Kinsey loves her sister companion. They get along very great. They act and look like real sisters
In front of the Madrid temple after some kind of missionary conference
Making an appointment for this week
Kinsey taking care of her big sister
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Pictures
Ben's mother in law, Paqui, was in Spain and met up with Kinsey and her companion. She was kind enough to take lots of pictures and share them with us!
Kinsey loves her sister companion. They get along very great. They act and look like real sisters
In front of the Madrid temple after some kind of missionary conference
Making an appointment for this week
Kinsey taking care of her big sister
Kinsey loves her sister companion. They get along very great. They act and look like real sisters
In front of the Madrid temple after some kind of missionary conference
Making an appointment for this week
Kinsey taking care of her big sister
Monday, May 20, 2013
May 20, 2013
Hola Familia!!
WOW this week was quite eventful! Like a movie, but only because of one thing: RAIN. And thunder. And lightening. it was the greatest thing EVAH!!! When it first started, we had just ended a lesson about 20 min walk from the temple. ¿PORQUÉ? it was raining SO HARD and we were squeeling and sprinting through the rain to the the nearest bus stop. it was so much fun!! I love it when it rains here because it washes all the nasty smells away. Like cigerette smoke. or poop. its bad.
Another thing...quite embarrassing....and down right hilarious. I can just imagine the laughter from you guys and especially whitney and lisa!! I had the LdM (book of mormon en español) in my right hand and the cell phone in my left. I was writing a long scripture to an investigator and was only focused on that and hermana hansen, cuz she knew where to go. we were walking our 5´10´´ pace and man was i FOCUSED. I was making SURE this investigator got this scripture!! all of a sudden, my right shin smashes into something and my top half flips forward. i was tripping over a bench!! thankfully, my left long leg flew up in time and i wasn´t wearing a pencil skirt. PHEW!!! we were DYING and the usual mean looking people around us were cracking up too!! hahaa oh man i have a beautiful bruise.
So we have an inactive family that we´ve been visiting. the weird thing is, we know that they love this church and have a testimony of it, they just don´t get to church! We found out that the husband has an addiction with alcohol and he drinks on the weekends. thats why they haven´t been to church. its so sad and we´ve changed our lessons a bit to fit their needs. On one occasion, we decided to talk about 2 corintheans 11(wow spelling) and we had made a cute jar with scriptures about love in there for the couple. we thought, hey why not stick some chocolate in there? so we go to the store and find some chocolate covered cherries called mon cherri or somethin like that. how romantic, right?! right. so we give them the goods and leave quite happy. i remembered the extra one i had and took it out and started chewing. I told Hermana, ´´this is really bitter. its kinda gross´´, but because of my love for chocolate, i continued chewing. then the tip of my tongue started to go numb. ``HERMANA!! I think there´s alcohol in this!!!´´ hahahaa we had given an alcoholic some alcoholic chocolate!! AH! well we called them and rectified the situation. (wow that sounds painful--name that show!!)
I love how much I am learning and I know I couldn´t have done it without my Father in Heaven and the prayers of my family and friends. I was looking back in my journal and noticed quite a bit that many occasions I would write how the Lord WANTS me to be a successful missionary. And it is so true!! Por ejemplo, we had a goal of receiving 20 references this week and on Thursday, during weekly planning session, we were realized we were running very short. We decided to REALLY raise the bar for the next day and we prayed many times for opportunities to talk with people and jot down their name and number. We are usually busy and our schedule was filled that day. I started the day with that number in my mind and my goodness, we got that and more of what we asked for!! Unfortunetely, some of our lessons fell through, but we still reached our goal! This was a very blessed week filled with many wonderful blessings. Another ejemplo is watching Elder Pizarro and his family, all in white, taking pictures in front of the temple. What an amazing thing to see!! Throughout the day, Hermana Hansen and I were humming and singing ``Families Can Be Together Forever´´. My testimony was strengthened even more of the temple and I can´t wait to attend a session next week!!
My relationship with Hermana Hansen is so strong. I am ever grateful for her patience and love towards ALL people. She is such an amazing example of someone with Christlike attributes. I am truly lucky to have her as the ``prophet of my area´´, as President Sitterud would say. I´m kind of a wuse and Hermana Hansen is always politely pushing me to go talk to people. When we do talk to some pretty rude ``go away´´ people, she say´s, ``Don´t worry. They´ll watch the movie of their life and thank you for trying´´. With that in mind, and all of our goals tambien, I am becoming less of a wuse and more of a missionary :)
I talked to my pres and he said that i can meet with paqui!! i can´t wait to see her face. its been awhile!!!
i love you all so much!!! i can´t wait to hear more of all your successes in life and in work. Go Ben!! Stay strong sasha. I´ll be praying for you :) I prayed for you kelly!!! And jason, i´ll be praying for timely assignments ;) heehee
ooh, did ya know that in spanish, heehee is ´´ji ji´´ ?? how lame. but i still crack up.
loves y mucho hugs
Hermana Smith aka KINSEY POO.
WOW this week was quite eventful! Like a movie, but only because of one thing: RAIN. And thunder. And lightening. it was the greatest thing EVAH!!! When it first started, we had just ended a lesson about 20 min walk from the temple. ¿PORQUÉ? it was raining SO HARD and we were squeeling and sprinting through the rain to the the nearest bus stop. it was so much fun!! I love it when it rains here because it washes all the nasty smells away. Like cigerette smoke. or poop. its bad.
Another thing...quite embarrassing....and down right hilarious. I can just imagine the laughter from you guys and especially whitney and lisa!! I had the LdM (book of mormon en español) in my right hand and the cell phone in my left. I was writing a long scripture to an investigator and was only focused on that and hermana hansen, cuz she knew where to go. we were walking our 5´10´´ pace and man was i FOCUSED. I was making SURE this investigator got this scripture!! all of a sudden, my right shin smashes into something and my top half flips forward. i was tripping over a bench!! thankfully, my left long leg flew up in time and i wasn´t wearing a pencil skirt. PHEW!!! we were DYING and the usual mean looking people around us were cracking up too!! hahaa oh man i have a beautiful bruise.
So we have an inactive family that we´ve been visiting. the weird thing is, we know that they love this church and have a testimony of it, they just don´t get to church! We found out that the husband has an addiction with alcohol and he drinks on the weekends. thats why they haven´t been to church. its so sad and we´ve changed our lessons a bit to fit their needs. On one occasion, we decided to talk about 2 corintheans 11(wow spelling) and we had made a cute jar with scriptures about love in there for the couple. we thought, hey why not stick some chocolate in there? so we go to the store and find some chocolate covered cherries called mon cherri or somethin like that. how romantic, right?! right. so we give them the goods and leave quite happy. i remembered the extra one i had and took it out and started chewing. I told Hermana, ´´this is really bitter. its kinda gross´´, but because of my love for chocolate, i continued chewing. then the tip of my tongue started to go numb. ``HERMANA!! I think there´s alcohol in this!!!´´ hahahaa we had given an alcoholic some alcoholic chocolate!! AH! well we called them and rectified the situation. (wow that sounds painful--name that show!!)
I love how much I am learning and I know I couldn´t have done it without my Father in Heaven and the prayers of my family and friends. I was looking back in my journal and noticed quite a bit that many occasions I would write how the Lord WANTS me to be a successful missionary. And it is so true!! Por ejemplo, we had a goal of receiving 20 references this week and on Thursday, during weekly planning session, we were realized we were running very short. We decided to REALLY raise the bar for the next day and we prayed many times for opportunities to talk with people and jot down their name and number. We are usually busy and our schedule was filled that day. I started the day with that number in my mind and my goodness, we got that and more of what we asked for!! Unfortunetely, some of our lessons fell through, but we still reached our goal! This was a very blessed week filled with many wonderful blessings. Another ejemplo is watching Elder Pizarro and his family, all in white, taking pictures in front of the temple. What an amazing thing to see!! Throughout the day, Hermana Hansen and I were humming and singing ``Families Can Be Together Forever´´. My testimony was strengthened even more of the temple and I can´t wait to attend a session next week!!
My relationship with Hermana Hansen is so strong. I am ever grateful for her patience and love towards ALL people. She is such an amazing example of someone with Christlike attributes. I am truly lucky to have her as the ``prophet of my area´´, as President Sitterud would say. I´m kind of a wuse and Hermana Hansen is always politely pushing me to go talk to people. When we do talk to some pretty rude ``go away´´ people, she say´s, ``Don´t worry. They´ll watch the movie of their life and thank you for trying´´. With that in mind, and all of our goals tambien, I am becoming less of a wuse and more of a missionary :)
I talked to my pres and he said that i can meet with paqui!! i can´t wait to see her face. its been awhile!!!
i love you all so much!!! i can´t wait to hear more of all your successes in life and in work. Go Ben!! Stay strong sasha. I´ll be praying for you :) I prayed for you kelly!!! And jason, i´ll be praying for timely assignments ;) heehee
ooh, did ya know that in spanish, heehee is ´´ji ji´´ ?? how lame. but i still crack up.
loves y mucho hugs
Hermana Smith aka KINSEY POO.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
May 6, 2013
Hey Family!!
This is your new greenie speaking. Lets get some important stuff out first...
We will be going over to the Zimmerman´s apartment at for Hna Hansen to skype. that time will be 8pm my time and NOON your time. remember. NOON. I do have the phone card paper thing. I was thinking, since Jason has his apple computer and dad has his new toy, do yáll wanna skype or facetime? or would you prefer phone? oh btdubs, please don´t overpower the phone, if i do call:) spanks.
Here´s my address!!
Hermana McKinsey Smith
Calle Valdebernardo N 10 , 3C
28030 Madrid
España
Daddy, i loved that picture with you and griz posing!! he hasn´t changed much. but have you lost weight? your face looks thinner. you must be stressed out and not eating right cuz your rosa´s gone having the time of her life. heehee jk. but you do look like you´ve lost weight!! good job pops :)
So something really cool!! while in the CCM i prayed that i would be blessed with a trainer that was both nice and had a lot of patience. like a lot. well i was blessed with that and SO MUCH MORE!!!! Hna Hansen, FROM NORWAY, is the kindest and most giving person EVAH. Right when we left the stake center to our apartment, 45 min until our first lesson mind you, i look at my study desk and she had written a welcome note with 4 fruity candies, a bar of caremal chocolate, and 2 NORWEIGAN chocolate eggs!!! she was a keeper already. She loves writing notes to me and leaving them for me to find! i´m running circles trying to keep up with her. but challenge accepted. people are always asking if we´re sisters or cousins and even twins!! ha! its the tall, blond and light eyes. we´re both close to 5´10´´, so we cover a lot of ground each day :)
we, and 2 other hermans, have decided to go to parque de retiro and sing!! we get so many references because the song of the heart is a universal language. thats like 2 quotes in one i think. of of the hermanas we sing with is Hermana Munden and she´s been a missionary for about 6 months i think but couldn´t get into spain at first. guess who her mission pres was? mccunes. She´s the Hermana Pres Mccune was talking about when we visited them!! hahaa she LOVES the McCunes. oh and her compañera? Hna Olsen (no i don´t think she´s related to the olsen twigs dad) served in ogden south (i think don´t quote me) and her trainer? Celia Martin (from Caldwell 7th ward). Crazay!!
I´ve learned from sitting in lessons and talking with people that I understand spanish very well and that I am definitely needing some help in the speaking department!! It gets frustrating sometimes, because I can´t communicate my feelings to the investigators very well. But I know that if I am obedient and if I work at it, I´ll be talking in no time!!
While out in the field, I have come to experience Christ´s love for his brothers and sisters, and God´s love for his hijos. Sometimes I´ll get frustrated at an investigator, but I¨ve learned to look at them through Christ´s eyes and I think to myself, ``What will this person be like if he´s baptized? What change will come over him?´´ I have grown so much because then its not about myself and whether the investigator will accept our message, its making sure this man or this woman will be happy. We had a new investigator named Mariano and he very passionately said that he believes in God and he know that there is a God. A lot of this was in spanish, but I understood enough to know that he didn´t think that God loved him and he thought that Jesus Christ was just a nice man. He was so troubled and so lost, and I felt like I couldn´t do anything for him. He was crying through most of the lesson and Hermana Hansen asked if we could pray. Ín this prayer, the spirit was so strong, even I couldn´t doubt God´s love for Mariano! At the end of the prayer, Mariano couldn´t speak. And we asked him to come to church with us on Sunday. He said no at first, but i felt like I needed to add something. I leaned to the side, so that he could see me better, and I gave him a big encouraging smile!! He looked at me, then down, then he stretched out his hand in an agreement hand shake. SUCCESS!! Even though he didn´t show up, I know that we still touched his heart. He will remember what he felt that night!
i love you guys mucho!!! we i love to show you guys off cuz YÁLL ARE SO AWESOME!!! i am SO LOVING THE MISSION FIELD!! aaahhh it so amazing!!
loves ya!! stay safe!!!
Kinsey Poo.
This is your new greenie speaking. Lets get some important stuff out first...
We will be going over to the Zimmerman´s apartment at for Hna Hansen to skype. that time will be 8pm my time and NOON your time. remember. NOON. I do have the phone card paper thing. I was thinking, since Jason has his apple computer and dad has his new toy, do yáll wanna skype or facetime? or would you prefer phone? oh btdubs, please don´t overpower the phone, if i do call:) spanks.
Here´s my address!!
Hermana McKinsey Smith
Calle Valdebernardo N 10 , 3C
28030 Madrid
España
Daddy, i loved that picture with you and griz posing!! he hasn´t changed much. but have you lost weight? your face looks thinner. you must be stressed out and not eating right cuz your rosa´s gone having the time of her life. heehee jk. but you do look like you´ve lost weight!! good job pops :)
So something really cool!! while in the CCM i prayed that i would be blessed with a trainer that was both nice and had a lot of patience. like a lot. well i was blessed with that and SO MUCH MORE!!!! Hna Hansen, FROM NORWAY, is the kindest and most giving person EVAH. Right when we left the stake center to our apartment, 45 min until our first lesson mind you, i look at my study desk and she had written a welcome note with 4 fruity candies, a bar of caremal chocolate, and 2 NORWEIGAN chocolate eggs!!! she was a keeper already. She loves writing notes to me and leaving them for me to find! i´m running circles trying to keep up with her. but challenge accepted. people are always asking if we´re sisters or cousins and even twins!! ha! its the tall, blond and light eyes. we´re both close to 5´10´´, so we cover a lot of ground each day :)
we, and 2 other hermans, have decided to go to parque de retiro and sing!! we get so many references because the song of the heart is a universal language. thats like 2 quotes in one i think. of of the hermanas we sing with is Hermana Munden and she´s been a missionary for about 6 months i think but couldn´t get into spain at first. guess who her mission pres was? mccunes. She´s the Hermana Pres Mccune was talking about when we visited them!! hahaa she LOVES the McCunes. oh and her compañera? Hna Olsen (no i don´t think she´s related to the olsen twigs dad) served in ogden south (i think don´t quote me) and her trainer? Celia Martin (from Caldwell 7th ward). Crazay!!
I´ve learned from sitting in lessons and talking with people that I understand spanish very well and that I am definitely needing some help in the speaking department!! It gets frustrating sometimes, because I can´t communicate my feelings to the investigators very well. But I know that if I am obedient and if I work at it, I´ll be talking in no time!!
While out in the field, I have come to experience Christ´s love for his brothers and sisters, and God´s love for his hijos. Sometimes I´ll get frustrated at an investigator, but I¨ve learned to look at them through Christ´s eyes and I think to myself, ``What will this person be like if he´s baptized? What change will come over him?´´ I have grown so much because then its not about myself and whether the investigator will accept our message, its making sure this man or this woman will be happy. We had a new investigator named Mariano and he very passionately said that he believes in God and he know that there is a God. A lot of this was in spanish, but I understood enough to know that he didn´t think that God loved him and he thought that Jesus Christ was just a nice man. He was so troubled and so lost, and I felt like I couldn´t do anything for him. He was crying through most of the lesson and Hermana Hansen asked if we could pray. Ín this prayer, the spirit was so strong, even I couldn´t doubt God´s love for Mariano! At the end of the prayer, Mariano couldn´t speak. And we asked him to come to church with us on Sunday. He said no at first, but i felt like I needed to add something. I leaned to the side, so that he could see me better, and I gave him a big encouraging smile!! He looked at me, then down, then he stretched out his hand in an agreement hand shake. SUCCESS!! Even though he didn´t show up, I know that we still touched his heart. He will remember what he felt that night!
i love you guys mucho!!! we i love to show you guys off cuz YÁLL ARE SO AWESOME!!! i am SO LOVING THE MISSION FIELD!! aaahhh it so amazing!!
loves ya!! stay safe!!!
Kinsey Poo.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
May 1, 2013 - Letter from Mission President
Dear Parents of Hermana Smith,
We received your daughter into our mission Tuesday morning. We brought her to the Mission Home and fed her lunch. She was excited, and seemed ready to get to work. We had a meeting with her, and met with her trainer to discuss the new 12 week training program. During this 12 week period, your daughter will have an extra hour of companion study each day, and will be given specific things that she must report to the Mission President and to the Lord. We know that this is an inspired program, and will help to make missionaries better teachers and better followers of Christ. Please encourage your daughter in this program. It will help her to develop tools that will help her to have a successful mission, and a more successful and fulfilling life after her mission.
Hermana Smith has been assigned to the greater Madrid area in Barrio 8. The Madrid Temple is in her area. She will work with Hermana Hansen, who is from Norway, as her companion. Hermana Hansen is an obedient, happy sister.
Preparation Day is on Mondays. Hermana Smith is instructed to email her immediate family every week. We look forward to getting to know her and working along side her in this great work here in the Spain, Madrid Mission. We can tell she will be a great missionary. Thank you for sharing her with us!
Sincerely,
President and Sister Jackson
Dear Smiths - We saw Hermana Smith this afternoon on Temple Square, and she has had a great first day. She said that it was "so much better than the MTC" She is happy and enthused about the work and she is darling!
Con Cariño,
Hermana Jackson
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