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