March 31, 2014

Hey family! TRANSFERS. So hermana fowers left to my old stomping grounds! hellllooooo barrio 6!! I squealed when i heard. and my new companion...is....Hermana Caballero! Hey guess what. She´s spanish. Like Spanish-Spanish. She´s from Alicante, in the barcalona misión. And she doesn´t speak a lick of english. I´m actually quite nervous! Hahaa! It´s going to be a tough couple of weeks, not going to lie. She´s a TOUGH missionary! Like, she´s good. not a hard companion. I went on intercambios with her when i was in Madrid and she kicked my butt!! Hahaha it was great.

This week, we were working a lot with the less actives and we saw quite a bit of progression with them. We´re really hopeful that some of them will come back! We heard an apostle or Seventy say that if they aren´t Reading the book of mormon, then they aren´t progressing or like they aren´t going to come back active. si me explico...
We had Polo´s baptism yesterday! It went SO well and he was SO happy! He said he felt so clean afterwards. Everything went well and we had good support from the members. He came out of the wáter with this HUGE grin on his face and gave us the thumbs up! it was soooo cool.
We had a lot of success this week with our investigators...we´ve focused too much on them progressing our rate that we weren´t at all listening to what they needed. We really understood the quote that says, ´´Faith in the Lord means Faith in His Timing´´. It´s hard, but it´s so true! Unfortunetly, we´re finding out the hard way! Our way is NOT the Lord´s way sometimes!
It was really sad to say good bye to Hermana Fowers and the ward´s in mourning right now! But I know she´s going to do an amazing job in my old stomping grounds-Barrio 6!

Sorry family, i don´t have a lot of time! I love you!! Soooo much. thanks for your letters and your support. I pray for you. Thank you for your prayers.

Love

hermana smith

BAPTISM! Oh polo!!!!

and food and peruvian less active. she took us out to a japanese restaurant with her boyfriend. talk about awkward doublé date.

The couple are amazing members, victor y cynthia

this family is a part member family. they´re wonderful and are from paraguay! que guay! haha

March 24, 2014

Hey family!

ugh. TRANSFERS. i don´t know whats going to happen next week!!! So normally, a missionary is in the islands for 4 transfers. Hermana Fowers and I flew here together. I went to telde and she went to las palmas. Then i went to las palmas with Hermana Flower Power. We´ve been on the island for 4 transfers. And we don´t know whats going to happen!! They could White wash or they´ll take me and leave her or take her and leave me. Ah! The stress of it all!!!! we have random outburst moments about this. It mostly stresses me because i HATE packing. When i unpack, i UNPACK. Every tid bit. It´s my home (so mom, dad, you can imagine that now.)

This week was good! We´re seeing a lot of miracles and it´s amazing to see the Lord´s hand in our lives. I did my first service project!! EVER. Like, never before on the misión. We painted a room in a members home! She´s a Little in-active and afterward she really poured out her heart why she wasn´t very active and that she was fixing up her life. It´s wonderful what a Little bit of service will do.

We came to the church early for a lesson and a baptism was about the start! We were like, ´´say, wha?!´´. We had NO idea. So we go in and it was a baptism of a man that was ex-communicated and it was SOOOO wonderful. I have NEVER EVER felt the spirit sooooo strong in a baptism. It was very simple, but literally one of the greatest experiences I have seen. That baptism right there is evident testimony that the Atonement of Jesús Christ WORKS. It is forever funcioning. It never skips over anyone. The more and more i read about it in the scriptures, the more i am grateful for it. I have a VERY firm testimony of this.

Our investigators have been progressing well and they´re really feeling the spirit. We´ve been trying to focus more on the book of mormon when we teach and its been amazing the difference its been, because honestly, they are not converted if they aren´t reading.
Polo didn´t come to church yesterday and it was mostly because he didn´t have the ganas (meaning: desire) to come. It was really sad to hear that and we talked about the importance of the covenants we make when we´re baptized and when we renew them by taking the sacrament. Polo said he hadn´t been smoking for 4 days!!! We´re excited for his baptism this Sunday and Polo is really excited. We receive a bulliton page from the mission and they talked about if our investigators were converted to the Gospel or converted to the members and the missionaries. It made me sit back and think. so i thought to myself, ´´Self! how are my investigators? Are they converted to the Gospel or to the missionaries?´´. There are those who are truly converted. But we do have those where its only the missionaries. We´re planning on have a DTR with them. (DTR: determine the relationship. Did you know that its also used for dating people?! I have never heard about it until i came to spain!! hahhaa!!)
Fi has his fecha for this sunday. He´s completely converted to everything but he wants to wait to be baptized until he´s received a testimony about Thomas S. Monson as prophet. We´re trying to see him often and just give him animo :) Things are going well, but its all waiting now. We can´t force a testimony on anyone. It still makes me wanna bang my head against the Wall again, but the misión never is easy!!

we have an investigator named alex and he´s wonderful. He´s canarian and we´ve been teaching him since December. He has progressed sooooo much and he has such a strong testimony. He´s just finishing 2nd nephi!! We talked to him about baptism and he said he wants to wait until he has a testimony of everything. Hermana Fowers and I both feel that we shouldn´t push him. He´s really a wonderful man and we´re very blessed to visit him. His parents don´t agree with the Church and we´re slowly trying to see if we can visit them and just get to know him. He´s 28 yrs old and still living with his parents but i guess thats normal here...

Well, family! I´ll talk to you later!! love you!!

Hermana Smith

(imagine me singing this)

leeettteerrrss!!! Ohhhh, leetttterrrss!!!

they are so WAAAANNNDEERRRFULLLL.....

lleeeeettterrrrss!!! please come to MEEEEEE!!!!!

just in case. c/león y castillo 111, 4C 35004 Las Palmas de G.C. España

heelllooooooooo ocean!!

FHE with a member family. their girls are sooo cute!!!

food with an investigator. she´s from Colombia and it was delish :D

more painting!!

and finally!! polo and Francisco!!! Francisco´s on the left and polo on the right. they´re wonderful. Francisco´s a Little crazy and i´m always laughing when we visit with them. Polo will get baptized this sunday!!!

March 17, 2014

Hey Family!!

This probably won´t be the greatest email ever because we just came back from being ´´kidnapped´´ by the Buhlers :) We toured some lakes in the mountains and we actually got up too 2000 metros...(i think? He said 4000 feet) We had a lot of fun and my White skin got some sun :) It´s interesting because the Canaries have palm trees, cacti, and pine trees.

Happy St. Patricks day!!! I didn´t wear green but hermana fowers knows not to pinch me.

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEENNNNNNYYYY---BBOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! You´re 25!!! and a Daddy!! EEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!

Hey guess what, peeps?! This missionary´s going to be an AUNTIE :D squee!! we celebrated hard with cake and candles. all in blue.

This week was good! We kind of felt we were banging our heads against the walls because a lot of times we really just want people to do what we know is best for them...buuuuut they have their agency. And patience is definitely a virtue.

We´re trying to work more with the investigators with fechas and it´s been going well but...the 5 that have fechas, one of them can be baptized anytime and the other 4 we´re still working on the smoking problem :(
So Fi can be baptized any moment! It´s been a rough week for him and we had a great lesson last night about his doubts. His only doubt is whether or not Thomas S. Monson is the prophet. He told us he is praying every day and Reading to receive his answer and that when he receives it he will be baptized! We´re fasting with him tomorrow and we´re really excited. He wants to receive his answer and be baptized!
Our other fecha..well....Julian was doing really well and we taught him really fast about the Word of wisdom. Well, he was all up for it because he wanted his temple White and clean. But the more and more we see him...the drunker he becomes. And crazier. It´s really sad to see a man who has such a desire to be baptized let the natural man win. We´re hoping that as he keeps Reading (he´s in 2 nefi!) and praying, he´ll have the strength to stop and continue on.
Our other fecha is Steven and he´s from Ghana. He can´t come to church because he works but he´s really interested and he has a lot of questions. He´s recently stopped answering his phone but we´re hoping that we can see him soon and help him feel the spirit :)
Our next 2 fechas are brothers! Polo and Francisco. They both smoke and it´s been a Little bit of a pain in our necks trying to help them stop. Polo is sooo excited and he looves the church, he just needs to take that last step and stop smoking. We really want that each investigator has stopped smoking 2 weeks before their baptism (to start a habit). If we have to nag them like a mother, then ok!

This week was just jolly good and we´re excited to be here. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!! Love you and know that I am ALWAYS loving some written letters :D And mom: you can stop addressing them to the Buhlers. I get mail just fine.

Love you all and have a great week.

Loves y Hugs,

Hermana Smith

moms questions...

nope. no baptism. this weekend!

I think she´s talking about Elder Pluim. He knew lisa. he´s a good kid.

March 10, 2014

Hey family!!! This week was sweeeeeeelllllllll!! But seriously, we saw SO many miracles. We could definitely feel the Lord´s hand in our lives. Hermana Fowers and I tried harder to find new people and also to feel more of the Spirit in our lessons and help the investigators. It´s seriously so amazing to see the miracles and the changes in their lives. We both felt that this week was a far more productive week than any other week we´ve had together! Ah! i love the mission so much!!!!
We went contacting for awhile and we focused on the book of mormon only. It was such a success!! We were so blessed with the lessons on the streets that we had and to be truthful, our contacts were not only contacts, they were future members. We could feel the spirit so much and could really focus on their needs, even though we didn´t even know them. With each of these contacts we have set an appointment or we´ve already had a lesson with them. It´s been awwweessoommee!! (for lack of words. i´ve been trying harder to use better vocabulary but its just been hard. there´s only so many times i can use swell or jolly good.)
We had another meeting with our zone and they talked about contacting better and also dropping those investigators that aren´t progressing to find new people to teach. By the end of the meeting, we had made a list of people that we need to talk with and have a DTR lesson. It was really sad to think of dropping them, but we know that it´s what we need to do and it will help us find new people to teach.
Some more miracles this week is that we have 5 fechas! (to save dad some time on google translate, fecha means date). And we feel like most of them will stick good. Fi is progressing but he still has some doubts about the prophet. Other than that he´s good! He could be baptized any moment but we´re going to wait for his answer. His date is this saturday. Two of our new investigators are Julian and Steven. Julian is canarian and he really humbles us. He has so much faith in God and Jesús Christ and its almost like we´re teaching a child. He´s always so excited to come and talk to us and asks when we can start talking about ´´jehová´´. We gave him a Word of wisdom lesson quickly because he smokes a pack a day and its a bad addiction for him. He´s ready and really wants to be baptized. His fecha´s the 29th! Last lesson he came to, he brought blank paper to write notes...wow. Steven is from Ghana and Works sundays :( But he says he´ll prepare to be baptized and he has a lot of questions. He Works a lot so its a Little difficult to meet with him. He´s a good man.
Our other two are Polo and Francisco and they´re brothers. We´ve been teaching them awhile and they´ve both have lived a hard life of alcohol and drugs. Polo is amazing and he is soooo excited to be baptized!! I´ve talked about him before and he´s the one that doesn´t have a leg. We had an amazing lesson about the gift of the Holy Ghost this week. We set a fecha for the 29th and he wants to be baptized!! He came to church on sunday for the 3rd or 4th time and a member was giving a talk. this member has helped us a lot with polo and francisco in lessons and is their friend now. So he goes up to speak and the member gives a talk about helping us in lessons! He asks them to stand up and announces their baptism date. Haha, not going to lie, I did sweat a few bullets about this. But Polo and Francisco came up to us and him and thanked us profusely! They absolutely loved it because Polo liked how all the members turned around and smiled at him. Oh, my heart still swells with joy when I think of this. He is SO excited and his countenance has changed 180. We´ve had a couple of members come up to us and tell us to be careful with them but we know that there is hope for every child of God, no matter the past they have had. Not going to lie, they both look what they lived: hard lives. But we know the tender and humble hearts they have and their desires. And we know that God and Jesús Christ know :) AH. I love them so much!!!!!

I truly love being a full-time missionary. I love this work so much and it really breaks my heart to think that its short for everyone. Like Bruce said, I´ll be coming back and leaving again with a few more clothes!! haha!!

Love you all!

Hermana Smith

ok. moms questions:

Fi: already explained.

Transfers: so usually missionaries are on the islands for 4 transfers and hermana fowers and I have the same amount of time....so we don´t know what will happen.

Guys: its an highly highly HIGHLY unusual day if someone doesn´t make a comment at us. mostly of men 40yrs to 80yrs.

Buhlers: they end their mission at the end of april.

(these are pictures fowarded from hermana fowers so thats why the first one is of food)

-eating with an argentine woman!!! don´t kknow what its called....

-eating at the Wok with all the missionaries on this island. thanks buhlers!

-this family is from Salta argentina and she made this argentine dish because she knew jason served there!! they´re amazing.

-just this morning with the buhlers and the sullivans! they´re the senior couple from when i was in the mtc and in b6 and they came down to visit. its been wonderful seeeing them!

March 3, 2014

Hey Family!!

Thanks for all your emails and prayers. They spiritually uplift me! I´m very blessed to have a family like all y´all.

This week was good!! It was a Little stressful but good! Celebrations are going on and its CRAZY. Its called Carnival. Our Street is one of the main streets and it was full of just party party party party. And everyone was DRUNK AND HIGH. All that smoke...WHEW. I was feeling a little light-headed myself!! I´ll send pictures :)

We had a misión tour this week and Elder Teixeira and his wife spoke. It was AMAZING. I was so spiritually fed!! It was really quite interesting because at the beginning he encouraged the spanish speakers to learn english and he kept on going on about that, how he learned italian, German, english, etc by Reading the BOM in english and his native tongue. Well, I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to learn to speak another language! (not now...spanish is enough--after the misión.) Later, I talked to hermana fowers and she said, what? he didn´t ever say that. hahaa! It was awesome. He also really focused on us living what we learn and with him, we studied page 18 and 19 of preach my góspel. it was sooo amazing!!

We have been trying to have our investigators have a desire to read in the book of mormon and lately we´ve been Reading stories with pictures and using a principle. For the past 2 weeks, we´ve been using the story of the Anti-Nefi-Lehitas burying their weapons and applying it to burying our weaknesses or smoking, etc. Its worked really well and they love it, too. They felt like they could actually apply what they are reading in their life. It was awesome! Plus most of them learn by sight than Reading so its worked out better.
We´ve also been trying to spend less time in lessons so that we can have more time for anything else. It´s worked well and its better to leave with the spirit high then not. We find that our lessons are better and our investigators more interested, too.
We have new investigators and they´re wonderful! The first one is Steven and he´s from Ghana and he´s sooo interested in the message. He said he´s looking for the truth and we taught lesson one with him and he really liked it. He said he will be baptized on the 29th, if he feels prepared. We´re very excited for him! Our other guy is Steven. He was born in Costa Rica and lived in New York most of his life. He was hit by a car 3 years ago while on vacation here and he has a lot of problems physically now. He also said that he´s looking for the truth and he has soooo many questions. We think he´s been talking to Testigos de Jehová because he keeps on asking about the certain ammount of people that will be saved. He´s been reading and we feel that we´ll have a fecha very soon!!

I´m so grateful to be here and to be serving the Lord. I am truly blessed!

I love you all and am so grateful for your full on support. You are always in my prayers.

Love you!

Hermana Smith

-ALL the hermanas on the islas! I love all of them. they´re my best fwends.

-Carnival outside our window. its like Halloween and marti gras (spelling!?!?)

-me. and carnaval.

-carnaval. the music was so loud our Windows and doors were shaking. we almost had to slide our beds into the kitchen!