Sister Elizabeth Ashley Smith: Day 353 Othello, Wa mind blown

OY. FAMILY. Transfer calls this week were the craziest we've had. Brace yourselves....

I'm getting doubled in to Othello with Hermana Gifford!! ZEBRA, BABY!! ha we're covering 2 English wards but there's a lot of Hispanics up there. (Hma Gifford is from the Spokane mission) Maybe I'll get to learn some Spanish after all, eh?? Ha it was funny cause I went on exchanges with Hma Lambert this week, and she told me I would be a good zebra...and here I am! Sis Pratt is getting doubled into Kennewick with Sis Harris' greenie. And they're putting two brand new missionaries into Naches! Insane. They are doubling in/out SO many missionaries this transfer. Things are changing up!! I'm excited. And nervous. And excited. :)
(translation of mission lingo: doubled means both companions are new to the area and zebra means two companions assigned to speak different languages - in this case Spanish and English)

We had our christmas zone conference this week...it was so good!! We got awesome trainings from President and Sister Ware and they did a big musical program...and then we got to watch Monsters University!!! oh my gosh it was so funny. I can definitely tell I've been on my mission for too long...I found myself laughing at things that I wouldn't even have cracked a smile at before. HELP. hahaha (yeah, can you believe it's been almost a year now? crazy.)

Oh, btdubs, it finally happened. I had to sing in sacrament meeting this week. hahaha Sis Pratt volunteered us like the night before, so we sang the awesome EFY version of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". We did aight. :)

So I had a super cool experience on exchanges this week! First thing to know: When we had that conference with Elder Richards, he told us there are 4 essential truths that every investigator needs to have a testimony: The Atonement, Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, the BoM, and Priesthood power (prophets). He said whenever they have a concern, bring it back to one of those truths, and stop trying to use all the answers you have in your brain. Let the Spirit take care of those. Anywho.

So we went to teach this lady Carina and her family. Hma Lambert said we would probably just drop her since last week she decided to go to her own church instead of ours. We decided we would just talk with her and ask inspired questions and focus on the 4 truths and see what happens. So we get in there, and they're jabbering away in Spanish. And I just smiled. hahaha :) I could pick up the general idea, but pretty much out of the loop. Hma Lambert would translate every once in a while, but yeah. Anyways. So Carina was talking about how she knew the BoM was true, but she wasn't sure if Joseph Smith was really a prophet, because in the Bible it says that no man can look upon God and live, right? Immediately all these scriptures jumped to mind that we could use...like about Abraham and Steven and all that. But I remembered the training, and held myself back. (Which was way harder than it sounds) Instead, I sat there for a second, and then asked how she knew the BoM was true. Hma Lambert translated, and off they went in Spanish again. Later, Hma Lambert told me Carina said that she had never thought about it that way before...that if the BoM is true, then Joseph Smith really is a prophet. I bore a short simple testimony that Joseph Smith really did see God and that he was called to be a prophet, and that the BoM is the convincing evidence of the truth. Again, Hma Lambert translated it for me. I know I asked her another question, but I couldn't tell ya what it was. As they were talking, the Spirit in the room was SO strong. Oh my goodness. I couldn't even understand the conversation, but I could feel it.

After the lesson, I turned to Hma Lambert and said, that was really good, wasn't it? She said "Um, yeah. That was incredible. And those questions you asked were absolutely perfect. You have no idea." She said that Carina told her she knew it was all true and it was what she wanted for her family. Her husband sat in on the lesson as well for the first time, and he said he knew it was true as well, even though he had never heard the Restoration lesson before! It was SO cool to see how the Spirit could work through us...and even through me, even though I didn't know Spanish. All I had to do was let him. And it was awesome to witness how simply teaching those 4 truths could solve all her concerns. As long as we stuck to those, the Spirit could take care of all the extra. THE CHURCH IS TRUE, PEOPLE!! I love simply being instrument for the Spirit to speak through me.

Well, this is long enough. Love you guys! I'll update you on Othello next week :)

Sista Smith