Almost Easter

WHAT A WEEK! The weather dropped again and so we were walking in the -15 area once again. Always brings good times for sure.  It was a fast and furious week. We had a LOT of time for finding. It is finals week around here so everyone has been super stressed and super busy with their finals so it's put a damper on the lesson front but we met a lot of new people and were able to talk with a lot and bare testimony! which is always a big deal for sure :) We had an appointment this week....and since I have been promoted to driver I had to parallel park...there was ONE space open in this whole neighborhood (everyone parks on the street here) so sister Reid got out and started to back me and we then had to pull forward and back again and then forward and back again and it took us a good 10 minutes. Wouldn’t have been too funny except for the fact we didn't know we had an audience.  Once we put the car in park this man was clapping and cheering for us from his window!! Of course!   Glad we could provide some entertainment once again.

We had exchanges again this week and I got to go with the new Sister, Sister Carmichael to her area.  She is from Mesa Arizona, went to BYU and is just great!! She is a really good teacher and loves the people they are working with. We had a really neat appointment with this little family. The spirit was really strong and the husband had been taught before. At the end of the lesson he looked at his wife and just said I know that the Book of Mormon is true. Everyone just stopped and starred at him.  They committed for baptism in May! I’m excited for the sisters to get to continue working with them.  They were great.

We had contact with Camille just about every day this week!! She is AMAZING! When we talked to her the beginning of the week she expressed concern that she wasn't feeling the spirit every time she read. We suggested praying before and after. At the end of the week when we were talking to her she said how powerful the book is and how she feels like she is a part of the stories. She has felt the spirit so strong. She then apologized for not getting to watch ALL of conference yet. We had never mentioned conference and so we were super surprised! She said she has watched most of the highlights in between studying for finals and she KNOWS that the prophet and apostles are true and FEELS that the things she is reading and hearing from the prophet is true. We are meeting with her tomorrow and are SUPER excited about it.

Winter is doing great. She met with us 2 times this past week and is working towards baptism again!!

Transfer calls are this week! We should know by Friday who is staying and who is going!!

I have a deep love for 1st Nephi!!! What an amazing book.  I was reading in chapter 16 and loved verse two....the guilty take the truth to be hard! it cuteth them to the very center-then jump over to 2nd Nephi chapter 9 verse 40....the righteous love the truth and are not shaken. I love that. If we are being righteous...we have nothing to fear. The truth comes to us and we love it, we aren’t angry or frightened about what will happen but we rejoice in our righteousness.

HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND! Hope you all have a great weekend and have a great week. It’s a holiday so that means no computer till Tuesday! Until then…..

Be good, remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

Love you all!

Sister Smith

Going Fast

WHAT A FAST WEEK! This week went by so fast. The time is just speeding up its crazy! We had exchanges this week. I was able to go to the family ward with Sister Hope!! We always have an enjoyable time together! Last time we were together we found a girl named Nana. We stopped by her house again and were able to teach her. Turns out she is an investigator for the YSA area so Sister Reid and I are quite excited about it! :)

We have an amazing investigator named Camille! She called the mission office asking for the missionaries to come meet her.  We met her at the church. She is a girlfriend of a member who just left and she has done a LOT of research on her own. She loved the lesson and felt the spirit really strong. She said she knows she'll get baptized she just needs time to work with her family and sort things out that way. She called us this morning and said that she has read up to chapter five in 1st Nephi and can’t wait to get the Doctrine and Covenants. 

We set another date with Winter this week as well.  We went over the baptism interview questions with her and answered some of her concerns!! The only thing holding up her baptism is her church attendance. Once she starts coming to church she'll be able to get baptized!!

Everything has melted around here and there is a lot of flooding happening...as we were walking around this minivan zoomed by us and splashed Sister Reid pretty good with the huge puddle. All the sudden it slammed on its brakes and this man just leaned out and was so apologetic. So we did get the classic splash...but the apology afterwards! Classy

Since it is flooding so much, tonight for F.H.E we are going sandbagging!! I am pretty excited about it.

Lately we've been getting a lot of the same answers with approaches..."oh I’m Christian." and just keep walking...so I’ve been thinking of how I can say nicely that we share that same belief.  So we have these free finding faith in Christ DVD cards...so I decided when they say that I’ll say. OH NO WAY....that's great, you'll rreeaaallly love this DVD then...and just keep on handing it to them. It proved to be pretty affective this week. Every time I do Sister Reid just chuckles. It gets them thinking that's for sure.

We had zone conference this week as well. President talked about fighting our own personal Goliaths!! Finding things in our life that seem to be too big or too scary and taking the courage and having the faith to fight them!! It was really encouraging and made me think a lot about little things that may be keeping me from working harder or doing better.  I thought about things in high school that may have been Goliaths and how if I had recognized them earlier...I could have fought them better and done more. HAVE COURAGE!!!!!

Hope you all have a fantastic week!! Hope the weathers been nice for you!

Love you all! Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

Sister Smith

TEMPLES!

TEMPLES!!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? MERIDIAN AND WINNIPEG!!! I was so ecstatic when I heard Meridian...then when Winnipeg came up...it was double.  Everyone in the chapel was crying and letting out little yells. It was very overwhelming! They are all so thankful and feel so blessed.  The area of the temple is not yet determined so we've been instructed to not talk about it with others very much.  Of course all of the members are talking about it with each other but to limit our conversation about it to the rest of Winnipeg until they get some logistics worked out.  But EVERYONE is so excited!! I can't believe there will be one in Meridian!! How wonderful is that!! I’m excited to hear where they are going to build and everything!!

Wasn't conference wonderful?! There were so many wonderful talks.  I loved how a lot of them were based on the family.  I feel so blessed to be part of our family.  We have so much to be thankful for!! I am thankful for all of you and all of the love and support that we give one another. Thank you.

Our investigator Nicole came to the Sunday afternoon session and loved it. She took notes and everything. We met with her afterwards and she committed to following the prophet.  We talked about her baptism date and explained that there is SO much to know so she sees the importance of meeting regularly and coming to church.  She told us she is telling all her friends and family about it.  Her family has told her that it's not okay to be baptized twice...but she stood up for herself and is really excited!! She is great!

It was a busy week with conference. We had president interviews and zone meeting as well.  Had a lot of time to think and ponder about the mission and goals that I have!

Elder Paulson...who is President Paulson’s brother...works in the office...and he called us on Wednesday and gave us a referral.  This girl, Camille, called the mission office and asked to have missionaries meet with her as soon as possible!! We are meeting with her on Tuesday morning.  We are excited to hear her story and start teaching her!

Well we are so blessed.  I hope you all loved conference and felt the spirit and had answers to questions. Such a powerful time!! I love it.

Have a great week!  Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

Love you all

Conference Week!

HAPPY CONFERENCE WEEK!! I am so excited for conference this up coming weekend!!! Everyone is talking about it.  We are hoping to get as many investigators as we can to be there!!  This week was GREAT! We had A LOT of finding time.  It’s the end of the month so we are low on our K's so we did A LOT of walking. You know how I love to walk for sure!! But it gave us so many more opportunities to talk to more people and to bare our testimonies! Such a blessing.  We decided to stop by Nicole’s house since we hadn't been able to get hold of her through the phone.  When we stopped by she was home just hanging out by herself and so she let us in and we were able to teach her a lesson.  And then...WE SET A BAPTISM DATE WITH HER!! We are so excited! We are working super hard with her to get her to church every week and to help her stop smoking. 

Marson baptized his best friend this week as well, which was amazing.  We had two of our African sisters there at the baptism and they loved it.  There brother came with them and is now learning with the elders as well.  Marson and Alex Tait, another recent convert went to the temple trip with the ward! They each were beaming yesterday at church.  I realize what a blessing it is to have the temple so close in Idaho and to be able to go whenever we want.  The people here LOVE the temple and they do all they can to make it possible for them to go on the temple trip weekends.  The blessings of the temple are remarkable. 

We saw a lot of little blessings and miracles as we were out and about this week! I am so thankful for the hand of the Lord in His work.  He is watching over us for sure and helping His work move along. 

I was reading in 3rd Nephi this week and a lot of things popped out to me.  In chapter 22 verse 14 it says "in righteousness shalt thou be establishes; thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear, and from terror for it shall not come near thee."  If we are working in righteousness and doing righteous things, yes there will still be hard times in our lives and yes there will still be challenges but we will be FAR from oppression and there is no need to fear.  The Lord sees our efforts in righteousness and will protect us from danger when we put Him first in our lives. I know this is so true.  I have seen it as we have put Him first in our work, we have been kept safe in a lot of different situations and as we put our trust in the Lord, we will continually be blessed and kept safe.

I hope you all had a great week!! Hope the weather is warming up. It was a positive one this week...BEAUTIFUL! We were loving it. Enjoy conference!! I am so excited to hear from our prophet and the apostles and to hear what God would have us hear! What a blessing it is to have a prophet today!! WE ARE SO BLESSED!!

Love you all.

Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

It's melting!

HAPPY MONDAY! It's a new week!! I love the beginning of a new week!! I hope you all had a great week and that you are doing just great.

Well the first few days of the new transfer have been great!! Sister Reid and I have some pretty big goals for this transfer that I am really excited about!! It should be great!

Our investigator Nicole came to FHE on Monday! We played the brown paper bag game and ninja destruction.  She loved it!! She was going to come to church on Sunday but she got pretty ill! When we talked to her about it she said, oh don't you worry, there's next Sunday, and I’ll be there! She is planning on coming to FHE tonight as well!! She is great!
Angel, one of the African sisters came to church yesterday!! Turns out that she is the aunt to one of the members of our ward! It was a fun connection! Hopefully that sparks some more interest!

We found a new investigator this week named Marty!! Sister Reid and Sister Wennerlind met him on exchanges!! Sister Reid and I had an appointment with him on Saturday!! He came all dressed in his Sunday best and so excited!! He was so excited about the Book of Mormon and asked to have some extra copies to share with his friends!! He comes from a pretty sad background and has made changes in his life for himself. He told us he had been praying the day before he met these sisters for a new message from God that will help him and give him direction!! TADAAAA! And then there we were!! After he gave us the closing prayer he said, there's probably something you should know about me...I have a baby on the way, it should be here in the next couple days...and he's only 16!! So he has been doing a lot of praying for help and guidance!! He asked us to write our names and our testimonies in the Book of Mormon so he would always remember how he felt and the great day he met with us!! We are pretty excited about him as well!

Marson is baptizing his friend Nikash on Thursday!!!!!! Everyone around here is so excited! Marson is so happy!! Sad thing is, Marson hasn't been able to get things worked out with his visa, so he has to go back to India next week! It’s pretty sad but he is so excited to find the church there and to be active in it!!

Sister Reid and I were street contacting yesterday and had to hug the fences as we tried to walk around all the massive water puddles....everything is melted here and the roads are all basically flooded...as we did ...this old man was watching us and just bust up laughing so hard!! He got quite a laugh out of two young ladies in skirts trying to find their way around a huge ole puddle!! We told him we were glad we could provide some comedy relief for him! Now I know what people think when they see us walking on the streets! Ha. :)

In church on Sunday there was a talk given about being a disciple of Christ!! She shared the scripture Alma 5:26 where it talks about can we feel the spirit now...I've spent some time thinking about it.  If we felt it once, why can't we feel it now...probably because we aren’t doing the things that we should be doing in order to feel it!  We know what the spirit feels like and when we aren’t doing the things we should be doing, the spirit can't be with us!! In order to keep that feeling and keep the spirit with us...in order to "feel it now" we must be doing the things we should be doing...reading our scriptures, saying our prayers, gonig to church, giving service, being charitable...all of those things will help bring and keep the spirit in our lives.

Hope it's been a great week!! Hope the weathers warming up for yous! (Another Canadian lingo...instead of how are all of you? they would say how are yours?!)

Love you all. Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it

Sister Smith

Middle of March!

Can you believe it's the middle of March already?! Where does the time go?!

Well. We had our transfer calls this week...annnnndd....DUN DUN DUN.....I'M STAYING IN WINNIPEG YSA!!! I am SO excited! Sister Reid and I will be staying here for another transfer! We have a lot of good things happening right now so I am really excited to be able to stay!! It should be a great transfer! The new sister that comes this week will also be in Winnipeg with Sister Hope so we'll be able to work real close with her! IT SHOULD BE GREAT! It was a pretty great week! We found a lot of new investigators again!! We set 3 other baptism dates as well!! 2 of them we have to turn over to the elders because it was a husband and a wife, BUT...it was still great! :) Love it! We had another good lesson with our African friends.  They are  stuck on the point that there is only one true church.  They think that every church that teaches of Jesus Christ is good and true.  So, we're hoping to get through to them this week!! We had 7 investigators set for church...buuuuuut....daylight savings can be a bugger :( ha. Who woulda thought? So we're still just working hard and doing our very best!

On Sunday there was a "farewell."  One of the boys in the ward is leaving for the Philippines in 10 days!! It reminded me of when I was preparing and all the emotions I had and how I just wanted to go so bad and just always do my best. It was a great reminder and refresher!! They even played Be Still My Soul as the special musical number! Classy! :)

That's about all for this week. We’re just working hard and loving life. I’m excited for a new week and for the new transfer!!

Hope you're all doing great! Love you all! Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it.

Sister Smith

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS. SMITH (JESSICA)

MY OH MY, WHAT A WONDERFUL WEEK! We have just been blessed blessed blessed over and over again!! This week we found a bundle of new investigators and had a very good lesson with our little African family.  We talked a lot about baptism and the importance of priesthood!! They said they were going to pray to know if God wanted them to be baptized twice since they were already baptized into another church.  They said they will do whatever God tells them to do!! We are excited to meet with them again this week and see where things are headed!! We had exchanges this week! I got to go with Sister Hope over to the family ward in the area!! It was fun to be with her and see how she does things!! Us Idaho girls gotta stick together! :) They had tracted into a girl the day before named Christina and had an appointment with her the day I was there.  We went to teach her. She is 19 and from Trinidad!! Everyone in her family is a different religion.  She said when she was 14 living in Trinidad, her auntie was taking the lessons from some missionaries so she had seen the Book of Mormon and had been to church a couple of times.  She was excited to have her own copy of the Book of Mormon and to read it.  She said she never wanted to join any other religions because it wasn't what she wanted.  She wants to do things for her!! We told her that's what it's all about!! To find out for herself if it's true.  We talked about baptism and she said she knew she would get baptized, she just wasn't sure when yet! We have an appointment with her on Wednesday! We called her on Saturday and she had read the intro and the 1st three chapters of 1st Nephi!! So great.

Marson received the priesthood yesterday!!!!!! What a good day. He also got up and bore his testimony! He is so excited about missionary work and wants to share the gospel with everyone he comes in contact with!!

Eltouma convinced the sisters to allow her to give me a little surprise birthday party! Ha. So they sneakily made a way that we had to go over to her house on Saturday and she had a cake and candy and cupcakes and cookies and was just so excited and happy!!! I said “oh Eltouma, why?!”   And she said, “well, you are my bestest friend in the whole wide world!!” Love that lady so much!!

I was reading in Alma chapter 38 this week in vs. 5 it talks about trusting in God to be delivered out of trials.  It talks about how he tried other ways to find his relief, but it wasn't until he turned to Jesus Christ that he was healed.  We turn to ways of the world to find relief and comfort for our trials...at times it can give us the temporary satisfaction we need, but when we turn to the Lord, we can be completely healed from all of our trials.

Oh I just LOVE the gospel!!!

I hope you all had a great week and I hope this week is even better! Be good. Remember who you are. Live it. Love it

Love,

Sister Smith