Mission Accomplished

Well, tomorrow is the day I return home and finish my mission. It’s been real here in the Arizona Mesa Mission these last 18 months. I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve, to love, and to grow.

This past week has been kinda bitter sweet. It’s been fun to see so many people that I have grown to love before I leave, but it has also been sad to say bye to them. Luckily, technology makes it easier to stay connected with everyone. 

Anyways, I’m going to make this short since I’m short on time with all the packing and everything today I’m short on time. But yesterday it was great to be able to speak in all 3 wards that I have been serving in for the past 7 months (it was a little stressful though...). My favorite was the First Vision talk that I gave. The Spirit testified so strongly to me that this message is true. Many people in the congregation had tears in their eyes, and I know that it was from the Spirit that we all felt. It was great to be able to testify of it one last time before I take off my missionary tag.

I love y’all! Talk to all y’all soon.

The Gospel is true. 

Sister Smith

IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Do do do doooo. Do do do do dooo...

Now that that song is stuck in your head, this week was pretty good. Getting down to the end, and people in my area know it, so I keep getting asked how much longer I have. There’s even people I don’t even remember telling, but somehow lots of people know. I have loved this area though.

This week, as in all weeks as a missionary, there were some great ups, but there were also a few downs.

One of the downs was that we get a text from Sister Wolf saying that visits to her and her kids are going to have to stop since the kids’ father is coming back into the picture (and he doesn’t really like the church...). I wanted to cry. I was so sad when I read that text.

On a better note, we had a couple of good lessons with the Waters where Larry was more coherent and with it than he has been for awhile. So those were some awesome lessons, and I’m really hoping Larry starts to turn around a little more real soon. 

I had a funny story with flowers on Valentine’s Day. So my mom sent me flowers via a member, Sister Jensen. So Sister Jensen tricked us to coming to her house so that I could get the flowers we thought were for me. As I opened them and read the note, the note started, “To my favorite Jensen family in Arizona”... Turns out Sister Jensen’s parents had sent her flowers, too. I thought about just playing it off, but I decided it would be more awkward if my flowers came later. We all got a good laugh out of it (and I also got a Diet Coke, so that was a bonus). 

We also went on exchanges. I went to Sister McEwen’s area, and a cool experience that I had was we were just reading from The Book of Mormon was a convert, and I started asking some questions to help this person try to apply the scriptures to himself, and I was trying to get at that our “promised land” should be eternal life. Well, later on, Sister McEwen was talking to me about the lesson, and apparently a member had told her and her companion that they should probably review eternal life with him. And then there I was directing the conversation towards eternal life without even knowing the member had told them that. The Spirit is real y’all! I feel like often times I follow the Spirit with our really knowing it. 

I hope everyone is doing well, and I will be seeing y’all real soon!

Sister Smith

My Valentine’s Day gift

Lunch with Sister Gloschat today!

Can’t see the point

So one of the ward members got new contacts, and she was having a really hard time seeing with them, so I made the comment in gospel principles class as she was talking about it that she just couldn’t see the point in wearing them. 

Anyways, this week was great! It went by wayyy too fast though! 

On Saturday, we had a special mission conference with Elder Uceda and Elder Cook! It was soooo awesome! The Spirit was so strong as Elder Cook, and apostle of the Lord, spoke and bore his testimony. Even though the conference was only 2 hours, I learned so much! It was really cool too because he talked about the choosing and setting apart of President Nelson as the prophet. The Spirit hardcore testified to me that President Nelson is truly a prophet. Time sure does fly though because I remember it like it was yesterday that President Townsend told us not to expect to have another mission conference at our last one, and that was 10 months ago! It’s crazy!

We also had some miracles this week when it came to contacting some less actives. We were able to catch a couple of them home, and they let us in, and we were able to share a message with them! We were definitely blessed in that aspect. And we were able to meet with 2 different part member families this week (because they both love the missionaries and now it’s just chippin’ away little by little until they finally decide to be baptized).

Also, today we found out that here in Mesa, the bowling alleys are filled in the afternoon by all the snowbirds... So no bowling for our zone, but we did go to Krazy Air, so that was fun as always. 

Anyways, I love y’all! Take care!

Sister Smith

Weekly dog pic 1

Mission conference!

Weekly dog pic 2

Krazy Air

In about a month, this will be water

A true “Southern” girl

So my whole mission, I have served along Southern Ave here in Mesa. I was thinking about that last week, and I came to the conclusion that it’s just because I truly am a southern girl haha
I also unintentionally made a pun (but no one realized except for me). At dinner, I made some whipped cream, and it took forever. We shared a dinner message on patience, and I said, “Sometimes, the Lord just wants to ‘whip’ us into shape.” Like I said, I was the only one noticed, so it wasn’t that great I guess...

Anyways, this week was pretty good. It was about normal. We had a few good contacts with some people that needed to be contacted (like a PMF and some less actives and stuff). One experience was really cool. There’s a convert in one of our wards of about 2 years. We found out a couple of weeks ago that she has never actually read through The Book of Mormon all the way through yet. It was Monday night, and we didn’t have much planned, so we texted her to see if we could come read with her. As we were reading her, she told us that she was feeling a little guilty about missing church the day before since she was sick, but she decided she would read from The Book of Mormon (I think just a chapter a week). And then we showed up to read with her! We also invited her to an FHE last night, and it was the first time she had ever had or been to an FHE, so that was also great.

One of the things I love about being a missionary is seeing people change, even if it is just in their attitude from the time we get to their house to the time that we leave. We had a lesson with another convert who is working on coming back to church and receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood. When we first got there, he wasn’t in the best mood, but as he answered his questions, he could feel the Spirit, and he was in such a good mood after. And he even said, “Well, that definitely wasn’t a waste of my time!” Which is always good to hear about a lesson haha

We had another awesome lesson with Nadia. She really just is great, and she is already so involved in missionary work, and it’s just so natural for her. 

We had another 10 Sunday at the church building, but I loved the sacrament hymn we sang in one of the wards. The fourth verse has a line that says, “I have loved thee as thy friend, With a love that cannot end.” I love this so much because Christ really is our friend, and He loves us so much, and it really does never end. 

Anyways, I hope each of you guys had a great week! Love y’all!

Sister Smith

Ice Cream and Book of Mormon reading with Sister Murrane

Sunset

Temple Trip

“Moving” The tree that’s in the way 😂

Downtown explorin' once more