Hey Family and Friends and whomever reads this wonderful
letter!! :D
I hope that everyone is doing well and
that they are enjoying the blessings of nice warm weather and a beautiful
temple open house ( for those in AZ) For those also suffering the cold weather
let me say one thing, pray for the missionaries in your areas cause they are
probably dying or maybe you can go our and door knock with them then you'd
really feel for them! Haha!! But seriously. If you really want to know
what the weather is like here in Michigan go to Costco and stand in the massive
freezer for 3 hours and then imagine that with wind and also don't forget to
add sharing the gospel with people too!! That is what I am expericening in a
little nut shell! It kind of makes me laugh a little and I hope that gives you
a little bit of imagery. Now onto the week!!!
Monday: Oh yeah that was my birthday!!! I
forgot! Haha funny how that seems to happen. We had a lesson with Austin about
preparing for a mission and attending seminary when he gets into high school! I
really hope that he serves a mission!! It would be so amazing to see him do
that and achieve that goal!! I know that if he worked for that he and his
family would be so blessed. He is such a funny kid. I give props to all those
who have had teenagers, I don't know how you did it, but thank you for sticking
through it and not giving up on us cause we need you!
Tuesday: It was super cold and I was like
frozen and delirious!!! It was an exciting event. I never knew that when you
were so cold that it gets are to form thought and therefore makes some door
approaches a lot more complicated then they should be. Also I have realized
that there are a ton of people here who live on lakes, but only like 10% live
there year round so therefore you knock on doors that have been vacant for
months. Oh the joys of boonie knocking.
Wednesday: Oh my goodness! We met a pretty
good potential investigator this day!!! His name is Logan and he is 21 years
old. We are really hoping to meet with him, but he works night and that makes
things a little bit mrore complicated. We introduced him to the Book of Mormon
and he reacted to it very well which is great because the elect will resinate
with the Book of Mormon. We are going to try to contact him this week!
Thursday: We met another potential named
Jeremy! We actually talked with him for like an hour and had a partial
restoration lesson which hasn't happen in forever! We are hoping to contact him
this week also and hoping to see some progress with him! Also while out door
knocking we knocked into this house with like college aged kids and we were
talked with a guy and his girlfriend or something comes to the door and says
"I'm sorry ladies but we havge a religion that likes to conserve
heat." It was pretty funny if you ask me, but also a little frustrating
cause the guy was actually talking to us, but what can you do?
Friday: We met another great potential
named Bill!! We found him in a little town called All Bright Shores which is
right off a lake. He also resinated with the Book of Mormon! The thing is
though that he is a in-home care person and his hours are crazy weird and so it
is difficult to get a hold of him. We do have a way to contact him which is
good and we are hoping to met with him and his family which is wonderful!!! I
am just really hoping that all these potentials that we have will turn into
investigators!!! That would only be the best most wonderful thing ever!!! Have
the faith right?
Saturday: Okay so we were once again
knocking out in the boonies and it was so great cause it was just freezing cold
and it literally brought tears to my eyes which is pretty crazy. The great
thing is that we walked up this massive driveway. We litterally could not see
the house from the end and even once we walked down a few yards we were like
"umm.... is there even a house down here" then all of a sudden we
could see a roof!!! You know a really great ending to the story would be that
we picked them up as new investigators after walking up that long driveway, but
no they weren't home. Everyone must hear the gospel!!! :D Some many great
stories man!
Sunday: AUSTIN PASSED THE SACRAMENT!!!!! It
was so wonderful!!! I loved it!! I was just smiling ear to ear and I was just
so happy!!! Nothing really compares to the milestones that you get to see
investigators and recent converts make in the gospel and also those who are
less active! We are hoping that Dakota and Austin will soon get to do baptisms
for the dead!!
Spiritual Thoguht: Something that really
struck me today was just how much Heavenly Father knows each of us as
individuals and He knows what we need even before we do. It is such a wonderful
blessing to know that we have a Heavenly Father who knows us and wants us to be
happy. Do we know how special this knowledge is? Do we know how blessed we are
to have the knowledge that we have a Father in Heaven that we can talk to
anytime, anywhere who will hear our prayers and answer them? I think we don't
fully understand the power behind this knowledge and the power behind personal
prayer. I know that I did not fully understand before my mission and I still don't
fully understand, but I have been able to gain a huge testimony of the
relationship that we can build with our Father in Heaven through prayer. He
wants to help us. We want these things, but we find ourselves forgetting to ask
for them. We also see prayer as a thing that we use when we are in trouble
or when we feel we need it. just like a spare tire. We need to use
prayer like we use a steering wheel! We need to let is guide us and without it
we wouldn't move forward. We won't be able to move foward without prayer we
will actually move backwards slowly but surely. There is tramendous power and
blessings that come from prayer!
I love you all and keep sharing the gospel!!!
Love Always,
Sister Miranda Smith
