¡Feliz día de acción de gracias!
Wow. I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving. This week I don't have
much time to write because we had the incredible blessing of going to
see Wicked on Broadway. we are super lucky and blessed to have
cultural experiences in our mission. I am so grateful for the New York
New York North mission :) I truly have been changed for good.
This week I just wanted to express my gratitude for some of the things
in my current area and also some of the miracles we had this week.
I'm grateful that last Wednesday we didn't lose our phone...that as I
left a lookup we were doing I randomly ran over the curb...and that
when we to the church in Stamford and realized we'd lost the phone we
were able to drive back to Norwalk, Praying the whole way there and
avoided all the traffic. We went back to the street we had parked on
and called the phone. By some miracle we heard it ringing and we end
up finding it under a pile of leaves one inch away from a huge jeep
SUV's tire. The same spot that if I hadn't run over the curb I would
have also run over it. Such a miracle we found it and it wasn't
crushed I'm so grateful for small miracles in my life.
I'm so grateful for our recent covert family from Chile that are so
faithful, and their little girl who understands the gospel so deeply.
That they love us, and love the Lord and are so incredible.
I'm so grateful that we were finally able to go back to Waveny this
week. And see all those adorable old people that I love dearly. I'm so
grateful that the window we painted brought them joy during the
holidays (we won cutest window picked by the residents).
I'm so grateful that Friday night we decided to do one last lookup
before going home and we were finally able to meet with a recent
convert, Pia.
I'm grateful that we were able to do service as a Ward this weekend
and wear ridiculous but awesome mormon helping hands vests. I'm also
grateful for the Eagle Scout in another Ward who let us take part in
his service project and deliver food for Thanksgiving to people in our
stake who need it.
I'm incredibly grateful for the priesthood in my life. That we were
able to bring the elders to our lesson with Carmen and they were able
to give her a blessing in preparation for a surgery she's having this
week. She was able to recognize the spirit and her neighbor she'd
invited, Jacqueline, also felt the spirit so strongly. I know they'll
never be able to forget that experience.
I'm grateful for the members in this Ward. That give us snacks after
church, and let us use their bathroom when we've been out doing
lookups all day. And mostly just that they love and trust and adore us
just because we're missionaries. I love them all so much.
I'm so grateful for the split we had on Monday when sister green came
with me and sister Vicino and we were able to see so many split
miracles and have 4 awesome lessons.
I'm grateful for Consuelo and Ryan. That Ryan is starting to really
remember and apply the things that we have taught him.
I'm even grateful for the 3:45 fire alarm that made us exit our
apartment into the cold with the rest of our complex. I'm also
grateful it was just a false alarm and we were able to return to our
warm apartment.
And most of all I'm grateful for each one of you and the huge roles
each of you have played in my life. Each of you have helped me,
comforted me, been examples to me - and I wouldn't be who I am today
without you.
I love you all dearly and hope you have an incredible Thanksgiving and
remember that more than just saying thank you we should be living in
an attitude of gratitude.
Con Amor,
Hermana Smart
PS - my ponderize scripture for this week is D&C 11:12-13. "And now,
verily, verily I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which
leadeth to do good-yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge
righteously; and this is my spirit. "Verily, verily I say unto you, I
will impart unto you of my spirit, which shall enlighten your mind,
which shall fill your soul with joy."
Hola todo :)
¿Cómo están? Espero que todo fue increíble este semana para ustedes!
This week was mostly normal and missionary work as usual! But as usual
we did have a few mini miracles that continue to build my testimony
that this is the Lord's work!
First off last Wednesday the other sisters had a baptism....and they
had forgotten towels. They called us just as we were getting out of a
lesson that happened to be two streets away from our house. And we
were on our way to the church for correlation. So the timing was
perfect. The problem was that we only had one spare towel in our
apartment. So we prayed. And when we went to check there were TWO
towels in the closet, such a blessing - small but just another
confirmation that the Lord is watching over His work.
Thursday we were able to meet with a Dominican family that was a
member referral :) I just love the Dominican people so so much! And it
ended up being a really good restoration lesson, Carmen's two boys
were so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon! Friday we had
zone conference which was fantastic as usual and also we had a member
dinner appointment where we had really yummy shrimp.....except we had
to un peel the head and skin off haha. An experience for sure!
Ryan entered the waters of baptism on Saturday and it was so special.
His mom was recently reactivated and even brought another less active.
It was a special day for Ryan! He's a hilarious little 9 year old but
I know there are great things ahead for him!
Yesterday we had a mini split with a Sister Standage, who is serving
in Danbury, while her companion and Hermana Vicino went to a meeting
at the mission home - it was such a fun morning doing lookups and
finding an investigator we haven't gotten to meet in Norwalk yet (she
even accepted a baptism commitment)! We saw so many little blessings -
it's so fun to have a new perspective on an area even just for a short
time :) also yesterday after a meal appointment ALL our plans fell
through....and we tried everyone we could think of... But then we
decided to lookup Myra, who we've tried a few other times this week
but she's never home. BUT miracles happen and she was home. She
apparently has been in Boston for almost a month, but now she's back
and she's prayed and knows the things we've taught so far are true!
And she feels the spirit. We had a really incredible plan of salvation
lesson and it helped to answer a lot of questions she had. It was such
a tender mercy after having al. our plans fall through. Heavenly
Father is so aware of his children and where we as missionaries need
to be to help others!
One thing I've gained a testimony of over and over again is the power
of learning and growing "little by little" it is a principle of the
gospel that we can learn so much from. This week I chose 2 Nephi 28:30
as my ponderize scripture : "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I
will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who
hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they
shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and
from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken
away even that which they have."
I hope everyone has an incredible week! I love you all!
Con Amor,
Hermana Smart
Hola familia y amigos :)
How was everyone's week?? I hope y'all had an incredible week! Our
week started out super crazy, and packed and a little stressful.....it
kind of hit us how many things we were doing to cover both areas. So
we paused. And took a minute to simplify, to really focus on the
things and the people that are the most important - it has helped so
much! Simplifying to achieve the goals that you desire really does
work! Just like President Uchtdorf was talking about this last general
conference - simplify :)
We are seeing SO MUCH success in this area, especially in the Stamford
part, which is so happy. So the rest of this email I'll be talking
about people in Stamford BUT last Wednesday we did have a really cool
lesson with Johanna. We brought a member with us, Consuelo, who had
been to some lessons with her in the past. And it was just perfect.
They've become friends and Consuelo was pretty much teaching Johanna
exactly what she needed before the lesson even began! Fellow shippers
and member presents really do make a difference, sometimes it can be
hard but it was just and awesome to see it come together.
We had a meeting Thursday that was kind of like an MLC. But Brother
Donaldson (mission president from the District 2, on the missionary
board) came to instruct us alongside President & Sister Smith. They
introduced a new standard of excellence for the mission - 3 New
Investigators a week, 1 baptism every other month, invite to baptism
on first lessons, invite to a baptismal date on second lessons. So
simple and so achievable! Yet with this we can double baptisms in our
mission :) they also gave a lot of good training on planning and
overall just such a good meeting.
There were 3 miracles this week that we're all a result of either
timing or following through with our plans. The first was super
simple. We had planned to lookup a less active. So we did and her
sister was the only one there, and about to leave. But we talked to
her and she's a member too - she said she just hasn't been able to
come because she can't get work off so she asked us to pray for her.
We did. AND both her and her sister showed up at church on Sunday!!
The second miracle was that we were invited over to Hermana Baltazar's
house this week for lunch. She makes amazing food. We were talking,
and she just shared experiences and things going on in her life that
we all needed and it was so spiritually uplifting. We then proceeded
to share a part of a conference article we had planned to share and it
ended up being one that her and her daughter had watched together and
it was just the PERFECT thing to share. Sometimes Heavenly Father
inspires our plans so much and it's so cool when we are able to see
the immediate results of it!! The last miracle is my favorite. It
starts on Friday night. We finished a lesson in Norwalk and we looked
at the calendar and we had planned to go find Jeremias a potential
investigator we'd met the week before at our investigator Lubia's
house. We were thinking of changing the plan, but decided to stick to
the plan. We get to Lubia's house and Jermias isn't there. But the mom
of the little boy Lubia watches is. We started talking to her and find
out her son is a member of our Ward and she has sons in Peru that are
members. And a brother. We had a very simple lesson and Sister Smith
sang a hymn. The spirit was just so strong. So Jeovana (that's her
name) said we could come over Tuesday night. So we go over and it was
INCREDIBLE. Her son randomly didn't have work, so we got to meet him
and we realized he's an active member we've definitely seen before. We
asked her how she's been feeling and if she had the opportunity to
pray about our message. She says she did and she couldn't describe it
but it just felt good. Then her son bore such a powerful testimony of
the spirit. We were then able to teach about the restoration. She just
soaked it all in, especially about the prophets. And then at the end
we invited her to be baptized, and then invited her to be baptized on
Dec 12th and she said if she finds out El Libro de Mormon is true she
would be baptized that date!!!!!! She is SO PREPARED. It was such a
tender mercy. And her son is the perfect fellowship per - they should
even be at church this week.
Saturday Genesis entered the waters of baptism! It was such a special
event and we are so happy for her decision to be baptized. She is such
an amazing little girl. The morning before e baptism we had a lot of
random opposition but e baptism ended up going so well and her part
member family came (her mom is reactivating and her brothers aren't
members) and it was such awesome. We should be having the baptism of
Ryan (another 10 year old) this Saturday so that should be fun too!
My ponderize scripture for this week is Alma 37:37 "Counsel with the
Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when
thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch
over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy
heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall
be lifted up at the last day."
Well I think that's all for this week! Sorry it got a little bit long
- We had so many miracles and I am so grateful for every single one of
them! OH also I did eat some pig ear this week.....not my
favorite....haha gotta love missionary life :) I LOVE YOU ALL!!
Con Amor,
Hermana Smart
Happy November everyone! The Holiday seasons are starting and it still
seems so crazy that it's already time for that. But holidays are such
an exciting time to be a missionary, everyone is just so open - so I'm
really excited :)
We had a really busy week! It's been fun to be a trio again. But
combining two areas has kept us busy, and my areabook was acting up
the beginning of the week (areabook is on our iPads) so I didn't have
access to my investigators. But we got it all figured out and figured
out how to plan with two areas and finally organized our apartment
today so things are settling in a little more which is good!
We also got to go to MLC on Friday and it was just such a cool
reflecting moment, because last year on Halloween I went to my first
ever MLC when I was companions with Sister Baker and it was just so
cool to see the differences of my spirituality and mission presidents,
I just learned so much and love being spiritually fed during the week!
So Halloween was this week too! I hope you all enjoyed your day. You
may think...well what do missionaries do on Halloween? Well we still
do what we do every other day except we had be back to our apartment
by 6:30....and not as many people want to see us haha. We started of
the morning helping a less active with some service. And then we had
the incredible blessing of having a BAPTISM! One of the members we
work with, Rosa's, little girl Sofia's 8th birthday was on Halloween
so she made the decision to be baptized on her birthday and Halloween!
It was such a special day. And after we had to quickly help set up for
the joint Ward Halloween party. So much excitement! And Rosa got a few
pictures....but I forgot to get them so I'll have to send them next
week. The Halloween party was really well put together, we got to talk
to a bunch of our members and a lot of less actives came which was
awesome, and also Sister Brower came back with her parents which was
fun! We didn't stay the whole time because we headed out to an
appointment.....but then said appointment canceled....and we still had
a little over an hour until we needed to be home....so we decided to
park the car and pray. We ended up at a lookup and she let us in and
one of the guys who lives in the same apartment/house thing was
sitting at the table. We ended up have a HALLOWEEN MIRACLE and
teaching them both the restoration and about the BOM and the spirit
was so strong. We even ended with a kneeling prayer. It was such a
special experience.
^so that's what a missionary does on Halloween. We serve, and baptize,
and teach and then come home and weekly plan. It was an awesome day.
Sunday was so focused on fasting it was really cool. Without realizing
that's what we had planned, we ended up teaching 3 lessons about
fasting. AND it was fast Sunday. We just had such special experiences.
The power of fasting is so real and I've continually been able to
build my testimony of fasting while on my mission, especially when
I've focused my fasts on others.
One more miracle of the week is we went clear to Norwalk yesterday
morning because we had an appointment. But then we couldn't find the
lady we had set the appointment withs house....so we decided to knock
all the doors in the building we thought she lived in (come to find
out later we got her address wrong) but we had a lesson about the BOM
at the door with another woman who had actually been given an El Libro
de Mormon in the past so we were able to testify and give her a new
one. Sometimes the Lord knows exactly where we need to be to do his
work, we just don't realize it until we keep working hard.
Well that's the highlights of the week! It truly has been an awesome
week. We've even had a few days that have been so busy that we've
taught 5-6 lessons. Which is really good for us especially with travel
time and studies and everything else a missionary does in a day!
I love you all and I hope you have the best week ever!
My ponderize scripture for the week is 1 Timothy 4:12 "...be thou an
example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in
spirit, in faith, in purity"
Con Amor,
Hermana Smart
