Week 16 - Going Home

Throughout my mission I have been struggling with anxiety and depression, which I wasn't aware of before my mission. Everyone did everything they could to help me get the help I need to stay, I wanted to stay so badly. I started on medication and it didn't work out very well, it was safer for me to be home to fight this with my family. I was honorably released from my mission September 17, 2017.

I know that this is where God wants me to be right now, I need my family to be able to fight this and to move on with life.

Missions are amazing, I was so privileged to see MIRACLES on my mission. This is truly the work of the Lord, He is involved in EVERY aspect of it. I know that if we continue to follow His will and keep His commandments, he will make us into the people we need to be. I know that this was the Lord's plan for me from the beginning and I have grown so much.

Je sais que cet evangile est vrai, et que Jesus-Chirst est mon redumpteur, le sauver du monde. Je sais que Jospeh Smith est un prophete de Dieu et que le Livre de Mormon et les paroles de Dieu. Je sais que Thomas S Monson est un prophete de Dieu et que Jesus-Christ est le diregeant de cette eglise aujourd'hui. Je suis reconnaissant pour mes experiences a Quebec. J'aime cette evangile et je sais si on continue en foi avec Christ on peut perserverer a travers tout chose!

2 Nephi 4: 20

20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.

Week 15 - 6 BAPTISMS!!!! and Transfers

All the people who got baptized this week!!!​ Top Row: Marie, Victorine (our ami :) ) Clarice, Jean

Bottom Row: Francine (our ami!) and Angeline 

​All the people who participated in the baptism! So many!!!

​One of our members had a bunch of alcohol that people had given them throughout the years and they invited us over for a dumping party!!! We read the verses about the Anit-Nephi-Lehites who buried their weapons deep in the ground and we likewise buried the alcohol deep in the sink!

Sister Bascom and I went to old Quebec and we found a very fun chair :)

​The Chateau Frontenac, aka the background picture on my blog! Quebec is seriously so beautiful, the city looks like you could be in Europe!

Transfers: 

So I found out Saturday that I am being transferred to the Montreal East Branch on the Island of Montreal! I hear that there are a lot of Haitians there and I`m super excited to meet my new companion (who is Haitian American) and learn some creole! 

Spiritual Thought:

Mosiah 12: 27 ``Ye have not applied your hearts to understanding; therefore ye have not been wise. Therefore what teach ye this people?``

I`m realizing more and more that if you don`t put your heart into this work (or any work really) you can`t teach. I`ve seen that by loving the people, and TELLING them that you love them, it changes everything. 

True wisdom comes when the mind and the heart work together.

​

 Love,

Sister Smith 

Week 14: Ilse Aux Coudre and Piggy Chips!

This week was really crazy and I don`t have a whole ton of time to write about everything.... which means more pictures! 

So we have a REALLY big area.... like REALLY big, and we happen to have some members that live on this adorable island 2 hours away, and because they`re amazing member missionaries we have a few investigators on the island and so once a month we go to visit! This is the ferry over :)

 

​Also we went over to see our Recent Convert Florencio and we talked about the gospel and he fed us food (outside his door because with only two sisters we can`t go in) and he found these piggy chips and he gave them to us to try and we died laughing at the name! 

Also tender mercy.... I was having a really really hard week and my favorite family in the entire world, knowing I love blueberries from here until the end of the earth bought me chocolate covered FRESH blueberries.... they were SO good. 

 They didn`t even know this week was really hard, they were just being their wonderful selves and serving others. I know that God is mindful of us through our trials and that He has little ways of letting us know that He is there and mindful of us. 

 If you`re going through hard times, look for the little things that let you know that God is there, watching over you :) 

 ​Love,

Sister Smith

Week 13: BAPTISM!!!! and Mini Missionaries

This week was absolutely amazing!!!! It`s going to be hard to remember all the miracles!  

Contacting 
Probably every missionaries least favorite word, (if not please message me and let me know your secret). We`ve been trying to be better at making time for contacting, because we`ve had so many lessons that we`ve really been slacking.

We`ve started being better about showing the Lord that we are willing to do His work, and we had some cool experiences! I`m only going to share one. Background: Sister Bascom and I used to go out for walks for exercise when Sr Zobrist was still here. And every morning we would pass by this man that was walking a beautiful Husky. 

During Zone Confrence we talked about contacting and I just kept thinking about that man. I determined that the next time I saw him I would stop and talk to him. Fast forward, we just got home from a long Sunday night Institute Kick-Off with our ward. It was 8:45 and I was ready to go to bed. Sr. Bascom felt like we needed to show the Lord that we were willing to do what He asked and so we decided to take 15 minutes and go contacting... begrudgingly I went.

We started walking and Sr. Bascom felt prompted to knock on this door (just one) and man opened the door with a big husky by his side.... He was from Ontario, so he spoke English and we had a really great conversation with him. Right now he`s going through a rough patch in his life and doesn`t really believe in God, it was such a privilege to testify that we had been led to his door, even if he didn`t believe it. He told us if we ever saw him again to stop and talk to him :) amazing! 

BAPTISM!!!!!
The Dutruel`s daughter was baptized by her dad this Saturday! It was an absolute privledge to witness such a tender moment. Soeur Dutruel and I just cried as we watched her daughter become the newest member of our church! 

I honestly love this family so much. They are such a good example of strength and faith. It has been a privilege to get to know them better throughout all the wonderful changes that have occurred in their lives! 

Mini Missionary
So we were at a member`s house and we started talking to their daughter about personal progress. We figured we could help her out by taking her out with us! She was so enthusiastic and her mom agreed!!! 

The next day was amazing, we had a few lessons and Claudia was amazing. After one of our lessons she told us `` I don`t know her, but I love her so much!`` Her enthusiasm about the work really inspired me! She`s only 15, but she`s so excited to go on a mission! 

Claudia is from Venezula so she taught us the REAL way to make Arepas!

It was Sr. Bascom`s 7th month mark so we celebrated by eating Chocolat Favoris! 

Anyway that`s all folks! I know this church is true and that despite all of the opposition, with the Savior we can overcome all things! 

Love,
Sister Smith

Week 12: Family History and Temple Trips!

Miracle Lesson:

Our first lesson with Nadine was amazing! We go in and she just starts asking us questions about the temple and we got into a really cool conversation about family history. We ended up calling a senior couple in our district and they came over and we all went over to the church and did family history with her! It was so cool! 

 She also said the day that she met us on the street, she was randomly trying to find Wi-Fi, and it was a miracle that she just happened to be there at the same time. She also prayed about the restoration and she had this really cool experience with a dream, and she believes it`s true! She`s amazing :) I feel so blessed to be part of her story! 

 Members and Lessons: 

I  had been praying for more members to be able to come out with us. Since we have 4 baptismal dates coming up in the next month, we need to help our investigators meet ward members. Honestly our members are amazing, and more than willing to come out with us, it`s just so hard to correlate with last minute lessons, and a lot of people are on vacation.

 A few members were able to come to a few lessons with Victorine and it literally made all the difference! They were able to testify, and explain things to they were more clear! It was amazing! They basically told Victorine and her family that she was entering into a big ward family, that made me so happy :) We`ll leave, but I know that are amazing amis will be looked after! 

 This Sunday I had a chance to share some experiences with members and lessons in church. It was super nerve wracking and I went off script for most of it, which was terrifying! But I basically read D&C 4: 3 and said `This is your mission call, you have been hereby called to labor in the Quebec, Quebec mission`` honestly I feel so bad about not including members more before this, I feel like we see so many amazing things, and I just want everyone else in our ward to see them too! Our new goal is to try to get members to every lesson, and start planning better so they can come :) 

 THE TEMPLE:

We were able to go to the temple with 2 of our recent converts and 2 recently activated members and their daughter who is our ami (SHE`S GETTING BAPTISED THIS WEEK WE`RE SO EXCITED!!!!!) It was so special, and we were able to help Florencio, our recent convert, take his father and 2 grandfathers names to the temple. Honestly I`m so blessed to be surrounded by such strong and wonderful people! 

 Exchanges:

We had exchanges this week! I was with Sister Barton in our area!!! Sister Barton is an amazing STL, she has a way of being very straightforward, following the spirit, but with love at the same time. 

 So funny moment of the year, Sister Barton and I just got into our apartment, when the door bolt broke so it was sticking out and wouldn`t go back in, so we tried to fix it. Then I had the brilliant idea of pushing the door closed.... We locked ourselves into our own apparent!!!! We managed call the land lord to come fix it, but it wasn't until the next morning that we could open our door 😂

 We had an amazing breakthrough moments with many of our investigators. One of our amis, who`s really catholic, we stopped by and we got into a conversation about prayer. She said that she really only said prayers that were written down before, but she was open to trying to pray how we did. 

We taught her, and she tried it out. It was so powerful, I could feel the love that Heavenly Father has for her, and for His children. It was amazing... 

Various Photos: 

Sister Bascom, me, Florencio :) 

Our ward took a bus there! 

​

Our apartment  (if you were wondering what it looks like :) )​

Quebec is absolutely beautiful :)

 Picture of exchanges: Me, Sister Barton, Sister Piscitello, Sister Bascom 

​

​

Love,

Sister Smith

Week 11

Sorry no pictures... again! I'm buying a camera today! 

 9 août, mercredi:

Nothing really happened, but we got our studies in! So that was good, and we were also able to take zucchini bread to a lady in our ward and share a quick message :) 

 10 août, jeudi

We went and saw Tanya, we went over the baptismal questions with her, and she's so ready to get baptized! Her faith inspires me a lot to trust in the Lord! She's gone through a lot of rough times in her past but she just always puts God first! 

 We ate dinner with a less active and her husband. It was really really good, also they're from other provinces in Canada and speak English which is really nice! 

 Then we had our sign language class! The ward is so excited about it, and Sister Bascom is a great teacher! This week we learned how to pray and how to count! Really cool! Fun fact, when you pray in sign language, everyone opens their eyes, but the person praying closes them.... super cool! 

 11 août, vendredi:

We went teaching with a member! She's from the Philippines and is literally the best, she served a mission also, so she understands when things don't work out. We went to 2 appointments with her that were canceled and she was so understanding! 

 We were able to visit a potential in the area who's also Filipino and he gave us some mackerels that he caught on vacation. (our member fried them up for us and she gave them to us on sunday... sooooo good, I love Filipino food so much!)  

 And we also visited our recent convert Florencio, who is also Filipino! We talked about the 10 commandments, and until I studied them and tried to apply it to our day, I never realized how many things I could be working on 😂 

12 aout, vendredi,

We went and helped a couple in our ward figure out their training for their mission! They're going to Benin and Togo in about a month, and they don't really speak English, and all of their training is in English! It was so awesome to help them out and learn about what they're going to be doing in Africa.

 It made me want to serve a mission again someday (even though I'm already on a mission at the moment... yikes 😂)

 Then we were able to visit one of our investigators, that's not really an investigator, she just tells us stories. She's 88 and probably the funniest lady I've ever met, she's so blunt about things, and she's very intelligent and well spoken. It's hard to leave! She made sister Bascom and I promise that we won't get married before 25! She's awesome :) 

 Then we saw our African family! We went over the baptismal questions with the daughter and the mother, they're so ready to get baptized! It's crazy because even though we haven't taught everything, the baptismal questions really helped (we got the idea from an Elder in our district). I would 10/10 recommend it for gauging where investigators are!   

 Then we saw probably the best family on this planet, the Dutruel's (and I'm not saying that because they read my blog! literally every time we go over there we leave feeling so happy!) I was able to talk Frère Dutruel about the scriptures, while Sister Bascom talked to their daughter about... that's right... the baptismal questions! 

 13 août, dimanche

We got to church early (to do our progress record) and saw the Dutruel's in the parking lot. Thier daughter told us she wants to be baptized in 2 weeks!!!! SISTER BASCOM AND I NEARLY DIED!!!! WE'RE SO EXCITED!!!!! She's honestly so ready! 

 We also had Tanya, and our African family at church! It was just an all together good day! We also had the former mission presidents of Benin and Togo come talk in church! They're in the Saint Foy branch and it was so amazing to hear about their experiences! 

Miracle:

We were walking back to our car and we saw this lady down the street. I felt prompted to go talk to her. I bought one of those throw away cameras, so I went up to her and asked if she could take our picture! We gave her a book of Mormon and taught the first lesson to her on the street! She's from Cote D'Ivoire and super smart! She really loves the Book of Mormon and we're so excited to go talk to her this week! 

 The lesson is, every time we act on a spiritual prompting (I'm actually the worst at this, and this was a one time thing and I had been having a really really hard day) we are able to understand more of how the spirit talks to us individually!

Love,

Sister Smith

Picture added by my Dad:

Saying goodbye again to Sister Zobrist

Week 10: BAPTISM

Yet again another crazy week, sorry still no pictures! I`m planning on buying a camera today, so these emails will be a little more interesting next week! We also had zone conference, so p-day this week is today :) 

Tuesday: 

Isabelle got baptised!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing! She was so happy afterwards :) Then we had another baptism for another person in the ward, the Elder`s investigator :) It was just a really good day for Quebec! 

Wednesday: 

Sister Zobrist left, we were all really sad, and it was kind of a weird day without her... But we did have our first sign lanuage class! We had about 12 people there and Sister Bascom did such a good job of teaching! It was so fun and the members loved it :) 

Thursday: 

We had a really good lesson with our moins actif! And then another great lesson with Tanya, we moved her baptismal date to September 9 at 11 a.m. We just asked her to pray about it, she thought for a moment and then just said the day. We looked it up on the calender and sure enough it`s a Saturday! Talk about miracles! She`s honestly so wonderful, we`re so grateful that the Lord let us find her.
We passed by Victorine (our african family) and asked her about the Plan of Salvation and if she prayed about it. She got really quite and told us that she did and that she felt it as true. It was such a tender mercy for us. 

Friday: 
We did like 6 hours worth of weekly planning... it was intense, but very much needed! We took a break to go contacting and then went contacting in the same are afterwards. We felt like we were supposed to be there, and so we just started walking. 
We saw this family up on a balcony and Sister Bascom started talking to them about their cat and then the gospel and then we asked it we could come up and share our message. We gave them a book of momon and taught them about the restoration. We asked them if we could come back and they said yes! It`s a man, his daughter (17 but looks older) and his son, so we think it would be better if we passed them to the Elder`s, but it was so cool!

Saturday: 

We had a lesson on apostasy with Victorine, it was hard because she`s in the middle of moving and it didn`t go as well as we planned, but we`re planning on seeing her at her new apartment soon :) 
We had dinner with the Dutruel`s (which ALWAYS brightens my day), Sister Dutruel made the cutest cover for my bible! She`s honestly so talented :) Then afterwards we had a lesson with them, and Isabelle on the holy ghost. We had some really good experiences and everyone shared about how they feel the holy ghost. It was awesome :) 
Sunday:

Sister Zobrist was at church! It was so nice to be able to see her and her wonderful family! We had 4 amis there and Isabelle received the Holy Ghost. It was also fast and testimony, so I got up and bore my testimony :) 

Then we did some contacting and sorted through the Area Book. That night we had interviews with our Mission President. It was so nice to see him again and talk to him. Then the Victoriaville Sister`s Sister Griffin and Sister Carroll (from the MTC!) came to stay with us for Zone Conference! 

Monday: 

We learned a lot of things at zone conference about how to be able to recognize guidance from the spirit. I felt a lot better and we learned some new ways to improve companion study. Afterwards we had a lesson with Tanya :) Then we talked to a former, commited her to a new baptismal date and saw our recent convert :)
Afterwards we went knocking in the area. We knew we were supposed to be there, but where was the question. Sister Bascom prayed that we would find a family and a single man. We found this wonderful christian family, they weren`t interested, but we prayed with the father at the door :) 
Then I felt prompted to knock on this one door.... This old man yelled at us, told us to not waste our youth and slammed the door in our faces (and proceeded to listen to some heavy metal music...) we prayed again and knocked on a few other doors, came back and knocked on the one across from the old man. A young man opened the door and we talked to him about prayer and the plan of salvation. He promised us he would pray and gave us his number :) It was a miracle. 

It has been a crazy start to the transfer, but  feel so lucky to be here in Quebec City and witnessing all these miracles. It`s hard... I don`t talk about most of the hard parts, because this is the Quebec I want you to see, and I want myself to remember... but it`s worth it! I love this gospel... as Jeffery R Holland said ``this right here is real life,  capital R capital L, don`t let anyone tell you otherwise`` I believe as we try each day to do our best the Lord will bless us :) I love you all!

Sincerely, 

Soeur Smith