June 9, 2014

Sorry, fam. REALLY don´t have time now!!! On to business!!

This week went by fast!!! I loved being able to attend the temple and I received so much spiritual strength from it. It was something I really needed. After that, I honestly progressed more in my testimony than ever before. I´m not sayiing I used the temple as an excuse, but I really did receive a lot of answers to my prayers. 
This week had its up´s and down´s, mostly because Hna Clay was really ill for a bit. It´s been weird because literally every week, she has another illness. We call it the Last-Transfer syndrome. She told me of other missionaries getting sick their last couple of weeks! So weird! Though we were in the piso a bit, I was able to get a lot done. I watched a lot of the district and it is so amazing how much you can learn from their experiences and testimonies. In all, this week was just a big spiritual banquet for me!!
We contacted this lady a few weeks ago and she could never see us. She, Susana, had told us that her siblings and cousins were all members in Ecuador and so we were really excited for this extra boost. But she could never see us. Finally, we ran into her a few days ago in the street and she told us that she had talked to her family about us and they were encouraging her to talk to us and to come to church!! She said she´s interested to know more and I was just so grateful for that little bit of info, to know thta she wasn´t alone in her getting to know the gospel. 
I learned a big lesson this week. So I have these rings that I bought here and one day we went to the bathroom in this library. I took my rings off and accidently left them after washing my hands. I didn´t think about it until 6 hours later and when I did, I felt terrible but also a little defeated. I was thinking that no way was I getting them back and I thought, well, this is just another trial for me to grow from. So I told Hna Clay that and she reminded me that whatever is important to me is definitely important to Him, so OF COURSE I can pray just to find my little rings. So I did and I felt prompted to call a member here. I told him my situation and he said he´d check it out. Later that day in english class, he didn´t say anything. He left to go somewhere and returning he said that the lady from the libarary was looking for him because she had found my rings!! That to me was such a building experience for me because I knew that God had answered my prayers. I always say that prayers are always answered, but I know now that even the LITTLE prayers are always answered, too. 

now other news. HERMANA HANSEN IS ENGAGED!!! aaahhh!!! so happy for her!!! married in august!!

thats all folks!! love you!!!

hermana smith

the first pic was hna fowers and i on intercambios (exchanges??)

and the next two are of us seeing each other for the first time in months. we were pretty happy :D

June 2, 2014

Hey fam! don´t have a lot of time. I´ll probs expain more next week.

This week was great! I went up to madrid!! to my old area!! Plus i had a chitchat with hermana fowers and it was SOOOOO nice and very much needed. we´re doing intercambios today so i get her to myself :D heheheheee. it was such a good experience to participate in Zone conference and all the messages were great and inspired. they mostly focused on Christs love and how we need to show our love in him by being better at missionary work and being obedient and all that jazz. my pen was flying, I was trying to write down all these thoughts and impressions! It really made me think of how i was doing with loving others. I´ve been trying to focus more on loving my contacts in the streets and imagine these people in white. It´s been really good and we´ve been able to have a bit more lessons! 
We started teaching this family from colombia and they´re amazing!! We contacted the son, jonathon, while he was walking his dogs (weiner dogs--I DIED OF CUTENESS) and we asked to explain more and he said that we could stop by the next day and teach them! When we met with them, his mom, Edith, told us her experiences with the missionaries in colombia and how she loved them. She said she was so excited that her son finally was contacted by the missionaries!! It was really quite a miracle. We´ve mostly talked about the book of mormon and the son has read what we´ve given them. We have a lot of hope for them. Edith has a lot of health problems and can´t walk sometimes but I actually just thought of maybe, when we talk about the restoration and authority, we could give her a blessing. I really think that will be a testimony strengthening experience.
We contacted this other lady and her daughter from ecuador and they´re wonderful. They have a lot of interest in coming to church and of learning more. We´ve only had one lesson with her but we feel that she just needs some friends from the church and everything else will run its course :)
They also talked about our attitude in conference and how it should be a positive one. I´ve been trying to change my attitude, like we talked about in the conference, especially while contacting. A lot of people will just reject us and normally I just brush it off and go to the next person. But lately, I´ve been thinking about WHY we were being rejected, because we weren´t doing anything wrong. And then I just felt really sad. I felt really sad that no one was accepting this message and that they´ll reap what they sow type of deal. I then thought of the Savior and how he was completely rejected in every way and how he carried on. That honestly changed my attitude. It changed my way of thinking and teaching. I could feel this urgency in my body, that they HAD to accept this message because it is the key to their salvation! Its really helped me a lot, because I can teach more clearly now. I´ve been trying to just tweak a bit of everything so that we can help these children of God progress!! What a blessing it truly is to do the Lord´s work. I hear a lot that we do the dirty work of missionary, but this dirty work is fun! It´s such a privilage to be wearing this chapa. 

well family! my time is running down. I love you! thanks for your love and support. sorry i didn´t write down as much as usual (ha) but until next week!

Hermana Smith

May 26, 2014

Hey family!! Wow, today has been extra awesome and I¨ve been really uplifted by your letters. I enjoy them each week and apprecite them so much! This week was good and I love this area even more. Its growing, poco a poco, but we feel that there will be miracles soon. I´ve been thinking a lot about this area and what we could do to help it grow. It´s difficult to go contacting and the times we´ve visited the members, they´ve been really good. I´ve been trying to find a way where we can work with the members more in this area. We´ve started doing the 21 day plan and its been going sooo well so far. The members are really excited to do some missionary work! Even though we won´t have immediate results, the future missionaries will at least be busy.
There´s a recent convert here named Mayte and she´s getting ready to serve a mission!! The branch president told us that she´s been progressing more with the hermanas than with her ´´chicos´´, as she calls them (elders). I think its the hermana charm ;) Its been so much fun and I just love being a missionary. I´m so excited for her!! 
Honestly, since I´ve been here, we´ve only had lessons with about 3 people. We´re still looking for new investigators to teach and I´ve been trying to apply what i´ve learned in the past zone meetings and conferences. We have Zone conference this week and I´m really excited to go and be spiritually fed!! Plus, I´m actually really excited to see some familiar faces. I thought we were isolated in the islands, but there aren´t any other missionaries in Cuenca!! Haha, hermana clay and I are getting to know eachother very well. she knows how to cook good and i´ve been learning! 

Today for pday, we hiked for about 45min to this giant jesus statue in cuenca and it was soooooo beautiful!!! i loved it soooo much and I never realized how much i missed hiking!! it was great.

well, family. i love you!! i´m so happy to be serving and I hope you all have a splendid week. next week i´m doing exchanges with the sister trainging leader...her name is hermana fowers :) and she is currently serving in B6! so i´m going to visit b6 for a few days! plus on wednesday we get to go to the temple!! OOOOHHHH YEEESSS!!! finally!! i´ve missed it sooo much. 

ahem. well fam! love ya!

Hermana Smith

Us at the top of the statue!
45 min hike all uphill and SO WORTH IT. it was sooooo beautiful!!!

May 19, 2014

Ok, family. Like dad said. Here´s the drill:

1. my address: calle francisco de luna 16, 4A 16004 Cuenca España

2. we are the only missionaries for about 2 hours. at least in the madrid mission.

3. we are currently looking for people to teach, but we´ve got a few investigators.

4. members are good. don´t know enough to give you details. There´s only one branch.

5. we get fed once a week, los martes.

This week was good. Not going to lie, it was a bit of an adjustment, but its all good now :) Hna Clay´s helping me a lot to know the area and the members and investigators are doing well. We´ve been contacting more and its a little bit more difficult here than in the islands but we make it work. I certainly walk more and I´m missing the guagua´s in las palmas! hahaha! I´ve got great butt muscles now from all the hills and we have less food appointments so hopefully i´ll be able to see my belly button soon. hahahaa!! ok gross just kidding. 

It´s really interesting, because Cuenca really reminds me of Telde. Its cute and small and quaint and the members are wonderful! The situations are kind of the same. But honestly, there´s a different spirit here. I seriously feel that this area will grow. We´ve had many miracles this week and its been wonderful and needed, because the Lord is telling us that He´s with us. It was hard the first 3 days because we were just straight contacting and I had just come from a really successful area and we hadn´t taught one lesson yet. Then, we were able to finally teach a lesson and it was soooo nice!!!! I actually felt a little useful after that. 

We had an amazing experience. It was 15 til 10pm and we were heading home. We were both very tired and just wanted to go home to rest our feet and not think. While waiting for the light to turn, we saw this young man walking on the street. Right when Hna Clay was thinking about it, I went over to contact him. While introducing ourselves, I felt that I needed to explain that we had a message that would help him know his purpose in life. The young man, Miguel, then told that he doesn´t believe, but was JUST thinking about his purpose in life. Why was he here? Why are there bad stuff in the world? If God loves us, why do we suffer? It was such an amazing experience and we were able to have a lesson right there. We met with him 2 days afterward and we were able to teach him and his friend. He pretty much exploded on us the bad stuff he´s done and that he wants to change and he wants to be happy in life. We were able to testify to him that wickedness never was happiness and what we need to do to be happy. He told us that he would go to other churches to feel better, but would never life them. He then invited himself to come to church :) Hahaa, no problem! Come on over! He never showed up (he was partying the night before) but we feel really good about him. He has SO much potential. Just needs a little push in the right direction.

We had another lesson with a young guy and hna clay told him that I sang like an angel. well, this kid then asked me to sing and i said no. then he said he´d sing for me if i´d sing for him because he was a professional singer. hahaa ok ya right. well, ok. then he sang. WHOA. ok i believe you now. so i had to sing. talk. about. embarrassing. he then told me he had a song he wanted me to sing.

hahaa. maybe another day.

But we´re doing good. Hna Clay´s great and I feel like i´m living with kelly a little bit ;) Last night, we sang the Nanny theme song and we just felt better after that. hahahahaaaa!!!!!! Literally, there are no quiet moments with her sometimes. we don´t have a picture together yet, but she is my height and is very white and a pretty red head. 

Well, family. I love you!! talk to you next week!

Hermana smith

so with this new address and all, that means i´ll get new letters in the mail right??? 

just saying. 

So we went to tour this AWESOME cathedral and it costs 4 euros to get in. well. we got in for FREE! perks of being a missionary!! oh sí!!!

May 12, 2014

Hey family!

so i just tried to stick my SD camera card with it FULL of pictures into the computer and it ate it. sooo. yeah. thats my problem here. there goes my past 3 transfers of loving life.

but other than that, what a crazy couple of days! I´m glad i´m finally on settled ground. its weird to look around and not see the ocean. i really loved doing that before. What wonderful blessings come from God´s creations!

It was really sad to leave Las Palmas, but I have a firm testimony that it will never be goodbye. That's part of the great plan of happiness. D&C 130:2!!!!  I´m grateful that in the final resurrection i will have a perfect memory and be able to remember my missionary experiences, because that is something i definitely don´t have! 
I actually feel really good about serving in Cuenca. I know it will be difficult, but as we were flying over the ocean, I was pondering over what this next transfer will be like. I felt that there were people in Cuenca that needed the gospel and I knew that I needed to be the hands of the Lord to bring them to the knowledge. It just really makes me grateful for the calling i have, that the Lord and His angels have prepared the way for us to preach the gospel. 
Hermana Caballero and I worked really well this week. The investigators were working well and progressing, but not a single one came to church. It was really sad because we have like 12 good/progressing investigators and they didn´t come :( 
The ward is preparing Alex to receive a calling and I am SO excited for him!! he´s such a good kid. so solid. He really is the miracle of my time in Las Palmas. 
It was SO good to talk you guys! I really tried to focus on what our president said we needed to do: be an example and thank my mom and it was a really edifying time. Mom´s truly are the best! 

my area is like Telde but bigger and more spanish and....quietter? the spanish are more closed people than Telde or even Canarians in general. i said hi to like 5 people in the streets and they just stared at me. ok. thanks. whatever.

hey family! i love you! see you next week!

Hermana smith

btdubs, i got my card back. there´s just a random hole in the dang mother board thingy. whatever its called. 

FaceTime with McKinsey on Mother's Day 2014

We were very excited to FaceTime Kinsey!
She looks great!
Only 3.5 more months til she comes home!!

May 5, 2014

Heeeeyyyyyyyyy FAMILY! wow I´m really happy right now. I don´t know why because our pday was really not cool at all. hahaa. we wanted to go to the south and all the missionaries have never been there before except for me and another elder and so we decided to try and plan a trip down there. well. the bus dropped us off on a beach resort with hotels, beaches and pools. how many stores to shop at? one. any paths to take a stroll? the beach. so after an hour of travel, we waited for the next bus to take us back to las palmas. hahahaa. the elders were plotting our deaths! but it was great and the elders joked about it the whole time. I got a little sick on the bus but it was great to say my last good byes to the islands! sniff. plus we passed Telde and it was great! i pointed out all great sites. its pretty small, so we only passed it for like 4 seconds. haha.

Well, other than that, this week went well. We saw witnessed little miracles and were able to experience a lot from the Spirit. We´ve been trying to get some of our investigators to really progress and its been going well. Hermana Caballero kick butt here and we´re a firehouse! haha no worries mom, we get along great. Each companion I´ve had has been great and they´re my sisters and we treat each other as such. We´re very blessed to be serving here in Las Palmas! With 5 transfers in the islands, its PROBABLE that I´ll be leaving and for me it´s super sad; I feel like the islands and the people here are part of my heart. I remember Presidente Sitterud telling us in the MTC that our missions are our holy places and i can definitely understand what he meant by that. Though I might leave, I know that the Lord´s work is the same everywhere and I will be needed in other places, if that is His will. But seriously, my heart is breaking. I really hope i´ll be one of those weird cases and have to stay here 6 transfers. never heard of for an hermana. but definitely heard of for the elders! i hope i´ll be a first!
We´ve been working with the hermanas of a member who just came from Honduras and they´re doing so well. They love to fail lessons but its not surprising with them being 13 and 15 years old! the YW are doing great at befriending them and they feel loved and welcomed there. THAT I am grateful for. The YW group is so strong in this ward. they´re probably the strongest part of the ward.
Yasmina is doing really well and with her 15 yr old daughter preparing to go to EFY, we´re wanting to focus our teaching on her. She´s in for a wonderful suprise! Yasmina is a woman with never ending questions and it´s difficult to teach a solid lesson with her! But she loves coming to church on sundays and her youngest daughter loves coming too. In the future, this family is going to get baptized and they will be so strong in the Church. I can´t wait to see that day!
Alex was confirmed yesterday and right after sacrament, he received the aaronic priesthood. Alex was so prepared. He´s going to be such an amazing leader in the Church. They are truly blessed to have him! Alex has a lot of friends in the church and he told us that the one thing that helped him most to gain a testimony was hearing the testimonies of other people. It reminds me of a scripture in Alma 4:19= ´´And this he did that he himself (Alma) might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them.´´ I love this scripture and it has helped me a lot of times in my mission, especially in the beginning. I knew i didn´t have a perfect knowledge of the Gospel or of the scriptures (still dont!), but at least my testimony was sufficient.
In church, we´re getting a lot of investigators from Ghana! We have quite a few and the other elders have a lot (they´re teaching like 10 on a boat!) and the other elders have theirs and his friends. We´ll soon have a branch in english again here! We were talking with Willy Roka yesterday (ward mission leader) and he said that he wouldn´t be surprised if they split Las Palmas this year. I can understand! We can´t fit in the sacrament room now! The work is progressing well here and I´m happy that the Lord is blessing these people here on the islands.
We have a new missionary couple named the Larsons, from Houston and they´re are doing great and they are just so sweet!! The members in las palmas brought them in and they´re so happy to be here. We´re going to see a lot of miracles with them!
I am so grateful for this opportunity that I´ve had to serve both in Telde and in Las Palmas. I´ve been very blessed and I hope, if I do leave, that I´ll be able to bless the lives of others in my next area. I was reading in PME that I needed to leave my area better than the way I found it and I sure hope I did just that! But seriously. my heart will be ripped in half. so dramatic, i know.

well fam! I´ll talk to you on sunday! wow. i can´t believe its time again. welp. i´ll be calling 8 pm my time!! that is....1pm your time. that ok? LOVE YA!

hermana smith