...Estoy Embarazada...

¡Hola! 

So today is kind of a crazy day! We don't have transfers today like usual because the new missionaries don't come until tomorrow. BUT since Sister Hoyos is going home we still have to go to the Inwood Chapel so she can be picked up to go to the mission home (they stay there their last night). Haha it's a whole lot of crazy the next few days. I'll be in a trio with the English sisters in our Ward until transfers on Friday....and....if you don't read Spanish (from this email title) I'M TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY. Yep super crazy, last Wednesday after pday was over we went over to our Ward Mission Leader's house for dinner and the phone was ringing as we walked in, so I fumbled for it and when I read "mission office" my heart dropped realizing that we could be getting training calls haha. But in all honesty I'm really excited but also extremely nervous. I definitely don't know enough Spanish or really that much about this area, BUT I know I've been called for a reason. It's such a huge responsibility which is probably while I'm super nervous but I know I'm going to learn so much and be able to really grow and become such a better missionary. 

 

Well this week was actually a little bit crazy too, tends to be that way the last week of a mission. We said a million goodbyes and most of them included some sort of food haha going to have to go on a juice cleanse this week or something ;) but it's incredible to see the impact Sister Hoyos has made on the people her in South Manhattan! 

On Thursday this week I actually got to organize a zone service project. A few weeks ago we got an email to like our area email account asking for some help, so I acted and we ended up having an amazing experience!! We all went to this men's shelter and helped paint their detox floor! It was amazing to see how much happier the workers and the patients were after - what a difference a fresh coat of paint can do to brighten people's spirits. It was really an amazing experience. We tend to make quite an impact as a large group of missionaries. I mean people love to know why a group of young adults want to spend the whole day painting for free and are so happy whole doing it! They even ordered us pizza because we were there so long. Hopefully we can go back and do more service soon! Service as a missionary is just so amazing. Oh we got to go to the soup kitchen too this week! There ended up being more volunteers because schools had breaks this week BUT we got to help cut vegetables for the soup! My catering skills came in handy haha. All the little things that make such a big difference. For a smile, to helping someone with their stroller on the subway, or bigger things like we were able to do this week. Service just makes you so much happier, definitely helped to break some winter blues this week! 

Friday I went on a split with Sister a Dunford to go up to the Trainer's Training Meeting. Haha lots of training. But really I love meetings so much they really help me to receive so much personal revelation! Definitely also helped to calm a lot of my fears about training too. 

Happy Valentine's Day this past weekend too! We had an awesome day with an APF at Lincoln center (free hot chocolate, valentines, and church tours). We also got to go to a dinner that night with Blanca, and Bro & Sis Burrell and one of their friends (pictures included) it actually turned out to be a really fun day! 

Sunday the cold set it....it was CRAZY wind. Luckily really just Sunday was bad for wind and the weather really isn't super bad it's just that New York wind is crazy! Haha hold on tight! Sometimes we just start historically laughing because we're just blowing everywhere hahaha. I'm sure it looks hilarious! 

Well hopefully this all makes sense since I'm typing standing up on the subway heading to Inwood! But if not at least I took quite a few pictures this week :D 

I love you all so much, hope everyone has a fantastic week!! 

xoxo

Hermana Smart 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

¡Hola mi Familia!

      So I don't have very much time today...me and sister hall went on a crazy city split while Sister Hoyos and Sister Dodson went to the temple with President Morgan. So this might be a little bit hectic but this week was seriously amazing so I hope I y'all can understand it all :)

      Last Wednesday after our amazing little spa day we got to go to a member dinner with Blanca, one of our Spanish members. She works at this amazing penthouse and it was so cool! Seriously incredible the places some people live in here AND we get to go to her house again on Valentine's Day which should be incredible. Oh and coming home we ran into YET ANOTHER TV show/ movie set. They're all over the place lately. 

      Thursday Sister Hoyos had her exit interview on Thursday which is so crazy! This cycle has FLOWN by. Transfer calls are this weekend and I should know who my new companion is....ahhhh. Anyway that was random

      Friday was the happiest day ever. Seriously it ended up being one of the best days so far and really not for any reason in particular! :) We got to have lunch with McCall Richardson who was in town which was incredible. It's seriously such a blessing to have lunch with people I know, and she brought the cutest valentines too! (Oh hey also shoutout to a few months back when my brother Matt and Madi came to visit....I'll include pics of both my visits) We also had an amazing lesson with the Paulinos (Gladys) and her member son was there which was really cool. Also Friday we got groceries delivered to us and we just had a really good day!! 

      Saturday was Sister Hoyos' bday! (Shout-out to Heather since it was her birthday too!) but we did a few fun things and I think it ended up being a great day for her! :) We got to go to the milk bar since it was her 21st birthday haha. One of our investigators Janice had us over for cake. One of our members sent us pizza (members have been sending us dinner quite a lot lately) we had martinelli's and it was awesome!! I have a ton of pictures I will send! 

      ONE OF OUR LESS ACTIVES MARIA GARCIA FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH SUNDAY. And she brought a non member that is now an investigator of the English sisters!!! It's so amazing. Also Sunday night we got surprised and Veena one of the English sisters more recent converts had this awesome surprise party for sister Hoyos birthday! It was a weekend of birthday fun for sure :) 

      Hey also! Tuesday I was on a split with our STL Sister Smith and it was a fantastic day! We went to the soup kitchen and met so many people, and really got to know the volunteers. We also got to go visit this less active older member and her nonmember son was there which was really cool. WE EVEN GAVE A BOOK OF MORMn TO A HOMELESS MAN THAT WAS READING THE BIBLE AND HE LOVED IT!! He started reading it right then. And we got to meet this adorable young single adult member Yobanna. We got to go to the relief society presidents house for dinner too! It was such a packed day but so fun and we just talked to so many people on the subway and everything. Super awesome day of missionary work!

    Well I'm near out of time and I want to send some pictures. But I just want you all to know that I love this work and I'm so I love with New York! It's incredible how quickly you come to love the people you serve! I'm loving learning how to listen to the spirit and really help me learn how to have my life be directed, it's an amazing learning opportunity that I will definitely be applying later on! Happy Valentines Day this weekend I love you all so much!! Can't wait to talk to you next week (not sure if pday will be on Wednesday or Friday because of transfers...) but I'll talk to you when I talk to you!!! 

xoxo

Hermana Smart 

ONCE THERE WAS A SNOWMAN, SNOWMAN, SNOWMAN

Oh wait that snowman was probably just a frozen sister missionary ;) haha 

¡Hola mi Familia y Amigos! 

Esta semana fue frío....pero fue muy bueno también! I feel like I'm just learning so much lately, even during the super cold days where we feel like we're walking outside all day with no success somehow I'm still just so happy and feel like I'm growing so much, both as a person and my testimony. There may be slight moments where we complain but then my thoughts always turn to the good and realize how incredible the blessing it is to be able to serve! It's so cool to be able to work hard, and serve others, and then see that as we work harder the blessings come! (not always in the way we expect but they do come!) I think I've just done a lot of reflecting this week and then in our relief society something there was a quote that really stood out to me :  "There is no guarantee of convenience in our Christian covenant". Sometimes it's really easy for me to be lazy and want the convenient and easy way of doing everything BUT that's not how we become like Christ. We have to put in effort, actually learn and grow, try a little harder to be a little better each day. 

This week was full of a lot of awesome things! Dinners with members are always amazing and we had yet another week of awesome members! From cool views of the city, getting a ride home? Haha super rare in the city, adorable families, learning more about family history work, and we even got to visit a member from the Manhattan 3rd Ward! We rode the tram over Sunday, had delicious food, even played a short game. Members in New York City are just super nice. Seriously I love them all so much! They are such a huge blessing.

We got in with Gladys and her family again! I think they're actually starting to become more interested, especially the teenage granddaughter which is amazing! We also visited a less active we hadn't seen in forever and a non member old lady who just needs visits and our awesome Pentecostal partial investigator! those kind of lessons just make days full of tracting and lookups all worth it! Just to see someone actually enjoy you coming over and visiting and growing their testimony little by little.

So I have two funny moments from the life of a New Yorker this week. So first Sunday night we were walking to an appointment and I was kind of close to a trash bag on the sidewalk and next thing I know a huge rat ran across my feet!!  Ahhh!!!  yep. Nasty. But super funny after. (I'm sure you love that story mom ;)  Also we got a huge area rug for our apartment via the mission office. So picture me last night trying to get it from the church to home while riding the subway. Yep. Pretty great. Life of a New Yorker man.

Oh hey we got to go to the soup kitchen again! It's a regular Tuesday thing now (except if any "blizzards" close the subways again) it's seriously so amazing. Definitely always fun and interesting, and it just feels good to do some good old fashion service without people feeling like they have to listen to a message. Just being a true Christian. And some of the people there are super entertaining, always something new! :)

Anyway those are just some highlights of the week!! Hope y'all have an awesome week, stay warm and just keep smiling :) life is awesome. Love y'all:) 

xoxo

Hermana Smart