Photos......

Hermana Smith - the "Great White Grapefruit Hunter!"

Picking grapefruit on the Temple grounds is one of her chores..... She enjoys eating what they harvest as well!!!!
This is the first time her recent convert Luis wore a white shirt and tie to church!
In Hermana Smiths words "SO AWESOME!!!!"

Hermana Smiths zone having a bowling day!

Hermana Smiths said..... Yes, we have some FUN!!!

Some of the VC (visitors center) girls... Actually a lot of the Spanish Sisters Hermana Smith said.

"We LOVE each other!"

"PEACE OUT...." I'm STILL crazy as ever!!!!

(pictured with Hermana Colon)

Hermana Smiths "other" Mom.... Hermana Ashcraft

She was Hermana Smiths trainer once she got to the mission field.

New Photos!

A little "San Fransisco Treat" from Mom & Dad for Valentines Day!

Hermana Smith trying to stay in touch with her Monatana roots!!!! YEEEE HAWWW

A nother GOOFY photo of Hermana Smith.... She said there was a house with all kinds of crazy things in the front yard...

She said it looked like a tornado hit!!! Well - Hermana Smith we aren't in Kansas anymore!!!! LOL

i love pday!!!‏

well hello my dearly beloved ones....
how is life going for everyone? i hope good because i got no news of life today(besides paul and my cousin matt) i bet jeremey got injured in germany...im just wondering what he did this time.
i can't lie and say its been the best week ever...its been one of those hard weeks. sometimes i really want to tell people whats on my mind like the ones that shut the door in your face or the member who are rude to you(yes it happens on a regular basis). but then i remember i am a representative of Jesus Christ and i cant act like that. so i just hold my tongue(mom you know thats really hard for me to tell someone whats on my mind). im learning patience and im learning to be tough.
sis lopez had kinda a break down the other day...but she's doing good. kimball stake is a good area we just arent having as much luck as we would like. im not sure what we are doing wrong but we are trying our best.
our little ray of hope is named Jenny. she will be baptized on march 7th. i dont how some people just drop into our laps but she basically did and she's a golden investigator. i just love her!!!we actually had to push her baptism back because of stake conference...its kinda sad but she will be baptized.
i can't believe that we are at the end of another transfer. next transfer will be easter pagent...only 2 weeks though. that will be really fun!!! im hoping to get my picture with Jesus(the actor).
we are getting more and more excited about our spanish branch. on sunday sis lopez and i wore the translators with our less active at church...one- so he would feel more comfortable two- so we could hear spanish. i really miss being so immersed in the language and eating the food!!!
can you believe we are almost to march?? i really cant...how time flies. the weather is ridiculously nice here today. its like 75 and sunny. its beautiful...if only it could stay like this forever but the summer will come and it will never leave...
i hope that all is well wherever you may be.
just remember i love you all.

hna smith

hola!‏

well can you believe another week has come and gone?? i cant either. its been a kinda crazy time here in arizona...sis lopez has got a really bad cold so we are kinda running extra slow around here.
this week we got the exciting news that a spanish branch will be forming on march 8th. im SOOOOOO excited. we just can't seem to get anyone to church..but can you blame them they have to use headsets to understand what is going on...i would hate it too. so we are really excited about that bit of news.
my valentines was great...i got tons of candy!!! like i need it...but hey chocolate makes live so much better. im learning a lot in this area...patience for one. its different not teaching as much as im use to but im learning a lot. no upcoming baptisms yet but we are working hard to get people moving. im finding that change is really hard for people and its hard for them to give up tradition.
im sure i have a funny story or 2 but my brain is not working...thats why i try to write every night in my journal to remind myself of what happened that day. so when i get home you'll have to read all my crazy stories. its good to hear that everyone is doing well for the most part.
the weather is just perfect right now...not too hot not too cold. im still praying to get transfered up to snowflake for the summer...its a lot less hot there. but for the next 2 months ill be here in mesa because the easter pagent will begin in april. its kinda like christmas lights except it only lasts 2 weeks. im really excited...i should send pictures of the huge stage they are putting up...its incredible what they are doing. the church spends so much money on this pagent but it has a good outcome...many people will accept missionaries thru those 2 weeks.
lately ive been on a grapefruit diet. there are 100's of grapefruit trees on the temple ground so i eat one for every meal. one sister has been doing that for like a month and lost like 20 lbs...crazy i know. i kinda love grapefruit now and i dont know what i will do without it.
im truly blessed to be serving where i am...i get to be on temple grounds daily and speak spanish...im blessed. im still loving the mission though some days its hard.
my recent convert luis brought me in a valentine's present...which was a really nice painting of the 1st vision and his testimony written on the back of a picture from his baptism day. wow!!! that makes me want to find more luis's. i almost cried when i read his testimony because i was a part of something big. that scripture that says how great will be your joy if you bring one soul unto him...its true. ive never felt such joy as my recent converts have to my life. they are lifetime friends. the Lord is really aware of all of us. just remember to put Him first and life will run so much smoother. it may not be perfect but you will be happy. i know the church is true. the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth today and we have a living prophet. we truly are a blessed people.
i love you all. i hope you have a great week.
hna smith

feliz dia de corazon!!!‏

hey!!!!

well its been another adventure this week as usual. whitewashing is going as well as possible we are meeting new people all day. its fun!!! i got my dad's gift of gab so i kinda like talking to random people even if they slam the door in your face(yes that happened this week). we've been running into a lot of less actives this week. what a joy it is to help people come back to the gospel. we have this awesome lady in one of our wards sister ramos who was reactivated like 6 months ago. she has one of the strongest testimonies i know of. she is a divorced single mom and so we took her with us to an appointment with a single mom. she was incredible!!! we hardly had to teach because sister ramos was testifing the whole time about how the gospel has blessed her life. they are going to be best friends...they even life in the same complex. sis lopez and i decided we would start a group for single moms because it seems like that is all we are teaching right now. ill be a professional at teaching them by the end of this transfer...its better then teaching single men that's for sure.
let me tell you how the gospel is so amazing. on sunday my recent convert Luis came in the VC to say hi. he is AMAZING!!! a while back he referred his mom to have missionaries come and teach. well she accepted and is meeting with them and going to church. he's a great missionary!!! i failed to mention that 2 weeks ago luis passed the sacrament. i almost cried when elder gleaves told me. this work brings so much happiness...i could never express to you all how great it is. all the rejection makes it worth it because of the few who except. im grateful that Heavenly Father gave me the opportunity to serve a mission and see miracles daily. i just love it. the Lord truly takes care of us too. the other day we went to knock on the door of a referral and this lady invited us in to eat. she had talked to us before and is very christian...but man she is the sweetest lady ive met in awhile. the food was delicious!!! i so miss mexican food...now we eat with americans every night. its good food but i just miss the latin food. anyways.
i am doing really good...even though its freezing here right now!!! its been in the 50's the last few days which is cold for here.
i hope you are all well and have a great week.
oh and happy valentines day...I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

hna smith

You guys REALLY love me!!!!

hola hola hola!!!

it was definately a nice suprise to open my email and have a bunch to read. of course my mom loves me and paul better still love me but i wasnt so sure about my rexburg friends...just kidding i know everyone is busy with school. well thanks for your support.
this week has been probably the longest week of my life...whitewashing is hard work. it definately takes a lot more energy when 1-you dont know the area and 2- you dont know the investigators. we are just trying to figure everything out still. the thing i really love about my area is the members...they actually want to help us. its incredible!!! we cover 8 wards(one stake) and we are the only spanish missionaries in the stake. so our area is pretty big. the downfall is we have to use translators for sacrament and rs/priesthood...and a lot of people dont like that...but a good thing is there is a spanish branch in the works(shh..i can tell you all because you dont even know the area). so we are so excited about that.
sis lopez is an amazing missionary. she has such a strong testimony and i am learning so much. i guess the gale girls know who she is...haha. she's a pretty good singer but so humble about her talent.
the work is going forth in this area. i dont know if president is crazy or really trusts me...i guess we'll find out. i told him i needed something new and well he gave it to me. we live with the valentinos in a little guest house behind theirs. it is SOOO nice. sis valentino made us a full cake the first night we were there...so im basically spoiled.
im still doing really well...the mission is great! 8 months wednesday...i cant believe it. well i hope all is well with you all. keep the letters coming and emails. i love you all.

hna smith

Hermana's Smith & Lopez and the Yummy cake from Sister Valentino!

Hermana's Smith & Colon with one of her converts from her last area, Julia.