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 

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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 

Week 9: Quebec is on Fire!

So this is unfortunately going to be very short because a) I forgot my journal (which I use to remember everything that happened) and b) my camera has been either lost or stolen.... yikes 

Last Monday: 

We went to the aquarium with our recent convert for P-day! It was so cool! We saw polar bears, arctic foxes, stingrays, walruses, and seals!!! We also ate beavertails which are basically scones with toppings 

Florencio our recent convert :) 

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Beavertails (SO GOOD) I got the Quebecois which has maple and chocolate (I basically went into a sugar coma) 

Tuesday: 

Sister Bascom's 6 month mark so we got Shwarma and Chocolate Favoris! SOOO good!

Chocolate Favoris (basically ice-cream dipped in chocolate and it's soooooo good) 


Wednesday: 

I went on exchanges with Sister Piscetello and Sister Bantuad. They are wonderful and they are both from France! It was so cool to see how other missionaries do missionary work and to learn from them. They are both from france and so I asked them to do an english fast ( basically they talked in their native language and I tried really hard to speak in french) It was awesome! They even helped me out with a language study plan!

Thursday:

We stopped by our investigators house (her and her daughter are both investigating the church, and now the mom's brother is too!) We talked a lot about her questions from church and got invited to come back the next day! 

Our cute african family we're teaching :) I love them sooooo much!!!!

Friday:

We went back and taught the plan of salvation. They were really confused about why hell is used so much in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, we were able to explain and I bore testimony about the Plan of Salvation :) They all want to be baptized so badly!

We were able to do 3 lessons after that and we got special permission to go watch a dance show put on by BYU Idaho! It was weird to be there as missionaries, but they had dances from all over the world, including navajo hoop dancing and gum boot dancing from South Africa! Our investigator (who's getting baptized this week!!!!!) like it a lot! 

Saturday:

Transfer calls! Really not that eventful, Soeur Zobrist is going home :( and Soeur Bascom and I are staying together! 

We also weekly planned and at arepas again :) Then we had an amazing 2nd lesson with Tanya about the restoration! She's honestly so golden!!!!

Sunday: 

5 INVESTIGATORS CAME TO CHURCH INCLUDING TANYA!!!! They all loved it! Our cute african family was there, and a few others. I'm seriously so grateful to be here right now :) 

Then we went to moins actif in Shannon (military base 30 minutes away). The food was good, but we think they cooked it with alcohol and they gave us non-alcoholic wine coolers to drink. We took a few sips and felt weird, so we stopped drinking it. We had a really good lesson with their son who's a recent convert though! 

Spiritual Thought:

Sometimes the Lord lets us fall down so he can build us back up. I've felt really confused about my purpose here and feeling bad about my inability to communicate. My companions told me to pray about it, and I feel like my job here right now is to learn. 

They also read this awesome letter (which I will forward called the Ricciardi Letter) I know that sometimes we can worry about how we can't do things perfectly, but all we need to do is just do it, practice along they way and trust in the Lord. 

I love you all and I'm so grateful to be a missionary! The Lord truly loves each one of us!!!! 

--
Love
Sister Smith

Week 8 - Life in Pictures

Sorry this week has been crazy, but good news! I have my camera!!!! So this means I have pictures now and I can cheat and use my pictures to remember what happened :) 

First the Pictures I wanted to send last week:

My First Time at Tim Horton's , we at Tim Bits and it was the literal best! 

​The time we did planning on mini chairs in a members basement because they really wanted us to eat dinner with them :) Also my cute companions (Sister Zobrist (left) and Sister Bascom (right))

​Eating Poutine for the first time :) This is a Quebec classic! It features fries, with cheese curds and gravy! Sounds gross, but it's actually really, really good. 

​So where we live in, we're basically surrounded by a national park. We literally walked 15 minutes from our appartment and were in the woods, by a river, eating wild raspberries. 

Quebec is literally all the things I love in one place! French, green gorgeous landscape, BERRIES ( I think I almost went through an entire carton of blueberries by myself) history, diversity, really good food and crazy wonderful people! ​

So every Weekly Planning day we have a tradition where we wear head scarves and make Arepas. Arepas are basically cornmeal made into cakes, fried and stuck in the oven. Then you put tuna and beans in them along with anything else your heart desires. They're amazing :) 

​So while we were planning one day, it started raining like nobodies business. Here in Quebec the Quebecois have a saying: " Il pluie comme les clous" which means it rains like nails! IT'S SO TRUE! It rained like I've never seen it rain before and then literally 20 minutes later it was sunny! We never know what the weather is going to do!

Quotes of the Week: 

Sr. Zobrist: 

To the tune of "Let us All Press on" 
Let us all pray now before Sister Smith falls out 
Of that Grandpa chair that's broken over there
Sister Bascom is sitting there spelling pierre not priere 
But that's okay because she's still great 

Chorus 

On guard, voici nos ennemies (points to Soeur Bascom and I) 
Courage nous avons Bascom, Smith 
We will head not what the wicked (points again) may say 
But alone the lord we will obey!

Sr Bascom:

*Pokes Sister Zobrists face
"Fishie! Why are you sleeping!"

Sr Smith:

* Shrieks 
"Sorry that was involuntary" 

Jaqueline (our Moins Actif (inactive)):

To the GPS: "Tais-Toi...... SHUT UP!!!"

Miracle Moment:

I think I mentioned Tanya last week, we met her while walking back from dropping our investigator off at the bus stop. We all felt impressed to stop her and didn't. All of a sudden Sister Zobrist stopped and walked back to talk to her. 

We finally set up an appointment and saw her yesterday. Apparently she had been praying that day to find more peace, and that afternoon we stopped her and gave her a Prince of Peace card! She was super excited about the Book of Mormon, and she commited to be baptised!!!! We're all so excited to meet with her again! 

Other News:

We had 3 investigators at church :) including one  of the african families we have been teaching! 

I spoke in church and didn't die! And people understood me! 

Anyway, it's been really tough, but great here! I've realized more and more that when something seems to be going wrong and you feel like you can't do it, it's going to be a great day of miracles :) 

When I first came on my mission I thought that I wasn't allowed to at all worry about myself, something my district leader as told me is that if you're at a high stress level, your missionary work is to calm down. You can't feel the spirit when your stressed and so therefore you can't do the Lord's work. I thought that was really cool. 

As missionaries we have to have the spirit with us at all times otherwise we literally can't do our work. The Lord doesn't want us to be stressed, when we have faith in Him we are happier and can do the things He needs us to do, whether that be missionary work or life in general :) 

I love you all! Have an amazing week! 

Love,

Sister Smith

Week 7: I'm in Canada!!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS IM FINALLY IN MY MISSION!!! 

But first.... an update on my solo experience....

So fun story about later in the week...  they took ALL of my desks in my classroom except for mine! So my wonderful companions took this picture: 

My old companions are in the Blue (Sister Rammell) and Red (Sister Hunt) )

Alright on to the good stuff:

Wednesday:

I woke up at 3:25 am grabbed my stuff and my wonderful companions and we walked to drop me off. I was on the bus with 4 Elders who were flying to LA to get their visas. They were going to Angolla Africa speaking Portugese, and they were super nice and helped me with my luggage. 

I got on the plane and flew to Tronoto. It was really weird being alone, but in Utah people recognized me as a missionary and were super nice. In Toronto I picked up my visa which was kinda scary, but the guy helping me was really nice and I got my visa in like 20 minutes which was a miracle :) 

On my flight to Montreal I sat by this professor from UVU. She was not a member, but her daughter is a convert, we taked about books and good teachers. I was super nervous so I was really grateful for her! After I got to Montreal I waited for my luggage, unfortunately one of my suitcases was on another flight, but it was actually a miracle because it was the suitcase with all my winter clothes! 

Sister Phillips found me and we went to the Mission Home. THE PHILLIPS ARE THE NICEST PEOPLE I'VE EVER MET! They are honestly so kind and spiritually strong :) They stopped by a patisserie and we got pain au chocolat :) Then I ate dinner with them and they dropped me off at another sisters apparetment in Montreal (since it was just me) I got to stay with Sister Austin (from the MTC) and Sister Dinge! They're amazing :)

Thursday: 

The STL's took me to the Mission Office were I did training and got ready to go. I was able to join in on MLC (Mission Leaders Conference) annd meet my actual STL's and ZL's, Sister Piscitello and Banthoud (both from France and wonderful :)) and Elder Barriero (MY MTC TEACHER'S GREENIE!) and Landetta!

The STL's drove me to my new area..... QUEBEC CITY WEST (AKA the farthest north a sister can go) If you're reading this on my blog, the background picture is in my Zone! Quebec is absolutely gorgeous! 

My new companions are Sister Zorbrist (has 3 weeks left and is from California, she's had 6 areas which is basically unheard of!) and Sister Bascom (from Alberta and is 6 months into her mission) THEY'RE SERIOUSLY THE BEST!

Friday: 

Sister Zorbrist and Sister Bascom made me green crepes (because I'm a greenie) we had them with blueberries and REAL MAPLE SYRUP (from a can :)) 

I had my first 3 lessons with investigators. Oumar and his family from Centeral Africa, Victorine and her family from Centeral Africa (they all speak Songlo but unfortunately there is no translation of the BoM in their language) and Isabelle (17, Quebecois, amazing, and so intelligent!) 

Miracle Moment: 

After Isabelle's lesson, we walked her to her bus. As we were walking past we past this girl and two younger kids. I felt prompted to talk to them, but I thought maybe it was just me and didn't. All of a sudden Sister Zobrist turns around and starts trying to stop her. We all started talking and we gave her a Prince of Peace card. She almost started tearing up, and told us she really needed peace in her life. We got her contact info, and we are going to try and have a lesson with her, that really taught me to follow the spirit, no matter how akward it may be! 

After this, we went to a dinner appointment with a recent convert of 4 years at TIM HORTONS!!!!!!!! It was my first time eating there, it was the best!!! I have a picture, but I forgot my cord so I'll have to send it next week :( 

It was there that I realized something.... I CANNOT FOR MY LIFE UNDERSTAND QUEBECOIS! It's way cool, but with Africans and French I can understand about 70% of what they say, but with the Quebecois it's like 30-40%... Another thing to work on! 

It's funny because everything with an accent circumflex (basically like this: ^) they pronouce like the letter I in english.... so bapteme (^ over the first e) is pronounced in french like bah-tem, but in Quebecois it sounds like bah-time. It's the same with meme (^ over the first e), which is pronouced like mime! 

After dinner we heart attacked some members doors :) 

Saturday:

We taught MARCEL!!!! He's so awesome, he's deaf, but he's learing sign language, sister Bascom is FLUENT in sign language and she teaches him lessons. We were with another member who's learining sign language too. SO COOL! They're thinking of starting a sign language class on Thursday's in our ward :) I'm super pumped! 

Afterwards we has dinner with some recently activiated (by themsleves) members, the Dutruel's! We had heart attacked their door the day before and they were having a hard time, so it really made their day. They framed our hearts and hung them up :) They're amazing! Their daughter Florence (who's our investigator) made us these amazing handmade notebooks and drew a flowers on them! She's seriously so talented (yet again I took a picture and I forget my cord)

Their cat, Spock, also looks EXACTLY like my cat at home! We were able to share a quick message and they walked us to our car. THEY'RE SO AMAZING! 

After dinner we went over to our recent converts house Florencio! Florencio is from the Phillipines and speaks Tagolag and English (thank goodness!) He's AMAZING (yes I realize I've said that about everyone) I didn't know him before, but he's come a long ways and is so happy in the gospel. He just wants to serve! 

We taught a quick lesson and he let us try one of his creations, tuna spaghetti! It wasn't bad actually :) We also had "ice cream sandwhiches" which is literally ice cream in a dinner roll. (it was actually really good :))

Sunday: 

The councillor to the Bishop asked me to get up and bear my testimony. It was really short, but I did it! Gospel Principles and Relief Society was great. during Relief Society I sat next to a sister who is fluent in English so she trasnlated for me :) Her daughter just got off a mission from Japan and is so nice! She's coming teaching with us this week :) 

After church we went and heart attacked a member in the wards door with Florenico! They caught us running down the street and we came in. They fed us all pizza and crepes :) Since we had to do weekly planning, and they wanted us to stay, they let us plan in their basement (yet another great picture I can't send). It was hilarious because we were planning around a kid sized plastic table!

Anyway, an honestly solid, crazy nerve-wracking week, but I'm in an amazing ward, with amazing members, with amazing investigators and just overall amazing people! 

The gospels true, I see it changing the lives of the people we meet and the members here. I've shared the highlights, but there have been some tough and crazy times too, but I'm excited to be here and to learn! 

Love,

Sister Smith

MTC - Week 6: Solo Sister and Farewells

A lot of change happened this week, but I'm so excited that I got to be part of it all! By the time I email next I will be in Montreal Canada!!! 

En Tous Cas (Anyways) 

Saturday (Juillet 1): 

 It was Canada Day, but since the stadium of Fire was having their fireworks show it was an honorary Fourth of July for my district, as they wouldn't be in the country for the real Fourth of July! As it was basically our last class together, Soeur Wall took us outside and we all sat in a circle and said one nice thing about everyone. At the end, she took out a picture of Jesus and we all went around the circle bearing our testimony of Him in our lives. The Spirit was so strong and it was a really good way to end. 

Afterwards as zones we talked about religious freedom and then went and watched the firworks from the our buildings (the new buildings have nice big windows, so it was really cool!) and we got to stay up for an extra HALF AN HOUR! Hahaha totally not worth it, but it was something special. 

 Sunday (Juillet 2):

 We sang our song for the rest of our zone. Elder Hall and Soeur Stucki did the arrangements for the music and Elder Moore conducted. The song is called a Missionary's Farewell and is mixture of "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" (French, 1 verse), the entire EFY Medley (in english) and the last part of "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again" (in french)... It was honestly so good. 

Then that night our entire zone sang "Souvien-Toi" which is a beautiful hymn only in French that I would challenge everyone to look up! It was really hard, because it felt like I was going with them. Afterwards,  I helped my some of my district pack up. 😥

Monday (Juillet 3):

 Everyone left! It was so sad, I didn't cry (but only because Soeur Ortiz told me she'd punch me if I did 😂) Then Frere Brooks and I dropped them off at the bus and walked back to our classroom. Even though it was hard saying good bye (and awkward being a district of 1) it is such a blessing to get one on one time with my wonderful teachers. We set goals and I worked on pronunciation, teaching, grammar, conjugation, you name it! 

Funny moments: 

I couldn't say the word gagner (to win), so Frere Brooks was trying to find a word that sounded like it and we came up with "gagner like kayne" 😂

Tuesday (Juillet 4): 

THE FOURTH OF JULY! Kinda uneventful in terms of 'Merica, but we did sing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" for choir which was super cool! It was the version that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings! 

I also got to know my new district better (plus they're all going to Montreal)! Soeur Ramhill and Soeur Hunt are my new companions, both really funny and amazing people. Hermana Garcia and Soeur Ashcraft are the other sisters in the district! 

Hermana Garcia is from Mexico and will be serving French, Spanish and English speaking, Soeur Ashcraft is hilarious and is from Idaho! The other Elders in our district are Elder Fourie ( from South Africa/ Australia and speaks fluent  Afrikaan) Elder Kim (from South Korea, speaks fluent Mandrin and Korean) Elder Christensen (from Moroni, UT), Elder Bishop (Idaho), Elder Bunting (UT), Elder Menzel (from Germany knows Soeur Gruse) and Elder Davis (from Provo) 

They're so great! I'm not with them a whole ton (other than the sister's), but they're all amazing and are going to do great things in Montreal! 

Wednesday - Thursday -  (Juillet 5-6):

I'm sooo french fried! I've learned so much in the last few days! I'm learning French one on one for 6 hours a day which is amazing, and exhausting! My teachers are absolutely amazing! 

With Frere Brooks I've learned all the tenses in French (including Plus de Parfait and Futur Anterior, really easy, but I was really excited about it) that was the longest conversation that I've ever had all in French! I think I know a lot more than I think I do, and it takes me a while, but I can almost say anything I want to say. Honestly the gift of tongues is so real. I see it especially in the brand new missionaries (my district) they learn so much so fast, they inspire me every day to keep trying! 

Usually we just read from the Book of Mormon and I translate verses and ask questions on grammar! It also helps with pronunciation, and learning how to explain doctrine to investigators. Yesterday we identified the Passe Simple ( a crazy tense that is only used in writing), so many grammar rules and new words come from just reading! The Book of Mormon is seriously the best book.

Yesterday Soeur Wall and I did door approaches. Basically I stood outside my classroom and Soeur Wall would come to the door and pretend to be a different person each time. It helped so much with my confidence. Some people were super nice and let me in, others were closed off. One time Soeur Wall came to the door as an American, and I honest to goodness couldn't do a door approach in English 😂 (not that it's any better in French) 

Afterwards we talked about my experiences and Soeur Wall bore her testimony of the power of "porte a porte" (door to door). Honestly I was so touched, and it really gave me a new perspective on missionary work. 

I guess my spiritual thought for this week is to make sure that your humble and teachable. There's a reason that Heavenly Father gives us weaknesses, because it helps us rely on Him and come closer to Him. I was having trouble with being prideful this week. During our Book of Mormon reading we read in Alma 5, and even though I couldn't understand it all, many great conversations came out of it! 

This work is hard, but it is so worth it, and I feel so blessed to be apart of this and get to know so many amazing, wonderful, Christ-like people. 

 Love,

Sister Smith