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