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| Not our house... |
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| ...Our House! |
Hi!
So the last two weeks have been something else. Hence no weekly in
forever. I'm not even sure why, I don't think anything too crazy has happen.
Just a lot of emotional ups and downs I guess!
So the last night of last
transfer, Sisters Chibataka, Nielsen and myself tracted into this amazing young
mother names Kimi. She is the single parent of three young busy boys living in
the projects of downtown Corinth. Due to circumstances in her childhood, she was
raised by her grandparents, and didn't go to school past the third grade. She
faced incredible challenges growing up, but determined as a young mother to do
everything she could to better herself and give her boys the stable life she
never had. She taught herself how to read and write, and put herself through
some online courses.
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| Sister Terry, Sister Smith |
A couple weeks ago when Sister Terry and I went back to
visit with her and the boys, she told us that her GED Diploma had come in the
mail Christmas Eve! She was so excited to show it to us, I got all teary eyed as
she pulled it out of the envelope. (Honestly I don't know why these people keep
letting us come back.. I cry too much.) She works, raises her precious boys, and
is now taking collage courses online.
When we first met her she told us
that she had begun researching religions in her spare time, not only because it
was a great way to practice reading and learning about life and the world, but
also because she felt a need to raise her boys with some kind of spiritual
guidance. She's always felt that God was real, but felt too uneducated to teach
her boys anything religious. So when we showed up on her door step late one
night (literally last door we knocked on the night before Sisters Chibataka and
Nielsen went home), she was both surprised and excited. Last night we went back
again, and were so happy to hear she'd been reading everything she could find
about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She LOVES the church's
focus on family, and expressed how much she appreciated us coming over to help
her and her boys learn. I find more and more out here how embarrassed I feel
when people thank us.. It feels backwards, because all I want to do is hug and
thank these people for teaching ME, enlightening and expanding my soul in ways I
don't even deserve. And BONUS! She got one of her boys an acoustic guitar for
Christmas, and has been trying to learn how to play online so she could teach
him herself. I have been complaining to Sister Terry for weeks that I didn't
have my guitar, because I crave to play, and need the therapy. So when Kimi told
us that, I offered to teach him some basics, and she was just as stoked as I
was! :) Anyway, I can't even express how much I love her and her boys. I'm so
grateful for her exaple of determination. One of my favorite things about Kimi
is how real she is. She's not just about to take everything we say as fact, but
she understands the importance of being well educated and rounded in her
understanding, and coming to know truth for herself.
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Sister Terry drives with her eyes closed... jk she's just praying we
don't
hit a possum |
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Beautiful afternoon tracting in theboonies of Walnut, MS.
Dog of the day! |
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Literally a road to one of our investigators trailer in the woods.
Dirt road. This is my life! |
Two Monday's ago we
were emailing and a man named Rob sat next to us. Somehow a conversation got
started, and it turns out this guy had lived in Salt Lake for a time, where he
was introduced to the Church, and even met with Elders for a while, and visited
Temple Square. He said his interest was peaked because of how kind the church
members in his neighborhood were to him, and the support they gave him, though
he was basically a stranger. That was many years ago, and he hadn't had much
interaction with the Church since moving back to the South. He was excited to
see that there were missionaries in the library that day, and asked us a lot of
questions that had formed in the years since his experience in SLC. I LOVE these
experiences. Even though I've been here almost 6 months now and still haven't
been able to see one of our investigators in white, these experiences are just
as sweet and rich with the spirit.
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| Didi and Papi |
We met a Mother and daughter from
Cuba this week! Another miracle meet. Didi, the daughter, had met with
missionaries before, so we'd been trying to find her for a few weeks. Satan is
tricky, and for some reason former investigators are hard to find sometimes.
Anyway, we didn't have her address or phone number, all we knew of them was what
we heard from the members. So one night we found this apartment complex we'd
never seen before, and because it was lit, and it was getting dark out, we
decided to spend the rest of the night there. The first door we knocked
on was Didi's. We got to know her and her adorable mother, who spent 17 years
studying with Nuns in Cuba before moving to America. Papi (mother) is in her
70's, and has the most beautiful understanding of God and his love. She even
told us about His creation of worlds without end.. haha. We were like, wait are
you Mormon? Didi is one of the sweetest and most humble people I've met. She is
in her 40's, and has a learning disability, so she writes down everything we
talk about, and re reads it until she understands. She pulled out several
notebooks filled with notes from her previous meetings with missionaries. Wow..
These two women are so inspiring. They truly love the Lord, and want to
understand Him and come as close to Him as they possibly can, despite physical
or mental limitations. I love them.
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| Country Life in the South |
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| ever seen Second Hand Lions? |
TEMIKARE!! Temikare is an
investigator who has met with the Corinth missionaries since July. Elders found
her just a few weeks after she moved to the city. I have worked with her ever
since I got here, and Sister Terry and I have had the privilege of setting a
baptism date with her!! She is so sweet and humble. Her understanding of God is
very simple and pure. She loves Jesus Christ, and wants to follow Him. She came
to church with us yesterday, and it was the coolest experience ever. No one know
she was coming, let alone that she had just made the decision to be baptized,
yet every testimony shared was either about baptism, the truthfulness of the
Gospel, and the blessings of the temple. And then the Relief Society teacher
started class by saying while she was preparing for the usual scheduled lesson,
she felt very strongly she needed to talk about baptism instead, and the
covenants we make. Still, no one at this point knew that Temikare was going to
be baptized, haha! So the spirit was super strong during the whole lesson, and
at the end I asked Temikare if she wanted people to know she was going to be
baptized. She said she'd love everyone to be there, so we went ahead and made
the announcement. The women were all so happy and excited for her. On fast
Sunday they have a little testimony meeting at the end of Relief Society too,
and more than half of the testimonies shared were from convert women directly to
Miss Temikare. These members are amazing. I didn't realize before the mission
how important and KEY members were to the investigators. Of course it makes
sense, I just hadn't thought about it really. Seriously, the members in the
South are incredible. They are humble, and mostly converts who sought truth, and
found it. They know how to surround investigators with love and support, because
they know how scary it is to give your heart over to a truth you didn't know
existed. Often times having little to no support from those closest to you, and
battling the advisory's fiery darts at the same time. Temikare's baptism will be
two days before her 33rd birthday, and two days after my 6 month mark. The first
baptism of someone I've helped teach! I'm so grateful, and excited for her.
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| Wall of trees, this is what Tennessee looks like |
I mentioned before about the emotional ups and downs of the last few
weeks. I won't get too much into it, but suffice it to say Satan is a dope. I
know, we all know this. He's literally the worst. Sometimes we get tired of
battling him, in the middle of surviving this already difficult at times life.
And besides, who has time for his antics when there's so much adventure,
happiness, and growing to be had in the little time we get on this beautiful
earth! But on occasion, those fiery darts catch the hem of our happy pants, and
flames start a flyin. However! I will tell you this. If we stay close to the
Savior, if we fill our buckets, drop by drop, we will not go down in the flames.
When I feel the heat on my neck, and my vision is obscured by the threat of defeat, I reach for the Living Water, the Healing Balm of the Savior, and he's always there just in time.
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| Blurry picture from our Tupelo North Zone Conference Lunch |
Zone conference last week was amazing, and
just the soothing spirit filled relief I was in need of. I heard that sentiment
expressed by many other missionaries that day. President talked about not
getting down when we fill every force is coming against us at once. He told us
that Satan concentrates much of his attacks on missionaries, because he is
getting desperate.
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| All the Sister in the Tupelo North Zone |
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| Zone Training - Tupelo North |
In my mind, I pictured Voldemort and Harry in that epic wand
battle (YES I'M GOING THERE). When Longbottom cuts Nagini's head off, and
Voldemort realizes he's about to be finished. He concentrates one final blow on
Harry, putting all his energy into this last attempt to overthrow light. Well,
this is where we are folks. So it should come as no surprise that things are
getting harder. Don't forget about the power of the Atonement, and the grace of
the Savior. Don't forget your divine identity.
If you ask God, he can help you
come to know who you really are in His eyes, and why you were worth sending His
Son. We all know how this ancient wrestle ends.
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| Cool Pic! |
"We are the foot
soldiers of the Savior. This is the great and last battle, and we are on the
front lines." -President Sainsbury
I love you
Sister Smith
