Sincerely Sister Smith

Dear Loved Ones, Christmas highlights: 1. There's a pioneer wagon that does horse-drawn tours through Independence. As I was walking into our apartment, I heard a jingling in the background and looked around to see where it was coming from. And then the jingle wagon rounded the corner! They let the horsey jingle all the way! 2. I found a secret way to watch the Queen of England's annual Christmas speech. She noted the birth of her great-grandson, Archie, son of my hero, HRH Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. And then she drew a comparison to the birth that makes Christmas Christmas: "Of course, at the heart of the Christmas story lies the birth of a child: a seemingly small and insignificant step overlooked by many in Bethlehem. But in time, through his teaching and by his example, Jesus Christ would show the world how small steps taken in faith and in hope can overcome long-held differences and deep-seated divisions to bring harmony and understanding. Many of us alre...

Dear Loved Ones, Thank you to all who sent me Christmas cards! In a following email, I'll attach a picture of my favorite card from a child in the Tithing Hill ward. Trivia fact: W.W. Phelps rewrote Joy to the World to say "Joy to the world, the Lord WILL come." Millennialism was a big deal to the early Saints  in Independence. So when you go through the hymn book, Joy to the World comes up as a Phelps-authored song, even though the lyrics have now been matched back to their original version. In 2015, I had just turned nineteen and planned on being a missionary in the next few months. My gifts were few and mission-related because my parents planned on me being gone. I stayed up and sat in front of the Christmas tree, just watching the lights, because I thought it was the last time I'd see my family's tree and decorations. My next two Christmases would be in the mission field. But then they weren't. And looking at the Christmas tree made me sad. Last C...

Dear Loved Ones, It snowed so heavily this week that we had to cancel church. Saydi's phone is turned off, so I spent all of Sunday imagining her trapped inside, dressed and ready to go like she usually is when we come over to get her ready for church, waiting for us to come. And we don't. I thought snow days would be a party, but I wanted to be out helping her. We're seeing her tonight, though. With Christmas approaching, I've been thinking a lot about the wise men lately since they feature in the Christmas video The Christ Child. Mary lived with an enormous secret inside her nine months, and even once he was born, she couldn't talk to anyone about his true identity except Joseph, Elizabeth, and Zacharias. And then these mystery men show up in her life ad they know him for what he is. She must have really connected with them and had years worth of thoughts and stories to share with them.  The VC hosts concerts throughout December (except for the one canceled...

Dear Loved Ones, This week I did something I've wanted to for a long time: I taught a restoration branch person! Before I moved to Independence, I thought the RLDS church became the Community of Christ, but that's not really what happened. That's like saying Henry VIII's Catholics all became Anglicans. In 1984, RLDS women were given the priesthood (though they still don't speak or pray in church, so I'm not sure of the function of that) and people who didn't like that formed splinters groups. They all have names like Church of Jesus Christ Outreach Restoration Branch, Church of Jesus Christ New Jerusalem Restoration Branch, Church of Jesus Christ Living Hope Restoration Branch, Mount Zion Restoration Branch, etc. I don't think there's any central prophet or leader. It's just every pastor for himself. The woman we met with this week goes to the Outreach branch. She was very nice and has a love for the Book of Mormon and a genealogy sheet mappin...

Dear Loved Ones, I've spent this past week on a gratitude high. I don't know what it is. Maybe Thanksgiving. But I've just been so happy with everything in my life, even though nothing exceptional has happened this week. I'm happy here. This week, we re-taught Saydi the doctrine of Christ by making little stepping stones out of paper so she could hop from one step to another. A few half sheets were left over after the game and she started doodling on them. I asked her, "Can you endure to the end and keep going to church even when it's hard?" She kept her eyes on her doodle paper and I wasn't sure she was paying attention. But then she scribbled something on a spare paper, held it up, and it said, "Of Corse. Anything for God!" I love this child.  When I was a new missionary, I set this goal that I wanted to help eight people be baptized. Saydi is my fourth, but now I don't care about numbers anymore. My last child convert, Luvle...