One last adventure - 39 Days Left!!!

Hola,

So.. so much has changed this last week, it makes my head hurt. President called me last Tuesday morning and asked me to be a Sister Training Leader. (I was like uhh... are you sure you want me? lol). He then explained that he had a very specific and "unique" assignment for me, and asked if I was up for it. You're probably thinking what I'm thinking.. "The poor dear, that's sweet of President to make her feel special for her last transfer." Lol ANYWAY. He said I'd be opening a new area, and white washing with another STL. The new area basically combines two old ones, so we've got Huntsville-Madison YSA Branch (which covers two stakes), and the Capshaw ward. So stoked to still be working with YSA! There are a ton of Universities in Huntsville, but the main one is University of Alabama at Huntsville. Which is separate from UofA.. but somehow connected. It's confusing. I'm just grateful to still feel somewhat connected to my T-town. Leaving my people there was and still is dang hard. I'm sure it'll get easier once I get to know the students here. The whole vibe here is just different. 

Sister Denney and I were both so excited we almost screamed in the chapel when President said we'd be working together. We've been in the same district for a few months now. I love her dearly and am so happy I get to spend the last few weeks of my mission serving with her! Neither of us have been STLs before, so that's going to be interesting. Exchanges should be fun, we are over three companionships, including Sister Wright and her comp! It'll be fun to spend time with my old comp!

We didn't have an apartment for the first 24 hrs, so we stayed with the Hermanas Smith and Hale. Everything was just really chaotic, but we finally found an apartment, and spent the next day with the Barfuss's and Elders Featherstone, Demaso, Haar and Prestwich moving furniture into the new place, and getting settled. 

We've just been trying to get to know the area, and contact everywhere we go.

We got to play Ultimate Frisbee Saturday morning with some YSA. 

The Elders who were over the Capshaw ward last transfer were super disorganized, and didn't leave us with much to go off of.. It was nice to finally start meeting members at church on Sunday. 

Oh, and just so you know we have 6 HOURS OF CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY. Not including Ward/Branch council meetings. I will never complain about 3 hours of church again.

One really fun and cool thing we did was volunteer at Rock Steady!! It's a boxing gym for people fighting Parkinson's Disease. So awesome. We got to help a bunch of old people box. They were all so hilarious and witty. Most fun I've had in a while.
 One of the coolest things about Huntsville is the NASA space center. We're going to visit one of these P-Days.

This is by far the biggest city I've ever served in, or lived. It's pretty cool. Just really different. 

 Oh!! Little mission miracle! My former Elder Chase Currier and his wife live in Huntsville! We were able to connect, and they invited us to come have dinner at his family's home in Guntersville! (deep in the country.. so cute!)

 It was so good to see him again, and meet his cute wife and parents! Chase is the 9th of 10 kids. His parents have 19 grand-kids, and most everyone was there. Mass chaos, haha, so fun. A lot like home. 

Well, we gotta jet. Pray for us, lol. I love you guys! It's going to be an amazing last adventure.

Love Sis. Smith

New Address:

196 Jeff Rd #1604 

Huntsville, AL 35806

Until in Heaven We Meet

Hey!

So I don't have any time to write today.. Which is really sad, because we had a couple really great experiences. We met two girls on campus this week, who we were totally directed to speak to, and ended up teaching entire Restoration lessons on the spot because they were so prepared. Both accepted a Book of Mormon, and we plan to see again. I cherish those moments of being directed by the spirit. Don't have enough words for it right now. 

We received transfer news last night, and I am being transferred to a new area with a new comp for my last 6 weeks on the mission. I kind of expected it, because I got so much time in the Tuscaloosa YSA, but I did not anticipate how heart broken I would be! These students have become my people, I've met some of my closest friends out here! 

Our meeting with Elder Anderson was incredible. I had a very sweet experience as I prayed for my mind and heart to be open to the direction the Lord had for me, I was surprised by the direction my prayer took. I know it was lead by the spirit. I found myself saying to my Father in Heaven that I had never seen him or my Savior, but that I had faith that they were really there. As I looked around me at so many people that I love, I said to him that though I couldn't see him, I could see these people, and I could hug them and love them, and that the love I have for them feels like a gift from Him. So I would continue to love and serve them, and I would soon go home to love and serve my friends and family there, with hope and faith that by doing so I would gain a firm knowledge of Him and of my Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. Again, this surprised me, because I do feel that I have a testimony of them. But it's true, I haven't seen them. I have felt them, and I have felt what it's like to be used and directed by the Holy Spirit..

One of the most tender experiences followed that prayer, as I listened to an Apostle of the Lord give us direction of how to gain, and maintain a knowledge of the Savior, Jesus Christ. He told us that we were to record the experiences we have, and "seal them in our hearts." Because there WILL come a time in each of our lives when we will have to ask, "Do I know the Savior?" He gave us so much beautiful counsel, and I am so grateful for the confirmation I received through the Spirit, that he is indeed a Living Apostle of God. 

I have so much more to say, but will have to close for now. 

I will let you know as soon as I find out where I'm going. My time here in Tuscaloosa truly has been sacred, and I will seal it in my heart forever.

I love you

Love Teirs

University of Alabama Alma Mater

Alabama, listen, Mother,
To our vows of love,
To thyself and to each other, Faithful friends we'll prove.

Faithful, loyal, firm and true,
Heart bound to heart will beat.
Year by year, the ages through
Until in Heaven we meet.
College days are swiftly fleeting,
Soon we'll leave their halls
Ne'er to join another meeting
'Neath their hallowed walls.



Faithful, loyal, firm and true Heart bound to heart will beat
Year by year, the ages through
Until in Heaven we meet.

So, farewell, dear Alma Mater
May thy name, we pray,
Be rev'renced ever, pure and stainless
As it is today.

Faithful, loyal, firm and true
Heart bound to heart will beat
Year by year, the ages through
Until in Heaven we meet.

Cause WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.. my friends

ROLL TIDE! How 'bout that game eh? We didn't see it... but we heard about it.

All the students are back now. Sweet mercy.

We've been able to hear from so many Prophets and Apostles in one week! Stake conference was a broadcast with Elder Bednar, Ulises and Sister Marriott.

Last night we were able to watch the YSA broadcast with Elder and Sister Uchtdorf, which was so sweet.

This morning we heard from President Nelson, Oaks and Eyring.

This weekend Elder Anderson is coming to visit our mission and have a special conference with us. 

It's been a week of directing and inspiration.

Still biking in the cold...

I love you all so much!

Love Teirs

This email is super short and lame because all of Alabama has shut down because of the "snow....." See pictures.

Had a zone activity today where we played family feud... so funny.

"Alabama has Shut Down Indefinately...hahaha"

Week of January 16, 2018

So.. In case you haven't heard, all of Alabama has shut down indefinitely.. hahaha. Due to the "Ice storm." All the schools, public centers and businesses have closed.. SO we don't have anywhere to email today. Still waiting to hear when we'll be able to email. We're taking turns using the church computes to let ya'll know.

Hope you are all having a great week! I love you

Love Teirs

a New Era - The Power of Happiness

Hey Ya'll!

We had a couple cool experiences last night and the night before. We started tracting this apartment complex we hadn't been to before. One of the YSAs mentioned a lot of international students lived there, and would probably be the only people still in town during the holiday break. After weeks of exhausting all of our other ideas, we finally gave it a try! 

The first night we were invited into the home of a sweet Nepalese couple, Rina and Ashok. Their religious culture is Hindu, and it was a sweet thing to be able to learn a little more about their rich beliefs rooted in family and love. We were able to talk with them about the universal truth that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and that we are each brothers and sisters. They have a 5 month old baby boy named Evan, and Rina's mother, Camoa, was also there visiting from Nepal to help with the first few months of parenthood. There was such a sweet feeling in their apartment, as we kneeled to pray together before we left. 

The next night we met Arpan and Sweta, another sweet Nepalese couple! It just so happens that Arpan was the president of the Nepalese Cultural Night I attended with Sister Tunuufi back in November! They were so excited to hear that I had been there with them that night to learn about and celebrate their beautiful country and culture. Again, we had the opportunity to testify of the eternal truth of families, and the plan Heavenly Father has for each of his children. As it turns out, Arpan was given a Book of Mormon years ago when he spent some time in Japan! It is absolutely amazing to me how the Lord orchestrates these meetings. No matter who or what or where we are, he is working in our lives.

After leaving them with a prayer, the last door we knocked was Sama's. A beautiful young woman from Iraq. She told us a little about her past, her beliefs, her country, and her dear family. What an amazing woman! She expressed her desire to learn more about the message we share, and invited us back. As did the previous families. 

I've been given the opportunity to learn of the great power of happiness lately. The end of the mission is kind of rough at times, but as President Sainsbury counseled me, (as have my parents for like... my whole life, haha), I'm going to just focus on the Doctrine of Happiness. There are so many anxieties we can easily be overtaken by in this world. At different times in our life, through certain challenges. But I do believe there is actual power in happiness, and choosing to look for and focus on it. Rather than agonize about whether I'm ready to leave this phase of my life, my mission, or whether I've become exactly who I wanted to or who the Lord wants me to, I'm going to chose to trust and to be happy and enjoy these last 2 months I have to serve the Lord and be one of His missionaries. 2 months from today to be exact! I really have learned so much about what true happiness is, and where it comes from over these last 16 months. I hope and pray that all those I love will one day feel the happiness they deserve. 

"Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it. And this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God." -Joseph Smith (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith p.255-56)

The words of our dear Prophet, who we will miss. So grateful to know he is reunited with his sweet Wife and friends. 

"No matter the phase of the work, something good is happening. Either you're teaching, strengthening your companion, or growing closer to the Savior." -Sister Boyack (my dear Sister Training Leader)

I love you all, have a great week!

Love Sister Smith

Silent Night - A Beautiful Missionary Gift to her Proud Parents

Behold, The Condescension of God by Katie L.

When I was growing up, Christmas meant joy, magic, music, and laughter.  I imagine it means that to lots of children, but my father is particularly good at it.  He embodies the Christmas spirit.  The way he recites The Grinch in his convincing British accent.  How he tells us every year about the Christmas Eve in his boyhood, when he awoke to discover one of Santa’s elves snooping around his bedroom.  How he cries every time Scrooge pledges to really change, or Clarence the angel gets his wings.

I’ll never forget the year the ward went around doing video interviews with families about their Christmas traditions, which were made into a video montage and played at the annual Christmas party.  Everyone else had perfectly respectable traditions: Christmas lights, recipes, favorite songs.  But when it came time for the Ackerman’s portion of the movie, Dad had made everyone get all dressed up in bedsheets with towels on our heads, acting out the scene when the angels came to announce the birth of Christ to the shepherds.  He’d made us sing “Angels We Have Heard on High” in 4-part harmony.  My little sister was standing on the piano bench with her arm outstretched, shouting, “Fear not!  For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy!”  Everyone else’s clips were 30-second DESCRIPTIONS of their holiday traditions.  Ours was a 5-minute-plus DEMONSTRATION.  As a teenager, I can tell you that it was THE most embarrassing moment of my life.

Still, I carried with me a sense of the joyous and spectacular about Christmas.  I couldn’t remember a single unhappy Christmas in all my life.

Until last year, when the Lord gave me a new glimpse into this holiday of holidays.

2010 was something of a rough year for me.  I dove headfirst into a grueling battle with my own version of what Paul called a thorn in the flesh.  We all have our thorns – nagging, sometimes agonizing, reminders of our fallen state.  They could be depression, anxiety, or mental illness.  Sins and temptations we can’t seem to shake.  Addictions.  Difficult childhoods.  Physical impairments or ailments.

Coming to accept and work within our limitations is an important, healing process – but the truth is that when you engage in this sort of work, you often feel worse before you feel better.  2010 was the worst I’d ever felt.

Christmas was hard.  I’d had hard times before, of course, but I’d always been able to keep them to myself with a determined smile and a deliberate upward inflection in my voice.  Christmas had always been a welcome distraction from my worries.  But last year I couldn’t muster it.  I was struggling so deeply that I could no longer hide it from my family and friends.

Then the Lord gave me an insight that brought me some peace.

He reminded me of Nephi’s vision of the Tree of Life.

In 1 Nephi 11, an angel appears to Nephi, and Nephi asks the angel what the beautiful tree means.

In response, Nephi is shown a vision of a Virgin bearing a Son in a stable.   After Nephi sees this, the angel asks: “Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?”

And Nephi answers, “Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men.”

I asked myself, “Why? Why did Nephi understand that the tree was love of God after he saw Jesus being born?”

The answer was quickly revealed in the scripture, for just a few verses later, the angel exclaims, “Behold, the condescension of God!”  Now, condescension means to come down from a high place to a much lower place. I realized that the love of God isn’t best manifest in His might and glory and creation and dominion – though it is expressed there, too, of course – but in His humility, His empathy, His willingness to get down into the dirt with us.

After discovering this, I recorded some of my thoughts and feelings.  This is a portion of what I wrote…

 For all the lights and tinsel, for all the sparkling packages and clanking bells, for all the Hallelujah choruses, the decadent food, the elaborate parties, the ugly sweaters with sequins and snowmen and swirls — we are honoring the birth of a God who, ultimately, came to suffer; and in His sufferings, triumph.

That is not to say the triumph doesn’t deserve the joy and gaiety we lavish upon it; merely that this year I need to focus on the humility of His beginning and the depth of His condescension — so lowly, so meek, that He came to meet me where I am.

So to the God born in a barn, not in a palace, not in a hospital, not even a clean bed, and laid to sleep in a feeding trough: Thank You.  You have no beauty that I should desire You, You who are smitten and afflicted, bruised and forsaken — and yet I do.  From the depths of my soul, I do!

Now this story, as all stories do when we give ourselves over to the God who descended below all things – regardless of the mortal outcome – has a happy ending.   I am through the worst of that particular battle (though as is the case with our thorns in the flesh, I may never be rid of it fully).  Christmas this year is as much about trumpets and tinsel and joy as it ever was.  But there is a tenderness about it, and I hope about me, that was not there before.  A clearer understanding.  A deeper well of compassion and empathy and the pure of love of Christ.

The theme tonight is “O Come All Ye Faithful,” but I wonder if we might not be able to expand it.

O Come, all ye faithful.  O Come, all ye doubtful. Come, all ye sorrowful and shameful and prideful and sinful.

Come lay your burdens at His feet.  Come take part of the condescension of Christ.  You are never so low, but that He has gone lower.  You are never so lost but that He will seek you out.

May we all have a very merry Christmas.