Sister Smith: Week 55

It’s all about the Book of Mormon

Week 55--August 8, 2016

I had an awesome week full of meetings!  I love hearing the words from President and Sister Bührer, they are so inspired by the Lord.  President Buhrer is literally the funniest person ever, I love that guy!  Okay, so every Tuesday we have our meeting with our district and then with our zone....its LEGAL!!  Then on Thursday we had a multizone conference with Pres. Buhrer.  He talked about the importance of learning the doctrine for ourselves...not for our investigators.  He said too many missionaries are getting home and leaving the church because they weren’t converted.  He said, the first person who needs to learn the doctrine and have a firm testimony is YOU.  It made me think about Pres. Kuceki and what he said at his farewell.  Prayer, you have got to learn to pray and to pray with your whole heart and not let it be a recited thing you say.  You can’t be talking to God when your thinking about what you’re going to eat, or what you’re going to do when you get home from your mission.  It is extremely disrespectful to talk to your family and friends and not be paying attention to what their saying, imagine our Lord Almighty!!  You´re talking to the man who created you, the earth, you´re alive because of him and yet we pray as if we are praying to the wall.  Control your thoughts!!!  (I have had the best mission presidents btw)  Anyway, the idea Pres. Bührer was trying to get across, was, that we need to have our own experiences first.  I can’t teach someone to repent of their sins, if I haven’t done it myself.  I can’t testify of the Book of Mormon if that book isn’t engraved on my heart.   I need to have complete surety that without this book we don’t have The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You can’t teach if you don’t believe it or know it yourself.  The spirit can´t be there if you don’t know it for yourself. It was awesome!  Then Pres. asked me to bare my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  I talked about how the Book of Mormon has been a strength for me in my life.  I talked about how before my mission I read the Book of Mormon a couple times...but the first time I read it during my mission I was like....is this the same book I read when I was 8 years old??  THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!!  These prophets are the greatest examples of the missionary that I want to be and become!  I loooove Ammon and Alma, they are my favorites!(:  They are just so powerful and the spirit is so strong and with them 24/7.  They are like my missionary heroes!!  I love the story in Alma 14 and 15 when Alma and Amulek had the gift of discernment and read the thoughts of Zeezrom and then when the prison walls came crashing down because of their insanely strong faith!!  Then I talked about how when I read the Book of Mormon I feel the spirit.  I feel the presence of my Savior Jesus Christ and I have a stronger desire to become like him.  The Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ and has the fullness of his gospel. I love that book!! (:

Okay, so some other news for you all, we can wear sunglasses!  I’m super excited for that!  An elder wore them walking to church yesterday and me and my companion got a kick out of it.  We were laughing our heads off!  He looked like a bodyguard or something!!  We can also wear sandals, but only a special brand.  We also have to wear longer skirts and when it starts raining more, we need to wear pants...that´ll be interesting. haha!

This week we have 3 baptisms!! WOOT WOOT!!!  Fatima and her 2 daughters!  Quick miracle!  Joana that had the dream about the fruit (she´s so elect) we called her to confirm that she could go to church yesterday and she said,  “I was at the doctors because I’m sick and so I don’t know if I can go.”  I told her to try and stay for the first hour, we would pray for her.  So we prayed and fasted for her and you guys, SHE CAME FOR THE FIRST HOUR!!!  We were literally jumping up and down when she said she felt good enough to come!(:  She will be getting baptized the last week in August!!(: Only miracles!

I’m doing a split with a sister on Tuesday and I’m going to start going on splits with the sisters in RIO VERDE!!  That means I might get to see my Brazilian grandpa and my other favorite families!!! AHHHHH (((:

I love you all thanks for your thoughts and prayers!!  Keep being missionaries and reading O LIVRO DE MÓRMON!!  MELHOR LIVRO QUE EXISTE!!!!

COM AMOR, SISTER SMITHIE