February 16, 2015

Things have been going really well! I hope you are having a great president's day! I have to go soon, so this is a poopy letter. sorry.
Today is transfers. I'm staying in Burnsville and training again so I'll get a new companion on Wednesday.
Sorry I have to go! things are great, I love being a missionary, work on finding a black baby for me, k?! thanks!
This is a pic of the bag I crocheted for sister Neville. 

have a great week! 

love, sister terry

Actually, funny story really quick.
We are working with this Sudanese family that is less active. and we were talking with the kids. They have a daughter who is 12 and a son who is 7 and then a 3 year old. So we ask the girl where her Book of Mormon Stories book is. and her 7 year old brother says that it's in her closet and I ask him how he knows that and he was like, "oh I was sitting in her closet earlier today. and I was like, "why" and he just goes, "well, I was bored!" It was hilarious. but now I'm 99% certain that will be me. I'm not going to have any social after the mish but I'll just sit in your closet and read until you come home :)
I love you!  (Funny thing is that she doesn't know she will be working at a track meet the first two days she is home!  hee hee)

Sisters Terry and Neville

the Mkwaptira's baby boy

Yep, she knitted a tie!

At first I thought the Elder was proposing.  Now I see that it's all Sidney's fault.

Burnsville District

February 9, 2015

MOM.

I am so jealous of your 60 degree days! ahh life is so cold in Minnesota! But on the bright side I shaved my legs the other.... month. So they aren't so hairy anymore.

hmm the food I eat. Well actually there was a guy we talked to the other day. and he was a nutrition major. he told us that the healthiest way to eat is to fast in the morning and eat a big meal at about 3:00. no joke. it's called interminute fasting or something (she means intermittent). Look it up. But I don't do that. I just eat a banana in the morning. or cheerios. and then I eat pb&honey for lunch. or a quesadilla. or potatoes. I eat a lot of potatoes and rice. mostly a lot of rice. it's a staple for Minnesotans and Africans. and sister Neville likes eggs so we eat some of that. and some wraps. or yogurt with granola. I dunno. I just eat food.

Sounds like you've had a good week! I totally know what you mean about agency though. Sometimes I just want to shake these less active people. There are so many people who stopped coming to church just because someone said something mean and they got offended. Sorry, I didn't realize that you joined this church because it was fun. haha these crazy goons. Sometimes we forget the real purpose of things .that we are trying to come closer to our savior and receive his grace. I feel like that's one of the things I focus on a lot when we teach the plan of salvation. God gave us this great gift of being able to choose. And he expects us to. He doesn't want us to be slothful, or be compelled to do everything. We have to make that choice ourselves. And we show our love to God by the choices that we make. Ahh clearly that's a passionate subject for me.

But sites in b-ville! uh... apartments? haha there isn't many sites. in general Minnesota is SO pretty. just so many trees and it's so green! there's a sledding hill somewhere in Burnsville but since we aren't allowed to sled I don't even know where it is. most of the pretty sites and fun adventures are "up north" no joke. Everyone travels up north to do anything. Except maybe ice fish. you can do that anywhere. they aren't joking about the 10000 lakes.

p-day. I like to nap. no. I don't ever do that. right now I'm doing a lot of crocheting or knitting on p-days. or we spend time with the zone. we hang out as a zone a lot. like pretty frequently. So we usually play volleyball. or whatever I tell the zone leaders that I want to do.

um, so I want a baby to be at the airport when I get home. so I can hold him/her.
the Mkwapatira's had their baby on Sunday. we got to go and visit them. AHH too cute. a black baby. my favorite. can you make that happen for me? and I want everyone to wear a doo-rag

I love YOU!

sorry my letters have been lame. I'll talk to you in... a few months (I'm extending my mission for 6 months:) )

love, Sister TERRY

February 1, 2015

Dearest Mom,

How did the superbowl go? I didn't ever realize that it was yesterday until we started knocking on doors and everyone was drunk and busy. haha how lame.

um, so we don't really have much time to email but things are going well! I love being in Burnsville and we are seeing so many incredible miracles everyday! God is So good.

So one of the elders in our ward had to give a talk last week (did I tell you I gave a talk a few weeks ago? haha I still get SO nervous being up there and start shaking so bad. how embarrassing. obviously I am an introvert.)

But anyway, he gave a talk and shared a really cool poem. so I'm going to use the remaining time of emailing to write out this poem to you:


The alarm rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet
I grab my companion’s bedding and pull off his sheet.
A groan fills the room, "Is it already time to arise?"
It seems like just a second ago I was able to shut my eyes

The morning activities follow - study, prayer, and such
When it's time to leave the apartment you feel you haven't accomplished much.
"We have a super day planned" my comp says with a grin
I slowly utter a faithless breath, "yeah, if anyone lets us in."

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street
prepared to face another day of humidity and heat.
It's 9:30 in the evening; the day is almost through;
my companion and I are riding home, not accomplishing what we thought to do

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate, "air box"
We got up to our apartment, the day is now complete
the only thing to show our work is a case of blistered feet.

It's past 10:30 pm, my companion is fast asleep,
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
in the midst of sadness I kneel down to pray;
I need to talk to Father, but I'm not sure what to say.

"Oh Father," I begin "What happen to us today?
I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away.
My hands, my aching hands, worn, hurt and beat
If our area was any smaller, we'd have knocked every street

Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike.
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me.
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes; it's very hard to see

Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough?
people always laugh at me and call me stupid stuff.
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack;
I want to give them Books of Mormon; the weight of them hurts my back

And what about my family? They don't have much to say,
I'm sick of not hearing from home, day after day after day.
Oh Father, why am I here, am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry, but that's on my mind.

My companion, Heavenly Father, What are you giving me?
The way he rides his bicycle, I don't think he can see.
Now you have it, I can't go on; I don't know what to do.
That, my Father in Heaven is the prayer I have for you."

My prayer now finished I stand up, then jump right into bed.
I need my rest for tomorrow; we have another long day ahead.
Sleep starts to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time and another day

I'm standing alone on the hill, the view is very nice.
A man walks towards me and says, "My name is Jesus Christ."
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to his feet.
"Arise" he states, "follow me to the shade, you and I need to speak"

My attention's toward the savior, total and complete.
He says, “Your mission is similar of what happened to me.
I understand how you feel, I know what you're going through;
In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you.”

“I even know how you felt when no one listened to you.
At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do.
I know you don't like to ride a bike, for you a car would be sweet;
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds.”

“I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something you hate;
I remember when I sweat blood from every pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don't like your companion- you'd rather have someone else.
I once had a companion named Judah who sold my life for wealth.”

“It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you.
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews.
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack.
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back.”

“Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day.
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see.
I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father why hast thou forsaken me?"

“We have a lot in common, but there's a difference between us you see;
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me."
He embraced me with his arms, his light filled me with his love
With tears in my eyes I watched as he went back to the Father above.

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head.
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed.
My companion let out a groan, "6:30 already, no way!"
I sat up and said, "Come on, I'll carry your scriptures today!"

No matter what we go through, when we feel we can't take any more,
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ, he's been there before.


And that's the end of the poem. I love you and I have a testimony of the restored gospel. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is the power unto the salvation of the children of men. And I am so thankful for my savior and redeemer, and most especially the opportunity to represent him.

Love, Sister TERRY

January 26, 2015

Hello MOM!

Um, did you mean where do I go to email? since I don't think I have written you a letter for like, 5 months. I assume that is your question. Well for the most part we go to the library in Savage. it's off of McColl Dr and County Road 27 if you want to google map it. But last week we emailed in a member's home and I used an ipad. Which was the most miserable experience ever, and as Riker can attest the writing was not well done.

hmm well my deaf hispanic investigator did not last very long. she loved what she was learning, and loved our focus on the youth. But she's part of a huge deaf church that's catholic. The combination was just too appealing for her to try and investigate the church. But we did have a miraculous Sunday where 3 of the less active families that we have been working with came to church! It was so wonderful for them to be there. Then later on that night we got a call from one of the moms and she thanked us for helping her and her family come. She had missed taking the sacrament so much and was so glad that she could be there once again. I feel like lately I have been focusing so much on the social conversion and trying to help the people that we are working with feel comfortable around us and feel like they have friends but that phone call was a wonderful reminder of the thing that is most important. The Sacrament, and the doctrine of the church. I absolutely love all the ward members and people that I have met that are part of the church, but even more than that I know that this is Jesus Christ’s church and where I need to be.

Today's p-day involves hanging out with the zone, playing minute to win it games and some volleyball!! woot woot! I have been talking trash to the zone leaders all week long about how I'm going to win, so the competition is on! I'm pretty stoked to defeat everyone. hahaha

yes I got your package, thanks for the yarn! I made a bag for my companion out of the muliticolored one. I'll have to send you a picture. I think it looks just horrid. But she got a lot of compliments on it when she used it at church (to be realistic the compliments were made by really old ladies and you can't really trust their taste in style, nor their eye sight.) but then I'm making a scarf with the other one. I'll probably send it home for you. :)

Well, speaking of a Church tour, we actually took an investigator on my very first Church tour! It's just so weird cause in this area people are so hesitant about coming to church. Like it's going to be incredibly painful or something. So now we do bible studies at the church on Thursday evenings, and then on Saturday we did a church tour with our investigator Paulina. She LOVED it. it was so cool. she just kept talking about how she feels the spirit. And at the end as she was walking out she said, "I love this church, it is so beautiful" ahh and it's the true church too. so bonus.

Things have been going so great, and God is helping us so much with his work. I wish I had time to write about all the miracles that we have seen. it's just too great to even mention all of them! We got to go biking this week, which was wonderful! we helped a family move, and shared the restoration with TONS of people! yay!

Love you. see you soon. keep being awesome!



Love, Sister Terry

January 19, 2015

Hello mom! This email will be super short. Sorry.

But the gps did come, ask me if I figured out how to work it...... No. #technologyisnotmyfriend but I might just pray really hard for the Holy Ghost to enlighten my understanding of it.

I can't believe Brianne already came home, and gave her homecoming talk. Ahh time is my enemy. It's going by so quickly. Hmm as far as sending me stuff. NO! I already have tons of stuff. It's ridiculous. I think I'm good most likely. Just start saving your money so we can go shopping when I am home. Have you started job hunting for me yet? And when are Camie and Jeff moving back down to Utah county? Before I come home?

Sister Neville does not like to run, nor does she run. She's just a trooper and puts up with my crazy obsession and is willing to walk outside while I run back and forth across the street. Which is good because I challenged Elder Caskey to a race when we get home, and word on the street is that he's been training hard. Luckily it's been pretty warm lately, so we get to go out a few times a week. 

So we were teaching this lady the other day and in the background her grandchildren were watching Frozen, from the little bit that I saw it seems like a pretty good movie. However Demi Lovato's song at the end ruined the spiritual powerhouse we had going on. Well I guess I'll just have to "let it go" hahahaha I'm hilarious. 

Things are going really well, our teaching pool is expanding. We brought a mother and daughter to church this Sunday. The mom is from Mexico and she is deaf. But she can speak english and read lips. It's pretty incredible. I love meeting these people who have overcome such crazy adversity in their lives. So cool!
I love you a lot, and hope that you have a great week! See ya in 9 weeks!

Love, sister terry

January 12, 2015

MOMMMMMMMM!

Hello! Well this week, as always is a fun adventure! haha mission life is so great! I love it! Well poor Sister LaBlanc is still not taking her medication. So things have been hard for her, but there is not much that we can do for her right now.

um, yeah, the weather has been a wee bit dreadful. but that's okay. My 3 fleece lined tights I wear everyday keep me warm! in fact, sister Neville and I have a deal, if it is above 0 in the morning we go running outside. It's quite a sight! 3 layers of tights, 2 hoodies, a hat and then a scarf makeshift face mask. So good. I love it! haha being in Minnesota has definitely grown my affection and love for Utah weather. I will never complain about it being cold there ever again!

hmm well today. we aren't doing much. Sister Neville likes to take naps and write letters. So mostly I crochet. or knit. haha #hatsfordays Except I don't know any patterns, so it's another adventure!
Well........ I don't know what else to say. I'm going to start making a list of fun things I did this week. sorry. Oh! I went to the temple! that was good! I watched the first new video. I still haven't seen the most recent one. So one day I hope I can see it.

LOVE YOU!
sister TERRY

January 5, 2015

Oh my goodness, my week was CRAZY. Get this. Last Saturday we went to the baptism of Musa Monseray. We brought an investigator and her returning less active friend. Now during the half time show the missionaries showed the video "None Were With Them" right after that our returning less active stands up and proceeds to tell us all that Jesus Christ was not perfect. He had a perfect soul, but we can be just like him and he was just like us.

Pretty crazy right? We were a little alarmed and decided to teach her about Jesus Christ in the next lesson that we have. But then on Sunday right after the opening song she FREAKS out, stands up and walks out. So we follow her out and ask what's wrong and she keeps saying that this is not her church and that she has to leave. And as I try to pull her aside and talk to her she just looks at me all crazy and says, "I'm awake, I'm here and you don't recognize me." and I'm like "what do you mean?" and she repeats it. and I'm like, yeah I know you! and she goes, "don't you recognize who I am?" So keep in mind that I have a new trainee that is just following along behind me and I'm like holy crap this lady thinks that she is Jesus Christ. So she storms off and I'm sorting out the possibilities of what just caused that to happen: Possible possession, becoming schizophrenic, maybe personality disorder. like who knows. So we inform leaders and what not, and they say to keep reaching out and they will figure some stuff out.

On Monday a lady in relief society calls us saying that our friend called her pretending to be an Yvonne, and had a super dark voice. So we were wigged out and I called our friend and she was rambling about storming out of a bible study and walking home and seemed very mentally unstable. So we drove over there to visit and she proceeds to tell us how she became Jesus Christ the day before but now she had done something bad and God withdrew his spirit. It was nuts. But in between all the crazy talk she said that she stopped taking her bipolar medication. So we left because we had district meeting but she called twice while we were meeting with out district and we kept in contact.

The rest of the week were periods of visiting her regularly, her getting priesthood blessings, getting kicked out of her home, returning to her mom's place and just one second being normal the next second just completely irrational. Friday our ward mission leader called us at 5 in the morning to say that she's been calling him to try to get him to come pick her up from her parents because they are "the devil" Literally it has been the most chaotic week I have EVER seen on my mission. And my poor little companion had no idea what was even going on... ahh it was very frustrating. and exhausting. Especially the waking up at 5. But then she tried to kidnap her niece because she's Jesus and her parents are the devil. She got arrested and is now in the hospital getting the help she needs. So a happy ending, but an emotional rollercoaster of a week. In all of this I have learned how vast our baptismal covenant is of bearing one another's burdens. That that is what is expected of us, what we promised to heavenly father that we would do. And that's why he can trust us with his children, because he knows that we will love them and help them.

Side note- on new years eve I aroused myself at 11:58, tried to wake up my companion but nothing could disturb her slumber and took some pictures of me and her. Woot woot! ringing in the new year with style! I'll have to send you the pictures next week. :) also we did some zumba and played apples to apples with the sisters in the zone.

Good luck with school, play hard and probably work harder.

What I've been thinking a lot about lately is the power of perception and self talk. You know that quote, "whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." and how true it is. That's the greatest part of faith, that as you believe in God and Jesus Christ you can expect that they will help you in your life. And as you are obedient to His commandments you know that you will receive blessings. So why not expect success? That's what I want to work on more, is expecting that miracles will happen, working my bum off till they do and in all things give thanks.

But also, my goal for this year is "to be captained by Christ, motivated by Christ, literally lighting motivational fires in others because I, myself, am on fire." and doing that by working hard and expecting success. Being a man of my word, honest in very action and deed, living spirit of the law and letter of the law. And subjecting the natural man. Starting with being healthy and not eating sugar as well as to work when I don't want to work and not ever stop going! Here's to 2015!

Love, Sister TERRY

Sidney, Musa, Sister Smith