An Unfortunate Week

So my week really was actually pretty good, but my companion got sick on Friday and so we stayed in and a member brought us dinner. The member brought us Panda Express, and I went to open the fortune cookie, and there was no fortune in it! That was unfortunate!

So besides Sister Leavitt getting sick and having to stay in on Friday, the week was pretty fantastic! Monday night, we had a switch over lesson. Some other sisters were teaching this investigator, Skylar, and he is YSA age and was wanting to switch to the YSA ward, so we had a lesson with those sisters and him. It is great too because he is on date to be baptized for October 22! So I officially have my first investigator on a baptismal date! He has some word of wisdom issues to take care of, but we have faith that he can overcome them! We also had another lesson with him on Saturday night. The lesson went well, and we were able to have 3 other members of the YSA ward there to help fellowship him and be his friend. So that is going well. After this, we had FHE with the YSA ward. We were playing a game that involved switching chairs. Let's just say I almost fell back in a chair and my skirt may or may not have come up a little bit... But Sister Leavitt managed to actually fall back in the chair. We are both okay and were able to get a good laugh about everything haha

On Tuesday, I got my iPad!!! Whoop whoop!! It makes planning and everything easier and go by faster since I have my own and my comp and I can both be doing things at the same time. We also had a lesson with our investigator named Dan. The week before, he had told us he wanted a break from us and the church and wanted to think things over, but he agreed a few days later to meet with us. It was a relief to have him tell us that he would be willing to meet with us. 

Wednesday was pretty cool. There is a lady in our family ward that owns an original 1830 copy of the Book of Mormon, so we got to go and see it! It was awesome! She told us about it and some other pretty cool information. That night, we were able to have lessons with 2 new investigators. One is the boyfriend of a member of our YSA ward and the other was a man we found when we were actually trying to find someone else. It is always great when you have new people to teach!

Thursday, we got to go to the temple because we get to go once each transfer. It was great as going to the temple always is. It is amazing how your questions can be answered and the peace and comfort that come from being in the temple. After, we did some studies at the VC because we thought we would be having a lesson soon after, but that fell through. But when we walked into the VC, we saw one of our investigators there studying the scriptures with a member, and we were able to share a spiritual thought with them. 

Friday, like I said prior, we stayed in. With that time, I was able to do some extra studies and write in my journal and also just think about my mission thus far. It was nice to have a little time to just sit back and not be running around and just be able to think, but at the same time, it would have been great to be out teaching and finding. 

Saturday was a great though. Sister Leavitt still wasn't 100%, but she made it through the end of the day haha. We had a lesson with a less active family and then there was the Women's Session of General Conference. That session was AMAZING and I love all that was said. For me, it really emphasized the need for the Atonement and also always trying our hardest in all that we do. If you did not listen to it, I would encourage you to go and read or watch it once it comes out. It really is powerful. After this, we had 2 lessons with investigators, one which was mentioned earlier. The other one we were originally supposed to have at the investigator's home, but then we couldn't, so we went over to the VC and had a change of plans, but everything worked out and we were still able to extend an invitation to help him progress. 

Sunday was just filled with church and meetings, but they were all good. One meeting was for the priesthood leaders in the wards, but the sister missionaries were invited to come because the meeting was all about how members should and need to be involved in missionary work. As a missionary now, I can see the importance of members being engaged in missionary work. It really makes a difference.

I know this gospel is true and that spreading it is the most important thing I can do right now and also for the rest of my life.

Love y'all!

Sister Smith

Preface from 1830 Book of Mormon

Me holding the 1830 Book of Mormon

Selfie with Sister Schlie, the one who owns the Book of Mormon

A framed page from it (a page some where in Ether haha)

Temple!!!

His(panics)

To start out, I forgot last week to say Congrats to Matt and Brooke for getting married!

The subject line has to do with the fact that a lot of the people in my area are hispanic and speak Spanish, so I freak out a little on the inside each time a person we start speaking to speaks Spanish. I use the little Spanish that I know, but it is not quite as much as I wish I knew. We also had a combined ward mariachi party with a Spanish Branch in our area. There were a lot a members who would start speaking Spanish and then realize that we didn't really know what they were saying haha

SO this past week has been pretty great! It was hard, but great. We had many lessons fall through, which is a first for me on my mission. It was hard to see so many lessons fall through, but at the same time it gave us time to go and try to contact more people, and we were able to find a few new investigators. Something else that was hard was that we called an investigator to confirm an appointment for that night, and he told us he wanted to take a break and try to figure things out and to think over some things. That was a hard conversation. But luckily, we called him this morning and he said he would be willing to meet with us at least one more time this week. We have some solid investigators though that we are trying to help reach baptism.

We were also able to do some service at a food bank on Wednesday. It was fun, but also hard work. We were loading carts with food and stuff to be taken out to people's cars. 

On Friday, we had Zone Conference, and it was soo good. We talked about a lot of different things, but something that I really liked was how we cannot teach repentance without the Atonement. We always talk about teaching repentance and asking ourselves if our investigators are developing faith unto repentance. We talked about how we first need to teach about the Atonement, then help them gain faith in the Atonement, and then they can repent because they have faith in the Atonement, and thus faith unto repentance. Repentance is only possible through the Atonement. Another thing we talked about was teaching the Restoration and how it is so important to use Joseph Smith's own words for the First Vision because there is so much power in his words. But yeah, it was all good, I just don't have time to write it all haha

And then, after Zone Conference we went to dinner with a member of one of our wards. She is a manager at a place called Organ Stop Pizza. Basically, they have pizza and then they have this huge organ that is played while you eat. The organist takes requests, and I can now say that I have heard "Let It Go" played on an organ haha. After that, there was the mariachi party that I mentioned earlier. Great food there too. 

That is about all that happened this week besides the generic finding and teaching :)

Love y'all!

Sister Smith

Pictures

One of the people we visited had puppies! :D
We went to Krazy Air (and trampoline park) this afternoon for pday

How far away do you think that plane is? About 17 months

Since we see planes all the time coming in, we saw one as we were at a stoplight and my comp asked "how far away do you think that plane is?" I responded that I am bad at estimating distances. Then she said 17 months, because I have 1 MONTH DOWN and 17 more to go haha

Anyways, this week has been pretty great! The work is starting to pick up since we are finally starting to get to know the people in the wards and also the area. We had some pretty great lessons this week too. One of the best ones was at the VC with a guy who was excommunicated and is trying to get back into the church. With him, we are basically just meeting with him to uplift him and bring the Spirit into his life more. So with him, we watched a movie at the VC in a teaching room. The movie was a modern(ish) version of the prodigal son. The best part was that we had a member with us as well who has gone through some challenges and is working through some things as well. Before we actually watched the movie, the excommunicated member and the member present understood each other and just kinda had a conversation going, and I think it was something they both needed. Then, when we started the video, the member present really felt like it was for her too. She even leaned over to my comp and asked, "who told you?" which she said no one, but the member asked again, and my comp said the Spirit. Then, one last time the question was asked, and the response was Heavenly Father. I think it is so amazing how the Spirit works. This lesson was supposed to be geared towards the man we were teaching, but really it taught both of them. They both really enjoyed a scripture that was quoted and it was 2 Nephi 31:20, and their favorite part was "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ". They both realized that they need to keep improving and working towards their goals. The same is true for all of us though too. We have to keep improving, keep moving forward, day by day.

We had a couple lessons with one of our other investigators. His name is Dan. He really is a great guy and works hard and does the things we ask him to. He is so strong, but the hardest thing he is struggling with is recognizing the Spirit. In our lessons, the Spirit is there and we know that he can feel it, but he needs to learn to recognize it so that he can know that he is receiving and answer from God and that God is there and cares about him. But he really is a great guy.

One of our other investigator's, Rosa, is a new investigator. She has gone to church for a while and has read the Book of Mormon, but isn't baptized yet. So we are trying to work with her towards that. She talks as if she is a member. So we will see how it turns out.

This week, I also got a glimpse into what Christ might feel like when we do not use and accept His Atonement. We have a lady in one of my wards that is struggling in multiple ways, but she won't really accept a lot of help. We have visited her multiple times this past week, and every time we walked away from her place, I always felt kinda down and disappointed and even a little upset. It's so hard to see someone going through such a rough time and not ask or really accept a lot of help. I feel like Christ feels this way when He knows that if we just accepted Him and His Atonement, our lives would be happier. Trials would not be taken away, but they would be easier to bear.

Anyways, love y'all!

Sister Smith

What is green and white and red all over?? My first area.

Green because I am a greenie.

White because we are white washing.

Red because it's hot.

Also, watermelons are those colors and I have had a few experiences with watermelon since I lasted emailed. The first one was in the MTC when my MTC comp got sent a whole watermelon, and we cut it with a plastic knife somehow and ate it. The next day, I wore an outfit (mostly intentionally) that looked like a watermelon. Then I got served a big chunk of watermelon with a spoon to eat it at a dinner the other night.

Anyways, the last week at the MTC was good. Mostly just the same stuff as the previous weeks.

This past week in the field has been good so far. The travel was uneventful, just kinda long. Bus, frontrunner (train), tracks (another train), plane, and then car. After we landed in AZ, we met President and Sister Townsend at the airport, got our bags, and headed to the Visitors Center (VC) where we did a short little orientation and stuff. Then, we headed to the stake center that is right across from the mission office and had more orientation stuff and then lunch and more orientation. Then, we had short interviews with Pres. Townsend and his wife. After I did that, my comp from the MTC and I went and got certified to drive a car, so I got to drive a car for a short amount of time. It was funny though because when we got done with that, we came back and walked into the chapel and all the new missionaries are just laying across pews sleeping with the pillow and blanket they gave each of us. It was kinda funny to see that, and I wish I had a picture of it. But I joined in and took a nice nap. Then we finally got our companions. My name was called first and my companion is Sister Leavitt.

Sister Leavitt is pretty cool. She is from Grand Junction, Colorado and is a Broncos fan, so that is always a plus haha. Besides the general where are you from question, the first question she asked me was, "Do you know what white washing is?" So that has been fun. What white washing is is when both companions get transferred out of an area and two new missionaries come in. We did actually have a lesson set up though. The was one of the next few things my comp told me. And the lesson was with an ex-communicated member who wants to rejoin the church. But when my comp first said the lesson was with an ex-communicated member, not gonna lie, it made me a little scared and nervous. But the lesson went well. The ex-communicated member, Laura, has a very strong testimony, but she has just been through a lot and is trying to overcome some addictions. 

The rest of week has mostly has just been trying to get to know and meet members, especially in the Ward Councils. I am actually covering two wards, the Udall ward and the Gable YSA ward. The Udall ward is often described as the "newly wed or nearly dead" ward, and that is true. In Relief Society, it was almost all elderly ladies. Some of them were really funny though. I don't remember what the question was, but one woman answered "We are so old that we forget or we just don't care!" And they also have a box of blankets they bring every week for them to use if they are cold. Sunday was long though covering these 2 wards because church is from 9:30-12:30 and1:30-4:30. But I survived

But back to my week, it was mostly just calling members to try to set up time to meet up them and get any info we can about the ward, other members, and investigators. We really only had I think 5 lessons or so this past week, so it is a little slow. Hopefully things pick up this week. Friday night though was full of miracles. Sister Leavitt and I were out trying to find and contact people from our area book, and we got to one name and it didn't have a phone number or address, but it had a friends name. We were able to find that friend's number and call him. And he happened to have this other person we were looking for with him. He was like, "we can meet right now." The only problem was that we needed another female with us, but the friend was like, "I have some friends that live right across from the VC and we can probably meet there." So we met there. And the friends' house we went to was actually a member from the ward we were trying to contact and meet with anyways. We had a lesson that was so full of the Spirit. AND THEN, the person's house we were out (the Pierces) offered to have us over for dinner the next night, which was really great because we didn't have a dinner planned since we did not yet have the meal calendar. So that night was AWESOME! I walked away from that house feeling so happy. 

The hardest part so far though is waking up at 6:30am every morning and then trying to stay awake during personal study. The latter one is definitely a struggle and I am still trying to work on that haha

Anyways, I love you all! If anyone would like to send me anything, you can send it to this address (the mission office):

2525 N 32nd St
Mesa AZ 85213
United States

~Sister Smith

My companion, Sister Leavitt

NO TIME FOR CAPTIONS

Pics from the MTC