Dec 2, 2013 Family letter

My thanksgiving was great. Last week I told you about the first half of the day. After we got our Karen skirts and tried weird food, we went to Sister A's house and visited for a while and ate veggies. THen we sat down to have dinner. It was good. Just a normal Thanksgiving dinner. Then we said a little prayer and lit the Menorah. Then we played dreidel, which is basically a betting game. It was fun our money was called gimmel. It was fake chocolate coins with a Menorah on them. I lost., which was okay because I didn't really want a ton of gross chocolate coins. Then we had pie and went to work teaching people.
This week I studied Mosiah 5. I have been thinking a lot about verses 2 and 5 and how crucial it is that we keep the covenants we have made. The general authorities even talked about it in conference, and it was the main message of the Relief Society meeting. we need to keep our covenants and the baptism covenant is to always remember Him, and keep His commandments. As I am here, I have seen so many members and non-members not living the simple commandments like Sabbath day and they wonder why life is so hard, I know that the commandments are to help us, if we live them life won't be as hard. Even if we think we need to break commandments to make it. It's a test! I am so glad I was raised to live the commandments! That I have been raised to be willing to enter into a covenant. Thank you so much. With love, Sister Smith (love's first flower-her name from them)

ps. I had pictures printed at Target and left there with Kristine Smith's photos, not Emily Smith!!! lol I will send some home next week.

Dad's birthday

I forgot to post this cute package of stuff Emily sent to her dad for his birthday in November. Just found the pictures.

Email 11-25-13

I was glad to hear that Michelle Evans was Aida! She does have a good voice! The mic issues are so annoying! I love when they make sure that people can be in stuff! haha! Morgan's costume looked pretty cool in that picture you sent me :)
I loved the cozy coupe truck! He looks so cute in it!
We are going to both thanksgivings probably but the Hmong one we will probably just stop by and visit, not eat much and then really party at the Jewish one! hahah!
I felt like this week was really good! We had a lot of really amazing lessons. One specific was with Sister B. and she was a former investigator and we didn't have a lesson plan for her but we taught an incredible restoration to her where we said a lot of things we don't normally say but it ended up being really great and I really felt the spirit testifying through me! We had a couple lessons like that this week it was great! Then we went to pick up an investigator for church and she brought 8 other people with her! When something awesome like that happens the happiness you feel is really indescribable but it is awesome! It's the joy of bringing one soul unto him!
Sorry if there are a ton of spelling errors they key board I am typing on is not very good. It keeps leaving out letters so i have to push really hard. But I have been thinking and I don't know if you have already done a ton of shopping for me but I have just been thinking about a few things that you could get me for Christmas if you didn't know what to get:
1) a voice recorder (if you don't want to I can just use my camera and take videos no problemo!)
2) New Garments
3) Basically any warm clothes, specifically skirts I only have light skirts which is fine but I have to layer up underneath.

Please don't feel like you need to buy these things people just always ask for suggestions so these are suggestions. But whatever you do is fine! I love you so much! Also if you could throw in my YW's ribbons out of my scriptures and some Drill Pants in the next package you sent that has room or that needs padding that would be great! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo Sister Smith

Email 11-18-13

Ya, I am not even gonna try to send Karen over the computer, I will just write it all out! ahahah! I am doing GREAT I love being here and I love my companion! Satan is sneaky and tries to get us down but we just have to tell him NO! I BETTER GET A GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ALLY! you tell her that! Have you helped with the play much? I am excited to hear all about it!
We have 2 people that have invited us over for dinner for Thanksgiving! One is a Hmong family and I do not want to go to that one. Hmong food is weird and not very tasty. then a lady that is from jewish descent and I guess Haunakkah overlaps with Thanksgiving this year so she has invited all of the missionaries over, (she has invited 20 people to her house for thanksgiving) and we are going to have a normal thanksgiving dinner and then do some jewish stuff. it will be really cool. Sister Riely wants to go to the Hmong one and I want to go to the Jewish one but they are at different times so we might go to both:) We will definitely be taken care of :)
I think I will be in St Paul for a very long time. you could send packages to either place:) you are so awesome for getting me another Ipod ready! man! did you put the hymns and Children songbook songs on there like the ones from the church that don't sound that great but sing each song? do you know what I am saying? I'm running out of time so I will write more answers in the letter to you today! Love you!


On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 mom wrote:

I tried really hard to say hello or good morning in the Karen language, but it wouldn't let me do it. Too many unrecognized symbols for the computer I guess. How are you today? Hopefully things are going good for you. The play starts Friday. I am very excited. I think Morgan has some good lines. Merr and Deb Herron tell me how good he is doing. I guess we will see. Mona completely stepped down from the play. So Merrilli had to take over. Allyson's senior year ya know. She has a committee of moms helping her do everything. I'm sure it will be good.
So what do you do for thanksgiving? I know you don't have a way to cook a turkey? Do the members take care of you? I hope someone will. It worries me ya know. We are going to invite the Elders. They are really busy right now. We haven't even met the new elder.
So I don't know much about your companion. You can just write back in a letter if you don't have time to respond to this email. No biggie. Was wondering how your iPod got ran over? Weird. You would be proud of me. Got the other one going and have around 76 new songs. All hymns or primary. Motab. No beats. Even some cello and classical stuff. I prayed to know what to put on making sure it will be good. I think I will ship it out soon and you can let me know if there is a problem. I also burned Braken and Nic some CDs of your playlist. Braken actually asked his mom for some mission approved music. She didn't think he would ever listen to that. funny what a mission will do for people.
Do you think you will be in St. Paul for a long time? I am getting Christmas stuff ready and didn't know where to ship it. I know I still have time, just asking now.
I will try to fill you in more on the family history story about Annie and the cemetery in my letter this week.
I taught relief society today. Lesson was doing good to others. We had lots of people sharing stories and experiences. I shared your story about helping the man rake leaves. It was perfect. I am so glad you have a testimony of service. It truly brings us closer to Christ. Are you doing much teaching? I loved hearing about Christine. The picture of the Hmong village looked like so much fun. Can't wait for you to take me shopping there. So are you not allowed to teach the Hmong people. Do any of them speak English? Well I have asked enough questions for now. I love you so much. Please take care of yourself since I can't. Love, mommy!

Why are you Mormon? email to Melanie

Mel wrote to Emily:

We had Stake Conference today. It was so full of being missionaries and working on family history work. President Young said, think of someone you would want to have sitting next to you, now write their name down, and go help them get here. I find that invitation exciting! I wish I could just shake people and make them come to church, but I know that just inviting someone and being a good example has to work for now. He also asked, "Why are you a Mormon?"

From Emily:

There is this family we are teaching right now that is really excited to be able to go to the temple! The Temple is the best place ever!! :D
Everything is always about missionary work now! My Ward Mission Leader said this week "the war in heaven didn't end it just moved locations." I love thinking of myself as a warrior. we all are! get your war paint out this is a serious battle!!!! We are on the winning side as long as we keep the covenants we have made! I am a Mormon because I KNOW that the book of Mormon is true. As a result I know that the whole church is true because of this one book that is only 531 pages long. I know Joseph Smith restored the same church that Jesus had on the earth and I want to be part of Jesus' church! I know that the Priesthood is the Power to act in God's name and that our church is the only church that has that power, and I know that Temples are the House of God. Those and so many other reasons, If you ever want to strengthen your testimony study PMG chapter 3 especially lesson 1:)

random pictures

 Oh no they are brainwashing her!!! Step away from the cat.

Email 11-11-13

On Sun, Nov 10, 2013 Christy wrote:

I laughed so hard at your last family letter. I can only imagine you gagging with a mouth full of food eating the Pho stuff. Did you ever learn what the meat was? So is the Hmong village run by the Burmese people? Isn't that what nationality the people are you are teaching? How is that going? I don't like district p days, but thank you so much for my note telling me you were ok.
So there was a huge typhoon In the Philippines. Macon is ok, but there is so much damage. They are just recovering from an earthquake. Makes me so glad you are in the states. I know things can still go wrong but you are not so much in Mother Natures destruction path.
I get to teach relief society on Sunday, my lesson is on doing good to others. I am going to share your story of helping the man rake the leaves. I am so glad you are gaining a testimony of service. It really does make you feel so good.
Dad was ready for a road trip, so he and I ran away to Logan. Haven't seen them forever. Of course Cooper was in bed when we got here, but I can't wait to see him in the morning. Linds tells me he is crazy jumping on everything thinking its a tramp. Dives off the kitchen chairs onto the love sac or the couch. Walks around talking all kinds of jibberish. I will get video for you tomorrow!
We got a new missionary. Elder Valdez left. The new one spoke at stake conference on Saturday night. He sounds like a real go getter. He wants to get to know everybody and get to work. He kind of reminds me of Nic. The way he looks and acts. Laughed a lot and has a similar smile. I am hoping to get your ensign tomorrow (or today now!) I have read thru sat morning session and am moving on. It makes a huge difference reading it every day.
Did I tell you we went to the salt lake cemetery to find Annie's headstone last week? The office was open this time and showed me on a map. So we went and the saddest thing ever. No headstone or marker of any kind. Makes me want to put something there. I wonder why? Did she outlive all the family and there was no one to take care of her? It was in 1985. Wish I would have known her then. It wasn't very long ago ya know. Somebody had to pay for the burial spot. I wish Annie could tell me.
I hope you are doing well. Be patient with yourself and the new language. Heavenly Father will bless you. Just be obedient in all things. Scripture for the day D&C 11:21. I love you so much. Christmas is only 7 weeks away. I'm counting down! Best Christmas present ever, a phone call!
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo mommy





Emily wrote back:
haha! You are not supposed to laugh at me while I am throwing up in public places!!!! haha! I never did learn what the meat what but I will never forget what it looks like. Hmong village is run by Hmong people. The nationality of the people I am teaching is Karen. There is Karen people, Burmese people, and Hmong people but each nationality is from Thailand (or Burma then fled to Thailand). It is going well we are learning a lot it is just sometimes hard to see the progress I am making when I see how much I still have to learn but I just gotta take it one day at a time. We don't really know how to teach yet. we are still working on being able to introduce ourselves but we know certain words, just not how to form a sentence. Sometimes the sentence structure is the same to English and sometimes it is not.
I am glad to be in the states too:) Sometimes I don't feel like I am because I am surrounded by so much culture and diversity. Seriously almost everyone we tract into is Asian or African or Hispanic.
The computers here now don't let us watch videos but I would love to see pictures:)
I didn't know that you went to find Anne's headstone. That is pretty sad, do you have a lot of information on her? or did you need the information on the headstone?
I have a few requests:
1. can you sent me more vitamins? the Packets and the vitamin D if you have any.
2. Will you cancel my proactive, it is not doing wonders and I would rather just try something else.
3. This week my Ipod got ran over so if you could work on getting one ready for me to use that would be great! You could restore my yellow one to factory settings and just put the church music on, or I have that ancient white one that has the blue case I'm not sure where either are at but I just need some music!
the rules for music are:
A. Hymns and Children Songbook Songs (No BEATS)
B. Classical music composed before 1930 (Instrumental ONLY)
C. MOTAB (No Showtunes or popular music)
I had this CD on my last iPod called He Is Risen from Mark Gleason I think and I really Loved that one so if you could make sure that is on there that would be fabulous! I would also love all the children songbook songs and hymns. It doesnt' have to be too fancy and I know that is a ton of work and I am so sorry, I wish my last one wouldn't have gotten ran over, but it did. . . no rush on the iPod I understand that you are a busy person. I would rather have an iPod that I can listen to all the music on so take all the time you need to to make sure it is within the guidelines.
Thank you for all you do! Yeh Eh Nah Pa Do ( I love you SO much) <3 I really am sorry I ask for so much stuff. . . TTYL!

Nov. 1 letter to mom

We have district Pday today so we are just going to be with our district, so I don't quite have time to reply to your letter, but i wanted to let you know I'm doing great. We are teaching a lot of people so that's great! I will give you more details next week. Thanks for the package :) You are the greatest mom ever. This week was rough for me cause I was just discouraged about the language but it all worked out! I love you tons. I'm well taken care of here. With love, Emily

Silly girl, I love how she just slips in how the language was getting to her this week. Starts out "I'm great" and "we are teaching lots of people" and oh by the way it was a hard week. I'm glad she got things sorted out. Just needs to have patience.

Nov 4, family letter and pictures

 This week was fun. We all carved pumpkins for pday. I think that mine is the ugliest, but that's ok. We had a lot of fun carving.

 This is me at the Hmong village. It is basically like Chinatown, except the people don't chase you down! There are little stores everywhere, clothes, movies, toys, fresh produce, real food, pretty much anything but it's all Hmong so there was all sorts of produce I have never seen before. I will send more pictures of the shopping area. It is really fun.

This is Pho (said Fuh). It is a Hmong food with 5 meats, noodles, veggies, bean sprouts and a ton of different sauces you add yourself. It was pretty good, except one of the meats caused way too much gag reflex and I almost threw up, but my mouth was full of food. It was kind of embarrassing, but I learned to not eat whatever meat that was. I don't know what it was, but I know what it looked like!

This week we went on exchanges, so I was with Sister Fawcett and we went to this street to tract. we saw a man around 80 or so raking the leaves out of the road. We decided to stop and help him. He was so glad that we stopped to help. He started telling us how he had been crying and that he was so lonely and he was so glad we helped him. Then he started telling us how when we are faced with adversity we need to let it surround us until we overcome it and it comes a part of us. It sounds kind of random on paper but this experience touched me. I was sooo happy that we were able to help and that we got to actually see how much he needed it. I know we have been raised doing service, but I really have a testimony of how much it can make the difference for someone. With love, Sister Smith

Karen wedding

Pictures from camera card

Sister Riley and Emily 

Email Nov 4, 2013

On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 Christy Smith wrote:

Well here we are into winter and it's wood hauling time. Morgan is so busy at play practice on Saturday's, so Cassidy and I had to go with dad to fill our dump trailer full of wood. We found a good spot and didn't have to move, but it was hard work. I was wishing for some young men to help load.
We had a great testimony meeting yesterday. One testimony in particular really got me. A new member of our ward got up and bore his testimony about the priesthood and how you use it for anything. Don't let the opportunities pass you by. He said they were hauling wood Saturday and he threw a log toward the truck so people could load it easier. He hit Connor Rowley in the leg a pretty hard hit. Later on Brandon gave him a priesthood blessing to help with the pain. He only remembered one time in his life when he received a father's blessing. All other times his father told him to buck up and be a man. I was so sad. We are so lucky to have many opportunities to have father's blessings in our lives. Then I thought about dad and how he never had the opportunity for a father's blessing either. That's when Heavenly Father puts worthy priesthood holders in our lives to help us. We are very blessed to have the priesthood in our lives every day. Our family is so blessed. Your sister's have great husbands who love and cherish them. Everybody is strong in the gospel with great testimonies, and you are out serving the people of Minnesota! I thank Heavenly Father everyday for such strong children. You are great examples to me and dad. I don't know what we did to deserve you guys, but we are very happy to be part of your lives. Have a great day. Love, mom



Emily wrote back:

We were hauling wood this week too! But we did have young men and it wasn't too bad:) I love the Priesthood too I just want blessings all the time and I have been luck to always have someone there to give me one, I have already had 2 on my mission so far and too many to count from Dad. I am just so grateful for the strength the Priesthood brings! I thank Heavenly Father all the time that my sisters found good men to be their husbands:) You are the greatest, and I am not sure what I did to deserve you. It even says in my Patriarchial blessing how amazing my parents are and how I need to be grateful for the Parentage that I have. . .You are incredible and I love you so much! Yeh Eh Na Pah Do! ( I love you SOOOO much!)
I'm not sure which questions I answered in my last letter but I did get my ballot sent out, I did it the day I got them! I did Spend money at the distribution center, I was needing some new garments and I wanted to try the thermals to see if they will keep me warm! I have been working on getting cash back as I have been buying more tights and winter stuff to keep me warm. So As I buy things I get cash back. I do still have to get $40 cash till I can have $100 for emergency so don't be too alarmed if you see another big purchase it will just be for my emergency money:) Hopefully I am set for winter wear now. . .
Morgan is so awesome! I hope that he will be able to loose weight I know it will make him feel better! Dad only has to be without Morgan for one more month so hopefully all will work out! The Play will be over soon! Does Morgan not like the play?? Why did he do it?
I made a Book of Mormon case to hold my little Book and I bought some velcro from Walmart but it really is terrible and I have already had to replace it multiple times so I just wanted a real piece of velcro that would get the job done and hold my flap down! I didn't know where to get it and I didn't want a ton. I knew Dad had some heavy duty kind so it all worked out! haha!
I love you So much!
Sister Smith