April 30, 2013

so i´m writing to tell you that.....DRUMB ROLL......i won´t find out WHERE i´m going until tomorrow. and i won´t be able to email you until next monday, cuz thats when i have my pday I THINK. no sé. 

so right now we are about to head up and pack pack pack!! there is a lot to do and i hope i get it all finished. i won't be able to write a lot, at all, cuz they're giving us a time to write and say we're leaving the mtc. so. I had my interview with the mission president of madrid spain and OH MY GOODNESS. he is the greatest guy ever!! he makes you feel so good about yourself and he was so excited to meet me. he said that the letter you guys wrote to him about me just OOZED with the love you have for me!! i was like, AWWWWW *gush!* We had our talent show last night and hermana hopkins and i sang a solo. we did well..until the end:) it was hilarious. they have it on video and hopefully she'll put it up on facebook after our missions. but afterwards, it was amazing, i had President Sitterud, Jackson, and Sullivan say that I sang with such innocence and so natural. and i was all, WHA? My DADDY say's that too!!! Pres. Sitterud said to make sure that I tell Pres. Jackson that I need to use my voice a lot on my mission. But its so amazing, because while i've been here, i've come to rely on my voice more and more. i may not have the strongest testimony of some things and i'm stronger in different parts or i may not have the greatest knowledge of the gospel, but i can send a message of love through the spirit by music. i DO have a testimony of that!! 
Well, i love you lots. be safe and i'll take lots of pictures!! i don't have my cord to my camera so i printed off pictures and they're on their way to idaho!! you'll recieve a package from me in 2 ish weeks. 
love kinsey.
or. hermana smith.

McKinsey's Last Week in the Madrid MTC

HOLA FAMILIA!!! Que tál?! Wow, this week has FLOWN by!! I know I say this every week, but it gets truer and truer each time. Yes. I just made that word up. But anywhoo, it was an amazing week! We had awesome devotionals by Elder Holland, President Sitterud, and many other speakers that literally spoke to each of our needs and worries. I wrote so many notes, I wanna send them to ya’ll, they´re that amazing. But I won’t :)

The main topic seemed to be TEACH WITH BOLDNESS. Hna. Griffin and I totally did that in our lessons. We had an investigator who lived with his pregnant girlfriend and we were slowing telling him why he needed to dump her or get married. But then, after the BOLD devotional, we said, YA KNOW WHAT: we need to baptize Israel. So we invited him to be baptized. And he said yes!! We had our last lesson with him last night and he totally threw us a curve ball. Ya know why? His girlfriend showed up. So gave part of the lesson we wanted to give, but then we decided to try and incorporate eternal families into the topic and it went so smoothly. We sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" afterwards and it was so sweet. The spirit was so strong!! I love music, because it gives such a strong message to ANYONE, no matter the language. During a small boring time in the CCM, I read the introduction to the Hymn book. The first presidency talked about the importance of music and I said TOUCHÉ!!!!

I am slowly starting to understand more and more Spanish!! It’s so cool being able to communicate with everyone. Then we go out into real Madrid, and we´re all like, ´´HUH´´ *drroooooolll* but it’s going to be so stinkin hard in the field. I am so excited for something difficult!! I hope I get a trainer who loves everyone and the gospel, has patience, and more patience.

OH so the Italians came and they are a PARTY!!! I love all of them so much! One of them is staying in my room and I love her tooooo death! I can see her being my friend for a very long time. Hahaa, so one of them is partly from Cambridge, England and I can’t say Italian names very well, so I call him Cambridge! He asks me questions, like where his companion went and I’ll say, with a British accent of course, Why, I think he went to the lou. Haha did I spell that right?! Ah man he´s a funny kid. 

So wow!! I saw ben and Sasha!! It was totally wild. I knew when they were leaving and I was totally ok not seeing them (ya know, gotta follow the rules!!) But then as I was dressing for fútbol, I get a knock on my door! Heehee, in a high pitched OHWHATACUTEPUPPY voice an Hna said, ´´we have a surprise for you!! You need to get down to the temple grounds right now!!´´ My heart stopped and I said NO WAY. Then Hna. Hopkins and I went down and I ran around like an idiot trying to find him. I finally found him, sprinted to him, squealed like a little girl and threw my arms around him. Everyone in the CCM was saying, ´´did you see Smith?!´´ It took a while for people to realize that YES he is my brother YES I know he looks like a Spaniard and not some white boy YES I know etc. etc.

The CCM Pres. mentioned that on Monday, our last day, at 10am the Madrid Mission President was going to interview all the Madrid missionaries separately to see which areas to send us to. OH YEAH!!! I am so stoked!!!

Hahaa so quote of the week. We were talking as a district about random stuff and we were joking that Elder Miles was going to get Dear Johned by his girlfriend. Elder Larsen (most funniest guy ever. no words can describe elder Larsen with his sidekick Elder Weixler) said, so if we´re in Spain, instead of Dear John, is it Dear Juan?? HAHAHAA we were DYING!!! We laugh so much as a district.

Anyway, I love you guys!! Thanks for the letters!! I got them about a week and a half later, but it was all good :) my first package was from Uncle Norman and Aunt Eleanor!! HOW SWEET!! I got a little teary eyed. I was NOT expecting that!! They got me a Spanish hymn book with my name engraved on it. Too sweet. I wrote them a thank you note tambien.

Love you all so much. I was talking with some hermanas and they were so surprised that I never cried when I saw my bro and sis in law. I said, I knew I would see them again. Even if something bad happened to my family, I have a FIRM testimony of the temple and eternal families. FIRM. I had a mini thought, I said to myself, SELF!!! You can totally use the family in Spain!! It’s so true though. Love everyone for who they are! Even the family members that don´t talk to you etc. Love them, even if that’s all you can do.

Love ya’ll!! I’ll send more pics today hopefully. Make sure people know to start mailing stuff to my mission home!!

mucho loves y hugs,
Hermana Smith
aka- KINSEY POO!!

Pictures, a Video, and a Surprise

Here's a pic of Kinsey at the airport (I am guessing JFK) on her way to Spain! This group of missionaries were also headed there. 

Photo c/o Elder Day via Facebook

You may remember the previous post which had pictures of Kinsey singing with the choir. The same couple that sent those photos also made a video! Click here to see the video on Youtube!

Ben and his wife Sasha were in Spain the past few weeks visiting her family and were hoping to see a glimpse of Kinsey while they were in Madrid. Ben wrote, "We happened to see McKinsey walking out to go exercise while we were waiting for Sasha's friend (who works there) to come into work (she was coming in late). We talked for a while, then left her. She is doing great!!! Very excited, and very humble." How exciting! Ben sent some pictures of a very happy McKinsey, too ;)

Siblings :)

With Kinsey's companion Hermana Griffin 

Kinsey with Sasha and Hermana Griffin

More Pics and a Letter

Hey family!! How are things goin? This week as just FLOWN by for me!!

You guys are the best. Just letting ya know.

This letter may be short if I have to send pictures. We get an hour though now, just found out like 20 min ago!! Crazy!! 

It’s amazing how much nuestro padre celestial quiere ayudarnos (translation: our Heavenly Father wants to help). Its an amazing blessing, especially as a missionary!! Por ejemplo, a lot of times, when I have time to think, I’ll think of random stuff like, oh I wonder what my family’s doing now, etc. then I lose focus! I mentally stop thinking about stuff that’ll distract me and its so much easier because heavenly father WANTS me to not think like that! So cool!!

Like your lessons mom, I felt a lesson we prepared was not what our investigator needed. And you know what? I didn’t say anything. Because I was too afraid of what “the world” would think than what the holy ghost told me to do. I’m still kicking myself over that.

Oh and daddy? CYBER HUG!!! [MMM-MMMMM!!!]

So like 20 times this week we’ve heard the same thing over and over again, “you’ll probably become senior companion, district leader, zone leader, etc by the 2 transfer. Oh no pressure! Good luck in the field!” um. QUÉ????

Ooh, I just wanna tell ya about this quote: “You don’t just fall in a crater unless you’re on the edge of it” HECK YEAH! Totally loving this quote.

While proselyting this week, mi companera and I talked to these Spaniards who spoke English very well. They were pharmacists and loved gaining any new information about anything, so of course they were extremely interested in what we had to say!! We gave them the first lesson and the spirit was SO strong as we bore testimony of the temple. They were GOLDEN investigators!! We gave them everything that we had pertaining to the gospel. Totally awesome.

Hahaa so remember Mikey Hankins? He’s been reassigned to the Charlotte NC mission as he waits for his visa!! He wrote to me and told me he’s serving in my home town!! Hahaa!!

I love you guys mucho!! You’ll probably hear from me again today. Look for me!!

Oh and I got a package today!!! Totally surprising, especially since its from Uncle Norman and Aunt Eleanor! It was so great. They got me a hymn book with my name engraved on it!!! I love it!! And I needed it too!! Unfortunately I bought myself one 2 days ago!! So I had another elder buy my unused one for э4. <<<<-----hahahaa I tried to make it look like a Euro sign but its actually a Russian symbol.

I did love conference!! It was so uplifting. A couple of times I dosed off but I can't really help that with the amount of work and no sleep we get. But I love it :) nothing really special. I'm understanding so much more each week!! I'm so excited for this opportunity to serve. The CCM is cool, but I need to submerge myself in the Spanish and the gospel. Its awesome!

¡¡Los quiero mucho!!

Hermana Smith

A couple that is serving at the Madrid Spain Temple saw Kinsey and had some pictures taken with her! They also got a shot of her singing in the choir on their blog (link to blog post HERE)

Sister Smith with Brother and Sister Zimmerman,
who serve at the Madrid Temple.

Kinsey putting her gorgeous singing voice to good use :)

Spanish, Soccer and Calle de Goya

Hola Familia y Amigos!!

Hey you guys!! 

I speak and sing this Sunday. Wish me luck!! it’s a mix of English and Spanish, but I speak in Spanish and sing in English.

President and Sister Sitterud are from Highland, Utah. My roommate, Hna. Hopkins was neighbors with them. He speaks Spanish and I think she does. They’re awesome. Every Sunday evening, Hna. Sitterud comes in and sings us a goodnight song that she sang to her kids. Its so nice!

My Spanish is coming along great. I can understand about 45% of my teachers and about 10% of regular Spaniards!! Unfortunately, these first 3 weeks have been a lot of refreshers for me. I haven’t really learned anything new except how to stick things in sentences.  We learn Spanish and the gospel at the same time. so for grammar, we learn stuff like progressive tense and speak sentences that we can say to our investigators. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone, as they say it.

I finally sucked it up and started to play soccer. I was scared because I knew I would kick air too many times!! At first, I was in the way. Then I got a little more aggressive!! Apparently, I unknowingly did some awesome soccer moves. My proudest moment was when I saw the ball rolling to me as I stood there at about ½ field and I thought, Ooooh!!! Ball!! Kick!! I gave a huge swift kick! and watched it sail through the air. Time stopped as it soared right into the farthermost corner of the net. I scored!! I stupidly stared at it then everyone was screaming!! In disbelief, I think. Ha, I keep cracking up because I bet my face was PRICELESS!! Mouth open, eyes wide, some drool (haha jk). Whitney Webster would be proud!! I’m the next Beckham!

I know I said don’t send letters or packages…but with it being a small MTC, I’m one of those few lonesome ones with out letters!! Ben, Jason, NOW I know how you felt!! Lo siento, Bros. Don’t hold back you guys!!

Conference was way good!! We’ll hear the last session tonight and I'm way excited to get chastised by Holland. All the missionaries here are looking forward to it! Can you guys copy and paste Russell M. Nelson, Henry B. Eyring, Craig A. Carden, David A Bednar and any other ones you think will be beneficial towards the people of Espana!! Oh and I saw Anthony’s face!! For like 5 minutes. My district thought I was so weird. I was so excited to see a familiar face!! And is Isaac in the choir? I’m not sure if it was his beard I saw at the corner of the screen at one point…

Last Saturday, we went proselyting in Calle de Goya. It. Was. AWESOME!!! I got even more excited for the field!! My last 2 experiences weren’t the greatest and I was determined for this next one to be different. My temporary companion (we get different ones when we proselyte each time) and we came out of the metro and said a heartfelt prayer. We set off and 15 min later-nothing. Then a little bit later-nothing. (haha name that movie!!!). Finally we stopped at a crosswalk and I tried to look at everyone through the Savior’s eyes. I looked at this guy smoking at the corner and thought, I need to go to him. Then I REALLY looked at him: he was over 6ft tall, HUGE, tight black shirt, tatted up, partly shaved head and aviators. I mentally screeched to a stop and thought, HECK to the NO he’s scary!!! We continued to look around us for awhile, but I couldn’t stop looking at the scary guy. I finally told Hna. Hopkins that we should go to him and she said, HIM?!?!?!?!?! We went up to him, with Hna. Hopkins praying hard for our safety. We started talking to him and he was the nicest non-member Spaniard EVER. We asked if he believed in God and he said no. we asked why and he went on in Spanish about his reasonings while I nodded and acted like I understood him. We gave him a BoM  and pointed out Moroni’s promise. I said we are witnesses of this promise and that he will receive an answer if he follows Moroni’s promise. We left him and I looked back and he was flipping through it. 10 min later, after accidentally coming back unknowingly  he was still looking in it!! That was one of my most dearest memories here. I am so glad I was able to recognize a ready soul and that I was able to communicate with him my awesome Spanish skills. Its important to know Spanish, but not as important as giving them that message of hope. I don’t worry about my Spanish, but I do worry that I’ll be able to discern the needs of my investigators and every one else.

I love you guys so much. I’m so glad I have this huge amount of support, no matter where I am. Stay positive and take care!! I’ll work my hardest ever this week. Especially because we’re learning Spanish that’s new to me ;)

Give Griz a hug from me. Is he alright? You better tell me if he’s getting TOO old, if you know what I mean.

Loves y hugs,

Hermana Smith 

New Letter and a Few Pictures!

Hey!

Dad, I´m taking your advice: I´m try to "sing like an angel!!" I´m in the CCM choir and I try to sing out more. Found out my roommate sings and we sing opera quite a bit!! Oh and they found out that I can play 5 hymns. They got to me. I played. And messed up. But oh well! Though I will admit it does make me feel better to not hide singing. Thanks daddy. You know me well ;)

I have a CCM lifesaver and her name is Hermana Flanders. Remember the girl when I went to the Provo MTC for visa stuff and she forgot to give the receipt back? Well that's her. And she´s literally saves me every single day. I go to her for anything!! And she´s stinkin hilarious too. Heavenly Father definitely answered my prayers and its amazing how instant it is! My district is awesome and we have an amazing district leader who is really aware of other people's problems and lives.

Haha, so funny story: I was going back into my classroom and Elder Day (zone leader) was in the way. He said, "Oh excuse me." So, being me, I said "Spank you!!" ** and calmly went inside. He started laughing and said, "uh I don´t think you can say that." And, already forgetting what I said, said, "HUH?!". EVERYONE was cracking up and they´re STILL talking about it!

Every Saturday we go out of the CCM and proselyte. The first Saturday was in the Calle de Goya. This past Saturday was at a famous park named ....something. Anywho, in all, I gave away 3 copies of the Book of Mormon and gave out a million referral cards. Its so awesome being out there!! Kelly, Calle de Goya had like 20 SHOE STORES. You´ll love it. I swear. We had maps and I circled the spots where the good ones were at and I´ll be back for them.

Oh, I´m leaving the CCM on the 29th of April  but have no clue where I´m going. Oh can you guys look up how much it would cost to buy a good universal straighter. Mine worked for a week then now it goes berzerko when I use it now. I´ve been mooching off of others.

Love yall!! Be safe. Give Griz a hug from me.

love you lots.

Hermana Smith.

** "Spank you" means "Thank you" in Kinsey-talk ;)

Lookin' good, Kinsey!

Hermana Smith finally got her name tag from customs :)

On the CCM and Temple grounds.