Me Encanta Ver El Templo

Hola :)

First off, sorry this email is going to be really short today. We came down to the city today for pday because SISTER HALL is visiting!! Wow it's so fun to catch up with old companions. AND WE'RE BACK IN INWOOD FOR THE MORNING. We saw Ylaura this morning, went to an amazing bakery of a member (Angela) and we're bound to have a lot more fun adventures today! But that means not too much time for emailing. BUT we had an awesome week so I'll give you a few updates. 

Friday we had zone conference pretty much all day and it was incredible. We talked about the Book of Mormon mostly and it's just so incredible the power that comes from it. Words can't really describe all of the experiences from Zone Conference but I just loved it - spiritual upliftment for a whole day is always just the best. 

And then we went to the temple with our branch on Saturday. I haven't been able to go to the temple since being in Monticello and wow the peace that comes from the temple - I had missed that so much! It was a great day spent with the members I love so much here in Monticello. It felt like going on a temple trip with my home ward. :)

So a few updates on people. We had an awesome BOM lesson with Chevy and she set a new baptismal date for Nov 14th and she's so excited for it!! We also met with Marcela (Spanish) and had a return appointment with Maria who we tracted into last week....we are slowly finding some Spanish people now and I love it! We've made it a goal to only speak Spanish while we're driving in our car and it's been really good to start getting back my Spanish! We also have started teaching English class to just the mom and daughter of the Costa Rican family and it's so fun to spend time with a Spanish family every week - I just love the Spanish culture so much :) 

Anyway most everything else was normal. Beth is still doing well, as well as everyone else. Stevie told us some really cool stories about how he church started popping up in conversations, TV, etc before and after we found her - no coincidences!! And Mama Burgos is starting to feel a lot better too, when we saw her this week she's looking a lot healthier. 

Well I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week!! I'll send some pictures, and maybe I'll send a few from today too if we get time! 

Con Amor, 

Hermana Smart 

LIFT

¡HOLA!

First off - Shoutout to Grandma Mel it's her birthday TODAY!  Woot. Woot.

Well I hope everyone had a fantastic week, it's crazy that school is
starting soon - time flies when you're having fun I guess! We had
another good week here in Monticello. We met with almost everyone we
usually do, and had a few miracles too! We've also started to clean up
our areabook and have made plans to contact EVERY potential
investigator. So far it's been pretty rewarding. We've already been
able to either drop people who aren't actually interested or set
return appointments. Sometimes some good organization and planning
does wonders in missionary work! And not only that but we've been able
to see small miracles everyday. Like being in the right place and
running into investigators, like the other day we went to this
apartment complex to do a few lookups but I felt like we needed to see
Linda first. She just happened to be outside and really appreciated
talking to us and we prayed with her. And then the other day me and
Sis Pomce heard a TV in Spanish while doing a lookup, decided to knock
on the door and this lady named Maria let us in, and told us we could
come back every Monday. There really aren't coincidences!

Last Wednesday we were able to go see Stevie and Adelyse and they are
just awesome. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and then Adelyse
asked if she could watch a Joseph smith video. So we show her the 5
minute version and when it gets to the part where Heavenly Father and
Jesus appear to Joseph Smith she says this is my favorite part!! And
then she kept asking us when she could get baptized :) so we helped
her to pick a day - she chose Sept 19th so hopefully everything goes
well so that can happen!

We've been seeing Beth a lot too! We LOVE Beth. Seriously. Words can't
really describe her. She's changing so much and just keeps telling us
how she is so excited for the day she is healthy enough to come to
church and bear her testimony! Thursday was her birthday so we had
made a cake to take to her and so we call to see when we can go and
she said RIGHT NOW. So we rush over, because with Beth you kind of do
what she says, and that was so fun to sing to her and spend some time.
She later told us she doesn't really like her birthday but this was
the best one she's ever had! Love goes a long way :)Saturday morning
we got a pretty intense phone call from Beth saying she was in
trouble...so we rush over and apparently her aid hadn't come and she
was in a bad situation and needed help to get to the bathroom and to
shower and everything (she's kind of couch ridden?) so we were able to
serve and help her and I've just been thinking about that a lot this
week. We showed a member the new Mormon message "LIFT" about these men
who go over every night to help this lady get into bed. And the joy
and fulfillment that comes. Me and Sis Ponce had a few partially hard
days this week but as we were able to turn outwards and serve others,
it really just lifted us!

The focus this month in our mission is the Book of Mormon (zone
conference this upcoming Friday is on that too) and just being able to
study and apply it into more and more of what we do as missionaries
has been such an incredible blessing. It really is the keystone to not
only the gospel but our lives, how we teach, etc. Thursday night we
went over to see Bro King with the elders and he just bore the
strongest testimony of the BOM. He's had such a hard life, especially
the past few years, and since the missionaries have been meeting with
him more both he and his wife have read the BOM every day. And he just
kept telling us how it helps him to not be lonely, and he sleeps
better, and how he can apply it to so many things! He's just one
example of the power of he BOM we've been seeing in this area. As
we've started to read it with more people, like Sis Crumbley, you can
just see the peace and comfort come into people's lives. ITS SO TRUE.

We also had a Branch FIRESIDE this weekend on Saturday night. And when
I say fireside I mean it. We had some food and sat around the fire and
watched Ephraim's Rescue. And of course roasting marshmallows was
involved. It was a great activity, and the fact that it had been
raining all day but somehow not on the spot we had our activity was
such a miracle!

Sunday there was a bagel festival on Broadway in Monticello - we had
to be detoured to get church - but it was worth making it to church!
Bro King came, and the Leon's (from Costa Rica) were there. Sis Ponce
translated primary this week so I went more with the mom and she bore
such a strong testimony during relief society about the miracles they
have seen in their family. I'm so excited to have them in our branch!
They are such an answer to my prayers.

Well I'm running out of time but this week really was good. From
accidentally hitting a squirrel to going on a split to Newburgh there
definitely was a lot that happened! But we're some of the highlights.
Also thank you so much for your prayers for Mama Burgos, she's at home
now and we were able to go visit her. She's loving being home, but
still needs lots of prayers and love. Mostly her family too.

Well I love you all! Have a fantastic week :-)

Con Amor,
Hermana Smart

Monticelestial

¡Hola!

I hope y'all had a good week! This week was pretty full with taking
over the area (Never is easy) and showing Hermana Ponce all of
Monticello : Jewish people, the amazing garden, the food pantry,
Firstway, all our investigators, etc! But somehow we also ended up
needing to be in Middletown a lot too (not in our area) we had zone
meeting there and also went to visit one of our members in the
hospital twice. So with all the time spent out of our area, and trying
to show her our area too, it was a packed week!

So like I said we have a member who was in the hospital, the mother in
law of our branch mission leader. She has cancer and had some
complications so we've been visiting and doing all we can to support
them. Keep Mama Burgos in your prayers though - she's amazing. She
gave all of the missionaries nicknames when we went to visit her
Saturday (mine was Smiley) we love her so much!

This week we had a few really amazing spiritual experiences/ miracles.
So Friday we planned to go tracting in Liberty. So we pull off on main
street and pray and then look at the GPS. We ended up in a
neighborhood and the first 3 houses Sis Ponce picked were abandoned,
or close to it. So we continue through another street, say hi to a
Spanish family and talk to a few people, but nothing really happened.
But I kept feeling like we needed to go to this apartment complex
closer to one of our less actives house. So we go over and start
tracting, and a few doors people were nice but not interested. One
Pentecostal lady from Charleston talked to us for a while too. But
then the last door this guy, Jaime, opens the door and he seems so
excited. We find out he's Hispanic so we start speaking to him in
Spanish and find out he knows a TON about the church and he's actually
been to church before AND the sisters used to teach him (so he's a
former and we later found him in our Areabook) because they used to
live in that same apartment complex. We were able to bear testimony of
the BOM and invite him to pray to find out the truth for himself. It
was really cool experience. He said he works a ton and was only home
briefly - it wasn't a coincidence that we were there at that specific
time - it's incredible how the Lord knows when people need us!

 

Then yesterday we went and saw Beth and at the end she said she wanted
to say the prayer and it was just the most sincere prayer. She was
crying, I was practically crying. It's just incredible to see how much
she has changed and how the spirit has started to enter back into her
life the past few months we've been visiting her. Wow I love her so
much!!! (These people in Monticello have my heart for sure)

We had some pretty good Monticello moments this week too. (Sis Ponce
is really getting a good welcome the area haha) Thursday, her first
day, our landlords came in with an exterminator guy (hopefully no more
spiders) so that was normal just a surprise - But then Saturday Joe,
the maintenance guy, just shows up to paint our deck and it was just
super odd. And then we are about to head out for the day and Sis
McCreary's friend just walks in think he was at her
apartment...apparently people here don't knock they just walk in?? AND
THEN yesterday we're driving back from Sis Roa's last night and I look
up and there is a grasshopper right by my face inside the car. So I
have to pull the car over to get it out - only in Monticello.

Anyway sorry this email was on the short side this week! We didn't
have much time and nothing too unusual happened. I hope everyone has a
fantastic week! I love y'all :)

Con Amor,
Hermana Smart

The last week of the Smoot & Smart zebra

¡Hola mi familia y amigos!

Wow! This cycle has truly flown by. Transfers are today and I think
I'm still in denial that this transfer has already ended. Sending a
companion home is never easy, and I'm going to miss Sister Smoot a
lot! But as someone shared with me once "the pain of saying goodbye is
nothing compared to the joy of seeing each other again". The reunion
of all my missionary friends is going to amazing someday - even
greater like with the story of Alma & the sons of Mosiah (Alma 17:2)
that we can say we're all still disciples, sisters in the Lord!

I'm staying here in Monticello this next cycle and I'm excited! I fell
like there is still work for me to do here, and lessons to learn. My
new companion will be Hermana Ponce, yes she's a Spanish Speaking
missionary. I'm really excited to get back/improve my Spanish! There's
also an elder coming to our district that's from Spain. District
language study here we go!

Anyway this week was pretty packed! We had goodbyes and dinners and
packing and miracles!
Last Wednesday after pday ended we went out to dinner with the two
ladies from Firstway (a place we do service in Monticello) and the
restaurant was by this gorgeous rover and had a live band towards the
end. It was kind of fun, and we got to share a lot more about what we
do as missionaries and even talked a little about family history! It
was really awesome.

Thursday we had a mission wide conference call (something President
Smith has started) and He told us who all the trainers were going to
be, baptisms that have happened, and shared a miracle moment. What a
great way to start the day! Ever since President Smith talked about
timing and recognizing miracles I feel like I have been seeing the
hand of the Lord in the smallest things every single day. Later on
Thursday we were supposed to drive to Ossining to have Sister Smoot's
exit interview but they got behind so hey called and pushed it back
and hour...which at first was a little inconvenient since we had
planned everything out. Put en we were able to go see Chevy with the
time and I know it was no coincidence. She is incredible. We talked
about baptism, and the Joseph smith story, and really finding out
truth for yourself, she has such a strong desire and her daughter
¡Hola mi familia y amigos!

Wow! This cycle has truly flown by. Transfers are today and I think
I'm still in denial that this transfer has already ended. Sending a
companion home is never easy, and I'm going to miss Sister Smoot a
lot! But as someone shared with me once "the pain of saying goodbye is
nothing compared to the joy of seeing each other again". The reunion
of all my missionary friends is going to amazing someday - even
greater like with the story of Alma & the sons of Mosiah (Alma 17:2)
that we can say we're all still disciples, sisters in the Lord!

I'm staying here in Monticello this next cycle and I'm excited! I fell
like there is still work for me to do here, and lessons to learn. My
new companion will be Hermana Ponce, yes she's a Spanish Speaking
missionary. I'm really excited to get back/improve my Spanish! There's
also an elder coming to our district that's from Spain. District
language study here we go!

Anyway this week was pretty packed! We had goodbyes and dinners and
packing and miracles!
Last Wednesday after pday ended we went out to dinner with the two
ladies from Firstway (a place we do service in Monticello) and the
restaurant was by this gorgeous rover and had a live band towards the
end. It was kind of fun, and we got to share a lot more about what we
do as missionaries and even talked a little about family history! It
was really awesome.

Thursday we had a mission wide conference call (something President
Smith has started) and He told us who all the trainers were going to
be, baptisms that have happened, and shared a miracle moment. What a
great way to start the day! Ever since President Smith talked about
timing and recognizing miracles I feel like I have been seeing the
hand of the Lord in the smallest things every single day. Later on
Thursday we were supposed to drive to Ossining to have Sister Smoot's
exit interview but they got behind so hey called and pushed it back
and hour...which at first was a little inconvenient since we had
planned everything out. Put en we were able to go see Chevy with the
time and I know it was no coincidence. She is incredible. We talked
about baptism, and the Joseph smith story, and really finding out
truth for yourself, she has such a strong desire and her daughter
walked in towards the end and they both really want to come to
church!! It was just an incredible lesson/moment and timing really was
everything. Walking out from Chevy's too one of her neighbors, Arturo,
is a potential investigator. We talked to him for a little bit and he
told us elders used to visit him too like 9 years ago. THEN the next
day (Friday) he called the elders and told them he was coming to
church. He didn't end up coming because there wasn't a ride....but he
was someone we hadn't really had on our mind but the Lord put us in
his path at the perfect timing.

Wow did we get fed this week too! (Tends to happen when someone is
leaving) The Riley's took us out for pizza, Bro King bought us KFC,
President Fuller had us over for Chinese, Carol had us over, the usual
ward correlation dinner at the Robert's, Sunday dinner at the Hseih's,
b-dubs after zone meeting, Venison at the Van Valkenburgs (wow their
house is gorgeous, in he middle of a Forrest practically), and a huge
chili dinner/last supper for Sis Smoot at the Maldonado's.

Saturday we decided we really wanted to end the week out strong. We
set a goal for 16 total lessons and woke up the next day ready to work
hard! We did so many lookups and the majority wasn't successful. But
then we were able to go lookup Stevie and her kids at the perfect
timing. She has been having a really hard time but we were ere, and
she said she finally had a Sunday off so they were coming to church -
AND they did!! It was awesome. The kids loved it, Adelyse even bore
her testimony with help from Sister Smoot. And Stevie loved it too, a
tender mercy for sure. Shortly after we got to meet with Ashley and
the spirit was so strong. We all just bore our testimonies and she's
just awesome. There really aren't words to describe it, but it was a
blessing. Overall too we ended the day with 8 lessons for the day -
prayers are answered. Not just that but overall this week we hit all
our goals for lessons, which missionary work definitely is never about
numbers but we really tried hard to have a last strong week for Sister
Smoot and the hard work paid off.

Funny Monticello moment of the week (I know I don't share too many of
these) but so we're sitting in fast and testimony meeting and one of
our members gets up and starts to bear her testimony about how she
sees Heavenly Father and the 3 wiseman in the moon at
night.....uhhhh....never what you want to hear the first time you have
an investigator family at church. Hahaha only in Monticello.

Well I'm about out of time but this week really was good! It's good to
see so many people the last week before companions leave the area. But
it's also sad. Every cycle, every companionship is always different
even with the same area. You really have to ride the wave of change as
a missionary. But I've just loved how me and Sister Smoot were able to
accomplish our VGPA of loving those people we teach. We made some
really close friends because of it, and I have seen so many miracles.
Here's to a new cycle here in Monticelestial!

Con Amor,
Hermana Smart