Sincerely Sister Smith

Dear Loved Ones, I'm kicking off this email with a birthday shout out to Kendra Mueller-Taylor! Hope you're having fun in Thailand! Whoever said Utah weather is bipolar never lived in eastern Kansas. Three o' clock Friday afternoon, we were lying out in the sun next to this pond in our apartment complex, but at eight o' clock, water was frothing up from the storm drains and people just half an hour away were taking shelter in basements while tornado sirens blared. We tracted one door at this new apartment complex after dinner and the people who answered were like, "Why are you doing this?" Sister Crandall wanted to stay out and tract, but I convinced her to take cover at a neighbors' house. We hid out there for an hour before going home. There was no disaster at the end of this, but I wasn't taking any chances.  Tornado and flood at the same time? No thank you. Something I've been asked a lot lately is what the Book of Mormon gives us that t...

Dear Loved Ones, Quick funny story: Last week for P-day, we went to the zoo. Eight elders were there, dressed identically, as elders are. One of them thought it was a good idea to shred pieces of a leaf and stick it through the cage to the monkey. The zookeeper got mad and yelled at...the wrong elder. Because they're all interchangeable. Now, onto the email.  Before I became a missionary, I worked as a research assistant for a BYU folklorist, Dr. Rudy. I also took two classes from her. She is a mentor to me and I definitely have a closer relationship with her than any of my other professors. Her son helped give me that priesthood blessing last May in England.  After I got my call, Dr. Rudy was the first person I had to tell because going on a mission necessitated me quitting my job. It is no understatement to say that there were very few good things in my life for the past three years. My job with her was one of them. It hurt to have to quit a job I loved for a missio...

Dear Loved Ones, I wish there had been something happy or uplifting to write about this week, but I've got nothing. So instead, I'm going to talk about one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I'm coming up on the anniversary of it, so it's been on my mind. One year ago, I was in London in the middle of a ten day fever. I was there on a study abroad and I thought I had signed up for international health insurance, but I couldn't find my health insurance information and I didn't know where to go for a doctor even if I had it. I was working while I was there and divided my time between class, homework, an online internship, and running around the city seeing everything important go me. I didn't take time to rest and recoup.  There were two things I had been wanting desperately at that time: one was that I could go on a mission. One was that I could go to the royal wedding.  That week, I added a third thing. I wanted to get better. Before ...

Dear Loved Ones, I'll start this off with a couple shoutouts. 1: Abby Zlotnick, congratulations on your wedding! 2. Happy birthday to Camille Perkins! 3. Saige, congratulations on your pregnancy and I will road trip down to Cedar City to see your baby after my mission. My mission doesn't seem so long until I think about how your baby will be six or seven months old by then. 4. Speaking of babies, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) had their baby this morning! I have been waiting for him to be born since late February and I ask my mom every week whether she'd given birth yet.  Today was a rough week, and I don't have the energy to write a long email, so there will be no weekly tip. I had some bright spots.  While tracting, I met a woman who answered the door with a dead expression that reminded me of the way I used to look during my dark patches while I was waiting to serve. She said she'd had a hard day. I thought she'd ju...