Wir Sind Sister Training Leaders Geworden!

Hi Everyone! It looks like another week has gone by. I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter. We are still celebrating it over here in Germany. Today is Easter Monday so it is a holiday and the whole world is shut down. Fortunately, our Internet cafe is run by a family of Muslims so we are still able to email you today which is a miracle. 

Easter Sunday was great. We didn't have a conference session to watch on Sunday until 2 in the afternoon, so an older lady in our ward invited Sister Earnshaw and I over for Easter lunch. It was probably the fanciest lunch of my life. Lots of schnitzel and potatoes of course, and a beautiful chocolate cake for dessert. The table was set so beautifully, it was a good thing I was wearing my nice Easter cardigan :) We were stuffed afterwards, but it was so nice of her to invite us over. 

On Saturday morning we got our transfer calls. Sister Earnshaw and I are both staying which is nice. We expected that, BUT there was a twist. Usually the zone leaders call you to tell you your transfer first thing in the morning at 7. They will either tell you that you are both staying, or that someone is being transferred. President or the Assistants will call you if you are going to be training or become a Zone Leader or Sister Training Leader. The Zone Leaders called us first and we just thought they were going to say that we were both staying, but they called to tell us that they didn't know what our transfer call was and we would have to wait for President to call. That was just mean. We were sitting on pins and needles biting our nails off. About ten minutes later, President did call us and said...we would be the new Sister Training Leaders for the Freiburg Zone. Did not see that one coming. My first thought was, I don't know if I have good enough hair for that job...but you can't say no for that reason :) I was a Sister Training Leader in the MTC, but my companion and I were the only Sisters in the MTC at that time...so basically, we don't really know what we're doing, but we are going to learn. Now we go to Munich once a month for Mission Leadership Conference, we arrange exchanges with the other Sisters in the zone, and we help out with zone training. I guess we actually have responsibility now, but it will be fun to try something new out. 

Last week, Sister Earnshaw and I were waiting for our tram to come and I started talking to an older man. He noticed me holding my Book of Mormon and asked if it was a Bible. I said no and got to talk about the Book of Mormon and how we also believe on the Bible. We had a really good conversation and he ended up telling me that his wife had passed away four weeks ago. That totally changed the mood of our conversation and I told him about the Plan of Salvation and that he could see his wife again. It was really cool to watch his face turn from downright sad, to really curious. We exchanged contact information and we had our first lesson with him on Easter Sunday. It was so cool. He really just wanted to know HOW it would be possible to see his wife again. He said that he feels less sad when he talks to us and that he's excited to pray and ask God to see if this is all true. It is things like that, that make my mission so worth it. We are meeting him again this coming weekend and I am excited to hear about his answer.

What did you all think of General Conference? Wasn't it so good! Prophets are the coolest. I took lots of notes and am so excited to read and reread all of the talks. I especially liked the one President Bednar gave about fear. Everyone is scared of things. It's normal. You can ask anyone in my family. I am the biggest worry wart ever. There are always 'what ifs'. There is always a seemingly unpleasant worst case scenario and as humans, we just don't like uncertainty, but as we look towards the Savior, we realize, that it is all going to be ok. For some reason, there is nothing more reassuring to me than when my Dad tells me that it is going to be fine. I remember going to Summer term at BYU and my Dad was about to leave for the airport, so it was the official goodbye. I was pretty nervous about not being in my comfortable house all summer with people I knew, but my Dad just said, trust me, it'll be great. He was right. It's the same with our Heavenly Father. The whole time, he has been telling us, 'it is going to be ok'. It's not going to be easy, but it's going to be fine. 

Anyways, I hope you all had a lovely Easter and got loads out of General Conference. Have a great week and make good choices!
 
Love,
Sister Smiley

Pictures: The district (we surrounded Elder Morey because this is his last transfer), we went bowling last p-day, and Sister Earnshaw and I couldn't resist some ice cream.

Starting a New Chapter

At O'Hare

On Tuesday morning we went to the Draper Temple with all of the departing sisters. It felt so good to be in my Father’s house. I felt at peace with what I had accomplished and that everything would be just fine after my mission. Later that day we had a departing dinner on the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had a wonderful view looking over the east side of the valley. After dinner we had a testimony meeting. President Gillette asked each of us to share what we learned on our mission that we are going to apply after. The first thought that came to my mind was “charity”. It was the Christlike attribute that I worked the most on developing. When I was in my fourth transfer with Sister Fogg we were in the West Gate booth and one time a man walked by and Sister Fogg said, “I wish I could go out and talk with him, he seems like he has a really great story”. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “I don’t want to go talk to him”. I was terrified of talking with people and didn’t care enough about them. I have really come to appreciate the importance of not just viewing people as someone else walking around the Square, but viewing people as a child of God that is important and needs to be loved and treated kindly just like everyone else.

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”—D&C 18:10

I want to apply that to my life. I want to be able to love people more and to think more of them and how I can serve them than what they can do or think of me. A desire to serve comes from the ability to love. In coming on my mission I’ve started to learn how to keep the first two commandments!

Matthew 22:36-39

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

What a blessing! I still have a lot to learn in that area, but I’m much better off than I was in the first place!

At about 7:00pm on Tuesday night, the night before I went home, it was Sister Bat-ulzii and my p-day. I had finished packing, I wasn’t going to write any letters, and Sister Bat-ulzii didn’t have anything to do either. We were sitting on our very hard and uncomfortable couch and she asked with a big smile on her face, “do you want to go to the Square?” It definitely was an out of the box idea because the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I thought I was all done with missionary work, but I thought, “why not?” We got back in our missionary attire and headed down to Temple Square for the last time. As we were leaving the apartment building we got a text announcing that they needed sisters to take the English part of a motor coach (most of it was in Mandarin). I responded as fast as I could and we got it. So we went down to the West Gate and waited for our people to come. The tour was with six people and it wasn’t a banging good tour, but it certainly was the best way to end my proselyting mission. Sister Bat-ulzii helped me to sprint to the very end. I am so grateful for her and her desire to serve the Lord.

In the basement of the North Visitors’ Center there is a quote in the “Love Thy Neighbor” exhibit that I love:

When we concern ourselves more with others, there is less time to be concerned with ourselves! ...The more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others—indeed, it is easier to “find” ourselves because there is so much more of us to find.

--Spencer W. Kimball

I know that when we are serving others the way that the Savior would, our lives are more fulfilling and have greater purpose. What a blessing it has been to serve Heavenly Father in this capacity, I will be forever grateful for this opportunity that I have had. Now I have a lifetime to live my life in a way that shows my gratitude!

MIRACLE Week!

Lorena got baptized and confirmed!!! That is the best news of the week. We talked to her Sunday night after her confirmation and she was just so happy. Now she has entered in by the gate and she'll have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost as well as a supportive ward. I'm so excited for her.

Here is another story for the week. We met Debbie and Robert a week ago on Monday. They were standing in front of the Brigham Young display in the South Visitors' Center and as missionaries do, we stopped to talk with them. I could tell right away that Debbie was interested, Robert less so, but we offered to show them around and Debbie was excited for it and Robert was being a supportive husband. As we talked with them we found out that Debbie had met with the missionaries about 12 years ago for a period of two years. That's a super long time to meet with the missionaries. At first she wouldn't even read the Book of Mormon, but as the missionaries started to show her how they teach the same doctrine she started to soften up to the idea. Well, now Debbie and Robert are retired and full-time RV-ers. They have been on the road since about March of last year going from grocery store food sampling job to grocery store food sampling job all around the country. They are originally from Illinois and they have family back there, but they haven't been back since they left. So that's their background story.

We took them to the Assembly Hall, the Tabernacle and last of all (my favorite miracle spot) the Conference Center. We first went to the Book of Mormon gallery to give Debbie a refresher course and to give Robert an introduction. The history of it and how it came to be made lots of sense to them. Usually that is a good sign. We took them right in front of the HUGE picture of Christ visiting the Americas, the one that you find in the front of cheap copies of the Book of Mormon, and read 3 Nephi 11:14-15 with them. The Spirit was definitely there. After that we went down to the auditorium. Just as we walked in and stood in front of the first row of chairs, knowing that they were feeling the Spirit, I asked them how they felt. They used lots of words to describe the warm comfort that that was there in that room. I love the auditorium of the Conference Center. There have been so many heavenly messages shared in there that it would be hard not to recognized the change in feeling coming in from the street. I told them that what they were feeling is called the Spirit. 

Since they are traveling around so much I wasn't quite sure if they would be able to be taught by the missionaries because I think they were only planning on being here for about three weeks. I offered the missionaries anyways and they really wanted to meet with them. So I got the address of their RV park and sent of the referral that same day with a note alerting the missionaries that they were only going to be in Salt Lake for a limited time. I also got their email address because they were just such a great couple that I wanted to be able to keep in touch with them (they don't really like phones much). A few days ago we sent them an email only half-heartedly expecting a response back because about 98% of the time we don't hear back. BUT they were so sweet and they sent us a reply! They told us that the missionaries had called them that night that we sent the referral and left a voice message. Then they met the next day and had met with the missionaries THREE times! AND they were planning on going to church this Sunday! They even really like these Elders too! Way to go Elders! We're probably going to meet them again this week with their missionaries here on Temple Square. I just love when these things work out.

Another miracle this week happened when I called Angela. She called in for a Bible back from mid-June. She was looking for a free Bible because she really wanted to make changes in her life and she knew that Christ could help. I found out that she is the mother of three children and she has a few mental health issues that she is working with. I offered her the missionaries and the chance to find out how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ could really help her make those changes that she wanted to make. We had tried to call to teach her over the phone a few times, but she didn't answer. This past Thursday I tried calling again and she answered! Well, she has met with the missionaries quite a few times, gone to church, AND she has a baptismal date for July 21! She says that she is really enjoying what she is learning and has even made some friends at church (I don't think she really had friends before). She told me that as she has been learning she has noticed an improvement in her mental health, she can be her self more which is absolutely great. The gospel of Jesus Christ really can change us into the kind of people that we want to be.

As for Independence Day. We had a usual day until about 8:00. We had a hotdog and then we went to the 26th floor of the Church Office Building. We had a music program where we sang hymns and patriotic songs. The most popular song of the night was "Scripture Power"--a Primary song. We had a good time with that one. Then when it was dark enough we watched the fireworks from up there. I learned that fireworks are really best viewed from the ground, but it was good. 

This past Sunday I also announced after Music and the Spoken Word in the Conference Center. That is where a bunch of Sisters announce for tours in their language. Since there are so many English-speaking sisters it has taken this long for my turn to roll around...it was the last time I could have possibly done it. It was kind of fun. We got a tour after that.

One more week...it's going to be great!

Teaching Miracles on Temple Square!

This has been a great week, especially for teaching our investigators. Remember Mike who I told you about last week? Well we've taught him twice now and he is amazing. Before he left Salt Lake he bought himself a Book of Mormon and he has been reading it. The first time we taught him we got to know what his expectations are and we explained our purpose as missionaries to help him come closer to God and Jesus Christ and that is exactly what he is looking for. We taught about who God is and what his relationship is with God. We read Alma 30:44 because I was thinking about how he has been out in the national parks and enjoying the beauty of this earth:

"But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

After we read this verse he told us that it answered one of his concerns. If there is a God, then why aren't their more signs of Him? Well, there are just signs all around us! It helped me realize that the Book of Mormon really does answer the concerns of the soul. We taught him how to pray and invited him to offer a prayer every day and he said that he would love to do that.

Last night we called Michael again and he kept his commitment to pray everyday. Sister Bat-ulzii and I shared with him a brief version of the first lesson: The Restoration and what we shared with him made sense, so that was good. He says that as he has been reading the Book of Mormon he really has been feeling closer to God...that promise that Joseph Smith extended that is in the Introduction of the Book of Mormon is true:

"Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

The past few days he had an earache and he told us that while he was talking with us on the phone his ear stopped hurting for the first time. He saw the miracle in it! Heavenly Father truly is touching his life! He said that he would be baptized too, he just wants to be more prepared for it, which is exactly what we are going to help him do!

We also taught Zach for the first time. Sister Bat-ulzii called Zach over the phone because his friend referred him. Zach is really interested to meet with the missionaries. We taught him about God and prayer and he basically already knew and agreed with everything that we taught him. We invited him to be baptized and he told us that he wants to be more prepared, but yes! So we are going to do our best to prepare him on his journey. We're going to be calling him next Sunday and hopefully sharing something new for him.

The best news of the week, though is this. We got a text from Lizbeth on Sunday evening:

"I would like to invite you both to my baptism this coming Saturday at 7:30pm. I will be happy to see you again! Thank you for your prayers!!!"

She is getting BAPTIZED on JULY 7th!!! This is a huge miracle! Two baptisms in ONE transfer! We called Lizbeth last night and she was so sad that we couldn't go (she lives in Las Vegas) and we were sad too. We told her that we would send a picture, though. She told us that her entire family goes to church with her: her daughter, husband, mother, brother, and sister. I was so happy to hear that this has become a family affair for them. I guess I'll just have to go to their sealing someday .

Amy is still excited for her baptism. She just got back from a handcart trek with her ward and she said that she had a great time. We're super excited to go to her baptism.

What incredible miracles!!!

Miracles on Temple Square

Sister Bat-ulzii and me

Sister Bat-ulzii and I met Amy yesterday! She came to Temple Square with her family and her missionaries for an investigator lesson. We talked a lot about vision and how things will probably be difficult at times, but if you keep your goal in mind you'll be able to reach it with Heavenly Father's help. She is excited to be baptized and she knows that it's true. 

We got a text from Lorena this week too:

"Hello Sisters! Thanks to God all my family went to church yesterday. The missionaries are teaching me all I need to know for the interview [for baptism]"

Yay! I love that she keeps us updated with what is going on in her progress.

Last week I told you that we were going to be having mission FHE. It was really fun. We had dinner at a park and a fireside at the nearby church building. The fireside was given by the Christiansens. They are the parents of four children with a very rare form of muscular dystrophy. It sounded like they spent about half of their time in the hospital. It was incredible to hear their story of faith and hope. They had a sure knowledge the God loves their family even despite ALL of the challenges they went through.

Yesterday we took a tour with a group of ten people from New Jersey. They came out west for their college geology class and each year this professor brings her students to Temple Square to hear about "the Mormons". While we were in the Tabernacle we asked if they had any questions...they had a TON of questions. It seemed like most of them were very skeptical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After the deluge of questions we tried to turn the walking lesson to a lighter level by sharing more about the pioneers so we took them to the handcart monument. On our way there Mike started talking with me and asking questions. He told me that his great grandmother was a member of the church and his mother told him that we pray for the salvation of our ancestors. So I told him about the temple and how we do baptisms on behalf of our ancestors...so we don't really pray for their salvation, but we try to help them with their salvation. It made sense to him. We ended up not talking about the pioneers very much because they had so many questions. They wanted to know if we have our own "Mormon Bible". Then answer is no, we read the King James Version of the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon. One of the women on the tour wanted to look at Sister Bat-ulzii's Book of Mormon so Sister Bat-ulzii handed it to her and she started flipping through it. She looked in the index for a long time and I'm not quite sure what she was looking for, but she held on to it for about 15 minutes. We went into the Assembly Hall and talked about how we worship on Sundays...it's not as surprising as people might think. Then we took them to the Christus. On the way to the Christus I found out that Mike was a philosophy/world religions major and he studied all sorts of religions but not specifically The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so he was really curious about it. He told me that while he had been on Temple Square that he just felt lighter. I told him that is what we call the Spirit and I compared it to how we feel in nature out amongst God's creations. He completely agreed and I taught him that the Spirit teaches us truth. He was just really, really interested so at the top of the ramp to the Christus we invited him to meet with missionaries. He was really excited about that idea so we got his information and we're going to try to call him on Friday and teach him more. It's incredible how the Spirit has so much power to teach us what is true. What a privilege it is to be a missionary and to help people feel closer to their Heavenly Father.

A Great Week For Our Investigators

Hi Everyone! Well, Sister Bat-ulzii and I had another week on the square. It was a good one. This past week we have had four referrals from Temple Square. I don't know when the last time was that I've had so many in one week. Heavenly Father really is blessing us. We haven't really taught any of them over the phone yet, so we'll see how those go...sometimes we never hear from those people again and you just hope that the missionaries there have gotten in touch with them.

We had leadership training this week. It was in President Gillette's son's mother-in-law's home (hopefully that relationship makes sense). It was a huge and beautiful home where just about everything in it has a story behind it. This home was up on a hill so you could see all of the Salt Lake Valley from the backyard. The leadership training was mostly focused on following the Spirit and teaching to people's needs, not just teaching for the sake of teaching. I read a really good article in the July Ensign about teaching the gospel...something to look forward to when that Ensign comes.

The best part of my week happened at 11:39pm on Sunday night...here is some background information: A few weeks ago we taught Lizbeth how to fast because she was going through some difficulties in her marriage. Her husband wasn't on the same page as her when it came to learning about the gospel as well as some other things. We invited her to fast for her family that Sunday and she sent us a text that next Monday telling us that she did. So this Sunday at 11:39pm (Lizbeth doesn't need to be in bed at 10:30pm ) we got this text from her:

"Sisters My husband went to church with us today!!! I believe that he was touched by the Holy Spirit because he cried a lot. God is doing an extra ordinary job with our family. Thank you very much for your prayers. God bless you both!!!"

I love seeing how the gospel is really blessings Lizbeth's family.

This Sunday we had the Finish Strong meeting. The Finish Strong meeting is for all of the departing Sisters and their companions. I can hardly believe that I'm already at this point in my mission. Basically the purpose of the meeting is to encourage us to keep working hard until the very end. That is something that Sister Bat-ulzii and I are working on in our companionship too. Our goal by the end of this transfer is to be equal teachers. I read chapter 7 in Preach My Gospel today about learning a language to find some ideas that we could implement in our companionship to really help Sister Bat-ulzii feel more comfortable with English and to help her feel more successful as a missionary. She has SO much potential and such a beautiful testimony and I want her to feel that way too.

Today we are having a mission FHE. I don't know what prompted the idea, but it sounds like it is going to be lots of fun. We're going to President Seppi's house (President Seppi is in the mission presidency) and having dinner and some kind of fun activities. I think it will be a good way to spend a p-day.

OK, just literally one minute ago our investigator, Amy who lives in Utah that I told you about a few weeks ago, called our cell phone and told me that she is GETTING BAPTIZED on JULY 12!!! SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!? I'm glad she called just in time for me to include that in this email...Being a missionary is great.

I Love Being a Missionary

Let me tell you why Sister Bat-ulzii and I are starting p-day 30 minutes late today. It starts with yesterday when we spent six or seven hours on the square and we talked with SO many people. We invited 18 people to meet with missionaries...that is a LOT for just one day and they were all wonderful people. With each person that we talked to that day I could feel that none of them were quite interested to learn more. You would think that after inviting 18 people our odds would be pretty good of having at least one of them want to learn more. Well, odds has nothing to do with how Heavenly Father works. We were just wonderfully tired by the end of the day. Last night I wrote in my journal that it is really hard to find the needle in the hay sometimes, but I know that there is a needle there. 


Today we were on the square and we stopped in front of the doors on the west side of the South Visitors' Center for just a moment. During that moment three people walked in the door--two women and a man who were in their later years. One of the women introduced herself as Brandy and told us that she had been here about 20 times and just knows everything but she wanted us to take her and her aunt and uncle around on a tour. Her aunt and uncle, Kristen and Mark, were visiting from Mississippi for a few days. We took them outside to the handcart monument and explained a little about the sacrifice of the pioneers in coming to the Salt Lake Valley. I told the William Palmer story about how he didn't think he could make it to Salt Lake, but each time he got to the point where he thought he was going to have to give up the cart would start to push him. He would turn around each time to see who was there, and there was no one. William knew that it was the angels of God that were helping him on his way to where he needed to go. I asked them if they had ever had experiences like that in their lives and each of them nodded their heads, "yes". Brandy told us that Kristen and Mark had been through many, many trials in their lives. I asked them what helped them through it and they said, "just lot of faith". They were certainly some humble people. As we were leaving the tabernacle I felt like we should go to the basement of the North Visitors' Center and show them President Monson's testimony of the Savior and the Book of Mormon. There is a part in his video where he poses the question from Job, "If a man die, shall he live again?" and I felt like that was something that they needed to hear--that if a man dies, he shall live again. As we were walking to see the video, Brandy told me about how her father had died and how Kristen and Mark had lost many people in their lives. You can always count on the Prophet to bear powerful testimony of the Savior and the Plan of Salvation. It brought Brandy to tears and I could feel the Spirit there. We went up to the Christus and the Spirit followed us there. Sister Bat-ulzii and I bore our testimonies of the Savior and Sister Bat-ulzii asked an inspired question, "would it be important to you to know if God had called a prophet again?" Mark and Kristen slowly and thoughtfully nodded "yes". I've come to recognize the slow and thoughtful nod and I knew that they would want to learn more. They do. 

As for Lizbeth, things are coming along for her. We received a text from her yesterday:

"Hello Sisters Smiley and Bat-ulzii!!! Everything is going ok. Thank you very much for your prayers! I went to church yesterday. Today I am going to the family night with other members. The missionaries are teaching me the steps prior to baptism. Greetings!!! God bless you both!!!"

...I love the fruits of missionary work.

This morning Sister Bat-ulzii and I went to the temple. They are going to close the temple for cleaning soon so we needed to go before we missed our chance. It was a wonderful way to start our day. 

This past Sunday I gave another talk in a sacrament meeting. Sometimes Sisters from the Temple Square mission go and give talks in other congregations in the area. Sister Bat-ulzii, Sister Nakajima, Sister Albanes, and I went to the East Mill Creek 7th Ward and we each gave a talk. It was Sister Bat-ulzii's first time giving a talk in English and she did an absolutely stunning job. The simplicity and purity of her testimony about prayer touched many hearts. Sister Nakajima talked about scripture study and then we had to do a "special" musical number. This musical number was very special because it was the first time that Sister Nakajima, Sister Albanes, and I had ever sung at the podium in a sacrament meeting before. Sister Bat-ulzii was at the piano and we sang "I know that My Redeemer Lives". I put my best smile on and hoped for the best. It turned out well. Sister Albanes spoke about church attendance and I was the final speaker and my topic was missionary work...imagine that! The inspiration for my talk was the words of the Savior to his Apostle Peter in Luke 22:32--"[...]when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Missionary work is about strengthening people by bringing them closer to Christ. We can bring people closer to Christ by inviting them to come see the joy of living the gospel and the path back to our Father in Heaven. Before I started my talk I had about 10 minutes to speak and I was worried that I wouldn't have enough to say to fill the time. I guess one of the blessings of being a missionary for over a year is that you can talk about the gospel for much more than ten minutes worth of time. I had prepared more than I had time to talk, so I finished up my talk at ten minutes and it turned out alright. It was really fun to be back in a family ward and outside of Temple Square for just a few hours.