Week 32 - Roll Tide Roll!!!

Ok.. get ready to be jealous, because today was the coolest. We got a *private tour* of the Bear Bryant Stadium in Tuscaloosa!! 

DONT STEP ON THE SEAL!!! (Elder Preswitch)

I'm pretty sure I have to be a Bama fan now?? (Elder Currier is going to be livid!.. Sorry Chase :/).

Well... as much of a "fan" as I can be. We all know I know nothing about football. But I'm trying to learn! It's about the only way we can get people to talk to us, haha! When things get awkward at door steps, we just say "Roll Tide!" and they let us right in. Unless they are Auburn fans, then they chase us with a stick. It was seriously so fun!!

 It was a combined activity with Bessemer North and South Zones, and we all played football on campys after...best day ever.

So we got caught in a rain storm while tracting.. so hilarious. Sister Mathis was NOT happy.

  

 But we ended up having such a cool experience! One of the doors was answered by the sweetest little old spanish lady, who spoke only enough english to tell us she was Catholic. She kindly declined to hear our message, but sent us with well wishes. Anyway, about five minutes later we were running for our lives past her door, when she opened it and
said "come, come!!" She ushered us inside, and was laughing so hard with us, as we were completely drenched. We were only there for a few minutes, while we spoke very broken spanish to her, and she replied in very broken
english. It was pretty awkward.. but she was just so sweet. Even though we couldn't communicate very well, there was a mutual love felt. She accepted
our card, with mormon.org printed on it, and our number. She offered us umbrellas and blew us a kiss as we left her house running. Love these sweet memories. 

Tough days call for mud masks and therapeutic cooking (for Sis Mathis
obvs.. I don't cook)

Ok I love you all so much!

Talk to you more next week.

XOXO Teirs

Week 31 - Don't say pink eye....nor Southern Devil SCORPION!!

Nephite eye patch for...Pink Eye (Shhhhhh)

 HI! So this week was super cool. I got an eye infection (Sister Mathis and the

Mission Nurse say it was pink eye but I refuse to say those words out

loud), so we spent three days in our apartment. By day three we were losing

our minds. Sister Mathis made me a Nephite eye patch, and we

sang/interpretive danced(mostly Sis Mathis) to "illegal" disney songs.

Notice her loving support:

​Oh and I had to wear my McGee glasses to some discussions we didn't want

to cancel. Sups Cool.

Ok and then we found this son of a gun chillin right above my bed:

​See attached video of the take down. THIS IS AN ALABAMA CENTIPEDE and they
are POISONOUS. What the crap.

A few days later, just before bed, I was in the bathroom, when out of the
corner of my eye I see movement. There is a bright RED MOUSE SIZED INSECT
sauntering across the floor, looking at me like I'm the annoying one in the
room!!! It shimmied under the door and disappeared into our dark apartment
before I could get myself together. It looked like a praying mantis with
extra appendages, like a mantis-spider hybrid. I literally couldn't
comprehend what was happening. Probably because I was looking through my
diseased eye and McGee glasses. The whole thing was a recipe for disaster.
Anyway, I grabbed the flashlight I keep under the bathroom sink for these
occasions, and opened the door slowly. I whisper-screamed for Sister Mathis
to wake up and help me find the Satan bug, but she did not. I spent 20
minutes going around our apartment with my flashlight and a prayer.
Nothing. It's probably sleeping on the underside of my mattress as we
speak. After doing some research, I've concluded that it was a Southern
Devil (ha!) SCORPION, native to the south. Although it was RED, and Red
Scorpions the deadliest scorpions known to man.. they're supposed to be in
India, Pakistan and Nepal... so that's probably what it was. Made a special
trip just for me.

In other good news, Sister Mathis has a coke problem. Pretty sure she
cracked her first one open at 7:45 this morning. I'm trying to help her,
but she's still in denial. And she doesn't appreciate it when I refer to
her habit as a coke problem, but I think it's funny. LOVE HER.

We live in a jungle. I love it! Except for the bugs. Kill them all.

Happy news! We have an amazing new investigator. Her name is Allison, andshe referred herself, after being introduced to the gospel by a guy who was
painting her neighbors house. Haha! She's already done some great research,
and is smart about her sources. She is so eager to learn, and even set her
own baptism date! If only it were always that easy! Elder Diede made a
great point though, and said it should always be that easy for those who
the Lord has prepared. And it's so true. There are events and understanding
that has taken place in Allison's life, and brought her to this point. I
love being able to recognize the workings of the spirit, even in the
tiniest details (like meeting the guy who's painting your neighbors
house...). She has set a date for 4 months from now, and I'm so happy we
get to teach her as she prepares to make that step in her journey. AND I'm
so grateful for Mr. Painter guy! Those tiny interactions that we get to
make as members can lead to incredible happiness in other's lives! Don't
ever forget that.

We had interviews with President Sainsbury and his wife again this week. I
love them so much. They truly love us, I can always feel that. So grateful
I get to serve with them.

Cool Park we contact at sometimes

   So I read the intro to D&C for the first time the other night. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it recently. I got to the part where is says, "On April 6, 1830, *under heavenly direction*, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Church, and thus the true Church of Jesus Christ is once again operative as an institution among men, with authority to teach

the gospel and *administer the ordinances of salvation*." Chills. It goes on to say that in D&C we see "the restoration and unfolding of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times." Woah. I had such a sweet and powerful experience with those words.

I'm so grateful to be living in this time, when we have the Priesthood authority to participate in and receive these profound blessings.

In Relief Society yesterday, we had a sweet discussion on prayer. Prayer is so much more powerful that we typically understand (at least me). It's hard for me, I'm a very instant-gratification person. And prayers aren't always answered immediately. There were some great testimonies shared from three different women. Two of them had examples of times when their prayers were answered immediately. We always love hearing about those stories! But then the third women spoke of a struggle her and her family have been praying for months to get through. Her and her husband have had to learn that even
though the answers they are looking for haven't come immediately, they have been blessed with a sense of *peace. That no matter how difficult their situation seems right now, they are and will be taken care of. *To them, that is enough of an answer for now. They have chosen to hold tight to that
peace, and allow the spirit to comfort them, while the Lord prepares them for their answers.

It reminds me of Moses 1, when Moses asks God why he created everything.

God politely tells Moses, "for mine own purpose have I made these things."

Or in other words, don't worry about it Moses.. I have a purpose, and it's

a wise purpose. All you need to know right now is that every creation is

numbered, and *I know them. *I *love* them, and it is "my work and glory -

to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." He loves us.

Sometimes that is the only answer we get for a while. But it means that our

happiness is His happiness, and we can trust for a while longer.

I hope everyone is doing well! I love you so much.

Xo Sister Smith

Week 30, Officially SIX Months Out! - Goals and Blessings

HI!

So it's been a much better week than last...Thank you so much for the love and prayers. They were definitely felt this week. I received a blessing after hearing of Grandma Barker's passing, and felt the love and strength that was sent from home. With it came greater patience and peace than I'd had in a while.

Sis Hermana Mitchell fell out of a tree...We're all good :)

Sister Mathis and I are getting along much better. I have felt an outpouring of love and gratitude for both her and all the missionaries I get to serve with. I do believe that some of my frustration was from feeling overwhelmed with the bad news from home and Corinth. In fact, I have learned so much from Sister Mathis this week. She takes EVERYTHING to the Lord, and I admire that so much. She is willing to strengthen my testimony by sharing hers with me.

P-Day Hike

Sister Mathis and I made a goal to learn to love tracting! Haha.. We had some amazing experiences because of it, and I know the Lord is providing opportunities because we set a goal, and began working for it. The other night we ended up with a handful of new potential investigators, and even tracted into a man who knows a memeber in the Hoover ward. They have some classes together, and have talked about the Gospel a bit, from what it sounds like. Last night was very sismilar as we were searing for some less active members. We would try to tract a bit in each neighborhood we went to, and again had great success talking with people. We met a young man at one house, who seemed very interested, and asked a lot of questions. I got the feeling he'd been thinking about looking for a church. I think that sometimes we can almost sense from the spirit, those who the Lord is preparing. He took a Book of Mormon, and wants us to come back. I'm grateful for these experiences.

I hope everyone is doing well, and knows how much I love them!
Xoxox Sis Smith  

Prologue

1. Mom, Crazy thing! While on an exchange, I met Riley's wife's Dad and
step mom! I saw their wedding announcement hanging on the wall of a home we
were at, and was like I know them... Turns out I was at Sariah's Dad's
house haha. They live in the STL's area.

-Sister Training Leader's are like the female equivalent of Zone Leaders.
We go on exchanges with them once a transfer.
-How am I related to Riley? Is he your second cousin? I just call him my
cousin...
2. Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers on Saturday! Totally made my
day brighter. Was thinking of you all at home, and sending my love as
Grandma's life was celebrated across the country :)

It also rained like crazy on Sat, which made everything look beautiful. I
don't mind tracting in the rain. Sister Mathis hates it will all her heart.
She's from St. George.
3. Mikaela and her two girls Periana, and Olivia! They have been coming to
church with us for three weeks now! Guess which one is Liv.... haha. Sass!

They are so sweet. Mikaela has a lot of faith, and reads everything we give
her. It's been so amazing to see her humility as she works through the
questions she has, and seeks for truth.
4. While on exchanges, Hermana Sheffield and I went visiting teaching with
Sariah's Step Mom. We drove way out into the woods. Alabama is so crazy,
because you can't see anything past the thick forests. We were in trees,
and then we were suddenly in this beautiful little cluster of homes on the
Banks of the Hurricane Creek, and Black Warrior River.

There is hidden land

like this everywhere, so it's not coveted property, like it would be back
home. The houses aren't big or necessarily nice. But they're so cool!
Probably little old fisherman homes, expanded.

Week 29 - "This is just part of the reality of the work." Sometimes it's REALLY HARD!

Hi Mom,

I'm missing you a lot this week, just wanted to send a quick email. Maybe we'll be able to talk a bit before I leave the Library today.

Sister Mathis and I are still struggling to find a flow, haha. It's been a rough week. We operate very differently, are on very different levels of maturity, and have very similar personalities (stubborn). The thing is I love her, because I totally identify with where she's at right now. I see a lot of a younger me in her. I do not want to hurt her at all, and would love to build, lift and help her! But I also have no idea how to deal with her sometimes. I know she loves me too, but a lot of what I do bugs her too. We tried talking about it, but didn't really get anywhere. We both have agreed to try to compromise on things we do differently, but both have no idea how to help each other. Yesterday was an emotional day, haha. Both of us ended up in tears at different points in the day.

My Good Friend, Jerry - Investigator in Corinth, Mississippi

Then I received a hard phone call from Sister Terry last night, telling me that one of my good friends and former investigators in Corinth passed away Friday morning. Her name is Jerry. Sisters Nielsen, Chibataka and I knocked on her door early in our transfer together, and I've met with her weekly for the past three months, until moving to Hoover. I sat with her, talked with her, and hugged her a week and a half ago.. I'm having a really hard time with it.

Jerry was a special woman, who I cared a lot about. When we initially met her, we felt we needed to teach her about the Plan of Salvation to start, rather than the Restoration. In talking with her, we found out that her son had passed away in his mid twenties a few years ago, and she was still really struggling with it. We felt it was important to just love and
comfort her and spend time with her. Sister Terry and I would share scripture with her, and talk about whatever she needed to.


She had become very ill with kidney failure, and a couple times we stopped by she was in too much pain to sit up. Because of the nature of her kidney failure she was on the bottom of the donor list.

Jerry would always tell us how beautiful and young we were, and that we needed to take care of ourselves. She was always concerned about our safety, our happiness, and often pleaded with us to continue down the path we were on, and never let anything take us where we would not be happy. She was loved by all of her neighbors that I met. One thing I loved so much was her bluntness. She was very kind and gentle, but when something didn't make sense to her, she didn't beat around the bush about it, haha! The day thispicture was taken one of her neighbors was over talking with us all, and she was just jabbering away without taking a breath, or letting anyone else speak. Finally when she walked away, Jerry kept her eyes straight forward and said with an even tone, "You can't tell me that woman isn't on drugs..." Haha!.. maybe you had to be there, but it was the funniest thing coming out of such a sweet and quite women's mouth.

​Jerry is the one sitting next to me. I used to joke with her that we could be related, because we have the same eyes.

My Patriarchal Blessing states that I would have the ability to bring "beauty where there is much ugliness, and light where there is much darkness." But sometimes I wonder how much light and beauty I have to offer, when I seem to be so overtaken when things like this happen. As missionaries, we spend a lot of time around people who have livedincredibly hard and sad lives. Sometimes the ugly and dark is just too thick, and I feel too weak.

I was really upset last night, and ended up calling President at the urging of Sister Mathis. He talked to me for a while, and shared some very comforting words. He talked about Alma 40:11 

"..that the spirits of all men , as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life." 

He shared that he believes it is then that God is able to take us in his arms, love us, and heal us of those mental and emotional illnesses that some of us experience in mortality, which can hold us back from fully understanding the Gospel, and accepting it. He said that despite the heartache Jerry was suffering, the seeds that were planted here on earth are going to continue to be nurtured on the other side. That she is going to be smiling down on us with love and gratitude as she continues to learn, in the healing of the Savior. I do believe that Jerry will accept the Gospel. I love her, and will always be grateful for the opportunity it was to have her part of my life.

I'm just really feeling overwhelmed I think. I told you last week that Grandma Barker isn't doing well. I was able to write and send her a letter on Tuesday. I received an email today from Penni saying Grandma Barker got my letter and was still coherent enough the read and understand it. But that now she is unable to communicate. She said my dad gave her a beautiful blessing last night, and that Grandma Smith is ever by her side caring for her. I'm just devastated Mom. I know everything is going to be ok, and thatGrandma is ready, it's just really hard. I want to be there with everyone, and I am going to miss her a lot. Her and I have always been close. I know you understand.

I'm going to send this now, because I see that you just wrote me. Next week will be better! This is just part of the reality of the work. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity I have to be born into a family, and a life where I have the knowledge of the Gospel. Without it, I would not be strong enough. There are so many people who need this peace.

I love you so much!
T

Week 28 - Shell Shock! Hoover, Alabama - A Real City?!! New/Old Companion/Friend;) Samford University!! Wow!

Tennessee River

This is one of my best friends in Corinth, named James. James has faced very difficult health challenges this year, without the support of family. He's currently fighting a horrible infection in his legs. The Monday before I left Mississippi, he was transported to Memphis, where they are going to try to get him healthy enough for amputation. They've given him a 10% chance of survival. I want you to know how much I love this man. Over the
last 3 months he has taught me so much about forgiveness, and the Atonement. He's taught me that it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of you, when you have truly repented. That you can still love those who choose not to see the change that has taken place. That you can still have peace in the knowledge that the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers ALL. And that there is JOY to be had at every stage of this journey. Even on those days when his pain was high, and the future looked bleak, if you asked James how he was doing, or if you could do anything for him, he'd say "Sure is a beautiful day.." and then ask us if we had enough food, or money, or needed some ice cream.. ha! No matter what, he'd find something to give us, even if a good laugh was all he could give. The first day I met James we were in the hospital, and his doctor walked in, saw my name tag and said, Whoa!.. for a second I though your name was Jesus Christ!".... James BUSTED up, as did the rest of us. From then on James called me Baby Jesus. He nicknamed Sister Chibataka Blue Lake, Sister Nielsen Bubbles, and Sister Terry-Terry Cloth.. cause she's got things covered. HAHAHA. James is slow to judge and quick to forgive. He is one of the most Christ-like people I've ever had the privilege of calling my friend, and I wish more of the world knew him.

Last night in Tennesee...:(

We went to the mall the other day...

I have no idea how to be in the city anymore, haha! Stimulation overload. I just spent 6 months in the backwoods of Mississippi/Tennessee, and was transferred to Hoover, AL last week, which is basically part of Big City Birmingham.. It's got me all messed up. I miss the woods like crazy, haha! Plus the country is where it's at.. All the crazy (for real crazy) cool people live there! I know I'll adjust... I love the city too. I know I'll grow to love the people :)

But I do love being back in the Alabama green...

Alabama green is good to see again!

Sister Terry made this for me :)

Oh and our apartment has a gorgeous view.. it's called a tree house apartment, we're on the top floor, and basically the whole side of our apartment is window looking into the trees, where I watch squirrels scurrying about in the mornings. This morning I woke up to the sound of an Alabama downpour. Loved it. I'll try to send the video.

It's been a week of adjusting and getting to know the investigators, ward,
and land.

Hope everyone is well! I love you!

Xoxo Sis Smith

Sister Mathis!! We came out together from the MTC, and were in the same district our first transfer! So excited to have her as a companion.. it's going to be a great transfer :) 

Sisters Abney, Beck, and Mathis. Three of my favs!

Samford University - So Fancy!

We get to email on the campus of Samford University