July 30, 2012 "Final Exhortations"

Bonjour Bonjour mes chers amis! This week I've been spending alot of time looking at my plaque. I remember the day I first put it on. After being dropped off at the curb of the MTC, I was lead by a kind sister missionary. She helped me drop off my suitacses and then guided me to a room with a long line. At the end of this line, they gave your plaque (nametag...). As I inched along with other nervous missionaries I couldn't help but feel excited. I was about to recieve a real plaque-the sign of a real missionary! The kind volunteer helped me pin it on for the first time- not to high, not to low, right over your heart. I became...Soeur Smith. I soon learned I really had no idea what it meant to be a "real missionary". Sure I had heard it described- hard working, obedient, unshakable faith, follows the spirit in all things, etc etc. But these were no long attributes of missionaries in stories in the Ensign. This was real life. This was my mission. As a missionary I've learned alot of things, and I'm sure I've learned many lessons I don't even know I've learned yet. Somewhere between the rising in the morning and putting on my plaque, and coming home exhausted at the end of the day and taking it off -and repeating this day after day- I've learned to be a real missionary. But what does it mean to be a real missionary? Or maybe a better phrased question is "did I accomplish what Heavenly Father wanted me to...did I become a real missionary?" As my mission comes to a close, I've wondered, "how does one handle the end of a mission". I decided to take my question to the scriptures, by looking to see what prophets had to say at the end of their missions. Lets start with Lehi. The man who had the courage to flee into the wilderness. As his life comes to a close he first remembers of all the tender mercies of the Lord (2 Nephi 1:2-3). He gives the classic Book of Mormon promise - keep the commandments and you will prosper in the land (2 Nephi 4:4). And then he speaks to his family "according to the feelings of his heart and the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Nephi 4:12). I would love to hear the feelings of this dear prophet's heart. I feel like that is what I am trying to do today- express the feelings of my heart and the Spirit. Then we have Nephi. The first stud of the Book of Mormon. What does this man of great stature teach us at the end of his mortal ministry? He speaks of his weaknesses. ( 2 Nephi 33: 1,4) He testifies of the importance of relying on the spirit (2 Nephi 33:1). He prays and weeps for his people (2 Nephi 33:3-4).He testifies his purpose of writing the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 33:4). He teaches the importance of charity (2 Nephi 33:7-9). And finally he glorifies in Jesus and exhorts us to believe in Him. ( 2 Nephi 33:6, 10-12). Despite his feelings of inadequacies he never looses site of his purpose- to invite others to come unto Christ. We then have the priviledge of hearing from Nephi's brother, Jacob, he who was born in the wilderness amongst tribulation. As he looks back on his life he poetically states "our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream" (Jacob 7:26). I feel like this statement hits a little to close to home when looking back on the mission. But Jacob died with peace of conscience that he had done all he could to be obedient to the commandments of God (Jabob 7:27). Jacob's son, Enos, was able to look back at his life and say he did all he could to declare repentance and he died with hope for the ressurection- testifying that when it was his turn to see the Lord, "then shall I see his face with pleasure." (Enos 1:26-27). Skip six generations of record keepers who didn't particularly love keeping records, to Amaleki- a righteous man who leaves us with one final inventation. He says " offer your whole souls as an offering unto him and continue in fasting and praying, and enduring to the end. (Omni 11:26). Then we reach King Benjamin. Really all the teachings we have of this righteous king are his final 'exhortations'. He first teaches his sons to search the scriptures diligently. Then he echos Lehi's final promise- keep the commandments and you will prosper in the land (Mosiah 1:7). After reminding his people the importance of serving one another, he asks us to "consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments" (Mosiah 2:41). He teaches the Plan of Salvation (Mosiah 3-4). And just as his time of perserving comes to a close, he invites us to "be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven" (Mosiah 5:15). This is where the Book of Mormon gets complicated. Groups of people start to break off and the lineage of who writes it the Book of Mormon becomes ...not so lineage-al. But we have some very powerful 'dying testimonies' of missionaries and prophets amongst all the confusion and 'ites'. First we have Abinidi, who give his life to defend his powerful testimony of Christ, reminding us to fear God more than men. Mosiah "labored with all the power and faculties" he had to teach the commandments (Mosiah 29:14). And he helped the people to establish righteous judges. To teach the people this he "unfolded unto them all the trials and troubles of a righteous kind, yea, all the travails of soul" (Mosiah 29:33). He told the people what he had suffered for them and then taught them the importance of sharing responsibility and bearing one another burdens (Mosiah 29:34). When Alma summarized Mosiah's life he simply stated he "warred a good warfare" (Alma 1:1). Alma encourages his sons to "learn wisdom" and "to keep the commandments" (Alma 37:35). He promises us that the words of Christ "will point to a straight course to eternal bliss" (Alma 37:44). But this great missionary could not rest, he wanted to preach (Alma 43:1) and continued to do so until he was taken up unto the Lord (Alma 45:19-19). Helaman leaves his sons with some beautiful fatherly wisdom. He says "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (see Helaman 5:7-12) And then, the most important event of the Book of Mormon. Christ comes to teach the people. And while Christ does not directly say when he will stop visiting them- we can see what is important by looking at what is mentioned in his last recorded sermon ( 3 Nephi 27). He teaches what is to be the name of His church. He declares His gospel. He invites us, "for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do" (verse 21). He promises "Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened" (verse 29). He warns us of worldliness, and finally "it came to pass that when Jesus had ended these sayings he said unto his disciples: Enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein no man can work." (verse 33). The rest of the Book of Mormon is like unto the first half - people falling into wickedness and prophets exhorting them to remember God. At the end we have two incrediable heros, who manage to have hope in the most destitue of situations. Mormon testifies one last time perserverance- reminding all followers of Christ to "labor diligently" so that "we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness and rest our souls in the kingdom of God" (Moroni 9:6). Moroni says goodbye twice- the first time he simply testifies that God is a God of miracles and reminds us to "doubt not, but be believing" (Mormon 8:27). The second time we recieve a farewell from Moroni, it is full of "exhortations". He invites us to do many things- but theme of his exhortations is it to come unto Christ. He says "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." (Moroni 10:32-33). Isn't the Book of Mormon wonderful? I've loved studing the final testimonies of these prophets. It has helped to see what kind of things these 'real missionaries' valued at the end of thier ministry. And while I'm sure your eyes are tired and your wondering when I'll finish this email and face the fact that I'm just one little missionary and not an epic war hero in the Book of Mormon, I just have a few scriptures I want to share that I think summarize how I feel at the end of my mision, and to me define "a real missionary". First, I want to express humility. Like Nephi and Moroni, I worry sometimes that my weaknesses could keep people from accepting the gospel. But I gain strength from the scriptures Doctrine and Covenants 1:23 that says "the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kinds and rulers." I feel a real missionary knows thier weaknesses and depend on the Lord to quailfy them for the work. And I know that as we forget ourselves and our weaknesses, the Lord will make us strong so that we may " preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound" (Isaiah 61:1). And as we serve others - something wonderful happens. We start to love them, and you can truly loose yourself in the work. And " So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us" (1 Thess. 2:8) and as we give our whole souls to people they become "our glory and joy" ( 1 Thess. 2:20). But the more we invest ourselves in people...the more room they have to disappoint us, to make us cry, and to make our very souls..sad. As we watch them reject the gospel...it hurts. Again, I've learned to trust and rely on the Lord in all things- for there is always hope in the gospel. "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise." (Moroni 7:41). So, the real question, have I become a real missionary? Yes. I love this gospel. I love the people of France (and Belgium, and Africa, and China, and Russia, and everyone else I've had the chance to serve during my mission). As I look at my plaque I know that it is really just an outward expression of all that my mission has meant to me. An outward symbol of my desire to serve God. I know when I take it off, that underneath lies my new heart. On that heart, the name of Christ and the spirit of missionary work have been permanently carved into it. I am so grateful for the chance I've had to serve a mission. I know its changed me forever. And if I could leave you one more exhortation, my dear friends and family-whether you are a return missionary, future missionary, current missionary, member missionary, or even if you not sure quite yet what the big deal is with missionary work- remember always to "cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you" (Jacob 6:5) God loves you. I love you. Soeur Smith.

July 23, 2012 "Preparing for baptism is like being pregnant"

Bonjour Bonjour. Miracle number one of the week: the sun is shining. And its actually lasted for 24 hours. Sometimes the sun shines and I get all happy inside, and then 10 minutes later its back to being gray and I'm back to scowling at the skies. But its actually been nice out for more than an hour....so I'm letting my guard down and I'm just rejoicing in the sun. This week was quite eventful. We got permission from President to have Tracy do a four-day mini mission with us. I have honestly forgotten what it's like to have the energy of 16 year old. Or maybe I've just forgotten what its like to have any sort of excess energy at all. haha. It was a great experience to introduce someone to missionary life. Even if she wasn't too keen on going running at 6:30, she was a trooper and was much happier in the morning than I generaly am. (no parents, if you were hoping that one of the lessons I've learned on my mission is how to be a morning person, that one never quite settled in) Tracy told us one day she wanted to try passing by her aunt's house. Her mom had told me about her aunt already and they had tried to share with her the gospel and she was never very open to it. But Tracy was very persistant so we finally agreed. When we first got there it was akward because her aunt's friend answered the door and thought we were jehovah's witness and told us to go away, but Tracy then said she was looking for her aunt. Her aunt let us in and we tried to keep it pretty casual, just talked about where we were from and ask about them. The aunt's friend, Jessica, told us she was believing but not practicing. We explained to here the Book of Mormon and a little what we believe, and afterwards she said "I'm actually really interested, how much does the book cost" oooh I love it when people ask that because then we can say its FREE! And the look on their faces are priceless...Anywho, Jessica ended up taking the book of mormon and saying she would come to church (you know after vacance, etc....) and we were able to fix a return appointment with Tracy's aunt! She was prepared this time... or the love of an aunt for her niece softened her heart a little Well then Day 2 of the mini mission hit and our dear little Tracy fell asleep in a rendezvous...luckily it was a less active member who thought it was hilarious. Made me feel a little better about being exhausted all the time haha. But my favorite experience with Tracy this week was while we were porting. We were going from door to door, and getting kindly rejected at each door. And when I say kindly, the people really were very nice. One man let us explain that we aren't polygimast (sp?), another old couple told us about how they had met with elders 30 years ago, another lady told me how about her vacation she is going on to Canada next month...all nice people. No one interested in the gospel. But after every single door Tracy would say "aren't we so blessed! we found a neighborhood full of people with open hearts!" Soeur McGhie and I just looked at church confused because no one had actually been open to learning more, but I soon realized it was us that needed to change perspective. Our little "Soeur Tracy Tessa" taught us that its ok to count those little seeds planted at open hearts. And we had another lovely experience contacting with a member this week. This week at ward council the bishop asked if we would be willing to go out and passby some less actives with the young women's president for the evening.We passed by a couple people we knew of and no one would let us in...so we decided to just pick a random name on the ward list. Well we ended up finding the apartment complex...but could not actually find the apartment building. While investigating one apartment building a lady came out of the door, our YW president asked her if she knew the family we were looking for. The lady said no, sorry, I'm not from here. Well then our YW president pulled out a pass-along card and asked if she could leave her our card anyways, and started to explain the restoration. It was awsome! We ended up talking to her for a few minutes, and while in the end she didn't give us her number she did say "thank you for talking with me, I really enjoyed it". Go member missionaries! And the elders had a baptism this week. Wahoo! And one of our amis decided to come. She even brought cookies for everyone afterwards. Afterwards the Relief Society president was talking with her about baptism. Solange, our ami, said "the baptism was so quick! just in the water and back out again!"...and then our relief society president explained "well its like giving birth, there are nine months of preparation before you go into labor. Preparing for baptism is like being pregnant, and being baptized is being born, quick compared to the preparation". I'm assuming she had easy labors....most people I talk to dont seem to refer to labor as "quick". haha Anyways, it was great for Solange to see a baptism and for her to feel the spirit of a baptismal service. We keep asking her when her's will be and she is very insistant on 'researching the whole book of mormon first". We're working on convincing her that preparation for baptism does not actually have to take as long as a pregnancy.... And this week we are going to start teaching a chinese girl, Grace, that the elders contacted on the metro. She is amazing! She came to church yesterday and everyone thought she was a member already. As my district leader put it, a christian chinese? How could you be more prepared by God? I really hope we can fix a baptismal date with her this week. And we finished of the week with some porting. The last door of the night was answered by this older man who threw open the door and said "vous cherchez quoi?!?" (what are you looking for?) I told him we were looking for someone who wants to learn about Christ. He softened and told us he was practicing catholic, then he looked at us and said "arent you a little young to be doing this?". Gave us some room to tell us a little bit about our missions. He told us a little bit about how has been a volunteer for Catholic church for 50 years and how his family has been clergy since the 15th century. Honestly, I didn't feel like telling him his family has been mistaken on doctrine for quite awhile, so I just said "you know, it is so nice to talk with someone who loves Christ and wants to serve him". (and the entire street had been athiest...so it really was a nice change) He asked when I went home, (since we had already explained how long missions are, etc). I got a little sad inside and told him next week. When I gave him our card he put it in his shirt pocket and told us he would cherish it. I don't know why I enjoyed talking to this old, catholic man so much, but our entire exchange just made me happy. I guess Tracy taught me to look for 'open hearts' in a new way. As we walked away from his house I couldn't help but think I have to keep practicing my french so when we meet up in the spirit world I can still teach him and 9 generations of catholic family the gospel. Good thing I've still got some time to keep practicing the french ;) Love you all, have a great week! Soeur Smith

July 18, 2012 "Just another missionary week....you know with some trunky tendancies‏"

Well I won't lie, I just had some serious hyperventalating moments opening up my inbox. This is what I saw: -flight itenirary -baggage regulations -my interview scheadule with president -and lovely little emails from the family saying things like "next time I'm at home, I'll be with you"...or "I don't know if we're going to have internet in Greece the next two Sundays...so if we don't write you...we'll just see you!" Oh gosh. So for the sanity of my companion and the lack of tissues in this creepy cybercafé I'm just going to tell you about my week and box all the emotions about to spill out until I have to give that torturous thing called a homecoming. So this week was pretty crazy. We had interveiws with president, which ended with "see you trés bientot!"....btw I told president my family was trunky and he told me thats normal...so I guess I shouldn't be so hard on you guys lol. Then we had exchanges. It was good..You know other than we were doing exchanges with sisters in the most southern ville in the mission, and we are in the most northen....4 missed trains and 2 extra hours in Paris later, I spent a lovely day with Soeur Pymm from Idaho Falls, Idaho, we got to reminsce about potatoes and gave Soeur McGhie a break from listening to all my stories from my mission, and got a fresh pair of ears to talk to. We had some pretty cool rendezvous this week. There is less active that the bishop has asked to visit. We pass by maybe twice a week trying to get inside. Once in a while she will come out and sit on the steps while we a read a scripture to her. Well this week we actually got inside! We tried to make small talk and she was just quiet as usual...then we tried to share a story from the Liahona...but at the end she was like 'honestly, I didn't understand that story at all' ....then launched into a series of appologies about she's sorry that she's been so cold to us, and then pulled out pictures from when the sisters first taught her and told us all her memories about when she first was baptized. She told us how she just started working alot and she forgot about her testimony (she is currently living with a guy and is pregnant) but that she wants to come back to church. She ended with some encouraging words that we need to contact people on the street because we never know when they will accept. It was what you could say is a major breakthrough. Only took 10 weeks. We felt like we had a lot of major breakthroughs this week that 'only' took 10 weeks. We had an ami finally come to church, first time for us. We contacted this lady Zhara, and it was such a neat experience. At first she wasn't interested, but for some reason I just felt pushed to just keep talking. Finally we asked if we could just sit on a park bench and teach her for 10 minutes, she agreed. We explained the book of Mormon and she ended up telling us this experience she had with prayer when she was like 14, and ever since that experience she's asked herself "maybe there is someone who listens to prayers". The spirit was so strong there on the park bench right next to the loud construction. It was so neat. The sun even shone for us for like 10 minutes. She took the Book of Mormon, and said we could call her to fix another rendezvous...On Verra. And we had a cool experience with porting. So during interviews President asked why, I thought, we were having such a hard time finding new people to teach. I really didn't know, I honestly feel like we've been trying everything. We've been trying to apply everything our leaders teach us, we are doing finding all the time...we find cool people...just no one actually progresses. We've taught lots of first lessons and gotten lots of numbers....its just been frustrating to see nothing go anywhere. So he just encouraged us to do more porting. SO, we did. We found this one street where almost every door was an adorable family. Seriously, picturesque mom and dad with three little kids....at every door. And at every door they were very polite in telling us 'no, thanks'. But this one lady, she came to the door with 3 little boys...loud crazy little boys. We were trying to explain we are missionaries blah blah blah, and she was trying to battle these three wrestling boys trying to close the door in our faces. Finally I just said 'listen, I know its wierd to come to people's door and talk about Jesus, but what we really talk about is how to apply his gospel to our daily lives and how it can bless our families". She said "well that, I would be interested in, can you pass by another time?" Of course we said yes, and I barely asked her name when her sons succeeded at closing the door. I guess being blunt works. When in Lille, do as the Lillois? And we celebrated the lovely Bastille Day, which really the only thing that changed for us was that the buses were less frequent...I really think the French would die if they saw what the Fourth of July is like. Oh well, I was super spirted and wore blue, white, and red. haha It was a pretty good week, and while yes in the back of my mind I know the clock is ticking on my little missionary life, I also know that I still have alot of hours of contacting ahead of us...so pray that I can have emotional stability in the next few weeks and pray we find people! Je vous aime! à très beintot! Soeur Smith

July 9, 2012 "Don't worry, be happy now"

Bonjour Bonjour!!!
Well this week Soeur McGhie and I were invited again to mission council...one more train ride to Paris (which is ironic because everytime I make that train ride I get all sentimental and tell myself the next time I make that train ride I'll have my suitcases...then something else happens and woaps off to Paris again...)

Anyways...mission council was good. I was expecting all the serious, bussiness talk that Zone Leaders like to make...when President Poznanski got up and asked "when is the last time you really laughed with your companion?"
And he was serious...he wanted stories. So people started raising thier hands and talking about how they had seen someone crash thier bike, or someone had told them they couldn't understand a thing they say, or the cell phone had rang during a prayer. Here I was thinking prez would react by wanted to say something like "have charity for those who crash their bikes, work on your french, make sure you phone is on silent in rendezvous"...but no...he was laughing right along with us. Then I realized...I probably sound much too serious in my emails...ok maybe I imagine that I sound like a serious, seasoned missionary in my emails...but comme meme I decided its time to share with you some of the hilarious things that have happened to us the past couple weeks. Because, oh gosh, being a missionary is one of the funniest things ever. Par example:

-So the cute 16 year old that admires our tags, remember that story? Well her name is Tracy. And Tracy loves to speak english. She is also asking us for help with her homework and always trying to speak with us and the elders. Well, an elder and I somehow started teaching her gibberish words and told her that it is Canadian, and that actually english is my second language. And this has been going on for a good 2 and a half weeks. Now whenever she sees us, she greats us with "ashneedersnider" and says goodbye with " oobish". We even demonstrated entire converstations of "canadian" for her. But before you get worried about how cruel we are...we did finally sit her down and tell her Canadian is not a real language (she might have announced to some ward members she's learning canadian). Anyway...she is kind of a dramatic one, so once we got over the fake crying, she starting saying "I hate you elder!" We told her, Tracy you can't say I hate you...that's very rude in english. But you can say "I don't like your chicken".....haha yes it starts all over again.

-So we have this less active that smokes. We prepare for our rendezvous with her by wearing lots of layers, so afterwards we can peel off all the layers and not smell like smoke for the entire day. Well this week we were teaching were appropriately teaching the word of wisdom. Imagine the situation: We just finished reviewing all the things we are supposed to and not supposed to partake of. She is waving her cigerette in our faces "it is ridiculous that we are supposed to eat vegetables...I hate vegitables!"
 We get out of the rendezvous and Soeur McGhie looks at me "I don't think she gets that we're not very concerned about her intake of vegetables."
-So last week we went to visit Rositta in the hospital. We had planned a pretty dramatic rendezvous...you know...the DTR (determine the relationship...but in a missionary way)  Either commit to living the gospel...or we can't come see you anymore. Well, we come in and she had just been given some medications. But of course, we don't understand what the nurses give her...so I'm trying to ask her some questions...to see is she is really interested. And she keeps closing her eyes....then opening them...its like blinking...but really slow motioned...and then one time they stay closed. Of course, I'm in the middle of testifying...and finally I just say "Rositta? Rositta?"...yup she fell asleep. We had to try so hard to not laugh until we were out in the hallway...we just decided to come back another time for the whole DTR to be a bit more effective...

-I called this member last week so see if we could pass by and share a thought...well I asked for Soeur ________...and she acted all suspcious and was like "yes, who is this?" and then I said "its the sister missionaries"...and she acted all relieved and was like " oh with your foriegn accent I thought you were going to try and sell me something!!!" hahaha I just want to know what company calls people by "soeur".

-So we were contacting and we stopped this lady with a little boy. We got through introducing ourselves...and her little boy took of running down the street. She just looks at us, and then starts running after him. I wasn't sure what to do...so I chased after her. Soeur McGhie just stood there looking confused. Meanwhile...the lady is chasing her little boy up and down the street...so all three of us are kind of running circles around each other. haha she finally stopped and I was able to finish the contact.....she's not interested. The best was after Soeur McGhie was like "well that was fun to watch" hahah.

-This story is my favorite. So our 84 year old neighbor comes out every morning, walks across the lawn and dumps a jar of mystry juice in the bushes next to the sidewalk. Its always at the same time, and Im always sitting in the chair watching him.  Well, a few weeks ago, we were noticing that our front porch smells like urine. Soeur McGhie jokingly said "maybe our nieghbor dumps urine in our bushes every morning " I was horrified and said "no, that can't be it...there must be a stray dog somewhere'"...and a couple days later we even saw a dog in our yard! Well...fast forward a couple weeks and we are at mission council. One elder comes up and says "so I see your living in my old apartment...does your nextdoor nieghbor still dump his urine on your yard"...we both looked horrified and were like "what!!!" and the elder was like "ya, he has a cathader(sp?) and apparently doesnt know how to properly empty it" hahahahahah So Soeur McGhie was right...our 84 year old friend literally dumps his urine on our yard. Apparently the Elders once spent french study writing him a very nice sticky note asking him to stop...maybe we'll try again....

Everyday we're faced with funny situations...sometimes its just getting caught in the rain and deciding to laugh rather being frustrated by the soggy feet and ineffective contacting. In Proverbs 17:22 we learn "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine". I realize some of these stories probably arent too funny for you...but remembering the funny things that happen to us each day help us remember that all this soul-saving bussiness is supposed to be joyful!
Anyways, I hope you all had some funny moments this week too!
Love you!
Soeur Smith

July 2, 2012 "Parable of the Rock"

Bonjour Bonjour.
So I thought I'd start this week off with story time. Our lovely zone leaders shared this nice little parable with us:
Once upon a time there was a man. And one night, the Lord came to this man in a vision. He instructed the man that there was a rock just outside his house. The man was to use all his might and strength to push against the rock. The man awoke from his vision with determination. From that day on, he woke up every morning and would go and push against the rock. He would push with all his might and strength for the entire day. He would come in at the end of the day exhausted and worn out. He did this...every day. Days turned into weeks, which turned into months. Satan saw this man's efforts to be obedient, and decided to enter the picture. He started to place thoughts into the man's mind such as "why are you doing this? You have been exhausting yourself for nothing. The rock has not moved one inch and you have been doing all you can. Why try?" The man fed into these thoughts. He started to create his own thoughts such as "maybe I could just put in half the effort...why does it matter. Even with all my strength the rock doesn't move. Maybe this is worthless. I'm not being a profitable servent to the Lord. I cannot move the rock". One night, overwhelmed by these thoughts, the man decided to make it a matter of prayer. He expressed his thoughts and doubts to the Lord. And the Lord responded " My dear servent, I did not command you to move the rock. I simply commanded you to push with all your might and strength. Look at how your muscles have grown from all your pushing. Your arms and back are strong and ready for greater tasks. I did not ask you to move the rock, I will move the rock. I simply asked you to have faith and be obedient. I simply asked you to push.I, the Lord, will move the moutains."
I can think about 100,000 ways this story applies to missionary work. But in discussing this story with Soeur McGhie, I decided to break my rule about not talking about the end of my mission with her. I couldn't help but bear testimony of how much my 'rock' or my mission, has helped me change. Throughout my mission, I've seen things happen for reasons I don't understand. You try and have such and faith and hope in people, to only have them turn away at the last minute from the gospel. You go out contacting with the faith that the Lord truly will put people in your path that are ready, only to return home at the end of the night with no success. You fix goals, only to fall short. At the beginning of my mission I had a list of things I wanted to have learned by the end of my mission, and I'm just starting to see that I had no idea what I needed to change and learn, but the Lord certainly does. He knows which of muscles need strengthening. And I most definately cannot see which mountains he will later ask me to move in my life, for now its all about the faith to push.
And push is mostly what this week has been. Our rendezvous with our Brik fell through. Other people we had high hopes for didn't turn out. Rositta is still in the hospital...and well this week she told us that she is sick of all this talk about baptism and will call us when she's ready to talk again. So we've done lots of finding. Which is really the focus in our zone right now. Finding, finding, finding. I feel very unified with our zone, and our district. Everyone is praying for one another to find. Yet, we haven't seen the success. Yet. And sometimes I feel anxiety because my time is limited...but in the end the Lord knows what we need. Right now, we must show our faith to go out and find and be obedient.
So that's the status in Lille: rain showers with intense rock pushing.
Love you all!
Soeur Smith

June 26, 2012 "miracles of tomorrow"

Bonjour Bonjour!
Sorry to be writing a day late and to give you a scare (mom)...Soeur McGhie had to go do her legality in Paris and so we had to do our emails today. But I got to take Soeur McGhie back to my old stomping grounds...you know, my humble birthplace of Paris. She enjoyed staring at the strange metal tower surrounded by lots of Americans...

anywho...its good thing we are writing are a day late because it gave us time for our 'miracles' to ...you know...become miracles.
So this week we've been doing lots and lots of finding. Shocker. And we've been having some pretty good luck... in the moment. People will stop and talk with us, they'll even give us thier numbers, some will even fix rendezvous right then and there with us. But then they never answer the phone or don't show up for the rendezvous.

There were two that were particularly disappointing. We contacted this lady, Brik, and her friend and we talked about prophets, and they were super excited and we fixed a rendezvous with them for Saturday. We were super pumped.

Well Saturday came and went, and she didn't come to the rendezvous or answer her phone.The metro was having trouble that day so we tried to convince ourselves that she just couldn't get there and that her phone was out of battery. Its like every time I get cut off in traffic...I try to imagine the person is driving to the hospital for an emergancy and that's why they are being a silly driver. Got to give people the benefit of the doubt, ya know?

Well, earlier in the week I contacted this girl on the metro, Claire, who actually had studied in California, so she knew a little bit about the church, and accepted an invitation to a ward activity Saturday night. Well the activity happened to be a rock concert (yup that's how they do things in France)...so when she didn't show up you can imagine what kind of wierd looks we were getting from members as we stood in the foyer, looking hopefully out at the road, and trying to not nod our heads to the worldly music blasting from the gym.

So, naturally Sunday was kind of sad. Another week of no amis at church, another week of feeling like all our efforts didn't really show for anything. Just when I feel like I hear about miracles all throughout the mission...I start to feel like our little well of miracles is running a little dry.

So Monday, we got to go to Paris. But coming on the train ride back, all I could think about is how we really need to find people to teach. Like, really.
So that night we were making calls- called all the people we've contacted in the past week and half. Honestly...not one single person answered. Not even one answered to yell at us and tell us not to call anymore. Guess we don't get that consideration anymore. So... as we started to get ready for bed the phone rang....

It was Brik! She really had had something happen on Saturday and was wondering if she could see us this week and fixed something for Wednesday. I think I jumped and leaped around that apartment until 10:30 when we went to bed. But then...around 10:45....the phone rang again! So I jump out of bed, try to speak french half asleep and with my retainer in...its Claire! She also appologized for Saturday and wants to see us next Monday!!!!

So it was pretty difficult to fall asleep last night...the thought I had running through my head over and over again was "the contacts of today are the miracles of tomorow (or next week...)". Cheesy I know, but hey, Im in France....life is about as cheesy as it can get!

Love you all!
Soeur Smith

June 18, 2012 "The first of the lasts"

Well....
here it comes. The dramatic ending. THE LAST TRANSFER.
So since training Soeur McGhie, I've been very obnoxious about celebrating all her first-milestones as a missionary. You know- first pasterie, first zone conferance, first rendezvous with someone smoking in your face, first time having a crazy person yell at you on the metro, first time being called a Jehovah's Wittness, first time someone tells you about thier dream when Jesus visted them- you know, all the normal things like that.Well this week was a momenteus first for her...first time with her name on the transfer email.

And my last.
Bah. So this is my first time I get to have momenteus freakout on my mission. OK I wish it was this first...but starting my very last planner spured all sorts of emotions I wasn't expecting. And while I normally favor the 'rip of the band-aid' style goodbyes...somehow I feel like saying goodbye to a mission is a much more gory, painful process. So I appologize now for whatever sappy and overdramatic emotional carnage slips into my emails over the next six weeks.
So all gory-emotions aside- this week has been another typical rollercoster. We showed up at Rositta's appartment on Tuesday and she wasn't there. The thing with Rositta though, is that she is an older lady with lots of health problems, including diabites and lots of other medical stuff I don't understand in french. She never leaves her house, her nurses and nurmeous other people come to her house to help her out. So when she isn't there...it can only mean one thing. She is in the hospital. So after much help from the ward (calling french hospitals still scare me) we were finally able to track her down and visit her. I guess she had complications with her diabites, she is doing fine, but for now her baptismal date is postponed until she can come to churcha again.

So that was disappointing- but we had really good rendezvous with a lady we contacted a couple of weeks ago. We've taught her once before and we had given her a Book of Mormon. In our rendezvous this week, the first thing she said when she sat down was 'so, I started reading...and I like it!'. I love hearing that! Its like seeing the sun in northen France. We taught the Joseph Smith story, and after we had finished she said "so once I pray and know, I'm going need to join this church!". Oh its so wonderful when people put that together themselves! She still has alot of worries about the church, and her husband still thinks we are a cult...but I just love it when you start to see the light and people and they see that the gospel JUST MAKES SENSE.

And this week we got to work with a young women in our ward. Her family are all recent converts of about two years. Her mom is now the relief society president, and her dad is in the bishopric. They are basically just an amazing family. Well this weekend she asked if she could hang out with us- well on the way to a rendezvous we were getting out of the metro and walking down the stairs, and she turned to us and said "oh how I want to be like you, I just want to have a nametag with Christ's name on it".

Oh gosh. You cannot say things like to emotional, dying missionaries. So the rage of emotions that suddenly tried to leak out of my eyes were bottled by saying "Yes Tracy, keep that goal, you CAN be like us". Not the most inspirational thing that's ever come out of my mouth...but I was fighting from becoming a blubbering puddle  in the middle of the metro.
So really, this week was a typical missionary week. Some ups, some downs. But also a little bit of realization that my time to be a full-time missionary actually has a time limit. But we won't talk about that for another six weeks.

Love you all!
Soeur Smith

June 11, 2012 "deja vu"

Well this week I've been going through a wierd déjà vu....Strange how life goes in circles.

This week we had exchanges and I did exchanges in a ville called Nogent...which is right next to Paris. So guess what we got to do? Visitor Center shift! I know that probably means nothing to all you back home...but I spent many hours in that little visitor's center my first 6 months in Paris. Therefore I was having all sorts of wierd flashbacks! Especially when the Paris elders walked in and told me that ZDRAVKO IS BACK in Paris and doing well! I was kind of hopeing his bouncing curls would make thier way into the visitor's center but the elders killed that hope when they told me he shaved his head...alors...I'll have to wait another time to run into him.


It was very strange being back in Paris. Even the sound of the metros sent me into all sorts of memories. I know I'm wierd. And with X-amount of time left I have a feeling Im going to become more and more sentimental. Also this week, Soeur McGhie and I were invited mission council. Again, that probably means nothing to you, but I attended mission council like my third day in the field...its just wierd seeing everything twice- once from the 'blue I have no idea which way is up' perspective...to the 'I'm the sister all the elders look at and say "its so wierd your dying, I remember when you were born". Oh gosh...yes I feel like a grandma.


So inbetween all my freakouts about age and feeling like I'm living in some sort of wierd time warp...we fixed a baptisimal date! True to all mission traditions, all the miracles always happen during week 5 and 6 of the transfer. Rositta, our amie passed to us by the other sisters, fixed a date for June 30th!!! Apparently there are supposed to be 4 baptisms that day between the two wards here in Lille, so we are super excited and hoping that will help the ward get excited about the missionary work! Anyways, Rositta is awsome. She's really struggled with quitting coffee, but this week she just quit on her own and was super excited to finally fix a date!


I'm not going to lie, this week was kind of a crazy one, between exchanges, mission council, taking trains out to see members in super cute little french towns, and stake conferance, I felt like we were barely in our area. But looking back just over this past 5 weeks, especially this week with fixing a baptisimal date, I just feel like saying "and thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things"1 Nephi 16:29. Its truly by the little prayers and little bits of faith we can muster, that miracles happen, one little bit at a time! How great it is to be a missionary and be able to see the hand of the Lord in my life so clearly!


I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Soeur Smith

June 4, 2012 "ma puce"

Bonjour Bonjour,
Well this week has been a crazy week...as usual. Somehow I feel like every week has some sort of build-up, climax, and happy ending...maybe weeks in normal life work like that too...we just never take the time to report to our families what happened in the past week haha.

Well this week the climax was zone conferance. We had zone conferance with Elder Teixiera, of the seventy, and his wife. Naturally, going into a zone conferance with a general authority you expect something great. And we got what we were expecting!

Elder Teixiera started out with two stories.
The first was about a flea. He told us fleas are magnificant animals. You see, fleas know how to do one thing very well. They know how to jump. And no matter what situation they find themselves in...they jump. Their brains are programed to jump. So, let's say you take a flea, and you put it in a jar. Then you hold the jar very close to your ear. What are you going to hear?
 *ping*.
 What would that noise be? That's right, the flea jumped, and hit its poor little head on the lid of the jar. Now, you would think as small as the little flea's brain is, maybe they would just keep jumping and hitting their head. BUT fleas will suprise you. No, they don't stop jumping...they just jump a little lower. Therefore, they continue to fulfill their one purpose in life, jumping, without hitting and hurting their poor little heads. The magnificant thing is, even if you remove the lid of the jar, the flea will continue to jump within the jar, completely captured by its own will.

The second story was about an elephant. Elder Teixiera had traveled to India and seen domistacated elephants. But how do you domesticate an elephant? Apparently, when elephants are very young, their owners will take them and chain them with a metal chain around their ankels to metal stake in the ground. The baby elephants will pull and tug and attempt to get away...they will hurt themselves...they will cry...and eventually...they give up. They stay very close to their little stakes. As the elephant grows, he learns that if feels something around his ankle, to stay put and avoid injury. And thus, you can go to India and see grown elephants tied to whimpy sticks with whimpy little ropes.The elephant could choose to just kick out his foot and run off- but again is tied down by past experience and choice.

So how do missionaries relate to the smallest of animals and the largest of animals. You see...we also do many things that hurt. We fix goals...only to report zeros to our leaders after a week of really trying. We contact thousands of people, only to be rejected over and over again. We fix rendezvous...only to be stood up. We study a language...only to be told we can't be understand. I could go on and on...we'll just leave it with the fact that being a missionary hurts.

So sometimes we choose to jump a little lower. We fix lower goals. We talk to less people. The less we try, the less we can get hurt. Elder Teixiera's message was that there are no limits on the Lord...we just need to jump as high as we can...and even when it hurts, the Lord will provide miralces. We just have to have the faith to jump.
So leaving zone conferance, we were just 'jumping' to get to our areas. So here we are ready to change the way missionary work is done in Lille. When we hit the lid preatty hard. The lady we contacted a couple weeks ago that fixed a rendezvous with us, canceled and was rude about it. Another person we found and had started teaching, dropped us. Out of faith, one morning we decided to contact a certain amount of people before lunch...we'll just say it was more people than we normally contact in one day. One by one, every single contact rejected us. Until...the very last person gave us a phone number. I know I should have been excited...it just seemed like such a little thing, a phone number, after all the great blessings promised in zone conferance if we would just keep jumping.

One other thing mentioned in zone conferance...perservance. President Poznanski reminded us, it would still take lots of work and disappointment. Still lots of jumping and hitting our heads. Well come Sunday, I was tired. I won't lie. I wanted to go back to jumping just a little bit less. Especially when our ami called us right before church and told she wouldn't be able to come.

Well church came and went. We talked with lots of members and had a good day, and Soeur McGhie and I were ready to go home and break our fast. Just as our lunch was coming out of the oven...we got a call from the elders. They were still at the church and this lady had shown up asking for Sister Smith. I spoke with her on the phone, and remembered she was someone we had contacted on Monday night. She was fed up with other religions and was open to learning about ours despite all the horrible things she had heard about us. She had told us that she would come to church, she even knew where it was. But she refused to give us a phone number or an address-so I thought it would be a miracle if we every heard from her again. We'll just say when she wasn't at church I wasn't to shocked. Well... she showed up at the church 3 hours after meetings and only could remember my name, because its the same as Joseph Smith's. You better believe we left our lunch and ran to the church. We had an amazing rendez-vous, she's excited to read the book of mormon, and we are seeing her again on Wednesday.

So at the end of this week, my head is feeling a little bruised and broken...but I also have a whole new testimony in the quote "shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll land in the stars"...or however it goes. In other words...we'll keep jumping.

I love you and miss you.
à la semaine prochain!
Soeur Smith

May 28, 2012 "oh, oh what are you doing here!"

Well well well,

this week was one of those weeks I swear I just wrote emails. And yet, here I am again...trying to cram a week of miracles and experiences into a few words.
So here we go...

Since I officially hit my 15 months mark...I thought I'll just make this email simple by giving you our top 15 moments of the week:

1. Taking the bus for twenty minutes in the wrong direction into adorable french countryside.. Getting off. Discovering the bus didnt come for another hour going the other direction. Deciding to walk half run back the other direction, and have little angels carry our feet because we somehow got to our rendezvous with a member family on time.
Then they told us there was another bus that drops us off right at their street.
Oh well, because we were sweating they'll think we work hard right?

2.Having the daughter of a less active tell she wants to be a sister missionary one day.

3.Recieving mail from your younger brother about how much he loves his mission. Best mail ever.

4.So we have this new ami Rositta, she was being taught by other sisters close to Lille, but now because we are here we can teach her. Well, the trick is she doesn't want to be taught by other sisters, she likes her sisters. But one cut out picture of Jesus glued to colored paper later, and she and I are best friends. Thank you Heavenly Father for softening her heart.

5. Having Rositta tell us we were the rays of light in her life :)

6. Recieving a letter in the mail from Kedinnetse...its was tender.

7. The conversation we had with our neighbor. Let me explain. He is this adorable old man that leaves every morning at the same time to buy orange juice. Apparently, the elders would always say hi to him, but he would never say hi back. Well this week we were leaving our apartment, and he came out and said something to the effect of
Neighbor. "wlkdqmlkhqglkdhf????"
Me: pardon?
Neighbor: did the men leave?
Me: (assuming he's talking about the elders) yes, but they still live in Lille. see we are all missionaries and....
Neighbor:qqldkhfqkjdhfmqkdhf
Me: pardon?
Neighbor: I'm 84
Me: congratulations?
Neighbor: *nods, smiles, walks away muttering in old man french*

I was just stoked he talked with us.

8. Going from door to door getting rejected because its a holiday weekend and everyone is either gone on vacation, or here with their family and don't want to talk to us. After two hours of this, we get on the metro and this giant family who looks like they just came from the beach enters the metro. The dad takes on look at us and starts yelling "mormon" and speaking some crazy langauge. His teenage son intreprets for us- apparently they had met missionaries before and they wanted a book of mormon in slovakian (explains the crazy language). Meanwhile, apparently the dad is teaching everyone on the metro the resoration or something because all i hear is "*slovakian*joseph smith!!!*slovkian*".
We'll be dropping off that book as soon as possible!

9.Me being the spazziest trainer ever and somehow managing to get us locked out of our phone for 3 days...but don't worry. The elders finally figured it out...you know after we had spent three days passing by the church every few hours hoping there would be someone at the church to help us. (apparently pay phones these days only take credit cards!)

10. The lady I told you about last week that we contacted, cute young mom, called us back and we fixed a rendezvous for this coming week!

11. Being called by a previous investigator of the sisters 3 years ago, and being asked if animals will go to the celestial kingdom.

12. Going for a rendezvous with a member, but ending up talking to someone in the elevator and being able to give them a book of mormon and fix a rendezvous!

13.I have seen the sun for at least 5 days straight now...and I even have an official watch tan to prove it!

14. Having a less active open her door and say "Oh! Oh! What are you guys doing here!" Then she started crying with joy, while inviting us in. Apparently she has been really struggling and praying to Heavenly Father and telling him she can't bear her burdens alone. Her husband has forbidden her from coming to church, or having missionaries over when he is home. Therefore, since there have been no sisters in Lille she hasn't been able to see the missionaries, but she said "having sisters back in Lille is the answer to my prayers".
We'll just say the tears were flowing pretty freely in that rendezvous.

15. The opportunity I've had to be a missionary for our Lord Jesus Christ. What could be better!

Love you all! Have a great week!
Soeur Smith

May 21, 2012 "The Old Hardened Missionary"

Bonjour Bonjour.

Well this week has been an adventure as we've tried to get to know Lille. Its included lots of bus rides, reading maps, turning around, another bus ride, oops could've taken the metro right there, and turning around again. haha. But its all a part of the fun right?

I've been having lots of flashbacks this week to when I was trained. Its very strange to be the older companion with the stories. No wonder they say the mission is like mini life. I can just picture this is what getting old feels like- all of the sudden people look at you like you know stuff and you feel like kind of like 'hey no- I was just in your shoes five minutes ago, we are learning together'...but then there are moments you realize you have learned something and you actually do know what your doing.

For example: this week we had some pretty cool finding experiences (since that makes up for about 95 percent of what we do). So missionaries plan everything they do...we have TRANSFER planning to fix goals for the next 6 weeks. Then we have WEEKLY planning to decide what we are going to do that week to reach those goals. Then we have NIGHTLY planning, to figure out exactly what we are going to do the next day. We even have back up plans for when those plans fall through. THEN we have studies in the morning where we confirm what we are doing for the day. To boil it down...we know what we are supposed to be doing every minute of the day. Well two times this week, after we had done nightly planning, and I knelt down to pray, I've felt very specifically that we need to change where we were going to go to do finding to another place. I thought that was wierd, since I barely know the ville, that I would have such specific street in mind. So the first night, I kind of just shrugged it off. Well, then the next morning, this street would just not get off my mind. So I talked with Soeur McGhie and she was fine with changing our place to go contacting. When we got there, we met several people who were interested in just an hour. I was pumped. Well...later in the week, after planning, I knelt down to pray and I had the impression we needed to change not only the place, but the time of when we were going to do contacting. This time I did not hestiate at all to tell Soeur McGhie. When we got there the next morning, we met a really nice mom with her two little kids, and she was super excited to talk with us.

Part of growing old as a missionary is becoming a little hardened...ok maybe not hardened...realistic is probably a better word. I realize all these great contacts will probably not turn into 50 baptisms...but it doesn't stop me from being hopeful that one of these people are ready and that we can start teaching them this week. One of my goals when I started my mission was to really learn the language of the spirit and to know how the spirit speaks to me. This week I kind of had this moment of like 'woah, I have learned something, I knew the spirit was speaking with me'. Obviously I'm not perfect and have room to grow...but it was kind little tender mercy of the Lord to let me know how I've grown a little during the mission. Maybe I do know a thing or two?

One thing I expected about training, I thought my blue would be fascinated with France. Kind of like how I would stop Soeur Pearce in the street to look at a beautiful apartment building just because 'it was so french'. And she would just kind of chuckle, roll her eyes, and keep walking. Well, I guess I should have learned my lesson after working at Disney World for 4 months and still being able to cry in the firework show. You can guess who is grabbing her blue's arm and making her stop to appreciate a beautiful door. I guess I'm not really all the hardened after all...

guess that means I can start expecting those 50 baptisms. :)

Love you and miss you!
Have a great week!
Soeur Smith

May 14, 2012 "Blue Luck"

Oh Gosh.....

Well that about sums up my week. So Love you, miss you! Au revoir...

Dont worry. I'm kidding. I just feel like I don't really know where to start on describing this week. Started off with lots of tearful goodbyes and nastolgic 'last time I porte this street, last time I visit this less-active' and other obnoxious goodbye procceses in Brussels....

And now I'm in LILLE!
With my baby, SISTER MCGHIE!
AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHICH WAY IS UP! And I LOVE IT!

So this whole new adventure started with going to Paris to pick up my blue. We had a training Wednesday morning before getting our newbies that was from president and the assitants and was full of lots of words of wisdom like 'be a good example...right up to the bitter end you oldies' I think that was directed to me and the other two trainers that go home with me in August. Bitter end, meh, what do they know? I going to make this once sweet finale..

Then we had this awkward process in which the blues came and sat on one side of the room, and we sat on the other and they had a picture of each city and the trainer pop up on the projecter and the trainer stood up, and then president announced the blue and then they stood up and we awkwardly stood there on opposite sides of the room waving at each other. Ya, so once that bit of awkwardness was over I got to run over and give Soeur McGhie a big hug and tell her I know absolutely nothing about our ville. I think her eyes got a little bit bigger at that point haha. But she is awsome! She is from Seattle, Washington; speaks amazing french; super hard working, and I'm pretty sure jett-lag is catching up. Poor thing.

So after that we got to go to the Eiffel Tower for like five minutes, drag our suitcases across Paris to the Gare, and catch our train up to Lille. We got here, and the elders were waiting to escort us to our apartment. I was slightly terrified of what the apartment was going to be like, since we were stealing it from elders, but a recent convert revealed to me that they had been cleaning all week, so it was actually pretty nice when we walked in! Its on the bottom floor, so we have a nice little patch of grass we call our yard, and we don't have drag groceries up 6 flights of stairs. Life is wonderful!

So we got to our apartment, dropped our stuff, and headed right over to ward council. And this ward is amazing! They sat and asked about every investigator...of the elders (we are still working finding some of those) and then acted all excited about having sisters and gave us a list of less actives to visit! I'm just in shock...I think I've had dreams about this kind of ward council...yes I know I know, I'm a dork.

And now our days are filled with looking at the map, trying our best to be inspired, and then doing finding. And I keep telling Soeur McGhie that she has blue magic...we've been seeing all sorts of little miracles! Our first night porting, we had been knocking on doors for about a half-hour, and this lady opened the door and she said 'I knew you'd knock on my door, come in'. I was like, well I hope this is a good thing? But judging by her big grin, I guessed she was happy to have us knock on her door. Turns out she met the missionaries when she was in her 20s and really enjoyed talking with us. She wasn't interested at all in our message, but she just wanted to let us know there are people out there that support us and admire us. It was a nice little tender moment...but just a little seed planted I suppose. Then the next day we were contacting in one of the main squares of the city, and Soeur McGhie was like 'I'm going to go talk to that girl sitting on the stairs' and I was like 'ok go for it!' so she walks over and they start chatting...so I'm just thinking ok, look at her go miss independant! So I kept just trying to stop people and talk with them. Well after about 20 minutes, I look over, and they are still chatting! So I walk over...turns out that the girl is american, studying in France, dated a mormon for 3 years, loves church, but never went back because it was a nasty breakup. But she said ' you know church is like the gym, at first I'd rather stay at home in my pj's and watch tv, but after I just feel so much better'. We invited her to church, but turns out she is finishing up her time in France and headed to Paris to meet up with her family, but who knows! Maybe she well go back when she is back in the states! Or I could stalk her on facebook in three months and make sure she goes back...judge me. I'm a creep and desperate to save souls.

Anyways. My little blue is just a little piece of luck. Like last night after our phone calls home we decided to pass by some of the less-actives the ward council gave us. So we go to this house, and its a bussiness for guard dogs. aka pictures of terrifying dogs all over the door...just a missionaries favorite kind of door. But I was like, well we're here. Just as I was about to knock on the door, this lady across the street hung out the window and asked who were looking for. We told her, and she pointed us to the right house. Phew. The Lord really does protect his missionaries.

And now I'm living in this wierd state of deja-vu. Like yesterday at church, the two wards in our building were combined, there was a byu symphony who came and performed that weekend, and we had no idea who our ward was. Kind of reminds of my first Sunday in Paris when we had like 100 visitors, a new BYU study abroad group arrive, and we had no idea who our ward was. And how I got to say 'see you soon' at the end of my phone call...just like sister pearce last year. And how Soeur McGhie kind of looks at me and says 'now where are we going' and I see in her that look of 'Im in France and nothing is like what I expected and is this really what missionary work is like?' kind of look that I would give my trainer.

Oh gosh. We've got an adventure here in Lille waiting for us.
Love you and miss you!
Soeur Smith

May 7, 2012 "I'm pregnant"

Bonjour Bonjour!

Well, before you all freak out at the subject-line....let me explain!

Here is a dictionary to help you understand missionaries

Born: where you start your mission.

ex. I was born in Paris

To Kill: to be the last companion of a missionary

ex. I killed Soeur Pearce and Soeur Cope
Frudge:An african drink that smells great and looks yummy. It even tastes great at first- but then leaves an awful aftertaste. In our mission we refer to investigators who seems golden at first, but then don't show up for rendez-vous or don't answer calls 'frudgy'. It can also be used when someone does not show up for their rendezvous.

ex. We got frudged 8 times this week!

Mother/Father: trainer

ex. I am Soeur Pearce's daughter.

And on Wednesday I'm going to be a momma....or in other words I'm training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I figure since my little baby is still wandering around the Provo MTC freaking out because she's flying to France tommorow, she has yet to be 'born', and therefore I'm pregnant.

Oh Gosh...mission humor.

Anyways-If you can't tell. Im kind of excited. I'll be training in a ville called Lille in the north of France. So yes I get to return to France, and yes the chances of me seeing the sun before the end of my mission just died. But that's ok because I'm super excited to be going to Lille! I've been there a few times for French legality stuff, and its adorable!

So here you go, the new address:

223 A05, Blvd. de Valmy

59650 Villeneuve d'Ascq

FRANCE

I don't really know how to sum up this week. It kind of felt like I had this giant band-aid on my heart and someone decided to come and rip it off little bit by little bit, rather than just all at once. Since I knew I was leaving I started my goodbyes on Tuesday. Then yesterday at church, we announced to the ward that the sisters would be leaving, and so all the ward members I love so very much decided to get up and poor salt into my poor little bleeding heart and bear their testimonies about how much they love the sisters. Don't worry, I let them all see how much it was killing me when I got up and bawled through my entire testimony. Im sure they were all so impressed when I couldn't even finish...my ending went something like 'in the name of your son, oh gosh, the son Jesus Christ, oh dang, in the name of Jesus Christ AMEN'....maybe they are excited to get more elders. They aren't so weepy.

You know I feel like the longer your on a mission, the more you realize how every cliché you've ever heard is so true. Like the fact that the mission reflects real life. You know, if you had told me that I would only have 3 villes in my mission, I would have told you Heavenly Father knows me better than that and knows I like moving around every few months. If you had told me that I would stay in Brussels for 5 transfers, I would you have told you your silly, no one ever does 5! But in the end the mission is exactly what you needed- like Heavenly Father actually knows even better than you know yourself what you need. Kind of like life. The mission is just so personal. I arrived in the mission field with four other sisters. Since then we've all had very different companions and served in different cities. Our missions have been very different. But even if I had stayed with one companion the whole time, our missions would be so different. Somehow Heavenly Father knows how to tailor our challenges and trials to our very needs. So kind of him. haha. But seriously- its like life. We all show up here, little babies with not a clue what's going on. And each one of us go through life encountering challenges and situations that are different from anyone else. And somehow, life is exactly what we need. Like at the end of your mission, in the end of life, we come before our Heavenly Father, and say "I tried! I promise I really tried". And I'm sure everyone's hope is that they hear some sort of response to the effect of "good job, Im so proud of you. You made it".

Ok I swear I'm not having dying thoughts- maybe this whole cycle of life thing (remember I'm giving birth on Wednesday) has made me feel all reflective and I attempted to be wise and now I don't even know what my point is. Oh gosh, its my testimony all over again. OK POINT IS- I love my mission. Looking back, its exactly what I've needed to grow and develop into the missionary I want to be. Therefore, I can deduct that Lille is going to be amazing and I CANT WAIT!

I also can't wait to talk to you on Sunday! Happy Mothers Day

I love you!

Soeur Smith

April 30, 2012 "Grace"

Bonjour Bonjour,

Well this week has been kind of the same as all the weeks this transfer.

We walk. We talk to some people. We get rejected.

We take the metro. We talk to some people. We get rejected.

We knock on some doors. We talk to some people. We get rejected.
We call some people. We get rejected.

Thrilling. I know. I bet if I tell you that it was also raining on top of all that joy...you'd all drop what your doing, jump on the first plane to the promised land of Belgium, and join in all the wonder.

Well, this week I was inspired by an article in the April Ensign by Elder Bednar. It talks about the atonement and grace.I've kind of always wondered what that little word means-'grace'. I think I always thought it was some sort of equivalent of 'hope'. You know has members of the church, we always talk about how you have to work, not just depend on grace, to be saved. Somewhere in all the sunday school lessons, I started to assume that grace meant being lazy. Just sittin back and hoping we could be saved 'grace à' Jesus Christ.

Well then Elder Bednar decided to rock my world and put a little spin on things. He said that as he reads the scriptures, he replaces the word 'grace' with 'enabling power of the atonement'. Well this week I've been searching the scriptures for the word 'grace' so I could test his theory and understand exactly what all this means. What is grace? Is it even important? How does it help us?

Well then one day we came in for dinner. It was day that went something like this:

studies. finding. lunch. finding. dinner. *que giant rainstorm*. Finding.

We came in for dinner and I had this feeling of despair. I know as missionaries its kind of taboo to admit failure. But I was ready to do it. Just sit down, cry, eat all the chocolate the country of Belgium could provide, and admit that there is no one in our area prepared to accept the gospel. Well then, something popped in my mind from studying all this grace-bussiness. Its from the bible dictionary. Goes like this "It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means."

That's how I felt. I was trying with all my own means to find someone, who would listen to us. A few humble prayers later, we were out on the streets, and managed to give away three books of mormon and get some numbers that night.

I can honestly not tell you how I even got out the door. I had no energy and no desire to leave the apartment.

Oh I can honestly tell you, it was only by grace, that I was able to get out the door. The Lord help me to have strengh to do good works that I would not have been able to otherwise do.

So the conclusion I've come to. Grace is the exact opposite of being lazy. It is trying your hardest, working with all your own means, praying with all your heart, then working a little more. Then out of his tender love, the Lord sends you a sign of approvel. Some sort of sign that your on the right track. Just enough grace, power, and encouragement, to keep you going. Then you start all over again, working, but relying on grace to make up the difference.

Maybe NOW you want to come join in on all the fun here in Belgium? Its pretty wonderful, coming to understand the gospel, one rejection at a time.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Soeur Smith

April 22, 2012 "Bruxelles and I . . . We were meant to be"

Bonjour Bonjour!

Well this week started off with interviews with President Poznanski. My interview started off somewhere along the lines of "well Soeur Smith, its no secret that you'll be leaving Bruxelles next transfer"...and then went on for about twenty minutes with inspirational advice to work my hardest for this ville while I still can.

So that's what we've been doing this week! So just when the tough get going, the going gets tough right. We contacted this lady who acted really excited when we said who we were and fixed a rendez vous with us right then. We met with her later that week in a park during her lunch break. She is originally from Sweden, but has lived in Luxembourg and Bruxelles. She told us she has seen elders in Sweden, Luxumbourg, and here and has always wondered why no one as talked with her, and that's why she was so excited when we contacted her. Well, the rendez vous seemed to be going great- she liked the idea of a prophet, and was touched when we gave her a Book of Mormon in Swedish. But then, as we were explaining what exactly the Book of Mormon is, she suddenly stood up, said she had to go, and started walking as fast as possible without actually running away. So- I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say that her lunch break was over? On verra...

We also ported into this man that was home with his two little kids. He was super nice and liked the idea of prophets as well, but was 'too busy taking care of kids to talk'. Gr...I swear satan's number one tool these days is bussy-ness. But I've been praying pretty hard that he'll have a moment and call us some time...and then he and his family can learn about the gospel and be sealed together forever! Yay...I get giddy these days when I think about forever families. Yup the wierdness has sunk in through and through...

And all my Jeru-training came into use this week. So Soeur Dremeaux and I called this less active lady and asked if we could come by, she was super excited and we fixed a rendez-vous. Well we get there, and she is waiting at the door for us. She then says something to the effect of 'there are people waiting upstairs for you with questions'....and I'm thinking...sweet I've waited my whole mission for something like this, and I'm with a francophone so we're good! Well we walk in and there are three Pakistani men sitting at the kitchen table and the first one says, in english, "so your nuns?"....hahaha I had to keep myself from laughing a. because he sounded exactly like Chrisopher Smith's indian voice and b. because I think its so funny when people think we're nuns. Anyways, turns out they were Muslim and legitamally wanted some answers about Christianity. They really wanted to focus on the similarities between our religions. It was great- they seemed quite impressed about what I did know about the Islam religion. And one of them even came to church the next day with the less-active. Yes, building bridges everywhere we go.

And this whole idea of leaving Brussels has made me realize how much I love everyone here. While talking with a less-active this week I almost started crying with the thought of not seeing her family each week. I mean, I've pretty much known I'm leaving, no one ever stays in one place for 6 transfers...but to hear president say it out loud just kind of hit home...so be prepared for some pretty weepy emails in the next two weeks.

And this Sunday we were going with Kedinnetse to a members home for a lesson, and she was explaining to me how her tribe in Africa's totem is an elephant. I don't know exactly what a totem is...some sort of like sign or representative of your tribe...so if people ask "whats your totem?" she can say elephant, and that means something to people. I dont know...but the point is that elephants are my favorite animal and she is very aware of the fact...so as she is explaining this she looked at me and said "so we were meant to be". Yup...I'm tearing up. I also found out she loves Justin Bieber and country music. What more can I say.

So as I'm preparing to leave this ville, I just am gaining more and more of testimony that "we were meant to be". Im grateful for the time I've had here. I feel like when I look back on my mission I can say I was born in Paris, and grew up in Brussels. Now its time to die...who knows where...but I can promise it will be with a bang!

I love you all! Have a great week!
Soeur Smith

April 15, 2012 "Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked"

Bonjour Bonjour.

Well this week I felt like a pioneer. The public transportation went
on strike for most of the week. And while I love our new
apartment...it is not in our area and so we had to walk for almost an
hour every day just to get into our area. Then...start walking to our
appointments etc. Needless to say, wasn't the most productive week.
But we did get lots of street contacting in!

Speaking of...turns out Soeur Dremeaux speaks some spanish! We were
contacted by a spanish jehovah's witness...and they talked for an
hour! I sat there and nodded and smiled like I was blue again...all
while thinking 'I wish Chris was here"...he'd know more than I do what
the heck is going on. lol.

So this week was more of a building week...did lots of contacting.
Hopefully these people have potential and next week I can write you
about the miracles we are having! Pray for us.

I hope you have a great week! Love you!
Soeur Smith

April 9, 2012 "The Holy Land"

Bonjour Bonjour!

I know your all sick of hearing me talk about time. But its freaking me out because I remember last easter thinking 'woah, by next easter I'll be near the end of my mission". And voila qoui. Commence freakout.

ANYWAYS how lovely is it that we get a two times of the year to celebrate Christ's life. I have loved studying the last week of Christ's life this week. It reminds me of another easter I spent studying Christ's life in the Holy Land. Studying in Jerusalem is an experience I'll never forget. Studying and experiencing Easter in the Holy Land is an experience I'll never forget. During that week in Jerusalem, we attended many different religious celebrations. We walked into Jerusalem with thousands of people singing and waving palm leaves just like people did to welcome Christ on the donkey. We attended mass. We went to churches and sang. We snuck into the upper most towers of a church to watch a midnight reinactment of people carrying Christ's body into the seplachure. We were at a sunrise evangilical service in the Garden Tomb. And then we went to our sacrament meeting. Where we quietly took the sacrament to remember what Christ did for us.

I've thought about my Jerusalem experiences alot on my mission. I know you don't have to travel the Holy Land to understand the bible...but I am so grateful for how alive the bible is for me because of that experience. But Christ my Savior has because much more real to me this past year. In a year of serving others while wearing His holy name on my chest everyday, I've learned what his gospel really means. Sure it was nice to sit next to Olive trees and compare Christ's allagories to the real tree. Sure it was nice to ponder the scriptures in the Garden of Gethsemne. But those stories and scriptures have come to mean so much more as I, at least attempt, to explain to people how they can bring peace into thier lives.

I don't remember who said it, but one general authority said that where you serve your mission will become your holy land. I feel so grateful to have had this past year to make France and Belgium my own personal holy land. And I know that Christ was ressurected and lives today.

Happy Easter.

Soeur Smith

April 2, 2012 "Scripture Power"

Bonjour Bonjour

Well this week was one of those weeks were I just sit back and think...woah did all that really happen in a week. First off we had transfers. Which required me going to Paris to drop of Soeur Cope, and pick up Soeur Dremeaux. Soeur Dremeaux is great! She is from a small town near Toulouse. She was born in the church, which is a nice reassurrance that multiple generation families do exisist in France! And its going great! I thought my brain was going to blow up....but after I get over the initial shock of having someone say 'ca va' to me at 6:30 in the morning, my brain seems to be adjusting. Its good...I actually really like speak french all the time! Helps me have confidence that somehow I communicate...and somehow she gets what I'm trying to say! My nightmare of coming home from the mission and not knowing any french is gone! Phew....

This week we also had an ami pass away. She's had cancer for along time, and last week we got a call from her friend, a member in our ward, telling us she was in the hospital again. We visited her last week and sang some hymns for her- and this Tuesday we got a text saying she had passed away. She has been in alot of pain for many years- so honestly I know she is in a better place being taught by angels. The miracle was that her family asked if they could use our church for the service. The Bishop said it was fine- and we got to be the chaprones for this lovely event. I know funerals are somber events...but I had to hold back a couple chuckles when the African choir started singing and people started yelling amens. I just really wanted a member of our ward to walk in and wonder why the missionaries were holding thier own seperate apostate congreation Friday morning. Anyways...all chuckles aside, it was nice to know that our church meant something to Murial and her family trusted our church to hold her funeral. Also got to learn many french vocab words related to funeral....

This week I had one of those amazing scripture moments. As I expressed last week, I was little disappointed to be staying in Brussels again. I'm tired. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing left to give to the members of this ward or city. I've tried to serve them, and when you don't see any change it can be discouraging. I just keep thinking, maybe another missionary would know how to serve them and bring them unto Christ better. Obviously, what I'm doing isn't right. Well, as Elder Scott said in conferance, sometimes while helping others, responses to our own problems can piggyback on revelation of how to help others. While looking for something to help a less active I came across Alma 31:31-32. It says

31 O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people.

32 O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me—yea, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also Amulek and Zeezrom, and also my two sons—yea, even all these wilt thou comfort, O Lord. Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ.

It was one of those the words lept off the page and spoke to me moments. Really, as I've come to realize, the answer lies in prayer. The Lord can help me not just endure, but enjoy, giving comfort to the people here in Brussels. The day I read this, we passed by a couple of less actives, who were shocked that I was still here...and excited to see me. They didn't just see me as another sister coming by to invite them to come to church...they saw me as a friend. And they felt like my friends. And I really cared for them. And they cared for me. I realize people can't come to church because they love a missionary- but it was different. It was a reassurance to me that I did stick around for a reason. That when you stick around for people and don't give up on them- it means something to them. And the Lord has the power to comfort my soul even if they continue to reject our invititation, and ultimately Christ's invitation to Come unto Him. Oh how I love the scriptures.

And there was conferance! I don't even know where to start. It was my last conferance as a missionary, and Soeur Dremeaux's first. Conferance is just amazing. I loved all the talks. As is always possible, I recieved many personal answers and confirmations I was seeking for, and some that just come anyways. Overall, I just feel so grateful to be a part of this great church, and to have a living prophet. I mean think about it. The rest of the world is trying to define what is right and what is wrong. Many people think its all objective, and that we can just get through life. But we, lucky ducks that we are, have the prophet and apostles. They tell exactly what we need to do, as a church, and through them, the spirit can whisper to us and tell us what we need to do personally. Its just so amazing.

And I won't lie, my heart ached a little everytime a story about a missionary was mentioned- knowing next conferance I won't be a part of this great army. But I did get some comfort knowing there is now Elder Smith and Elder Archie fighting evil for us....
In the end, tout est bien!

Love you!
Soeur Smith

March 26, 2012 "don't have much to say...:

Well I dont have much to write for this week. Mostly Im just going through emotional pains of sending one of my best friends home. Oh well...I know we will one day hang out when in the great P day in the sky...

We've spent lots of time outside this week because Belgium is having a wierd streak of sun...my eyes dont quite remember what it is like to look at the sun...

We've also spent alot of times in hospitals this week. I think Soeur Cope and I have visited a total of four seperate hospitals here in Brussels....I dont know what it is with amis getting sick...

And I turned 13 months old! Super wierd...hopefully that means I have some good luck coming in the next month!

Found out I'm staying a fifth transfer in Brussels. Guess I should just ask them to put my name on the ward list since I feel like I've just lived here forever. And my new companion is from Southern France...first one not from Utah. Its going to be good!

AND ITS CONFERANCE THIS WEEK!!!!! Im so excited.....kind of sad though its my last one as a missionary...But Chris's first! and he's going to love it!

Ok well, I love you all and have a good week!

March 19, 2012 "My Laman and Lemuel tendancies"

Bonjour à tous!

Sounds like this week was amazing for the family (and stressful for mom!). I can't believe that it was Chris's farewell. Won't lie....all I have running through my head is Chris's voice saying "a mission is great for you Courtney Smith, but not for me" when we said goodbye in January 2011... holy cow miracles do happen! I only wish I could have been there...at least I know Im guaranteed front row seat at the homecoming :)

This week I have felt a little bit like a Lamen or a Lemuel. You know, missionary work is hard! I know people warn you of that...but some days its just hard. I feel like my whole mission, I've developed this little 'Lamen and Lemuel cycle'. Missionary work becomes hard ->I grumble->the Lord sends a tender mercy->I feel grateful->all the sudden I feel supper pumped and love missionary life->then it becomes hard-> voila quoi....my little cycle. Ok its not alway tout à fait like that....but sometimes there are days....weeks...transfers.... like that.

So this week we had a lot of tender little mercies. Kedinnetse shows up at church with pages of notes on the atonement because she has been studying all week to prepare for Sunday School. An excommunicated member finally kicks out her boyfriend and starts to put her life together. The elders contact this awsome lady who we start teaching...and then she introduces us to her friends. I go on exchanges and visit an adorable city in the north of france and contact some awsome people. I have the best companion ever who keeps me laughing. Or just little things like while reading the scriptures the Holy Ghost whisper tender things I needed to hear in that moment.

So sometimes I just wonder...why am I so human? Being human just feels so ...weak! I don't want to grumble when things get hard, I dont want to doubt that people will keep their commitments, I dont want to doubt that there are families out there prepared to accept the gospel. But sometimes those little thoughts creep in. I guess that is just where my testimony of the atonement has grown so much this past year. Heavenly Father knew we have human tendancies. He knew we would give in. I mean...He even said he gave us our weaknesses (Ether 12). But he also said he would make us strong. So I guess that is why the gospel is a gospel of hope. We have all these human tendancies, but our loving Father gave us a way to overcome them,through our Savoir Jesus Christ. Christ taught<< These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.>> John 16:33

So at the end of my week of weaknesses and grumblings, Im feeling good cheer...because I get another week to be a missionary and share the good news.

I love you all!

Soeur Smith

March 12, 2012 "Tender Mercies"

Bonjour!

I remember once someone telling me in the MTC that as a missionary, the days feel like weeks, the weeks feel like months, and the months feel like years. It seems like every week I sit down and so much as happened and last Monday feels like years ago. And at the same time it feels like this week has flown by. Time is such a curious thing....

This week we had a lot of tender mercies. Wednesday was a special day for us. Special as in it might have included some ranting and frustrations about missionary life. But then we had a lunch appointment with a less active. Her name is Soeur Davies and she just showed up at church a couple weeks ago and I asked her if we could come visit her. Well we showed up to her house, and there on her mantel place were her and her husbands' missionary tags and pictures from their missions. Turns out she has the most amazing story. She is from Pakistan originally. And they met the church through missionaries! (yes Chris your dream of one day serving in Pakistan can come true....) Anyways, missionaries there aren't allowed to proslyte...they cant even wear matching white shirts or tags, because Christians are so heavily targeted and persecuted. So the missionaries have to work through members. Well her aunt had somehow met the missionaries and then invited Soeur Davies' family over. Her whole family was converted- and eventually she served a mission in Singapore. Her husband is Belge and served his mission somewhere near Pakistan and went back to visit his mission and then did some travelling when they met. I don't know the reasons why she  doesn't come to church- but she said she and her husband still study the scriptures together every day. And you could just feel the spirit in her home. Strange though- she spends years being persecuted for being Christian, she has had family members killed for being Christian, and she comes to Belgium and doesn't come to church. Anyways- it was just a tender afternoon. We looked through her photo albums from her mission and listened to her stories, and I know she has a testimony. It was just a reminder to me of what a priviledge it is to serve a mission and how short our time really is.

So Soeur Cope and I did some repenting and decided we were going to do some porting right then and there. Well naturally it starts storming, the rain is coming down and the first door we knock on...lets us in!!!!!! It was girl in her 20's who told us 'ya actually this really interests me!" We told her we would bring her back a Book of Mormon (because naturally I only had english with me because we were supposed to teach an english rendezvous that day) but she was really cool and we are so excited....and she definately lives in our area...which is a plus.

We also went to the bible class with the guy that we ported into a couple weeks ago, Bruno. We brought elders with us...because turns out he lives in the other area as well. But the night was great. Here was this well-off Belge man with a bunch of his friends...and as we studies the bible together, each person took turns to bear thier testimony of Christ and the role He has had in their lives. It was just refreshing to see that there are people out there who not only believe in Christ, but He plays a significant role in thier life. We all walked away feeling very uplifted....and I just know if Bruno will read the Book of Mormon he will just get it! We'll keep praying for him.

And just an update on Peter- we heard from the elders that he has now read the entire Book of Mormon and noticed that in the footnotes it talks about something called the Doctrine and Covenants and he would like to read that book too. We are just so excited he READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!

Wierd how once in a while people are interested in a new book of scripture, people want to talk about Christ, and someone wants to learn more. Tender, tender mercies.

Bonne Semaine!
Soeur Smith

March 5, 2012 "Sometimes birthday cards make all the difference"

Bonjour Bonjour!

 

Well its been another great week in Brussels....we even saw the sun for a couple days. But now it is currently snowing...so apparently the singing birds were just giving me false hopes of spring...ah well...guess I'll need to be transfered south to ever see the sun again.

 

This week has been full of lots of finding. Missionary work just seems to go through cycles. You find lots of people, teach, only one or none of them progress; so its back to finding. Soeur Cope and I had a nice companionship unity moment this week. We did our personal study in the morning- and I had this super awsome study about the importance of the Book of Mormon and was feeling like we needed to focus our finding on introducing people to the Book of Mormon (you may be thinking...well what else do missionaries do? But you can approach people with lots of stuff...eternal families, modern day prophet, God is your Heavenly Father...etc.) ANYWAYS turns out Soeur Cope had had the exact same prompting...so in other words revelation is real! We have yet to find the person who is just waiting for the Book of Mormon...but it will come I know it. So the knocking doors continues....

 

We had zone conferance in Paris this is week. It was great...you know spiritual, inspiring, uplifting, etc etc...however...it also made me realize something. IM OLD. Ok...not literally...well maybe literally but I'll have that freak out when I get home from my mission and all my roommates are freshmen. But Im old in the mission...I don't know anyone! I remember Soeur Pearce telling me you don't know anyone at the beginning of your mission, you know everyone in the middle, and you know no one at the end. I think I'm moving into the knowing no one phase. Its slightly freaky...ah well...its just a strange feeling to be considered one of the old missionaries when you still feel like you have so much to learn and do!

 

So our ami Peter! The one we found on the metro last week. We had an awsome rendezvous with him! He told us that ever since he has met us that he has been praying for us- particularly that we will find good husbands that will have faith like us haha. (For Soeur Cope who is headed home soon this is a much appreciated prayer :) ) His family is amazing. His wife watched a church film and loved it, and the end of the rendezvous they wanted to come to church. BUT they live in the other ward's bounderies. So we had to pass them over to elders in the other ward. It was pretty sad. But they came to church yesterday and the elders told us that Peter was taking notes and asking lots of great questions...so maybe at least we will be able to attend the baptism? We are all in the same boat anyways right? Right. (aka its the elders turn to find us a super legit family! Jk Jk...kinda)

 

We had a tender moment with a less-active this week. It was her birthday so we stopped by with a card and some cookies. Its been sad for me to work with this women, because when I first got to Brussels she was coming to church pretty regularly...but she has been coming less and less and recently she told she is done with God and that he doesn't care about her. But we keep visiting her...and on her birthday she told us she didn't have the words to tell us how grateful she was that we had kept visiting her, and that it just means alot to her. It was just one of those tender moments where the Lord lets me feel like all the passbys, notes, cards, and lessons with people do make a little difference.

 

So voilà quoi....another great week!

Love you all!

Soeur Smith