Week 56 - Twenty Six and one week old...

Hello!

Woah, it feels like I have so much to catch up on, since we didn't get to write last week! We didn't end up seeing any crazy weather from the tropical storms. Some heavy rain, but way less wind than was anticipated! We were blessed.

It did make for an exciting birthday! Sort of... we had to stay in our apartments until we received an "all clear" call from the Zone Leaders the next day. Luckily we live in the same apartment complex as the Hermanas, so we spent the evening eating pizza and playing checkers by candlelight. Oh!
And Tegan and Annie, two of my best friends out here, brought by some delicious cinnamon rolls and pound cakes from a local bakery to celebrate! It ended up being a very happy birthday. 😊



Tegan and Annie were both baptized over the summer! They are so adorable, and have become really great freinds. It's been fun for Sister Begay and I to see them grow so much in the gospel together. They had really similar conversions! It's kind of funny, because Sister Begay and I are basically
the same person (seriously, it's freaky. We even have twin opal rings), and so are Tegan and Annie. The four of us laugh, play, and fight like sisters. It's the funniest thing ever. Turds.

Brent, Annie, Sis. Begay, Me, Tegan, Wheeler​

OOOHHH guess what! We've been teaching this guy named Wheeler for about three weeks.. and he's getting BAPTIZED September 30th. WOOOO!! He's so awesome! He's from AZ, and has a lot of LDS friends who introduced him to the Gospel there. He's a quarterback for UA! (If you don't understand how cool this is then I don't even know what to tell you. It's kind of the biggest news in the history of the ABM.) When he moved here for school, he reached out to the missionaries (Sister Begay and I) so he could really learn for himself. One of the things that drew him to the Gospel is the
change he's felt in himself since learning about it. He's said his language has cleaned up, and he just feels good. I can tell he's got a powerful spirit, and understands more about himself as a son of God. He reads the Book of Mormon every night, despite his busy school and football schedule. He comes to church for all three hours in between football workouts. His drive and dedication inspires me. It's been such a sweet experience teaching him!

So a couple weeks ago Sister Begay and I had the most amazing experience at a Winn-Dixie out in the middle of no where. Remember the story about the Native American guy named Michael? Ok well ever since then we've been trying to meet up with him, but nothing has worked out. He doesn't have a phone right now, so we've been relying on e-mail, which has meant a lot of running to and from computers around campus, and just missing him. If that makes sense? Anyway, kind of a frustrating mess.

Well the mission recently acquired a Family History tent, which we scheduled to use last Thursday. We set it up down by the river, and about ten minutes after we got set up, Michael walked up to us out of no where! He was just as surprised to see us! His wife had randomly suggested they each lunch down by the river that day (for the first time) and had found a table 30 ft. from where we set up.
MIRACLES! We were able to sit with them for an hour, and teach the Restoration while they ate. Wow, it was such a cool and powerful discussion. They both have Native roots (Choctaw), as does Sister Begay (Navajo). We were able to testify of the promises of the Book of Mormon being fulfilled to them in our day. 

We couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day! The Family History tent was a huge success. We just picked a spot, and the Lord set up so many divine appointments! We met another woman who stopped to talk to us about family history, who had actually met with missionaries almost 20 years before in Illinois! She told us how she has been worried lately about finding a church to raise her grandchildren in, where no matter what happen to them, they would grow knowing that God loves them. We told her God is listening to her prayers, and she felt it.

Well.. we were supposed to get our transfer calls Saturday night. Apparently there's some crazy stuff happening, because we still don't have our news! President keeps postponing the announcements. Sister Begay is about to lose her mind.. haha! Everyone's freaking out.. except for me. I'm medicated 😉 WOO! Most likely I'll be staying and Sister Begay will be transferred. Which kills us both. We would rather serve the rest of our missions together in Tuscaloosa YSA.

I might have broken my left ring finger playing football on Saturday... Sister Begay refuses to take me to the doctor because she says I'm a wimp.

Saturday was fun! We helped park cars for the game (fundraiser for the YSA branch). Anyway, we were tossing a football in the down time, and you know how coordinated I am..

Someone offered us free tickets to the game... it might have been Satan himself. We had to use them! We contacted everyone who was sober, and stayed just long enough to get some pics 👍 It was WILD. That stadium is AMAZING! It was light sitting in the clouds..

Well I love ya'll!
Hope you have an amazing week.
Xoxo Sister Smith
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