Painting Decks, Picking Blueberries, Burning Shirts and Eating Woodchuck

 ¡Hola!

Hope y'all had a fantastic week! Last Wednesday we ended our day
toasting with Martinelli's for Sis Smoot since it was her 18 month
mark...it's so crazy that it's already been a week since then and now
there is only one week left of this cycle! We get transfer calls this
weekend and President Smith told me to be expecting a new companion ;)
(haha since Sis Smoot is going home this cycle, of course I have to be
receiving a new companion) So I guess I'll let y'all know next week
what's happening!

So Thursday was my ONE YEAR MARK. And it was just really really crazy
to think it's already been a year! Where does time go? We ended up
needing to drive down to the mission office in Scarsdale so that they
could put tiwi back on in our car. So that was an adventure! We got to
chat with the office couples, and even had lunch with a member Sis
Smoot used to work with, since her office is in the same building as
the mission office! Even though it took a good chunk of our day, it
was really fun. We got back to Monticello and had dinner at the Bank's
which was delicious as usual. But by the end of the night we hadn't
really done anything to celebrate my one year, so we had a few extra
minutes before we needed to be home and decided to go through the
drive thru at Taco Bell to get one of our favorites, Sangrita Blast!
(It's a newer flavor of Mountain Dew) Since it's the end of the month
neither of us had money, but I had some leftover quarters from laundry
and so we were set...or so we thought. We get to the window and
realize I had way less money because we had to pay for tolls going to
Scarsdale....we gather all the change we can muster, and we kind of
look a little ridiculous since it was only maybe a $3 order. But the
lady at the window finally said she'd take what we had (like 50 cents
short) and that it was her treat. It's kind of a silly story, but it
was such a tender mercy. A way to remember my year mark for sure!

Friday we were able to go do service for Larry and Lynn for a few
hours- we got to paint their deck! I'll attach some of the pictures.
Even though it took a few hours, it just felt so good to be serving
them and to establish an even deeper relationship. I'm convinced that
he is going to be an incredible member some day!

I was on a split with our STL, Sis Fansler in Newburgh all day
Saturday. Originally I was going to be with her companion, but some
things were changed around and I was really glad to spend the day in
Newburgh! Sometimes it's fun to have a little change in scenery.
Friday night when I got there we had dinner with some of their
members, actually we had a zone activity last cycle at their lodge so
that's fun, even though we'd also eaten dinner at Larry's it was still
good to meet some of their members. Saturday was a day full of
miracles. We started the day meeting with a less active they'd never
been able to meet with. He's from Haiti which was really cool because
he know like 4 languages. But we were able to have an amazing
discussion with him, and he was really open. And we did it all sitting
outside on his grass since his wife wasn't home haha. You do what you
can when there isn't a third woman! The rest of the day we did a few
lookups and tracking and we just had a few mini miracles. We were able
to go back to someone they'd tracted into previously and the timing
was just perfect. After having talked with her for a minute she got a
phone call and received bad news that a family member had just passed
away, and we were there for her and were able to testify of the plan
of salvation. I love when you just know that Heavenly Father is
watching out for his children. We also went and looked up a deaf
member family...and Sis Fansler only knows a little sign language.
I've only picked up a little from when we had ASL elders in our
district....and usually Sis Fansler's companion is there who knows
ASL. BUT somehow we had the spirit with us and we're able to
communicate, finger spell, and were able invite them to church! It was
incredible. And then we ended our split by going out for dinner at a
diner with two of their members. All in all a success day spent in
Newburgh!

Sunday not only did we have a family come from West Point to speak and
play the violin for our sacrament meeting (they were incredible
musicians) BUT - ASHLEY CAME TO CHURCH FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! And she
brought her mom and her daughter. They only stayed for the first hour,
but hopefully they'll come again! It was a mini miracle for sure. Then
we had potluck after church since we had visitors....and remember how
I told you we watched Bro Van Valkenburg skin a woodchuck at garden
work night? So he brought the meat to potluck...and we are some...and
it was actually really good...but then we realized we ate. woodchuck.
The things you do as a missionary! Haha.

Sunday afternoon the Banks invited us over to some of their family's
houses/property and we went blueberry picking. It was a lot of fun and
we were able to get to know their family a lot better so that was
awesome, we ended up having to stop picking a little early because it
started to DOWNPOUR. But it was fun while it lasted.

Sorry this email is a little on the long side....but there was just so
many good things this week! Monday we went and saw the Maldonado's and
they just really opened up with us and it's just cool to see after
almost 3 months how you can establish trust that allows the work to
move forward. Also yesterday we had a zone training and Interviews
with President Smith. It was INCREDIBLE. We went over the story of the
restoration, specifically Joseph Smith-History 1-20, and wow. Even
though I've been teaching the restoration for a year now - being able
to connect to the story on a new level was really eye opening. I
definitely don't have enough words to tell you everything that we
learned but some things I especially loved was when He talked about
timing and how even in the lifetime of Joseph Smith everything was
timed so perfectly - Heavenly Father really does have a plan! And then
at the end when it talks about how Joseph smith goes home and tells
his mom...President Smith reenacted that part (I was the mom) and it
was just amazing to realize how real the story is. And as we take it
into our heart we can share it more powerfully. We can bear testimony
of the restoration everywhere we go because it is an incredible story,
but it also is so real and something we can personally relate to!

After we got home from interviews we started to realize how when
President a Smith talked about timing it truly was inspired. Because
we ended up having to go to the church before going to our apartment
before heading out and we were confused at why everything was taking
so long ...but then we ended up running into Sis McCreary because she
was walking out the door as we came in and we were able to set up an
appointment with her. There really are no such things as coincidences
- especially in missionary work!

Well I hope everyone has an incredible week! I love you all so much:)

Con Amor,
Hermana Smart

Un ano

¡HOLA!

How are y'all?? I hope everyone had another fantastic week. Seems kind
of crazy that it's already pday again, felt like I was just emailing,
time flies. Speaking of time - tomorrow marks exactly a year since I
left on my mission and entered el CCM en Mexico. Wow. So so so crazy.
Where does time go?! I've learned so much already this year, and truly
have been changed for the better. There definitely aren't even words
to explain it all. But I'm so grateful for all the time I've had to be
a missionary so far - and I can't wait to see where the next 6 months
take me! Sis Smoot hit her 18 month make today so we're going to burn
some stuff at the Murphy's this week to celebrate, and we bought
martinelli's to toast. So it should be a good celebration together! So
many milestones.

 So this week was a little crazy, but good! We had a little bit of car

issues to deal with...when we parked in the Bronx a few weeks ago
someone had tried to break in and cracked our windshield so we finally
got it replaced this Monday and then Tiwi (monitors our driving) fell
off the window yesterday...haha so we have to drive clear to Scarsdale
tomorrow to fix it so that should be fun, but adds to a but more of a
crazy week. And Thursday Sis Smoot had the "dying missionaries" temple
trip with the Smith's so I went on a split with Sis Hubbard in
Middletown since her companion is going home too. We had a pretty good
day, and even spent a few hours helping this family move AND they were
from Honduras so I got to speak some Spanish....even though they know
English perfectly...but it was fun. We were definitely a little sore
after but it was worth it. Service is one of the best parts of
missionary work!

On Friday we got to go back to the mobile home park and tract. The
elders came and helped for a while (kind of like a district APF) and
we got to give a BOM to the cute old couple we found the first time,
the Wilson's. BUT then the last door we knocked on the lady was
pulling up in her car and got really mad at us and told us there was
no soliciting and followed us to our car. It was kind of crazy. I
guess there's opposition in all things!

Saturday was going to be another big service day. So we saw a few
people in the morning (Sis Carol even gave us her George Foreman grill
when we went to see her, gotta love the awesome things people give
missionaries haha) and then we went to help out Sis Gaughan. We ended
up moving a small fridge down some stairs and dusting books, nothing
too big. And then we were going to help Larry paint his deck. But when
we got there I guess it has rained (typical Monticello) so we have to
wait for a dry day! But it still ended up being a good day.

We usually have Branch council about once a month so Sunday we go to
the church early to be on time....and no one is there so we wait, and
wait.....and then come to find out branch council is AFTER church
oops! But hey being an hour early to church just helps us to greet
every single person that comes right? Haha. We have our fair share of
"blonde moments" as a companionship even though neither of us have
blonde hair.

Tender Mercy of the week was Sunday night after we had dinner at the
Hsieh's we decided to walk over and lookup Barbara. It was like 8:00
so we didn't have a ton of time. But she was there and let us in. It
was a definite answer to prayers. The spirit was so strong and we were
able to ask the right questions and really find out her concerns. It
was probably one of the most spiritual lessons I've had in Monticello.
We were able to re-establish expectations and it was just good to know
that she wasn't completely lost. It was mostly that she needs more
consistency and was just thrown off by a few things...So that was
really good! She couldn't meet Monday, but we should go see her this
weekend! So hopefully we're able to pick back up teaching her again.
And we saw her when we went to help at the Food Pantry this week too
so that was good! The Food Pantry was a little crazy.....but we got to
walk her through for her food and had a chance to talk to her a
little. So that's good.

Monday night we had a really fun garden work night (I'm attaching a
few pictures) everything is starting to be ready to harvest. I even
got a few raspberries! AND Bro VanValkenburg killed a rock
chuck(groundhog) and skinned it which was kind of interesting....Not
everyday that you see that! Hahaha. (Definitely not in the city
anymore)

Well to spare this email from being too long for anyone to finish
reading I'll wrap it up! But this week really was good. We had a
really good teaching week and especially with some of our less
actives. I really am so grateful to be serving here in Monticello. The
Lord really does know us and as we are in righteous places and doing
our part, everything works out for our good. I'm learning and growing
so much and I love this crazy place, and I'm excited for what's in
store for the work here!

Well I love you all and hope you have to fantastic weeks!! Haz Lo Justo :-)

Con Amor,
Hermana Smart

Flat tires, Spiders, y las obra misional!

¡HOLA!

How was everyone's week?? I love hearing from all of you! :) 

So we went to the Statue of Liberty today  it was a BLAST. But unfortunately I wasn't as smart as last week when I finished emailing in the morning.....so this will be a little rushed. But this week had a lot of amazing things that happened! So hopefully I'll have enough time to tell you all the stories of the week:) 

So we actually got to see all our investigators (almost) this week! We had a mini lesson with Sis McCreary and that went good. Stevie and her kids are still great. Sis Maldonado made us TOSTONES, and we had some really amazing discussions with her this week she's becoming our friend which is really good. BARBARA finally met with us and she's doing week, just trying to figure things out so keep her in your prayers. AND yesterday we had a really incredible lesson with Ashley. We had planned to do a lesson on prayer and scripture study, and when we got to her house they were frantically looking for the car keys they needed. So when we prayed we asked for them to find their keys and then it led to such a spiritual lesson where we shared experiences on when prayers were answered. We don't know if they've found the keys yet but it was an awesome lesson so hopefully it all works out! ALSO. So the elders (the ones that got whitewashed out) had found this investigator Margaret before they left and we hadn't been able to get in touch with her but then we decided to just try to find her address again, and somehow the combination of me and Sis Smoot's photographic memory worked and we found her apartment and it was just perfect timing. She was having a really hard day and we were able to be there for her and comfort her. Being able to help complete strangers and uplift them - missionaries are the luckiest people in the world! 

Thursday we were on our way to correlation it was raining and then Sis Smoot was like I think we have a flat tire....and then the light came on....so we pulled over like 3 miles away from the exit we needed to take. So we get out and we knew how to change a tire, so we were like we've got this! And so we get out the spare and all the tires....but then the thing to turn wasn't working and we were just not strong enough, and so we called the elders but then this car pulls up. And this guy with a marines shirt (he's a pretty big man) gets out and says his wife told him he needed to turn around and help us. He's also a cop (badge, gun, everything) So he changes our tires so easy and quick. Such a tender mercy!! He asks where we work, so I told him we're missionaries for our church. He said he knew the church since they're from the city (just upstate for a retreat). And then we were going to leave and he comes back to our window, at first thinks we're JWs, and says him and his wife were talking about naming their son Joshua, and they were having the conversation as they stopped to help us. So he asked if we knew what the name Joshua meant - because maybe it was a sign they stopped and helped us!! We didn't know.....(looked it up later- it means God is Help)...he walked back to his car but then I quickly got a BOM and our card and went and gave it to them. We slowly drive to correlation with our spare (went to Middletown the next day to get a new tire) and they followed behind us until we got off the right exit. It was a miracle for sure! Sometimes we get flat tires, but somehow it still is perfectly timed for us to meet those who we need to!

Some other fun things of the week: we got to go to a gospel concert in Liberty as a part of Interfaith, and we also had an interfaith meeting at our church last night and it's just so cool to see how strong the communities are in small towns. We ran into a random street fair too so of course we got some handmade leather friendship bracelets! 

OH and so our apartment decided to become invested with giant spiders this week. And knowing me, I'm deathly terrified of even the smallest spider. So Saturday morning when I went to get in the shower there was the first spider ON THE SHOWER CURTAIN. I panicked and screamed and couldn't shower for like 2 hours until we had the elders come kill it. I'll send a picture it was HUGE. Yikes. We haven't seen any more spiders since Monday, so pray they're gone for good!

Well I'm out of time, and I want to send a few pictures. I'll email more next week! I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Smart 

God is great. Root beer is good. People are crazy.

¡Hola!

I hope everyone had an amazing 4th of July weekend! (I had to throw a country sing in the title this week ;) First off, I'm emailing a little earlier today because Sis Smoot is going to see Wicked today so we just made it to the city (wow I love Manhattan) and sending off our emails before the day gets crazy!! We might find wifi a little later too, but for now at least I'll have emailed most of y'all! 

Well this week was a little unusual. With the 4th of July weekend we just had a lot of appointments cancel (we weren't able to see any of our investigators all last week) and going to the Yankees game took out a day too...so it was a little hard for missionary work but we ended up having some mini miracles the past few days. I was reading the talk "Forget Me Not" by President Uchtdorf and just realized that sometimes we think that because our lives aren't always glamorous and measuring up to these unrealistic standards we set that we are failing. But really we are have small blessings multiple times every single day! This week was definitely one that we had to look for those "forget me not flowers" to see our success as missionaries. And as we looked they were EVERYWHERE. It's incredible how much the Lord blesses us, we just sometimes have to stop and realize the blessings are there - they usually are small and simple but they are there. 

So Friday the whole mission got to go to a YANKEES GAME. ️ we are spoiled to be serving in New York! We only stayed at the game until 8:30 (only like the 4th inning) but we later found out the Yankees won in the 12th inning!! It was a good game. It happened to be a day they were giving away free Yankees hats too, and MOTAB sang an American medley and the national anthem, me and Sis Smoot had seats right next to the Smith's so that was really fun to get to know them and their kids a little better too! Overall, it was so fun to be at a baseball game and to see all the missionaries in the mission and to be back in the city for a night! It was a long night traveling back to Monticello - but it was all worth it and luckily we went down with the Hseih's so we could sleep on the way home! 

Saturday was the 4th of July and we started off the morning right by being in a PARADE. Yep it was awesome, as many parades that I've been to in my lifetime I don't ever remember actually being a part of the parade so it was really fun! Monticello has a curse of it always raining when we're in a parade and this year was no exception, but luckily by the time we were walking it was just barely sprinkling. I'll send some pictures so you can see the wagon, Bro Van Valkenburg did a really good job making it look authentic and we all looked like pioneers. It was great! Me and Sis Smoot helped the little kids throw out candy and it was just a fun start to the 4th! The rest of the day wasn't anything too exciting, we visited a member, cleaned the church, and then the Hseih's had us over for dinner and ice cream! Just a simple holiday for the mission life but still a good day. 

Sunday was a day full of the most miracles of the week! I had prayed really hard Saturday night and Sunday morning that we'd be able to have a productive day, try to end a slow week strong. And it was an incredible day! We got to church and a less active we have been working with, Bro King came to church as well as a recent convert, James, who we had fasted for as a branch last month that he'd be able to come back (there are some family issues that made it so he couldn't come) that was really cool to see that exactly one month later, he came on fast Sunday. Fasting truly brings miracles!! Then towards the end of sacrament meeting a family with 3 kids walks in....so I walk up to say hi to them and they were SPANISH. They recently moved here from Costa Rica for a family members health care, and they are super strong members. But they're still in the process of learning English. So I got to go to primary with their daughter, Valeria, and help translate and sing and such in Spanish. I think this is probably one of my biggest tender mercies since being here in Monticello. Sometimes I wonder why I'm serving in an English area, and immediately I think of the people and my companion and all the blessings I've had and lessons learned....but then this family showing up to church I realized that I'm here for my Spanish too! It just felt like the Lord had put me exactly where I needed to be. The rest of Sunday went really well too with visiting people and dinner at the Murphy's and we had a successful online event....and then at the end of the night driving home this one single firework shot up right over the trees on the road and it was just so cool. Sometimes you have those moments where you realize how much Heavenly Father loves you and is so aware of the details of your life. 

Monday we had zone meeting & and interview with Sis Fansler (our STL) and then we went to b-dubs. Our favorite treat when we're in Middletown. We also did a lot of lookups Monday and we were talking to this potential, Ribeiro, and out of no where he's like hey my church is having an event for young people and my grandson is going and you should go and then maybe I'll come to your church.....and so we said okay and then he was like what are you waiting for follow my grandson car go right now!!! Haha it was crazy but we went to the church and it was kind of just a hangout...so we didn't even get out of our car, by hey we tried! The crazy things we do as missionaries. We ended the night weeding the garden at Garden Work Night (every Monday the branch comes to help the garden we have next to the church) 

So if I could give a title to yesterday.....it'd probably include something on how awkward missionaries are haha. So our first appointment for the day the elders said they had confirmed, it was with Larry. So we get there and NO ONE is there....so we are just awkwardly waiting in their driveway... and eventually Lynn, his wife, comes and is tells us they didn't set an appointment with the elders? But she's a sweetheart and to,d us to come in and get some water, and Larry eventually came home and we briefly talked to him and then left. AND THEN like 30 minutes after apparently the elders showed up. Oh dear. And then they were calling us while we were visiting Beth, so we told her the story. And I know I aren't told you much about Beth but she's hilarious and kind of scary and has this "Beth stare" and she grabbed the phone and told the elders to come over so she could "smack down" hahaha luckily the elders didn't show up. THEN we went to see Barbara and she was on her way out somewhere and we think she's slowly dropping us and it's breaking our hearts AND THEN we go to the food pantry for service and it's all normal, stocking, etc and one of the ladies in charge, Jemma, out of no where is like which of you is going to take me to my house to get the freezer key. And she's kind of huge and scary and we were like um well we have to go together but I guess we can do that for you.....since she basically commanded us. Haha so yeah. Gave a random person a ride. So the awkward day continues.....but since this is turning into a ramble and I'm sure a few of you have stopped reading by now I'll just end by saying we also looked up on of our less actives that was definitely drunk at the door, and we had parked in front of our investigators apartment (a little early) right as we got a text canceling the appointment and then she walks out so me and Sis Smolt had to quickly put our seats down so she wouldn't see us. Hahahaha. Just another day in the life of a missionary! 

In memory of Boyd K Packer I just wanted to end with part of his testimony from the last general conference. His whole talk is really amazing and all about love and family so I encourage y'all to go re-read it but in the final part he went off the prepared script and bore such a powerful testimony: 

"I bear witness that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Atonement is not a general thing that is for the whole Church. The Atonement is individual, and if you have something that is bothering you--sometimes so long ago you can hardly remember it--put the Atonement to work. It will clean it up, and you, as does He, will remember your sins no more."

Hope y'all have an amazing week!! I love you! 

Con Amor, 

Hermana Smart 

Bienvenido Julio

Hola :)

Wow I can't believe today is the first day of JULY....so so so crazy. I hope everyone is loving and enjoying summertime and has some fun plans this weekend to celebrate the birth of America and the freedom we all enjoy!!! We have the incredible blessing to go to a Yankees game Friday night and then on the 4th we're going to be in a parade with the branch! (Dressing up as pioneers haha) it's going to be a fun weekend for me and Sister Smoot for sure! I'll tell you all about it next week.....but HAPPY almost 4th of JULY!!!!

This week we've been trying to help the new elders out since they're whitewashing and take them to lessons with us, especially when we visit members. Thursday we had a packed day prepared for them we saw Sis Carol, and the Maldonados and the Crumbleys and Bro King AND Sis Gaughan!! We got fed twice in one day even! Pretty good first day! On Friday we went with them to Jeven, I don't remember if I've told y'all about Jeven but he's probably our favorite member. He's SO FUNNY and he always sings us these crazy songs he's made up.....he's just awesome and kind of indescribable, but don't worry we take videos of him singing and such so someday y'all will understand. But we saw a lot of the members the rest of the week too, even went to the Fuller's AND last night we tried to play a trick on them and bring them to a "pass-off" lesson but it was really just Bro Robert's our branch mission leader......he had planned all these funny things like giving them PB&J and then giving us steak...but unfortunately a few minutes into us being there it was all blown because an elder who used to serve here had already shown them a picture of Bro Roberts. Sad day. 

Also it's been SUPER rainy here in Monticello this week. Last night we even got a flood warning. It's been a little crazy driving through it, especially yesterday we had a meeting in Ossining to meet the smith's and the drive there was super crazy. BUT the meeting was so so incredible, we already love President and Sister Smith so much!! Their 3 kids are so adorable and funny and so are they and they're just so happy to be here! The spirit was so strong and I just know that their call was so inspired and I'm so excited to serve with them!! 

 All the Hassidic Jews came up for the summer starting these week.....and wow it's crazy. I'll have to take a couple of pictures this week because I'm not sure y'all can even imagine how many Jewish people could be in one small village. It's INSANE. They are literally everywhere, and all dressed up. Walmart is always crazy packed, all these new kosher restaurants are opening......and none of them drive super well because they're from the city, it's CRAZY. Haha definitely an experience.

Well the rest of this week was pretty normal, nothing super exciting in the progression of our investigators but I know good things are to come! Oh and I almost forgot me and Sis Smoot sang in branch conference this Sunday.....and so we had never practiced with the member who was going to play the piano for us and we were super nervous. And saturday night had been the MOTAB concert at bethel woods.....and right before church starts all theses people with MOTAB nametags walk in.....and we start getting super nervous. And then when we finally sing and it didn't go super well because the member playing the piano didn't really know it, it was kind of bad. LUCKILY we found out after the meeting that the MOTAB people that had been there were actually just the stage crew. But they were still all amazing at singing and it was fun to have a few extra voices to sing the hymns with. Sometimes our small branch struggles, so it was fun to have so many voices to sing with us!

Well I think that about covers all the highlights for this week! Sorry if it wasn't TOO exciting this week but I promise a slightly better email next week, though Sis Smoot is going to a Broadway play so it might get a little crazy but I should have time! 

I love you all so much!!! Remember to choose to be happy this week :-) 

Con Amor,

Hermana Smart 

Begin with the end in mind

¡Hola!

How is everyone?? I hope y'all had amazing Father's Day weekend and
gave big hugs to all the fathers in your life!

Today was transfer meeting....the last time we will see President and
Sister Morgan. They will be greatly missed but I know everything is a
part of a bigger plan, and I'm really excited to meet the Smith's next
week and see what is in store for the rest of my mission!

The last talk President Morgan gave really made me think and it was
just awesome. He talked about beginning with the end in mind. How we
need to be thinking of the end of everything to set those goals and
plans which give us the motivation to move forward. The ultimate end
is returning to live with our Heavenly Father, and the way back is
through the sublime and perfect pattern of the doctrine of Christ. The
doctrine of Christ is so powerful. President Morgan studied only that
for 3 years and is still learning, it really is our road map back to
our Heavenly Father. We will do great things on our mission, but the
most IMPORTANT thing we do is to convert ourselves, allow the process
of change to take place and progress and increase our faith. Really
that is the end destination of our missions and it comes through the
little steps we take forward each day. It's incredible how the
littlest things we do combine to become something bigger than we ever
imagined.

Sorry if this email is a little different, I feel like at the end of
every cycle I think back to what has happened and what I've learned.
(PS: me and Sister Smoot are staying together, and they whitewashed
the Spanish elders and now we are getting 2 new English elders)
Thursday we had an interview over Skype with our STLs, they usually do
that at the beginning and end of every cycle, and that morning we had
both studied charity really in-depth and then when we were talking
about how our VGPA has been this cycle we realized that we had been
focusing on increasing our love and charity- especially to our branch
members. Charity really is so central to everything we do, it should
be the ultimate motivator. I really have grown to love this area and
these people so much! The Lord has a perfect plan and I know every
area, companion, timing, everything is so inspired to teach me exactly
what I need in that moment.

Well I guess y'all probably want to know how our week went! So since
the elders were leaving we went to a few lesson with them. A lot of
the members fed us (Carol, the Reiser's, the Fuller's, Murphy's,
etc....) and we went to the Roa's and we also got to go to a really
amazing lesson with them yesterday. They had tracked into this guy
name Larry. He's from Maryland and is just here for a short time with
his wife to fix up this house to sell. And wow. He's so prepared. We
had the most amazing conversations with him about life, and spiritual
experiences, and we even talked about baptism. It was just one of
those moments when you weren't necessarily teaching someone but we
were all sitting there learning together from the spirit and it was so
cool. I really think he will be an incredible member sometime soon -
the new elders will take over teaching him but I'll keep you posted.

Friday, Sis Smoot went down to the temple to be the escort for a
member from Poughkeepsie who she had taught. It was a really amazing
experience for her! I stayed here in Monticello and went on another
split with Sister Fansler. Friday morning I made her this barley tea
that the Hseih's helped us discover. It's super delicious but kind of
smells like coffee so I tried to trick her....she wouldn't drink it.
But hey I enjoyed it ;) haha. I guess it's a Korean drink, but it's
pretty much just barley boiled with some milk added. Really yummy.
Always funny to pull little pranks. Got to have some humor :-) We had
a busy split day visiting Sis Crumbley (her sister in law was there
and said she really wanted to bring her to church!) sis Babcock, Beth,
and we had to go to a leadership meeting too in Middletown. We drove A
TON in the less than 24 hours we were on a split......so that wand the
most exciting. But me and Sis Smoot were happily reunited and got to
go to he Robert's Friday night for correlation. Sometimes splits just
really help you realize how much you love your companion, because we
really missed each other!

So we only saw Barbara once this week, we finally got in touch
yesterday. Her progression is slowing and we don't have a solid
baptismal date anymore but she's still moving forward so keep her in
your prayers! And Ashley now wants a church tour so she feels
comfortable come to church the first time- she's so accepting and so
ready! Our investigators are slowly not progressing as much, but we
still know they are all amazing and we will just keep trying!

Sunday was great too! President Fuller's whole family (wife, 2 kids)
spoke about fathers and it was so adorable. AND sis Babcock came to
church for the first time since I've been in Monticello. We also had
our first online Facebook event (which is like a lesson online) and we
did it on Christlike attributes and it turned out super well! And then
we got to eat dinner at the Hseih's. I love Sunday dinner with them
because it feels like a home away from home. The people I've met here
really are like family to me :)

Well those really are the highlights of this week and with transfer
meeting plus all the driving that requires we don't have a ton of
time. But I'll leave you with the funniest story of the week since I
started with a spiritual thought. So we go and visit this member, Sis
Gaughan, a couple of times a week. She lives in an upstairs room to a
house. She a little crazy but we love her. So we go to visit her this
week and we walk into her room and she's frantically looking for
something, but won't look at us and it's talking funny. And then she's
like I lost my teeth! We were dying.....she smiled at us with all the
gums and we lost it. It was just so funny. She's just frantically
searching her room to find them and we didn't even know she had fake
teeth and it was all just so surprising hahahahaha. She eventually
found them in her pocketbook. But it was just too funny. And guess she
doesn't even have bottom teeth, just top dentures. And we never even
knew! Hahaha. It's definitely not as funny unless you had been there
but hopefully y'all can enjoy that story.

I love you all so much!! Have an awesome week and enjoy the sunshine!!

Con Amor,
Hermana Smart