BLACK OUT!!!!!

Hey Ya'll!!!

  This week has been another good one! We're being blessed and seeing a lot of people open up and have a desire to at least invite us back to hear more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! Bay City is ready to explode, hopefully everyone is ready for it!

Monday: I can't really remember exactly what I did this day..... Oh no! I'm getting old! Ahhh! We had dinner with a less active member which is always a great opportunity. She's great and has a few hurdles to overcome but don't we all on this path to eternity.

Tuesday: TRANSFER CALLS!!!! Normally they are on Fridays but Pres. Jacobsen had somewhere to be so we did it on a Tuesday. It kind of threw off the week but that's okay. So the verdict is in that I'm being transferred... hopefully for the last time! I'll be heading over just a 30 minute drive away to Midland!!!!!!! HaHa! Ain't that great! I'll be serving in Midland 2nd ward and I'll be finishing off Sister Chisholm's training!!! It'll be a blast! I get to see everyone from Midland 1st ward! I will have now served in all the sister areas in the Midland Zone so now I have ZONE BLACK OUT!!!!!!!! Let's just say that traveling around to tour my mission shouldn't be to hard because I've spent 14 months in the same zone! Crazy!

Wednesday: This was my last district meeting in the Bay City District which is basically full of elders! Crazy ones at that! They're super funny though and watch out for Sister Jordan and I. We had a great meeting though on Christlike attributes with emphasis on patience. I'm so grateful for Christ and His perfect example.

Thursday: Man, we had like a full day planned with lessons and all but one cancelled. That my friends is why we have back up plans because no matter how much you pray and have faith these people will show you are still dealing with other people's agency. The church is so organized it is amazing!!!! It is only possible through Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The organization, I think, shows how true the church really is!  We also had an awesome lesson with Erin and Richard and their family! It was amazing! A member talked about how a temple is built on a landfill then she talked about how Heavenly Father doesn't care about our past but that we wants us to look forward to the future and build upward. Onward and Upward is what Elder Holland said to us!

Friday: We rode our bikes again.... this time luckily my skirt didn't get caught and my handle bars didn't fall off so all in all I'd say that it was a successful biking experience. Well, actually our tires were flat and that makes for a lot more effort to ride a bike. Heavenly Father is just trying to help me work out more! HaHa! Oh man though there is a story for this day! Sister Jordan and I were door knocking on May street and a woman answered the door. She told us that we were wrong and didn't were lost. She kept saying that the Bible was the only word of God and that we should read it for ourselves. Sister Jordan and I stood there letting her speak and then we just testified about the Book of Mormon and how we know it is the word of God. I bore my testimony and I almost started to cry! I told her that I wouldn't be at her door step if I didn't know for a surety that it is true! I felt the spirit very strongly but it just seemed like the spirit stopped at the door.... she wouldn't let it into her heart. We asked if she had ever read the Book of Mormon and she said no but that she had read a book about it. We invited her to read it and pray for herself, but she wasn't open to it. It's always sad when you bear our testimony and people don't accept it, but I am so grateful for opportunities like that that build my faith and strengthen me. I am blessed!

Saturday: I'm grateful for meals with members! I feel like I learn so much from the members when I eat with them and have a lesson with them. We talked about the Restoration and it is amazing the insights that others have on this significant event! It is amazing and I love it! Members are everything to this work and we would be nothing without them!

Sunday: TRACY CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!! It is a miracle!!!! She was in the hospital the night before and she still came to church!!! I have a huge testimony in the power of prayer and as well in the power of the Book of Mormon. She has been reading it and I know that it is giving her the strength to do what she needs to do! I love love love love it!!!!!!!

Spiritual Thought: While in my scripture reading this morning I learned a lot about the people of Ammon! Let me tell you how much I love those people and their example to me! The people of Ammon were once the Lamanites who killed many people and sought to do evil always. Their fathers had turned away from the Lord. Ammon, a missionary, who had been changed by the atonement wanted to share the gospel with them. He taught the people and they were converted. They were so converted to the Lord that they buried their weapons of war in the ground so that they would never take a life again. They made this covenant with God! They would rather die a most painful death then take a life. They were truly converted to the Lord. I think about how converted I am to the gospel and how much I need to be better at keeping my covenants I've made with the Lord. Are we truly converted to the gospel to stand up for the right in any situation? I want to be like the people of Ammon. They were a zealous people and highly favored of the Lord. "And they were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end." Alma 27: 27 They were faithful til the end! I have a quote that says "Conversion is not a one time event, but it is a life long journey to become more like the Savior." I know that when we keep our covenants that the Lord will bless us and we will find great happiness in this life and in the life to come!  I love the scriptures and what I am able to learn from them. They truly are the words of Christ! Every time I read them I am filled with the spirit and have a desire to do good and to be good. The best is that you learn something new even when you've heard the story many times! I love being a missionary and serving the Lord! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love Always,

Sister Smith