New Transfer!!!!!

Hey Everyone!!! 

    This his been a pretty good week!! My new companion is Sister Greene and she is awesome!!! She has been out for 13 months and goes home in July! She and I get a long great and have already had just a lot of fun together and it is only week one!!! This transfer is going to be great! 

Monday: Sister Whipple and I were running around everywhere just trying to get everything done before she left for her new area. By the way she is doing great in Holland and she is enjoying the massive amounts of snow that she receives being on the coast of Lake Michigan. 

Tuesday: I picked up Sister Greene!!! The first day is always a little weird, but we hit it off pretty well! We did service for a member; guess what the service was..... we helped take down their Christmas tree! Isn't that great! It is weird here because you can really get away with having Christmas looking decorations up because it actually snows a lot and it just feels like winter here all the time!!! 

Wednesday: Oh my goodness! We ate dinner at a members house and this member Brother Quast, plays the base. He played his base for us while we were eating dinner with his family. It was so fun! We had dinner and a show! He is actually really good! He went to school and was in a few symphonies but then it started to get hard traveling around the state to play so he just plays it to relax. 

Thursday: Nothing too crazy happened... we just weekly planned and that is always exciting. 

Friday: We taught Austin this day and Sister Greene was like you are so patient with him! I took it as a wonderful compliment! It is tough teaching him sometimes, but I have a lot more respect for those who teach teenagers and who have raised them. I feel very blessed to have the ability to be patient it is probably the love that I have developed for him. Also we had Valentines dinner with members from our ward named the Lawrence-Harpers and it was great because we ate with the elders and a holiday in the mission field never really feels like a holiday, but it was fun to celebrate the day of love and give a spiritual message about the love of Christ! 

Saturday: Sister Greene and I kicked a chunk of ice all the way down this road! It is so intense and I am a little surprised that we did not get hit by a car, but we were out in the boonies area so not a lot of cars pass by. It is crazy how many simple things entertain me... haha! 

Sunday: Sister Greene and I were out kind of in the middle of no where and there was this man walking down the street and we passed him to go to a house to see a less active. Once we were done at the less active's home we were driving back down the same street and the man was in the middle of the road and I tried to move out of the way, but then he moved in front of the car and I moved again and he moved with the car! I thought I was going to hit him and it was seriously something from the scary movies. Sister Greene compared it to the wolverine movie where the evil guy with the nails come and stops the woman's car and then grabs her. Yeah it was pretty intense.... 

Spiritual Thought: I just wanted to have a quick thought. I wanted to talk about looking at the eternities. It seems like a lot of us made decisions on how it will affect us now here in this life when really this isn't it. We have so much more after this life and we need to make decisions based on what will affect us for the eternities. This is something that I have learned a lot while on my mission. We sometimes compare the plan to a play. We are in the 2nd act of a 3 act play and decisions we make in this act will effect the ones in the 3rd act. We need to think about how we will be effected in the eternities and make decisions that will make us eternally happy and not temporally happy. We need to seek things that will help us both here and after. A quote that I love is "Think about the end in the beginning." We need to always have an eternal perspective. I know that as we have an eternal perspective it will be easier for us to make decisions that will bring us true and lasting happiness instead of temporal happiness. I know that there is so much more that Heavenly Father has to offer for us and that we need to make decisions here in this life that will help us gain eternal life!! I promise that as we have an eternal perspective it will be truly happy! 

I love you all and hope that you have a great week and make sure to have an eternal perspective! 

Love Always,
Sister Miranda Smith

In the funny picture Elder Derricott is doing a duck face and it is great!  

Sister Green and I made Elder Derricott a birthday crown!

I am still in the city of churches!

Hey Everyone!!! 

     I hope that you all had a wonderful week and are enjoying the wonderful lives that you have been given. We had transfer calls this last week and I am staying! I will be getting a new companion and her name is Sister Green. I hear great things about her and I am looking forward to getting to know her. So let me give you a little replay of my last week! 

Monday- We went to a place to get cupcakes and they were some pretty good cupcakes. The other sister missionaries in Midland 2nd ward just love them and told us that we had to go there!! 

Tuesday- Oh my goodness!!!!! Sister Whipple and I had a lesson with one of our investigators outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did I mention that our lesson ended up being an hour and a half and they live up by the lake!! Can you say frozen!!! The funny thing is that we did not expect that so we did not have hats or gloves or scarfs so we were not prepared for that! The lesson went well though and he still wants to meet with us so that is good!!! 

Wednesday- We handed over the car......sad day. We meet with Meagan and Lamont and they told us that the Mormon thing was not for them and that they did not want to continue the lessons. They did tell us though that they still liked us and wanted to be friends which is nice.... but they did not accept the gospel yet. BUT there is hope!!!!!! I really feel that later on they will accept it and that their two little girls will have it in their lives. 

Thursday- Oh my! haha- Sister Whipple and I walked from our apartment which is not in our area to the very tip of our area in the city on a super duper cold day!!! It was exciting! We were trudging through snow and climbing mountains of snow.... there was just a lot of snow and walking. That is life as a missionary without a car. The sad part is the street that we walked to, only one person answered the door, but luckily they were actually really nice so it was all good! That night we also had a lesson with Dakota! We talked about prophets and why they are so important. I never really realized how important it was to follow the prophet. We are so blessed to have a living prophet on the earth today!!!!! 

Friday- Sister Whipple and I were walking somewhere and we stopped and talked to this woman named Maggie. She is from China and has lived here for about a year and she was just the nicest woman ever! We asked if she wanted to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she said yeah and gave us her phone number. We are hoping that we can talk with her soon! 

Saturday- We talked to a woman that is named Sally. The funny thing is that while on trade offs Sister Hunt and I door knocked into her and well Sister Whipple and I re door knocked this street and she remembered me!!!! This time Sister Whipple and I were able to talk to her more about the Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it, which is pretty cool cause she is really into what she believes in. We will keep praying for her heart to be softened. 

Sunday- Sister Whipple and I door knocked into a man named Scott and he is agnostic meaning he really does not know if there is a God or higher power or something along those lines. We started talking to him and he invited us in and he was really nice. He feels though that God is not happy with him and he does not feel like he is worth anything. I have been praying that he will have a softened heart towards the spirit that it may testify to him that he is a Son of God. We have an appointment to meet with him tomorrow! 

Spiritual Thought- What I wanted to talk about is something that was brought up in our sacrament meeting yesterday about hastening the work. The speaker was talking about the story of Christ walking on water to his Apostles. He talked about how when Christ asks us to do something it makes us uncomfortable and we have to get outside our comfort zone. It is interesting how in this story which is in Matthew 14 24-31 it talks about the winds and the waves rocking the ship and how it is hard for the Apostles to know that it is the Lord who is walking towards them. The Lord gives them comfort and says It is I be not afraid. The next part is what I want to focus on. Peter asks the Lord to bid him into the sea. The Lord asks us to take a step of faith and to get out of the boat. The Lord asks us to do things that make us uncomfortable but will help us to grow. The only way that we can come closer to Christ is by getting out of the boat. We must show that step of faith and walk towards our Savior. We cannot take our eyes off the Savior, but when we do He will be there just as he was when Peter called for him as he sank into the sea. He wants us to grow and come closer to Him and the only way we can do that is by getting out of the boat! We cannot build muscle without resistance. We cannot strengthen our faith without having it tried. We are here to be tested! We are here to learn and grow! We are here to follow and to look towards our perfect example our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that as we all strive to gain faith and take that first step out of the boat to get closer to our Savior we will be blessed. We will see our faith strengthened and our testimonies of the gospel grow! I know that we have a Savior who loves us and knows how to help us and I know that He will as we call for Him. I say these things in the names of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

I hope that you all have a great week!!!! Love You!!! 

Love Always, 

Sister Miranda Smith 

This is my District!! Top row- Me, Sister Dillie, Sister Seagraves, Sister Empey, and Sister Whipple

                             Bottom row- Elder Graves, Elder Schmutz, Elder Derricott, and Elder Krebs 

7 Months Already!!!!!????

Hey Family and others who read these massively long emails,

   First off, if you aren't family and read these emails thank you so much, you are so kind and sweet and I hope that what I say helps you! That also goes for the family too!!!

Well this week was a great one!!!!

Monday: Sister Whipple and I went to a place called Baseball Heaven. A less active member owns it and allows us to go there before it opens for free!!!! Isn't that just so kind!! People are so nice to us man! So yeah, we hit some baseballs and threw some pitches. It was actually really fun and I enjoyed it very much and it was decent exercise which is always a benefit!!!

Tuesday: We went door knocking a lot that day and I can't seem to remember too much about what went on so that means we probably didn't find any great potentials or met someone who just really stuck out, but that is okay cause you just keep going right!!

Wednesday: We had a lesson with a less active woman named Tonya. She is so nice and so sweet and I am just so sad that she doesn't come to church. Church is just so important and everyone needs to go because that is where we are going to receive strength to go about the next week. Not to mention we are renewing our baptismal covenants which is so important. If you really think about it the sacrament is pretty much the most important ordinance that we do in church. I know that I did not realize how important that time is during the meeting is. It has really made me think about what it is that I need to do during sacrament meeting and how I can make it a better time in my life.

Thursday: SISTER WHIPPLE AND I FOUND A FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay well the Lord lead us to the family which is just amazing!! It was a miracle!!! We are so blessed. We met the Dice family and they have 4 boys the ages of 20, 18, 11 and 9. So when we were planning the day the night before we felt that we should knock on this street so we put into our plans. The next day we drove to the street. We were driving down the street and Sister Whipple kept thinking, "We need to stop" so she stopped the car just a little bit off to the side of this house. The house is a little run down and it is yellow. We are walking up and someone is outside and we say that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and they start talking to us. After a bit they invite us in and we started to talk more about the restoration. We said the first vision and they were really paying attention, at least the older ones were. We talked about the Book of Mormon and they were interested in learning more about it! We set up a return appointment to meet with them this week!! The Lord truly prepares people we just need to make sure that we are living the way we need to be in order to be lead to them. MIRACLE!!!!

Friday: Sister Whipple and I have been out in the boonies again and this means like out in the woody area so like no where! Guess what happens!!! Our car got stuck!!!!!! Sister Whipple had pulled off the side of the road and there was a ditch.... don't worry the car didn't go in the ditch, but it did start sliding into it. We got stuck and we were on the phone with Elder Derricott our district leader when these young men drove up and asked if we needed help. YES!!! They were really good at getting us out of the snow, it seems as though this had happened to them before... HAHA!! The funny part is that Elder Derricott said, "Did you give them a mormon.org card?!" Oh yeah we're fine don't worry about us elder! Too funny!!! Anyways, it was great oh and I forgot to mention that before they came I was the one pushing the car in my skirt, it was a sight to see I bet!

Saturday: We went door knocking with Sister Toronjo!!! She is a complete natural missionary and I just love her!! She has such a pure testimony of the gospel. Oh also we went back to see these people who we met a week earlier and well they invited us in and got their bibles out. "Oh No!" was all I could think. This was the first time someone had done this to me and I was with a newly active member!! Ahhh! Don't worry though Sister Toronjo is boss!! They tried telling us that we were wrong and that we are saved by grace. Something interesting was that I asked him if he had ever read the Book of Mormon and he said yes 70% of it and I asked if he prayed to know that it is the word of God and he said no he didn't need to because he has the Bible to compare it to. Well how in the world are you gonna know if you don't pray and ask God! I didn't say that, but I thought it. I just bore my testimony of knowing that the Book of Mormon was the word of God and I know that the spirit was there! We all walked away having our testimonies strengthened about the Book of Mormon. The cool thing is that I prayed to have an experience to know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God!!! God answers prayers!!!!

Sunday: Relief Society is inspired of God and that is all I must say!

Spiritual Thought: So in Relief Society we talked about the Light of Christ and how all of God's children have it. The more that we make decisions to follow the Light of Christ the brighter we get and when we choose not to follow the Light of Christ we are dimmed and the Light of Christ can actually diminish which really struck me a lot! (D&C 50:24) Throughout the day we are gaining and losing light with every choice that we make. The brighter our light the easier it is to make a good decision and the dimmer the light the harder it gets. It is amazing to think about light and how even in the darkest of places we can see even the smallest of lights. The world is getting darker and darker so we are getting brighter and brighter! People are aware of us and what we do! We need to act more like our Savior Jesus Christ and do better at following His perfect example. I  know that as we follow the example of our Savior we will grow brighter which will bring more warmth and happiness into our lives. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt 5: 16

Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, a light that is endless and can never be darkened.

I recommend watching the Mormon messages about the Light of Christ by Elder Bednar! :D

Love Always,

Sister Miranda Smith

P.S If you actually read the whole thing thank you and sorry for the super long letter! 

Before the Snow...

After the Snow...
Look at the Ice Fisher Men in their little houses :)

Sister Miranda Smith is Freezing... go put a coat on!

My Christmas Hat!!!

It is an ICE BOX HERE!!!!!!!!

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 

20 years already???

Hey Family and Friends!!! 

I cannot believe that I am 20 years old now!! Life seems to go by so fast and I just can't believe it! The work here in Midland is going well and we are moving forward and progressing. We are really trying to change ourselves and the way that we view the work. We are striving to overcome obstacles that seem to keep coming up in the work and we pretty much just keep on keepin' on! It is funny how everyday in missionary work is the same, but then everyday is totally different than the other! That is probably going to be life, at least there is something that will always stay the same in our lives and that is change. Change is good though because repentance is really just another word for change. I have definitely seen a lot of changes in my life which have all been great! It is pretty amazing looking back on the last 6 months and seeing the change that has taken place in my life and how much I keep wanting to improve and to change. Sometimes it is hard looking at myself and realizing how imperfect I am, but then it makes me appreciate my Savior so much more and His atonement. I am always amazed at the plan that Heavenly Father has for all of us! We are all so blessed to know about the amazing plan has been created for all of us. 

Monday: We email people and spent some time chilling at the apartment and wrote some letters to some people. 

Tuesday: Oh man I lost the phone on Tuesday and I was freaking out!!!!! I never knew how important a phone was until I didn't have one! We went back to the place where we knew where it was dropped and it wasn't there! I was so sad and I felt so bad because we were not able to use that time that we were looking for the phone to be looking for people who need the gospel. We also taught an investigator named Courtney Stevenson. He read part of the Book of Mormon and his biggest hold up is Joseph Smith and that there is no proof of him in the Bible when really there is, but your heart has to be open to it so we'll see what happens! 

Wednesday: We found our phone!!!! A member from the 2nd ward had picked it up and found out that it was a missionaries phone. She ended up calling a few missionaries and found the elders serving with Sister Whipple and I. She drove it over to the Elders and they gave it to us at our zone training. Zone Training is awesome! I have great leaders who really know how to teach by the spirit. They were inspired! 

Thursday: Haha funny story! We went over to Dakota's house to have a lesson with her and she wasn't there!!! It was pretty funny. She forgot to text us and tell us that she wouldn't be there. We sadly had to turn around and head back. Thank goodness for back up plans or life would be a lot more difficult! 

Friday: I was on trade offs with Sister Carlson in Midland! We had a pretty good day!! A huge plus was that the sun was shining and it was just so wonderful! We actually met a person who worships Satan which was a bit different.... We kept talking to him though and he was nice. I just thought is was so interesting. He told us at age 16 he sold his soul to the devil which is pretty crazy if you ask me. We asked him what he thinks he will get from serving the devil and well he didn't really have an answer. Missionary work is just so interesting. We also had a lesson with Meagan and Lamont! It went well. They don't have a date yet, but we are hoping to set them soon and also that they will be able to come to church. 

Saturday: We are running out of areas to knock in the Midland city area so now we are knocking doors in the boonies!!! Some of these people have like half mile long driveways and the forests are pretty sketchy. Also we have encountered a lot of massive dogs lately lucky none of them have eaten us. How blessed are we!!! 

Sunday: Something that I have noticed is that when you are fasting it is so much easier getting through the day without eating. It is strange how I can eat breakfast and go to all my meetings then church and by sacrament which starts at 11:30 I am starving, but when I fast all day I am fine!! I know that is a weird thought, but it makes me think about how much the Lord really blesses us as we keep the commandment and live the way that we know we should be living. I love that Heavenly Father is always looking out for us and knows exactly what it is that we need. 

Spiritual Thought: Something that we have been talking about a lot is trials. It is interesting to me that we are given trials to help us learn and grow. None of the trails that we have are the same as any other person so they are specifically for us. Heavenly Father knows us perfectly and He knows what we need in order for us to return to him. It is also really crazy how we have total control over how we react to these trials. We can either learn from them or we can let them take over us. We are so blessed to have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much that he has given us agency and a plan! We are so blessed!!!!!!!! 

I love you all so much and I hope that you are enjoying the lovely weather!!!! You are all so wonderful and keep up the amazing work wherever you live!! There are people everywhere who need the gospel and they blessings that we have so go and share them!!!!! You all ROCK!!!!

Love Always, 

Sister Miranda Smith 

We are Warming UP!!!

Hey Family and Friends!!! 

This week has been pretty good!! We are so blessed here in Michigan and we are loving serving the Lord! We are excited for this up coming week and we are ready to hit the pavement or ice I should say. The last few days it has been pretty icy, but Sister Whipple and I have come up with a system for us not to fall, we link arms! I know it was a thought given to us by the spirit... seriously it was. We like to think about what it must be like watching us trying to walk across the ice while trying to maintain our missionary haste. Pretty funny I assume. Here is a little glimpse into my last week!!

Monday: We stayed at the church ALL day!! We got to the church and then we got a message saying we were grounded so we couldn't leave and do all our P-Day stuff! Sister Whipple and I worked on our B-ball skills and also our Ballet skills. I know, we are weird but what else do you do in a church for like 5 hours!! 

Tuesday: WE WERE STUCK INSIDE ALL DAY!!!!!! We went crazy!!! I made visuals for the plan of salvation and I also made up a song to the plan of salvation using the song Praise to the Man. Oh yeah Sister Whipple got a video of it, but you won't be able to see it for another year. Bummer I know. You wanted to see my awesome singing skills! 

Wednesday: We are free!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah funny story. Our power went out on Tuesday and the temperature in our apartment was dropping and we didn't know when the power would come back on so we had to call the assistants and figure out what we were to do. Well we were able to go and spend the night at the Midland 2 sisters apartment!! There were 5 of us together!! It was great and we all woke up and worked out together, it was pretty fun.

Thursday: We had a really great district meeting on the gospel of Jesus Christ! We actually had our meeting in the chapel and it was amazing how the spirit was there and how it changed our meeting. It definitely strengthened my testimony about how special the chapel is and how the spirit can really dwell there. We also had a lesson with Meagan and Lamont on the Plan of Salvation. It went well and they are reading the Book of Mormon. We are really just working on getting them to church, that will really help build their testimonies of the restored gospel. 

Friday: DAKOTA WAS BAPTIZED!!!!! It was so great!! The spirit was so strong and I was so happy and excited for her!!! She is a wonderful daughter of God and I have felt so privileged to teach her about the gospel and see her change! Being a missionary is hard, but when you see someone you know and have come to love be baptized it makes every door in your face worth it because you helped bring someone to the knowledge of the restored gospel and all the blessings that come with it!!! 

Saturday: We went finding that day! We didn't find anyone, but that is okay we are sifting through the tares. 

Sunday: We watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration!! I love that movie!!!!! I love that I have a testimony of the Joseph Smith! Oh yeah we watched it with Dakota and Austin and they enjoyed it! Oh and don't get this video mixed up with the other 20 minute restoration video. This one is so much better and longer. I am such a missionary.... haha! 

Oh yeah!!!! A member sang at the pulpit before she started her talk and it totally reminded me of Glenda Armor and I loved it!!!! 

   My spiritual thought: I am totally gaining a testimony of Family Home Evening! I love FHE and I know that it is inspired!! I know that it is a program that will help build unity in a family and that it is an opportunity to talk about the gospel and spend time with the family. There are so many fun things that you can do for FHE! I know that it can be hard to do it, but I also know that the Lord will reward us for our efforts and the desires of our hearts. Family Home Evening is going to be something that I really strive to do in my family because I just feel that it will bring us closer and help us become stronger! I never said it would be easy I just said it would be worth it!! I just love it! Everyone hold a family home evening you will become stronger as a family and more peace will abide in your home! 

I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!!! 

Love Always, 

Sister Miranda Smith 

Good Ole' Ganderland!

Dear Family and Friends, 

    I want you all to know that I am alive and well! The snow is up to our eyeballs and we are stuck in our apartments, but we will survive. We are doing our best to stay warm in this unfamiliar, strange weather that is going on. We are Michiganaries and the work must go on!!!!!!!! :D An't that just awesome! 

So you may or may not be wondering about the subject line. So the people in Michigan are called Ganders and so I am serving in Ganderland. True Ganders have a Michigan accent, meaning they end a lot of their words in s, so Walmart is Walmarts and how are you is Hows are yous. It's pretty great, I love it here. So this week.... 

Monday: We had dinner with a couple from the ward and they took us out to a Japanese Steak House. It is one of those places where they cook food in front of you. I ate sushi everyone!!! I ate it and I liked it!! I know crazy!!! They also gave us a ton of food. It lasted about 3 days. Yummm!!!

Tuesday: This day was so so so cold. There was an awful wind chill and Sister Whipple and I were out in the boonies!!!!! I actually started to get a headache from the cold and that is something that I have never experienced. Also we didn't talk to like anyone cause the drives are like a quarter of a mile long out there!! There was a super nice woman, the very last door we knocked on, who invited us in and gave us hot chocolate. Have you ever had a cup of hot chocolate after being super super cold. It is the most wonderful feeling in the world. Best cup of hot chocolate ever!!!!!!! 

Wednesday: We taught Austin about the priesthood and now he is preparing to receive it!! Oh funny story. We had some young men come and the deacons quorum president was there. He was trying to help Austin understand something and he said "Being a missionary is hard..." it was so funny!! We were like yeah it is!! 

Thursday: We planned Dakota's baptism which will be on Friday night and we are just so stoked!!! We also taught our new investigators Meagan and Lamont. They are awesome and we are so excited to teach them some more!!! They reacted really well to the Book of Mormon!! Also they have like a 5 month old and an almost 3 year old! We are seeing them this week and we are excited!! 

Friday: We ate at the Kim's home. They are Korean and they made awesome Korean food!! Being a missionary I have definitely broaden my horizon!

Saturday: We got Courtney's phone number!!!!!!!! He is an investigator and it is pretty great!!!! 

Sunday: Church is great. I love church. We went and saw Austin and Dakota. I love them, they are great. I am learning a lot when it comes to teaching kids. I still love them and I really want them to understand why learning the gospel is so important. After the lesson Sister Whipple said I am going to be a great mom. I was very grateful for her comment! 

I'm not exactly sure what my special scriptural thought is today..... awk. 

For your enjoyment here is a wonderful poem about being in Michigan. 

It's Winter in Michigan

And the gentle breezes blow

Seventy miles an hour,

At thirty-five below.

Oh, how I love Michigan

When the snow's up to your butt.

You take a breath of winter air

And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful,

So I guess I'll hang around.

I could never leave Michigan

'Cause I'm frozen to the ground!