Christmas devotional from Emily! December 16, 2014

ALOHA! I love you all! This week to go christmas.mormon.org and watch "He is the Gift" and then find a way you can share it this Christmas! It is the True gift of the season.

Mosiah 14:4-5
4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

We can be healed and strengthened, through Jesus Christ. Our lives have been tremendously affected by this gift. Your friends and neighbors, and even those around you who you do not know do not know this gift fully. How would you feel if you were them, and no one shared it with you?

#ShareGoodness

With Love,
      Sister Smith

Warning to family December 16, 2014

Just a warning, We just discovered a lot of things to do here, so I will not have a ton of time to write on most of my p-days left, we have today where we have lots of things to do, then Christmas I'll talk to you then, then New Years which will be a district p-day and like 2 days before I leave so I'll probably pack then. So I know I have been getting tons of letters and I love it!!!!!!!!!! but just incase people freak out that I am not writing back, you can let them know why.
With Love,
      Sister Smith

Christmas tree

Our little Christmas tree. Made it another year!

Christmas business December 16, 2014

Okay, thank you for the notice that I can open my package. I will probably still send more home,but I still have to study, and wear clothes for 2 1/2 more weeks but I could get rid of that stuff already. Honestly all of my clothes look like trash, so overused and I am so sick of them. So I will probably leave a lot here, and I think most of my stuff will fit in my suitcases, I did buy a carry on bag, so I do have more room than I came out with. I am not exactly sure what I am doing yet:) I got the skirt from another Sister. We all get sick of our clothes, so we switch a lot:) But it is a tich too short for missionary standards, so I just sent it home for later:)

We had our Christmas conference yesterday so we had some training, then we got to watch a movie that was not made by the church! it is called "It's a Wonderful Life" I LOVED it! have you seen it before?
Susie told me the date and place too, I'll be there!

I did get the cheeseball package! I got it on a Sunday, how bizarre right? I guess they deliver mail on Sunday here. I am glad that you sent Sister Nelson something. She really needs a digital watch but does not have money to buy one, Sorry this is last minute and it definitely does not need to be for Christmas, but if you find one that is good will you send it to her? If you are too busy that is fine, I can do it when I get home. :) I kept forgetting to tell you she needed one.

We need to go to Nauvoo ASAP! and the sacred grove, another trip to NY!!!

I guess Gretchen has been in contact with a member of the ward though, so hopefully she is not too far gone.

This Christmas season has been especially stressful, I made it a goal to have all my Christmas shopping done before December starts next year, so I can fully enjoy Christmas and all the fun traditions we have and NOT have to be stressed about everything. It is not right to be stressed all December. That is exactly what Satan wants. I want to develop a lot more traditions the bring Christ in (some I have gained from members here) I do want you to leave all the Christmas stuff up for when I get home:)
I have missed Morgan so much, I don't know why especially him, Cass, and Cooper. maybe because they are the ones that I know will have the most change since I have been gone. I love my little brother a lot and I can't wait to hug him again, and for him to go on his mission!
Can I wear a dress for Family Pictures? I don't know what clothes I have there but I do not want to wear the pants I have here. Does it need to be like Christmas red or like burgundy red? does it matter? I love family pictures!
Grandma and Grandpa are so silly, they just up and drive to Idaho, I guess that is how our family rolls, we never plan anything in advance! I love it!

FOR SKYPE: For right now I am planning on skyping you around 1:30-2 my time. Which would be 2:30 or 3 your time. We kind of have to be flexible because you are only an hour time difference and Sister Taito has a 5 hour time difference. But we can confirm it next week when we e-mail.

With Love,
      Sister Smith

Sister Taito-my companion

Namaste! December 8, 2014 Christmas plans

haha! Namaste! Did you know that Elder Shrestha (the one you sent jerkey to) that Namaste is part of his native language? That is one of my favorite ways I have learned to say Hello on my mission!

Wait, Dad is going home early enough to be able to pick up Cassidy and take her home? Usually when we get packages they have boxes that they leave it in at our apartment, that they give you a key for inside your mail box, just like at the post office. But Yesterday, on Sunday, we found a package for me outside our door. They don't deliver mail on Sunday, so we have no idea how it got there. . . But I loved all the sunshine:) Thanks! I am so excited for the tree, you can not imagine, I have been so excited for it all week!

We do have good investigators, we have a mom and a daughter (the mom's name is Christine haha!) they are loving the gospel and preparing for Baptism. We have a man from Kenya, named John. He will soon be being taught by the Elders because his girlfriend just went back to Kenya so we can not teach him anymore. Then we have a few other people we are working with:)

The ward is great! We had 3 member presents this week! That is much better than the 0 we have had in the past! Sister Taito, loves to sing, she danced at the PCC (Polynesian cultural center), she does not like the beach (except for to surf on), She loves snacking mostly on goldfish, She taught me and one of our investigators how to hula and we did it at the ward party on Saturday (it was awesome!)

Sister Nelson's first name is BrendaLee

I would love ingredients for cheeseballs:) Also, PLEASE PLEASE send me a copy of the forgotten carols!, President Forbes changed the music rules a little so I can listen to those now! Thank you for the extra money, I definitely need to be finding Christmas presents.

Is State Drill overlap a competition of Wrestling? Does Morgan like wrestling? I hope he is happy, and I will pray for him. At least he is still eating, not like Bryson did. all my wrestling friends would live off of celery, and peppers, or a string cheese. yuck. How much weight has Morgan lost so far? I have never heard of the cabbage soup diet. Why no bananas? That is cool that he is doing something and trying hard at it! I'm so proud of my little brother. I bet dad will like the diet though, he's always been into healthy stuff.
I would starve if I could not eat bread, pasta, or white rice. . . that is basically all we eat, because it is all that is fast and easy.

Today it is freezing. the temp is not bad, but the wind is awful. . . I sure hope it gets better! Well, I will send you some snow from here, I hope it snows there before long, I want to come home to snow!


I love you, thank you for all you do. Guess what? we already have a place to be on Christmas Eve and tentative plans for Christmas Day!!! Well in advance! The ward loves us after we hula'd at the party! Yeh Eh Nah!

With Love,
      Sister Smith

On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 mom wrote:

Namaste is spoken with a slight bow and hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards, thumbs close to the chest. This gesture is called Añjali Mudrā or Pranamasana. In Hinduism it means "I bow to the divine in you." So picture me doing this and bowing to the divine in you!!!

Good morning or most likely afternoon. Well it's December 8. Can you believe it? We finally got our tree this weekend. Now today I have to get to work on the inside and outside of the house. It's crazy nobody is ever home to help out. Hopefully I can get Morgan to help me after school. We are taking Lindsey and Ty their tree today so they can put it up. Morgan just couldn't stand the thought of them hauling it home on top of the Denali. So we will go after we drop Cassidy off in Roosevelt at tumbling. Dad will pick her up when she is done and they will head home. Maybe do some more decorating on our tree. We only got the lights on. Cassidy had to go to bed and we didn't want to finish it without her. You should be getting your tree today, if you don't have it already. Do they leave packages at your home or do you get a notice and then pick it up at the post office? just wondering how that works. Funny thing about the tree. I got it all packaged up and ready to ship out and I looked at the label again, and didn't write your apartment number on it. I am so thankful for tender mercies from Heavenly Father. Why would i look at the label and notice the missing information. I know why and I am so thankful when the little things (but really big things)happen. You probably wouldn't have gotten the tree. Did you get a package from me this week? I forgot to check the tracking on it.
How are things going with the missionary work? Any good investigators? Is the ward warming up to you yet? I haven't heard anything about your new companion except that she is from Hawaii. What else? Also I really want to send sister Nelson a gift. Can you tell me her first name so I can get it out soon. I just will have to send it to the mission office and we know how long those kinds of things take. I want her to have it before Christmas! Last week you said you had some ideas on what you wanted for Christmas. Want to tell me some? I will definitely take you shopping when you get home, but still need to send something to you to open Christmas morning. My cheeseball factory opened up this weekend. I made a quadruple batch of cheeseballs for friends and family. Do you want me to send you ingredients to make some of your own? I have rolka cheese and the seasonings. You will have to buy cream cheese and sharp cheddar is all. Let me know today if you want it and i will get it out.  I put some money in for extra shopping you might be doing.

Work at the family history center is going well. Lana Jordan is just loving taking the class on Sunday's. She is having so much fun. I found 14 more people that I need to check sources on that say they need temple work done. I don't want to start on them yet because I have so many others I need to get finished up on a family I am working on. It's so sad that Lindsey is gone now and not coming to the fhc. I need help getting all this done. I will have to convince Jamie to get up there with me. Melanie comes, but she works on her own line and Trents.
The play is over and now drill and wrestling are in full swing. They have competitions on the same weekend all of December and some of January. Morgan is doing well but still overweight. He is at 308 and needs to be 285. So this week he wants to do the cabbage soup diet. Have you ever heard of it? Every day you eat cabbage soup and then on each day it tells you specific things you can eat as well. Today is any fruit, except bananas. So he eats all the soup he wants and all the fruit he wants. His breakfast this morning was a kiwi, orange, and an apple. Pray for him (and me). It is going to be hard. I know anytime you change your eating it makes you ornery because you are hungry! I will need strength to endure the week. Dad is going to try it too. We are all getting healthy. You might not recognize us when you come home. lol. Morgan is really trying so hard to make good choices. He isn't suppose to eat bread, pasta, white rice etc. So we had a pasta bar for lunch yesterday. That is so hard, but he had no pasta. Just ate salad and all the toppings like chicken and meatballs. We might have to stay home when they want to eat pasta from now on and let them eat at home. We usually have sunday dinners at my house because we all fit down in the piano room. I can't expect them to change what they want to eat, but I can make it easier on Morgan.
Well I have a letter going out today so I am out of things to tell you. Have a great day and hope you are staying warm. Looks like you are in for decent weather temperatures this week. 30's until Saturday suppose to be in the 50's. Let me tell you how weird it was cutting down a tree with only a skiff of snow on the ground in the mountains. I wore tennis shoes to go traipsing around the mountain with dad. Boots would have been better because the river bottoms were a little slushy, but it worked. I love you and wish you a very happy holiday season! Love, mom

Week of Gratitude December 1, 2014

haha!! so actually, it is so funny December 1st, I'm here in Minneapolis, it is 4 degrees outside, and I have not put a coat on all day. . . LOL! I'm CRAZY, but it really is not that bad, except on my hands. That is really weird that the sub for santa applications are not in yet. usually there are tons of people asking for help. I did not get mail every day, but I did get some Friday and Saturday. So maybe I will get it all this upcoming week! I did not get the Christmas CD's yet. . .
My gratitude List:
Monday: The Simple things in life, having lunch with a member, the Sisters in the ward who just take us in and help us feel welcome (Lynn, Sister Upchurch, and Sister Alexander), my ability to teach the gospel. Sister Nelson. That I got to serve Karen Speaking even if it not was for as long as I wanted it to be.
Tuesday: LDS family services and the ability they have to help people feel happy again. I went there for my last appointment, and she talked about communication skills, I am grateful I have learned how important it is to speak positive words, my positive companions that rubbed off on me.\
Wednesday: STEP (a food shelf we volunteer at weekly), when people tell me good job for things that I do that are hard, Christine and Diana (our investigators), My Testimony
Thursday: We had a place to go!!, My family, Pumpkin Pie, I love the people that we visit I have gained so many friendships here! It will be sad to leave Minnesota, to be the person that I am.
Friday: We got to feed a member's dog she was really cute! Sister Taito will help me and back me up when I feel like I need it!
Saturday: Service, I love to do service!, I am grateful for my car (at home) and that it is not a ford, when others express true feelings, not just what they think I want to hear.
Sunday: Happiness, Laughter, People that care, Getting to meet new people. Bishop Richins.

haha! President always refers me to Sister Forbes too:) haha she's the sweetest though! You do not need to be worried though. . . Are you planning on sending Christmas presents for me here? I was thinking it might be nice to have a stocking, or maybe a present or two. I am fine to just have Christmas when I get home so I don't have to haul more stuff home, ya know? Let me know if you need ideas, I have a few ideas of things that I would like but that you could just take me shopping for after my mission and count that as Christmas:) Let me know what you are thinking!

I have no idea what Sister Taito would like, she is just a funny sister, but I will keep thinking about it.

With Love,
      Sister Smith


On Sun, Nov 30, 2014, Christy wrote:
Can you believe it's December already? Not me. I am so not ready for Christmas to be here. I put Sub for Santa applications out weeks ago and when I checked at the Bank last week there still were none turned in. Weird huh. Makes me very nervous. How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was good. I wrote you a letter that is going out today. We all kind of took a day so you would get something every day. Did it work? My day is today. It is very long and tells all about our little get away for dad's birthday. So I will spare you having to listen to it twice and let you look forward to a long letter from me Wednesday!!! Did you get the Christmas cds? They always make me happy.
Well I took notes everyday of things I am grateful for, so I will share them now.
Monday: Eternal families. I want to be with my kids and grandkids (all my family really) forever! Also very grateful today for missionary pdays and emails. I have really been at peace since your email last week. How are you doing? Should I still be worried? I hope all the things causing you to over stress are all worked out now. School, a place to live, when to come home, new companion, etc. I can't wait to hear all about her. I need to send some christmas stuff for her, so if you would give me a little insight that would be great. I just want to fill a christmas stocking for her too!
Tuesday: Family support. I just love our family. They all came to watch the kids in the play and that means a lot to me. Also went to Vernal to help Lindsey unpack a few things. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. I just love the sun.
Wednesday: Sleep. After being up late every night because of the play, I am grateful for sleep. Also grateful to have a home to have Thanksgiving dinner in.
Thursday: Food and family. I will have to send you a short story about the pilgrims and the five kernels of corn they ate for a meal. I shared this story before our feast. I will include this in my letter. We are very blessed to have food on the table. I feel bad for those that didn't have much and hope I can help people at Christmas have food in their cupboards.
Friday: Today because we began our trip to southern UT. I am grateful for nature and the beautiful red rock mountains in Southern Ut.
Saturday: Today I am grateful for laughter. Dad had been so relaxed on this trip. Didn't have a million phone calls and didn't stay up all night running credit cards. Just was happy to be with us.
Sunday: Today I am grateful for the opportunity to go to church and renew covenants made. I am grateful for the peace that Sunday brings. I am grateful for my testimony. (it was fast sunday in Moab because of stake conference next week)
The weather has been so weird. We have been in the 50's all week long. I looked online at Minneapolis, it looks cold! Are you staying warm? Looks like today in Minnesota will be the coldest all week. I can send hand warmers or foot warmers. I kept telling Morgan we need to put up our Christmas decorations. But we will prob wait until it's in the negatives to do that. Seems like that's how it happens. I am putting books together for grandma and grandpa if you have a letter or two you want to add. If it will be easier, I will probably just put them in a binder in page protectors, because there are so many I still don't have and then they can still be added easy enough later.
I pretty much said anything I could say in my letter. So I will go for now. I love you and hope you know how wonderful you are. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is taking care of you and answering your prayers and mine. I am glad He is there for you 24/7 when I can't be. I am grateful for Sister Forbes too. She is really nice and told me I could call her anytime. I won't, but it's nice to know. Seems like whenever I contact President Forbes, he says oh here my wife knows more than I do talk to her. too funny. Have a great week and remember who you are! xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
love, Momsy