My first transfer

Waaaaah!

They're moving me away from Hermana Green!!

This is something I definately DO NOT WANT but when God wants you somewhere else the best thing to do is say 'Sir, Yessir!' and go. Which I'm doing, with a minimum of whining.

I'm being sent out to the Katy area, to a Ward named Bearcreek I think. My new Companion's name is Hermana Christianson. I've never met her before but from what I've heard she is very nice and cute and wears flowers in her hair all the time. Hermana Green doesn't know her well but said she's very Fairy-like, and Hna. Christianson's Trainer Hna. Lillywhite said she is like Glenda the Good Witch. So I'm thinking she will be a good person to have as my 'Greenie-Breaker' (which sounds harsh, but that's the nickname of the Companion you have after your Trainer)

Hermana Green is Training again too, so she's staying in Gulfbank until the end of her mission.

I go tomorrow, today is my last day with Hermana Green and to meet any of the people from the Area and Ward I've been serving for the last three months.

Yesterday a Recent Convert who thought he would never see me again tried to hug me! I don't think anyone's explained to him that while serving Missionaries can't hug anyone of the opposite gender! I had my hands on his shoulders and was repeating "No! No! No!" with a smigeon of despiration. Looking back on it now I actually think it was pretty hilarious, haha!

I actually accidentally hugged one of the Senior Missionaries last week after hugging his Wife! I gave him a sidehug because he put his arm out, then realizing what I had done I drew away with a horrified gasp of "Oh no!" and you know what he said? He just grinned and said "Well it's too late now!" I ran down the hallway crying "Hermanaaaaa! I just hugged Elder Chestnut!" And heard the couple behind me just bust out laughing. Later when we were leaving the Mission Office Sister Chestnut told me, "I think he wants another hug." And they laughed when I hid behind Hermana Green. I was so mortified but they were just highly amused.

Hmmmm, I'm not thinking of anything else really. Just send any mail to the Mission Office address of: 16623 Hafer Rd, Houston TX 77090. At least until I figure out what my new address is and reply to the mound of letters that suddenly all attacked me at once! So if you're waiting for a letter, I have it I just need to get though them in order.

Love and Stuffies!
~ Hermana Smart

Our Zone

2nd transer Zone meeting

Some fantastic dancing

July 19

Ahhhh! This is the last week of my second Transfer! ALREADY?! Que Paso?

This means that at the beginning of next week either I could be moved to a new area, or Hermana Green moved away and I get a new companion and I have to be the expert on the area we have! Or something wonderful could happen and we get to stay together another transfer. I'm actually hoping that we can train one of the two new Spanish-speaking Hermanas coming in next transfer.

I've almost been here three months! Twelve weeks! Eighty-four days! Two-thousand and sixteen hours! And I won't even calculate the minutes and seconds because this is just getting ridiculous!

Okay in other news... hmm. Well for anyone that felt acute concern for me hearing that there had been a hurricane don't worry too badly. There are apparently quite a few hurricanes every year so they are common. It's just how strong are they and where do they actually have land-fall are the worries. Hurricane Alex, my first one, hit down in Mexico. We just had crazy rain for a while from it. We had a Tropical Storm a little while back, I don't believe it got a name. I fine much enjoyment when it is overcast and raining, especially because often we get to watch and hear the results of thunderstorms (which are entirely EPIC in Houston just so you know.)

Also a note worth making is for the next two weeks anyone sending me mail should send it to the Mission Office address not to my apartment to avoid it getting lost and I never recieving it, considering that I'm going to be possibley changing residences.

And a kind of big occurance to report is we just had a meeting this last week where we were informed about then instructed in a new 'Simplified Curiculum' that is being put out by the Church for Missionaries. It involves adding chapters to the Preach My Gospel manuel. They're telling us now so we can begin implimenting it before they start changing the teaching in the Missionary Training Centers next year. The President, Zone leaders, and District leaders spent three days last week in meetings for ten hours each day learning about the new Simplified Curiculum. Hermana Green and I are excited! We're doing our best to be Early Adopters of a good change and are already beginning to not only improve our study but also impliment it in our teaching as well. Good things are ahead!

That's all I have to report.

Have fun and read your Scriptures until next week!

Con Amor
~ Hermana Smart

Just a little something for the celebration!!

July 12

Whoa, craziness! I'm almost to the end of my second Transfer in the Mission! When did that happen?!First on my list of stuff to inform you of is that we have a Progressing Investigator with a Baptismal Date! Yaaaay! She is the most adorable little woman! She comes up to my shoulder (I'm going to feel SO short when I get home, I'm used to being taller than the men here!) and she is very soft-spoken and polite. She accepted the invitation to be baptized this week and is a joy to be with. And just icing on the cake her little dog had puppies! So we get to see those adorable little peritos when we visit, and the Pera likes us now so we can actually pet them a little. She told us that eight days before we met her that she had been at the Pulga (flea market) looking for items for a party she was halping to plan. Missonaries take turns at a table talking to people and extending invitations to learn and in that instance they had talked to her friend but not to her. Then we came a little over a week later and she said that she felt special because the Lord had sent us just for her. And it's true! I believe that 100%, we are guided to those who have been prepared to recieve us and our message. We had actually been checking on a Referal that was bad (meaning someone gave us a fake name and address) then decided to go knocking on the street. That is how we met this wonderful woman. If we just keep walking, keeping faith active, then the Lord can guide our footsteps. But God cannot drive a parked car. We have to be in motion and trust that we are where we have been sent for a reason!We also have two other Progressing Invesigators, but they will lose their 'progressing' here soon if they miss out on church another week. But they appear honestly interested in learning and ask REALLY good questions. Which is wonderful! We love questions with the intent to further edify! I just really like it when I understand what they are asking, haha! Sometimes I can even answer too!Whoops, outta time!Catch y'all next week.Same Missionary time, same Missionary channel.~ Hermana Smart

July 5th

Yay for my first Hurricane!Well okay, Alex was technically in Mexico, but the effects reached us up here in Houston! Practically ALL last week it was overcast and I LOVED it! Reminded me of home and spared me the effects of exposure to direct sunlight. On Friday though it rained like a day in the time of Noah, and it flooded too! It flooded the streets so bad that we actually had to make a U-turn on an on ramp for the highway to avoid a sudden lake with stalled cars in it. Then we kept trying to get back to our area and had to abort and try another way because of flooding. THEN while trying to get to an appointment we parked the car out of the way and walked down two streets shin-high in water holding our skirts up. It was CRAZY. There was water up to people's doors in some places, others had their houses elevated and looked like they were still fine. Some places were deeper than others and when we finally got to the house, no one was home... The other appointment we went to no one was home either. The area was Flooded! Where else could they have been?! It was actually really fun walking around in the water and we got pictures and video on Hermana Green's camera! Althought I might have ruined the pair of shoes I was wearing.... and now I have a cold. We were soaked from the rain and our feet were wet part of the day, so it's not suprising actually. At least we could finally enjoy the Heated Seats feature in our car, haha!I found out that the names of all the Hurricanes in a year are actually picked out in advance! There's a list you can go find and see what the next hurricane's name is going to be! I only saw the list for a moment, could someone find the list and send it to me? I would like to know!Also a Recent Convert who is AWESOME about coming with use to teaching appointments (He actually calls us when he doesn't have work and asks to accompany us!!!) gave my Companion and I each a little Texas-themed Snowglobe! My first souvenir! Mine has a Texas flag inside and the base has a long-horded steer, a sod house, a cowboy, and a space rocket! So fun!And yesterday on Preperation Day I baked 45 cookies at a Member's house! That was way fun, and like a third of the cookies had been eaten before we left which was good, because there were a LOT and we still have Snickerdoodles in our apartment too from Sunday night. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday our curfew was moved up to 7:30pm unless we had an appointment in order to be safe because there would be people partying and setting off fireworks. Though actually I didn't hear a whole lot. I hope everyone had an awesome, fun, and safe Independence Day weekend!

June 27th

Feliz Lunes Ustedes!This week has gone a little differently in that poor Hermana Green's tummy troubles tried to take her down. She has periodic pains that make it hard to keep working, but they usually stop after a while and she just powers through them, being the hard-working trooper she is. But this last week she had them BAD and we're on day five now. It makes it so that she can't really sleep, and sleep seems to be the only thing that helps. So please add Hermana Green to your prayers. Thank you.In other news I forgot to mention a few things from the last week. One is that I got really bold and protested an explicit calendar in a sneaky way. You see, the man sharing an apartment with our Recent Convert Pedro Castro who was also taking lessons with us had an inappropriate calendar displayed right next to the front door. So one day when he wasn't there, I put a long sticky note to cover the woman with 'Soy una Hija de Dios!' written on it (meaning 'I am a daughter of God!') Next time we came by it had not been removed. I added another sticky that had the command form of 'don't look at me anymore!' He claimed that the calendar was only for the days and not for the pictures, so it might be an issue of pride that he hasn't removed the stickies because that would mean that he DOES look at the pictures. I have a scripture written and waiting for the next month incase I need to do more sneaky protesting.Also when Missionaries back out in our mission car the other companion is required to stand behind at a distance and motion them out to avoid any possibility of an accident. Since there's two of us we might as well, and it's nice having someone making sure you're clear when you can't see yourself. But twice now, once where she actually got me with the car, my companion hasn't paid attention and nearly backed over me. I had to slam on the trunk a couple of times to make her stop. Scared the daylights outta me!In an ironic twist of Fate I allowed Hna Green to straighten my hair last night and this morning, and it was raining, only to rain MUCH harder with big fatty drops when we made the mad dash into the college whose computers we use for email. I haven't even been able to show my hair to anyone yet! Blah!That's all for now. If anyone has specifict questions my address is on the side there.Have a good week!~ Hermana Smart