Big Week

This week was huge. A ton has happened this past week. First we had Sister Palmer, our Mission President's wife, came out and taught with us in our area. It was awesome! We stopped by the very first A&W, which we eat at just about every week, and she was taking selfies with us in front of the building. It was hilarious. Friday was Pioneer Day, which I have never celebrated before, but it was fun. The Stake had a huge activity and it was cool to learn some history on the Pioneers. There was a pie and cobbler contest...the missionaries got to judge. DELICIOUS! Then on Sunday, all 4 of the missionaries in my ward gave talks. I went first and talked about the Book of Mormon, My companion spoke on the Restoration, Elder Gwynn spoke on Prophets and Revelation, and Elder Hill spoke on the Atonement. All of our talks were super powerful and it was even more spiritual when we all sang a musical number. We sang the EFY Melody "As Sisters in Zion and Army of Helaman." Everyone in the congregation teared up and I felt the spirit so strong when we were singing. AWESOME! Things are awesome here in Modesto. I love it. I have been where American Graffiti was filmed and I constantly drive by the high school where George Lucas went to....FUN FACTS! I hope all of you are well and are having fun. School starts soon. Good luck!

What a Week

Woah woah woah. Wow! I love the Modesto Mission! Incredibly different, but we will make it the Mighty Modesto Mission soon enough. The Sacramento missionaries that they combined us with are...different. They were taught different as we were and so there are no rules in our mission. We are building up and being united. So much has happened in the past couple of weeks. First off, funny story. The other day, we ran out of gas and got stranded. We had to push the car off the road and our Bishop came to save us with a gas can haha We also had a baptism this past Saturday and it was awesome! My companion and I sang an a Capella duet and it brought the Spirit so strong. Everyone was in tears. AWESOME! We sang "Come Thou Font." Just beautiful. Our Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Palmer, were present. President Palmer even spoke at his baptism. I love them. They are so cool! I will put my new address at the bottom of the email. By the way, I no longer have to run. God loves me! Fourth of July was great by the way. We stayed at Sister Phillips home and played games and ate food....I crushed the Elders in Monopoly. Good times haha Oh, also, President Packer passed away. I am a little bit worried about all of the Apostles passing away. It will be interesting to see who will be picked to be next. I am posting a link about his life in remembrance. Take care and press forward.

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/biographies/president-boyd-k-packer?cid=HP_FR_07-03-15_dPAAST_fBIO-PCKR_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

4300 Dale Rode

Modesto, CA 95356

BIG NEWS

The time has come for transfers again. This is a much more special one though, you can even say historical....Guess who is going to the new Modesto mission? ME! That's right, me. Oh my word am I freaking out a bit. I feel almost like Fresno is kicking me out haha Wow, I get to say I served in two missions. Well, at least it will be maybe 10 degrees cooler there. I am going more north. I am specifically reassigned to the Modesto 6th ward in Modesto and the of course is in the Modesto Mission. I am still trying to sink it all in. Yikes. It was cool because the Alluvial Bishop announced it over the pulpit/mic. My companion, Sister West, is staying and is going to train another sister that is coming in. I am excited, yet nervous of course. We even will have a new Mission President. Oh....no one should write or send me anything until I know my new address.

In other news, we had a baptism this past weekend and it was so touching. His children shared their testimony at the end, they are maybe 5 and 7. Then he shared his and it was remarkable at the experiences he shared. Angels are real and God exists. There is no doubt in my mind about either of those. Not to mention that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and saved us all. He is the reason for life and salvation is made possible through Him and only Him. Families can be together forever and I desire that for my family. I love my family, Earthly and Heavenly. We also have two more baptisms on this up coming Saturday. They are the nephews of the Woodward Park Ward Mission Leader, a WML just works with the missionaries a lot.

When I found out that I was moving to a new area, I started telling people. The most heart felt moments of my whole mission is when I told 3 specific people (all separate) and they just held me and cried. One is Daisy Castillo who is a recent convert, she was baptized in March. Another was Cheryl Alexander, who has been learning about the church for a few months now. Then there is Denise Martin, who we have met a few times and is now investigating the church. I love all of them deeply and so many others, but I felt like a successful missionary because I KNEW without a doubt that I had touched their spirits in some way. I had started a change in their life. I know that the Gospel is true and if there is anything that I want you to know about it, it is that it is simple. The Gospel is centered in Christ. We learn of Christ, we teach of Christ, and we follow Christ. That is all anyone ever needs to know. I came out on my mission only knowing that Jesus Christ was my savior and that He is the way. Now I know much more, but it all boils down to Christ. We must make Him our foundation, our center. I love you all and next week I will be in Modesto with a new companion. See ya!

Sister Smith

Helaman 5:12

It is Hot in the Summer

I just wanted to title my message that, because oh my does it get hot here and it has only begun. It is very normal to be in triple digits for the low. GAH! I cannot believe this, but I miss the snow! Anyways, we have a miracle baptism happening this Saturday and we had another miracle happen yesterday. God literally directed this girl to church yesterday, by her self, and says she wants to be baptized because she knows it is true and of God. WOOHOO! She is so cool and it's funny because my companion, myself, and her all said that we have met before and know each other, but we never have. Pre-Mortal World? I think so! Transfers are next week so I will find out this weekend what is going to happen. Also, this is the transfer where we are going to find out who is going to be called to the new Modesto Mission. Update: My mission, the CFM, is splitting in half next month (which is not common) and some of us will be reassigned to that mission. Guess we will just wait and see what happens. I love you all and hope that we continue to find miracles. I testify that anything is possible through prayer and I close in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Blessings are in Store

This week we went to the temple so our preparation day was moved from Monday to Wednesday (this week only). I absolutely love going to the temple and it brings me so much peace. I really needed it. I would like to take a moment to recognize Elder L. Tom Perry, Quarom of the Twelve. One of beloved apostles passed away last week and we know that he is sharing the gospel on the other side. He was one of my favorite speakers. 

Anyways, this past week and a half has been wild. We found six new investigators and we have three investigators with a baptismal date. Crazy miracle story. MIRACLE MIRACLE MIRACLE! 

In one of wards, there is a family where the wife is a member and the husband is not. He was super against the church, but they are kind of a young family and are sweet. The wife recently went receive her patriarchal blessing and her husband went with her. After that was said and done, he just instantly knew he needed to be baptized. He received a divine witness of the truth of the Gospel. Now he is preparing to be baptized on June 13th. Did I mention that their ward is doing a 40 day fast? It truly brings miracles. I have seen every ward fast bring at least one soul closer to God. It is truly a miracle. Out of the blue like that, he wanted to be baptized. CRAZY! haha 

I love you all and I know that great things are always around the corner. I hope you all have a wonderful week and should have a few couple stories on Monday. 

Sister Smith

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/biographies/elder-l-tom-perry?cid=HP_day_date_dPAAST_PERY_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

Happy Memorial Day

First off, Happy memorial Day! Go be free and eat some barbecue! Second off, this week we worked really hard.

We are trying to figure out ways that we can find and teach more. We thought that memorial day weekend would be really good for missionary work but it turns out that rich people just go out of town for holiday weekends. We were having trouble finding anyone to talk to members and non-members. We did get 3 new investigators but we found them through our own efforts and they are not very solid yet. We need to find more ways to encourage the members to work with their friends and invite them to learn about the gospel.

Our ward mission leader and his wife go sealed in the temple this week we were not able to go but we are super excited for them! Did I mention that he is doing his own personal 40 day fast? It is scary. He eats one small meal at 5pm. He is on day 35. He is the most righteous man I have ever met and we just helped them move out of Alluvial ward into Woodward park. We get to work with them still! :D

One of the new investigators that we found name is richard. He is very stuck in the 70's and apparently has been working on the same vintage cars for the past 20 years. we invited him to church and he had a lot of questions about if we knew about mormons who came and settled this valley. He asked a lot of weird questions about Mormons and Indians. I am not sure what he was thinking while we were talking haha

also we were knocking on this one door when we looked into their next door neighbors yard and saw the tardis sitting in their front yard. we knocked on that door next. They said they had "all the Jesus they need". But we were welcome to go check out the tardis. Also, their front door looks like a police call box. We took pictures with the Tardis, we are teaching people in other worlds!

This week, we also did a super cool training in our district. I now finally understand Jacob 5, which a super long and confusing chapter in the Book of Mormon. I just had some super cool revelation for that training. Anyways, I love you all so much and I miss the rain haha California is scary dry. The ground is so dry that when it does rain, the ground cannot absorb it to any degree. The retainment ponds are completely dry too.

Sister Smith

Happy International Star Wars Day!

Today is International Star Wars Day (May 4th)! Besides that though, the work is going great here. It is also really hot in California. I am sorry my message last week was abrupt at the end, but I had to get off right then and there. I had yet to tell you that my companion and I caught a live frog haha kind of our thing I suppose.  Mother's Day is coming up and I am so excited to call my mom. It is going to be so nice to see my mother again. Sometimes I just want to call her, but I cannot.

Also, Transfers is this week. DRUM ROLL................Sister West and I will be staying in our area. I love it here. Not to mention my training is over now and I have already been out 3 months. Woahzah! Time is flying by on my side of the mission. I can see myself changing everyday though and I feel happy. I am growing constantly and strengthening my testimony. I love the Gospel and I love how it blesses families. I know that I am doing so much good for not only people here, but also back home. 

Oh, that reminds me of a story. This past weekend was one of our investigators prom. We went over on Friday, shared a lesson, and I may have told them that I am awesome at doing hair...WRONG. I practiced and practiced on my companion do what she wanted, but I could not. We went back the next day to help her with her hair, and share a message, and Sister West did it. We were praying so hard for her to be stunning and it was. POWER! Anyways, it was a really spiritual lesson too. WOOHOO! I love you all so much and hope your day is wonderful. Enjoy the weather and the hand of God that is in our life. I know that you will be able to see tender mercies in your life. I know I do. I say these things in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sister Smith