The Phone Call!!!

We are just "over the moon" from speaking to our Hermana Smith last night. She was able to speak with Hillary on Christmas Day, however, we spoke to her on the 26th due to us being out of town.
She sounds great and is enjoying "the work!" She is well loved by those she works with at the Visitor's Center as many of them butted in to tell us how much they adore her!! She has a tiny bit of an accent- at least we all thought so EXCEPT for her Padre who said he didn't .
She has picked up a few sayings that we noticed while speaking with her - one of the funniest was when she said "AY YAI YAI!"
I know that tears were shed when she spoke with her sister, however, with the rest of us she was strong and didn't shed any. We did LAUGH a lot and had great conversation!
A BIG thank you for those that have sent some Holiday Cheer her way, she is very appreciative and feels blessed! We are so grateful to have such a wonderful example in our lives as Hermana Smith. She truly raidiates the spirit of Christ in all that she does. She said that she sees MIRACLES happen every day. She said, "a lot of times we aren't even asking for them, Mom!" She knows that Heavenly Father is guiding, protecting, and blessing her everyday. She loves the gospel and the opportunity she has to bring it into the lives of those saints in Mesa, Arizona.

Keep up the good work Hermana Smith! We love you and pray for you everyday!!!

December 23rd email!!!!

hola!

well it is so good to hear from some of you this week. i cant believe we are already at christmas time...crazy!!! this week i get to talk to my family and i am SO EXCITED! members at the VC keep saying you get to call your family this week and it just makes me more excited. today we have like half a p-day...we are doing email and shopping today then on christmas is our actual p-day. we will be having a VC brunch from 10-12 on christmas to celebrate together. then i imagine i will write some letters and take a well deserved nap...plus i will be calling hillary:) this week has been another good one. i feel just so blessed to be a part of this work. i have amazing investigators and recent converts. sunday luis and xiomara were confirmed members of the church...i almost cried. the day that luis passes and blesses the sacrament i will cry. its incredible...we talked to him earlier in the week about the priesthood and he's so excited to recieve us. we were asking how he felt about his baptism and he was like "you know right after i didnt feel much different but a few days later i woke and i just felt different..so much peace and i dont want to change from feeling the way i do right now. i dont want to make any mistakes because i dont want to sin." i almost cried! he asked us how to pay tithing again..which means he was thinking about it. now luis has been to church but its been a fight each week and most of the time he would only go to sacrament...well this week i asked so we will see you at church right? " yeah at 12:50 right?" i was in aww because he wanted to go to all of church and he did! its incredible. we are already planning to use him to accompany us to lessons...he will be awesome! we have a new investigator named julia. she basically ran to us to greet us at chruch. the sisters in the ward have been AMAZING! they just took her right in and loved her and so i just know she will have a successful conversion. she has a date for the 24th of january. for funny stories this week...i got my first flat tire ever. we parked at one of the complexes here and when i got out of the car i heard this swish of air coming from the tire...then i look and the wheel is deflating rapidly. they best part is sis colon knows how to change a tire so we started to get the stuff out...but there was not wrench so our zone leaders had to come save the day. turns out there was a razor blade in the wheel...AWESOME! i also met my first prophet this week. his name is fidel. when my companion asked him if he thought he was a prophet and he answered in the positive i think my jaw was on the floor. he's not that crazy he just has some different beliefs thats all. so now ive met jesus and the prophet...whose next? maybe i will meet God. oh this week we had mission tour with Elder Hafen from the seventy...it was incredible. he is a big scholar on the atonement and so we spend like 2 hours talking about the atonement. then we had a question and answer session with him where we discussed everything from investigators to less actives to doctrinal questions. it was good. i wish you all couldve been there. im doing really well. im tired everyday...christmas lights just kill because we are on our feet all day and talk to hundreds of people. its crazy! i bet we had over 8000 people in last night...there we herds of people coming in! the lights will be ending on the 31st and im kinda ready. the lights are fun just tiring. the new sister smith did not come in this week. she hurt her knee in the mtc so we dont know when or if she is coming. hopefully this week she will be there but we have no clue. anyways im running out of things to tell.
i love you all and miss you tons!
Merry Christmas and may we all remember the true meaning of Christmas.

hna smith

The Lord takes care of his servants.....

my dear family and friends-

well i have a little suprise...sis colon and i are both staying in the area togethor. i was quite suprised...i mean i didnt even write in my new planner yet because i was for sure i was leaving. but its all good...im glad i dont have to spend my p-day packing---YUCK! life is good im tired as ever. like this morning i just laid in bed for like an hour...it was p-day so i could do that. but thats the life. i asked sis colon if i will ever not be tired again...im pretty sure no. but the amazing thing is we get up ever morning and do it all again. the Lord sustains His servants.
this week was awesome! we saw sooooo many little miracles. last night luis lugo and xiomara reyna got baptized. it was beautiful!!! these are 2 people that i found and taught all the way thru. it was a struggle at times...especially with luis. but they are both content and so am i. we had to do a little talk while they were all changing and as i was bearing my testimony i almost lost it. im like you cant cry..dont cry. i didnt but i was so close...i gotten to be quite the emotional person on the mission...i dont know why! there is nothing that brings more joy then seeing people you taught enter the waters of baptism. i couldnt be happier. we are hoping to start this transfer strong and have lots of success. sis colon and i have had 4 baptisms together. we keep finding new people and the Lord is truly working miracles. as for christmas lights...well they are good. its so busy! on friday night we had 4000+ people. it was crazy...but good thing 1-i love to be busy 2-i got my dad's gift of gab 3-i have 6 months of spanish under my belt. i love the work! i was doing a christus presentation the other night and this dude sitting front row was like commenting on my spanish while i was talking. its a little distracting...but i love it when people like my spanish. a indian man told me my spanish was beautiful...he doesnt understand but at least it sounded good. haha.
also i keep running into people who i know or who know people i know. for example i was talking to these 2 guys in the vc and i asked where they were from...turns out one is from ELK GROVE and is best friends with st. john...i guess he called heather and told her he saw her cousin in the vc. also i was in the vc talking to people and i look over and there was the guy i recognized...then i saw his wife and right away i knew it was the memmots!!! brian and sara memmot who use to live in montana. so i gave them an update on montana and they told me they would call mom and dad...i dunno if they did. but it was really nice to see someone i know. its actually cold here in AZ...i mean we dont have snow but seriously i need a jacket. in fact im gonna look for a jacket because im chilly....at least there wont be snow.
ive been getting a few cards from people in england. its nice to recieve mail even when you dont know who they are.
as far as i know everyone is doing well. i am well and healthy. im loving life and loving the mission.
we have 4 sisters going home tomorrow..its so weird you always have to say goodbye to people and i HATE it...but life goes on. tomorrow we will recieve a new sister...her name is sister elizabeth smith...crazy i know!!! she's from australia and im just dying to meet her.
im doing pretty well as of now. i hope you are all warm and safe. have a great week.

i love you!
hna smith Hermana Colon, Xiomara, Hermana Smith

Hermana Colon, Luis, Hermana Smith

December 9th letter - GRATITUDE

hola!

my gratitude for the Lord is overwhelming this week. i was so nervous to be spending all my time in the VC and not see my investigators but the Lord is well aware of our struggles let me tell you. let's start with Xiomara...she is just the cutest thing. i love her to death and she is just a sweetie. the YW have taken her under their wings and loved her. in a way i feel like she's my little sister cuz im not too much older then her. she was so nervous about us talking to her parents about her baptism because they are really catholic...well we said a little prayer together right before we talked to them and let me tell you prayers are answered. it was such an easy thing to ask for permission...they said yes without hesitation. it was incredible...even sis colon and i were nervous about talking to them and it was easy. so she will be baptized on sunday at 5:30....let me just tell you she has completely changed her life...its like night and day and that's what the gospel can do. well as if that wasn't enough of a blessing the Lord just keeps sending His blessings our way. we found an incredible family...they cried through our lesson and even told us they want to be mormon. they came to part of church on sunday and participated in class....WOW! last night sis colon and i did splits because we had too many people to teach. she saw luis...one of our investigators that has a date for baptism but still wasnt really feeling ready. well she went over the interview questions with him and when she asked if he felt the church of Jesus Christ had been restored he said yes and that he believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and everything. then he explained why. we have been praying for sooooo long for this! plus he said he felt ready to be baptized...this is like the biggest miracle of my mission!!! the Lord is blessing us and i dont feel like i did anything to deserve it. we've had some really remarkable experiences. ill share one that happened yesterday. we street contacted this guy and honestly i didnt think he was going to listen, i guess its because english people usually reject us right away. well we asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and he replied that he did before he joined the military. well come to find out he served in iraq...it really messed him up the things he saw. i just testified of the hope we have thru our Savior. i never felt the spirit so strong during a street contact...it was incredible.
i know that the Lord puts us in the places He needs us to be so that we can bless His children. we are instruments in His hands. its incredible to see His hand in the work...after all these are His investigators. i feel the love of my Heavenly Father more and more each week.
yesterday i had to opportunity to meet an man that my friend Kevin Kundis baptized. he came into the VC just visiting from Page where kev is serving. i so wanted to see him before he left from his mission in feb. well it doesnt look like it will happen but it was just as neat to meet one of his converts. i almost cried...the lord answers prayers even when we dont expect him to or not in the way we think. it is amazing.
Heavenly Father loves each of us and if we will come to Him in prayer He will bless us. i love you all. the church is so true! hold on to the truths that you know because the Lord wants to bless us but if we don't first do what is right He can't. have a great week.

hna smith
ps- we will have 2 baptisms this week luis and xiomara!!! yeah!!!!

December 3rd letter

HOLA HOLA HOLA-

can yo believe its december? its seems like every email is a new month. if you can believe it i will be celebrating 6 months tomorrow. i know it seems like yesterday i was saying good bye but it was 6 months ago...crazy! this week was good. DRUM ROLL EVERYONE.....lorena got MARRIED and BAPTIZED!!! it was a close one. all week we have had problems starting with the marriage license and ending with actually getting them to the chapel. sometimes i just love my members that forget to take my investigators to their own wedding...im not bitter or frusterated...just i love them:) but have no fear we got samuel and lorena to the altar. lorena looked great thanks to sis colon's mad skills and the kids well they were still crazy. the one thing i wish we would've known is that lorena is afraid of the water...i wish i had a video to show you. right before she told us she was afraid...that was an understatement. how about lorena was TERRIFIED! poor elder eldredge..he dunked her and she kicked her legs and screamed. but she got all the way under the first time...thank goodness because there was no way we were getting her under again. her confirmation was beautiful and just perfect for lorena. the Lord really knows His children and speaks to them in the way they can understand. i have to admit i was a like leerly about baptizing lorena because she doesnt understand everything but we went over yesterday and taught her a lesson. a few days about we talked to her about language and how we need to use good words only since she swears and her kids do too...i dont understand the spanish swear words but sis colon does. well she started talking about how she talked to her kids about that and that she is trying to stop swearing. she knows enough and she is such a sweet spirit. as for the christmas lights....lets talk about CRAZY!! the first night we had over 5000 people in the VC. they figure 2 times that were on the grounds. i love it cuz i get to talk to people all night long. sunday night there were tons of spanish people so i got to speak spanish all night. i love to speak spanish its fun and people actually understand me...its AMAZING!!! ive gotten to hear a bunch of different accents..spanish differs so much place to place. last night i had to announce for the concert in spanish. though im still convinced there was no one there who spoke spanish...i did it anyway and i was soooo nervous. but it went well and i didnt mess up spanish too bad. i had a visit from jess and matt tiner this week along with emily. it was good to see them and give jess a big hug. i sent my love with her so hopefully you all got my hi's and i love you's. i also got a visit from melissa beagley's grandparents. it was nice of them to stop by.small world moment...i was talking to these ladies from the UK and asked where they are from and they said yorkshire. well i told them that my family is up by harrogate and they started talking about all the people they knew up there. i guess the one lady grew up with the bishop and they also knew the smith's and the thoriouts(i dont know how to spell it). the one ladies name is melanie williams( its her maiden name) so tell the bishop hi for her.this is the 5th week of the transfer...meaning next week is the last one. im pretty sure ill be transfered and if not i will get a new comp. im ready for some sort of change whatever it may be. i am doing well. nothing too crazy happening. i feel like i dont have any funny stories....though i swear snoop dog was in the VC last night..crazy!(or maybe it was his slightly less stoned son) well i love you all. i hope you have a great week.

keep praying and trust in the Lord always.

hna smith

ps- enjoy the pictures...my little lorena is growing up:)

What I am Thankful for:

I wanted to share some of the things I am Thankful for this Thanksgiving....

FRIENDS.......

Rock and Brittany after going through the Salt Lake Temple together prior to leaving on their missions!

MY SISTER:

Hillary and Brittany on Hill's wedding day!

BROTHERS:

Brit and Jeremey making their "Funny Camera Faces!" SMILE :0)

Brit and Greg waiting for dinner at the Nelson Inn (A Pub in England!)

of course DAD & MOM:

Ed and Nancy - proud parents of Hermana Smith!

and FINALLY for Paul....



Thank you for being such a strength and support to me on my mission!

Lastly, I am grateful to be serving a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Arizona Mesa Mission. The Lord truly blesses me daily as I serve in his name. I love the people, the temple, the opportunity to work in the Visitor's Center at the Temple, preaching the gospel and giving the people of Mesa the greatest gift of all - the gospel!

Did I mention - I'm also thanksful for turkey dinner, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and chocloate cream pie - gobble, gobble!!

November 24th email...

mi querido familia y amigos:)

HOW ARE YOU? well i am doing well. today is not actually p-day...that will be thursday for turkey day but pres told us to shop and do email today. don't worry i will be having turkey for thanksgiving. all the VC sisters will have thanksgiving together at the Burke's. it will be nice to spend time with the other sisters. we are like a big family and we have too much fun...especially me! well since i wrote you all less then a week ago i have to rack my brain to figure out what happened. well today we got lorena and samuel off to the court house to get their marriage license...after a member cancelling and samuel not being home...but they went and hopefully all is well. we don't know yet cuz we lost our cellphone and have no way to call until we go to the VC. not a fun thing to lose...its like my life. but Heavenly Father is definately watching over us. when one plan falls thru he has another one for us and its usually better then the one we came up with in the first place. xiomara is doing so well. Sis Potter, the YW pres, took her shopping for a skirt to wear to church. they also gave her a triple and the YW personal progress book. she is so cute! after us having the big talk and strategy about how she would avoid drinking this weekend...she didn't even go to the party. she is changing so much...the first time ive seen someone's countanence totally change. im so excited...she wants to get baptized and we will talk to her mom today:) luis is crazy! he is nervous about getting baptized because he is afraid he wont be able to keep his committments...we're trying to figure out what to do about that. but he is still reading the BOM faithfully. on sunday my less active/recent convert Levi went to church. I WAS SO EXCITED!!! ive never been so happy to see someone in my life. the gospel is amazing! as for sis colon and i...well we are doing well. still as crazy as ever. we are trying to figure out how to take care of our area without being in it...its gonna be a challenge. christmas lights begin on friday...im so excited/nervous. every night i will be in a zebra companionship which means that it will be me and an english sister. so i have to rely on my poor spanish...it will all work out though. that's the crazy life of sister smith this week. oh i talked to some elders from phoenix mission...i guess kev is still on the reservation and he may die there:( im still praying he gets transferred so we will see each other before he goes home...we will see. anyways i love you all! have a great week and a great turkey day!!! gobble gobble.

Love,
hna smith
ps- lorena is getting married and baptized on the 29th:)

Novemeber 20th Letter

hola!
well im sorry this is so late in the week but p-day was thursday this week....worst day ever but hey at least i have a p-day. then we have pda again on monday. crazy! well it is still hot here in arizona...though at night it gets a little chilly. i do actually have to wear a sweater. christmas lights start next week and im excited! though there will be like no time in our area i know we will see miracles. today we went to the temple and did initiatories and then we went and sat in the celestial room for about an hour. it was so peaceful! the temple is such a blessing in my life and i was so excited thinking about how when i get home i can be in the temple with so much family and friends! especially because my friends are all getting married....chalyse!!! im not upset that im missing weddings but dont be suprised if i alope...just kidding. the work is going good. everyday we get closer and closer with luis. we have a hard time with him because he likes to joke around with us. its hard not to i mean we are just such fun missionaries. but he really needs to have the desire to be baptized. everytime i think about him getting baptized it just reminds me of my friend daniel's baptism. they are about the same age and everything. i dunno he reminds me of daniel except spanish. i know i will be crying at the baptism. our 15 year old xiomara is so cute! she is trying really hard to do what is right. we came up with a plan so that she won't drink at this party she is going to on saturday. she will do great! lorena is learning little by little. she is so innocent like a child but is a great mother. she does the best with what she has. though carlos and junior were drinking the other day when we went over...never thought i would deal with a WOW problem with a 5 year old and 4 year old. but life is always exciting as a missionary. the wedding is suppose to be this next weekend the 29th...hopefully all goes as planned. to my suprise this week lorena's kids were good..i know hold your breath. lorena actually didnt come to church but the 3 oldest kids did and they sat through sacrament. it was a miracle. so maybe ill consider being a mom after all. we had zone conference yesterday. it was so good! im so blessed to have such a loving, inspired mission president. he really wants us to do well and help these people come onto christ. sis colon and i know we have a lot to work on but we are trying our best. its really easy to get down on yourself as a missionary because there is so much to do. but i love these people and i think in the end that is most important all else will follow. i am doing well. thanks for the letters and the prayers. i hope you all realize how great it is to have the gospel. i am finding that more and more as i meet people that do not enjoy these blessings. we are teaching a drug addict right now...she is so sweet and sincerely wants to change. its just sad to see her just lost. but i know as she lives the commandments she will find peace. well better get on to other emails.
i love you all so much!
hna smith

chaylse-your ENGAGED!!!!! i cant believe that. well i can because your a cute and intelligent girl. a great catch if i do say myself! wow. so excited for you. you better send me your invitation and pictures of the ring too. im sure he is great. kimmie mentioned that your were serious with someone. i guess flippa is engaged too...is that what i hear? im so excited for you. of course i go on a mission and this would happen...:) well good to hear from you and tell your fiance he's got the best catch ever!
i love you girl.
brit-tany

hna summers-i seriously cried when i saw you wrote! so excited to hear from you. i wondered what you were up to and how you were doing. don't worry you do have a letter from me. i hope you are taking care of yourself...your probably going going going even though you dont feel good..just a guess. the mission is hard! but it is so good too. i never thought it would be this fun! i love talking to the people and sharing my testimony. your right though. i have had doubts just like in the mtc...satan is working hard on me. but the Lord strenghtens me always. the VC is good. we hardly get time to study which is hard especially with spanish. though my comp said my spanish is improving...she's from puerto rico and her spanish is so different. its more like spanlish. she's fun though and works hard. were are working really hard with a few different people. ill have to send pictures of me and my investigators. hna i love the people so much and that's what makes everyday worth it. ill have to tell you about my golden family that dropped us. everything was going good. they were getting baptized the next week. no problems was keeping committments and everything. well she told her husband(they are seperated) that her and the kids were geting baptized and he flipped out. he said he would take the kids if she did and so she told us not to stop by anymore. i love this family so much! i never cried like that before it was so hard. but i know they will be baptized someday. anyways i better go i love you! thanks for the letter.
i will write soon.
hna smith

The joys of being a sister missionary!

my dear family and friends-

well it has been a good week. we are finding families left and right. this transfer is going to be a little different because well after nov 28th we will have 1 night a week in our area...for those of you who have never served a mission that is pretty much impossible to get people ready for baptism when you never see them. so these next 3 weeks we are going to work our butts off to get people prepared. we figure if we do our best the Lord will do His part..He has to. so we are trying just that. no baptisms yet...getting close. lorena is having lots of money problems right now so we pray she will be able to stay in her house...the plan is to get them married nov 29th and lorena baptized that same day. i got to sit with lorena and her family in sacrament yesterday...what a mess!!! i was running up and down the chapel chasing after kids...after this i never want to be a mom (sorry Paul). all the other missionaries and people in the ward came up to me after and were like i am so sorry! you are so good to chase those kids....i was exhausted and needless to say i got nothing out of church. i hope lorena did though. everyday im coming to realize more and more howdifferent spanish and english missionary work is...its like night and day. we are trying to work with our bishopric and ward to improve it...patience is a virtue. luis is still reading the Book of Mormon he was in 2 nephi 9 yesterday and we did a fast with him as well yesterday. we just have to figure out how to help him recieve an answer. he's so good! xiomara well she wants to be baptized but her parents said no to her...we are hoping to talk to them and change their minds. the Lord will help us. so the funny story for the week is about a tti(teach, testify, invite) which is a street contact that i had. we were talking to this mexican guy while biking to like the end of our area...seriously! he like sqooze my hand really weird....so we talked to him for a minute and invited him to have missionaries and he accepted so we wrote down the info and shook his hand to say goodbye. well sis colon handed me her planner to put in my backpack and took off...so im standing here a blonde gringa with this mexican man, not a good combo. as im getting situated the man reachs out and caresses my arm. let me tell you i wanted to punch him and i probably would've if i wasnt wearing a missionary badge. i quickly took off. i wanted to take a bath and i was like screaming at sister colon after im like DONT LEAVE ME EVER AGAIN! so there we go nasty guy story for the week. im sure there will be more to come im a gringa they all love me...over all i am well here in arizona. the weather is perfect. its like 75 and sunny. at night you get a little chilly but its nothing like montana or rexburg.
i appreciate the letters, emails, and prayers. i love you all. have a great week!
hna smith

Lov'in it in Mesa!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! That is the caption that Hermana Smith put on this photo!!! She is jumping for joy as she continues to serve at the visitor's center at the Mesa Arizona Temple...

The above photo is of Hermana Smith's FIRST baptism. The young man's name is Brandon and he is 12 yrs of age. Hermana Smith and Hermana Colon had a few trials in getting him to this point - but with faith and a lot of prayer, Brandon has recieved a very special gift ~ THE GOSPEL!!!! Congratulations :0)

Now this is a missionary car!!! Actually the sister missionaries found this car in the Stake Center parking lot.... Definately a way to spread the gospel.....

Hermana Colon and Hermana Smith. This is Hermana Smith's 2nd companion. She is from Puerto Rico and is a real "fire cracker" according to Brit! They have a lot of fun together... Now, get to work ladies!!

Hermana Smith with one of the natives in Mesa.....

Hermana Smith and companion during a monsoon! Nice ponchos... Gotta love that SMILE!!!

Hermana Smith and her companion on their P-Day. Visiting one of the National Forests - Is that a cactus or...... WOW they are gynormous!!! (the cactus not the girls!

Hermana Smith proving that she does indeed prosalite vis the "steel horse"! Good on ya ladies! Tighten up those chin straps before taking off though!!!

Life in the MTC

Life in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) was a lot of fun but a bit too long for Hermana Smith. She was ready to hit the road to Mesa at about the 3 week mark but hung in there another 6 weeks to become semi-fluent in Spanish. At least enough to say a simple prayer and testimony. Below are a few photos of her companion Hermana Colgan and the elders that were in her district.

Most of the above Elders are currently serving in the Los Angeles, California Spanish speaking mission. She has made life long "brothers" as she lovingly referes to them.

Hermana Smith and Hermana Colgan taking the traditional photo at the MTC.... Pointing to their mission - Mesa Arizona Spanish speaking mission!!! Bring on the warm weather, mexican food, and the investigators!!!

A priceless picture to a missionary mom!!!!

Mesa Arizona here I am!!!!

Hermana Smith has arrived in Mesa Arizona!!!
She is so excited to be doing the Lords work.

She is currently riding a bike - oh what fun!!!! We just hope and pray she doesn't get her skirt caught in the chain or worse yet have a VERY windy day - YIKES!!!

Hermana Smith said that her new companion is full of energy and have clicked from the start!

We will continue to make additions to her blog so that those who visit will be up to date on what is happening in Mesa!

Less then a week to go...

Just thought I should take a moment to write down my thoughts about now. This time next week I will be in the MTC for my first full day. I am so nervous but I'm getting to the point where I just want to get there so I stop thinking about the what if's. Then sooner I get there the sooner I get lost in the work. I pray the Lord will watch out for my family and my friends while I am gone because I couldn't bear to have something happen to them. Pretty much all my clothes are ready to go...so I'm just waiting. 18 months somedays feels like forever but I know that it will fly by and who knows maybe I won't want to come back. This is the right decision for me though. I do know that, as I have said before it has been manifest so many times. So get that paper and those pens ready because I want to hear from everyone for the next 18 months. I love you all more then you will ever know. Keep me in your prayers especially on Wednesday.

All my Love,
Brittany ( Hermana Smith)

The Count Down...

I have gotten a ton of people asking how I'm feeling so I thought I would share here. I'm down to a 2 week count down until I enter the MTC. For those of you who have been on a mission you probably know how I'm feeling about now. I am excited to do something so self-less with my life and serve the Lord by bringing His children back to Him. With that comes other emotions. I am scared that I'm not prepared to teach, which I don't know how you could ever be prepared to teach something like the gospel. I am nervous to leave behind my family and friends and one very important guy. I just want everyone to stay safe while I'm gone. I don't want any bad news while I'm gone. I know that this mission is the right thing for me to do right now in my life. Everything that matters will still be waiting for me when I get home. I just have to tell myself that. It is 18 months of my life that I have to give thanks to the one who gave me life and gave me this wonderful gospel. I don't know where I would be without the gospel in my life, I definately would not be going to Arizona. I am anxious to get to the MTC and start this chapter in my life. I just know it is going to be the most amazing thing next to motherhood that I could do. My call came from Heavenly Father and I know there are people waiting to hear me teach them the good news that I have to share. So I guess you could say I am very emotional right now. This weekend is my farewell. Coming to see me off are my old roommates Kimmie and Jenna as well as my good friends Kevin and Stephen as well as Paul, the guy I have been dating for the last 2-3 months. It's gonna be a blast but at the same time I am a little nervous for the whole goodbye. I mean Kimmie got me crying as I left Rexburg in April...so the tears may flow this weekend. That's ok though I'm excited for them to come and we can party for the last time until December 2009. All I have to say is look out Arizona...it will never be the same! Keep me in your prayers. I love u all.