Well hello!!! This week I must admit has been the hardest week for me here. I am sick :( Yesterday I had to go to sick bay and stay there for a couple of hours and then go to the Health Center and get drugs. The drugs kept me awake ALL NIGHT! Actually just from 12:30 on. So I am like a zombie today. Both sister Ence and I are sick. I was worse yesterday and then by the end of the day she was worse. :( Being sick here is no fun at all. I am determined to not let it make me get behind in Polish though. Gloria this language is SO HARD!!!!! I think I am improving though. All last night all I could think about was polish. So I conjugated while I was laying there dizzy.
This week on Tuesday a member of the 70's came and taught us with his wife. They just moved from Japan a little over 4 months ago. So there Engrish is not very good :) It was so sweet though his wife tried SO hard to pronounce everything and you could still feel the spirit when she spoke.(Even if it didn’t totally make sense). It was really funny when The Elder put his slideshow up because it said things like "bear testimony" haha but it was still so good and I got so much out of it. I was even able to not laugh most of the time. :) It reminded me of Eileenie :) Ps you should tell her to write me because I don’t have her address.
It was fast Sunday this week and you will be proud of me!!! I fasted ALL DAY until like 5:45 that is the longest I have ever fasted in my life. I have never put my whole heart into a fast like that before. It was amazing. I can already see the improvement in my language abilities. We had mission conference and it was really good. They keep you nice and busy on Sundays. The greatest thing I heard was "Every success story is filled with Obstacles" I LOVED that! It’s so true! I also love that it applies to everyone not just missionaries.
We had our first TRC this week....It was all in Polish and oh man it was SO HARD!!! Sister Ence and I cried as soon as we got out of the first lesson and then cried during the whole second lesson. It was kind of a mess. We had no idea what they were saying and just made me realize how much my polish sucks. It was a good lesson though because sometimes the Lord has to let you fall down low before he can pick you up and push you higher. So I am hoping this week that TRC will be much better.
Ummm… one of my fav districts left this morning :( I am really going to miss them but we can write each other and be friends after. On a super happy note BRITTANY GETS HERE TOMORROW!!!! My roommate from school gets here! I have been counting down the days!!!! :) I can’t wait to see that girl!!! I think it will make my life. Also I got mail from Ben ray and Cami. I love getting mail. It’s seriously the BEST thing in the WORLD!!!
This week we started Christmas celebration and we talked a lot about Joseph Smith. I watched part of the JS movie on Sunday. That movie is SOOO GOOD! I love that man! I love our church so much. He is an example to all of us. He had so many trials but stuck by the Lord through it all. I love our Prophet so much and I am so grateful that through Joseph Smith we are able to have the gospel in our lives. I def wouldn’t be on a mission right now and that makes me sad. Well my time is out; I am going to go nap. I'm still dizzy :/ I love you all!!
Siostra Smithee
Ok so this has by far been the best week at the MTC EVER!!!! It was seriously the best Thanksgiving that I have ever had in my entire life. I did miss the fam but it was so great!!! So we got up that morning and went to breakfast and then they gave us personal time until 10:15 so I got to take a nap!!!! yay!!! Then we went to 19M to hear a devotional by a mysterious speaker. It turned out to be Russell M. Nelson and his wife! They both spoke to us. Elder Nelson told a story about how he was in charge of opening communist European countries for missionaries. He talked about Russia and how the government at first made it impossible for the church to be there. They prayed and one Russian sister went to Finland and got a Russian bible and Book of Mormon. Soon they had enough members to open Russia to the missionaries. That story touched me so much because I know that Poland has similar stories. Those people have been through so much and I am SO excited to go and teach them. I love the Poles so much already! Also Elder Nelson wanted me to tell you "thank you" basically thanks for sending me and supporting me out on my mission :) After our devotional Sister Ence and I walked to the temple. We listed things that we were grateful for in Polish. It was such a nice relaxing walk. I sure do love my companion a lot :)
Then we went and ate Thanksgiving dinner which was pretty good. We had Turkey and potatoes. The pie I must say was really not that great but I was so grateful for food. It was wonderful. We also sat with Elder Meline. He is one of the Croatians. He is dang hilarious.. Then we went and packed our sack dinners so nobody had to work that night. Well then we went to a presentation thing. They picked a couple of missionaries and they went up and did a skit. It was hilarious and it was of the first thanksgiving. We watched a little video thing and it showed different missionaries running to all the missions all over the world and we got to cheer when our mission came up. Then we sang hymns that reminded us of what we are grateful for. My new fav hymn is “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing.” It’s been removed from the hymn book…bummer. Then we went and ate our sack dinners in our room.
We then watched a humanitarian aid movie about Africa and all the church does. Our church is so amazing for humanitarian aid around the whole world. Then each table put together 160 first aid kits in assembly line fashion. All together we put together 8,000 first aid kits for the Sudan. After we went back to the big room and we watched a movie! 17 miracles. They gave us bags of kettle corn too. It was such a good movie. I cried..ha-ha, but yes it was seriously the most thankful best Thanksgiving I have ever had.
So earlier this week, D. Todd Christopherson came to talk to us it was also amazing. He talked on how things will be done the Lords way. He talked about how missions are challenging but they are the best challenge. We should work our hardest. Give everything that we have got and to have no regrets when it’s all said and done. We have only a short time to complete our mission but eternity to think about it. He even blessed all the missionaries watching his devotional that "everything that occurs on our mission will be swallowed up in the jot of Christ and come to feel like nothing" it was so cool. The spirit is so strong when apostles come and speak to us. I love love love love love being a missionary!! Another really cool thing about these devotionals is when we sing the Armies of Helaman they change the words to "we are now the lords missionaries" and the spirit is so strong. It’s amazing.
Polish this week is getting crazy. We learned more cases and the vocab is starting to stick. Sister Ence and I are getting a lot better at giving lessons. Two of our investigators committed to coming to church. Even though they are not like real they act like it. So it was really exciting for both of us. This week has been so great! I have been getting to know all of the Elders and sisters in our branch. They are all so much fun and such amazing people. They leave next week and I must admit I will be sad to see them go. I also love being a coordinating sister. Serving the sisters makes me so so happy! Ummm oh the night before thanksgiving Sister Ence and I were feeling a little rife with boyish attitude so we smelled the cream soda tree! There is a tree here and it seriously smells like cream soda. Currently it is roped off but we were a little crazy and smelt it. I even had an elder take a picture :) hah
Also the MTC puts Christmas lights up all over this one area and it is seriously like a winter wonderland! I LOVE it! The first time sister Ence and I saw it we both screamed with excitement. Then the elders screamed and made fun of us. It was funny.
I played Piano in sacrament meeting!!! It was SO scary. I basically hate playing in front of people. I have decided when I get home I am going to get better at piano so I don’t feel so retarded playing in front of people. The presidency was so thankful though. Well my time is almost up. I love you all so so soooo much! I love this church so much! I love being a missionary and I love the Lord and Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the atonement and all the blessings the gospel brings to everyone’s lives. Czesc!
Siostra Smithee
Hello everyone!. This week has been a really good one. Siostra Ence and I taught our first lesson in Polish without any notes to an investigator this week. It was SO hard but soooo good for us. It kinda helped me to focus on the words and phrases that I really need to work on. I must say though we would get nowhere if we didn’t have the spirit with us. It helps SO much. There are words I know that I would never remember and things that I say that I didn’t plan to say but I am prompted. Basically learning to teach by the Spirit is the greatest thing I have learned so far. I'm a Fan. So you asked me about P-Day. They are bomb. Basically we wake up, get ready, go get a sack lunch in SWEATS OR JEANS :D and then we eat breakfast in our room and write letters. Today I went and talked with Tanisha while she cleaned the bathrooms for her service project. I am SO truly grateful that she is here. On the downer days she has the best scriptures she has found while here. I def think the Lord planned this out right.
Did I tell you also that my last day in the MTC is Jan 9th! We are a Pilot program and they are going to see if we can learn Polish in 9 weeks instead of the usual 12.....We are not quite sure how we feel about that yet. Anyways, we get sack lunches on P-day and do our laundry in SWEATS OR JEANS, which I love a lot. We go to the temple at like 1:15 that is our session time. Then we come back and have a little bit time before dinner. Then Tuesday’s we have a super awesome speaker come. It’s usually an apostle or someone from the MTC presidency. They come and talk to us so right after dinner at 4:30, so like 5 ish. We go and find a seats and write letters while waiting for devo to start until like 6ish. So yep that is a typical P day. Also, our entire district will travel to Poland together on Jan 9th! I am SOOOOO excited to meet my mission president and his wife! Like SOOO very excited!
This last week we focused a lot on teaching so we got to teach in English for a little bit. Teaching is a lot harder than it looks sometimes but we are starting to get really good at it. Plus Sister Ence and I work SO well together. Usually when I run out of things to say she has something and we help each other. It’s nice when we have to speak Polish as well, because we both remember mainly the same thing but can also say different things. Sometimes though it’s really hard for her and I to not compare ourselves with the Elders (Mikoliski, shimanski, manwell) They are pretty good. So we are constantly praying and working on that. Also this week is thanksgiving! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!! Please take pictures at dinner and maybe you all could write me an e-mail or something. SO this year I am SO grateful for my family and the wonderful people that you are! I am so grateful for the love and support that everyone has given me. I am also so grateful to have the opportunity to be one of the Lord's missionaries. It’s the best thing that I have ever done and there is nowhere else that I would rather be. Having the Lord with me so much is SO amazing! Also I love wearing my tag to the temple and seeing people drive by and wave at me because I am a missionary. It’s like sunshine! This last week I saw a clip from a talk from Elder Holland called missions are forever and oh man if anyone you know is about to go on a mission or you are going on one WATCH IT! It was the most motivating talk I have ever heard. It was basically do not waste a minute. Get lost in the Work. It’s going to be hard but so very worth it. I am so happy to be out here and I am trying my best to work as hard as I can and not to waste a minute.
Oh also I am grateful for Priesthood blessings. This week I got this HORRIBLE migraine and was SO not feeling good. I went to the health place and they gave me Excedrin. I didn’t want to leave class because I figured I could hide my head in my hands and listen to Polish. So I went back but later got a blessing and it was one of the first times the elders in our district gave a blessing...they def dropped like half a bottle of oil on my head. So the rest of the day I could touch that spot and my hands would be SO oily. It was ok though because the blessing was so good and it made me happy that they were so nice and willing to give me a blessing. Elder Mikoliski, who is so great, offered before I even asked. What a great elder. Also my teachers for Polish are the BEST!!! I have Brat Rushton, Brat Broadbend, and Brat Hughes. We were going to have Brat Daly (Andjez) but he is super busy this semester and cant but it’s ok :) They have individual talks with us to help us figure out what to study on our own and help us teach. They are even SO nice to me when I cry in class! ha-ha! (sometimes it happens) Sorry this e-mail is so sporadic I keep thinking of random things so I am just going on with my thoughts. I have made lots and lots of friends. Oh! One exciting thing that made Siostra Ence and I's week. We are way good friends with the 2 elders that are going to Bulgaria. Our districts get combined most of the time because we are both really small. Well they have this tiny stuffed tiger. (Malik teigra) that is how you say it in Bulgarian. Well, we stole that tiger and left a ransom note in Polish. It sounds not exciting to you, but we laughed the whole time and got to practice our awesome Polish words! Oh Mom can you please send me my camera charger cord that came in the mail from Amazon? I would like to send pictures :) Also for Christmas I would like jeans and/or a camera picture chip or just candy and letters. That would be nice. Letters are probably the greatest thing in all the earth or e-mails anyone can e-mail me. I can print them out and then just write letters back plus I love reading e-mails sop yep. ALSO guess what I am making a lot of friends here! I am the coordinating sister and I LOVE all the new missionaries that came in! We even have a sister from Scotland and she is so cute. Today we were doing laundry and she asked me if I felt like a domestic goddess haha. I have lots of sister and elder friends it’s wonderful. Oh I saw Christopher again. Sister Ence and I were laughing like no joke a building away from him, and he said he could hear me coming because I was laughing so loud. Sister Ence and I laugh all the time and I dang LOVE IT! Oh one of the branch presidency’s wife comes and visits us. She said she will even bring us things from the outside world if we need, she also gives hugs, has really good stories. She is like my MTC mom and I LOVE it! Her name is Sister Melville.
Well my time is basically almost up. I love you all! I am so happy to be serving a mission! I love the Lord and am honored to be one of His missionaries! I cannot wait to bring the gospel to those in Poland! Only a couple more weeks! LOVE YOU!!!!
Siostra Smithee
