Week 2 In Panama

This week was all about the buses!  On Tuesday we woke up at 2 in the morning and caught a bus to Panama City because I had to go to immigrations and be legal or something.  Everyone kept telling us "I promise this isn't normal" but we waited in the basement of the immigrations building with about 40 other missionaries from 7 in the morning until about 10 o'clock that night.  At that point it was too late to come back to Santiago so we had a sleepover at the apartment of the sisters that live in that area. Then on Friday we woke up again to catch the 3 o'clock bus to Panama because it was my companion's turn to go to immigrations, but this time we were only there for a few hours and we actually got to come home and do work in our area!  It is kind of a blessing that this is an 8 week transfer because our first 2 weeks were a lot of planning and establishing goals and now we have a full 6 weeks to really get to work and have success in Santiago!  

My favorite part so far about missionary work here in Panama is contacting people (it was probably the scariest part for me in California), everyone is really kind and willing to talk to us, even if we can't speak very well!  I think most people just talk to us because we are American but hey they are talking to us!!

Funnest part of the week- the ward Christmas party which was supposed to start at 8 in the morning but didn't actually start until 3 in the afternoon.  The ward made a whole bunch of food and took it to a pretty poor part of town and threw a big Christmas party for all the people who lived in that neighborhood and they had a piñata!  I thought I knew how piñatas worked but you have no idea until youve seen 30 Panamanian kids going at it....best part is there weren't even any tears, they all just took the cuts and bruises like champs.

Merry Christmas!!  The gospel is true and Christ is La Davida, what more can I say?  Love you all and I will talk to you soon!!

Hermana Smith

FIrst Few Days In Panama

Woah.  I don't really even know where to start, these past few days have been incredibly overwhelming but here I am, ready to start my first real week as a missionary in Panama! We walked off the plane and it took a little bit to get our travelling group through all of the Spanish questions at customs and immigration but we made it through and walked around the corner and it wasn't too hard to spot the 2 gringos in white shirts smiling and waving us down.  We crammed all 6 suitcases and 5 missionaries in a tiny little car and then the assistants took us out to eat and dropped us off at the hotel.  We slept so so good and the next morning they took us to the mission president's house where we got a little bit of training, had interviews, and met our new companions.  I was given Hermana Patrick from Texas who has only been out one more transfer than I have.  Immediately from there we walked to the bus station in Panama City and somehow we all got on the right buses and out to our areas.  I am serving in Santiago which is a little city in the middle of Panama and so far I really like it.  Our apartment is right next to the chapel, has air conditioning, a hot water heater, and it was fumigated last week so I´m not complaining.  The rest of the week has felt like one really long bus ride with some really good moments in between.  4 and a half hours from Panama City to Santiago on Wednesday, an hour and a half each way to zone meeting on Friday, another 9 hours to and from the city on Saturday, and tomorrow I get to take the bus ride back to Panama one more time to get my immigration card, it's a good thing I can sleep anywhere!  Saturday was awesome because we got to go to the temple!!  As pretty as it looks in pictures, its 1000x prettier in person and totally worth waking up at 2 in the morning and the 9 hours in the bus.  The second best part of this week was when we went with one of our investigators to a couple shelters and sang Christmas carols and gave out candy to all of the families and the kids loved it and they were so stinking cute!  Panama is so much like Costa Rica (I dont know why that surprised me but it kind of did) so I think that has helped a lot with any culture shock.

This mission is a completely different kind of hard than California and I have never been more physically exhausted in my whole life, I am a little bit in shock and don't think I could have really prepared myself for this but I know why I am here and I am trying to work as hard as I can and not let any of the fear or doubt get to me because with the Lord I can do it, I know I can, I just need to keep being obedient so I can recieve all of the blessings and help  that our companionship needs.  The gift of tongues has been so real for me this week as we have been teaching and contacting people on the streets.  The accent is hard to understand but somehow we have been able to communicate everything that we need to and I can understand much more than I thought I would be able to!    I am praying so hard every minute and I know that the Lord is answering my prayers and that He will enable us to do everything we need to do to be successful in this area.  It was so amazing to get to talk to you and I can't wait to see you over skype on Christmas!!  Love you love you love you!

 

Hermana Smith

Last Week In Fontana/America

This week went by so insanely fast....can't really remember it but here's the quick version according to my planner-

Monday- We went to dinner at a members house and after dinner Sam let me braid her crazy hair while we did a FHE with her family so that was fun!

Tuesday-It rained.....the whole day....really hard.  We drove a lot and its a good thing we forgot to get our car washed Monday.

Wednesday- We went to the temple!!  A member drove us and went with us to the temple and it was the best feeling ever to be back inside!  It stopped raining just long enough to take our picture.

Thursday- Zone Meeting in San Bernardino!  We learned about the #heisthegift video and got all of our pass along cards to give out!  The church bought out youtube until Christmas!  Crazy, right?   We got a whole pack of cards and we have been asked to give out 10 cards a day...we are averaging like 25 a day. It has been such an awesome way to start conversations with people and we have already gotten several return appointments with people because of the video!

Friday- Weekly planning.  A whole lot of walking and knocking but not a whole lot of people home.  We helped one of our less actives get ready for her baby's first birthday party...its a small one this year, only 60 people.  

Saturday-.....We practiced our musical number with Evelyn (one of our favorite young women) who is playing the cello with us, she is awesome!

Sunday- Fast Sunday!  We did our musical number as the closing hymn and it wasn't too shabby!  Some kid in the back of the chapel filmed the whole thing with his flash on haha oops...thought about having him send it to you but I couldnt find him after church.  Then we got to go to the Christmas devotional and it was sooo good!  I loved Elder Eyring's talk and pretty much bawled my eyes out when they talked about the little boy with cancer...I'm a total crier these days, it's a little bit pathetic.

Spiritual moment of the week-  not really a moment, just a realization that planning with the Spirit is so important and sticking to our plans is important. We had a few times this week where we thought about changing our plans to make things easier but we went where we told the Lord we were going to be and that person needed the message we had prepared or there was someone who we needed to talk to in that neighborhood.

Funnest moment of the week- so my comp can burp just as good as I can and last night it got a little crazy

I have LOVED being here in Fontana and I am so grateful for all of the people I have met and experiences I have had....now on to a new adventure!

Love you love you love you!  Can't wait to talk to you all tomorrow!!!

-Hermana Katie Smith

At the Redlands Temple with her companion and an hermana from their ward

Hermana Smith's first day in Panama with the other arriving missionaries and her mission president and his wife.

Week 9 In Fontana

This week was full of random but incredible miracles!  

First miracle- We only ate one Thanksgiving dinner!  Pretty much every other missionary had like 8 dinners and got sick from eating so much food but we only had one and it was super good so yay!  

Miracle #2- We were walking to an investigators house and we found one of our  members in the park playing his guitar and he played some songs for us and they have been stuck in our heads all week but we love him. 

Miracle #3- One of our investigators is on date!!  

Miracle #4- We got to go to a baptism last night for one of the elders' investigators and it was this whole stressful thing where the copy machine didn't work in the stake center so we went to the other building but then the font started overflowing and we had the keys and we couldn't find a primary songbook but I was playing the piano for  their musical number but everything worked out and it was such an amazing  baptism!  

Miracle #5- We contacted a potential last night and we talked with her and shared a simple testimony about the Restoration and it was so great!  We are excited to go back and teach her again later this week!

Miracle #6- My incredible family and amazing friends!  Seriously every day I am just completely overwhelmed by the amount of love and support I have and I have no idea what I did to deserve any of it but THANK YOU!  I love you all so incredibly much!

Miracle #7- This one is an upcoming miracle but we get to go to the temple on Wednesday!! It was so nice to get to go every week in the MTC and I have missed it so so much!  

This week I felt a little bit discouraged because this gospel is TRUE and it just makes so much sense to me!!  And sometimes it is so frustrating when I am trying so hard but I just can't find a way to make people understand exactly what they are missing out on here!!  But I realized that that is not my job. My purpose is not to make them it is to invite and to help them.  We had 2 contacts this week where we said pretty much the same things but they went completely different.  One of them wasn't interested at all and couldn't feel the Spirit but the other one was miracle #5!  I feel less frustrated now because I know that I am trying my hardest to invite and to help everyone here in Fontana and I pray so hard that they will be able to see just how truly incredible the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel are. Do you even understand what it means and how many blessings come with being a member?!  I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  gosh dangit.  

I love you all!!  

-Hermana Smith

Remember last week when she told us about the hat she crocheted that was too small for the baby?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Hey I'm 20.  For my birthday this year I got a lot of birthday cake, a couple new sweaters, and my visa to Panama. (So for Christmas this year my family is going to get a couple lightly used sweaters)  

So this morning my mission president called us while we were eating birthday cake and doing companion study to let me know that my visa arrived this morning (its a birthday miracle!!) and that I will be flying to Panama on December 9!  I cant really think of anything at all right now (on account of my brain thinking about a million different things but mostly just Panama) but I will try my best to give you a recap of this week-  

So this week we talked to a million people and walked a whole lot.  Remember the miracle contact last week?  Ya she is the best investigator ever and she has a stinking cute family.  We also picked up another investigator who lives in our same apartment complex and we went to go contact her and she showed us a Book of Mormon that someone had given her 5 years ago when her daughter died and bore us her testimony about how much peace and comfort it gave her.  Are you kidding me?  God is preparing so many people to hear the gospel and I get to be the one that brings it to them!  Also this week we started working on a musical number that we are doing as missionaries in our ward and it is sounding so good.  We are like the perfect combination of Vocal Point and MoTab except we do it in Spanish which is even better.  Mom asked me in her letter if I sing in the choir but with a smiley face cause she knows how much I dont sing but guess what...my companion is a voice major so not only do I sing in the ward choir, I also sing in pretty much every one of our lessons.  On Friday night we went to dinner at a member's house but it turns out she was having a quinceañera and I have never felt so out of place in my whole life-we were the ONLY white people there and everyone just stared at us.  We also awkwardly walked right on to the dance floor right as the girl was getting presented or whatever.  OLÉ!  I tried to crochet a hat for the baby of a recent convert but I accidentally made it way too small so my very favorite person in Fontana gave it to her cat instead.  Cute huh?  On Saturday we met these people who were looking for their dogs and so we offered to help them post their lost dog signs around the neighborhood and it was the best finding activity ever.  People are way more willing to talk to you if you tell them you are looking for a dog and then once you have them worried about the dog you leave them with a lost dog flyer and a restoration pamphlet and bam return appointment.  Seriously they should put that in the next edition of PMG.    Super pumped for these next 2 weeks in Fontana, they are going to be great I can already tell!  Happy Thanksgiving!!  Love,

Hermana Smith

2nd Transfer in Fontana!

     What a week, am I right?  On Wednesday we drove all the way to the mission office for transfers which is a crazy time.  There are a whole bunch of cars and even more missionaries walking around this church parking lot trying to get luggage and companions and bikes all figured out.  We dont really see the mission president there because he is busy trying to get all the new missionaries settled with their trainers.  I said goodbye to my companion and found my new trainer (who also went to Lone Peak, crazy right?), and we headed back to Fontana to start working!  I was already a little stressed about having to plan and know who/where/what to teach and then we realized that neither of us have a GPS so this week has been a real good adventure of learning how to use a real map haha.  

    On Thursday we had a zone conference almost all day so we got to go listen and talk with our mission president about true conversion.  We were asked to study and prepare a 5 minute presentation about a conversion story in the scriptures.  I didnt actually get to share mine but I learned a lot from all of the studying and preparing.  I chose Amulek and as I studied how he was converted and I think it all came down to his choice to act.  I know that this gospel is 100% real but I will never be truly converted unless I act on that knowledge.  So this week my goal has been to act with faith on every prompting I get and I have already been able to see the miracles happening!   

     A few weeks ago we went to borrow a mixer from a less active but hers was broken so she borrowed one from her neighbor and she told us about her and she seemed like an awesome potential so we were going to talk to her when we gave back the mixer but her scary husband answered the door but we have been trying to find a good way to talk to her again.  Then on Friday night one of our appointments and our back-up fell through and we felt like we needed to go visit this less active and we walked up to the door and the neighbor answers the door!!  We talked to her for a while and she is so great!!  We are going back to teach her this week!

   Yesterday my comp had a baptism in her old area so she was gone for about 5 hours and I went on splits with a returned missionary in the ward.  I had been really nervous about going out by myself because I still rely so much on my companion but it actually turned out really great and it was so awesome to get to see how she worked and taught as a missionary.  Everyone does it so differently and I am grateful for every opportunity I get to work with and learn from all of the awesome missionaries here!  I was only with her for the first half and then for the second half of the night I tagged along with the English sisters.  We made candy empanadas at a less active's house (unreal) and I got to use my Spanish to talk with her mother who isnt a member and doesnt speak any English which was pretty cool and she said we could come back and teach her!  Basically this week was a lot of being nervous and anxious about things and then every thing worked out incredibly.  We talked to everyone this week and got so many referrals and worked really really hard.  I have seen and felt the Lord guiding me and giving me everything I need to do my best and help the work move forward here in Fontana and I am so so grateful for the enabling power of the atonement .    I am SOOO excited for this coming transfer and can already tell its gonna be a great one!  Love you all so so much!

-Hermana Smith

 Companion #1

Companion #2

Week 6 In Redlands- Transfers!!

Nothing too exciting happened this week but here are some of the highlights-

-The elder who plays the piano has slowly been giving me all the assignments so I now play the piano for choir and yesterday I played all 4 sacrament hymns which was terrifying but I survived.

-The kids in our apartment complex are always playing outside and they love the missionaries!  One of them got a ripstick this week so I taught them how to ride it.

-We got a TON of awesome referrals this week who will hopefully all turn in to awesome investigators!

-We got lost on the California freeways on our way home from zone meeting and used up pretty much all of our miles for this month.

-Our dinner cancelled and we were so hungry so we had the most disgusting and random assortment of food for dinner

-One of our members taught us how to make hand-made flour tortillas and flan!

-We found out about transfers!! I will be staying in Fontana and my trainer is leaving!  We are both kind of freaking out cause we thought there was no way that we would get moved but now she is going to San B and I am staying here and taking over the area with my new comp! 

That's all for this week, love you all so so much!! 

-Katie 

Week 5 in Redlands- Dogs and Halloween Parties

First transfer is almost over!!  Crazy, right?  It feels like I have been here forever!  This week was a whole lot of crazy-

On Wednesday we had exchanges but this time I stayed here in our area with another hermana and that was a terrifying and stressful day but we did a lot of walking and somehow I survived and didn't completely destroy Fontana!

Who knew Halloween was such a controversial holiday?!  I guess I should have thought of that before but we did reverse trick-or-treating so we made like 150 cute pumpkin sugar cookies and decorated them and delivered them to people in our area and most people were really excited because oh how stinking cute the missionaries made us pumpkin cookies!  But then there were a few who were like offended and gave us 30 minute lectures on what a terrible holiday this is and how they cant believe that the church supports it by doing a trunk-or-treat.  Awkward.  But the people who do celebrate Halloween really go all out.  We stopped by a baby-shower/Halloween party which was easily the strangest party I've ever been to.  There was a bounce house and a dj and sooo much food and I didn't even see the baby.  Then on Halloween we had dinner at a member's home and she was getting ready for a massive Halloween party (obviously there was a bounce-house there too).  We had to be in our apartments by 6:00 so we took all of the good candy and went home to finish our weekly planning  wahoo!!  We also crashed a birthday party on Sunday and they fed me oysters with hot sauce.

This week was awesome because we saw tons of real dogs!  Butterball (aka el gordo) is my new favorite and he belongs to a member, the golden was just wandering around our apartment complex, and that rottweiler lives at a potentials so every time we go to knock on her door he barks and growls and tries to jump over the fence which is actually terrifying.  

We are working really hard this week on finding new people to teach.  We have a couple of really awesome potentials so we are praying that they are prepared and ready for us!  We spend a lot of our time working with our recent converts and they are awesome!  My testimony grew this week about involving the Lord in every aspect of my day, and I know that when I do, not only does everything go better but everything has more meaning.  We got to teach a Sunday School class yesterday about the ten virgins and we talked about how we can fill our lamps.  Every single day we all have experiences that can strengthen us but it's completely up to us whether we let them roll right past us or if we absorb them and use the Atonement to let them change us and make us better.  My goal this week is to involve the Lord more so that everything I do will have significance and will add oil to my lamp.  

Mexican Advice for the Week: Only let yourself eat two tortillas per meal until you're married, then you can eat as many as you want.

Hope you are having a great no-shave November without me because I guess that's not allowed on the mish.

Love you all,

Hermana Smith

Week 4- Packages and One-Sided Bible Bashing

Packages!! I got my halloween package! They just put the packages in front of our apartment and leave them there and some of the other sisters in our apartment complex have had packages stolen before so I was kind of freaking out that mine had gotten stolen but it showed up! But now the mission office is going to hold our packages so I don't have to have anymore panic attacks. This week we had another exchange and I went to the other side of Fontana and that was fun! That hermana loves to run so we went about 3 miles for exercise that morning and I don't even like running but it felt really good. This week was a lot of walking and not a ton of teaching. Pretty much every potential/investigator/less active gave us the slip this week.

I think we bible bashed twice this week but I'm not actually sure. The first time he just kept pointing to the Book of Mormon and then he would ask us a question but then keep talking in this weird language that could have been Spanish but honestly it kind of sounded like Chinese. Then the next day we went to teach an investigator and her husband came out and we were having nice conversation and then he started talking about the Libro de Mormon and how it scares all the latin people because it is confusing to have 2 books. We tried to explain that we sort of need the Book of Mormon... After a while we asked if we could just end with a prayer. You would think that there would be tension after that but he said amen, asked us if we wanted another water bottle, and he and his wife walked us out to our car.

So I practiced with the primary in church last week but then they told me that Karen would be able to play for the Saturday practice/actual program so I didn't practice anymore. Then on Saturday the president calls us and is like "aah Karen has pneumonia and didn't show up to practice, can you play tomorrow?" so I panicked and tried to practice some more but primary songs are hard. I was sitting on the stand pretty sure I was gonna ruin the whole thing when miraculously Karen walked in 2 minutes before Sacrament started and I didn't have to play after all!! But it was really fun to get to practice with them. I play in Relief Society and a couple of the members have asked me to play hymns on their pianos when we eat at their houses for dinner. I really love being able to play because I still am struggling to comment or have normal conversations so it lets me feel like I am contributing something!

The picture of us in the masks- we were teaching our recent convert in his driveway the other night but he lives right next to the chicken farm so when the wind blows that way it smells outrageous. We were struggling to breathe during our lesson and he runs to his car and pulls out his painting masks and we taught the lesson like that!

Love hearing about everything going on at home, I love you all so so much and every day I realize even more how lucky I am to have such an incredible family!

-Hermana Smith

Week 3 in Redlands!

This week flew by!!   My companion is a sister training leader so we get to do exchanges with all the companionships in our zone so this week was our first one and I went to the Rialto area which is pretty much West Valley but here in California.  A little sketchy but my temporary companion was really fun and we got to walk all over the place!  On Friday we had Elder Evans from the 70 come and talk to us in a mission conference and it was so cool!!  He spent the first hour talking about marriage which made everyone except me super trunky but then he talked the rest of the time about talking with people and not to people which is something I think all of us missionaries need help with.  At the very end he left us with an incredible promise that if we would choose to act in righteousness that we would have every spiritual gift given to us and that we could all have a perfect knowledge of this gospel and of our Savior.  Pretty cool.  One of the elders in our ward plays the piano for everything and somehow he found out that I play so guess who is playing for the primary program next week....yep it's me!  Church was super fun yesterday because we got to hang out in primary and they all speak English!  One of our recent converts just had her baby and she is adorable!!  They live in our same apartment complex so we go over a lot to visit and just stare at her because we aren't actually allowed to hold her:(  Everything is good and I really am loving Fontana California!  Love you all so much!

-Hermana Smith

Week 2 In Redlands

This is so different from what I expected and what they prepared us for at the MTC but I am learning to love it!!  This week was a lot of less active and member lessons.  I am getting to know all of our members a little better and I am beginning to be able to have conversations with them.  I usually just ask them about their chihuahua because everyone has at least one and they all love me.  This week the stake had a huge Latin Festival and they had over a thousand people show up!  It was the finding event of the year!  They had awesome food and dances from every Latin country and we helped serve all the drinks so we got to talk to everyone, it was sooo fun!!  This week we are back to normal schedule.  Yesterday we taught a lesson to a recent convert and my comp asked him who he wanted to say the opening prayer and of course he looks at me to do it and he goes "You know why? Because you need to learn more spanish!"  and then he had me teach him the whole lesson!!  It was hard but it definitely helped push me and yes I can teach!!  We went on a 'hike' yesterday for p-day.  Not much of a view compared to my Utah mountains but it was still fun to get out and get some exercise (I really love real Mexican food)!  We have a Seventy coming to our mission on Friday so that should be really good!   Love you tons!

-Hermana Katie Smith

First Week in Redlands!

Has it really only been 6 days here?   Ok so Tuesday was possibly the longest day of my whole life.  I flew into California with a bunch of other missionaries and went straight to the mission home in Redlands (which is beautiful).  We had some real food for lunch and then went to a whole bunch of training/meetings/interviews and such at the stake center right next to the Redlands temple!  We were all so incredibly tired but that night we watched the Meet the Mormons movie!  I somehow stayed awake and it was really really good so definitely go see it!  We slept in the mission home and the next morning we met our trainers and went out!  And now I know what real missionary work is!  I had mentally prepared myself for everything in Panama but this is a little different haha so I am adjusting to the idea of having a car and air conditioning and people who speak English but really trying not to get too adjusted.  I've met so many new people and I can't keep any of the names straight but I have loved hearing and (partially) understanding all of their stories!  A lot of the people speak English but a lot of them only speak Spanish to us!  I can understand and get the idea of pretty much everything they are saying but I pretty much just sit there and smile because I can't think fast enough to really respond.  But I always get a chance to speak a little Spanish because when it's time for the prayer my companion asks them who they would like to offer it and every single time, without fail, they smile at me and say "la nuevacita".  So I can pray really well in Spanish but if you want to have a normal conversation you're out of luck.  Also THE JUICE.  Every single house we walk into they hand us a giant glass of some kind of juice.  Who knew there were so many different kinds of juice?  But the people are incredible and we have some recent converts with crazy awesome testimonies so most of the time I feel like they are teaching me.  Conference was great and I got to watch it in English!!  loved loved loved it!  Last night I sang Frozen songs with one of our recent converts granddaughters and that's probably the highlight of my week haha.  Love you so much!:)

-Hermana Smith

I Can't Remember What Week This Is

This week has been pretty incredible to say the least. Now that we only have one week left I think our district realizes how much we are going to miss it here.   This week started off with everyone getting flight plans!  and guess who is getting visa waited....yep, its me.  I will find out tomorrow or Friday where I will be serving until my visa comes through!  We have a little guessing competition going on in the district and anyone who guesses wrong has to use a super dumb gringo sentence at least once in conversation on their first day in country (the sentence has yet to be determined, any suggestions are welcome).  We have started waking up a little early and running outside in the mornings and as much as I hate it, it is actually a really good way to make sure we are up on time and it makes us less tired during our personal/companionship study.  During language study I have been listening to the Book of Mormon in Spanish just on lds.org and it takes me a really long time but I feel like I am getting so much out of the scriptures because I have to pause after every verse to make sure I understood it right and look up the words I don't understand.  I just finished Second Nephi and pretty much every time I read I find a scripture that applies directly to our investigator!  We did get to watch the temple re-dedication Sunday and it was amazing!!  The talks were beautiful but the best part was singing the Spirit of God in a room full of missionaries!  Then for Sunday study time I was able to read D&C 109 and 110 which is all about temple dedications- go read it! Tuesday night we got to hear from another apostle!  Elder Ballard came and spoke and his message was so simple and easy to listen to.  He didn't read us a talk he had written he just spoke to us like we were his grandkids.  The coolest part was hearing him bear his testimony at the end- probably the most powerful testimony of Christ that I've ever heard.  So the 2nd week here I promised one of the hermanas in our room that if she cut her hair that I would cut mine too.  So after weeks of debating and a couple freak outs (the other sisters in our room were ready to kill us), we both chopped off our hair!  I donated about 10 inches and I kept thinking of my favorite niece, miss Ava Allen!  Fresh start for wherever I end up going Tuesday!!  I am so grateful for this opportunity to teach and serve the people in Panama and wherever else I get to serve!  Guys the church is so true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God, I promise!  I love you all, dont get hit by a bus!

-Hermana Katrina Smith

         

"Not sure where in the US I get to go but I wanted to make sure I had a map picture for it!"

So Much Spanish, So Little Time

Ok so first off I got sick. I have just been way congested and my roommate suggested that I do a headstand to get rid of it so obviously we spent a really long time doing headstands in our apartment and blowing our noses upside down until the girls from the apartment below us came up to make sure everything was ok but really just to tell us to stop pounding on the floor so much. On Monday we had another sister join our companionship for the day because her companion had flown to mexico but she didnt leave til Tuesday morning.  For gym we went on splits and she and Hermana Reeves went to play volleyball and I went to the field with the other sisters in our zone.  Hermana Reeves got nailed in the face with a volleyball and had to go to the doctor but no one told me that so I spent the better part of Monday trying to locate my companion without a cell phone.  Elder Richard G. Scott talked at the devotional last night which was really exciting and an awesome experience.  His first words of advice were "Don't just have a good mission, have a blast!"  Pretty much every devotional some missionary starts a rumor that someone huge is coming to speak to us (Tommy S., Mitt Romney, Ellen Degeneres)  so it was exciting that it was actually an apostle this time!  I love being a sister because the buses  come to pick us up at west campus and there are hundreds of elders trying to get on the first bus and all you have to do is say "Hermanas" and they part like the red sea and you get the spot at the front of the bus with the air conditioning.  I'm sure it will work exactly the same way for the public transportation in panama.  This week we talked a lot about teaching people and not lessons and also being guided by the Spirit.  For practice, we were teaching other teachers in our building and Hermana Reeves and I just shared a scripture/lesson that we had planned the night before but we were able to ask her just the right questions and it applied to her life in a way that we had never even considered.  The Spirit was so strong and it was a really awesome experience to look back and see how we had been guided in our study and planning as well as in our lesson!  The scripture was Ether 2:24 and we talked about being the light for someone else while they are in the depths of their sea.  In a way the scripture is even more powerful in Spanish and the language it uses made our questions and comments even more relevant to her life. Only one more P-day in the MTC!!! Kind of freaking out but at the same time I am so ready to just jump in and gooo!!  Love you love you love you tons!!

-Hermana Smith

Half-way through the MTC!

These days are all morphing together but I will try and give you a recap of my week!  Our zone plays kickball on the fields outside because the weather has been perfect!  On west campus they have 'investigators' walking around or sitting on benches just waiting to be contacted or taught. When we started teaching on the second day it was stressful planning for one lesson but now we end up teaching about 3-4 lessons a day!  We taught one lesson this week that went so well- the Spirit was strong and we asked all of the right questions and we didn't stumble with our Spanish! We began teaching at the TRC with a new investigator!  We planned out our lesson so carefully and were worried about being able to take the full 40 minutes but when we actually got in there we spent a whole hour just talking and getting to know him- IN SPANISH!  The words were just coming out of my mouth and a lot of the conjugations that I have been practicing just came out without me even really thinking about it.  Everyone in my district was sick this week except me. Everyone is feeling better now and I think I officially dodged this round of illness. Thanks for all of the letters, I love you guys!!

-Hermana Smith

Sister Smith with her district

Week 2- Was there even life before the MTC?

Hola!!

Ok first things first- Shout-out to mom and Sister Lamb for sending me food and delicious cookies!  I use them to bribe the elders in my district to do things for us and so far it's been very effective.  I have been here for exactly 2 weeks but I'm officially in my third week which means I only have 3 more weeks left here in the CCM. Everyone here hits a breaking point where they just become the weirdest they've ever been and pretty much everyone in our district hit that point this week.  It makes things a little more fun but it also makes me want to punch people in the face because no one can focus on studying.  Ok so Spanish is going pretty well.  I am learning how to roll my R's!  The only word I can roll is 'arrepentimiento' but I'm so excited about my new talent that I am frequently seen walking around campus telling people to repent.  Our first 'investigator' turned into our second teacher and he is so funny.  Now we are teaching our 2nd 'investigator' and it is a completely different experience than the first.  In our first lessons we would spend our entire study time memorizing phrases to recite to him but now we can spend about 15 minutes planning an outline for our lesson and spend the rest of our time reading scriptures and PMG in spanish.  Our lesson yesterday was incredible and it was the first time that I could feel the Spirit guiding us in our lesson which was the coolest thing I've ever done.  My companion and I worked so well together and because we had studied vocabulary and prepared scriptures we were able to really cater the lesson to his specific needs.  I thought it felt real teaching our first investigator but I had no idea what it felt like to really teach someone with the Spirit and I'm sure it will only get better from here!   The elders in my district LOVE to sing and they pretty much never stop (refer to me wanting to punch some people above) but every night after our study cycle before we go back to our rooms we sing a hymn together and pray in Spanish.  Music here in the CCM is the best and my favorite part of every devotional is the musical number/singing with all of the missionaries. We are starting to talk more about building relationships with the people we will meet and I sometimes get distracted thinking about all of the incredible people I get to meet and I already love them so much.  When things are hard or frustrating I just try and think about those families and remember that I need to work harder and pray harder so that I will be able to teach them with everything I have.  I am so so so so happy and I really love being a missionary!!  I love you guys!!

Hermana Smith

With her comp

With her good friend Hermana Cassie Beecher

I'M A MISSIONARY?!

First of all the MTC is the weirdest place.  I'm on west campus which is all spanish speaking missionaries so everyone just walks around smiling at everyone and saying hola. My companion is from Alabama. She is really great and we work well together. My district is a really random mix of elders but we have a lot of fun. My spanish is coming alongish. I'm definitely not the best but I'm also not the worst which is pretty much how I like to live life. I keep thinking I will never be able to fully understand or speak the language but then I think of how much better I have gotten in just one week and I feel better. The temple as a missionary is really really cool!  That was definitely the best part of pday and maybe the whole week.  Another highlight is the devotionals on main campus.  My favorite part is when we sing prelude music and it's just a million missionaries belting out my favorite hymns, the Spirit is so strong.  My companion and I got our first calling in the branch as the greeters!  I think that's because we are the only sisters but hey its a calling. It's the most real when we are teaching lessons in spanish and trying to answer questions with our limited vocabulary.  I'm getting to the point where even though I can't remember a single phrase that I was supposed to memorize, I can bear my testimony about pretty much anything.  I love you all!!!  - Hermana Smith