These are a few of my favorite things

Now that you have that song stuck in your head, on Thursday I was able to go to the temple, have Canes for dinner, and pet a German shepherd and a German shepherd puppy. So I was happy because these are a few of my favorite things haha

Something that was funny was I went to the church service at the care center in our area, and I was taking one of the women back to her room and I asked her what her favorite part of the service was. Her response was, "Probably the nap I took in the middle of it." 

Anyways, nothing overly exciting happened this week. We did find out that one of our new investigators lives in our area. We weren't 100% sure that she did, but we talked to her again this week, and we were able to get a better idea of where she lives, so we are excited about that.

Last Monday, my companion hurt her ankle. You're probably all shocked that it wasn't me. But with that, we had to adjust some of our plans because she couldn't ride her bike. And then her bike had another problem, so we were without bikes for a bit this week. But we made it work, and members who are willing to help are a blessing. 

I also gave a training in our district meeting, and I was able to use a principle in chemical engineering and apply it to missionary work #nerdlife But someone said it made a lot of sense to them and really helped them, so at least someone besides myself benefited from it.  Other than that, not much else happened.

I just want to share something from my personal study. I may have

shared this before, but I absolutely love it. In 1 Nephi 11, Nephi is receiving an interpretation of his father's dream. I love verses 16 and 17: "...Knowest thou the condescension of God? 17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." Nephi didn't know everything, but he know that God loves His children. Then in verse 26 it says: "Look and behold the condescension of God," and Nephi sees Christ life. Cross referencing these verses with John 3:16, we can see that God really does love us because He gave us Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a symbol of God's love, and we know that Christ loves us. We should emulate that love for everyone around us.

I love you guys!

Sister Smith

Baby hedgehog (whose name unfortunately isn't Sonic)

Sometimes, candy stays intact in the mail. Sometimes, it doesn't...

Sister Brown and I.  We have a joke when we are together that it is "Sister Smith and Sister Brown" because they are super basic names

4 people and 2 seats turn into this

Comparison of Sister Leavitt and I my first transfer....

...and than this past week at the temple

Just hopping along

So I may or may not have put on an Easter bunny suit to help out with
an activity Saturday morning... and I may or may not have taken a
video of me hopping around in it lol

This week was pretty good. We went to the Easter Pageant 3 more times
this week, and one night we even had front row seats because we
brought an investigator who has a daughter who is deaf, so we got to
sit in front with them so they could see the ASL translation.

We also found 2 new investigators this week, one of which is really
solid and golden. Her name is Emily and she is 11 years old. She has
been to church a handful of times already with her friend. At first,
her mom didn't want her to be taught by the missionaries and stuff,
but now she can. Our first lesson with her was last Monday night at
the members' home that she is friends with. She was telling us how
lately she has felt a stronger need to go to church and everything!
She even asked some awesome questions during the lesson, and she
already knew how to pray. It was kinda funny because we asked her what
the first step to pray is and she said, "Dear Heavenly Father" and
then we asked her what the second step is, and she said, "Thank you
for this day." It's just funny that she has picked that line up from
hearing people say that because so many of us do say that haha. She
even asked us if we wanted her to say the closing prayer. Like, how
many investigators do that? So yeah, it was awesome.

Another funny moment from this week was we were eating at a member's
home, and the mom pulled out ranch dressing for the salad, and one of
her daughters said, pointing to the ranch, "and this is for pizza." 
The mom said that clearly they don't eat enough salad in their home
haha.

We also had exchanges this week, and I went with Sister Crookston into
her area, which meant I was in a car for a day. It was kinda
refreshing to be in a car and in a different area. It was cool though
because all in that day, we taught someone from Kenya, someone from
China, and someone from Vietnam. So much variety, but it was just a
good reminder that this gospel really is for everyone.

We also did service at a food bank. It was a lot of fun, especially
because it was a smaller food bank and so it wasn't chaotic. We just
helped prepare the boxes for people to pick up later that day. They
did a little drawing to win a prize in the morning. My companion was
the one to draw the name out of the container, and right before she
did, I told her she better draw my name. And then she did. I thought
it was a joke when she said my name at first, but it wasn't. So I came
home with some protein powder haha

Easter Sunday was pretty great. The Sunny Mesa Ward has an amazing
ward choir, and so it was awesome for Easter. We had some members who
even brought friends to church on Easter, too. I just loved being able
to reflect on Jesus Christ and His life, His Atonement, and His
resurrection. I know that He lives and loves us. Without Jesus Christ,
I don't know where I would be right now. I have found peace and
comfort through Him. I have been given strength through Him. Christ is
the Savior of the world. I know this.

I love y'all and hope this week is great!
Sister Smith

 

Sister Smith or the Easter Bunny??

Just had to get a pic of my 'Easter outfit" even though it's a bad pic

Helium: HeHe

So we were playing with Helium the other day (see video), but I don't
think people got my joke #nerdlife

This week was pretty busy, but we didn't spend a lot of time in our
area. We had 2 different service projects and we also had an entire
Mission Conference. The Mission Conference was a once in a lifetime
thing, and we had it because Elder Nielsen, who is the Executive
Director of the Missionary Department, was in Mesa for the Easter
Pageant and wanted to have the conference. It was an awesome
conference! The Spirit was so strong, and the biggest thing that stood
out to me is that the work is not over. There is so much of God's work
that still needs to be done!
Also, we went through the difference between the redeeming and the
enabling power of the Atonement. We are saved by the redeeming power,
but changed by the enabling power. We all must rely on Jesus Christ to
become better and better each day.

Also, the Easter Pageant was so good! We went Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday night. I love it because the Spirit is so strong, and it really
testifies to me that Jesus Christ lives. He loves us so much!

We found some potential investigators, and so hopefully this week we
can start teaching them. We even found one while out with members, and
the members are even planning on going back on their own to try to
teach him too!

Also, I got asked yesterday at church if I was from Sweden... I mean,
I have blonde hair and it was in a braid, so I guess I could pass for
a person from Sweden

Anyways, I love y'all!
Sister Smith

  Helium Fun

Family picture haha

Most Texan meal thus far (and there is Dr Pepper in the cup)

Easter Pageant with the Darling family

The Pitcher family

Mission Conference: the whole mission

Too many puns for a subject line

So this week, I have lots of puns.
1. Orange you glad you have missionaries to help: we did a service for
a member to pick oranges from her trees, and we have been drinking
lots of fresh orange juice. So good!
2. Nuts and bolts, nuts and bolts. I got screwed: haha the nut that
holds my left pedal on my bike fell off, so our plans had to be
rearranged.
3. Pedal to the metal (or the concrete): to go with #2, my pedal
basically fell off while riding
4. Something really grinding my gears: literally, my gears on my bike
were grinding because my back axle on my bike was also loose. So my
gears grinding was grinding my gears
5. Sister Smith riding Sister Smith's bike: along with my bike
problems, we had a member, Sister Smith, who let me borrow her bike

Anyways, this week was pretty good. We stayed busy and did lots of
service. One day, we even did service for 3 different people! We had
some great lessons with members. We are still struggling to find
people to teach consistently in our area, and we are really trying to
get members involved. We are hoping the Easter Pageant that starts
this week helps members get involved and brings in referrals. And this
week will be crazy busy with everything going on in the mission, but
I'm so excited for it all.

For this past week though, we also had 3 lunches in a row where
members fed us! #blessed
And we also had like 5 families offer to feed us dinner this month,
and one of them is a part member family, so we are really looking
forward to that.

Spiritually, this week was great! The Easter initiative video came
out! #PrinceofPeace If you haven't watched it, go watch it and share
it. Christ really does provide peace!
Then, General Conference. I just loved it. I felt like there was a
strong emphasis on gaining and growing faith as well as being able to
recognize and follow the Spirit. I'm definitely excited to go back and
study the talks again.

Love you!
Sister Smith

Packing 101: Empty container? Fill it with something

Conference is always great with Panda Express
(s/o to Sis Faasavalu for the food)

Helping with an April Fools joke.
Some women decorated their husband's cars
while in the Priesthood Session.

How do you know it's the Priesthood Session?
Trucks everywhere in the parking lot. lol

Another dog picture. German shepherd 

Downtown exploring round 2