I'm realizing more and more what an amazing family that I have, and how blessed I was to be raised in an LDS home!! This week has also been a very trying week as Sis. Allred and I have been trying to mesh our teaching styles. It's really easy when we're teaching a normal lesson, but a lot of the time we aren't and we're just answering questions as they come. She's a talker and I'm not and we're trying to find the balance of silence and allowing me to answering questions and her feeling like she needs to fill that silence and talk. We really do get along really really well; it's just that our teaching is a little hard!! I'm also realizing that I need to just add things in when they come to my mind as long as I'm not interrupting her!! It's so neat... we've been talking a lot about how Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for each of us, and I'm been noticing that it's almost like I have a syllabus for life! Not that I can see what's coming (wouldn't that be nice!), but that when I look back it's very nicely outlined and I'm realizing more and more that this life really is a school and there are tests/quizzes all along the way that are preparing us for the big test at the end! I'm also realizing that death really is just an opening of another door and that it's not as big a deal as we all make of it!! Not that it isn't sad, but I've had some very cool experiences that have reminded me of how close those loved ones really are!! At Zone Conference Pres. Christensen talked about how the people that we are teaching and baptizing are being helped by people on the other side, both those who have already died and those who have yet to come! They are their KEY TO EXALTATION!! He told us a really neat story about how 2 elders were teaching a couple who had 1 child and yet one of the missionaries saw a little girl sitting in a chair next to the mother. Every time that he would ask a question to the mother, the little girl would lean up and whisper the answer in her ear. When I heard that I got really teary eyed! It really hit me that we really aren't doing this work alone!! In the first place it's the Lord's work and He labors with us, and also we have the ancestors and descendants of these people wanting so badly for their family members to be baptized so they can be as well!! So, two really neat stories that have happened recently! We tracked into this man named Kelley who said we could come back sometime and so we did last week and we were just talking to him about his life and religion and such. He was telling us about his wife and how she had just died about 2 years ago and I just felt like someone was pushing us to be there and that she had accepted the gospel and she wanted him to join on the earth! He said that we could stop by and talk (he's retired and by himself – a lot of people say that!) and when we got done there I told Sis. Allred what I'd felt and that even though he said that he already has a religion that we need to go back in a couple weeks and talk to him more... oh and we left him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet!! The other thing just happened last night!! We were contacting a referral from the Spanish elders and they were talking about how they just had a baby die earlier this year at 3 months from pneumonia. We didn't teach them a lesson or anything, just answered questions and gave them a Book of Mormon, and Mike said that we didn't really need to come back, he would just call us. But later that evening we were talking about it and we both said that we thought that the baby (Jordan) was wanting his family to join because they are HIS key to exaltation!! It just sent chills up and down my arms!! The other side is SO much closer than I think any of us realize!! One of my new favorite scriptures is D&C 84:88 about how God will be will be with us on every side and will send His angels to be around us and bear us up!! Anyway, I could go on and on about that... but I have so much else to tell you!!!
EIE, EIE, EIE...
12 MINUTES REMAINING!!!
Wow, I just looked at my notes of things to tell you and I already told you a lot!! YEAH!!
WEDNESDAY - We had a great D.M., and we learned about talking to people. It was great because that afternoon our whole Zone (about 20 missionaries) went to the Purdue campus and talked to people all afternoon! I thought I was going to DIE!!! I already have a hard time talking to strangers, but to just walk up to someone who is reading or sitting or whatever and just start talking was just about the most frightening thing I've ever done!! It was so good though! I stumbled over a lot of words, but I had a lot of great conversations and taught 10 lessons that afternoon!! Oh, and that night... we went to a dinner appointment and they sat down in the living room and then the husband brought out a huge plate of tomatoes and cucumbers for EACH OF US!! Sis. Allred hates raw tomatoes and I hate cucumbers, and we sat there and ate the whole plate (except like 2) and it took us forever because we don't like them!! THEN after about an hour of eating... the wife said “what's for dinner?” We both about DIED and I had a bad stomach ache that night! Too much acid for my poor stomach!!!!
THURSDAY – was weekly planning and I already talked about how I need to work on communication and opening up (that's not new news!!) and then we had a appointment with a family we were going to drop and the little girl (age 10) said she wants to be baptized!!! WOO-HOO!!
FRIDAY – we talked to a lady who said that she's overcome cancer 3 times and her doctor told her that it's 90% your own attitude!! A great lesson to learn!!
SATURDAY – a great day...
SUNDAY – an even greater day... please pray for Janna and Tom... they are quitting smoking again and need to be totally done by Saturday.
MONDAY – a great day too!!! But I'm out of time and I've got to get this sent off!!!
Love you all so much!! I'll keep you all in my prayers and pray that no one else gets sick!!!
Love from Indiana
Sis. Alex Smith
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