Hi Everyone! Well, my email last week was kind of dramatic and things at home are still happening. I am still getting information and learning about what is going on and am in almost constant communication with my Heavenly Father, as much as I have ever been in BUT the missionary work in Freiburg Germany continues.
This week was really a week of adventures. We had the opportunity this week to go with a member to visit a friend of hers. She said she was really interested in religion and would be interested in what we had to say. Sounded perfect to us, so we went with her. It was a bit of a drive to get to her friend's house. It was gorgeous. We got there and she wanted to go for a walk. Well, we expected a walk around the block...but it was actually a walk around a beautiful monastery. We felt really spoiled. We got to talk about what we do as missionaries and why we are here. It was so cool. I don't know how far it will go, but it was a cool experience and I will attach some pictures in this email from our walk. We couldn't help but get a bit touristy. Afterwards, we went back to her house and had cake and tea (fruit tea, the kind a Mormon can drink) and it was such a good time. If only missionary work was always that pleasant :)
On Thursday we had Ward Council and we switch off with the Elders going every other month. It was our turn to go and they were talking about an Elders Quorum activity where they were mostly just eating food and hanging out, but they wanted a set of missionaries to go because there would be a lot of less active members there and such. Ideally, the Elders would have gone, but they needed to catch a train to go home (they live kind of far away) so for some reason, Sister Earnshaw and I were sent to the Elders Quorum activity. Needless to say, I felt pretty out of place. It was a good time I guess. The Elders are still making fun of us for having gone, but the Bishop told us to be there, so we couldn't really say no. Now I can say I have crashed an Elders quorum activity.
On Sunday we went to a member's house for a member appointment and for dessert we baked cookies with them. It was really good and we shared a killer spiritual thought about hope. THEN they took us to the woods with them to go herb picking. How did we end up herb picking on a Sunday evening? Well, we got a bunch of herbs to take home. It was fun.
Lots of really weird things this week actually. We went to visit a member in the hospital this week with the Elders because he was supposed to have an ear operation two days before. We got to the hospital and asked at the front desk what room he was in and they told us he was still in surgery...what? He should not have had any surgery that day and the nurse to us to wait because the surgery he was having that day was not planned and he did not even have time to tell his wife and kids that it would be happening, so there was no one there to say hello to him when he got out. So we waited for a little bit and he just came walking down the hallway and when he saw us, the biggest grin spread across his face. We help him chop wood on Saturdays so we are all pretty tight. He kept telling us how happy he was that we were there and so obviously Heavenly Father orchestrated that one.
Anyways, that is my week in a nutshell. I hope you are all doing well and remember that Heavenly Father loves you all so much! Make good choices.
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: 2 with the monestary, and a really pretty bakery that we ate at last monday
Hi Everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you all have had wonderful weeks. Right now, I am sitting in our Internet cafe in Freiburg and I really don't know what to say. Usually, I make bullet points with what I want to talk about in my email but this week was easily the craziest week of my mission, so I am going to just start from the beginning and see what happens.
Sunday. Not yesterday Sunday, but the Sunday before, I woke up with a really tight feeling in my stomach. I just felt really wound up and unsettled about something. I was trying to figure it out thinking that maybe I wasn't being totally obedient with something or maybe my personal study wasn't meaningful enough or something. I really had no idea at all and it was the most annoying thing. I kept doing life and doing the things I knew I should do and I felt this way all the way through Tuesday. Tuesday we had zone training and that meant three train rides that were each 40 minutes long. It was a beautiful trip. It took forever, but it was fantastic. I was still feeling uptight about something, but I thought maybe I would get my answer in zone training. I had a cute outfit on and brought cookies to share with people, and as we were walking through the door to the church building an Elder pointed out to me that our cell phone was ringing. It was in my purse, so I pulled it out just in time to miss the call. I looked at the phone and realized that I had missed four calls actually...from my Mission President. I really couldn't imagine what he needed that badly, but I called him back right away and he said, my dad had called him and that my mom was having some health issues and that my Dad needed to talk to me. That was when the tight feeling in my gut finally unwound. Something was wrong. My heart started pounding and I went over to my Zone Leaders to tell them that I would need to sit out of zone training to take a call from my Dad because my Mom is having some health problems. They are great Zone Leaders and were super understanding. They let me use the Bishop's office to take the call, so I just sat for a minute waiting for the call. Then I realized I was an idiot because I hadn't said a prayer yet. I got on my knees at in the bishop's office in Singen Germany and begged my Father in Heaven for everything to be ok. At this point, I literally had no idea what it could be. I sat back down in the chair after my prayer and stared out the window for another minute and then the phone rang. It was my Dad. I would just like to say, that my parents are amazing. They are two really fantastic people and I don't know why Heavenly Father thought I would be cool enough to be in their family, but I am so glad that He did. My Dad started talking to me and told me what was going on. I won't give you every detail of the phone call, but my Mom wasn't feeling to well on Monday and got taken to the hospital. A lot of tests were done and doctor's found that she has cancer in her brain. It isn't the kind of thing that they can do some radiation and some chemo on to make it better and so her time seems to be more limited than we expected. I cannot tell you how I was feeling. There were still so many things unanswered and more tests and stuff to do and I really don't know what I should and shouldn't say in this email, but I have never in my mission felt so far away from my family. All I wanted in that moment was to be in Chicago with all of them. My Dad told me that my sisters and niece and brother-in-law and Aunt were all there. He talked about how great the ward had been and about what else the doctors intended to do. It was so hard. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I felt stuck and useless. They were all there and I was here in Germany just going about my life. I still can't explain what it felt like, but it did not feel good.
Well, there were more phone calls and I was blessed to get a blessing from my zone leader. I called my Mission President back to tell him exactly what it was because he himself didn't even know and then we talked about how to go about this and how to handle this. I've been doing a lot of talking this week. I've been talking to my Dad, I've been talking to my Mission President, and I have been doing a heck of a lot of talking to my Father in Heaven. It has all been trying to figure things out and what I should do. At the same time, I have been doing a lot of listening. I have been listening to my Dad, I have been listening to my Mission President, and I have been listening really hard to my Father in Heaven.
I love being a missionary. This work is amazing. It is also a feeling that I cannot explain, but it is amazing. I feel so blessed and honored to be here. I have given everything I have to help bring others unto Christ and in doing this work I have solidified a few things for myself: I have a Father in Heaven who loves me so much. He wants me to be happy. I know that He lives. I see evidence of that every day. I know that He is aware of me and I know that He has a plan that is far greater than my own. There is power in prayer that is far greater than I can understand. I have seen miracles already. I have been able to think about this work when I need to think about this work and I know already that He has been looking out for my family at home. NO one ever predicts something like this happening, but my Mission President has told me that I have some decisions to make. I haven't made any yet because I haven't gotten an answer yet, but I know that when the time is right, that Heavenly Father will give me the right answer, and you better believe that whatever that is, I will be acting on it right away. I trust my Father in Heaven and I know that He's got this. My mission president told my ward here in Freiburg and they have also been so great. My Mom has an army of Germans praying for her :) What a week. Anyways, I have a beast of a family and am so grateful everyday for them. I hope you all have a great week and I hope you all know that I mean it when I say to make good choices.
Love,
Sister Smiley
Of course there are still pictures: Us at a park on a nice day. We had an awkward time gap so we did some contacting, and then the cookies on our train ride to zone training.
Well, I am in my second week in Freiburg now and I am still figuring it out and getting to know the transportation and the area, but it is going great. Yesterday we had stake conference actually and right now I am in the Zürich Stake, so that meant we had to go to Zürich yesterday...yup, life is hard :) It was super nice because our ward rented out a huge coach bus, so we all met at the church in the morning and drove together for an hour and a half. Talk about a ward road trip. It was so great. And SO pretty. We got a few glimpses of the Swiss Alps. I tried taking some pictures, but my camera would just not do it justice.
Anyways, we got to conference. None of the ward buildings are big enough for the whole Stake, so they rented out a conference hall sort of thing at a university there. It was probably one of the coolest Stake Conference experiences of my life. The whole room was red :) Conference was really good. President and Sister Kohler were there. I love them both a lot. Sister Kohler got to speak and she talked about when she decided to serve a mission when she was 21. She served a mission in California (somewhere) and said that she started out with just a little wish to serve a mission, and over time it grew. I have noticed that throughout my mission too. Of course I started out wanting to serve, but the more I do it, the more I want to keep doing it. I did not come on a mission simply to get high numbers and go on the most insane tour of Europe of my life. I came here to invite people to come unto Christ, and let me tell you, it is so worth it. So yeah, conference was great. It was also fun because I got to see a lot of missionaries that I haven't seen in a long time. We all chatted and caught up on what we had been doing for the last number of months and then Sister Earnshaw and I hopped on our bus back to Freiburg. It was a really good day. And of course, we brought snacks, because I don't like being hungry :)
In Augsburg, we had a sport abend every Thursday where we played volleyball. It was a great activity to invite basically anyone to. Well, I was finally getting the hang of volleyball when I got transferred here. Guess what? There's a sport abend in Freiburg too! Except we don't play volleyball...we play soccer...and all of the YSA's come. I haven't played any soccer since I was in the MTC and it's not like I had any real skill there either. Well, you will be happy to know that I actually scored two goals this week. They were the kind where I accidentally kicked the ball in the right direction and everyone watched it slowly roll into the goal, and then they all looked at me like they couldn't believe that actually just happened, but I'm going to call it divine intervention. German YSA's playing soccer is intense. It is seriously no joke, but it was way fun. We'll see what happens next week.
On Saturday we did a service project. There is a family in this ward that heats their house with wood (I think it's more economical) but that means that they need to go into the forest every Saturday and chop down loads of wood. So we went with the Elders and met this family in the Black Forest (it was so pretty) and the dad cut down a bunch of trees with a chain saw, the Elders chopped it, and then Sister Earnshaw, the mom, the daughter and I carried it to the stack. It was a solid work out, but after my suit case escapade on transfer day, it was really nothing. I think I actually have biceps now. That's a new sensation for me :) We were there basically the whole day doing that and we got pretty dirty, but it was so great. We roasted wurst over a camp fire for lunch and had potato salad and drank loads of water. It was something I had never done before, but it was good. Not many people can say that they went to the Black Forest to do a service project.
So yeah, that was basically my week. When I say basically, I mean that is just part of what happened. I couldn't possibly write everything that happened, because a lot happens in one week, especially on a mission, but it was good. I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: Sister E and I with a "welcome to the district" gift from the Elders, the main part of Freiburg, Sister E and I at Stake Conference with our bus :)
Hi everyone! Well, it looks like I'm in Freiburg now. Saying goodbye to Augsburg was super depressing, but that is just how it is on a mission. You gotta pick up and go because there are more people that you need to love.
Transfer day was insane (as always). Getting from Augsburg to Munich went pretty smoothly, but it's when I got on the train to go to Stuttgart that things started getting crazy. There were about 10 of us on the train and 6 of them were brand new fresh shell shocked missionaries straight out of the MTC. I was the oldest missionary (in terms of how long I'd been on my mission) on that train. I don't know how I became so old, but anyways, getting them all on the train was an accomplishment alone because they just kind of wandered around the train station, letting it sink in that they were actually in the field, which I understand, it is a big deal. But OH MY GOSH you need to get on the train because if we miss it, we have messed up our travel plans for the rest of the day. Somehow we got all of them on and their 20 suitcases onto the train with 30 seconds to spare. Well, then we went to Stuttgart and when we got to the stop, we had a limited time to get us and our suitcases off the train. In under two minutes, we got all of the missionaries and our 20 suitcases off the train. I have never thrown so many suitcases in my life. If anyone wants to tell me I am not tough, they will get a suitcase thrown in their face. I now know the real reason that I had to do trek when I was still in Young Women's. Shoving that cart across Wisconsin was practice for shoving those suitcases off the train. Needless to say, I was pretty sore the next day.
Well, after that I met with my new companion Sister Earnshaw. She is probably one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is from Pennsylvania and just finished being trained last transfer so I am her greenie buster. We had two more train rides to take in order to get to Freiburg. They were both an hour long and required a lot more suitcase lugging, but somehow, everything worked out. We made it to Freiburg and the Elders there met us at the train station to help get my suitcases to the apartment. I think I know just a little bit what that handcart company felt like when the rescue team came to help them. I was ready to cry when they took my suitcases out of my hands and rolled them away for me. That sounds a bit dramatic. All I'm saying is, I'm glad that transfer days don't happen all the time.
WELL, now I can tell you what Freiburg is like. IT'S BEAUTIFUL! It is a college town because there is a university here and it is surrounded by mountains. We are right by Switzerland and France and you can really feel it. Augsburg was really German. I would say that Freiburg is really European. Also, since there is a university here, there are a lot of YSA's. They have a center here and a lot of activities that we get to go to when we don't have eating appointments. That's another thing. The ward is really great. We have a solid handful of eating appointments next week and they are really excited to help us with the missionary work which is really all that a sister could ask for.
One thing is, I have never gotten such a strong reaction to my last name before. Oh my gosh. I got introduced in Relief Society, Sunday school, and Sacrament meeting and everyone laughed a lot when they heard my name. I figure it's a good thing because it will be easy for them to remember. Sunday was fast Sunday, and the bishop "invited" me to bare my testimony first. This is my fourth area and fifth ward on my mission and a tiny tid bit that I have learned about the "introduction" testimony is that it makes a big difference to walk to the pulpit with good posture. It just makes you seem less sheepish and like you aren't afraid of the ward members. Just keep that in mind if you get the opportunity to do an intro testimony somewhere.
Anyways, I really haven't been here that long and there is still LOADS to learn. I kind of feel like dead weight to my companion right now because I don't know anything about the area, but I'm trying to be helpful. I hope all is well and that you are all making good choices.
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: The view from my kitchen window in Freiburg, the goodbye picture at the train station, our last district picture in Augsburg
I'VE BEEN TRANSFERRED!!! I found out on Saturday that I will be going to Freiburg on Thursday. I'm in the bottom corner of Germany. My new area boarders France and Switzerland. It will be at least seven hours of train rides on Thursday, but everyone says that it's beautiful. It's right in the Black Forest. Also, my ward is in the Zurich Switzerland Stake, so that means that I get to go into Zurich if there is Stake Conference while I am there and for Zone Conferences I get to go to Switzerland. It's pretty exciting.
It feels weird actually leaving Augsburg. I've been here for four transfers which is about six months and it went by so fast! Augsburg has become home, so I don't think it has really sunk in that I am actually leaving. I don't think I'll really realize it until I walk out of my apartment with my suitcases. Saying goodbye to the ward members on Sunday was super depressing. That's the thing about being a missionary. You go into an area and you literally throw everything you have emotionally and physically into helping and loving the people. Then, you get transferred, and you have to pick up and do it somewhere else. It is a really bitter sweet transition. My new companion's name is Sister Earnshaw. I've never met her before, but she is going into her third transfer, so she just finished being trained. It's a new adventure and I'm excited to see what the next few months bring.
Oh! And I'm 20 now. My birthday was on Thursday and I really didn't expect to do anything for it. I was going to just do the normal stuff, but it all started on Monday when the Elders in my district decided to make me birthday tacos. Six Elders in a kitchen is just so fascinating to watch. They did a great job and they even sang to me (or did their best to sing). They forgot candles, so I blew out someones lighter and that was really something, but it was great of them to think of me, so it was fun. Then, on my actual birthday on Thursday, two ward members who I have become really good friends with made me set up a breakfast eating appointment. I walked through the door just expecting breakfast, but there was actually a giant cake, and this was not just any cake, IT WAS RED VELVET! I love red velvet cake, but that is really not a thing you find in Germany at all. It was so sweet of them to make that for me. That night, we had our sport abend at the church where we played volley ball together and one of the ward members ordered pizza for my birthday. OH, and I finally figured out the trick to volleyball. If you don't grunt when you hit the ball, there is no way it is going to go over the net :) Too bad I got transferred because I was actually starting to get the hang of volleyball. Maybe there will be a sport abend in Freiburg too...we'll just have to see. Anyways it was a good day.
For those of you that are regular blog readers, you might remember that last week we ended up doing our emails at an Internet cafe and not at the church because the computers were being stupid at the church. WELL the guy who works at the Internet cafe became an investigator last week! His name is Frans and we got to have a really good conversation with him as we were paying for our time on the computers. He told us to come back and tell him more, so we did, and he said he wanted to keep learning more, so Sister Baker is going to keep the ball rolling with him, because he is awesome.
We also found another new investigator this week who is a professional women's soccer player. She plays on the FC Augsburg team for women. If she is living in Germany and getting paid to play soccer, you know she kicks butt. She also has the kind of hair that every girl would kill for, but she is super cool because she said she had a Mormon boyfriend once and went to church with him a couple of times, but she never really knew what we are actually about, so she wants to know more! All of these people are coming out of the woodwork now that I'm leaving :( I guess that's just how it is sometimes, but I'm glad that I've at least gotten to meet them.
Yesterday we thought we had a normal eating appointment with a member after church, and they drove us out to their super far away village and didn't actually end up taking us to their house. They took us to a reception hall, and we looked at each other like "What is going on?" and we knew that this member had a birthday that day, but we didn't realize that our eating appointment was actually going to the birthday dinner party for it. Good thing I was wearing a nice skirt. Anyways, we got there and figured out what was going on and then people started showing up. There were people from our ward there and friends of theirs from work, so Mormons and non-Mormons. Something that tends to happen at parties like that is the separation. Mormons at one table, and work friends at another table. The four of us missionaries were there and we decided to make the most of this moment, so I sat down next to two guys who were drinking beer and had tattoos, and spiky hair, and piercings and stuff. I have NO idea why I chose to sit next to them. I got scared the second I sat down, but we actually had a really good time talking to each other. They are both nurses in the emergency room and and one of them told me about his experience with cancer. They had a lot of questions about what the heck we do here as missionaries and it was just super great. You never know who will be curious. I was a good time.
Well, that is my week in a nutshell. It was good one! And I became an Aunt this week! JULIE is in the world now! I hope you all have a great week and make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures: Me at a place in Augsburg called Fuggerei (Google it), me drinking my hot chocolate at cafe dichtl, and I busted the elders acting cool
First of all, we usually do emails from the two computers at church, but one of them decided to crash today, so we are at an Internet cafe listening to the radio and there's this Justin Timberlake song playing right now that I listened to a lot before my mission. I don't remember what it's called, but I don't know how to react. This is really conflicting, but such is life :)
Anyways, we had a really cool week this week. From Tuesday to Wednesday we had exchanges and I got to work with my old companion Sister Mehr again. She is the bomb digidy. We had a great companionship, so working with her for a little bit again was super fun. We went and visited a less active family together and it turned into an eating appointment which I really can't complain about because I was SO hungry, so we had some soup and ate some strudel and talked about the gospel. It doesn't get much better than that.
Sister Baker went to Munich to work with the other Sister Training Leader Sister Ahlm. They had a good time together and did a lot which is good. Exchanges are kind of fun. It's like going on vacation within your mission while still doing missionary work.
On Thursday we had Mission tour, and that was AWESOME! So an Area Seventy came and talked to our mission. It was basically like a private general conference for the missionaries. It only happens once a year, but it's so awesome. We had Elder Patrick Kearon come talk to us. He comes from Great Britain and it was SO GOOD! The overall message that he gave is that we should be so happy to be doing this work and I think it was a really good message for us to hear. In missionary work, it can be easy to get bogged down in numbers and records and transportation and details, and then we end up forgetting just how wonderful this work is that we get to do. I spend all day every day trying to bring people unto Christ, and it really doesn't get much better than that. He said though, that it is up to us to choose to be happy. It is so easy to decide that you are going to be in a bad mood when things don't go the way you want, but that makes things drag along so much more. Be happy about it! We only get to do this for a little while. Enjoy it! Anyways, it was great.
Another really cool thing about mission tour was that all of the Austria and Germany missionaries came together, so that meant that I got to see Sister Bushman from when I worked in Vienna and Sister Arnold from the MTC. It was so great to see them. I hadn't seen Sister Arnold since July. We both freaked out when we saw each other. We talked a lot during the lunch. It was just so fun to see everyone. I saw a lot of the Elders I've worked with too. Whenever I go to these events I remember just how greatly outnumbered I am. Dang, there are a lot of Elders and not a heck of a lot of sisters. So many suits. It's good though. It's just funny how you become a part of the brotherhood. Männer...immer das gleiche Thema...says Schwester Schmid from my ward :)
Yesterday we had Ward Conference and the Stake President came and talked to us. The Stake President here is really a beast. First of all, he knows my name. That is not something I would expect the Stake President to know. That was really impressive. Also, his 11 year old son passed away in October. We were all at the funeral, but I know that it has been rough for his family. The thing is though, they have had the best possible reaction to it that I could possibly imagine. There are pins that every one in the Stake wears that say "Familien sind ewig" which means, families are eternal. He has been a really good example to loads of people, so I always feel honored when I can hear him speak.
But yeah, that was my week, really good. Full of stuff. We are still on the search for people that are ready for this gospel. It is a process and not easy, but that is how it is supposed to be. I think I would actually be quite disappointed if this was easy. It's not easy, but it's great. You would think that combination isn't possible, but I'm living evidence :) I hope you all have a great week. Make good choices!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures:
Sister Arnold, Elder Werner and me from my MTC district (we are super awkward, I know), Sister Bushman and I, and me being happy when we got back from a good appointment
Heilige Kuh! Where did January go? I can't believe it is February already. Crazy how the time just seems to get sucked up.
Well, I want to start off my email with some super exciting news. Aigerim got baptized!!! I got to teach her a little bit while I was in Vienna and I literally just found out that she got baptized. I was flipping out. She is the coolest. I am so happy for her for making that decision. So that was some happy news to find out today.
Anywho, our week has been pretty good and also pretty rough if it is possible to have both in the same week. We have this one referral that we have been trying to contact for a couple of weeks now. The number we were given doesn't seem to work so we have been taking an abundance of trips out to the town of Kissing. Yes,I know it is a funny name for a town :) But anyways, we take the train out there and then have a solid 30 or 40 minute walk to get to the address. It isn't too bad, but the last time we went it was snowing like crazy. Most people view snow as a peaceful thing where it floats gracefully down to the earth in pretty little flakes...well that is not at all how the snow was that we got. These were snow chunks smacking us in the face. I think we took it like champs, but the referral was still not home...so we have to go again. I will seriously tear down a wall or something to contact this referral because referrals are not usually accidents. Ok, sometimes you do get the ones that were jokes or something, but I'm not buying it. Seriously, we are going to get in contact with this person if it means we turn into snowmen.
But, on a different note, Sister Baker and I were on the tram this week going somewhere (I can't remember where right now, but probably to share the gospel with someone) and I started talking to the woman sitting next to me. That is what we usually do. We talk to people. It's not legal to flat out proselyte on the public transportation, so we just try to have conversations with people and drum up some interest and stuff. Well this lady had a lovely back bag that I complemented in order to start our conversation, and then we had a good conversation, I found out that she was Russian and a bunch of other things and it was a really nice conversation actually. Well, we were coming to our stop and she started emptying out her bag. She put all of the contents into her grocery bag and I was wondering what on earth she was doing. Then I remembered that I complemented her bag at the beginning and I got what was going on. I started telling her that I couldn't accept her bag because it was her bag and it was too nice and all these things, but she just kept emptying her bag and then she shoved it in my hands and told me never to forget my Russian friend named Olga. I told her that I really couldn't accept it, but she just said take it...so I got off the tram with a new black bag and I kind of felt like scum for a bit. She gave me her bag! That isn't a thing that just happens. As we were walking away though, I was thinking about what I had studied in the New Testament that morning. It was the story of the good Samaritan. The Samaritan passes sees a man on the street who has been beaten by thieves and is not doing too hot. Well, the Samaritan has never met this man before but he sees to it that he is taken care of and gives what he can offer to help him out. I wasn't mugged by thieves or anything, but Olga literally gave me what she could offer without hesitation. I learned from her that we should literally ALWAYS be looking for opportunities to serve. That is how Christ like love works. I have experienced it first hand. I don't know if I will ever see Olga ever again, but I know that I will never forget her.
So yesterday (Sunday), I tried something new. I went to ward choir. I noticed on the back of the program during Sacrament meeting that there was choir practice that day and then I kept reading because ward choir was never a thing I did. I don't know why, I was just never interested, but then I was thinking about how annoying it is to have a musical number by the choir and then like four people go up to sing. It is actually really depressing. Then I realized that I am a hypocrite because if I wanted the choir to be bigger, than why am I not in it. SO I may or may not have shoved the Elders and my companion upstairs to choir practice after church on Sunday and I am very glad that I did because when we got there, we literally doubled the size of the choir and I could tell that it was a relief for the choir director to have more people there. It was a good time. I recommend it to everyone.
Last night when I was laying in bed during that moment before you fall asleep, I remembered something that I want to share with you all. When I was 16 or 17 I went on a double date (just roll with me on this one) and it was with three other Mormon kids and we were going into the city to see a movie. Well, my charming father, took it upon himself to put a tracking device app thingy on my phone before I went on the date so that he could see where I was all the time. Now, I'm not the kind of child who was running around doing reckless things and stuff, so I was a little confused about why my Dad felt it was necessary to put that on my phone. Well I went on the date and that is another story that I will not go into now, but I remember thinking about the tracker thingy a little bit later and how it really doesn't make a difference at all because Heavenly Father literally knows what I am up to all the time. The tracker was just Him and my Dad teaming up to make sure I was ok and they were doing that because they love me. It was one of those brain explosions that I had in my mind and last night I remembered thinking about how awesome it is that I have a heavenly and an earthly father that care about me so much that they want to know what I am up to all the time. That is just something so special to me.
Anyways, that is all I have to say for this week. I hope you all have a great week and make good choices, and stay warm!
Love,
Sister Smiley
Pictures:
Sister Baker and I walking to our eating appointment last night (she's a goofy one), Sister Baker super tired after spending a day in Kissing, me trying to stay warm with my hot chocolate and trying to stay happy even though we didn't contact the referral
