Letter of October 1st

You have had QUITE the week!!  Good grief!  We did too. :)  Shall I address yours first?  Okay, that's more charitable and selfless.  I'm so excited that we have ONE broken bone to our family name now!...No, Christie, that's so sad!  Stinking bones...Take good care of her, familia!  Of course you will.  I love you!

 And Rob's toes?  Ooch!  Well, I can only think of the title of a Carrie Underwood song, "Lessons Learned."  That really stinks, though!  You can do it, Rob!  Power through!  Puuuush! :)  I sure love you.  Do you know that I have your school picture sitting right in front of my study area and every time I see your beautiful, smiling face I smile and my focus turns positive and I'm all of a sudden re-motivated/encouraged?  Thanks for being so wonderful.

Last week was a really great one.  I have a post-it note with some few things I'd like to tell you first off:

I. We had a fairly rough day at the beginning of last week--our appointments fell through and we kind bounced from place to place, trying to follow our back-up plans and find those people that the Lord wanted us to go and visit when we were in the perfect place at the perfect time.  We met two really awesome and nice young women who had just come outside to sit on their front porch, and we were able to bear testimony of the Restoration of Christ's Gospel and teach them about the Book of Mormon and modern prophets and they invited us to come back a few days later.  Of course, after an invitation like that we came back and talked more about the Restoration and asked what they'd read from the Book of Mormon, etc. and it was really neat.  We had not anticipated meeting these two young women, but it's like the prophets teach that we must sometimes walk a few steps into the darkness before the Lord will illuminate the next few steps.  We have to trust Heavenly Father!  Ah...He knows so much better than we do. :)

 II. We met a miniature Australian Shepherd last week named Cody.  He's so cute!  He looked like a miniature Bailey.

 III.Sister Castaneda says that I am her "cleanest companion."  Hahaha.  Apparently I'm a clean person, after all.  All I can say is that I was raised well to keep clean and then my upbringing was supported by Sister Bulloch teaching us about the Spirit residing in clean places.

 IV. I made Swedish pancakes yesterday....!  Yes!  Oh my goodness, I was so excited.  Sister Castaneda told me that she realized something about me...She said, "You're loud in the kitchen."  Hahaha!!!  It was a struggle to make successful swedish pancakes.  The pan kept getting too hot and burning the bottom before the rest was cooked.  Once I got into the rhythm of the awesome cooking, it calmed down a bit and the swedish were tasty good.  I think we probably had...seven or eight successes.  I had two last night and Sister Castaneda had one (I also made mac n cheese at the same time which was part of the problem, because my attention was diverted...could this become a gospel-related analogy? oh yes), and then we saved the rest in the refridgerator.  Woo hoo!  We already have lunch made for today!  Let me tell you, I almost cried from my joy, but instead I laughed and ate and smiled and was ridiculous.  Hence Sister Castaneda's comment.  Oh, and I sometimes yelled at the pancakes when I was making them and they failed. 

V. The GPS holder totally works!  It's great!  Thank you so much!  Now I have an extra one...What should I do with it?

VI. We met a member of the ward yesterday that we'd never met before and he reminded me of Marques Schroeder.  It was kind of fun. :)

 That's all I have written down, but let me see if I can pull out a few more nuggets for you.  Oh, that reminds me of something Sis Castaneda told me.  She said that before she and her German trainer would leave every morning to go "to the Square" her trainer would ask her what the two ckicken nuggets were--Jesus the Christ, and the Restoration of His Gospel.  They later found out that the phrase is "golden nuggets."

We went to Return and Report for Sis Castaneda on Friday and it was so incredible!  The Assistants to the President trained, Sister Karlinsey trained, Sister Wirthlin trained, and of course President Wirthlin trained as well.  I am pretty sure my favorite part of the day was when Elder Becerill trained us on President Lawrence Corbridge's (doesn't he sound familiar?) talk about the four types of missionaries.  I don't remember if I've told you about this talk before...Basically, he teaches that there are four kinds of missionaries:

--the first is disobedient and either is sent home or asks to go home herself.  She is unhappy as a result.
--the second is also disobedient but is not sent home early...result being unhappiness and feeling unworthy, etc.
--the third is obedient and does a lot of good for a lot of people, but is conflicted with wanting to do what she wants to do, but sacrifices to do what the Lord wants.  Looks forward to the FUTURE. 
--the fourth is the best. :)  She is obedient, but converted to the work and the Lord completely.  She LIVES for this work.  She doesn't sacrifice her will or wants, because they have become the same as the Lord's.  She is the only one of the four missionaries who is actually happy. 

Which would I like to be?  The answer is obvious.  I want to become the fourth missionary.  To forget myself and be in the work.  Elder Becerill helped us understand better what it'll be like by listing a bunch of comparative questions--kind of like "Would you Rather?"  It was really effective in getting me to evaluate how I've been doing.  He also asked us what the biggest insult someone could give us when we return home--that we are just the same as when we left, that we haven't changed a bit.  Heavenly Father is so kind for giving me so many opportunities to become as He is. 

Do you think you could ask Elder Corbridge for a copy of his paper on The Fourth Missionary?... :)  Sis Castaneda and I would greatly appreciate it.  We already asked Elder Becerill for a copy of his powerpoint slides. 

I love being here!  I love this ward!  I love the gospel of Jesus Christ that requires struggle and effort and sweat and tears on our part to be happy.  I am so thankful that Jesus Christ suffered all that we can be as He is.  I loved the Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday, especially (what we were able to watch, but also...) Sis Stephens' talk about having a soft heart for change.  It's like she said--Jesus Christ has felt all of my FEAR, my DOUBT, my LONELINESS, and He suffered for all of my terrible and stupid mistakes.  He WILL give me rest, I just need to SEEK Him.  Re-align my desires to be focused on Him.  Consecration of my all and life to Him.  She said that the blessings from on high are worth every sacrifice and effort, and I know that's true.  "Let us pray for His love-inspired correction" says Elder Christofferson, so we may obtain His most glorious blessings.

 I love you, family!  I love you a lot!  Enjoy General Conference this weekend!  Invite everyone you can!  Invite yourselves...Haha.  Come hear a PROPHET'S voice.  What a marvelous invitation.

Love you for always,

Sister Smith