HEY HEY TO MY AWESOME FAMILY!!!
This week was amazing!!! I think that white river is my favorite area (if I can even have a favorite!!)

WEDNESDAY – we went to district meeting where the elders were so goofy!! Our DL was dancing around the room while he and his companion were writing things up on the board… he’s a major goof-ball, but he’s a lot of fun to have as a district leader!! THEN… the zone leaders who were there were telling us that president told them to not have us come to interviews tomorrow because sis. Rich had been sick… and we looked at each other and realized that we would probably get in trouble for having her out of the house so soon… especially since she had just been throwing up the day before. SO, when we got home I called sis. Corey and asked her just exactly how much sis. Rich needed to be resting…. I kind of got in trouble for letting her go to district meeting… but oh well. SO, we stayed in all the rest of that day. OH BOY… was I ever ready to go out and work!! I did a lot of reading, thinking, cleaning and cooking those 6 days that we were in!! We now have a very clean kitchen…. It’s VERY clean… except for the cupboards that I didn’t get to!!

THURSDAY – sister corey said that we could go out for 1/3 of the day… so we went to 2 appointments that we had scheduled. The other two that we had were canceled. but the two that we went to were great!! Well, the one that we had with April was a little weird… but her appointments usually are!! She doesn’t really say anything!! And I was in charge of asking her questions and moving the lesson along… and I kind of froze up!! I hate it when that happens!!! SO… I’ve been leading a lot more lessons, because sis. Rich realized that I had never done it before (which my trainer and follow-up trainer were supposed to do)… so I’ve been getting lots of practice. One thing that it says on a paper that trainers get says that you need to let your trainee’s drown occasionally so they learn to be able to save themselves. WELL, neither one of them would ever really let me get wet feet!! If I stumbled, they saved me… but sis Rich is awesome and almost lets me drown… and then I remember that I know how to swim! I’ve been learning a lot that way!! The appointment that we had later that day I was also in charge of… and sometimes my mind would wander off, and I would wonder what in the world I was going to say… and while other companions would jump in and say something… sis. Rich just sits there and waits for me to think. I’m getting a lot better at thinking and I really appreciate her letting there be silence. our appointment that evening was with a man named James… I think that I told you about him last week. Anyways, he said that while praying is out of his comfort zone… that he’s been practicing!! He said the closing prayer again… and it was so humble and sincere and simple!! It is so inspiring to listen to other prayers… they make me think of how I pray and how much I could improve!!

FRIDAY - we had an appointment with someone… BUT… it fell through… story of a missionary’s life!! But that’s okay!! Sister Rich was still getting tired very easily, so we went in and she slept for a very long time, and then we went out to one appointment with a RC and had a great visit with her! Recent converts are just so amazing!! OH, and then we went and visited a LA lady who’s son wants to get baptized, so we went to visit them since they were homeless for awhile and didn’t… have… a home… I just remembered that’s what homeless meant… sorry, I apologize… my brain is a little spacey!! I’ve been realizing so much how incredibly blessed I was!! AND AM! I don’t know why I ever complained… I didn’t have anything to complain about!! It’s so inspiring to see people in such horrible situations, and yet they have a smile on their face!! And then there is me… who whines and whines over stupid little things… but I’m working on it!!!

SATURDAY - we visited a RC (we have 8 that were baptized in the last 8 months or so!) and watched her dress up her little granddaughter for a Halloween party… boy, I just love people… they are so funny!!!! THEN, we went to a wonderful party where we ate a LOT of food and passed out pass-along cards to little kids!!

SUNDAY – we went to our 2 church blocks… it’s so awesome to be a missionary!! Oh, and JAMES came to church!! Um… it’s always interesting when investigators come to church on a fast Sunday…oh boy!! This one was actually pretty good… but then there have been times when they haven’t been so good!! THEN… after the YSA block they have a “break the fast” meal… which was really good!! After that we tried a referral… and were 2-2-4ing them (when we knock the doors – 2 on each side, and 4 across… but we usually do 5 across because of the house we’re at… so it would be 2-2-5iving as sis. Rich says ) OH… but what I was saying is that we were 2-2-whatevering and we met this wonderful lady named Becky who is Methodist (I think) and we had a lovely chat with her and we’re going to go by sometime and give her a BOM… she would like to read it. There are so many wonderful people in the world!!!

MONDAY – was an awesome day!! Since we missed our interviews last week, we went to another zone’s interviews/mini zone conference. It was AMAZING!!! My interview only lasted about 3 minutes… I walked in and we prayed and he asked me how I was doing, if I had any questions (which I did… about something I’d studied), and then all of a sudden it was like he was peering into my soul, and then he said we were going to pray again (which we usually do), and then we left!! It was pretty cool to have him be able to almost look into my heart and see if there was anything he needed to talk about… I guess there wasn’t!! Then we watched this hilarious video made by the assistants about being a CELESTIAL vs. TELESTIAL missionaries… we were laughing so hard… but it really made me think about what I can improve on… you better believe that the cover went FLYING off at 6:30 this morning!!! I’m going to keep on improving everyday… because it really is SO VITAL that I be totally and strictly obedient!!!

Well, I better run!!! Sis rich and I are going to go the children’s museum and switch cameras so there are pictures of us!! Have a great week and know that I love you!!!!!

Love from the speedway!!
Sis. smith