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:)