Miracles and people. People and miracles. - New Companion #4!

Ok.. let me paint a picture for you.

Transfer day:
Saying goodbye to both of my companions was extremely difficult. Especially knowing it was possibly the last time I'd see one of them in this life.

Many of you may not know this.. but I get bloody noses any time I experience high emotion of any kind, whether good or bad. I know.. I'm an exotic breed of special.

SO Sister Terry and I are about to hop in the car and drive away, having just said final goodbyes, when blood starts spewing from my left nostril, like a burst dam of emotional destruction.

Chaos.

Every missionary within 5 ft of us starts scrambling for tissue, and looking for some explanation as to why I'm suddenly covered in blood. Did I hit my face with the car door? Did I get hit by a car? Did my new comp already snap?? What happen... What's happening???

We get back into the church building, and try to get things under control. Sister Terry plays it cool, while President and his Wife go to find some water bottles so we can replace the fluid I'm losing. (Seriously, you haven't seen a bloody nose like this). Luckily Sister Terry has some medical training, and wasn't at all upset that we've known each other 20 minutes and she's already covered in my blood.

About 20 minutes later all is well again, and we hit the road. We have a 3hr 15min drive ahead of us.

3 minutes down the road, every car around us is honking, and a lady pulls up next to us and points at our trunk. My shoulder bag is hanging UPSIDE DOWN off the side of our car. In this bag was: My scriptures, my camera, my planners, a very special note from one of my departing companions, and
various church pamphlets, papers, and pictures. Not to mention kid stickers.

Ensue bloody nose #2

We pull off the busy road, and I'm obviously expecting the worst. As I walk around to the side of the car, I see that yes, my bag is in fact completely upside down, open, and (Miracle #1) barely hanging on by a plastic end of a strap that got caught on the lid of the trunk. Miracle #2 is that EVERYTHING besides my mini PMG, pamphlets, and kid stickers is STILL IN THE BAG!!

Ok, let me tell you, all of the most important stuff was sitting in the open part of my bag. Not in pockets, not strapped in, not secured in any way. Yes, I'm dumb. Yet it was sitting there defying gravity, while I stared in shock for like 5 seconds. Scriptures are heavy! and so is my camera.. I have no idea how they stayed in place. Even the note from my comp was sitting there, still in the pocket that all the other papers fell out of.

Sister Smith with new Companion Sister Terry

Sister Terry is a saint. She's 20, from Lehi UT, and likes good music. We've had an amazing week so far.  

My favorite part about the mission is the ncredible people we meet. The other day we were really drained. We'd been teaching all morning, back
to back lessons, and had plans to tract. But for some reason neither of us were feeling it. We sat in the car and stared at the road for like 30 seconds, said a prayer, and forced ourselves out. The first door we knocked on was a really sweet woman, who invited us in. That is really rare, just so you know. We were able to teach her about the Book of Mormon, and she invited us to come back.







The second door we knocked on was a stern looking old woman with fancy hair. Uh oh. Brace for a bash.. But she turned out to be the most humble 80 yr old women in the world! Well, at least in the South. She invited us in to her beautiful home, filled with beautiful things, and we had the
sweetest discussion about the Savior. She has a deep love for the Bible, and told us how she longed to feel the Spirit more. To be as close to the Lord as she possibly could. We saw an opportunity to bring up the Book of  Mormon, and took it. She listened with an open mind and heart, as we promised her that the spirit she has been longing for could be found in those pages. We were able to testify to her that God is aware of the desires of her heart. With tears in her eyes, she invited us to come back and teach her. I want her to teach *me* how to live 80 years, and still be willing to learn. Willing to believe there is more to know.

Last week we knocked on a random door, and a really rough looking older man answered. He had shoulder length grey hair, and a Harley Davidson shirt on.. I liked him instantly, but was pretty sure he was about to run us off. When he saw our name tags though, his eyes softened and he told us to come on in. Turns out, he's a less active member of the Church! He was baptized when he was a young teen, and was active for most of his adolescence, until he got involved with drugs.

After years of addiction, he was in terrible shape. He begged God to help him stop, and it wasn't long after that night that he was caught and arrested.

He spent 10 years in prison. He read the Bible several times and the Book of Mormon 5 times during those 10 years. He told us he knew sometimes God does the hard things, in order to get us the help we need. He's now been out and clean 4 years. He told us he'd been thinking a lot about the Church. He still has a testimony of Joseph Smith, and the Restoration of the Gospel, but hasn't been in the church scene for a long time (he's about 60). So when he saw us standing on his porch, he knew he needed to let us in. I wish I could send feelings through email, because the feeling in that room as we talked in indescribable. All I can say is I know this spirit of God is real. We talked about forgiveness, and how intimately Jesus Christ knows the the pains we each face individually. He's agreed to have us back to talk about the Gospel about once a week.

In addition, we met two other incredible men. Both had ordered a free Book of Mormon online.

The first one we met turned out to be a less active member as well. It'd been about 30 years since he'd last gone to church. When we asked what made him order the book after all this time, he explained that he felt it was "time to start researching again." At the next meeting we asked him if he
remembered what his baptism day was like. He told us he was about 12 when his family was baptized, and he still remembered the Elder to dunked him in the river. He remembered that his hands were soft, and that every time he looked at the Elder he thought he was looking at the Savior Himself. Though many rough years had passed since that experience, when events in his late years turned him to seek truth once again, he knew where he needed to start. With the Book of Mormon.

The second was a man who had *also* recently gotten out of prison. He was covered in tattoos, and had the bluest eyes I've ever seen. He told us that if he hadn't found God while serving time, he wouldn't have mentally survived. I couldn't hide my tears as he described what it was like to have
his heart changed, and want nothing more than to help others who's pain he knew. This man understands the character of Christ. He ordered the Book of Mormon out of curiosity, and is now excited for us to come back and teach both he and his wife.

We pray to know where we need to be every single morning, and several times throughout the day, and these experiences prove over and over that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are directing this work. This is my favorite thing.

Love you all so much!
Sister Smith

Ok so we drove forever to find this address of a family we were trying to

track down.. this is where is led us.