Friday, September 30, 2016
He Made It To New York!!!!
Elder Smith has made it safely to New York!! He would love to hear from everyone. His email and letter address is on the side.
Sept 21, 2016- Next Time I'll Be In New York!!!
Sept 21, 2016
Wow
the realization that I am actually leaving in 5 days is so
exciting! I have been here at the MTC for 9 weeks...... It went by so
fast! I have met so many friends that I won't forget! The people in
my district are so amazing!! My teachers are also so great!!!
I am going to miss
everyone here........ They are all going to their respective places in
Korea! I will cherish the friendships we have made here. They are
so great. These last two months with them have been the best. They
are literally my buddies! I am going to miss them! At least Elder
Ha is coming with me!!
I got my flight
plans!!!! I am so excited! The next time I email I will be in New
York..... Wow, that is just so exciting! I can't wait! I am a little
nervous, but I just can't wait to see what is waiting for me in New York.
I have to be ready3:30am Monday morning. That is going to be
rough, but I will probably be way excited so I will be able to get up!
I've been talking to
some people who went New York Korean speaking. They are really good
speakers after their mission, the only thing they said they did.... was work
for it. I will not be immersed in the culture as much as my other friends
here at the MTC. I will have to work for my language everyday. I
know I can do it, sure it will be hard but it will be worth it. The gift
of tongues is real. I have already felt the influence of it and how much
Korean I have learned.
I know God
lives. I know he is there for us, if we but only pray and ask. He
can and will help us with anything. One thing I have learned is that God
does not always answer your prayers like you want them to be answered.
You just have to have patience. Real patience! I have already went
through challenges here, and I know there will be plenty more. I just
know that God will be with me. I know that this Gospel is true, or I
would not be out here right now serving the people in New York. Each one of you
are huge examples to me!
I love you all so very
much!
Love, Elder Smith
Here is a link to a video of Renee speaking Korean
Sept 14, 2016- 12 More Days Until New York!!!!
Sept 14, 2016
Wowowowow!
Time is flying! I can't believe I am almost done with the MTC. I
don't feel prepared at all. The language has gotten so much harder these
last weeks. I can't wait to get out into the field and start teaching
about Christ, Joesph Smith, and Repentance. I am so excited!
I have learned more
spiritually in these last 8 weeks than I have in my whole 18 years of
living. The spirit is so strong here, and the time you have here to just
study the scriptures brings you so much closer to Christ.
I learned something
yesterday during Choir. Brother Egget the choir instructor said this to
us: " The Lord is not protecting you he is perfecting you."
"He is not protecting you from the pain" It hit me so
hard! Christ wants us to improve and be better! That doesn't mean
he is going to let us take the easy way out. He is going to give us
challenges, but he will also help us through the challenges. That will
make us better and stronger.
We have had the most
amazing week! Last Tuesday we had Elder D. Todd Christofferson speak to
us. Sunday we had Elder M. Russell . Then yesterday we
had Elder Quentin L. Cook speak to us! It was so amazing to have 3
apostles of the Lord speak to us in a row.
Elder Christofferson
really touched me when he spoke about Trust. He said:
It is greater to be
trusted than to be loved. "Yes Christ loves you, but does he trust
you?" Does he trust you to do his work?
Your mission president
should trust you, and say I want Elder Smith in that area, because I trust him
and I know he will work hard and be obedient. I want to be that type of
missionary to my mission president!
Elder Ballard said:
"May the Lord
help you and may you learn to trust him"
I know wherever the
Lord sends me I will trust in him. I will be where he wants me to be.
Trust him that he will
give all of you miracles in your life!
Elder Cook:
He touched me when he
talked about the 4 Love's
Love your companion
Love the people
Love your mission
President
Love the Lord
He told a story that
when they assign you to your mission. The first thing they look at is
what mission president will be the best for this missionary. He said that
they are assigned to a mission because of the people there, but actually it was
the mission president that was there. He said to have complete love and
respect for your mission president. I don't know my mission president,
but I already love him and trust him. He is called of God.
Such an amazing week
and I have learned so much! I love being a missionary and I am here to
teach others about the Restoration, Joesph Smith, Atonement of Jesus, and of
families. I can't wait for the opportunity to teach people that. I
just want to jump up and down, knowing that I will be in New York in less than
2 weeks. Wow.....
I love you all!
May you all pray and ask to see God's love this week! I know you can all
see God's hand in each of your lives everyday this next week. Thank you
for all your support.
사 랑 해 요
스 미 스 장 로
Love, Elder Smith
Sept 7, 2016
Sept 7, 2016
Wow 3
more weeks and I will be out of here!!!! The MTC has honestly been a
blast! I love my district and would do anything for them. Also I
love my companion Elder Ha, it is sad though because we will no longer be
companions. Elder Ha is being paired up with a Native Korean, and I will
be moved into a Trio with Elder Maio and Elder Burridge. We also had to
move again so I could be in a room with my new trio. So our district had
to move twice in the last week!
I have gained some
weight here! I eat like a pig and my Young Men Leader's already knew I
ate a ton. Well it caught up to me. You can't really tell the
difference by looking, but the scale doesn't lie. I gained 8 pounds
here. I plateaued off now. I am just banking on losing some weight
in New York from walking all day but then again...... It is New York.... and I
love food.
I love playing
basketball here with everyone! There are some kids that are really good
here and it is just so fun to hang out and just ball.
On Sunday I had
to give the opening prayer, of course in Korean. I think I did pretty
good and everyone said I did good, so I am happy with that!
The Older group ahead
of us left so that made me sad! They were huge examples and were always
so fun to hang out with and talk to! They all had a great attitude!
I was passed down a water boiler so we can cook up some Ramen, so that will be
fun to use!
I controlled two
lessons on my own this week and they went so well!! It is just great
knowing I can give a 20 minute lesson in Korean!
In one of the lessons
we had with our Sister investigator. She said that she looked up a ton of
stuff on the Internet about Joesph Smith. I testified to her that the
internet doesn't really have the truth about Joesph Smith, I then told that I believed
Joesph Smith had seen god and no matter what the internet said, I knew that he
was a true prophet of god.
Then I retold the
first vision in Korean (I got it memorized finally......). This first vision of
Joesph Smith has so much power. I know it can change hearts. It
gave me the chills as I sat there and recited from my heart. I know
Joesph Smith is a true prophet of God. All of this is possible because he
was willing to lay down his life for this amazing gospel that we have today!
I am so grateful for that man!
I love you all and
hope you all have a wonderful week!!!
-Elder Smith
Aug 31, 2016
Aug 31, 2016
Hello
Everyone!!!!!
MTC is still in
progress of course ;) I am just living life here and honestly having a
lot of fun with my district and with the language. My district is so
amazing, it feels like we have all hung out with each other since birth.
We all have fun and tell a lot of jokes. I think it was a blessing that I
was put with this group. They are all amazing!
Sorry to everyone this
week! I did not have time to get to all the emails I would have liked to
get to! So I'm sorry if I didn't reply! I will try and get to you
all next week. Life is busy, I got to study all that 한국말 (Korean). Hope everything is well with all of
you! I know life is hard, but there is always a way. If there is
one thing I have learned here at the MTC and while studying Korean, is that the
Lord will provide a way.
As I first arrived to
the MTC I thought it would be a breeze, because I had already heard so much
Korean at home. I was totally wrong, and I was humbled very
quickly. I first had a companion, Elder Ha, who is practically fluent in
Korean. He is so good!
For all those
missionaries out there and for all of you at home! Do not ever ever
compare yourself to anyone else! It will lead you to self doubt and
sadness. Do not compare!
I know you all are
amazing people, don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others, it
will never help you in anything! Only compare yourself to what you were
yesterday!
I fell into that trap
the first couple weeks, Now looking back I saw my progress has slowed. I
now am progressing so much and growing so much more spiritually.
I read Mosiah Chapter
7-9 It talks about the people of Zarahemla finding the people of
Lehi-Nephi. I just loved reading about them and how they rejoiced after
they found their brethren.
We have the
opportunity to teach members from Provo and BYU
every Monday night. It is always so amazing to teach a message
and talk to members. We teach Koreans and some RM's. This Thursday
we got to teach this woman who was from Argentina. So we got to speak
English! It was so exciting. I actually forgot how to speak and do
a message in Korean. All I have done is Korean lessons, so it was so
weird to teach someone in English. Even though English is my first
language.
Well that was it for
this week! I hope everyone is doing great. Remember God is always
with you, no matter what.
Love, Elder Smith
Aug 24, 2016
Aug 24, 2016
Hey
Everyone!!! Still just chillin in the MTC. haha it is still fun
though. Also thank you to everyone who sent emails, packages, and
letters! shout out to Burwell's! The treats and snacks were
amazing!! Also shout out to Daddy Brown! The drawing was amazing!
;)
Sunday was a
great day. Saturday was my companions birthday. So when
we went on the temple walk there were signs and posters. It was
awesome. Elder Allen's family lives in provo so they left cupcakes at the
temple for us! It may or may not have been against the rules so...... nah
just kidding we were good.
We had
sacrament. And of course it is all in Korean, but it is a good thing I
can understand it! ;) During Sacrament though we had an amazing musical
number. Elder Rassmussen on the piano, Elder Hale on the Violin, and
Elder Beckett singing. The spirit was amazing! They sang
"Savior Redeemer of my soul" String instruments are now my
favorite!! They just bring the spirit for me and sound so amazing.
I then had a lesson on
Obedience: Doing the will of the Father. We must not only be
obedient. We must have the faith, that if we do follow that rule or
commandment, we can receive those blessings! I know as we heed to the
words of the prophets and our leaders we can receive those blessings, just by
being obedient!
The Nashville Tribute
Band came and gave us a little concert. It was actually really
awesome. We sang "I was born" "John's Song" and
"When the Son of Man (comes again)" with them. It was so
amazing! They were way better in person.
After that we saw the
brand new visitor center films. No one has really seen them, they said
they were only shown in the New York visitor centers. They were super
good, and I have such a strong testimony of Joesph Smith!!
The language is so
cool and coming along well. It is hard to think of vocab words
though. The only problem is that I am having a hard time memorizing some
of the vocab and conjugations!
To show you what
korean is like I will give you all some examples:
I know that God is our
father.
I God our father is
that know.
If I read the Book of
Mormon, I will feel the Holy Ghost.
I Book of Mormon read
if Holy Ghost feel will.
Korean is fun,
although it is confusing at times!
I love you
all!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)