Countdown till Christmas

I seem to be out of words today, so I'm just going to share a cool
 poem President sent to us. I hope you guys have a great week, can't
 wait to talk on Christmas! Love you so much, and miss you more.
 Love Sister Smith

 On a quiet night, long ago,
 The Savior Jesus Christ was born.
 Born to change all hearts,
 End all goodbyes,
 Reconcile all debts,
 Atone for all sins.
 He is the only one
 Who can bridge the lonely gap
 Between God and man,
 And bring us home.
 That is why He came,
 And this is why we celebrate.

 The earth has grown old with its burden of care,
 But at Christmas, it always is young.
 The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair,
 And its soul full of music breaks forth on the air
 When the song of the angels is sung.

 It’s coming, old Earth, it’s coming tonight!
 On the snowflakes, which cover thy sod
 The feet of the Christchild trod, gentle and light,
 And the voice of the Christchild tells out with delight
 That Mankind are the Children of God!

Explanation of pics:

Went caroling with the YSA

 Toured a sorority house with Madison and Olivia. Did I already tell you their story? They're in the same sorority, both converts, both baptized 4 years ago with their moms. Became friends this year at school, neither of them knew the other was Mormon. A YSA named Andy called Olivia one night to invite her to come get ice cream with us and the YSA, when she happen to be hanging out with Madison. Madison recognized the 801 area code on Olivia's phone (Andy's from UT.. ) and asked if she was Mormon too!! Haha.. They were both surprised, and have now become best friends, and a huge support to one another out here as (formerly less active) converts. So awesome. God works in amazing ways to reach out to his children. He's so aware of every single one of us.

 Some of our best buds in the YSA egged us, so we made them clean it
 up, a few days later they threw oreos at our door, but came prepared
 to clean it up this time. I think they love us? Not sure...

 Got a bloody nose the night Terry, Begay and Tunuufi left after much
 crying. As per usual.

 Did a service project with Veterans serving Veterans. Filled food boxes

 Played sports today

Another Round in T-Town

Hello!!

We're just popping in to let you know I'm staying in Tuscaloosa YSA for another transfer!! 7 and a half months in T-town... WOOO! I've officially broken the mission record 😉

It's been a long, draining day with too many goodbyes to too many dear friends. My new companion is Hermana Womeldorf (yes, that's her real name.. haha!). She's from German decent, and is a Spanish speaking missionary, which means we're in a "Zebra" companionship! We'll be doing an hour of Spanish study every morning... guess my dream of learning a language really is coming true! Killin it. She's 19, from Roseville California, and has been out 6 months! Love her already. It's going to be a great Christmas... as long as we can find somewhere to skype... no luck yet.

I'm going to let you know about Sister Tunuufi's homecoming asap, if you guys want to go. She'd love to meet my family! Sister Begay's will be in New Mexico, but she can't wait to meet you guys when she moved to Cedar City for school. I'll also let you know about Sister Terry's homecoming, which will be in Lehi, UT. Definitely go to her's if you can. They are all so special to me.

Talk to you Monday! Love you
Love Teirs

Check out the beautiful Native earrings her mom sent for me from New Mexico! She gave them to be today before we said bye. I bawled. The original Salt n' Peppa. We blood... we fam...

Tunuufi, Terry and Begay

Sister Womeldorf

RIP Sisters Tunuufi, Begay and Terry

Hello!

Well.. we still don't have transfer news, so I'm not sure where I'll be for Christmas. Kinda bummed! And a bit stressed haha. Three of my best friends, and former companions, go home this transfer! Dang, I'm going to miss my buddies my last two transfers!

Well..We had a fun week! Lots of stuff going on on campus, which makes for fun contacting. We accidently crashed a campus Christmas party, and ended up in a snow globe somehow... heh.

The cold has finally hit, not sure my hands will ever thaw out. Biking in freezing rain is a little uncomfortable. Somehow I find myself smiling and laughing through it. Missions are weird.

Oh, and we got invited to a Filipino Christmas party by a member. Way fun, and delicious food!

We're going caroling with the YSA tonight. Gearing up for lots of goodbyes this week.

Had a tender mercy last night. We were back at the apartment a little early so Sister Tunuufi could pack a bit, but I kept feeling like there was someone we were supposed to be talking to, and was just super restless. I didn't want to be in the apartment, so we put all our warm clothes back on and headed out on our bikes into the cold dark night, (Dramatic, I know), unsure where to go. An apartment complex came to mind, that I hadn't visited since I first got to Tuscaloosa months ago. Earlier in the day I had expressed to Sis. Tunuufi that I really just wanted to be able to watch the Christmas initiative with a family. With that in the back of my mind, we stopped at a few apartments I could remember talking to people at. The first was a really cool girl we helped move in in the beginning of the semester. She was studying for a final, and didn't have time to let us in, but said she would look up the video when she was done. The next door we knocked on was actually the "wrong door," but ended up being exactly where we were meant to be. It was a mother and daughter, who let us in to watch the Christmas Initiative with them. It was really sweet. We had a short conversation with them about the spirit of Christmas, and how it doesn't matter how much money you have or don't have to spend, as long as you get to spend time sharing Christ's love with people you love. We left feeling happy, and I said a silent prayer of thanks for Heavenly Father allowing us to do something that meant a lot to me. However, I still felt there was someone else we were meant to talk to. As we rode out of the complex, I noticed a man and his two dogs standing in the shadows. Usually this would scare me.. haha. But for some reason it just felt right to yell HI to him from across the street. Haha.. missions. Weird. I said "We're sharing a Christmas video.. wanna see?" And for some reason he said "SURE!" We didn't end up watching the vid, because his phone was almost dead and we don't have technology (awkward). BUT we ended up talking to him for about tem minutes! His name was Max, and he's from Russia. Through the convo, it came out that he had served in the military, and been stationed in N. Carolina when his Sargent gave him a Book of Mormon.. woah. Ensue spirit. We were able to answer some questions he had about Mormons, and why his Sargent would have wanted to give him that book. We talked to him about the BOM being a second witness of Christ, and that he could read it as a fruit of the Restoration of the fullness of Christ's gospel.

I'm so grateful for that experience, and the testimony I've been given of the guidance of the spirit.

Well, we're going to head out. I love you guys and miss you more than you can know.

Have a great week! Better believe I'm praying for all ya'll
Love Sister Smith

December

Hi!

 

I know it's December.. but it still feels and looks like October here. It's just weird. I miss "real" December! We're supposed to hopefully get a little snow this week, but it won't stay long. Time on the mission is already weird, and then when the seasons don't match up with the time of year..?? I may be just a little homesick this Christmas.

Good thing Alabama is so gorgeous.

 

This week we were able to do some service with a member, at the old Tuscaloosa Regional Airport! It's no longer a full functioning airport, just for those with private planes, and apparently an occasional Air Force One visit. Oh, and family history! They have a bunch of old court records from the 1800's that were made available to our member, through a series of miracles! She has been voluntarily working on scanning these documents for family history work for 15 years now.. amazing. We were able to help out one day last week, and will do it again this week. It's pretty awesome. I love history, my family knows I kinda have a thing for old stuff (junk....) so it was pretty neat for me to read some of these 150 year old hand written documents, describing different people's lives. And such a blessing to be able to do some family history work for other people's families! It was made even sweeter when Sister Tunuufi and I had the opportunity to go to the temple twice this week! The YSA temple trip was this week, and we were able to join them because Sister Tunuufi had a family name she needed to do the work for before taking it through for Endowment during our mission temple trip today! So we were able to do everything from baptism to endowment this week. What a sweet thing to experience all of these saving ordinances so close together. It really brought great understanding of Heavenly Father's love for us. It's such a privilege to be able to participate in the work on both sides of the veil right now. I know not every missionary in the world get to do that! I'm very grateful.

 

We made a stop in to the University of Alabama Natural History Museum this week while contacting on campus. Remember how I'm afraid of fish? Have you heard of a Basilosaurus? I'ma have a few questions when I get to the other side. WHY IS THIS NECESSARY.

 

We had the annual YSA Christmas white elephant gift exchange.. classic. Lot's of fun. We were also able to go on a Blitz with Sister Begay and Boyack, because we were over scheduled for a few things, so we had to divide and conquer. It was fun, and nice to have the gang all together again!

 

You see the funniest things driving around Tuscaloosa. Perks of living in da ghetto. Some of my fav license plates I've seen: MR.SLAY, IMTRYN, GODSFAV...

Also, what happen to Skeet? Where he at??

 










I'm so grateful to have spent the morning in the Temple with so many people that I love. I love the missionaries I get to serve with so much. I know I needed their examples and light in my life. I'm so grateful to be serving here with President and Sister Sainsbury at this time in my life. I learned so much in the Temple today. One thing that really stood out to me was my Heavenly Father's love. As I pondered on how wonderful the creation of the earth was, and how happy they were were with the work they did, the spirit seemed to tell me that their greatest joy came from the excitement of giving it to US. This incredible, perfect, beautiful place was created to be our home, so that we could come here and find joy in the life experiences we would have. I thought of this Christmas season, and the matchless joy of giving gifts of love to those we love.

I love you all so much, have a great week!
Love Sister Smith