Enjoying the Middle

With the semester coming to a close I feel the need to write down how I've been feeling somewhere other than just my journal. Who knew you could come to miss the time you got to devote solely to writing letters on P-day.

First, I am so grateful. 

The months leading up to coming home I was scared of what would happen. Who I would be, how life would play out, how I would keep the Spirit with me. The day before I left I got to talk with my mission president (I love that man so much!) in response to all my concerns he gave me some of the best advice I have ever been given. First, continue to pray always, and feast upon the scriptures daily. Second, go to the temple weekly. Third enjoy this phase of your life.

I immediately put the first two into practice and I am so grateful I did. Taking time to pray, study the scriptures and go to the temple may seem like a burden when added to the never ending to-do lists of college life but when you make them your foundation, they become your haven. The safe place you can run to in times of turmoil or heartache or peace.

The third one was always in the back of my mind. What did I need to do to "enjoy" this time I've been given? I didn't want this to just be a filler space, like what we add to commercial fertilizers in my soils class when your nutrients don't take up all the weight required. I wanted to find purpose. I had just spent a year and a half of my life preaching that this life has purpose and meaning. So how does that apply to me? Well that is what I set to work to find out. And boy did I find it.

I have loved this time of my life, the beginning of my “single RM college phase”, SO MUCH. Why? Because I chose to. I stripped away everything I knew about myself before and started over. And what did I find? I found that what Helaman was trying to convey to his sons is true. So true.  "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12) From there I started building. I didn't just want to build any kind of life. I wanted to build a life where God was always there in the decisions. So I worked hard at school, found a job and started filling my “free-time” with things I enjoy. I knew there were things that hadn't changed about myself, such as my love of baking or eating ice-cream. But I also knew that I wanted to branch out. My mission gave me a love of trying new things. So I've eaten Indian food, gone salsa dancing, tried early morning runs, seen musicals (and puppet shows), gone hiking, had Friday game nights, listened to oboe concerts, played lots of games of pool, gone start gazing and the list could go on and on. But most of all I've found that the basics never change. No matter what I fill my weekends with I still find myself praying in those quiet moments, reading conference talks—wanting to share the feelings they bring to my heart with everyone in the world and serving others, even in small and almost insignificant ways. Why? Because that’s what makes me happiest.

Yes, I have found that I love Chemistry (which took a long and winding road), that I’m really good at washing dishes and that Utah in the spring just might be one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen. But I would have never found that or the joy that I feel without the basis of the gospel.

I honestly love this phase of life. I have learned so much about myself, it’s crazy! I also have the blessing of getting to focus my time on building my relationship with my family, finding good friends, and just getting to take in the beauty of life. There is nothing like getting to walk to school under the sunshine filled blue sky, listening to the birds sing (or the same Taylor Swift song over and over again). Plus since it’s just me I can up and change my schedule without anyone complaining. I can go for long drives. I can read chemistry textbook (yes I really do actually enjoy that). I can practice speaking German. I can eat ice-cream.

Someone once told me the secret to coming home from a mission was not “adjusting” and fitting back into your old life but learning to “adapt” to your new surroundings without losing anything that you gained from your mission. I can tell you that is true. It can be a hard and daunting task but it is oh so worth it. I think I have smiled more in the last 3 months of my life than I ever did before. God is good and so is every phase of life. “Whatever our age, whatever our location, when things occur in our lives, we are always in the middle. What’s more, we will forever be in the middle.” (Always in the Middle,President Uchtdorf) May we all learn to ENJOY the middle. 

Love,

Alexandria

Hello!

We had a great week here! 4 of our investigators came to church which was really a miracle! Eric, Steven (Eric's friend), Fred and Bruna all came!

Fred is from Ghana and is someone we have been teaching on and off for a couple of weeks but this past week he referred a friend to meet with us. They ended up being married so the family ward Elders are teaching them now but it helped us get back in touch with him! We got to teach him about the plan of salvation and he told us that even though he doesn't want to rush he really does want to know if this is true so he had us set up a member to pick him up and bring him to church. They got there a little bit late but just in time to take the sacrament and Fred loved it!

Bruna is from Brazil and is a friend of a member of our ward. We have been working with her and a couple of the other Brazilian exchange students on their English by reading the Book of Mormon. She was a little nervous to come because she still has a hard time understanding English. Saturday we were able to go over and help her understand what the sacrament was which really helped her once she got there. There are also two girl in our ward who just got back from missions in Brazil who helped her to understand what they were talking about in church. Even though she didn't understand everything perfectly the Spirit was really strong and she left really happy!

We have also been teaching Eric this week. We met him last week and he has come to church two Sundays in a row! This week we got to teach him about the restoration, plan of salvation and word of wisdom. He is progressing really well and should be getting baptized on November 2nd! When we went over Saturday night his friend Steven was there and joined in the lesson and even came to church the next day! They both really liked church and everyone was really friendly which helped them feel welcome. In our gospel principles class the teacher asked how many days everyone had read the scriptures and Eric pipped up that he had only missed Wednesday and Saturday! He is better at reading than most of the members! After church our ward mission leader invited them over to dinner with us that night. We wanted to bring up the word of wisdom but weren't really sure how to do it at dinner but Eric actually brought it up all on his own. In priesthood the teacher had mentioned not drinking beer when he was in Germany which really confused Eric so he wanted to know what that was all about. We were able to have a really great conversation about the word of wisdom where the Spirit was present and he committed to live it! Later that evening they also came to FHE at the bishops house, so they spent most of the day doing church things :) 

This week we also had exchanges with the Rio Grande Sisters! I got to spend the day with Sister Haywood in my area. We have served around each other almost all of her mission (she came out one transfer after me) so it was fun to talk about all of the changes that have happened since then. We were able to talk to a TON of people on campus and even got some return appointments. One person we talked to was a guy named Nelly. He is a freshman at NMSU and has recently been wanting to create a better relationship with God. Yesterday we were able to sit down and have a lesson with him and it went so well! He told us how the night before we first met him he had been long boarding with some friends and just felt really grateful for all God had done for him so afterwards he sat down on a bench and prayed to God to know how to know Him and Jesus Christ better. It was so humbling to get to tell him about the Restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how he can come closer to our Heavenly Father through prayer, scripture study and being baptized. 

I really love being a missionary because I learn something new everyday! After reviewing the conference talks I was stuck by how many times they referenced that "decisions determine destiny". That is something I have really learned on my mission, what we do it this life is SO important and we are the only ones who chose what we do, not our circumstances or anything else, it is all up to us.

Love you tons!

Sister Lexy Smith

General Conference

What a fantastic week we have had!

Tuesday we had exchanges with the Picacho Sisters and I got to stay in my area with Sister Grigg. She is such a great missionary and has a deep love for the people she serves. Tuesday night we started teaching two girls from Brazil! They are friends with a member of our ward and needed help with their english so we were able to help them with that and introduce them to the gospel. They both have a great desire to learn and have already started reading the Book of Mormon in english!

After our finishing our exchanges wednesday we drove up to Albuquerque (for the second time this week, the temple trip was monday). MLC on Thursday was especially inspiring for me. I noticed again and again that we are living beneath our potential. It was really great to rely that information to our zone. This was probably the most inspiring zone training I have had my whole time in Las Cruces! Not only was it great to hear the testimonies of missionaries I have come to love but it was amazing to see the potential we all have if we will dedicate ourselves to the Lords work.

Then general conference weekend. Saturday was so uplifting, I really enjoyed all of the talks and was greatly inspired. No one came with us that day but that evening we went to visit a recent convert who was supposed to come. We have been making an undying attempt to contact him but his family never let us into their home. As we approached their home we decided to park up the street a little ways so that they weren't forewarned of out coming. After a fervent prayer, we got out of the car and walked up to the home not exactly sure what to expect. The mom 1/2 opened the door as usual, and said that her son was home. Then the topic of the Halloween came up. It turns out that she loves to decorate for the holidays and was happy to let us in to see! After talking with them we asked the recent convert why he hadn't come to conference. Apparently there had been some miscommunication issues and he wasn't able to get a ride. Sister Shaner asked if we could go to their house to watch the Sunday morning session at their house the next day and they said yes! They said that they should be up by that time and that hopefully their internet would work. As we left I kept praying in my heart that it would actually work out because I love general conference and didn't want to miss it if they ended up not being awake or if the internet didn't work. So we showed up the next morning, again fervently prayed that everything would work out and walked to the door. His sister answered and let us in. They had set up the chairs already and had the internet up and running all we had to do was go to lds.org and start the broadcast! It was such a miracle! The recent convert and his sister stayed and watched the whole thing with us and afterwards his sister said that she really liked it and wants to learn more! I am so grateful that we were able to have that opportunity! I know that the Lord answered our prayers.

 Overall general conference was great! What a blessing it was to have my questions answered and my spirit uplifted by the messages that were shared. Although I enjoyed all of them the ones that were my favorite and seemed to touch on my concerns the most were by Elder Jorg Klebihgat and Elder Richard G. Scott. Both spoke of overcoming the influences of the adversary, strengthening personal commitment to Christ and making Him our foundation. I am just so overwhelmed by and filled with gratitude for the love that the Savior has for each of us.

It was amazing to me that so many of the speaker used the same scripture: Helaman 5:12 which says "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." I LOVE this verse! It is so powerful. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we would only apply it's teachings? There is nothing, and I repeat, nothing more important than following Christ. Elder Richard G. Scott emphasized this point when he said that scripture study is more important than school work and sleep. That's powerful! A prophet of the Lord just told you that you should be studying the scriptures over sleeping in or taking naps! I am just so excited to go and apply all the things they taught! Normally the end of conference is really saddening but I just feel so empowered to be a disciple of Christ and I hope you feel the same. I know that God has called prophets again in our day and I am so grateful for their counsel. If you didn't get to watch general conference, you should! So here's the website, go check it out! lds.org 

I love being a missionary so so much! I hope you all know how much I love each one of you. I know that God wants all of His children to have joy and peace in this life. Never forget His love for you.

Love ya!
Sister Lexy Smith