Welcome to Corinth, Mississippi!!
Ok so we don't actually
live in Corinth.. We live in Selmer, Tennessee. Our new area covers 8 counties
and 32 towns across both MI and TN. Quite a change from little ol' Red Bay!! I
LOVE it. Saying goodbye to the Bay was way hard.. but it's a blessing I didn't
know anything different before serving there. Haha!
I will miss the people I
was privileged to get to know while there. I have always felt that I find a
little bit of myself in every city I visit.. being a lover of travel. But now I
feel there is an added sweetness to exploring, and that is that we find a
little bit more of our family in every city we visit. God truly can
help us see everyone the way he does, as his sons and daughters. It's a
beautiful thing.
Miss Ivylina
This is most of the
wonderful Kelly family. They are members, but the four little ones up front are
Sister Kelly's nieces and nephews who have come to live with them, and are not
members. We've been teaching them for the past month. They are the sweetest kids
in the world, and you can just see the light in their eyes when they tell you
all they know about Jesus. I love them.
I wish I could show you
everyone!
This is our
tripanionship!! Sister Nielsen (Bountiful, Utah), me, and Sister Chibataka
(Uganda). Sister Chibataka is one
of the funniest people I have ever met. I haven't laughed this much in months.
She was baptized 4 years ago, and has such a strong beautiful testimony. Her
and Sister Nielsen are powerhouses, and I feel so blessed to be working with them.
Corinth is the main city in our area, and we found a perfect scripture for this
transfers theme. Acts 18:8 "..and many of the Corinthians hearing
believed, and were baptized."
Oh I survived my first tornado by the way!! Just a few days before transfers
a huge storm came up from Mississippi through NW Alabama. Everyone in town had
warned us, knowing that we didn't have access to the news.
We were back at our trailer early that night anyway, due to the fact that I
was *deathly ill*. So we were celebrating my 12 week graduation from the missionary
training program...
(Sister Nielsen made me a certificate and a hat and
everything! Hahaha)
...when we got a call from the Williams telling us that there
was a *category 4* tornado headed straight for Red Bay, and to get to their
house asap.
Sister Nielsen played it cool, got some stuff together, and had our 72hr kit in hand within minutes.. I on the other hand was a bit delirious with fever, and just started grabbing stuff and shoving it into my pillow case and side bag, not knowing how long we should plan to be in shelter, or what would be essential to have should the rest of our belongings be taken up
into a death funnel, never to be seen again. By the time we made it to the car I had my scriptures, a flashlight, my family pictures, 4 jackets, 7 hair elastics around my wrists, a whistle around my neck (the one from moms *hilarious* car backing safety package), and a king size reeses to share…Nailed it.
Just before we left we said a prayer and asked that, if it were possible, the
tornado go around us.
So we go outside in the pouring rain, all the tornado alarms are going off, the neighbors farm animals are losing their minds, our phone is blowing up with the ZL's and STL's warning us of the impending doom headed our way, and we get a call from one of our Church of Christ friends wondering why we weren't at bible study yet... I was like DO YOU KNOW THERE'S A CATEGORY 4 TORNADO HEADED FOR YOUR HOUSE MA'AM?? My goodness...honestly.
We make it to the Williams with about 20 minutes to spare according to the tornado expert guy giving updates on the weather channel. So we're all just kind of pacing around. Bishop and his wife offer Sister Nielsen and I food. She ate. I sat in a pale-faced cold sweat, and typed a final goodbye text up, should I feel the need to send it to my family once we got hit...(hahahaha)
When the tornado was about 2 minutes from the city limits we took position in the hall. The plan was to sit in this little alcove in the center of the home, with a mattress propped over us, and lock arms. (They didn't tell us until after that Bishop and Sister Williams had planned to be the weight on top of the mattress that would cover the rest of us.. bless them.)
So we go outside in the pouring rain, all the tornado alarms are going off, the neighbors farm animals are losing their minds, our phone is blowing up with the ZL's and STL's warning us of the impending doom headed our way, and we get a call from one of our Church of Christ friends wondering why we weren't at bible study yet... I was like DO YOU KNOW THERE'S A CATEGORY 4 TORNADO HEADED FOR YOUR HOUSE MA'AM?? My goodness...honestly.
We make it to the Williams with about 20 minutes to spare according to the tornado expert guy giving updates on the weather channel. So we're all just kind of pacing around. Bishop and his wife offer Sister Nielsen and I food. She ate. I sat in a pale-faced cold sweat, and typed a final goodbye text up, should I feel the need to send it to my family once we got hit...(hahahaha)
When the tornado was about 2 minutes from the city limits we took position in the hall. The plan was to sit in this little alcove in the center of the home, with a mattress propped over us, and lock arms. (They didn't tell us until after that Bishop and Sister Williams had planned to be the weight on top of the mattress that would cover the rest of us.. bless them.)
So here we are. the four Williams children, Sister Nielsen, and me and my puke bucket
all huddled together, while Bishop and his wife watch the radar screen. Their
youngest son is hilarious, and reminds me of little miss Jib Jab (Olivia❤) so much. He was just jabbering
away about the most random things, the rest of them listening to Sister Nielsen
tell a story about her first tornado, meanwhile I'm listening for the sounds of
destruction outside.
We
stayed this way for about ten minutes, before Bishop came and announced there
would be no destruction, and to come look at what had just happen on the radar screen!
You can replay the updates, so we watched it a few times. There was a huge
supercell with a hook on it (indication of a tornado) headed straight for us,
but as it approached the city of Red Bay it completely dissipates, and reappears
on the other side of us..* It was so crazy*!!
I got the chills...this time not from the fever ;)
Anyway…we stayed there for a couple more hours. The alarms went off a few more times as tornadoes touched down here and there in the county, but no big threats after that. Bishop told us he had seen that happen before, and wasn't too surprised. Sister Williams was a little less sure of that, and said it had been 5 years since they'd had a real scare. In 2011 a tornado destroyed a town called Phill Cambell about 35 miles away.
Ok, so I may have dramatized the story a bit.. but I was sick, and had already had an emotional week, and it's my story so I'll tell it how I want to ;) Moral is, I believe in the power of prayer, and am so grateful to the Williams for their care of us. Heavenly Father truly is in control of everything, even when I feels there is destruction all around us. Bad
I got the chills...this time not from the fever ;)
Anyway…we stayed there for a couple more hours. The alarms went off a few more times as tornadoes touched down here and there in the county, but no big threats after that. Bishop told us he had seen that happen before, and wasn't too surprised. Sister Williams was a little less sure of that, and said it had been 5 years since they'd had a real scare. In 2011 a tornado destroyed a town called Phill Cambell about 35 miles away.
Ok, so I may have dramatized the story a bit.. but I was sick, and had already had an emotional week, and it's my story so I'll tell it how I want to ;) Moral is, I believe in the power of prayer, and am so grateful to the Williams for their care of us. Heavenly Father truly is in control of everything, even when I feels there is destruction all around us. Bad
things can and will happen, but no matter what, if we live worthy and focus our
lives on the Savior, "...all things shall work together for your
good." D&C 105:40
I love you guys so much! Be sure to check out the Christmas Initiative on mormon.org! It's a 2-3 min video about how Christ is the Light of the World, and is such a beautiful way to start our Christmas celebrations.
I love you guys so much! Be sure to check out the Christmas Initiative on mormon.org! It's a 2-3 min video about how Christ is the Light of the World, and is such a beautiful way to start our Christmas celebrations.
John 8:12 "*I* am the light of the world." Matthew 5:14 "*Ye* are the light
of the world."
Love Sister Smith
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