Mission Log - December 12, 2016 - T2, W2 - Progress in El Paso

Hello Loved Ones!

​Hola from El Paso!

My fellow misioneras, there will be hard days.  Days when your pelo just doesn't feel like looking dignified.  Those are the days to fight back!

:-)

What a week!!  This week has been absolutely awesome.  Obispo's daughter, Karem Vidaurri, a girl whom we love very much, is leaving us! :)  She's serving in Kennowick, Washington.  She leaves January 11th!  ​She's gonna do great.

White Christmas
So on Monday, we went to see Jahayra.  Let me tell you a little bit about Jahayra - She's been being taught since May/June, and her main stumbling block has been marriage.  When we set a date with her in November, she was uncertain.

When we went to see her, we were a bit worried.  How are we gonna bring up marriage again when we've talked about it so many times before?  How are we gonna set a date with her?  What are we going to tell Obispo when he asks about them?

We go in.  She's happy to see us.  First thing out of her mouth:
"Sisters, we set a date!"
...
"What?"
"We - Oliver and I - we set a date for our marriage!"
"No way!"
"Way!  We're getting married on Dic 25, so I can get baptized that same day.  It's the best Christmas present ever - getting baptized!"
"Jahayra...that's awesome!"

So awesome.  We floated out of that lesson on wings of joy.  My companion, especially.  "6 months!" she kept saying.  "6 months I've been waiting for this moment!", pounding her palm on the steering wheel.

(Hermana, watch the road!  "6 months!"  HERMANA!) :)  Kidding.  It was sweet!

Whether or not the snow comes, we'll have a White Christmas this year - white wedding, white baptismal clothes.

On Tuesday, we had a Mission Tour.  A member of the seventy was coming to teach us and give us wisdom and advice on how to be more effective servants of the Lord.  It went from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.  We were exhausted - but super happy!  We took copious notes and implemented his teachings throughout the rest of the week.

Mexican Food
I've grown a taste for Mexican food.  I like posole, tamales, flautas, and caldo.  And, of course, enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos, and burritos.  In the Mexican culture, people eat food differently.

In American culture, we cook food with flavor already mixed in. We use forks and knives, and typically, the food is all assembled once we get ready to eat it - for example, burgers, sandwiches, mac n cheese, pizza.  Mexican food is different - the flavor is not in the main food items: tortillas, beans, or rice.  The flavor comes in very spicy salsas, guacamole, pico de gallo, and hot sauce.  These flavor agents are to be spread throughout the blander foods - for example, spread a little pico de gallo on your flautas.  They also squeeze lime into literally everything.  I didn't learn this until recently; the reason why Mexican food seems too spicy or rather bland is because we seek flavor in the main dish and treat the flavor agents like gravy, often using too much and therefore burning our tongues.

Mexican food also has a sweet side - if you ever have the chance, try Tres Leches cake- it is delicious!

Prepared Family
On Wednesday, our day was PACKED.  It started off like any other day - wake up at 6:30, exercise, study for 4 hours.  We visited the Carbajals.  Hna Carbajal told us she'd given a Book of Mormon to her Back-door neighbor, and would let us know if he was interested!

We then went to try to find Michelle Rivera, someone we didn't know, but who was on the Ward list.
(Our ward list is very old - badly needs updating.  We often try to contact members using the ward list as a backup plan.)  To our surprise, Hermana Gay answered the door.  Hermana Gay (Pronounced "Guy") has three unbaptized children, ages 13, 10, and 8.  We'd been trying to contact her and set up an appointment, but we haven't been able to.  I know that Heavenly Father lead us to Michelle Rivera, who ended up not even living at that address, so we could find the Familia Gay.

Let me tell you a little bit about the Familia Gay.  The parents are both members, but for one reason or another, have been less active for years.  Their three kids, Jose, Jaqueline, and Joshua are awesome.  We set an appointment for Saturday.  We planned to teach the Restoration.  We thought to ourselves, "Ok, three kids - we should probably bring the Restoration video so they don't get bored.  We'll have to ask lots of questions to keep them engaged - oh, how I hope they decide to get baptized!"  Not a whole lot of faith from us, huh?

So we go in there.  We start "How to begin teaching" - we tell them our purpose as missionaries and introduce baptism.  They're quiet; they're listening.  We begin to teach the lesson.  They're asking questions - "Does Heavenly Father answer all of our prayers?" "The Gospel can bless our family, too, right?" "Is that why we watched General Conference?"

We were stunned.  We showed them the 20 minute Restoration video.  I'm certain the oldest could relate - a 14 year old boy, also named Jose (in Spanish it's Jose Smith), searching for the truth.  We taught a bit more and began to extend a baptismal invitation.  Prior to the lesson, we'd felt prompted to extend the 31st of December.  We began:

"Will you be baptized on--"
"YES!" Jose shouted, nearly toppling out of his seat. He sat back down, saying,
"I mean, I really want to. I've been thinking about it a lot."
What!?
:D   !!!

It was absolutely awesome.  His younger brother and sister were a bit more shy, but they, too, were excited to be baptized.  They're all on date for New Year's Eve!

That's all for this week!  Tune in next time for more adventures from El Paso!

Love, Love, Love,
Hermana Smurthwaite

P.S. This X marks the border of Mexico!

​Sorry it's blurry- took the picture from a moving car!

Mission Log - December 5, 2016 - T2, W1 - Lord's Work = Awesomeness!!

Hello Loved Ones!

Yes! This week was transfers.  I've been blessed with another six weeks to further the Lord's work here in El Paso.

This week has been a week of training.

So the reason I took a picture was because this train took 20 MINUTES to pass - that's right, 20 MIN.  It began to be hilarious - my comp and I laughed and took a short video about 10 minutes in (see attached)

This week has been awesome!  We received new tools to help us help our investigators keep commitments - one is a church card, and one is a baptismal calendar.  The baptismal calendar is just what it sounds like - a calendar for our investigators to keep track of their appointments with us in relation to their baptismal date.  The church card has space for them to write three reasons why they should go to church, when they need to get up, when they need to go to bed, and what they need to do to prepare to come to church on Sunday.  It's pretty sweet!

Miercoles (Wed) was an AWESOME day!!  We started reading the Book of Mormon with Linda, a less-active sister, and committed her to read the whole book by next Christmas!  We went to the Family History Center to do some online training.  There were three "viejitas" - little old ladies - there.  One had a strong Mexican accent, but refused to speak Spanish with us.  One had a very raspy voice, not unlike Ross from Monsters Inc, and one kept scolding herself: "Focus, Alice." "Alright, Alice, what are we doing?" "Get it together, Alice."  It made concentration nearly impossible as we tried to suppress laughter.  "These girls [us] must fink we're crasy, mija!"  "Well, we are."  "You're right my dear." :)

We then ran the hamster wheel trying to contact former investigators, potentials, referrals, and slippery investigators.  We briefly saw Letty, who actually read!!  We were super excited and so was she - she's understanding more and more.  We'll see how far she gets next time we see her!

We had an AWESOME first lesson with the Familia Zamora.  Eddie, 15, recently was baptized by the Montana Vista sisters, because his uncle lives in their area.  Eddie and his family, however, live in our area!  For an hour, we had a rapid-fire Q & A session.  Julio, Eddie's sister Celeste's boyfriend, expressed a strong desire to change.  He's done marijuana, as has Eddie, and feels like he wants to be a "better person."  We testified that through the Atoning power of Christ, he could completely change his nature.  Celeste and Esperanza, Eddie's other sister, had a lot of good questions as well - and Eddie, who was technically the member-present, offered input and clarified doctrine without being asked.  We left them with a commitment to read Mosiah 27 for Julio and Mosiah 2 for the girls.

We saw Valeria.  Her intended, Nefi, can't get divorced from his first wife without paying a huge debt of child support.  The court was pushed out until March.  We were afraid Valeria would push out her baptism until then, and continue living with Nefi.  We went in, all ready for the bad news.  We sat down.  Before either of us could speak, she said to us, "I know I need to get baptized - I will talk to Nefi about moving out."

We were shocked, pleasantly surprised, and so very proud of her!  What a shining example of faith.  She's truly ready - and she's on date for Diciembre 17!

Jahayra and Oliver are preparing to be married.  It's either going to be this weekend or next weekend - and then she'll be able to get baptized!  She's so solid - every lesson we have with her is an on-fire testimony meeting.  Super excited for her!

We had dinner at the Aguirre's.  Talk about a confidence booster!  Hermano Aguirre talked to us in rapid Spanish - and I was able to answer in (drumroll please...) RAPID SPANISH!!!  Yes, It was awesome!  We talked about the ward, certain less-active members - it was great.

I had several thoughts and feelings as I fasted yesterday.  I thought, "I need to feel the Spirit more - oh, how I wish I could invite the Spirit more!"  And then, the Christmas Devotional happened.  Prayers are truly answered!!

That same night, our member cancelled last-minute.  We scrambled - we begged the Mendozas (ward missionaries) to come with us, and they were able to come!

NEVER do that, by the way; always ask members to come with you as soon as the appointment is set, preferably a WEEK ahead of time.

Speaking of time, I'm out.

Love, love, love,
Hermana Smurthwaite


More photos -


SO there is a huge oil refinery near our house- and they decided to change their lights from white to Christmas colors.

It's HUGE- this picture, the 4th one, is only about a quarter of the refinery.


We did a service project! It was fun!

(I know, I blinked)

​Awesome angle-shot, there.​

​It's... a-DOOR-able!

Little joke there. Love you!

(long day+the Lord's work=awesomeness!!!)


Love!
Hna S

Mission Log - November 28, 2016 - T1, W6 - Investigator Progress

​Hola from El Paso!

(Always wear your seatbelt, it's very important) :-)

This is "The Golden Gate of El Paso." It's an artistic row of windmills that lights up at night.

And here is a picture of our Zone.

So typically, when we find a new person to teach and it's not through a member, we set up an appointment, confirm the appointment the day before and the day of, show up on their doorstep - and they're not there.  Or they won't answer calls or texts, so we can't confirm.

HOWEVER, let me tell you about Rogelio, a 40-ish year old man who we taught a 5-minute Restoration lesson to outside his house.  Teaching the Restoration of the Gospel, including the prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, in just five minutes is more difficult than it sounds.  We saw him in his driveway, working on his car.  We walked up to him, planning only to ask him if we could come back another time and teach him and his family.  He smiled (also out of the ordinary) and told us, "I don't speak English."  We told him, "Perfect! We're Spanish missionaries."  He smiled wider and asked us, "What is your message?"  I looked to my companion, and asked him, "How much time do you have?"  He put down his oil rag and said, "I have 5 minutes."  We had practiced a 5-minute Restoration lesson that very morning.

To make a long story short, HE called US the day before our first appointment, very apologetic, and asked if we could reschedule, he wasn't going to be there.  This was a very good sign - he truly wanted to hear more!  Stay tuned!

I have learned of the power of prayer.  As I pray for our investigators, our members, other missionaries, my family, and others, I feel my love for them grow.  I also learned the significant difference between personal prayers and public prayers.

We have recently begun re-teaching three Hermanitas (young women), whose names are Maria, Stefanie, and Jasmine.  Their father is in jail, so their mother works a lot for their support.  They also have three younger brothers in foster care.  Whenever we visit, the mother is not there - the three girls, who are 18, 16, and 12 have the hardest time understanding prayer.  We are struggling to teach them - mostly because when we ask them questions, they shrug their shoulders and don't answer.  We explain that prayer is like a conversation with our Heavenly Father - how we can tell Him anything that is in our hearts.  We explain that the scriptures help us find answers to our questions, and we gave them a Book of Mormon with pictures, to help them read.  We ask them to pray during lessons, to see how they pray, and we mostly just hear them repeat the same three things: we thank thee for the Sister Missionaries, we thank thee for our family, please bless us.  We finally had a breakthrough when we gave them each an index card and told them to write the five most important things in their lives.  They had good answers - Family, my friends, my teachers, my goals, my future.  We explained how the Gospel Blesses Families - how families can be together forever only if they all get baptized and sealed in the temple.  We explained how reading and praying and going to church help us keep our covenants.  We are still struggling to teach them, mostly because the teaching methods we're used to - reading from the scriptures and asking understanding/application questions - are not the way these girls learn.  We struggle to figure out what their learning language is.  We'll keep working on them and I'll let you know how it goes!

We went to see Letty Gonzales.  She was a referral from Hna Andrade, in the Primary program.  We actually had a former investigator at the same address, Maria Para.  We learned that Letty and Maria are in fact one and the same - Letty was recently divorced and started going by her middle name.  She lost her son about a year ago.  We reminded her of the Plan of Salvation, which according to her teaching record, she had been taught numerous times.  We came back the next day with Hermana Andrade, and taught Letty the Restoration of the Gospel.  She wasn't nearly as emotional as the day before, which I was happy about.  She and Hermana Andrade knew each other from work, and Hermana Andrade's testimony of the Restored Gospel was powerful!  I believe Letty's clarity of mind during that lesson was essential to her understanding the priesthood and how she must be baptized by proper authority if she ever wants to be sealed to her son.

Jahayra and Oliver are doing a lot better - their faith is strong, and they plan to be married soon.

We visited Guillermo Lopez.  It was an Awesome lesson - he hadn't read, which wasn't awesome, but we brought Karem Vidaurri, the Bishop's daughter, with us.  She bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, and my companion and I followed suit.  We opened Preach my Gospel to chapter 5, to "The Book of Mormon answers Questions of the Soul."  We slid it across the table and asked him to read the questions silently to himself.  We asked him if he had ever had any questions like these.  He said, "yeah," contemplatively looking at the questions.  We passed him a pen and an index card, and he wrote down a few of the questions with their corresponding scripture references.  He gave himself homework, which was perfect - we challenged him to read, pray about what he read, come to church on Sunday, (which didn't happen, he was out of town) and be baptized.  I'll keep you updated!

If you, my fellow full-time missionaries, ever wonder whether you should bring a member along to lessons, I have two words for you: DO IT! Just DO IT! :-)

One last piece of awesomeness - our recent convert, Enrique, who's 67 and was baptized shortly before I arrived, FINISHED the Book of Mormon.  But behold, this is not all - He started reading the index.  The INDEX!  Who reads the Index!?!?  Enrique Ramirez, that's who.  AND he noticed there were a TON of references to "D and C".  "What's D y C?" he asked us.  We happily gave him a copy (it was a miracle we had a Spanish one in the trunk), and he promised to start reading!  AND he said he would start reading the Book of Mormon all the way through AGAIN!  He's awesome. :-)

That's all for this week!

Love Love Love,
Hermana Smurthwaite

Mission Log - November 21, 2016 - T1, W5 - Ukulele Style!

Called To Serve - Ukulele Style!!

Here is a fun video that Marie shared with us of the Elders in her zone singing the Missionary Anthem hymn "Called To Serve" in Ukulele Style!!

Mission Log - November 21, 2016 - T1, W5 - Pictures!

Dear Loved Ones!!


So here's the thing.


I finally got a camera!!!


Follow me, I'll show you El Paso!


Here's our apartment!!!

Here's our fridge - it's inspiring, and useful!!



Here's the mission vehicle we have been given - a Chevy cruise, I think.

Here's the big old Texas sun!



Juarez and Ft. Bliss - two places you hear a whole lot about.
Everyone seems to want to go to Juarez on the weekends - it's the LV of El Paso!
And Elder and Sister Butler, a Sr. Couple, are serving as military relations missionaries in Ft. Bliss.
A lot of guys from around here are stationed at Ft. Bliss.



That big red "X" sits on the border of Mexico.  It is also a restaurant.



And then there's this phenomenon.



It is called the Spaghetti Bowl of El Paso- a masterpiece of engineering.
There are several here in Texas.
No muss, no fuss, no stoplights.



This is my desk.
We have a map of the area on the wall, along with pictures, quotes, and treasures from home.


Stay tuned!


Love,
Hermana Marie

Mission Log - November 14, 2016 - T1, W4 - Service Softens Hearts

Hola!!!

This week was a doozy...of AWESOMENESS!!!  So first of all, Jahayra and Oliver are getting MARRIED on the 26th!!!  We are super excited for them - the whole Relief Society is in on the planning, which is a Relief. :)  It was so cool, because they were so excited to tell us.  Jahayra really showed us that she understood how important her covenants are going to be when she said "I'm not going to get a really nice dress for it - I'll wait til we get sealed!" :)

On Tuesday we had a service project to rival Hermana Karren's ceiling fiasco - (Hermana Karren is a super awesome lady serving in salem, and she helped someone clean their ceiling when the microwave melted)

We showed up at the Reynold's house, a privately owned and cared-for homeless shelter. The owner of the shelter told us not to talk to any of the families we saw - they were homeless, she said, and didn't need to worry about religion right now.  Which was silly, because times of trial are when you need your Father in Heaven the most!  We respected her wishes, however, and went inside. 

There was grime.  There was gunk.  There was gum.  We were Game! 

The walls, the ceiling, the floors, the dressers, the bed frames, the windows, the doors, the blinds - everything, everything was covered in a greasy layer of suciedad! 

So we scrubbed.  We scraped.  We struggled.  We Sang!, until they told us to stop. :)  I found the chisel very handy.  I'm pleased to say, once we got done with our two hours of service, the place looked livable.  The lady who was the janitor - mind you, there were 16 rooms made for families of 5-8, and the 5 unoccupied ones were the ones we cleaned - she looked at the rooms and began to cry.  She asked us for a pamphlet, because she recognized our nametags.  The 4th ward sisters got themselves an appointment with her for the very next day! :)  Service softens hearts.

We visited Hermana Valles, a cute single mom in the ward.  Before we could ask if there was anyone she knew that we could talk to, she asked, "Do you guys have any of those pamphlets in english? I have this friend..."  And she proceeded to tell us all about her friend whom she had been wanting to share the gospel with for some time! :D  It was awesome!

We stopped by with Alma Villela, a referral from the Lower Valley Elders.  She'd just gone through surgery, and they had given her a priesthood blessing by request of her husband.  She was pretty out of it on pain meds, but her husband, her daughter (13) and her mother all sat in on our lesson.  We taught them about Joseph Smith and invited them to read the Book of Mormon.  They said they would!

So...food.  Yes, food.  "Hermana Smurthwaite, you're in the United States!  You have it easy!"  Ah ha, ha ha; that, my friend is where this story begins.

Once upon a time, we had dinner with Hermana Granados.  "Vamos a tener Caldo!"  She said to us on the phone.  'Caldo,' I thought, pulling out my dictionary.  It translated directly to Soup.  Helpful. :)

We arrived, unsuspecting, to discover she had concocted a seafood stew.  It had crab legs and oyster shells and tiny tentacles in it - it literally looked like she had taken a colossal ladel, dipped it into the ocean, heated it, and served it as-is.  For background, I'm not a huge fan of seafood.  It smelled good - like heated brine mixed with saltwater - and as I looked at it, and at this sister who had lovingly prepared it, I began to appreciate all the meals that we had hitherto enjoyed.  As we ate, she asked if we liked it.  With tentacles in my teeth, I smiled and said, "Muy rico!"  Because I made a goal before I came out here to love and scarf down anything and everything that was put in front of me.  Goal still unbroken!! :)

In our district council, Elder Jones gave the Parable of the UPS guy.  He said, "Imagine a UPS guy walks up to your house.  You know who he is - you see his uniform, and you see he has a box under his arm.  You know the box is for you.  The UPS guy then says, "So how's your day going?"  You reply "fine."  You wait for him to give you the box.  He sits and talks to you for twenty minutes.  He talks about the box, about his job.  Then he says, "Is there another time I can come by with this box?"  No!  You want your box!"

"We're like the UPS guy.  People know who we are - they see the name on our chest.  If we go through a lesson and don't extend an invitation to baptism, we're no better than the UPS guy!  They want eternal salvation, but they're never gonna get baptized unless we ask!" 

It was a good perspective.  I liked the analogy.

We had our first real lesson with Cecilia and Fam!!  Because they had so many questions, our half-hour lesson plan stretched to two hours!  We talked about Joseph Smith, and they asked about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, the Young Womens program, the Second Coming of Christ (we promised to explain more the next time,) the Word of Wisdom, and infant baptism.  We tried to answer concisely, using scriptures wherever possible.  We invited them to be baptized, and they said yes - all five of them!

A Spanish joke: An American, a Mexican, and a Chinese man were parachuting together for the first time.  They were trying to decide who would jump first.  They decided whoever had the shortest name would.  The Chinese man said, "It's me- my name is O."  The American said, "Well, mine's shorter- it's Casio. (Casi O, which being translated means almost O)"  The Mexican said, "Well, my name is even shorter than that, it's Nicasio. (Ni Casi O, translated as 'Not even almost O')"

Tune in next week for more....

El Paso: the Final Frontier. :)

Love, Love, Love,

Hermana Smurthwaite

Mission Log - November 7, 2016 - T1, W3 - Teaching Awesome People

Helloo Loved Ones, 

Huge Shout out to my Mother, who had a Birthday this past Thursday!! Love Love Love!

So, I must apologize for the lack of pictures - I promise to send lots next week!

So this week, was one of the best weeks I've had on my mission thus far!  Last Monday was Halloween - which made it difficult to find people at home, but the costumes were awesome to see! 

On Tuesday, we went to see Linda, the Familia Ballesteros, and The Familia Campos. 

Let me tell you a little bit about the people we teach. 

VALERIA - she's so awesome.  Her fiancee, Nefi, was less active for many years, and they are returning to Church!  Her testimony of the Restoration and of Joseph Smith are so strong.  Whenever we go over, I honestly just feel like she's teaching us.  

JAHAYRA - Similar situation; she's also so solid, we love visiting her.  She and her intended, Oliver, are getting married within the next two weeks!  We get to go help plan her wedding tonight, because we already had an appointment with her, and we're bringing Hna Reza from the Ward to help!

LUCY - Super cute young college student - a bit hard to find; everytime we go knock on her door, a different family member of hers answers - her father, her mother, her older brother.  Soon we'll be able to teach the whole family!

CYNTHIA - She's a smoker; she's got four little kids and her husband works a LOT - her mom lives with her as well.  She's really interested in the message, and evidently has been sharing it with her husband and mom after our visits.  We're working with her!

FAMILIA BALLESTEROS - So get this: this family owns a Bouncy House business!!  Ever wonder how to say bouncy house in Spanish?  It's brinca brinca - which comes from the verb brincar, which means 'to jump' or 'to frolic.'  Very Catholic family, but they - Mom, Dad, two teenage sons, and Uncle - all seem to have a real desire to know the Truth, esp. the Dad.  He told us he wants to know what God's will is concerning his family.

FAMILIA CAMPOS - Ah, what fun! They are a rambunctious, fun-loving family, and we have an appointment with them this friday.

NALLELI - Pronounced Nayellie.  She's very nice, and she's got a cute little daughter.  We taught the Restoration as our first lesson, and she really seemed to know it was true.  It was awesome to see that light in her eyes!! 

JUAN MANUEL - Oh, Juan. :)  He already wants to be baptized!  The only problem is we haven't taught him any of the lessons yet - but we will!

CECILIA - Finally, we have Cecilia.  She has three YW-age daughters, so we brought with us the YW president on our first visit.  Though we had planned to teach Restoration, we ended up doing a Word of Wisdom lesson - they had a ton of questions!

...And that's just the ones who have yet to be baptized!  I sometimes think our investigators - the sons and daughters of God that we have the privilege to teach - are like American football.  When they're baptized, we act as the quarterback, tossing them towards Eternal Salvation, the 'End Zone'.  We can't just walk off the field - the touchdown can't be made unless there is a receiver to catch the ball.  That's where the members come in - with their help, we can run the ball into the End Zone, which is the Temple.  There's gonna be opposition - Satan's players are some of the biggest, meanest players out there: namely, fear, doubt, hopelessness, and loneliness.  We must muscle our way past these big guys with the football tucked securely under our arm, never fumbling.  Only then can we raise our fists and voices in victory.

Whoa - that was a pretty sweet analogy. :)  Pretty sure I've heard it somewhere before, so don't quote me on it. 

So it was actually this week that Valeria received her rock-solid testimony.  We went in as usual, and showed her the 20 min Restoration video.  We then asked Hna Mendoza, who had come with us, to share her own testimony of Joseph Smith.  She did so, powerfully.  Hna Martin and I then testified briefly.  We then challenged her to pray for a personal witness of the truth of these things.  We told her we would all be silent for some minutes afterward.  She offered a very heartfelt prayer, telling God she had the same question that Joseph Smith had, and asking if this Church was the true one.  Afterward, she began to cry.  The Spirit was so ridiculously strong in that room, it was awesome.  I have felt the truth of the restored gospel, and now I have seen that Spirit of Truth work through another daughter of God!!

Last experience: so the other night, we randomly decided to visit the Familia Granados, less active members.  Hna Granados is a truly amazing woman - she breaks her back every day in a laundromat to help her husband support their family.  She is a convert of ten years - before her baptism, she drank, smoked, did drugs, you name it - but after, she never touched any substances.  Amazing.  My companion was inspired to share a scripture with them - Alma 34:40-41.  My comp asked me to read it, because we'd been practicing reading scriptures in Spanish.  I did so, sounding like a broken record, with many pauses.  When I finished reading I looked up and realized that Hna Granados was crying.  She told us that she's been praying and praying to know how to handle life, and how busy it is - she testified to us that God had answered her prayer through this scripture.  It.  Was.  Amazing. 

Love, Love, Love,

Hna Smurthwaite

Mission Log - October 31, 2016 - T1, W2 - Week of Miracles

Dear Loved Ones -

Que pasa, calabaza?

Second week in the field, still going strong!!

So much has happened this week!  Feel truly blessed, because this week, we met and exceeded our goals!!

But allow me to expand: so, this Tuesday, we met an old man by the name of Jose Salvidar.  He didn't believe in any one church, saying that all churches claim to have all the truth, but none of them do.  He said that all these people in the street say "Yo soy profeta, yo soy profeta," but none of them really are.  We told him, "Exactly!  You know, in 1820, a 14-year old boy named Joseph Smith had the same questions you do."  We then had a very good Restoration lesson.

We then went to see a long-time investigator of Hermana Martin's.  She told us she'd found an apartment in El Paso, but that she wanted to visit her family in Juarez first.  Her visa's expired, so we're not sure if she's gonna make it back across the border.

We went to visit the Sidas.  Hermana Sida was cooking fish.
   "You sisters want some fish?"
   "No, we're good, Hermana."
   *hands us each a heaping plateful of fish, veggies, and chile*
   "Here's your fish."
   "...Thanks, Hermana."

I fear something may have gotten lost in the translation, there. :)  Hermano Sida is less active, and they have two deacon-teacher-age sons, Jose and Seth.  We asked Hno Sida what he did for work.  He told us he fixes motors on trailers.  We asked how a motor works.  I asked for him to explain in VERY SMALL WORDS, palabras mas pequenos.  He complied, explaining the principle of combustion.  We listened for understanding, then challenged him to come up with an analogy of how faith or other gospel principles were like a motor.  He laughed, but I sure hope he takes the assignment seriously.

Because P-days were switched to Mondays the Day I got here, Hermana Martin thought it was Wednesday. We went to our usual wednesday lunch appointment with Linda Harper, a funny old lady.  It turned out to be a blessing, because of the following:

Wednesday, we had two hours of Service in the morning and couldn't make it.  We did service at a food pantry, (it was a get-back-on-your-feet-style pantry), stocking shelves and refrigerators.  Turns out Hna Jackson from another district actually worked a similar job before coming out to serve her mission.  She became the leader.

We took Hermana Reza, a YW leader, and went to visit Nancy.  We read 2 Nefi 9 with her, and testified of the power of reading every day.  We then went to visit Marta Sanchez.

Let me explain a little about this house:  you walk in the door, and the first thing you see is a glass table secured atop a shiny black stone jaguar.  Your eyes travel up to see that this table, along with the back wall, is covered - covered - with porcelain figurines.  There were many more little jaguars, of different shapes and sizes.  There were angels, cats, flowers, you name it.  And what I thought was a giant mirror on the wall behind the couch?  Was the other room.  With just as much porcelain figurines.  I thought to myself, go figure! :-)  That was a little joke.  Chiste!

Because service was in the morning, Language Study and Training were in the afternoon.  We went to a park.  We then went to see Nalleli, pronounced N-eye-ell-ee.  She was very sweet - as we taught the message of the Restoration of the Gospel, the spirit strongly testified to her that it was true.  She'd already read the scriptures, up to 1 Nefi 4.  We challenged her to baptism, and she said yes!!!

Wednesday night was the Ward Missionary Activity, a monthly occurance.  All the members went out to less-active members' houses to confirm 1) that they still lived there, and 2) that they could come to church on Sunday.

Thursday was a day of MILAGROS porque I kid you not, EVERY DOOR OPENED TO US!  Every investigator or potential or less active we sought was home!  We were able to make appointments and make contact. It was awesome!

We visited Jahayra.  Her dog was a crazy ball of Energy, bouncing of the walls, literally, and bounding from person to person in a happy frenzy.  He reminded me of an Elder Slaugh I knew in the MTC, especially when he growled, burrgh. (the dog equivalent of pouting) :-)  We taught a lesson on Chastity.  She agreed to be baptized on Noviembre the 27th!  The reason it's so far out, is that she needs to get married before she can be baptized.

After dinner, we met with Cynthia, a woman with four kids who smokes.  We wanted to teach the Word of Wisdom, but didn't end up having enough time.  We were only there for 7 or 8 minutes, so we simply testified of the blessings of attending church, reading, praying, and being baptized, and challenged her to do all those things.

We then had another Milagro.  Valeria, who has a baptismal date set for Diciembre 17, told us that she and her less-active boyfriend, Nefi, had started to read the Book of Mormon together as a family!!!  We were overjoyed and as we went over Lesson Three with them, they basically taught us, they were so in tune with the Spirit!  It was awesome!

At the end of the night we visited Mariana.  She's a less-active member; she's 30, but looks 18.  She works as a nurse practitioner in the Hospital Del Sol, literally right next door to the church.  She expressed to us how much she missed going to church, and promised if her work schedule allowed, we would see her there!  We didn't end up seeing her, so I guess it didn't allow, but at least she has that desire!

Friday was Zone Training. It was awesome- really motivated us to work harder.  As it happens, Jose Salvidar believes in reincarnation.  We testified that we have a purpose, and being recycled lifetime after lifetime was not it.  He hasn't agreed to be baptized yet, but he did agree to a return appointment.

AAAAND that's all we have time for this week.  Tune in next time to hear more adventures from...
The Mission Log!  Mission: Baptize!  The Final Countdown! . . . (Name suggestions would be awesome. :)

Love, love, love,

Hermana Smurthwaite

Mission Log - October 24, 2016 - T1, W1 - El Paso, TX!!

Dear Loved Ones -

Hellooooo from Texas!!!!

By way of clarification, T1 W1 means Transfer 1, Week 1.

So much has happened this week!  First of all, my new companion's name is Hermana Martin.  She is the sweetest companion!  She's 5'9'', with straight blonde hair.  She leads mostly by example, so I've learned to pay attention when she does anything, and learn by doing.

My very first day, I arose at the fresh hour of 1:30 AM to go to the airport.  We arrived in the Dallas airport, where I was given the opportunity to call my parents, which was a huge blessing.

We arrived in Albuquerque at 10:45 AM.  We went to see the temple, and to take a picture.  President Guffey and his wife were very nice.  Sister Guffey told us she has a Facebook Page for the New Mexico Albuquerque mission.  We lunched at the mission home, and were oriented into the mission.  I learned a lot about New Mexico, including the significance of the symbol "Zia."  I had an interview with President Guffey.

We spent the night at the apartment of the Sister Training Leaders.  The next morning, we had a Transfer Meeting at 9 AM in a parking lot near the mission home.  There were so many missionaries there!

I was assigned to labor in the El Paso Chamizal Area.  We drove for four hours and finally made it to El Paso.  We can see the border of Mexico from our apartment complex!  There's a huge red X that lights up at night.

Here's a day for you:

Every morning, we've been arising at 6:30 for 30 minutes of exercise - just like real missionaries! :)  Hna Martin is ripped, and she and I do crunches every morning as part of the routine.  We also do jumping jacks, to get the heart rate up.  At 7 AM we have an hour to shower, dress, and eat breakfast.  Breakfast has varied greatly this week, but Hna Martin's favorite breakfast is parfaits, so I've been making hers while she showers.

Then, every morning at 8, we have an hour for personal study.  As we study, we think about our investigators, their needs, chapters we've assigned them, and chapters that would be good to leave with them next time we visit.  Then, at 9 AM, we have companion study.  We read out of Predicad Mi Evangelio, and out of the white missionary handbook, and we read out of several other church-provided materials as well.  We then share what we learned slash read in personal study, then we talk about our investigators that we're going to visit that day.  We often role-play lessons to practice asking and answering inspired questions.  This transitions nicely into language study, because we practice in Spanish.  Then, at Noon after lunch, we go out to teach, to contact, to find, and to talk to people.

I have met so many people since I've been here, it would take forever to tell you about them all.

One super cool experience I would like to share is this: Our 4 o'clock, Jahayra, cancelled on us.  Following a backup plan, we went to contact some former investigators, the Familia Piedras.  We knocked, and the door opened right up (this is not common).  Hno Piedra smiled and asked us to come in.  We came right in to the back of the house, where his wife was.  We got to know them a little, and asked what they remembered about our church.  Hno Piedras left the room and returned with two copies of El Libro de Mormon, which looked well-worn and read.  We began to share Lesson three, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, (see 4th article of Faith).  We challenged them to be baptized, and they accepted!  They haven't agreed to a date, but we have another appointment with them next week!!

The gospel truly is restored on earth once again.  Jesus Christ is our Savior, our Redeemer, and our Older Brother.  Through Him we truly can live with our Heavenly Father again. Of these things I testify.

How could anyone ever get bored of this?  How can anyone forget how amazing this is?  How could we possibly take it for granted?

Love, Love, Love,
Hermana Smurthwaite

Mission Log - October 18, 2016 - Arrived in Albuquerque

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am allowed to email you briefly to let you know that I arrived safe.

I love you guys so much!  You guys are the best parents in the world.

My new companion is really sweet.  Her name is Hermana Martin.

I thought I was going to serve in New Mexico, but no!  I've been sent out to El Paso, Texas!

I will tell y'all more about everything on P-day, which has recently been changed to Monday in this mission.

Love, Love, Love,
Hna Smurthwaite


** Email Received from President Guffey **
Dear Brother and Sister Smurthwaite,

Hermana Smurthwaite has safely arrived in the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission!  Here is a picture of her with President and Sister Guffey.  Later this week we will send you a hard copy picture of the arriving group of missionaries which we took yesterday in front of the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple.

We are grateful for you having worked with your daughter to prepare to serve at this wonderful moment in their life!

Best always,

President Guffey

 

Mission Log - October 12, 2016 - Last Week at the CCM!!

Dear Loved Ones,

This week is my last week here at the CCM!!  I'm a bit sad to leave, but super excited for the next step.

The Mexico City Temple is amazing!  This is kind of amazing: there are escalators.  Escalators!!  Inside the Temple!!  It gets me every time.

We had an assessment on our Spanish speaking skills recently.  It was basically a timed response - for example, "Recite your favorite scripture in Spanish.  You have thirty seconds to prepare, go!"  It helped me to see that one, I've learned a lot, and two, I have a long way to go.
 
Four days ago, a little grey bird flew into the window of our classroom so hard it broke it's neck.  It twitched for about thirty seconds, then died.  As you can imagine, it was quite distracting, and our District congregated at the windows, standing on chairs and almost falling on top of one another trying to see.  (Understand the windows are about 5'5'' off the ground.)  Per Hermana Karren's request, Elder Bohn and Elder Slaugh volunteered to go outside and dig a little grave for it.  They did a good job of burying it, and they put two twigs in the shape of a cross over the grave.  It was very cute, and a bit sad.  I felt bad because this experience really traumatized Hermana Karren's tender heart, and she cried a little.  The reason I felt bad was because everyone else in the class was fine, and started up a lively conversation about hunting, pests, and whether animals had literal souls.  Hermana Leavitt took her to the bathroom, and I followed, and after they began to walk back, we tried to help her feel better.

Out of earshot of Hermana Karren, Elder Ficklin and I joked that this could be a Windex commercial.  "Windex - so clean, you can't even see it!"

This past Sunday, we had the opportunity to perform a special musical number for the entire CCM before Devotional.  We performed La Oracion del Profeta, Joseph Smith's First Prayer, in Spanish.  We sang it to the tune of Come Thou Fount, which worked out nicely.  The first verse was sung by the Hermanas, the second by the Elders, the third we sang together with a five- or six-part harmony going on, and the last verse was in unison for the verse, and harmony for the chorus. . . alright, we may have overthought it, but nevertheless, we sounded good, and more importantly, we brought the Spirit.

After the Devotional, Elder Bohn shared a simple thought which I really appreciated.  He said, "It's the Plan of Salvation, not the Plan to Punish the Wicked."  I feel like many view the Plan of Salvation as a make-it-or-break-it deal, but it's really not.  It is a gift.  It is a plan by which we all can be happy, and it was given to us by our Father Celestial because he wants us to have joy.  (See Elder Nelson's Talk from Gen. Conf.)

As we played volleyball one day, an Elder with a hurt hand spiked the ball with his head.  He began to play the ball with his head more, and though it was impressive, is was comical to see the excitement on his face as he expressed the joy of playing with his head to his athletic comrades.  "DUUUDE!  Try hitting the ball with your head, it's so fun!  Hey, man!  Chuck the ball at my head.  Do it!  Doit, doit, doit!"

Ah, fun times.

Well, that's all for now, folks. Tune in next week to hear more adventures.

Hermana Smurthwaite

Mission Log - October 5, 2016 - Pics from the CCM

Dear Loved Ones,

My Compañera let me borrow her camera, so:

Here's a snapshot of the performance we saw on the Grito de Independencia.

Here's me and Hermana Loescher, taken this morning, actually.

Here's a pic from the big city (Mexico City - Distrito Federal).

Here is me and Hermanas Karren, Leavitt, and Loescher, takin' a pic.



Here's me and Hermana Loescher, in our room.



Here's us in front of our house.



So here's a true story: One day, while we were waiting to go to dinner I drew everyone in our district, by request of everyone in my district. (Leavitt, Karren, Bohn, Carrizales, Me, Loescher, Ficklin Schaefer, Anderson, Petersen, Slaugh, and Nielsen).



Here's all the Hermanas in our Distrito: Me, Hermanas Loescher, Leavitt, Karren, Petersen, and Anderson.



Here's some fine, upstanding Elders in our District.  Legs of the church, right there. (Carrizales, Bohn and Nielsen).



Here we are, pictured with Hermanas Keller on the left and Art on the right, from District 8A.



Here's lunch and dinner pretty much every single day - except Tuesday, Pizza Night.



And here are Elders Nielsen and Slaugh, being goofy.  Elder Slaugh is our District Leader.



Here's our District when we visited the Temple.  From Left to Right: H Anderson, H Karren, E Nielsen, H Petersen, E Slaugh, H Loescher, E Bohn, H Leavitt, E Ficklin, Me, E Schaefer, E Carrizales



Mi Compañera, looking cute in the rain.



Some real Mexican goodies.



Here's us on Temple Day!



Us on the bus (on Temple Day).



Here's Elders Schaefer and Ficklin.



And that is all she wrote for today!

So there y'all are!
​
​Love, 

Hermana Smurthwaite

Mission Log - September 30, 2016 - CCM Adventures

Dear Loved Ones,

So this week, Preparation Day is on Friday because my Compañera needs to go get her visa.  I wasn't allowed to go with her, so today I'm paired with a sister from another district, Hermana Richardson, whose companion also needed to go get a visa.

There is a native Mexican Hermana named Hermana Gonzales who, on her first day, stayed with me and Hermana Loescher because she couldn't find her district or her companion.  Now, every time we see each other we say Hola! and smooch each other's cheeks. It's a cultural custom here in Mexico, I think.

We had a teaching Practice session.  One-on-one with district 5A, and my 'investigador' said that my Spanish was good, and that I just needed to back down a little.  After he explained that he did drugs, I said to him in Spanish, 'The Church has an addiction recovery program you can go to in order to clean your sins!' and 'Through the power of the Atonement, you can overcome your sins!'  I guess I was just really excited to share the Gospel! :)

This past Friday we had a substitute teacher, Hermana Sanchez, because our teacher was getting married!  On Monday we all congratulated him as he came in.  His name is Hermano Valencia, and he returned from his mission about a year ago.  He's very humorous, mostly with facial expressions.  He's awesome, and his testimony really picks up the District when we're feeling down.  He served his mission speaking English, so he relates to us.

During gym time earlier this week, Elder Ficklin and I were both waiting to play tennis on the side, and we began to pitch the extra tennis ball back and forth.  He played baseball before coming out into the field (ha ha jokes), and he said that it brought him a lot of comfort to pitch back and forth because he used to do that for hours on end at practice.  He was a catcher, and though I have NO skills, he seemed very happy to have a tennis ball repeatedly chucked at him. :)

This past Sunday was Fast Sunday (ha that rhymed).  The way they do Fast Sunday here at the CCM is they have all the missionaries fast from dinner on Saturday night until lunch on Sunday.  Our district did a district fast for Elder Bohr, who literally got his face smashed in by a goal post and had to leave for three days for intense surgery.  He's doing a lot better now; we see him walking around, conscious, with bandages wrapped around his head.

We taught a lesson to 'Matea', or Sister Sanchez.  She was a suicidal teenager, and we were able to share with her what her purpose in life is, and why she's important, and that God loves her, and we love her too.  It was a very good lesson.

We watched the John Tanner video for devotional!  I was reminded of his story, and his strength.  I felt closer to my ancestor (on my bonus Mom's side) than I ever have before. It was awesome.

You know that feeling you get when you carefully plan a lesson, study it out in your brain, prepare scriptures to answer anticipated questions, and practice saying it all in Spanish with correct grammar and pronunciation?  And then you completely switch lessons once you get there?  This was our experience with Alfredo the third time around.  He opened up a little at the beginning of the lesson and talked about how he didn't have much time for his family because of work and school.  When he said that I grabbed Hermana Loescher's arm and said, 'We need to teach Plan of Salvation!' and my poor companion was like, 'AAAHH!'  But only briefly.  The lesson differed from our previous lessons in that he seemed genuinely interested in what we were saying and paid attention the whole time.  Afterwards, as Alfredo still, he told us he was interested in learning more about the plan of Salvation.

OOOH guess what?  This Tuesday, Elder Caseñera of the Seventy walked into our classroom while we were singing a hymn and asked us to sing that same one in a meeting at 10:30, 15 minutes later!  We went to this meeting, and there was President Call, President Eves, the Executive Secretary, the manager of all the teachers, the audio-visual boss, the maintenance manager, and a few other general managers over the entire CCM!  Elder Casañera said to sing, and the twelve of us all sang Yo Sé Que Vive Mi Señor (I Know That My Redeemer Lives).  It was awesome!  We all got to shake all of their hands too!

We had our first TRC session yesterday, which stands for Teach Real Citizens.  Just kidding. ;)  I actually don't know what it stands for, but it's this little building off to the side of the CCM where real people (investigators, members, whoever) come in to be taught the gospel.  We taught two people.  Isaac was 15 and less active, because his dad wasn't a member.  We shared about church attendance.  The other was also 15 and preparing to go on a mission.  We just shared a spiritual thought on prayer.  It was very good practice, and I'm glad we went!

Well, that's all for this week.  Tune in next time to hear more CCM Adventures.

Love, Love, Love,

Hermana Smurthwaite

Mission Log - Sept. 21, 2016 - Mexican Independence Day

Dear Loved Ones,

Thank you so much for your words of love! I love you guys, sincerely. 

This past week has been loco! 

September 15th was the Eve of Mexico Independence Day.  I've been hearing fireworks every night since I've been here, but that night I actually saw some!  A man who works at the CCM actually shot off three from the roof of the Gordon B. Hinkley building!  

There was a huge assembly where they had a show.  There were 5 dances and many songs performed.  They dressed like Aztecs and danced with shaker devices on their legs, and one held fire in his hands.  Then the ladies put on skirts that were very, very twirly and the men put on sombreros.  They all had handkerchiefs that they twirled like a baton the whole time.  Then they changed into cowboy/cowgirl attire and had the equivalent of a rap battle (I didn't understand a word of it), and they danced quite sassily. 

Just a little background.  I could be wrong, because all of it was in Spanish, but I think that Mexico Independence Day is called the "Grito de Independencia" and it represents what happened on September 16 in 1810.  This priest or bishop named Miguel Hidalgo rang the church bells in a city called Dolores.  He then brought together the people in the town, and gave an inspiring speech, basically a pep talk to take up arms against the Spanish rule.  That event is what started the fight for independence, and every year, they celebrate it with colletos, or cuellos, I'm not sure (fireworks).  So that was cool! 

That day they served real Mexican food, dulces, (which are these really cultural candies), Mole and Bistek . . .  Actually, that could be inaccurate, but regardless, it was delicious. I was so full! 

The next day was a difficult day for our district. At the very moment when we were ready to sink into despair and abandon ourselves to destruction, Hermano Valencia, our Maestro, gave a beautiful testimony of the Gospel and the Gift of Tongues. He encouraged us all and told us that our hearts were in the right place, and if we just work hard, the Lord will bless us.  We just happened to be listening to spiritual music and it played in the background as he spoke, inspiringly. :)

Our Elders have native Mexican "primos" or cousins in their house.  They are very kind and loving, and they only speak Spanish, so it´s really cool to speak with them.  They always say, "We are homies!"  They have FHE every night at their casa, according to the Elders. 

On Sunday, Elder Slaugh, our district leader, was feeling really down.  My companion was the first to notice, so she and I went to talk to him.  Everyone eventually joined us, and working together, we were able to get him back to Slaugh mode. 

Let me explain a little more about our district.  There are six Elders and six Hermanas.  Hermana Loescher I´ve already told you about; she's also a classically trained opera singer.  Hermana Karren I've mentioned, she´s our district ´mom'.  She likes cute quotes and craft tape and she's from Virginia.  She's going to Salem, Oregon.  Her companion, Hermana Leavitt, is from Las Vegas and is going to North Carolina.  She has blonde hair and kind of looks like Mallory Everton, but she acts like (and these are her own words) a 'sassy black woman'.  She and my companion share a love of volleyball, and that's been pretty much the only sport our district has played since we got here.  Hermanas Karren and Leavitt share a room with us.  

Hermana Anderson is from California and she's going to San Diego.  She's a gorgeous California blonde with a pretty, raspy singing voice.  Her companion, Hermana Petersen, is from Alaska and she's also going to San Diego as well.  She's the slimmest, shortest little thing, but she's super fast and surprisingly spicy.  She is very punctual and kind of keeps everyone in our district aware of the rules, which I love. 

Elder Slaugh, from Philidelphia, is the district leader, as I said, and he's awesome.  Once or twice a day, he'll express his love for our district, his testimony, or a spiritual thought.  He also beatboxes. His companion, Elder Nielsen, is very patient with Slaugh's exuberant personality.  He was a tennis player, and when he laughs, his eyes roll back in his head.  Elder Ficklin was a baseball player and in drumline in Iowa.  He can talk about baseball all day long.  His companion, Elder Shaefer (Shay-fer), quotes movies with incredible accuracy.  His Spanish is very good, as well, and he wants to be an actor in the movies.  Elder Bohn is the tallest Elder in the district.  He's a character.  His companion, Elder Carrizales, is the sweetest.  Whenever he says something, it's always positive and humble.  We joke in our district that Elders Carrizales and Bohn kind of look like Pedro and Napoleon from Napoleon Dynamite, as I said in my last Mission Log. 

We had three awesome Devotionals this past Sunday, one after the other.  A part of Elder Bednar's talk that stood out was that it's not about you.  He mentioned  the Cookie Monster and admonished us not to be like that.  "ME WANT COOKIE NOW!"  "ME WANT BAPTISMS NOW!"  It was humorous, but the message was powerful.  Also, Elder Holland talked about the Breakfast on the Beach that Jesus and His Disciples had, where he asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" "Then feed my lambs."  Elder Holland encouraged us to follow the example of Peter and leave our nets behind.

On Monday, I was Spotlighted.  Basically, our district started doing this thing where each night, we all go around and say something we love about the spotlighted person.  It's awesome - and I felt really humbled after mine.  Then, when we, the Hermanas, got home, we had a jam session where we all sang some songs.  Hermana Art and Keller, who are in our ward in a different district, heard it and complimented us the next day.

Today we went to the Mexico City Temple. It was beautiful! Inside and out. I felt the Spirit very strongly there.

After the session, we went to the tienda, a little Deseret Bookstore next to the temple. It was fun! Everything was in Spanish.

Happy Day before your Birthday, Toko! I love you and you're gonna be an awesome 5 year old!

Love,

Hermana Smurthwaite