. single. time. 

Currently in Cougar Mountain, we are still working with our friend Mona. She is a superstar, oh my goodness! She is one of those special people you dream about as a missionary. The kind that just absorbs everything you teach her. Mona has suffered a lot and just wants a clean start. We taught her the Plan of Salvation this week and she just kept commenting how "beautiful" it was to know this. She told us how she wished more people knew this plan, that they could receive that peace of knowing there's more to this life. It was a humbling experience to me because I had grown up having that knowledge my whole life, and yet, there were still so many who feared life after death. There are still so many who worry about loved ones who have passed on. How lucky are we to know God gave us a way back to Him!

Mona has been having a hard time reading the Book of Mormon and we finally found out why: her vision makes it hard to see the words! We had her download the Book of Mormon app on her phone and made the font 3x bigger. Yesterday we invited Mona over for dinner and a lesson at a member's home. Mona told us she read the introduction...and the first four chapters of Nephi! And...she understood it all! She has just a desire to learn and come closer to Heavenly Father. I can't wait for the day when she enters that baptismal font and feels the cleansing power of Christ's Atonement wash away her past. She is an amazing soul. 

Cool little miracle for the week: We have been trying to get in contact with this amazing referral all week. They moved here from Hawaii and the father was about to be baptized there, but then life got super crazy. Well, we had their phone numbers but both phones were disconnected so we couldn't call them. We tried multiple times to see them at their apartment, but they were never home. I had kind of given up hope on them until last night. We were stopping by to see our one friend Kevin and there was no parking in the complex. We ended up hazard parking on the side just long enough to swing by Kevin's. When we came back, we saw a Polynesian woman walking across and Sister Cowley called out to her. She turned out to be Irena (the wife of this referral)! She told us her phone will be set up this week and she's been missing church since she came here. We invited her to our church and she said she'll plan on attending! We also friended her on Facebook so we have another way to reach out to her if her phone doesn't work. It was such a miracle that we just happened to be there at the right time!

Have another great week and hopefully enjoy some sunshine over there! Washington is supposed to get into the 80s this week so we are prepping for another dry summer! 

Love, 
Sister Smith 

Pics:

Exploring this cute town

Bubble tea and exchanges

Face masks

Hiking and views

Heart attacking our sweet members

Painting on pdays :) 

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

 Sister Tibbits RIP

Sister Adair 

Us planning for our friends that don't want to progress

 Sister Cowley (before we knew we'd be companions)

 STL squad 

 Crashed a ward cinco de mayo party

She makes me food to show her love

 This is someone's backyard view in cougar mountain area

Helping at the "paint and sip" relief society activity 

 Tracting with Sister Rasmussen

Finding friends [and flowers]

 Reunited with my baby

Heart attacked a recent convert and she came 

out right when we were leaving (close call yikes)