"Billingham Boanerges

Hello Family and Friends!

 

So as you can see from the subject this past week has been pretty good. My companion and I won a competition that our zone was having and we were awarded the ever so coveted Billingham Boanerges belt. It's basically a plastic wrestling belt that has been blinged out. Boangerges is a New Testament term and basically means sons (or daughters) of thunder. Jesus uses it in Mark 3:17 in talking about James and John. But now I am part of the Hall of Fame and hopefully we can keep holding on to it.

 

The fire alarm just went off in the library so we all had to leave for about 10 minutes so that was overly exciting and a bit dramatic.

 

It has been super windy here the last couple of days. Like, sometimes it is extremely hard to walk against the wind and you feel like you are barely moving. Plus, it's super fun getting to wear a skirt when it's windy. Yesterday we went to York for a Mission Tour meeting (hence why I am emailing today) and yours truly drove all the way there and back with three rowdy elders in the back. Just kidding they really weren't that rowdy but it was still super windy and the car kept swaying on the highway. A bit scary but it was all good.

 

The Mission Tour was really good. We received instruction from Elder Donaldson, one of the area authorities here, and it was really great. He talked about faith and said that we not only need to have the faith to pray but also have a prayer of faith. We need to make sure we are constantly pondering the things we pray for and sincerely ponder the answer we receive as well. He explained that when we act on our faith we gain power to do the Lord's will. It was super good.

 

Well, that's pretty much all of the super exciting things that have happened this past week. Of course, we continue to see many amazing miracles everyday and that's the blessing of being a missionary. I love you and miss you all tons!!!!!! Keep smiling and don't forget to clean behind your ears.

 

Love,

Sister Smith

"Miracle Mole"

Hello Family and Friends!

 

So we have been super busy this past week which is always really good. At the beginning of the week we didn't get to use the car because we didn't have any miles left for the rest of the month and so we did a lot of walking. Luckily these dancing feet are accustomed to pain and fatigue, but my companion wasn't so lucky. But she is strong and kept on walking with me and endured it with a smile on her face. We were able to start using the car again on Thursday and it has truly been a blessing since.

 

This past week we have been able to witness so many miracles! We were in a teaching appointment with an investigator who has been taught since November. She has a really hard time trusting her thoughts and her feelings so explaining how to receive answers through the Holy Ghost can be really difficult. But after we said a prayer with her last week she asked us if we ever felt a hot/warm feeling in our hearts. We just looked at her and smiled and she knew it was the Spirit. That's the first time I've ever been with anyone who has felt the Spirit like that for the first time. It was really great!

 

We are also teaching another man who says that one of the reasons he knows the church is true is because of his "miracle mole". He said he has had this mole his whole life and it has always really bothered him but since he started meeting with us it has disappeared. He's had other answers to prayers as well but this is the most unique one. God answers prayers in mysterious ways.

 

On Saturday the zone leaders came to see us in action so we went street contacting with them in the High Street and knocked a street with them. They gave us two challenges to accomplish. One of them was to ask someone for a bite of their food and the other was to street contact a group of six people. For the first challenge, I went and found someone I knew that worked in a shop and then had them give me some ginger snaps while the zone leaders were looking. But they said that was cheating, I said it was clever. Then I knew the second one would be difficult as well because not many people travel in a group of six. So I ended up going over to a bus stop where a group of about 15 people were waiting to get on a bus and I started loudly explaining the story of Joseph Smith to them and telling them about the Book of Mormon while the zone leaders watched from across the street. Some older woman started saying things back to me to the effect that they were all too busy to listen and everyone else just thought I was absolutely crazy but it was really fun. I know that I piqued the interest of at least one person there...

 

Well, I should probably get going but I hope you all have a wonderfully amazing week.  I love you all and miss you tons!! Don't forget to put petrol (gas) in the car... I almost did.

 

Love,

Sister Smith

"To Live Would Be an Awfully Great Adventure"

Hello Family and Friends!

 

So, yesterday was a bank holiday here in England so the library wasn't open, ergo why I am emailing today. So my daughter's name is Sister Stout and she is super nice. She is from Arizona (about an hour south of Las Vegas) and is abut 6 inches taller than me. I was pretty nervous about training but it's actually going pretty well. Plus she has a black belt so she can help me fend off the little children of Redcar now. It's also made me realize how far I have come in the past 6 months. I remember feeling so nervous and so overwhelmed when I first got here, but it now seems to come a lot easier now, something my trainer promised me everyday and something I promise my daughter everyday.

 

Yesterday, some pretty epic events happened. The first of which should come as no surprise to anyone and that is that after 6 months of fierce competition I finally won my first game of chair football! To be honest, it was a long time coming and I'm really grateful that I was finally able to achieve such great an accomplishment. After we played that we also played a game called Gatorball which my team continued to dominate in. We were all just really feeling the spirit and thus were able to work together really well. After that we watched Hook (hence the title of the email), which is on the approved movie list. Probably those who know me well know that Hook scared the bajeezies out of me when I was little and mom had to get me dreamcatchers so I would stop having nightmares from it. Luckily, I've grown up a bit so it wasn't as scary anymore, but some parts still gave me the shivers (especially the "boom box" with the scorpions).

 

Yesterday was also a really good day because I was able to witness a pretty neat miracle. A couple of days ago we were walking down the street and I saw this man ahead of us that was just about to cross the road. I felt like I should talk to him but he ended up crossing the road. I felt really bad that I didn't shout and stop him (the spirit was definitely rebuking me) and so without warning my companion, I ran across the road (dodging some traffic) and chased him down an alleyway. I was able to get a return appointment with him for last night. It turns out he is from the Philippines and his uncle and cousin were taught by missionaries (probably Keith Bradford) there and were baptized. He said he had sat in on some of the lessons back in the Philippines and had read about half of the Book of Mormon. We were able to talk with him and his wife last night and schedule a baptismal date for them! It was so amazing and really strengthened my testimony about following the promptings of the spirit. The church is so true!

 

Well, I've gotta bounce now and get back to doing some missionary work (which is going to involve a lot of walking because we don't have any miles left for the month --- which is not my fault because I gave some of our miles to the zone leaders because I'm just a super nice person like that). I hope you all have a tremendously good week! Don't forget to eat sweets sparingly!

 

Love,

Sister Smith

"I'm Gonna Be A Mommy!"

Hello Family and Friends!

 

So this past week has been pretty exciting. As you can all see it's transfers week, ergo why I'm emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday. I was pretty nervous because I really didn't know what was going to happen because I've been in Redcar for quite awhile and there was a chance I was going to get moved. Plus, this past transfer there has been a long running joke in the zone with all the elders that I was gonna train a new missionary this next transfer and as a good friend once told me, there's truth in every jest. So what happens during transfers week is that Monday night (at around 10) we get a call from the zone leaders and they tell everyone where everyone in the zone is going to. But starting at 9:00, President Lindley calls all the missionaries that are going to be training or becoming a district or zone leader. Well, the phone rang around 9:15 and it was from the Mission Home but we have really bad signal in the flat and the call failed. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous and my hands were shaking when I saw the caller ID. But no one rang back or anything so I just figured maybe he dialed the wrong number. Then at around 9:45, we got another call from President Lindley and he asked me to train one of the new sisters this next transfer in Redcar! So starting tomorrow, I'll be a mission mom and I'll have a mission daughter! When I found out I was nervous, but excited ("so I started singing a song called 'Nervous but Excited'"- Zac Efron quote from SNL skit). Hopefully all will go well. Pray for me! Sister DeLucchi is moving down the coast to Bridlington so she is pretty excited about that as well.

 

That's probably the most exciting thing that has happened this past week. I was asked by two Peruvian guys to go Latin dancing while I was street contacting people on the High Street. But don't worry, by the end of the conversation I had committed both of them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. That's how I roll. We also taught this man this week that LOVES America. He said (and I quote), "It's an honor to have two American ladies in the home with me and the Mrs." And he said that like three times. He is in his 40s and we are the first Americans he has ever met.  I've also decided that the best compliment that a person can give you is that they like your accent. Really I don't have to do much but talk and people love it. It's great, but I'm sure all of you have already been mesmerized by my melodic American accent so it's nothing I have to go into great detail about.

 

We also had Zone Conference this week and it was really good! It was all about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it was a really powerful meeting. We watched a video about a father who is a bridge master for a train and he has to sacrifice his son for the people on the train. It's really good and it's probably on YouTube so everyone should check it out. We also got to eat tacos and drink A&W Rootbeer while we were there both of which are novelties in England. The only reason we got them is because the meeting was in Harrogate which has an American Air Force Base. So that was really exciting.

 

Well, I'm gonna bounce now but I love and miss you all tons!! I hope you all have an amazing week! Don't eat too many sweets!

 

Love,

Sister Smith

"Long Overdue Pictures"

Sorry, it's not a lot but these are from Sister DeLucchi's camera.  Some are from Whitby and some are just fun ones. Enjoy! Hopefully, I'll be able to send some more soon!

 

 

Love,

Katie

"New Shoes"

Hello Family and Friends!

 

So I finally bought some new shoes. I still have my other ones and they're going stong with their super glue reinforcement but they weren't looking too hot. I don't want to look like a slob ALLthe time, especially since Zone Conference is tomorrow, so I invested in another pair of nice flats that I can wear to meetings and walk around a bit in. It'll be getting colder soon so I'll probably have to get some boots some time soon and I'm telling you all this because I know how much you all are interested in my shoe apparel.

 

So I was writing this email and then the internet went down so I had to change computers so almost my whole email got lost. Basically only the first paragraph as written above was saved. But let me try to remember what I wrote... This week was really good! It's amazing how the spiritual inspiration you receive as a missionary. It's great when you are prompted to go somewhere or to talk to someone and you are able to witness a mini miracle.

 

This week we were able to go to Leeds for a Leadership Training meeting. It was really interesting and I learned a lot. But it was also super exhausting. We had to wake up at 5 a.m. so we could pick up some elders at 6:30 and meet some more elders at 7 and then be in Leeds by 9. Then we were sitting in the meeting until about 4 (don't worry we got a lunch break and other mini breaks in between). Then we didn't get back into Redcar until 7. So it was pretty crazy but fun at the same time. It's always good to see other missionaries and spend some time with them.

 

I know there was more in the other email but I can't really remember it right now... Don't worry about the riots, I don't think anything too dramatic will make its way to Redcar. I love and I miss you all soooooo much! Don't watch too much tv!

 

Love,

Sister Smith

"Make Like Nike, Let's Do It!"

Hello Family and Friends,

I send friendly greetings from the seaside town of Redcar. Nothing extremely epic has happened in Redcar this past week but the weather has been quite nice which is good. However, for some reason I really like knocking doors in the pouring rain. I don't know why. And no, it's not because I think I'll get good "husband points" for doing it. I think I just like being out in the rain, I find it relaxing.

I know I am emailing a bit later than usual. We had zone pday today so we all met up early and studied together and then we did a picture scavenger hunt in Middlesbrough. My team definitely won but the zone leaders were being so judgemental and disqualified like 5 of our pictures. It's fine, they're elders and can be quite competitive so I just told them they won to appease them (but we all know who the real champion is).

Last week I had a really neat experience. We were street contacting on the High Street and I talked to this really nice woman and she had a young daughter. I was able to get a return appointment with her and she lived out in a small village called Brotton which is in my area as well. Then 15 minutes later I talked to another nice woman who I also got a return appointment with who lived in the same town so I made the appointments for the same night. Well, I went to the first one and she wasn't in and then I went to the second one and she was in so we were able to teach her. About 10 minutes into the lesson we figure out that the two women are actually sisters! How crazy is it that I talked to both of them and they both were interested. God works in mysterious ways. We are teaching them now and hopefully it will all work out!

Well, I don't have much more time because we still have to get groceries but I love and miss you all tons! I hope you all have an amazing week! Keep eating all your fruits and vegetables!

Love,

Sister Smith

P.S. The subject is just a phrase my zone leader said and I thought it was funny. Plus, everyone in England doesn't say Nikeee, they just say Nike. You know what I mean? And they call Adidas, Ah-dee-dahs. I keep telling them it's not spanish.