April 28, 2014

Hey family!! 

I know I´m in the dog house. Hahaha, I did feel terrible for not sending the letter. I wrote it early and thought, hey we´re going to the buhlers. i´ll just add a tiny bit more and send it there. haha. nope. I felt terrible for about a day and then forgot (hehehe, sorry) until I got a giant package FULL of easter food!! Lemme tell you, THANK YOU. I truly felt terrible after that!! Hahaa I didn´t send a letter and then get this giant package. Talk about guilt monster. I did eat my feelings after that, so thanks mom and dad!! hahahaa i love the bock bock chicken. good one dad.

So, this week was good! Like always, I am seriously forever grateful to be serving here. We actually didn´t have a lot of lessons but we were able to contact more and to really focus more on the needs of our investigators. A lot of times we´re running around trying to get to lessons on time its difficult to really focus on the progressing investigators. We´re teaching new peeps and dropping the ones that aren´t progressing, so its good spring cleaning! (hey mom dad!! i bet you´d never thought i´d say that phrase!)

Alex was baptized yesterday!! Fam, it was a great service. He bore his testimony and said that even though his testimony was very small, he knew that it´ll grow. He bore testimony of everything. He said, and I quote, ´´I KNOW THE CHURCH IS TRUE. ITS THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST. I KNOW THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE.´´ Fam. I can´t even describe this service. Right after he changed into white and I saw him for the first time, I felt this giant burst of joy in my chest. It reminded me of a scripture i was reading in my personal studies. It was in Alma 29:9-10 and says, ´´9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy. 10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent,  and coming to the Lord their God [IN WHITE], then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember awhat the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.´´ I will never forget that moment or that feeling. It truly impacted me and it gave me more testimony of the Gospel. Like it says in the scriptures, i can´t even write the feelings i felt. I didn´t have the worries from my other baptisms and the ward was wonderful and very supportive. A moment to remember forever. 

Kalman is doing well and is progressing well. We had a really stressful situation happen with him...he was set to get baptized this past saturday but wednesday (3 DAYS BEFORE BAPTISM) told us his ex wife was sueing him in hungary for child support. Wow that was awesome. That kind of goes against question number 4 in the baptismal interview. We cancelled everything and then later he told us he was going to get more info because he thought it was really weird and unexpected (you don´t say). So apparently, this whole situation about his ex wife sueing him...is false. He has the same name as his father (who died 3 years ago) and the government was writing a letter about a house he had sold. His mom made up a story, thinking that child support was the case. Hahaa, not even close mom!! But Kalman is doing great and strong. We did talk to him about his ex wife, like if she will sue him in the future but kalman said that he´s tried to get ahold of her to ask about that but she doesn´t want anything to do with him. Kalmans doing his best right now. Hopefully he´ll get baptized before transfers, but whenever the Lord knows is right.

I was actually sitting right next to hermana buhler when she received the letter from you, dad! That was great and we both grinned. She loves getting letters from you! ´´Thanks, Ken´´. hahahahahahahahahahaa!!!!!!! But we´ve been talking about lunches we´re going to have in caldwell, so don´t worry. we´ve got about 7 planned. they love mexican food just as much as you two. We said good bye to them for now last night and now they´re off to africa on a safari with their daughter and her boyfriend. Did i ever tell you I wanna be the buhlers when i get older? they´re going to a cheetah reserve! They´ve swam with elephants!! I´ve told Hermana buhler multiple times that i´m gong to hire her as my travel agent. 

Here goes to another week in the mission field. Like always, it has past quickly. It makes me really sad to think that my time is ticking (5 months and counting...haha. name that movie!) but i hope to apply all that i learn and to do my best to serve the Lord with the time i do have. Yesterday in Relief society, they were talking about visiting teaching. Apparently, its something these lovely ladies aren´t doing. I was thinking about that and it just all CLICKED. When I end the mission, I may not be walking the streets with a name tag over my heart, but i´ll still have those whom i´ll visit and worry about and pray about. I will be a visiting teacher and whats the difference between a VT and a missionary? the missionary purpose is invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. What is the difference in our roles? Nothing. That really made me feel a whole lot better, knowing that my work was definitely not done after the mission. Hey bishop smith, put this missionary to work!! I´ll wear my chapa in my heart forever.

Hey fam bam, i love you so much! i am so grateful to be a missionary of the Lord and to preach His gospel. It is truly the path to eternal happiness. Just like Alma says, I am nothing without the Gospel and without Jesus Christ. It is the way to live and learn from and to BE. 

Keep staying strong! This church is true! Estamos en el equipo del Señor; Vamos a ganar!

Love,
Hermana Smith