September 23, 2013

Hola Familia!

Wow sounds like every one has had a busy week! I hope everything is going well and that you have learned lots :)

your talk is amazing dad! i love that a lot. it reminds me of the scripture 2 nefi 29:7.

Well, this week has been quite interesting. We´ve had a lot of downers come up, but the Lord has been blessing us with these wonderful miracles.
Our investigator, Adelson (the one from columbia-my heart melts with i hear his voice), was having trouble deciding whether or not he wanted to be baptized. He believes the Church is true, but he´s worried about his exwife getting all antsy about it because she´s super catholic (he still loves her). Then we found out monday night that he was leaving to London for 3 months. WOW this sounds like a movie. I was pretty depressed. But that monday night we had a noche de hogar with this family at the temple grounds and for our spiritual thought, we took a temple tour. At the end, Hermana Stepp gave this amazing testimony about eternal families (she had just found out that her grandmothers brother died) and we gave her a framed family proclamation. We were all crying and in the end, the Lord blessed us with Adelsons sister and her daughter, Gabriela. They both are very interested in the Church and Gabriela has a member friend, as well as Adelsons sister, Nayibe. Gabriela has stated many times that she wants to serve a mission (she´s 8 years old) and that she wants to be baptized. We had given her a fake name tag but she was quite disappointed to find out it wasn´t hard and plasticy like ours :)  We think Nayibe wants her to be baptized too! The problem with Nayibe is that she works all day Saturday and Sunday, so she´d never be able to take time off for church. We´re praying for another miracle and are planning on asking her about changing schedules hopefully. Hermana Stepp and I feel that Adelson will get baptized in London, for him now, it´s a better place to know more about the Gospel. The Church is very old there and he´ll be able to find a lot of member support. I´m super excited but so help me if he doesn´t call the church office for the nearest church building, he´s fired and i´ll hunt him down to his grave. He sent me an email which i sent to ben and sasha to translate for me :) I feel very blessed to have so many spanish speakers in my family. i´ll marry one and then i´ll teach all y´all the spaniard accent. its very fun and quite easy :)
I feel very blessed to be serving in Barrio 6. The Elders have been absolutely wonderful and supportive and I feel incredibly blessed for all this. They helped us this morning move into our new piso and what a work it was! I´m grateful for the power of service. How unselfishly they gave it!

Uncle Doug wrote me a letter and its amazing how much I needed it. He doesn´t write often (this is probably his second or third time) but he´s always telling me the right things at just at the right moment. Both of us are preparing for this next coming general conference by rereading the may issue of the liahona (the ensign for you guys) and i feel sooooo blessed and enriched while reading it. Especially reading the priesthood session: reading those talks gave me a focus of what my future husband needs to be, my future mommyness and my future home. I am going to write down all of this so i won´t forget. its super important.

thanks for all your love and support! I feel very blessed to have such amazing friends and family. i love you all and if you want, pray for some spanish skills!

love you tons forever and ever

hermana kinsey emit (as the southerns spaniards say it- they dont say their S´s!)

September 16, 2013

Hola Familia!

well, we´re moving!! we´re leaving out of that apartment....its RIGHT SMACK on the metro and that is sooooooo beautiful!! we don´t have to take a stinkin long walk from who there to our old apt. we move in wednesday :) its brand spackin new as in she JUST finished renovated it all. 2 baños, 3 habitaciones, 2 hermanas. ssssíííííííí.....

oh and I love Section 135 of D&C. ´´They lived for Glory, they died for Glory and Glory is their eternal reward´´...wow such powerful stuff.

and to answer your questions about english class, we do! there are 2, wednesdays and saturdays. we teach saturdays and its super fun. we have 2 classes within the one class: basic and conversational. i teach basic and its always so much fun. we did the body a few weeks ago and then taught them ´´head shoulders knees and toes...´´ and then we´d play hang man. hahaa its so much fun!

and to answer your questions dad, those ideas to interact more nonmembers is a great idea. the problem is actually getting people to really participate. i think a person can really see some character and pretty much the Gospel itself is when there are service projects. but especially for those families with missionaries, have social visits! more is better, because then they feel more comfortable to ask questions. and who wouldn´t want to know why your child is gone for a long time!? its so cool hearing about the progress of the stake and ward. you´re doing a great job! I´m so proud of you guys! go Caldwell Idaho Stake! i know it will be sooooo difficult for some members. but ask the presidency from each organization to keep tabs on each of the members and their progress with missionary work. make it a PRIORITY. it is a big one and if we make it so, then it will be so. every 1st and 3rd sunday we´re in ward counsel, but yes it is mostly the Do you need something? oh good moving on... each organization, primary, YM, single adults, has a VITAL key in this work. have specific parties or functions for each organization. the missionaries will focus on that and they´ll see some grand success. i promise you that as a missionary.

Well, we had an amazing surprise this past weekend! We had the privalege to hear and shake hands with Elder Russell M. Ballard. He was here to a stake conference in another zone but last minute wanted all the missionaries from the the madrid zones and mtc to come for a mini fireside at 8 am. it was amazing. he focused a lot in section 11. i don´t remember word for word (its too good) but these are the words from someone else who recorded it word for word....

´´Elder Ballard gave a wonderful message. Part of it focused on D&C 11, where the Lord answers Hyrum Smith’s question, "What would the Lord want me to do?"

Verse 3 states, "Behold, the field is white already to harvest; therefore, whoso desireth to reap let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God."

And then, in verse 8, "even as you desire of me so it shall be done unto you; and, if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation."

Notice the word DESIRE in these verses. The key to success is desire. Elder Ballard told us that all things that we desire and really believe in righteousness can be achieved.

Elder Ballard said, "Your success is directly proportional to your desire."

Then, he asked, "How much do you love The Lord? Do you love Him enough to get up on time?"

He said that this had been a very busy trip for him. Then said, "Frankly, I’m tired. Sometimes I ask myself, "What is an old 85 year old doing running around like this?" Sometimes he is tempted to get discouraged. When he does, he pulls out a small picture of the Savior that he always travels with, and looks into His face. He said that he keeps going because he understands Gethsemane." ´´

I was deeply touched by his words and it honestly helped me so much. Elder Maynes and Elder Dyches from the Seventy and presidency of the Seventy were there too and we shook their hands. Elder Maynes (or dyches i cant remember) said that our we should recite 3 Nefi 5:13 whenever we leave the house. now its taped by the mirror right before we leave. its an amazing scripture!

Now, about my week! This week was really good. Honestly, I can´t really ever say that a week is bad in the mission. Sure, there are trials and difficulties, but in all we´re doing the best thing any one can ever do and there is nothing negative in that! hahaa i´m glad to say i´m blessed with positivity. 

I have been trying to relay more and more on the Spirit. Literally every decision I make, I try and relay on what the Spirit tells me I need to do or what to focus on. It reminds me of what Elder Bednar said in his MTC talk about listening to the Holy Ghost. I have been trying more to do that and Hermana Stepp has been a great help. Every grand or small decision I make, later I´m doubting it. For example, our investigators daughter was returning to her home with her mom in the North. She had been staying with her dad for a month during vacations and while teaching him, she started praying and reading the book of mormon. She´s only 8 years old, but she told us that she likes the way we pray better than the Catholic way. Her mother is very Catholic and its difficult because we don´t want to get Adelson (our columbian) in a bad situation. But after giving it to her, I started to doubt, wondering if that was the right thing to do and wondering if we just nailed the coffin shut permanetely. Hermana Stepp asked me that when we made the decision, did I feel good about it? When I told her yes, she said, then it was a good decision. I have felt more sure of my decisions, knowing that they are in line to what my Heavenly Father would want me to do.

Its been a little disappointing with our investigators. Just this last week, we´ve literally have had half of our investigators ´´kind-of´´ drop us. One won´t answer his phone, the other doesn´t do the church thing, and the other one doesn´t want to get his ex-wife angry at him. Thats Adelson. yes. my adelson is doubting. siigghhh....i´ll write more next week on that. I´m trying very hard not to get discouraged because I can´t work with that spirit. Faith has been brought a lot in our discussions and they have helped me more I think than they´ve helped our investigators. Faith is the key and everything will fall into place.
I love you all very much! i hope you know i am so grateful for your support and everything that you do for me. know that I have a strong testimonty of this Gospel. That Jesus Christ lives and he is the only way to our Heavenly Father. I know this and I try and live it. i love you all and keep smiling! Because there is someone is Spain who loves you very much!

Loves and Hugs

Kinsey

September 3, 2013

Hey family! 

well hello transfers!! 

no i´m still in Barrio 6 with hermana stepp. i´m glad and not glad about it, but i know that I apparently need to learn a lesson i didn´t learn last transfer. which i can understand, because last transfer felt too much like a warm up transfer, which i do not like. honestly, the next future missionary i´m going to talk to is to warn them about the transfer after being trained. I´m going to make this transfer a hard one for me (poor steppy) so that it´ll be second nature to be super duper hard working and exactly obedient. i´d rather give up my luxuries now then be a lacking member and mother of the church for the rest of my dying days. no. me. gusta. para. nada. but dad we usually find out saturday nights, like at 10pmish. except if your district leader forgets to call you, then it might be like right before bed (thanks a lot). when we had our last district leader, he knew all the leaks. plus i lived with hermana munden and she knew everything and everyone about the missionaries.

hahaa i would love a picture of you and the coupe with the new plaque.

Thats great advice mom, but its a little different here in Madrid. we´ve asked out ward mission leader to give us service opportunities but nothings come up. i´ll try harder though:) I´ve been trying my hardest to be a nice and cheerful missionary for the ward members so that they´ll feel comfortable around us. next stop-the trust! i´m excited to finally get to work. Like I said before, I felt that last transfer was a warm up one and this one is when I actually know what I´m doing and NOW i can punch right in! I was just thinking of all the ward activities that they have and that we need to be very involved in them. I´m hoping that we´ll see some great success with this! Kyle Lee sounds familiar, but i dont know him :( but thats super sad that he died.  

well, mom, my best remedy for lack of sleep is A) infusion of lavender, B) exercise right before bed, and C) PRAY. but i know what you mean! millions of things runnin through your head! 

We were talking with Elder and Sister Riggs (some american missionaries workingin the employment center) yesterday and he asked us to share our favorite scripture. well we were all flippin through and we had this 20 minute discussion about the scriptures after wards. I just want to tell y´all that I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON SO MUCH. if i could, i´d spend all day reading and studying it. i love how Heavenly Father helps us so much to retain what we´ve learned. Of this i´m certain, my love for the scriptures will be with me until my dying day. I´ve already made a scripture plan in my head after the mission. i don´t want to lose that burning fire in me to learn! 

Last night we taught a noche de hogar and we decided to teach the gospel of jesus christ and how the 5 pasos to the gospel (fe, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, el don del espíritu santo, y preseverar hasta el fin) lead us to the temple. When we were teaching this, I felt so strongly in my heart that this Church is the church of Christ. that this is the perfect church in all the earth. My testimony was stregthened so much in that little noche de hogar (fhe). 

I want you all to know that I am proud to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I´m proud to wear this chapa (name tag) and to bear testimony of Jesus Christ everyday. I love my Savior so much and I love my Heavenly Father and the plan He has for all of us. I will cherish the day when I can be wrapped in His arms again. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I know that it is ONLY through Jesus Christ and our FAITH in Him, that we can return to our Heavenly Father. I can and never ever will deny my testimony. I wear my heart and my testimony on my sleeve and that is waht the rest of us should do. We wear the name tag over our heart and of all the reasons because its there, i know its because as missionaries and as members of His church, we have Him in our hearts. We are His Representatives and i am proud to be chosen as so. I love you all so very much and may God be with you until we meet again :) 

Con besos, abrazos y mucho amor, 

Hermana Smith