August 19th Lifting Burdens

This past week has been a really great one! Bobbie's daughter's family came in town so we helped her organize and get ready on Monday which was really great! Wednesday was a bit crazy because we had two mission meetings. Sister Stuart had to go to the first on and I didn't so I went to the Cibola area with Sister Wilcock who had been in my zone in the MTC. Their area is biking so I got a taste of that and it really wasn't bad! We were able to go and visit someone they had just met the day before and he was really receptive to our message. Then we met back up with the other sister so we could go to the second meeting. We had dinner with a part member family, the husband had gone to church the past Sunday and want his wife to teach him before he starts taking lessons from us. I'm really excited for their family! Thursday we had dinner with Bobbie & Sister Bender. They are both so wonderful and it is great to see that Bobbie is being fellowshiped. Her daughter Jessie got baptized about a year ago and then married Sister Benders son. They came in for the weekend because a friend was getting married so we got to meet them and they are super sweet. They are preparing to go to the temple soon which is super exciting! We also met with Sister Malherbe that night. We had a youth activity on Sunday and she is one of the ward missionaries so we talked to her about our plan. She has only been a member for about a year and she has never prayed out loud with the missionaries before. When we went to leave Sister Stuart asked her if she would give the prayer. She was a bit hesitant but she said that she would! Her prayer was one of the most powerful prayer I have ever heard! I knew that she knew that she was talking to God and that the blessings she was asking for would be fullfilled. It was amazing. After we left, Sister Stuart and I couldn't contain our excitement! Friday we met with Sister Mink and the twins (age 9), Courtney and Austin. The twins are on date to be baptised August 31 which is super exciting. We taught them about Tithing and Fast offerings and Courtney asked where she could get and envelope because she wanted to pay a hundred thousand dollars, it was cute. Saturday we were able to see Brian who was a potential who got sick and wasn't able to come to any of our appointments. He was really glad we stopped by again and said that he wanted to come to church since he hadn't been about to the week before because he was sick. Sunday he didn't show up during the whole meeting and as we were leaving the building to go get some stuff from our car for members of our ward we saw him in the foyer! It was a miracle that we even saw him there! The other ward had just finished their sacrament meeting and he knows one of the families in that wards so we found them and had him go to Sunday school with them. After getting everything done that we needed to we went to the other wards Sunday school where they were talking about the Word of Wisdom. Brian said that he had never even thought about the things he puts in his body as being harmful and he said that he didn't want to smoke ever again! After that he left but we have an appointment with him this week and he said he will be back at church next week! Sunday night we had a fireside with the youth called the "Sunday Night Sit-down with the Sisters". The youth of the ward invited their non-member friend and we played a game, shared a message and had a question answer session. We watching the Mormon message Lifting Burdens with them. It talks about Christ and his atonement and how it can affect our lives. Go and watch it because it is a really good one! I hope everything is going well for you guys and I love hearing from all of you. Remember that you are children of God and that He loves you. I love being a missionary and wouldn't be anywhere else! Love ya, Sister Smith

August 12th

What a fantastic week! We had exchanges Tuesday with the Sister Training leaders. Sister McFarland and I stayed in Volcano Cliffs (my area) while Sister Stuart and Sister Morris went to Monzono. Sister McFarland is such a great example! We saw so many miracles while she was here. We went to go visit a less active family who ended up not being home but while we were walking back to the car a lady came out of her garage. We talked to her for quite awhile and found out that she is from Scotland and is a member but has been less active for 10 years! She still reads the Book of Mormon and prays but her husband is not a member. She invited us back so hopefully we can get her to come back to church and start teaching her husband!
The ward members feed us every night which has been such a blessing. We are able to get to know them better and to teach them one of the lessons. This really boosts their confidence in us and increases their desire to do missionary work!
We taught Bobbie this week and Brother & Sister Fuller came with us. She told us that she has decided to get baptized here (instead of in Utah) so she can be with her ward family and that her daughters family will be coming up as well! We are so excited for her! She is just such a sweet lady and she is doing all the right things to prepare for baptism!
This week we had online training for family history work. I am so excited to start incorporating family history work into missionary work! It is such a great way to introduce people to the gospel because they already have the desire to learn about their families.
This Sunday Sister Stuart and I stayed with the Young Women for their lesson. The lesson was taught by one of the girls and she did a great job. We read from  Proverbs 31:10which says "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." I love this verse because rubies are not only precious by they undergo similar processes as us. They undergo pressure and heat, and they take large amounts of time to form. Just like that process we have trials and tribulations in this life and it takes time to become a "virtuous woman" but the result is something of beauty and great worth!
When we talked to the Bishop this week he had just been to a stake mission meeting with our mission president, President Miller. He is now super excited to do missionary work! He recognizes the changes that need to be made and he is willing to work!
After dinner we taught the Ward family the plan of salvation at the Sprague home. They are awesome and Mrs. Ward said "I'd never thought about it but the plan of salvation makes sense!" I am so excited for their family and I cannot wait to keep teaching them!
We also saw Louise yesterday. She is the funniest lady and she always has the weirdest stories! She has been working a lot lately and her health hasn't been the best so we suggested that she talk to her home teacher about getting a priesthood blessing. She was a bit hesitant but she recognizes that they have helped her in her life before and she knows that it will help her again.
Overall this week was great! Keep being awesome!Love ya,Sister Lexy Smith

August 5th

 

This week has been really great! We have been teaching Bobbie and Christi this week. They are both doing really well. This week we taught Bobbie about the power of the priesthood and the Word of Wisdom. She asked for a priesthood blessing and yesterday we were able to go over to her home with a couple of the members of the ward and talk to her about faith and Brother Sprauge gave her a blessing. The spirit was so strong, I know that she will be able to over come her trials and that she will be blessed as she continues to prepare to be baptised. We also were visiting former potentials for the area book and most of them have not been home but one of them was. He talked to us about his desire to come back to church (he was catholic) and how he has been reading about redemption. We invited him to church next week and he said he would come. We also asked if we could come back and teach him and he said yes so we will be seeing him again this week! I know that as we put in our part the Lord will do the rest. Romans 5:3-5.
Romans Chaper 5

Love, Sister Lexy Smith

First Week in New Mexico

 

This week has been crazy but so good! I we flew to New Mexico and right when we got to the baggage claim we met the president, his wife and his assistants. Then they had us get out a change of clothes for the next day and drove us to the temple for a picture. After that we went to the mission home for lunch and some training. We got to go to a park with sisters from the mission and talk to people. It was fun but a bit intimidating. After that we had dinner and a testimony meeting. Then we were divided up and sent to stay with other missionaries for the night. I stayed with Sister Smith and Sister McCarty. The next day was the transfer meeting where they gave us breakfast and assigned us our companions. My companion is Sister Stuart from Ogden Utah. She has only been out for one transfer (6 weeks) but she has been a great trainer thus far. That first day we met with Louise. She is a less active in her 60's who wants to get to the temple. She is really funny and talks a lot but I loved teaching her and getting to know her. One of the nights we went over to teach her it was raining really hard and when we left our exit was blocked to we ended up driving around for quite awhile and having to turn around in a flooded parking lot! I had no idea that they had monsoon season here but after only one week I've gotten pretty used to all the rain in the evenings. We have also been teaching Bobbie Niemi. Her daughter got baptised a couple of years ago but she remained catholic. She has been taught by missionaries for the last year and said she wouldn't commit to a date until her husband did but when we taught her we committed her to be baptised on September 14th. She was a bit hesitant but said she knows that this is the truth and the thing she didn't know she was missing in her life. We got to meet with her again later in the week and taught her about Obedience and Following the Prophet. She has already been listening to general conference talks and said that she realised that if it comes down to coffee or baptism the better choice is pretty evident, she wants to be baptised! Because we are only teaching a couple of people we have done alot of contacting. We have tried to meet all the less actives in the ward which has been good but alot of them have moved or given the wrong address. We were able to met the Tableings last night and Brother Tableing said that his wife will be out of town later this week but that when she comes back they want to meet with us. Over all it has been a great week, I love being a missionary!

 

Love ya,

Sister Smith