Another week in Cleveland GA

This week. Wow. Went by fast. Honestly I don't even know where it went!  We have two new Elders in the ward, one of them came out with me so that's exciting. And then there's a new Elder with our old Elder. Does that make sense? Sorry if it doesn't!   Saturday we helped do service at this less active lady's house and she fed us dinner. She's amazing. Her and her husband are so ready to come back! They're so close! and she came to church yesterday, her husband is in Texas for business this week, but he'll be back today. Hopefully they're both at church next week! I love re sharing the gospel with less actives that are prepared by the Lord. It's so amazing to see their testimony spark again, because obviously it was there before. Great.   We had a lot of appointments with new investigators this week, but we had the hardest time finding team ups. We called everyone we could and we only had one team up say they could come and get this, the investigator cancelled. It was kind of a harder week. We just have been working hard and making appointments and trying to visit as many people as possible and things keep getting changed and cancelled. Which, I should be fine with all this by now because basically that's the story of missionary life, but it just felt off this week.   I did enjoy sacrament meeting this week. I feel like I really felt the Savior's atonement. I don't know how to explain it. But I realized a little more about how much I can change. And obviously in a good way. I kept getting the thought that I need to focus my thoughts more on Christ. My thought are focused, but they're only really focused on the mission, but if I focus on Christ, the Savior, then  I feel like more power will come into my life. Really, he is the why of everything. And when that's stressed, things change. Or at least it changes me. When the atonement and Jesus Christ are taught, I feel the need to change, and I have seen it happen in others' lives. Therefore, I've decided to "try a little harder to be a little better," and focus my thoughts more on the Savior and why.   Anyway, not much to report on.... But we did have a good lesson with a lady last night. She fed us dinner and she's not sure if she belives in God or Jesus Christ or not. However, she knows that because there is darkness and bad things in the world, that there must be something right and true in the world. She just doesn't know where to look. She feels like people just want to tell her what to believe instead of letting her figure it out for herself. So we talked to her about Joseph Smith and personal revelation. It was really cool because in all reality, we're supposed to be Spiritually self sufficient. We can't just be spoon-fed the doctrine, we have to apply it to our own lives and test it out. I love that. We have the choice to learn and grow spiritually all on our own. Who cares what anyone else says. Just "look to God and live" (Alma 37:47). Done with my rants. I am just excited to teach someone and see someone grow personally and spiritually that legitimately cares about figuring out the truth. She's so open-minded and ready. I feel like she's being prepared.  
Love y'all so much! Sister Smith

Happy August #bestmonthever

Another good week in Georgia. I'm gettin' my southern accent down here in the Corn Hole. It's coming along swimmingly. Transfers are here and there's a big change in our ward/district/zone. Hence the reason I'm not be transferred. That's okay though. I can do this! But we're getting a new set of Elders and our old District Leader went home last Friday to go be a missionary in the MTC because he has a terrible knee and can't do any of the physical labor us missionaries do. So that's sad, but the cool thing is that he's serving a mission still! And so we're getting another Elder, he was my zone leader in Roswell so that's exciting. And then another Elder coming in was in my MTC district and he's hilarious. Also, we're getting a new STL and a new zone leader and a new Sister in the other pair in our district. Like I said, the most changes. It's exciting though because all the missionaries coming are awesome!

This week was crazy. We got 10 new investigators. And a new investigator is someone we've made a return appointment with. I can't believe we got that many. The standard in our mission is 5, we doubled a standard! Woo hooo! 

Really I think it's because we're trying to do everything the right way. We biked twice this week to save miles and that just increases the amount of people you meet and talk to. I did not realize how fun biking is. It's so much fun! However, my gear shift broke because my bike fell and I'm stuck on one gear, which is fine, until I go uphill, and there's a lot of hills here in Georgia. 

Sadly, Amber dropped us. I think some people showed her anti stuff because it was kind of out of the blue :/ 

on Tuesday we went to the Bible Study and they just spent 90% of the time asking us questions. It was really cool. They want us to come tomorrow and they'll have more questions. Pray for us! The Spirit is really what's most important to be honest. I think something good will come out of all this though. There's only one who seems like she kind of wants to prove us wrong, but the other ones are just purely curious about our faith. It's really cool. 

Thursday we had a really successful day. We got two new investigators and we met with a lot of less actives and got to everything basically on time. Also, we got to play games with the elderly at the Retreat they have in Habersham county, they're hysterical! They're so sad when we can't make it. 

Friday was cool because a less active family made us dinner and I played "I Am His Daughter" for them and the wife said she got chills. She's a bit of a feminist so she loved how empowering the song was. I felt good about that. Also, they had a family friend over there for dinner and she's was super sweet and nice and we were just talking to her like we would anyone really interesting. Well later, the wife text us and thanked us because the girl comes from a horrible living situation and she said that she hasn't seen that girl smile that much in a while. It felt good to be used as an instrument in the Lord's hands. Also, before dinner we had a few minutes to knock doors and we met the nicest lady and get this, her name was Carolyn. Shout out to mi madre. She was so open to reading the Book of Mormon and researching all of it, she couldn't set up a set appointment, but we're calling her later this week to get one set up and when her schedule is cleared. 

Saturday we had dinner with another less active family and they're just the best. Unfortunately they couldn't come to church yesterday, he works for Delta in Atlanta and so he's always gone. It's sad, but they totally believe in the church, it's just about getting that fire back in them. 

Yesterday we also got another two new investigators (we obviously had more throughout the week, but I just didn't write about them sorry!) and one of them seems really promising. Wish us luck. 

This week was just really good. Hopefully we can keep it up. 

love y'all!

Sister Smith

July 28th 2014

Hello Everyone!

I'll just start straight up talking about the week. 

Tuesday: We had a lesson with Amber, our elect contact, and we had a team up and every thing. Well, she said she had read the Book of Mormon, or at least the intro and the witnesses and Joseph Smith's testimony. She said she really enjoyed Joseph Smith's testimony. She was already talking about being baptized within the lesson. Unfortunately, on Thursday she text us and she said she feels like she needs a lot more time reading and praying. Thankfully, she said that she is reading and praying and seeking for an answer-- that's the most we could ask for-- but she said she's not receiving any answers. We're meeting with her tomorrow and wish to discuss recognizing the Spirit with her. Wish us luck!

Also, Tuesday night we went to a Women Bible Study. Mom you'll like this, they're studying Women in the Bible. We met a girl my age (that's engaged!!! crazy!) and she wanted to learn more from us and she said that we could come to her Bible group and we could teach there. This week we decided to participate in the study, we discussed Rebekah, but tomorrow night we will be teaching more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was really a cool experience, all the girls were so sweet and had such great testimonies in God and Jesus Christ. I love when other faiths can get together and civilly discuss spiritual things, no contention, no hatred, just pure learning and love. It made me want to start a Women Bible Study when I get home, it's really fun. 

Wednesday: We started off the morning just trying to contact less actives on our list. We met with one that was recently pointed out to us. It's so sad going into people's homes when they're not really living the gospel. It's not that their homes are entirely gross or something, but I'm here to tell you that there is a different feeling in a home with the Spirit and without it. She was active for a couple years, but all these hard things started happening and she hasn't come back. She hasn't picked up any bad habits or anything, but she's not progressing. Stagnancy is probably one of the saddest things to see. It's like someone has lost their vigor, there's no gleam in their eye. They're just living. Trying to just get through the days, but not really moving up and forward. It's so strange to see people like that. I swore to myself that I will NEVER get to that point! It's so depressing. One thing I learn a lot from the mission is how not to live, I would say that's very eye opening and beneficial for my future. Hopefully, once we start reteaching her the lessons, the fire will come back and we'll help her improve her living and spirituality. 

Thursday: Interviews with President. That was fun, 1) We got to see all the other missionaries in the zone, love that 2) President and Sister Bennion are awesome 3) I got to show off how great my family is because he wanted us to bring family photos. Hahah just kidding. But for reals though. The zone leaders gave me a song to sing and I made a personal commitment to learn how to play and sing it, so that I would really understand the accompaniment when someone plays for me for next zone meeting and I've actually learned it! It was really hard, any free time that I had during lunch or after planning I used to learn that song. We have a dinky little keyboard in our apartment, it's terrible to play with, but it's better than nothing right? So on August 12 for zone meeting I'll be singing and playing "I Am His Daughter," I really like the song and it's been fun to learn. 

Friday: We did the usual Friday routine. Then we went to see a family that's less active, particularly the wife. I really like her, she's very intelligent and they're both very artsy and they have the coolest house. They decided to make us dinner and wanted me to practice the song in their home because they like music. That was nice, but we really got to know more of their concerns and asked if we could teach them the lessons and they said yes. That was cool. 

Saturday: We biked the whole day. We only had two miles left for the month. Get this, we biked on the hottest day of the week. Great. In humidity. Awesome. Hahaha I actually really like biking. And I didn't look too terrible, my arms got tanner and my legs looks great ;). I kid I kid. But we basically tracted the whole day. Then we went and visited a less active family who's husband came to church yesterday!! YaY! Success. 

That's all for today! Love y'all!

TRUFFLE SHUFFLE...I get a run in...wahooo

hello everyone! Another week come and gone. Honestly, the time has been flying these last two transfers. I almost can believe it's been a month since my separation from my girl Sister Jones. 

This week we had exchanges. Oh, and our first district meeting since transfers... 3 weeks later. All because of Meet the President and  Zone Meeting. Anyway, exchanges. I went to Loganville with Sister Arbon and Sister Burgess stayed here with Sister George. It was so much fun because Sister Arbon is really in hiking, and running and being outdoors, so we woke up extra early and went running. So nice. I have no idea how far it was, but I do know that I am not as good at running like I used to be; however, I did a lot more than a mile, so that's good. I am honestly praying that by my last two transfers I have a companion that runs. I have not had one yet, and it is my dream! I bond while working out, end of story. I learned a lot from Sister Arbon, we had the chance to teach an investigator who's from Bosnia. His wife is a member, they've been married for 7 years and he started to show interest in learning. It's really cool because he did all of his Book of Mormon reading and we asked him if he felt like it was true. He said that he didn't really think of that because he was so interested in the story. So then we talked to him about the Holy Ghost and stuff and then he said, "Well, I did think that there's no way this book is fake. I mean, just the way it is written does not seem like a fictional piece of work." That was cool. 

Thursday Sister Burgess didn't feel very good. She got a blessing, and the mission nurse told her to take the day inside so she can get feeling better the next day. that was exciting for me. Hahah.(sarcasm)   I called a ton of potential investigators in the area book and two answered and we set up an appointment. That was really cool actually. I don't love making those phone calls, but it's so cool to see that it can actually work. That's what happened to Bonnie. She was met in October, called in February, taught in June and baptized in July. It all works out in the end. 

Friday we did a lot of tracting to make up for lost time on Thursday-- though really we never caught up :P-- and we met some people. No one too nice, but we saw these two high school boys walking and we were talking to them. They're 15 and just about the most adorable things ever! They're both really involved in their church and they were so excited to talk to us about their church it was so cute. We taught them about the Restoration and they were like, "Yeah! We believe basically in the same thing!" Hahaha, I think they were just excited to talk about how great their church was, they were really nice. 

Saturday we pet five dogs, a racoon, a chicken and held a kitten. We visited this one family and the husband comes out and there is a baby raccoon just chillin' on his shoulder....Alright, totally normal. I couldn't even think of what the raccoon's animal name was. I kept thinking "possum" even though I knew that's not what it was. Turns out, this raccoon was caught on a wall and they rescued it and now it's their pet... I pet it's face a little. I was kind of freaked out. Let's face it, gotta embrace the country right?? Oh man. 

Before dinner Saturday, which was a missionary farewell actually, we went tracting and tracted into the nicest couple. They're Baptist and just let us in. The husband is in the Atlanta Hall of Fame for music. I made him get out his banjo and play for us. We sang "Amazing Grace," "Sweet Hour of Prayer," and, my favorite, "Take a Closer Walk with Thee." I love music. It just inspired me to continue to learn whatever I can when I get home. It's the best thing in the world. They're willing to learn more about what we have to teach so they asked us to call them on Friday and set up an appointment. They were really cool. 

Yesterday, after dinner, we went tracting and I was feeling like we should go to these apartment complexes that I've been to before. The catch was that I couldn't remember exactly how to get there; however, we saw them the night before behind another neighborhood. Typically that would be easy to find right? Well, Georgia has unbelievably windy roads, so it's hard to get somewhere all based on sight. but we decided that we would find these apartments. We go out and Sister Burgess is like, "what's down here?" I said, "No idea." We turn and BAM, there are the apartments. They were two seconds away from where we live. The first door we knock on, this sweet girl answers the door. She didn't have any couches or anything, so she asked if we could come next week. We set up the appointment, she shut the door, we turned around and knocked on the door across from hers. Well, no one answers, we're about to knock one last time and this girl, Amber, opens the door and says, "I have a table and chairs, let's just sit there and you can teach me." She was really shy and didn't like answering questions, but she really wanted to learn. We taught her the Restoration and the Spirit was totally there. We even had the chance to teach her about Temples and she loved it. We asked her if she would be baptized and she asked, "Am I allowed to be baptized again?" Hahaha. It was soooo cool and she's already excited to meet with us on Tuesday. #miracle.

Anyway, it was a good week. Trying to work hard and listen to the Spirit. 

Love y'all,

Sister Smith

Wonderful Week!

This week had a lot of ups and downs, but overall it was good. 

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Bonnie, our second to last one before her baptism, and it went really well.

On Wednesday we met with a lot of people and some less actives and thta was good. Then we went to Helen, which was totally on a whim. We were driving to this neighborhood that's on the Highway to Helen and we just decided to go to Helen instead and check it out and contact. It went really well. Needless to say, we did meet a lot of tourists, so we won't be going there too often; however, we met a lady that owns a horse and carriage ride thing and she lives there locally and she's totally elect. She isn't available to meet with us until this week, but she kept saying, "God's timing is perfect. You ladies might now know why, and you will in a week, but you came into my life at the perfect time." She was SO excited to read the Book of Mormon and look on mormon.org, it was really cool. So that was inspired. Oh and we also met someone who was a convert when he was 12 but doesn't practice anymore and we asked him to crack open his Book of Mormon and start reading it again, he said he would so that was successful. 

Thursday we had our last before baptism lesson with Bonnie and we taught her about the temple. We even had pamphlets for the Atlanta Temple from when it was rededicated a few years ago. Made me hungry for the temple, but really, when am I not? I wish we could go more often. 

Friday was great. Weekly planning, service, then dinner and tracting. We ended up tracting for longer than normal because our appointments fell through; however, we met a lot of people got a new investigator out of it. That was cool. The best part of that night was that we had forgotten our phone in the car and we had TEN missed phone calls/texts/voicemails... Two being from the Assistants. YIKES! Well, one was from Bonnie and she left a voicemail after her interview and said, "Hey, it's me. Looks like I'm gettin' baptized tomorra!" (She's got a real Southern accent by the way). So happy. Oh, and the Assistants just wanted to know when and where our baptism was, so no issues there.

Saturday. Great day. We met with a less active couple that I love. They're hilarious and sarcastic and I just know dad would love the husband so he makes me laugh more. But we asked them if they would be interested in having us re teach them the missionary lessons. So this was the visit where they would tell us their answer... They said yes! They first asked why we wanted to do it, and we just said that learning doctrine helps people change and that we're not there to be visiting teachers but to be full time teachers of the Gospel. Brother Baker really liked our response, so they said yes. Then we had lunch with this awesome family in the ward, they're one of my favorite families, and they took us to a delicious Thai restaurant, who knew Cornelia could have good restaurants? Then we tracted. Talk about sweating! It was SO hot! And a lot of people were surprisingly rude to us. But we did meet this really awesome man that wasn't interested in taking the lessons, but he was going to read the Book of Mormon and look at the website because he's looking for a church. We had a really good discussion with him and he asked why this was the faith that we felt like was true. That's always fun to talk about.

Well, after tracting we needed to prepare for the baptism. Oh and I've been playing the piano a lot for random things because no one here knows how, and it's horrifying because I'm so bad, and I was supposed to play for Bonnie's baptism, so we went a little extra early so I could practice. 

Turns out, President and Sister Bennion decided to come to the baptism, so she played the piano-- THANK GOODNESS! 

The baptism was postponed about forty minutes because everything was ready, but Bonnie's daughter and grand kids weren't there yet.... They left the house on the hour that the baptism was supposed to start, and they live about 40 minutes away. I discussed different things with the ward mission leader and we decided to start the program, so song and hymn, but then have everyone bear their testimonies and begin the rest of the program when her family arrived. It worked perfectly. I wasn't sure if it would work, but the Spirit was so strong during the testimony meeting that it really set the tone for the rest of the baptism. It all went so well and it was  just exactly how it should have gone. It's so nice when after all that planning, stress, phone calls, and scheduling, it all comes together just for that one person to make a covenant with the Lord. 

It was a wonderful week. And I loved it.

Love y'all,

Sister Smith

GREAT WEEK! Welcome President Bennion and Sister Bennion

So I got to see the love of my life this week: Sister Jones and Sister Andrus. #happyashappycanbe

On Canada Day-- oh, and don't worry, I wrote CANADA DAY nice and big in red letters in my planners--- we met the new mission president. 

They're awesome. I do love the Wolfert's, they were such a great couple and such a powerhouse, and I miss them. I am so excited for the new President. They seem so loving and totally different from the Wolfert's it's very interesting. 

I thought Jared would like this. Sister Bennion's father is blind in both eyes because of a tank explosion during WWII. Get this, he was a part of the Big Red 1 division and he was on Ohmaha beach in Normandy on their D Day! What?! President showed us pictures that his father-in-law had from it and all I could think about was the opening scene of "Saving Private Ryan." Her dad was there! So cool. He seems like such an awesome man. And President was in the Marines, so he got along with her dad really well and he designed this memorial for the Big Red 1 division in Normandy. President served his mission in France, so he designed it in French. Really cool. The whole time I was thinking about Jared and how much he would have loved to meet Sister Bennion's dad. And Sister Bennion's dad was blind and his wife married him against her parents wishes because of his blindness. They have a certain way to communicate and it was the cutest thing to see because they showed us picutres of their different touches and hand signals. Also, that's why Sister Bennion got into music. He couldn't see so he couldn't tell them to put on a different, longer skirt, or take off all their make up, but he could listen to them and record them playing different instruments and he was proud of them for that. 

Then they told us their story and how they met and stuff. They did it together on the stand. It was cool because they met with the Brethren frequently to discuss how they would be over a mission and bring their daughter with Cerebral Palsy to the mission. I feel like we're being blessed to have such a wonderful couple over our mission and for them to have the chance to bring their daughter. I'm so excited to finish off the mission with them as our President. 

On another note, our baptism is a go! Bonnie is ready.We (I) was stupidly stressed out about getting rides to Bonnie's and getting all the lessons in before she was interviewed because now we have to teach the 5th lesson before baptism etc. And Sister Burgess, calm as a cucumber, helped me go through a schedule and plan out exact days to meet with her, and hopefully that would all work with her AND we needed to get a ride there because she lives days away. Well, Sister Noon, this wonderful, wonderful lady from Texas offered to drive us. She and her family are in limbo and still trying to sell their house in Texas and are back and forth between there and Georgia, and she said she will take us to all the lessons with Bonnie and she'd be happy to stay for Bonnie's baptism! So thankful for real saints in this world! She truly is one!

Bonnie came to church yesterday and participated in Relief Society, it was great. She also got a shirt thing to wear under her dress because Sister Burgess did that and it covered the ladies and she liked that. That was small but kind of cool. And she tried on her baptismal jumpsuit and it fit like a glove, she looked great. It made me really excited for Saturday.

Anyway, good, but stressful week. Those loads just give us more traction to move forward. Thanks to Elder Bednar I can rely on that and keep moving.

Love y'all so much,

Sister Smith

Happy Canada Day

Wednesday was a sad day. Sister Jones and I had to say goodbye to each other. In all reality, we both know that we knew each other before this life and that we'll grow old together, so we weren't extremely upset... Though we were a little upset.

This area. It is different and it's a bit of a challenge taking over an area after only being here for 6 weeks. Thankfully, I know that the Lord qualifies, and I'm solely relying on that concept. 

Sister Burgess had a really great first day though! We had lunch with a member, who drove us up to Raban Gap aka the North Carolina border, so that we could have a lesson with Bonnie, the lady who is on date to be baptized on July 12. She told us that she truly wants to commit, and she wants to commit to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's interesting to teach her, on first contact or visit, you wouldn't think, "Oh, this lady is prepared." But every time we give her a commitment she keeps it and she is truly willing to devote herself. Really, I'm inspired. Goes to show, you can't judge a book by it's cover. Or a book by it's movie. You know how the old saying goes.

Then, since it takes days to get up there, teach and come back, we tracted for most of the night. We met some promising people, but no one elect yet. 

Thursday we had a lesson with a lady who is rooming with a member of ours. It's been cool because the member was recently baptized in December, and we visit her often while her roommate kind of sticks around but doesn't really seem interested. Then, the Monday before Sister Jones left, she asked us some questions and we answered. Then we proceeded to ask if she would be interested in reading the Book of Mormon and taking the lessons from us. She said yes. That's a big step! This lady has been through a lot in her life, she's even lived in Salt Lake actually, and she's a little rough n' tough. But she's warming up to the idea of learning and experimenting, which really is all we ask. Just to learn and then to experiment on it. 

Friday while tracting we set up an appointment for Saturday with a kid in high school. Later, during dinner with ourselves, we were trying to think of someone younger who could come out with us. Well, we called this one girl in the ward whose mom said that she would love to come out with us. We called and she was more than willing to come! We met her and her mom near our neighborhood and her mom stayed back while the daughter (who's a Laurel in young womans, so she's older) and us went to the lesson. He wasn't there, but then we went back to the mom and we met another lady. Turns out the lady we met really enjoyed the company of the mom and the lesson went really well. 

This week was good, we had some really great numbers, the best we've had in this area, and I know it's a result of mine and Sister Jones's consecration. Hopefully, Sister Burgess and I can continue that legacy here! So far it seems like it's been going well.

Love you all,

Sister Smith

p.s. Happy Canada Day tomorrow!