December 26, 2011 "Joyeux Noel!"

Joyeux Noël!!!!!

 

Well Im going to keep this email short and sweet, a. because the keys on this keyboard are lame and its difficult to type and b. I just talked to you a few hours ago!!!

 

Im trying to think of how to sum up this week. Everyone talks about how amazing Christmas is as a missionary, and generally I think Christmas is pretty amazing...so I wasn't sure how it could get much better. Then this week ended up a little frustrating. First, Brussels public transportation went on strike...which left us and all stressed-out Christmas shoppers walking...which meant, a. we had to cancel alot of rendezvous...an b. we were left to do finding in our highly muslim neighborhood. Then even on good days it seemed like everyone we had rendezvous with either ended up in the hospital ( I know I should have more sympathy...but after the third person it seeme a little ridiculous) or they had family over and didn't understand that we are ok with that...we can teach their family too. haha

 

But then Christmas Eve came, and we were eating dinner at a members house, and they put in Mr. Kruger's Christmas. Call me cheesy, but there is a scene where he is at Christ's birth and talking with Christ. He thanks him an calls him his best friend. And all the sudden, I felt that too. Christ is my best friend, and I cant even count the things he's done for me, or ever repay him. And all of the sudden I felt so full of missionary pride (the good kind) and Im so grateful for the opportunity to introduce Christ to people who don't know him yet. Even when it means long nights of going from door to door in Muslim neighborhoods.

 

So there you go. Judge me- my Christmas miracle didn't come through an investigator or contacting; it came through an old, cheesy church film...that made me remember the real purpose Im in Europe, attempting to mumble french, and going a year and a half without sleeping in. After that...the disappointments of the week seemed like such a small price to pay for being involved in this amazing work.

 

And thats it. My missionary Christmas...pretty simple. But not near as simple as the very first Christmas. I hope you all had time this week to reflect of our brother, our friend, our Savior.

 

I love you all!

Soeur Smith

December 19, 2011 "You're Absolutely Right"

Well....

 

Alright. So this week I'm feeling spazzy (whats new) and stressed about writing an email. The past week was crazy...the coming week will be crazy...and best of all...THIS SUNDAY IS CHRISTMAS!!! Ill try and organize my thoughts into some sort of email...

 

I'm feeling alot of pressure to make this week the CHRISTMAS experience of my life (thats alot of pressure on one little day)...but so far its turning out to be that way. This week was amazing.

 

I'll start off with Tom...who's real name is Kedenettse (Tom is her family name...but its easier for americans to say...but we finally had her teach us how to say her really name lol). She is amazing! We taught her the word of wisdom and law of chastity this week. When we came back later in the week she had given up coffee no problem, and called her boyfriend in Africa and told him they have to get married...and he said OK! (I will for sure be flying to Botswana for that wedding haha) I love investigators who WANT to keep commitments! My favorite part of our rendez vous are her prayers...that seems to be the best time to really see what investigators are understanding. She said things this week like "thank you God for sending the sisters and helping me feel like one of them" and "please help other people to understand that God comes first in life". She is just so good. When we first met her we thought she wasn't understanding things because she is very quiet...but she is just really thinking things over...and gets it! This week she told she's been thinking about what we talked about at church (spirit world) because her brother died and she wants to know what happened to him. Now she wants to go to the temple with his name. Im sorry if Im just oozing with random stories...but I feel like I can just see the light shining inside of her and its amazing. We love her.

 

I also had exchanges in Versailles this week. The houses are huge!!! (you know and there is that really big one where some dude named Louis the 16th lived or something or other....) ya it was my freak out over real houses on steriods. But ya..good exchange lol.

 

Random brain thought: So you all wrote about the gernande guy in Liege. I'll tell you what I've heard from the Liege missionaries. So sisters were serving in Liege until the middle of last transfer when a sister had to go home for health problems. So this transfer there are two elder equipes there. Well the day of the bombing was district meeting day...and the missionaries should have come out of thier meeting and gotten on the bus and would have been near the bombings right at that time. But there bus never came...they waited and waited...and just decided to go back into the church and eat lunch. Little did they know they were being protected. So there were no members, investigators, or missionaries near the event... It is a very sad thing (we don't even really know the extent of it..we just heard the missionaries side...and from talking to people on the metro) but I feel blessed and protected knowing that the missionaries were protected. Keep those people who were hurt and killed in your prayers (I hear there are some in the hospital?)

 

This week has also had its very funny moments. I have to start with explaining an inside joke. Last transfer there was a missionary here would say "your absolutely right" in a very funny way...and somehow its just got on in our district and when you have admit your wrong...you just say "your absolutely right". OK...so we have had a bet going with the elders of when it was going to snow. The elders guessed it would snow on December 16th and we guessed the 21st. Well the morning of the 16th I have to admit I ran to the window and saw....rain. BAHAHAH. For some reason or another we talked to the elders several time that day on the phone...and everytime we would tell them we were still winning because it hadn't snowed yet. So finally one elder said "I bet by 8:30pm it will be snowing". Well Soeur Murray and I were outside from about 6 to 8 and it was slushing...but you cannot call it snow. But the wind was blowing...and my umbrella broke...to the point where it could not be used. So here I was standing on the street corner, with a broken umbrella, soaking wet, when Soeur Murray told me to look up. And what did I see. SNOW. Then a little girl skipped past us singing "le niege! le niege!" It was just all too ironic. We were killing ourselves laughing when the phone rang at 8:27. It was the elders. All I could say was "your absolutely right".

 

Another funny moment(s) this week. Soeur Murray and I have been trying to take advantage of the Christmas spirit and have been calling everyone we can, old amis, less actives, etc. and asking if we can come over and share a Christmas message. Well I kid you not...almost every single "christmas rendezvous" has resulted in people telling us that in FACT Christ was not born in December, and so they don't understand why we were are talking about Christ's birth at Christmas time....ya! At first we would defend ourselves...saying things like "ya we know, he was born in April...but its tradition". But after a lady told us that's silly, her birthday is in May, she doesn't celebrate her birthday in October, we got a little sick of it. Now we just say "Your absolutely right...but we're going to share a message about Christ anyways". I mean really...I didn't think the meaning of Christmas was THAT lost.

 

But it is not lost for us! The miracles keep coming and I just feel so blessed to be a missionary right now! We had stake conferance a couple weeks ago and an area authority from Germany shared a story about just after the end of the Cold War. They had been in eastern Germany...and after the war his family moved to western Germany. There in the middle of the square of the town they moved was a giant picture of Karl Marx with a speach bubble that said "Sorry...it was just an idea". He spoke of how much damage trusting in the ideas of men can be; be we can be sure that the Prophet will never, ever say "Sorry...it was just an idea". I am so grateful for Christ's church. That I live in a time when it is on the earth, and I that I get to be a little part of sharing that with the world. I love my Savoir Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for this time of year to yet again reflect on Him and His wonderful life. When those confusing and tempting ideas of the world come along...I know I can look to the Light of the World and say "your absolutely right".

 

Joyeux Noël!!!!

Soeur Smith

 

December 11, 2011 "Christmas Devotional"

Joyeux Noël!!

Dont really know where to start for this week. I feel like we had alot of random moments...lets see...

Monday night we had a rendezvous with our part member family. The 15 year old is awsome...well not in an obvious way. She is really hyperactive and its hard to get her attention...but then she throws out questions like "if Jesus is so important, why does no one talk about him" (ya...thats why we are there!), "what is my purpose in life", "how does Heavenly Father answer my prayers?"... those are the kind of questions we dream about! Anyways...it was a good lesson.Things will be petite à petite with her...but I think once she realizes how key her questions are things will be good. Our night was slightly ruined afterwards however when all tram and metro drivers decided to go on strike and we waited in the cold until 10:45 at the tram stop until we found a very kind member to leave thier nice warm house and pick us up....I swear as an RM I will rescue the missionaries in anyway possible! We got our laughs however when Sister Murray got so cold she put her mittens on her feet...yes I documented it with pictures.

TUESDAY IN PARIS!!!! We returned to my old stomping grounds for Christmas zone conferance! It was so fun!!! Really more of a party than a zone conferance...after the spiritual message we finished the night with food and white elephant gifts! AND a stocking with presents from President and Sister Poznanski...including letters from Mom and Dad...thank you! I had to wipe away a few tears before heading back into the meeting...but I don't think I was the only one secretly sniffling not from a cold lol.
And while waiting for our train we might have snuck in a quick walk to Notre Dame which right now has a giant tree in front of it. It was absolutely beautiful. I love Brussels...but Paris is a world of its own.

Speaking of Christmas....HOLY COW THE BOX IS HUGE! Luckily I am serving in Brussels with some really nice elders and Sister Posnanski found a GIANT bag to help them carry it...so the box is officially back in Brussels! Don't worry I took pictures of it to document the journey!

I can tell this whole mission thing is really sinking into my brain. Every night I had some sort of wierd mission dream. My favorite was I dreamt it was the end of the world (I guess in 2012) and only 8000 people survived all the natural disasters...and I turned to my companion and I said 'This is great...it will take like no time at all to convert 8000 people'. Bahaha....you know what Im worried about....

Other than that things were pretty normal this week. Well normal for a mission. Staying true to the spirit of Brussels we kepts things pretty international this week. We attended a Dutch baptism. We taught the Rodrigez family again (I thought african-french accents were bad...spanish-french is for some reason so difficult for me!) Tom came to church (hurray!!) and said the prayer in Swetswana for sunday school. We went to a European Christmas Market and tried to contact people and remind them of the real meaning of Christmas...It was a good week overall.

Last night I had one of those 'being used as a tool in the Lord's hands' moments. We had planned on going to the Christmas devotional with a part-member family. We called them to tell them we were on the way to pick them up and they told us they weren't going to be able to make it. Disapointed, we decided since we were in the area, we would go to an excommunimated members home. She isn't a member, but her kids are. We got there and she was laying on the couch, sick. She had been sick for about a week, and said she had just finished reading her scriptures and praying, and then we knocked on the door. We read with them from the cartoon Book of Mormon, and her daughter asked if she could borrow the book for a week, and she promised she would read it in a week if she would be allowed to borrow it. It was really tender. We finished with singing a few Christmas songs, and the spirit was really strong. As we left, the mom said 'I think the spirit sent you here tonight'. We had our own Christmas devotional.

Its Christmas season, so naturally we've been showing everyone possible the 'Joy to the World' DVD. I was thinking this week about exactly how Christ brought joy to the world. That's an awful big responsibilty. I think if you looked around through the world's eyes you would say, its hard to find joy in the world. But that's just it, once we stop looking through the eyes of the world, and start accepting Christ in our life...we can't help but have joy! I know this paragraph is getting a little preachy- so I'll save you from my brain ramblings... and just finish with how grateful I am for this gospel and the joy it brings me. And I hope you all are feeling a little bit of seasonal joy!
If not...go read your scriptures! lol...but seriously.

Love you! Miss you!
Soeur Smith

December 4, 2011 "Alma and Abinidi"

Bonjour!

Sounds like Christmas is getting underway back home! Once there is a Christmas tree present you know things are serious... haha. So apparently here in Belgium the kids are double dipping in the Christmas goody jar....because St. Nicolas comes and visits them on the 6th of December with presents...and Père Noël comes on the 25th...and we have seen St. Nicolas roaming the streets this week...he is very....european??? I'll try and take a picture for you....

I feel like this week has been one of those that I'll look back at in my journal and think 'those are some pretty cliché missionary experiences right there'. If you want the shortened version of my week...you can skip down to the second to last paragraph. Thats the part where I learn my lesson. If you want the full-length version...well here ya go.

We started this week off with alot of hope. We planned on fixing five baptisimal dates this week! Monday starts off. So President gave us permission to have Pday all day long on Monday, instead of ending at 6, so that the elders could have the traditional 'turkey bowl' (I say its for the elders because really I couldn't care less...but alas I got roped into playing football...again.) But Jean-Claude and Claudine, the african family we've been working with could only meet on Monday nights. So naturally we sacrificed our all day Pday to go and meet with them. We were really excited because we were pretty sure they were ready to fix baptismal dates. Well, we got there. Taught a perfect restoration lesson, then their friend walks in. Asks what the Book of Mormon is. Restart. Meanwhile Claudine gets up and starts to make dinner. We teach him a scattered first lesson. Then get invited in for dinner.

Pause. So the whole time we've been in Brussels, when members ask to eat at their house, they ask what we don't like to eat. And I say fish.

Play. There were giant fish HEADS sitting on the table. So first they served us rice and vegetables, with sauce from the fish heads on it. So I thought I got out of actually eating the actual fish head, they just cooked it for the sauce. But then once we were done. She served me a nice big fish head. Its beady little eyeball stared at me the whole time. I was officially gagging. But I thought...well if they get baptized this is all worth it. So, just as we were finishing eating, Soeur Murray somehow turned the subject spiritual again and asked if they would prepare to be baptized. They said it was too soon......Its not a no right??? We were still pretty disappointed...and fish face was squirming around inside of me. Short pday, fish head, and no baptizimal date....

So we figure that's ok. Our part-member family will be ready to fix baptisimal dates. And we thought of this great idea that the dad could prepare to be worthy to baptize his daughters. We got there on Thursday night...things are great. The father said a beautiful prayer...he asked if he and his wife could one day prepare to be couple missionaries. My heart started pounding....litterally beating out of my chest. I knew it was time. I asked if we could start to teach his girls to get them ready for baptism, and if he would like to prepare to do the baptism.........he told me that would take a long time. Again not a flat out no....right?

Alright round three. Tom, our nanny miracle. We invite her to baptized. Another 'oh its too soon'. Ok understandable...she is taking this seriously and told us she needs to know if 'the book is true' first. I can respect that. Its not a flat out no...right?  She was finally going to be able to come to church this week. She texts us on Saturday night. Her boss (she is a live in nanny) has told her she isn't allowed to meet with us anymore and she can't come to church. We call her and tell her we can come over on Sunday and introduce the church to her boss. This is actually a happy story. Her boss was very nice and actually just nervous about having random people come to his home during the day when his kids were home, and worried about her safety. He told us that he and his wife and Tom will try to come to church next week and they will 'look at' the material we gave him aka the Book of Mormon. Tom meanwhile told us that 'she has been reading the book like crazy' and 'doesn't want to go to the other Christian churches her boss suggested, she wants to go to this one'. She's more ready than she knows....

I'm sure your reading this and thinking that the big lesson I need to learn is patience. The people we are teaching are ready...just I guess I've forgotten that the rest of the world doesn't run on a transfer scheadule and sometimes sticky miracles take more than 6 weeks to play out. I guess as missionaries we are just so immersed in praying and thinking about these people, I forget that a month to join a church is a fast transition....so I guess I need to stop being so demanding and expecting miracles to play out before 'transfer day'. So summary of the week: everyone is progressing. People are keeping their committments. And they were all sent into my life to teach me patience. I was reading about Abinidi and Alma this week and I was thinking how curious it is that Abinidi went out preaching to the people...and they killed him. Then Alma went out preaching to the exact same people, and they were willing to sacrifice everything- leave their country and meet in secret- just to hear the word of God. What changed? My conclusion is that everything happens on God's timing. Abinidi prepared the way for Alma. But Alma saw the fruits. Doesn't mean it was easy for Alma. He still had to sneak around, risk his life, do some major repenting, and work hard to teach people. But Abinidi had to pave the way. I guess that's how missionary work is. In some towns you get to be Alma- work hard and see your fruits. Sometimes your Abinidi...work hard and get majorly rejected. Both are neccessary. And both are Book of Mormon heros for me.

Other miracles this week. Sometimes we just have so many..... Cecilia Rodrigrez (the one who's sister refered her to us, and her 4 kids) came to church! And called her sister to get her there! And after being served an african fish meal a second time this week, an American family made us chicken enchildas on Sunday. Tender Mercies.

Love you! Miss you!
Soeur Smith