Sincerely Sister Smith

Dear Loved Ones, When I was a freshman, my plant science class got a guest visit from the campus arborist. Because apparently our campus has its own arborist. We kept plant diaries and I'd taken a picture awhile back of a funny-looking tree near my dorm. It had a round bulge coming out the side and I wondered what disease it had to make it so deformed. I showed the picture to the arborist and asked him what was wrong with it. He recognized the tree immediately and told me, "Nothing's wrong with it. That's a burl." No one knows why burls form, but the wood in them is fine quality and prized by woodcarvers. I mentioned, some time ago, the Robinson family, who had their temple recommends taken away by a bad bishop because their house burned down and they were unable to pay tithing while rebuilding. That meeting with them was the most meaningful experience of my mission up to that point, but we hadn't been able to have a follow-up visit after that. We s...

After my mission president finally got back to Boise, he handed me a FedEx packet with "extremely urgent" written on the side. It certainly was. I tore through the cardboard and held it to my chest, sobbing. I waited and wanted and worked for this so long.  As I was holding it, he asked, "Can I see that, Sister Smith?" "No." "Please?"  I handed it back but kept a close eye on it as he held it to the side of his head and made some joke to the secretary about some guessing-game people used to play with calls back in the day. Then he helped me pull up my parents and brothers on his iPad and it was finally time to open it. Finally. So many times I've fantasized about opening my mission call. In the beginning, I thought I'd open it in the lobby of Helaman Halls, the BYU freshman dorms. Then I thought about doing it in the basement of the Joseph Smith Building. There's this metal lined closet-type area just off the stairwell wh...

Update: Independence, Missouri! Dear Loved Ones, If any of you have the slightest interest in emailing me back ever, doing that sometime this afternoon would be great, because my mission president has my call, but my mission president is 125 MILES AWAY IN TWIN FALLS AND HE NEEDS TO GET OVER TO BOISE ALREADY. So I'm loitering in the office for the next three and a half hours.    Ugggggghhhhhhhhh there's not a lot to do here. For those of you who didn't attend my farewell and are curious about why I'm getting two mission call, I have a mission blog called www.sincerelysistersmith.blogspot.com . I run it through a friend, and she's going to put up my farewell talk as a post. It explains everything. Now, a very long email because I'm bored for good long while. Abortion supporters often accuse people in the pro-life movement of being pro-birth, meaning they don't care about a woman or her child after the baby is born. In response to this, many pro...

Farewell Talk  I have waited a long time to give this talk and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to finally be here. I have requested the topic of diligence and will be talking about the diligence it took for me to get my mission call. I am twenty-two years old. I am leaving three years older than the normal age, and this is not because it took me until this age to decide to go on a mission, or because I didn’t want to go and the Spirit told me to and I eventually relented, or because I have any health problem or worthiness issues. I have waited three years to serve a mission, because I was rejected.  In 2015, I filled out my mission papers while I was attending a YSA ward in Provo and living with roommates. I offended my bishop in that YSA ward by cutting in line at a ward pizza party. I am a vegetarian, I was told there was only one cheese pizza, and if I couldn’t get up to the front of the line to get the one, I wouldn’t have any dinner that night. The next day was ...

Dear Loved Ones, On Monday, Sister Larsen and I filled out the evaluations for two-transfer missionaries. I requested to serve in a new location (though Boise has been fun and will always have a little piece of my heart). I can't wait to see where I end up! I have been praying that I can see the Lord's hand in my call and go somewhere I can do the most good. I am now the proud owner of an orange Boise State University shirt. We were helping someone we teach clean out her closet and she gave it to me. I don't know what I'll do with it after the month is over. I'm definitely not going to wear it around BYU campus after my mission. My pet peeve is when students wear other college gear. I always want to stop people and say, "Hey buddy, I see Yale that you were dumb and rejected you after you bought that shirt in high hopes, would you mind burning it now?" Boise is a nice enough town and I kind of like road trips, so maybe I'll drive up here someday ...