Dearest Family!!!!
Glad to hear you all are all doing so well--sad about Mom's poor little finger!!! Hope you all are taking good care of her! As for the mission--we are loving it! Last week's numbers look really bad, and some of them really were, but I also feel they don't reflect all of the wonderful things we accomplished. Which is why I will keep doing my best to hit our goals, but also understand that not every good thing we do is shown in the numbers. I feel like we had done some great finding the week before, but some of those people were just not ready for the gospel yet. We were able to "re"-find a family though!!! Our sweet little sister (who is soo ready for xili--baptism) has parental fandui, and so we have been working with the whole family lately. Last Saturday we met with her parents (her sisters have only been home once...need to work on that!) and we had two peikes (members at the lesson)! One is her member friend (who is the Elder's RC) and another (who is a super solid member who has a similar background). Our lesson went soo well and at the end the father gave his first prayer! We invited them to church, and they said, "kankan" (we will see). Although they didn't make it to church the next morning, I feel we are a step closer. She shares scriptures with her mom and we recently re-invited her to ask her family to pray with her every night. We have a really good feeling about this family. They are so close with us now. The dad reminds me a lot of my own father--we get along really well. We feel soo at home with them all and they have told us we are always welcomed! We are really excited to keep working with them and giving them all goals!!!
RCs have been a little rough lately. With the rain they seem to go into hiding--whenever it rains here, almost no one comes to church!!! It has been raining a lot lately. But we have been more diligent about correlating with the wards. Also, we have recently been dialing through the ward rosters and setting up visits with less actives and active members. It has been soo awesome! We have found some AMAZING less actives that need saving that everyone had forgotten about! The R.S. president is going to come with us on some return visits too. Also, we have been able to meet with some active members and it makes Sundays so much more fun. We know more people and are able to more fully incorporate them in the work. Plus we are discovering a wealth of part member families that need to become eternal! One of the coolest experiences is that we prayed we would be able to find a less active to visit, and the first one Sister Thomas called agreed to meet that very day. When we came over, she was so warm and we found out in July she is going to be in America visiting the Sister who taught her! I will be home pretty close to the same time and so when her Sister Missionary is at work she can come find us! She and her husband were married before either of them passed their year-mark in the church, and thus weren't sealed before becoming less active. I really want to help her set a goal for a temple sealing! Pretty awesome!
This past week we had to go to Gaoxiong to give my "Reflection"...the last talk I will ever give to other missionaries! Weird!!! I was able to make it through with out crying--and I wrote it up, maybe I will send it next week. It was a hard thing to prepare for, definitely emotional, but it was good to reflect over my whole experience. I know God has guided me through every step of my mission and I love it so much. I know this is what God wants me to do--this is where He wants me to be. We see miracles daily here! Even though it gets hard sometimes, we just have to keep doing our best to endure well.
In the Gospel Study area, I have just been feasting on the Book of Mormon. I am going to finish it for the second time straight through before I end my mission! I am reading in 3rd Nephi and it is just so sad to see how at one point everyone can know the truth and then a few short years later almost all depart from it! I shared a few verses with a less active previous last night from Helaman 6. 13-14 just talk about the divide between the righteous and the wicked. I feel that is how our day is becoming. There are the very righteous and the very wicked. I am so impressed by those who are standing fast and will not depart from the Gospel. I want to be, and I will be one of those people as long as I live the patterns of the Gospel. God has prepared the way and I will obey. I love this Gospel!
I know miracles are still around the corner! I will work hard! I am so grateful for all of your support! My family is the best.
Oh, and Sister Thomas had a great birthday last week--will send pics next week! I was wearing my hippie pants...they look really awesome! I have a really cool jumping picture with them on.
Well, love you all soo much!
Sister Brooke Smith
P.S. Is the time on turbo mode????????????? Where is the SLOW button???
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