With only four months left in my Mission I thought that it would be fun to get a tan and startle people who know me (I have been quite pale for the majority of my life). So when our Ward had an Easter Activity for the children in Primary I spent most of the four hours sitting in the sun. That took a bit of willpower as I am accustomed to hiding from the sun. Well I'm so unused to being exposed to sunlight that I plum forgot about sunscreen. So, as you may have guessed, I got burnt. And OH am I burned. My face, my collarbone, and my arms. It's worst on my upper arms (almost purple it looks like), and you can see an outline of where my necklace was. I've gone through half a tube of Aloe Vera already. Today our Zone is planning to go to a really fun park, and I'm packing Bullfrog SPF 36 this time.
In other news... well not much to report. Apparently Houston is going through a drought right now. I hope that doesn't mean that there will not be any Epic Thunderstorms this year. That's what got me though the summer last year. I want to get some more video of how cool the skies can get in Houston.
I realized reading in my D&C countdown this morning that next week I'll be at 100 days remaining. Oh SNAP. I'm almost down to double digits!! Where has the time gone? There are days that crawl and days that zoom, but overall I kind of freak myself out every time that I think about how after this Transfer's done that I only have two more. Weeeird....
*salutes*
~ Hermana Smart
Monday, April 25, 2011
One year older and wiser too!
Thank you to everyone who sent me Happy Birthday Wishes! I haven't been getting much mail at all lately, so the outpouring of cards was a really nice change. I bought a itty bitty cake and shared it with the few other people who came to activities. We were supposed to be there as a whole Zone but with only eight slices it worked out perfect to have less.
So the big news of the week is that I'm now 23. In the last year I've learned Spanish, gained 25 pounds, make a bajillion new friends and served twelve memorable months as a servant of the Lord. That's mostly a good list!
My companion is watching and waiting for me to finish so sorry this will be a short post.
Happy Birthday to me and a Very Merry Unbirthday to the rest of you!
~ Hermana Smart
So the big news of the week is that I'm now 23. In the last year I've learned Spanish, gained 25 pounds, make a bajillion new friends and served twelve memorable months as a servant of the Lord. That's mostly a good list!
My companion is watching and waiting for me to finish so sorry this will be a short post.
Happy Birthday to me and a Very Merry Unbirthday to the rest of you!
~ Hermana Smart
Monday, April 11, 2011
Kickin' it in Gulfbank once again
Man, where to start. Well I'm back in my Baby Area and it's really quite trippy. You see the streets are the same, a lot of the people are the same, but then again none of the Missionaries here are the same and other stuff I was used to is not how it used to be. One example being that they switched apartments. So even though I'm sitting at the EXACT SAME desk I had as a Greenie, stuff is different. It's really hard to explain. I keep missing my Trainer Hermana Green really badly, but I shake it off. My new companion Hermana Ang is pretty darn cool.
I thought that I would know my way around the area good, but turns out all I remember is a few streets. I can't get around without the map AT ALL. But the area is so itty bitty in comparion to the other two I've had! In four months we might start re-knocking areas! Lots of apartment complexes. Several Potential Investigators. I have high hopes. It's kind of weird being the older missionary though. Hna Ang just has one less Transfer than me (6 weeks) so we are on equal ground. I defer to her a lot because she knows better what's going on in the area right now. It was really nice seeing the Members again and having them all remember me! They were all happy to have me back, that was really sweet.
Well, that's the gist of it. We actually have to go now but I'll have more news next week!
Con Amor!
~ Hermana Smart
I thought that I would know my way around the area good, but turns out all I remember is a few streets. I can't get around without the map AT ALL. But the area is so itty bitty in comparion to the other two I've had! In four months we might start re-knocking areas! Lots of apartment complexes. Several Potential Investigators. I have high hopes. It's kind of weird being the older missionary though. Hna Ang just has one less Transfer than me (6 weeks) so we are on equal ground. I defer to her a lot because she knows better what's going on in the area right now. It was really nice seeing the Members again and having them all remember me! They were all happy to have me back, that was really sweet.
Well, that's the gist of it. We actually have to go now but I'll have more news next week!
Con Amor!
~ Hermana Smart
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Back to my beginnings!!
So we received Transfer Calls two days ago to inform us of our fate for the following six weeks. A few things have happened that make guessing what would happen very tricky. We knew that there would not be enough Spanish Speaking Sister Missionaries to fill the areas that currently have them because five are going home. So we knew an area would have to be closed or white washed with Spanish Speaking Elders. It was not too surprising to us that this came to pass with my area West Green, it's healthy to switch out every once in a while to change things up. But what I did NOT expect is where I would be sent to.
Want to guess?
I'm going to GULF BANK. For those of you who have followed my adventures from the beginning you will recall that Gulf Bank is where I STARTED my mission when I first came to Texas! It is not common that we are sent back to an old area, especially not for Sisters. So this is really cool! I can't wait to see the looks on peoples' faces when I can speak passable Spanish! Last they knew me I spoke hardly any! How fun!
I also really enjoyed Conference Weekend. My favorite talk was the one given my D. Todd Christofferson in the Afternoon Session on Sunday. I'm excited for the Ensign next month that will have all the talks given in text form because my notes are not as robust as usual. Last Tuesday I developed the flu and it's been strong with me all week. I went through dizziness, nausea, aches, chills and fever. And a painful sore throat that still has not left me. But I still worked! My Mission is really teaching me what it means to dedicate yourself and work despite of opposition. I'll take a break when I'm home!
It seems unreal to me that my Birthday is just two weeks from today. Hopefully that will mean more mail. In the last three weeks I've only received two letters that were not from my parents or one of the three postcards that have come. I'm in that stage of my Mission where people are not missing me as much because I haven't recently left, and they are not rushing to sent me a letter just before I go home. I'm in Letter Limbo! Baaaawww!!
I hope you all enjoyed the 181st General Conference and will take the lessons you learned to heart.
That's all until next week when I will relate to you tales from my baby area!
~ Hermana Smart
Want to guess?
I'm going to GULF BANK. For those of you who have followed my adventures from the beginning you will recall that Gulf Bank is where I STARTED my mission when I first came to Texas! It is not common that we are sent back to an old area, especially not for Sisters. So this is really cool! I can't wait to see the looks on peoples' faces when I can speak passable Spanish! Last they knew me I spoke hardly any! How fun!
I also really enjoyed Conference Weekend. My favorite talk was the one given my D. Todd Christofferson in the Afternoon Session on Sunday. I'm excited for the Ensign next month that will have all the talks given in text form because my notes are not as robust as usual. Last Tuesday I developed the flu and it's been strong with me all week. I went through dizziness, nausea, aches, chills and fever. And a painful sore throat that still has not left me. But I still worked! My Mission is really teaching me what it means to dedicate yourself and work despite of opposition. I'll take a break when I'm home!
It seems unreal to me that my Birthday is just two weeks from today. Hopefully that will mean more mail. In the last three weeks I've only received two letters that were not from my parents or one of the three postcards that have come. I'm in that stage of my Mission where people are not missing me as much because I haven't recently left, and they are not rushing to sent me a letter just before I go home. I'm in Letter Limbo! Baaaawww!!
I hope you all enjoyed the 181st General Conference and will take the lessons you learned to heart.
That's all until next week when I will relate to you tales from my baby area!
~ Hermana Smart
Almost General Conference.
Next weekend is General Conference! Whooooooo!!! I'm so Excited! Every GC just seems to get better and better as I'm more Spiritually receptive because of my Misison. This time I'm actually going to do more that just take notes and soak it all in. I'm going to have a couple of questions I want answered about life and stuff and see what Personal Revelation I receive. This should be good.
If you don't have BYU Channel or don't want to find a Chapel to attend you can find the information on how to watch over the Internet here: http://lds.org/church/news/181st-general-conference-of-the-church?lang=eng
In other news I started this thing called the D&C Countdown. With 138 sections and two Official Declarations the book of scripture called Doctrine and Covenants has 140 days worth of Countdown material. I started it last week on the 23rd of March. I'll be reading it backwards by section so the one I read is how many days I have left in the Mission. I invite anyone who wants to join me to open their own books or (if you don't own a D&C) use this website to read along: http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament?lang=eng Join me!
Since Missionaries are often behind-on-the-times when it comes to News I found out that there was a big Earthquake in Japan and it basically blew up (exaggeration, yes) That makes me sad because I like Japan, and for many other reasons as well. My prayers are often directed to the people in need there. I found out that every single Missionary in Japan is okay. There were eight unaccounted for but they were fine, just unable to report in for a time. And in the actual area where it was the worst, none of the Missionaries were harmed because they were all attending a Zone Conference in a building miles away. The Lord takes care of those who are doing his work.
Next Saturday night we're going to receive Transfer Calls, and I'll be able to tell you all what my fate will be for the next six weeks in my next email.
Until then!
~ Hermana Smart
If you don't have BYU Channel or don't want to find a Chapel to attend you can find the information on how to watch over the Internet here: http://lds.org/church/news/181st-general-conference-of-the-church?lang=eng
In other news I started this thing called the D&C Countdown. With 138 sections and two Official Declarations the book of scripture called Doctrine and Covenants has 140 days worth of Countdown material. I started it last week on the 23rd of March. I'll be reading it backwards by section so the one I read is how many days I have left in the Mission. I invite anyone who wants to join me to open their own books or (if you don't own a D&C) use this website to read along: http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament?lang=eng Join me!
Since Missionaries are often behind-on-the-times when it comes to News I found out that there was a big Earthquake in Japan and it basically blew up (exaggeration, yes) That makes me sad because I like Japan, and for many other reasons as well. My prayers are often directed to the people in need there. I found out that every single Missionary in Japan is okay. There were eight unaccounted for but they were fine, just unable to report in for a time. And in the actual area where it was the worst, none of the Missionaries were harmed because they were all attending a Zone Conference in a building miles away. The Lord takes care of those who are doing his work.
Next Saturday night we're going to receive Transfer Calls, and I'll be able to tell you all what my fate will be for the next six weeks in my next email.
Until then!
~ Hermana Smart
Its warming up again.
The temperature and saturation of the atmosphere are rising again. When I get out of a car or step out of a home my glasses fog up immediately. It was like that when I first got to Texas. It's kind of weird getting these flickerings of Deja Vu. The horizons during sunset are starting to look like when I was with my Trainer again. The plants are looking the same. I really hope that the mosquitoes don't bite like they did last year! People told me that I'm allergic and that's why I swell up so bad!!
I'm over my year mark, I'm starting to repeat months, weird! The mail has begun to dwindle too. In May I'll have spent an entire year of my life in Texas. In April I'll have been a Missionary Birthday-to-Birthday. Honestly it's a bit trippy. There are still days where I look in the mirror and marvel at the fact that I'm a Missionary.
~ Hermana Smart
I'm over my year mark, I'm starting to repeat months, weird! The mail has begun to dwindle too. In May I'll have spent an entire year of my life in Texas. In April I'll have been a Missionary Birthday-to-Birthday. Honestly it's a bit trippy. There are still days where I look in the mirror and marvel at the fact that I'm a Missionary.
~ Hermana Smart
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