Spring seems to have sprung!

Sigh. My Danskos...oh, they're bad. I wore them for the first time in NY, Mother, and after about 10 minutes the strap of the left shoe broke! Well, more accurately, the little stud that keeps the strap on popped off. I walked around for two hours while we were talking to people on the street, trying to keep my shoe on, and compensating for the awkwardness of the left foot by walking more heavily with my right foot. Anyway, my feet became blistered (only the first blisters, foot troubles, in 4 months!) and I'm wearing my Eccos every day. I'm thinking I'll send them home to you. I don't really know what to do with them. Get them repaired? Is it even worth it? I really like wearing the Eccos...maybe I could send in a request for a pair of black shoes that aren't Danskos? It turns out I prefer the lighter shoes when speed walking, anyway. I just don't know what to do in this matter. Any suggestions?

So. Helaman 10:16-17...Disapparation? I thought so, too. Bits of truth are found many places...But they are kept together in their fulness within Christ's Church, His scriptures, and His prophets. :)

Sister Hale left on Wednesday morning to go to Glenville, NY, and after she left Sister Takapu and I just kind of sat in our apartment for about 5 minutes, sort of depressed. It's weird to be in a trio and then have one of you taken away. The apartment felt kind of empty. Then we rearranged a few things, went on with our day, and it turned out to be a great day! The first appointment of the day was at an apartment complex just down the street from where we live, and right behind the bus stop we go to for our bus to district meetings on Wednesdays. Anyway, we met the property manager there and she showed us a one bedroom apartment for approximately what we're paying right now for the apartment! Woo! A great location, new carpet (it smelled really nice in there), and cheaper laundry WITH the machines IN THE BUILDING! In fact, there are washers and dryers in every building in the room right next to the apartment we'll be moving in to! Win. Big win. The Lord really, really blessed us to find a new place. We'd thought it was hopeless looking for a new apartment in downtown Ithaca, and an inexpensive one at that. Okay, maybe not hopeless, because we did look, and we knew we'd find a place, but it did seem like a big task. Not so, my family, not so! It's a great apartment. It's kind of older, but it's clean and well taken care of inside, and there are lots of windows! And all of the aforementioned pros. We're REALLY excited to move...Call us crazy. Hopefully we'll start moving things this week and next week. :) The whole experience has felt kind of whirlwindish--we found out we needed to move, and found a perfect place to move, and got the OKAY to move in about...3 weeks. Incredible! So, part of the reason we're so excited is that we've seen so many blessings in just this, seemingly unrelated to missionary work, experience.

Yeah, after that appointment, we had an excellent day, and our Heavenly Father definitely looked out for us and helped us to have a happy day as we focused on our work and the things we needed to do.

Another example of the Lord providing for us: we've noticed many times when we've had extremely busy days planned and there isn't time to stop for lunch or dinner until the end of the night, and someone will provide us with a meal, so we don't have to worry about that physical need! It's like the scriptures about our Father taking care of those who go without "purse" or "script," and He finds a way to feed and take care of those whom He calls. We are so blessed!

The Owego New York Stake Conference was this weekend and we were only able to attend the Sunday session because of our schedules, but it was incredible! The theme was "Arise and Shine Forth," encouraging us to be examples, and to let the Gospel and our love of our Savior be very apparent in the way we live. We are a "peculiar people," right? :) Anyway, the Bullochs spoke in the meeting, along with others. Sister Bulloch spoke about the many odd things that missionaries do, how she helps us remain in good health, how they've served with many missionaries from all over the world with many, varied names--some as common as Smith and Jones, and others as difficult to pronounce as Goettsche, Moisio, Takapu, etc...Hahaha. The Ithacans really liked that. One branch member said to us last night, after the meeting, that she didn't realize she knew so many missionaries who've served in this mission, and that it's interesting that so many have served in Ithaca. Well, I'm glad to join the ranks of those who've been fortunate enough to serve here. :) Sister Bulloch's talk was so sweet, and so powerful, all about her love of serving in the capacity she is, alongside President Bulloch, and having the opportunity to meet so many treasured people. President Bulloch's talk was fantastic--he's an incredible man. He reminded me (all of the Owego Stake, actually) to FEAST on the words of Christ, not just nibble (2 Nephi 32:3). We are so so blessed to have so many witnesses of Christ--the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, LIVING PROPHETS, and personal revelation. This is truly a great day to live. How often to do receive the words of Christ by studying them, and allowing them to change how we act, how we think, who we are? We cannot be ungrateful! Jacob 4:8 says "despise not the revelations of God." All of those things are revelations. We know nothing except it comes from our Father through revelation. Are our lives reflecting a love and appreciation of those revelations, or impassivity, or even worse, hate? Only those who are proud think the words of repentance are hard to hear--our Savior teaches us to repent to come to Him, to CHANGE to come to Him. It's so hard to let go of your own will, your own belief about how your life should be or go, but it's absolutely necessary and infinitely and eternally worth it when we turn away from ourselves and "Look unto God with firmess of mind" (Jacob 3:1). I'm striving to be more determined in my faith in Christ. If I believe He provides the way to be everlastingly happy, that He can stand with me when I'm going through hardships as difficult as warfare and lift me up, then I need to match my actions to that belief. I don't want to be all talk. I want to "arise and shine forth!" Isn't that a beautiful encouragement?

Can you tell I'm in Jacob in my BOM reading?

We're meeting with a fellow who's married to a member of the Church, and he's studying IS, incidentally, Dad (I mentioned that you'd worked for Deloitte and he asked me about that for a little while). They are AWESOME! I really love them. They have an indoor swing hanging from the ceiling of their apartment. Anyway, many of the principles of the Gospel, and the commandments that have been revealed through prophets make logical sense to him, they appeal to his practical mind. However, he doesn't believe they're necessary for salvation. He doesn't believe that our Heavenly Father plays an active hand in our lives. The truth hasn't entered his heart yet, it's just come to the outside so far. :) I'd never imagined someone so kind and accepting to have a "hard heart." I'd never imagined that a hard heart can exist in someone who doesn't antagonize the Church. Having a hard heart doesn't mean that you're a rude person, though! It doesn't mean you are angry all of the time, or snooty. No, it just means that your heart isn't open to the Spirit. It isn't open yet to receiving the witnesses, the knowledge, the comfort that the Lord wants us to have. So we're praying, and trying to find a way to help soften his heart. I say that as if we're going to be the means of softening...how foolish.

A happy story now, perhaps? haha. We've been very blessed to have our days work in a way that we could NEVER plan. Some of our dinner appointments with members haven fallen through, other people have canceled on us, etc. All of these things happening so we could be where we were supposed to be. It's very humbling to see the Lord's hand in this work--He really does direct it, and if we're doing the right things, doing our best to be obedient, then we'll see the work progress and turn out the way it's supposed to. People may call these instances chance, or good luck, but I know that these incredibly unique experiences are neither. Jesus Christ is at the head of this Church, and He directs the work that we do as His servants and as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Oh, I love you!! GENERAL CONFERENCE IS IN TWO WEEKS!! I am so excited. That's so great that you get to go visit Aunt Debby and Uncle Kenny! The south...what a beautiful place...I hear. Hahaha. Take pictures, yeah?

I love you. I love you. I love you.

Love,

Sister Smith

Email of March 13th

Dear family and friends,

This transfer is over on Wednesday--can you believe it? Our tripanionship is being broken up because the Temple Square sister who's been serving here for a couple of months is heading back to Temple Square, so there'll be an even amount of sister missionaries in NYUM again. Sister Hale is going to Glenville to serve with her MTC companion--cool, huh? Haha. Fortunately, Sister Takapu and I will remain together in Ithaca. So she can teach me more by example. Seriously, though, I feel so blessed to be serving with her, and for so long.

Our lovely lady was baptized on Saturday!!! Oh, the baptism was so nice--the people who participated in the program were so inspired and the Spirit was so strong throughout. It was an hour long, which is unusually long for Ithaca, but the focus was easy to keep with everyone feeling that sweet Spirit of God and supporting Carol. Preparing for Carol's baptism, I was reminded over and over again just how important baptism is. Believing in Christ, having faith, is not enough to return to His presence. Even changing through repentance because of your belief and trust in Christ is not enough. These are well and good, but the ONLY way we can live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ AND our families again, forever, is by accepting the covenant and ordinance of baptism. We are not fully following our Savior if we aren't baptized by proper authority as He was. We aren't fully following the Savior if we aren't committing ourselves to His own, authorized Church. What great responsibility we have once we are members of Christ's Church! He expects more, because we promise more, and His promises equal ours. When we're baptized, we're promised to be forgiven and have His Spirit with us, but we must do what He's asked and we've promised to do in return to receive these blessings. Good grief, we are so blessed to know! And Carol--now she knows! Her knowledge and faith will continue to grow, but she's taken the first, monumental step back to God. You know how you usually can't just buy one of the prizes from a carnival game place (I don't know how to phrase that more eloquently), but you have to play the game and win it? How can we expect Heavenly Father to give us His richest blessings if we do nothing to win them, to be worthy of them? That's what baptism helps us do. Anyway, Carol's been baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. :)

Last Monday we went to the Equestrian Center at Cornell for Sister Hale's birthday! It was awesome. There are probably about 50 horses there, and it was terrifying and glorious to walk amongst them. Really though, they're huge, and so powerful--it is seriously terrifying. I didn't see one named Philip...Awesome P-Day. And today we went to Taughannock Falls!! It's beautiful up there. We hiked around, I put on my jeans for the first time in 3 months, we took some pictures (obviously)...we had a marvelous time.

There are so many people in the world who need the Gospel. Well, really, we all need it, but so many people are just waiting for it. How do we find them all? This is the Lord's work, so I guess He helps quite a bit. :) D&C 18:10...we are all of infinite worth; how can we ignore the plights of others? Please, pray for opportunities to share what you know, and then be willing to speak up or lend a hand when your prayers are answered. The Lord needs us all to do this work. 51,000 missionaries is not enough. It's like that talk I told you about last week--it's good, but it's not enough.

We're meeting with this great guy who studies Electrical Engineering at Cornell--he's great. We brought a member from the branch with us this last week, because he'd studied the same and is now looking for a job in his field, so there are some similarities between them. This member of the branch is a convert of a few years and his powerful testimony super-charged the tenor of this guy's interest in the restored Gospel of Christ. He wants to know for himself that what he's learning is true--well of course he should find out for himself--and he wants to read and read from the Book of Mormon to discover the truth despite his busy schedule. There are people all around the world who are ready to receive the Gospel, but they have to have the chance to receive it in order to actually receive it, right? Right, duh. That was obvious. how can we know if something is right or good or true if we don't even know what "it" is? I am so thankful to be a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's Church once again on the earth, and within it we find all the truths that He teaches, the power and authority of God to do the things we must in order to receive exaltation, the comfort of our belonging to Him. I love the prophets and apostles whom He has called--I know they are righteous men who have been prepared to lead us, and are supported by the Lord to lead us, today. I am so thankful that I have this opportunity to share what I know. Jesus Christ is my Savior--I am nothing without Him. I can do nothing without Him. I will go nowhere without Him. Jesus Christ knows exactly who I am, where I am, where I can go if I rely on Him. He knows who I can become through Him. He knows how to heal my wounds and how to dry my tears. He knows how to support my feeble knees and weak shoulders. I cannot do all, but He can.

I love you so much! I am so thankful to be a part of our family FOREVER! It's a long time, isn't it? Thank the heavens. :) Thank you for all of the wonderful updates! Missionaries coming, missionaries going, work opportunities showing up, brothers becoming giantesque...I love hearing about home. I should have some time to write a few letters today, so I'll try to buckle down and do it so y'all (there are a few Texans and South Carolinians here) can get some personalized letters.

I LOVE YOU!

Sister Smith

P.S. We live near an AWESOME playground. Taughannock Falls is beautiful. :)

P.P.S. We have to move--that will be fun, won't it? :)

P.P.P.S. Lots of smiley faces, no? :) :)

Dear family and friends,

I don't have much time, unfortunately, but I do have some things to share. :)

First, I read a talk given by President Hinckley this week that I absolutely love.  It's called "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep."  You should read it--it's very inspiring.

Second, one of our awesome investigators had her baptismal interview on Saturday and passed and we went to a chinese restaurant to celebrate.  After lunch I opened my fortune cookie, and what did I read?  "The one waiting for you when you get home will be your friend for life."  Hmmm...Hahahahaha.  I'm not sure who will still be waiting around for me when I get home besides you, my family, but isn't that funny?  I kept the mini paper.

Third, we are preparing the program for this investigator's baptism for this Saturday and we watched "Special Witnesses of Christ" to see if it would be a good addition for the important event.  IT'S INCREDIBLE.  Have you ever watched the dvd?  I'm telling you, the testimonies of the apostles and prophets are so powerful.  You should watch the video one of these days.  

Fourth, in Sunday School and Relief Society this week the subject was the priesthood.  Man.  It was great.  Chapter 5 in the Teachings of George Albert Smith book is so wonderful!  We are so blessed to have the authority of God on the earth within His one church.  We are so blessed to have a living prophet.  We are so blessed to have the knowledge of our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and Their plan.  It is hard for me to think about the many people who don't know these truths and struggle more for the lack of knowing.  It's even harder to think about those who know and reject it.  Who are approached with it and choose to walk away.  I know that we all have to make the choice to accept or reject the Gospel of Christ, but it still makes me sad that so many choose to reject it.  Our lives are so much easier to handle with faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost!  I am so thankful that I know.

Thanks for the pictures, Mom!  I love seeing my li'l brother in action!  Christie--why did you go whale watching?  Where did you go whale watching?  When did you take a vacation?  I pray for my beloved family every night.  Sarah and Dust are gearing up for HI?  Oh, what's their address, again?  And Sean's address?

Man, I wish I had more time. 

 OH!  We went to the Equestrian Center at Cornell today to surprise Sister Hale for her birthday!!  It was AWESOME!!  I would like to tell you more, but alas, the day runs from me. :)  I took pictures, and hopefully I can let you know more next week.

I LOVE YOU!

Sister Smith