Dec 13 2013 from Roswell GA

This week was good. We taught the Plan of Salvation three times in one day! Craziness. 

This week has slipped my memory so if this email is short, bare with me! 

On Wednesday we got to teach Dayjah. Have I told y'all about her? She's 19 and an RM from the ward brought her two weeks ago to church. Well this was our second lesson with her and it went perfectly. Everything made sense to her and she basically already believed in everything before, we were just confirming that what she believed before is in fact true and we have scriptures to help. Her face lit up when Isaiah, the RM, mentioned something about eternal marriage. That thrills her, and to her it makes sense because otherwise, what is the point of marriage? Also, yesterday we text reminding her about church and she said she would be going to another church with her family and we were way bummed! So we're at church and Dayjah walks in! We didn't have time to talk to her until after sacrament meeting, but she said that she wanted to surprise us and didn't want to tell us. Awesome investigator. Oh, and on Wednesday we told her she could go to the YSA if that's where she feels more comfortable because Isaiah took her there once, and she kind of freaked out and said,"What? No, I want to keep meeting with you guys." And Isaiah will be going to BYU I after Christmas, so she wants to make sure she feels comfortable with us when he's gone. We love her. SHe's awesome. 

We also got to teach this lady, Shanavia on Friday. She is a single mom and has the best attitude. She didn't keep her commitment to read to the Book of Mormon, so we're working with her on that. I think that if she keeps her commitments, she will for sure become of a member. 

We also got to teach Andre, that man that was in special forces. He's fascinating, he knows so much about the bible. Like even the Old Testament, which barely anyone knows and/or talks about. It's so interesting. If people just read the entire bible it would make sense. Oh and the cool part was we taught him a little bit about the plan of salvation because he asked us about our Heaven. So we taught him the spirit world and then he said something about three kingdoms. And we said, "oh did you read about that online?" ANd he's like, "No. It's in the bible, there are three kingdoms." !!!! No one believes in the three kingdoms because they gloss over that part in 1 Corinthians, but he knows. He basically believes in everything we teach, he just needs to understand that we do too. 

On Saturday we had a really stressful lesson with the Persian family. So since mormon.org does not come in farsi, Shahrad and his wife, Marjan, have basically been reading anti-Mormon stuff online. Oh brother. And it's super difficult trying to explain things to him when he can barely understand us. Needless to say, we FINALLY found someone that can speak farsi, they're in another stake, he just works a ton this week so we have to wait until next week to have a lesson. Shahrad and Marjan want us over for dinner on Saturday, which I'm excited about. And Shahrad and Marjan's friend has a wife that wants us to go visit her sometime this week. No wonder I've always liked Persians. The crazy thing is that they keep coming. I'm shocked. They must be feeling the Spirit. Hahaha

 

Anyway, Merry Christmas family and friends!

Love you all,

Sister Smith 

Jocelyn's Photos from Roswell GA

 Sister Andrus & Sister Fabulous Jocelyn

 Sister Jocelyn at the Baptist Church in Roswell GA

(a little inter-faith networking)

Sister Jocey in front of their Christmas Tree in Roswell

(a nice lady in their ward donated it)

Dec 16th 2013

This week was way good. We met a lot of interesting people and had a great lesson. On Tuesday we had a zone training that was really good and I felt like I got a lot from it. We need to invite more people to attend church, so that was good to have hit me in the head. After zone training we had a lesson with this girl, Dayjah, who came to church that previous Sunday because her friend (an RM) invited her. The lesson went really well and we testified and after we testified she asked us what our conversion story was. She wanted to know the member's conversion story and mine and Sister Andrus's conversion story. It was really cool and she said she wanted to have her own answer from God while she read the Book of Mormon. So we invited her to be baptized and she said that if God does answer her prayers then she will. She's on date and everything. She's super awesome and text our member that she's been reading the Book of Mormon. She responds to all of our texts positively and her friend said that she really likes us. She's way cool I'm excited for it to all pan out. 

We had dinner at this lady's place whose son is serving in the Long Beach mission! His name is Elder Jared Varney. I think he's in Long Beach for reals right now, but if you find him that would be way cool. Sister Varney is gorgeous! I don't even know how old she is, she is just beautiful and she's been through a lot (years ago, but still). But she is so service-oriented. I'm learning a lot on my mission because of the homes we get to be in and the people we interact with. The wonderful examples of stellar members is definitely going to carry with me after my mission. We had tracted in her neighborhood before dinner and met a lovely girl named Kamilla that loves Mormons. She is Muslim and she is willing to take lessons just to learn more. She is really devoted to her Muslim faith, but she is wonderful. I love meeting Muslims, Hindus and other eastern religions. The people are so calm, open and nice. Even if they're not taking lessons from us to be converted, they definitely leave a positive impression on me because of their quiet example and humble faith and they are willing to learn more about others. 

Wednesday we did service at the McArthur's. We like to do service right after studies because tracting at that time is SO ineffective. So we helped clean out her SUPER cluttered basement and cleaned all of her dishes. They were piled way high, but I like doing dishes so I had no issues with it. We didn't have a dinner that night so we went to this nice Chinese restaurant because there was nothing else around and it was kind of expensive. I don't think we'll be eating out anymore this month. 

Thursday we had a contact that lasted for an hour and a half! We will be meeting with that contact again. This man was in special forces and he lived in Afghanastan and Iraq and the works. He's a big black guy that's originally from Jamaica. That's actually why he wanted to talk to us. We were talking to his wife first and she gave us her number and didn't have time because she was cleaning, so as we were walking away she called out to us and said that her husband actually wanted to talk to us. So they let us in and he said he always saw missionaries in Jamaica on bikes and always wanted the chance to talk with them. So we began to teach him and little did we know how smart he is! He wasn't bible bashing or anything, he's a genuinely nice person you can tell. But he knows his stuff. He was a free mason before, but some things didn't really quite click with him. Though he did say he got to the 21st degree. And he told us a little bit about what they practice. That was really cool to hear. He's been everywhere in the Bible except for Jerusalem, but he wants to go. He is so interesting. He would be a wonderful asset to the church, the Lord could really use him. Hopefully it all works out.  Fingers crossed. If nothing, we've opened his eyes more. 

Friday was good. Lot's of weekly planning and a couple lessons that went really well. Saturday we had a really good tracting experience. It wasn't the best with potentials and stuff, but I felt the spirit while we were tracting, even though I was freezing cold. It is so cold to tract for two hours everyday, that's all I've gotta say. 

We had a sweet contact last night while visiting the nursing home. A lady in the ward told us to visit two other ladies so we did that last night and we didn't know what rooms they were in so we went to the nurses station and this man looked at our tags questioningly and said, "Sister Andrus, the Church of Christ... Jesus Christ of Latter day saints..." And we talked to him for a half an hour about his life and our beliefs. We're teaching him again this week. He's from West Africa and is extremely intrigued with the Book of Mormon. I really liked him.

Yesterday we had 6 investigators at church! They were all Persian... I love them to death! But the language barrier is making it difficult. I'm praying the something will come through. There aren't that many materials in Persian either and the Book of Mormon in Farsi is only excerpts. I can understand why since people can't really proselyte in Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan, but it's definitely a hindrance to our teaching. We're praying though. I really really love them. They are an awesome family that even brought their friends. 

That's all, 

Love y'all

Sister Smith

p.s. we need to figure out the time I'll be skyping y'all on Christmas! :)

Sister Fabulous Jocelyn and her companion Sister Andrus in Roswell GA

It just sprinkled on us 

Roswell GA Sister Jocelyn Dec 8 2013

Hello loved ones!

The highlight of this week was Thursday night hands down. We had gone tracting earlier for an hour and we still needed to get one more hour in. We had a lot of appointments and we weren't sure if we would have time. One appointment for 7:30 fell through and we used that time for tracting. It's getting dark at 5 ish 6 ish so it was pretty dark then. And it was pouring. Rain here is so different than rain in California that is for sure. It's like a whole new experience driving and walking in the rain here. Well, we needed to do something and it had to be tracting so we did it. By the way, my jacket came in that morning so it was perfect! We did not getting any really meaningful contacts and most people looked at us like we were crazy. Honestly, it was raining so hard it makes me smile thinking of how wet we were. When we got home we looked at ourselves and wondered what was the point of wearing rain jackets. Our skirts were soaking like we jumped in a pool and our shirts had water on the front and the back. It was stupid ridiculous but so much fun. I don't think we've laughed so hard like we did that night. To top it off this lady called our number, I think she thought the number on our card was for the church as a whole, and made a complaint. She said that it was inappropriate that we were out in the pitch dark in the pouring rain. Little did she notice the smiles on our faces and earnestness for work. Plus, I don't think that people understand that this is what we are doing 24/7. It's our life for 18-24 months. The show must go on. Ahhhh some people. 

There's this wonderful family that I could not love more that is in our ward. They are going through some really trying times right now. The wife needs to work while the dad stays at home because he's going through all these medical surgeries and what-not, so he's playing <r. Mom, and the job she has isn't a glamorous job that pays well. Anyway, they've been going through tons of hard things and they are SO giving! Sister Andrus was home in July and August for kidney  surgery and she has issues eating certain things, and one of those things is high carbs. So members can't feed us gluten or dairy, let alone high carbs. It's hard for some of them to feed us and our dinner calender isn't filled often. However, this family thinks that is unacceptable and they so willingly feed us. They won't let us deny them the chance to feed us. I love them, they are so stellar. Most people in better situations are so unwilling to serve like they do. I hope that if the Lord blesses me temporally, that I give of myself and not be selfish. I want to make a difference in someone's life, and I can't do that by mainly focusing on myself. Though, of course, I need to work on myself to be the best I can be, but in the midst of doing that, I want to be able to stand before the Lord knowing that I also gave myself to service. It's definitely hard, but I want it so badly. I'm hoping that the mission changes me to continuously serve others for the rest of my life. 

There is this other family that is also beyond stellar. They are very well blessed with money and stuff, but they give of themselves so incredibly much. It's amazing. Watching other members give so much of their time and energy to recent converts or new investigators is inspiring.

We taught Josie again. The Haitian french and creole speaking lady. It went really well. It was a humbling experience on my part as well. It's easy to get lost during her lessons because while Brother B. is telling her everything in French I get lost listening to the French and I forget the next point. Plus it made me realize how much I need to keep studying Preach My Gospel. So I've been studying that for the past week and will continue to do so, along with Jesus the Christ. Sadly she will be in New York for the next couple weeks and we have her number so we will continue to text Book of Mormon scriptures to her and hopefully she'll still feel the spirit while she's gone. She definitely felt it while we taught her the plan of salvation. She believed everything we taught her and I think it gave her hope. She used to think that it was just Heaven and Hell and that those stages were permanent, but then of course we taught her the Lord's doctrine and it spoke to her. She's a gem. I hope all is well with her being gone. 

We also went to contact an old contact and she let us in her house and we taught her part of the first lesson. The thing is, she works night shifts so she was really really tired and we could tell, so we just left her with a prayer and will hopefully be in with her this week. We're teaching a LOT of single mothers right now and I love them. It's nice having elders and sisters working in a ward because then we can just work with the women, or families, that we find and I really love it. 

Yesterday we were tracting and this lady had the door closed basically all the way when she first answered. And then I just introduced myself and said, "Hi, I'm Sister Smith" and Sister Andrus did the same and she opened the door a ton after I said my name and then a ton more after sister Andrus. She invited us in! She has a lovely apartment! It reminded me so much of Georgeanne. Just that really ornate and gold decor with some really nice rugs. She had a really fancy couch with a beautiful painting. She's originally from Paris and came to the U.S. from England. She's just wonderful. She's probably in her 50s? Anyway, she told us her experience with Mormons and it made me a little upset with stupid people who make dumb choices. Her son dated this Mormon girl from Utah that invited  him out to Utah and he went. This lady trusted that he would be safe because of her experience with Mormons in the past, she has a wonderful friend that is Mormon and all would be well. Well, I don't know everything that happened, but I do know that this girl's family and herself were not living up to the standards that they have so clearly been taught. This lady's son was disgusted and this lady threw away her Book of Mormon and said she would have nothing to do with Mormons again. Well, she actually really liked us. She said that after we met with her that we gave her hope. We made her feel happy. She's letting us come by again. I'm hoping she can realize that "people are imperfect, but God's doctrine is pure" (I think it was Uchtdorf that said that last General Conference and I'm only paraphrasing it).

I still feel like I have so much to learn and it's both invigorating and scary all at the same time. Because I have this place where I hope to see myself in such and such amount of months, or by the end, and I'm hoping I can achieve that. 

anyway.

Love y'all

Jocelyn

Some pics of Sister Jocey in Roswell GA, her new area.

 Those that have driven around with Jocey can probably hear her screaming "Look, how cool, a leaf stuck on the window of our car!" Only Sister Jocey can get excited about this...

 Sister Andrus with Sister Fabulous Jocelyn.  Her new companion in Roswell GA.

Sister Jocey with "the happiest District Leader in the world." Roswell GA

Sister Madson, Sister Beck, Young man who was baptized in Kennesaw, Sister Jocey

Dec 2nd 2013 First Letter from Roswell GA new Companion Sister Andrus

Hello family and friends,

 

Roswell is amazing and promising. I love Sister Andrus. She's a solid missionary and super chill. We teach really well together and everything just flows. I love it. I can feel that we're going to be on fire this transfer.

 

On Wednesday we taught this sweet lady named Josie. She is from Haiti and can hardly speak any English. There is this wonderful, wonderful member in our ward that can speak french and he came to the lesson to translate. The lesson was straightforward, simple and filled with the spirit. It was an awesome experience. And it was beautiful to hear the words we would say in French.

For service on Wednesday we do this thing called fancy fingers. It's where we go to the nursing home and paint the old ladies' nails. It's hilarious. The women are either not there or extremely sassy. There was one lady from El Salvador whose nails I did and she was not satisfied with my work. Hahah I'm not a professional.  It's great though because every one is so nice and it's fun work.

 

We did a lot of tracting this week because most of their previous appointments fell through. The good thing is we picked up a lot of new investigators. Yesterday we had a family from Iran come to church, we haven't had a lesson with them yet and SIster Andrus and her old companion contacted them a while back. Well, they came and the husband can only really speak farsi. The wife can speak broken english and the son was trying to interpret what was going on during church, but he doesn't know too many religious words. They are such a lovely family and I know they will be baptized. They believe in Jesus Christ and they want to find a church. We just need to find someone that speaks farsi to come with us while we teach. Haha I may not have gone foreign, but I'm teaching foreigners. Also, on Saturday we tracted into this lovely couple from India who want to meet with us again and we have an appointment with them this Saturday.

 

And we also taught this lovely lady Kim yesterday. She is a referral from the elders and has two young children. She hasn't been to church in 12 years but she wants to raise her children in a good environment. She used to be a part of this non denom Christian church years ago, but the church just crumbled and turned sour. She's been afraid of that happening so she hasn't gone. She has excellent morals and tons of questions. The wonderful thing is, we have the most perfect answer for all of her questions. She seems really concerned about the well-being of the church, which is perfect. She does understand that there are imperfect people in churches, so she gets that there are sometimes issues.  SHe just wants to find something that answers her questions and puts her on solid ground. She's really fun and really sassy. I love her. She has a good light about her.

 

We also had a sweet contact last night. We were trying to contact a referral and she couldn't talk to us because she was about to go to bed (it was about 8:00 then) and outside of her house was this man smoking and talking on the phone. We approached him and asked if he had a second. He told the person he was on the phone with that he would call them back. About a minute or so of us talking to him he said "Oh I'm sorry, let me get rid of this cigarette" (imagine a southern black guy saying it because that's how it sounded) and he let us talk to him. Turns out his manager or something is LDS and had shown him a video of a church activity and he's been wanting to go. He wants to check out our church because he wants to find a home. ANd he thought the Joseph Smith experience made sense. It was an overall really good contact and I think we were meant to meet him. I hope it all works out.

 

We're also meeting with two other contacts this week and potentially one other. I'm excited. I feel really good about this area and Sister Andrus as my companion.

 

That's it for this week,

 

Love y'all!

 Sister Smith