Wednesday, January 29, 2014

A Day in the Life (At the MTC)

My alarm clock goes off at 6:25, I hit snooze, and get up at 6:30.
I start the day off by getting dressed inside of a closet, where I practice rolling my R's.


And then one of my favorite parts of the day, I put on the name tag!  :)


At Breakfast I fake to be awake, and spoon up some keylime yogurt.

My oh my, there is a lot of Spanish to be learned!


I swipe my card to get into places, and push the magic button to get out.


We exercise inside these domes. One has Basketball, one has weights, and the best one has Volleyball.  :) 


The spinning door gives me joy.


Inside the Dome. Sidenote, I can't handle playing Basketball at the MTC anymore, about a week or two ago, I literally wanted to throw a girl down, okay maybe two girls. So... I removed myself from the situation and don't let myself play Basketball at the MTC anymore. Ha ha. Then this Hermana came up to me at the Cafeteria and asked if I would come play Basketball because she thought I was really good. I told her no that I had anger issues, and couldn't. Then I realized I made it sound like I literally have anger management issues. But it made me smile when one day an Elder asked me if I played for BYU, and a different time an Elder asked me if I was a professional Volleyball player. Ha ha. Silly Elders. But I love to block elders, a small tear at their mancard. It is evil, and prideful, I never said I was perfect. I tell people that one of my ugliest sides is me in Basketball and Volleyball.


At mealtimes we create different drinks. This one is good, it is Blue Powerade with Pog.


I just want to throw the verbs at the wall and make them conjugate themselves!


Least favorite part of the day, trying a meat of the day. I'll be honest, I don't even know what that was. Beef, steak, brisket, is there a difference?!


Eating with the Fam...aka the Zone


Holla, it is the best when you get mail!  :) (I have to check it twice a day for things/notices)


By the zillionth study session of the day, I want to curse all who tried to build a tower and caused other languages.


Crammed on the little bunk, ending the day, and ready for the next!  :)








Unleash the Beast!

Whoo, the time has come, Mexico is calling!  :)

So this past Monday, I received my Visa for Mexico. This is when I got my flight plans and Visa announcement. I got my Visa in SLC. 


And I leave this coming Monday, February 3rd
So any Dear Elders that are being sent, need to be done by noon on Friday, because we don't get them on Saturdays. So go ahead and do one last shout out with those, eh?

One Hermana from my District left to Argentina on Monday, and one left to Florida on Tuesday. So my District sang in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. We sang 'Abide with me tis eventide'. We started in English and ended in Spanish. And I gave the closing Prayer... in Spanish, yay one thing I do know how to do in this Language. Ha ha. 

It is important that I set my goals now, and envision who I want to return home as.

When I leave the mission field I want my eyes to view people like Christ would, and for others to see a piece of Christ when they look into my eyes. I want my ears to humbly hear the pains of others, while my hands and feet take action to their needs. Not for praise, but out of habit. I want my shoulders to be wet from letting others cry upon them. I will put others before myself. I will know better how to listen to the things that Heavenly Father desires for me to do. I might not always know why things are asked of me, but i will combine my faith with action, every day. As my wants and my will meet, I will join my will with God's will. I might look beat and tired, but know that my spirit and joy have never been stronger or more alive. When I weep as I remove my Missionary Tag, I desire to know that I laid it all on the line, and I will remain a Representative of Jesus Christ, forever... and in my mind and heart my mission will be apart of me forever, molding me to being who I was always meant to be.

I need to Buckle Up, because I am about to embark on the ride of my life. And I couldn't be more excited about it!  :)     

Well I love you all, keep me updated on everything.

Love Always,
                     Hermana Smith

Friday, January 24, 2014

A Better Beauty

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Well earlier this week there was an emotional night for our District, but it was also really good. An Hermana in our District was having a rough time, she was having a hard time viewing herself in a positive way, and had a lot of negative things to say about herself and how she viewed herself. Which that breaks my heart, but it brought a great opportunity for us to grow closer as a District. We were all able to bear testimony of our individual worth as God's children. I told her that while she was listing negative things about herself, that I had been looking at the picture of Christ that was on their desk. And I told her that I imagined if he was standing there as she said those things about herself, that he would have held her face in his hands, and wiped away her tears. He would have told her a thousand ways why she is perfect. She is doing all the things right that she can right now, she is a servant of God, and a representative of Jesus Christ. She should feel happy with who she is, especially as a missionary. I told her that when I viewed a picture of myself (the first picture of myself here as a missionary) - that typical me would first notice if my outfit matched, how my curves looked, if I even had curves, and if my hair was out of place in anyway. But that the first time I saw myself in a picture as a missionary, the first thing I noticed about myself was my eyes, I glowed like I never had before. And I was shocked that I could notice that in myself. And I know that it is the light of Christ, because I am set apart to represent him. I continued to tell her that I want her to look at herself in the temple mirror, in all white, and be in awe of the beauty of the work. And when she teaches Investigatores in the field to picture them in white, picture them being baptized and leading them to the temple. Not as a number, but as a child of God.

Sorry I ran out of time to talk about anything else. But I want you all to know that God loves you, with a PERFECT Love! And he wants to hear from you everyday.

I Love You All!

Love Always,
                      Hermana Smith

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Another week of Happiness at the MTC!

Hola,

So guess who gave our Devotional last night... say what?! Elder David A. Bednar, and he did it again! I mean jeesh, fine I will put him in my top three favs, like I get it, he is AMAZING. 

And he said that he was going to answer more questions for us that he didn't get to answer at Christmas. He said from the texts and e-mails that were sent on Christmas, there was approximately 1,000 questions sent to his ipad from the MTC's around the world that participated.

He said a huge theme of the questions were Miracles. He Cautioned us: "The more you press to have a miracle, the less likely you are to have one. Do not attempt to press, force or demand to have a miracle."

One question asked, "How can women be useful without the Priesthood?"
Answer: "Priesthood is not male. Priesthood is the Authorization and Permission to act in God's name. It is God's Authority. He compared it to an Umbrella, if Elders are worthy they can hold the umbrella and with their worthiness they will be aloud to open the umbrella, but everyone that is under the umbrella will benefit from it."

His Testimony on the Book of Mormon was earth shaking, that is how I want to live my life, I want my Testimony to strengthen others that I share it with, but not just by my words, by my example as well. 

He said many more things, but he ended by saying, "I hope you learn to know how to WAIT UPON THE LORD, his tender mercies and blessings will be in your life." 

So funny story of the week... The first two lessons I gave at the MTC I broke into a little nervous laughter at times, but nothing too major, I thankfully broke that habit. But this week... me and my companion were giving a lesson to a "Investigator" (our teacher), and I taught about the importance of Baptism, and my companion taught about the importance of the Holy Ghost. So I did my part and my companion just started to Testify really great, but then she said the Holy Ghost gives us "Pez" so I lost it and began to laugh to myself as quiet as I could, but I couldn't stop, I laughed while she kept teaching for at least two minutes I was laughing. She thought it was my nervous laughter from week one. So as we left the lesson she smacked my arm and asked "Why, were you laughing so much?!" I proceeded to tell her that she just testified that the Holy Ghost gives us fish. She meant to say that it gives us "Paz" which means peace. But instead she confidently told him that the Holy Ghost gives us fish. It might not seem that funny, but if you know me, the less funny it is suppose to be, the more funny I find it, especially if you are not suppose to be laughing. So I was like sweating because I couldn't let out full laughter. But no worries, better Spanish will come for all of us in time.  :) 

Well I love you all SO much!!! And I am thankful for the love, support, and joy that you all bring into my life.

Oh P.S. We went to the Temple today and there is a NEW NEW video, you might think, oh I already saw it, but nope, there is an even newer one. My Branch Presidents friend helped produce them, and he said that there is another one after this newest one that will be coming out also.

LOVE YOU!!!

Love Always,
                    Hermana Smith

Pics with more Hermanas from the District


This is Hermana Gentry from my District, she is for reals the redhead version of Jen Moore!  :)


Me and Hermana Evans from my District, she is hilarious!  :)  She can do a lot of different voices, and quotes a ton of stuff.


Jan 8 2014

Familia,

Because of the new Semester at BYU that just began, we have a new schedule. So classes are rearranged a little differently now, and our p-day is no longer Saturday, but it is now on Wednesday.  :)


I played Volleyball with Savannah Jones in High School, this is a picture from us on Christmas Day. She left this past week, she is serving in Mexico also.  :)


The Temple is open again, so we got to go for p-day today!  :)  This is Me and my companion Hermana Wood.


This is me and my District at the Provo Temple. Yesterday another Hermana joined our Distritct. Her name is Hermana Koutz, she is from Northern California and going to Florida. (She was at the MTC a year ago, and went home, now she is going back out after she spends three weeks with us). But we welcomed her with open arms, and it is just another person to love. 

Spanish is a trip to learn, but if learning Spanish is my only struggle in life currently, then I am mightily blessed indeed!  :)  I know that the language will come in time through obedience, hardwork, and faith. So here goes to the journey!

My love for the Gospel grows here EVERY SINGLE DAY. I am so happy to be a representative of Jesus Christ and his church. One of my very favorite things each day is personal study. Did you know that the scriptures are packed with one gem after another. I have always read my scriptures at home, but never like this. I just dig for gold here, and my pan is never nugget-less. And one of the best ways to read the scriptures is to find answers to help another person, mmmhmm nothing better. I am now getting into color coding tabs, whoo don't even get me started. Ha ha.

But really, I love Missionary Work. And I know the field will be EVEN BETTER!

I hope that you are all doing great, because that is what life is about, JOY.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love Always,
                      Hermana Smith     




A few pictures


We are pretty blessed, we have FOUR redheads in our Zone!




This is from New Years when I told you, "I dropped an orange at 10 pm"



With Hermana Wood riding the bus to the Sunday Night Devotional. (Josh Wanner's little brother photo bombing in the back.)

Saturday, January 4, 2014

'I dropped an orange at 10 pm'

Hola,

Well for New Years as missionaries you have to get creative. So I pondered and thought about what we could do. So you know how in New York at Times Square, they drop the ball at Midnight. Well all the Hermanas in my zone gathered round at 10 PM (it was midnight somewhere, but we had to be in bed by 10:30 to make curfew, and I am suppose to set a good example as DL & STL). So at 9:59 we began the countdown to 10 PM. I got on a couch and raised the orange (that I lovingly took from the Cafeteria) to the ceiling and slammed it down to bring in the New Year. It cracked the skin of it, and I squeezed it to make some nice Orange Juice for an Hermana. We had Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, Chips and Salsa, Cinnamon Rolls, and other random treats provided by the Hermana's in our Zone. So I get it... you think we were crazy wild, and we like to think that we were too.  ;)  But there is only so much that you can do when you need (choose to by Agency) to keep curfew and be as Missionary-like as possible to ring in the New Year. And I literally dove on my mattress right at 10:30, and slept soundly to welcome in the New Year.

They disabled the ability to attach photos and videos from West Campus now in e-mails. So I will talk around to other people and find out where the weak spot is, I think there is a place on Main Campus that we can still, so I will try to wander there today so I can send you a video that I made for you all yesterday, and some more pictures to keep you in the loop of the freshness here at the MTC.

Oh last Sunday after the Sunday Night Devotional we were able to choose what talks or short videos we wanted to watch. So me and my Companion chose to watch 'The Character of Christ' from Elder Bednar. And WHOO Bednar did it again, it blew my mind! It was humbling, he broke my heart, and then he lifted and changed it. I tried to find a link to share it with you all, but I think it is just an MTC thing. My Teacher said it might be available through BYU-Idaho but just in print form. So you should FOR SURE look it up if you can find it anywhere and let me know.  :)  

I can't even express to you how much my mind and heart has grown since I have been at the MTC for just this two weeks and three days, it is unreal. I remember pridefully thinking before I came, "Oh yeah... people say they change on their mission, oh cool, I already do the church basics, I'm not sure what else is in it for me, I mean I know I will learn to love the people but really... it can't get that deep." Well slappity-slap of humility! Because even like day two from being here I have changed, the Gospel is an AMAZING gift and if we implement it properly in our lives we can create and witness miracles!

I Love you all dearly, I pray for you in my shaky Spanish each night. I want you to know that God is aware of your needs, he is willing to pour out blessings in great abundance! BUT, you do need to turn to him.

Love Always,
                    The Redheaded Hermana Smith     

Pics of Melanie & Hermana Wood


{Hermana Smith & Hermana Wood}



{Hermana Wood, Bro. Monson, Hermana Smith}