23 December 2013

Hey everybody! Kieren had her birthday and Christmas is coming up so it was a big week. I really enjoyed this letter because you could see how happy she is. Everybody if you missed her birthday it was the 21st and I know she would love a shout out from all her dear family and friends. Much love to all this special season!

Dearest Family and Friends,

I hope you are all ready for Christmas because it is basically here!

This week-Happy Birthday to me!!!! My Birthday here on the mission was fantastic! In the morning I got a call from Sister Castro (mission president´s wife) wishing me a happy birthday from her and the family. My companion was super nice and remembered and helped make it a special day. For part of companion study we watched some of the documentary of President Monson´s life. He is truly an inspiring man and amazing example.  Iam so glad to have the guidance of a living prophet and to learn from his example. After a day of normal work, including making contacts in Praza Tamandaré with Felipe (a 10 year old boy from the church who dressed up like Santa and was super adorable in giving out pass along cards and candy) we went to the Sister´s apartment in Cidade Nova and had a surprise pizza/cake party! We also had a fantastic lunch with Rosane (a sister in our ward) and I loved my presents from the family! At church yesterday a bunch of people wished me happy birthday and I got calls from some of the other missionaries in our zone. I definitely felt special and remembered and it was a super great day :)

Yesterday we had Encontro de Corais where all the ward choirs meet and have a grand presentation. The chapel was overflowing with people! It was great to see so much support for the activity. But the best part of the night was probably when Miguel Janes and Caroenne walked in. Get ready for a long back story.....

So. last transfer Gisela and João Arthur (remember, the guy in a wheelchair -see picture above) were having us over for lunch. We asked them if they knew of anyone we could teach or who needed a visit and João Arthur mentioned Miguel Janes, a less active member. We noted his name, but he did not have an address, just a phone number. We thanked them, said goodbye, and went on with our day. The next time we saw João Arthur he mentioned Miguel again but we hadn´t visited him. Fast forward two or three weeks and I have a new companion, Sister Hodnik. During a visit with our ward mission leader, Elizandro Castro, he also mentioned Miguel and pointed out where he lived. By then I was like, we definitely have to go there. We went, but he wasnt home.  We decided to start using the ward directory more and one day I was just looking through the directory and saw Miguel´s name and also Caroenne, who is his daughter, who we found out was also a member. So yesterday we went there and they let us in and they were super nice and had some pretty hilarious relatives visiting including twin aunts who aren´t afraid to speak their mind. One aunt, Nilza, told us she thought we were older than 21 and 22 because we were using old lady clothes hahaha. But anyway, we had a great conversation and it was after church was over, but we invited them to the choir thingie. Normally people don´t actually come to things, but the first surprise was when they said they would come and the second was when about 30 minutes in, they both actually came!!! We were so happy to see them, especially after so many people hadn´t shown up to church that we were expecting. So basically we are going to work with them and help them come back to activity. Miguel has a lot of questions and Caroenne has a lot of things she doesn´t want to leave behind just yet, but they are both such kindhearted people and we are excited to work with them. They talked to a lot of the members who were at the choir peformance and it looks like they have a lot of friendships in the church that will help them feel welcomed.

Chrismas is in two days!!!! Woohooo!!!! I have super cute tree that my family sent in the apartment and Priscila(investigator) and Jonathan(member) showed us that they already have presents under their tree for us (we are having Christmas dinner with them :D)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Remember Christ and why he was born. We celebrate his birth not just because he was born on this earth, but because of what he did his entire life and especially how he overcame death. He knows exactly how to help us through all of our trials and loves to rejoice with us when we are happy :D

Isaiah 41:13

Love you all!

Sister Smith

16 December 2013

A nice long letter from Kieren ............a great Christmas Present to be able to read it!




Dearest Friends and Family,

So this week was awesomely crazy!

New companion is Sister Hodnik. She is from São Paulo and is super nice and fun! Since I stayed in the area Jardim do Sol and my companion left, I basically felt super stressed about showing her the area, making sure I didn´t forget anyone, etc etc. I still feel a lot of reponsibility in remembering all the people and stuff, but I know that the Lord will help me, and this week I had an experience that helped reinforce that. My first week in the field, we were knocked on a door (actually clapped in front of the gate, that´s how it is done here) and a nice elderly lady named Maria let us in and we taught a lesson, etc. Basically I was still super new and overwhelmed and didn´t know anything that was going on. 5 weeks later, we passed her on the street and I didn´t recognize her and my companion was like -remember that was Maria, etc etc. I was super stressed because I didn´t get a good look at her and everything and out of the thousands of people we talk to I had no idea how I was going to remember everyone. However, the next week, after my companion got transferred, we were walking in the street and I saw a lady walking our way and I looked at her and it was so clear in my mind that it was Maria, and I remembered my experience meeting her and we went over and talked to her and it was just great because I knew in that moment that the Lord would help me remember the names, faces, and needs of all the people that we need to talk to and teach because He knows every one of his children by name.

Yesterday was super crazy awesome. So we had great classes (Relief Society is first, then Sunday School then Sacrament Meeting) and I was just enjoying church and not suspecting anything when a counselor in the bishopric came up to me and had the "you are going to give a talk" face on. It was a huge surprise because I just gave a talk a few weeks ago and usually they tell us before any of the meetings start, not right before Sacrament Meeting. I had already used my prepared outline in this ward, so I was kind of stressed but I was like "sure sounds good." So in between playing the hymns for sacrament meeting I frantically prepared an outline, praying to be able to speak well and say something intelligible. When I went up to speak, it was amazing! It was definitely not perfect, but the words kind of just flowed out and the best part was that I used a bunch of scriptures that I had not planned to use and flipped right to them, like my scriptures were just opening themselves. I feel really blessed to have received help from Heavenly Father through the Spirit because that is the only way I could have given the talk and timed it so well. Also, the only reason I could access those scriptures was because I had memorized them in seminary. When we treasure up the words of Christ and the scriptures, they truly can come to our minds in times of need, but only if we have sudied them before. 

Also yesterday, we decided to visit a less active member, Gabriela. She is super nice and welcoming, but when we walked in, we realized that they were having an engagement party. We were like "oh, we can come back at a different time" but she insisted we stay. So it was kind of super awkward. She took us to the back of the house where they were preparing food and left us with a bunch of her relatives because she had to prepare some things. So there we were, sitting in this back room with a bunch of very nice ladies who were smoking and talked a million miles per hour. It was quite an adventure. And then, someone from the front of the house called everyone to come listen to "a message." They sounded very excited but I had no idea what kind of message it was going to be. In our area there are a bunch of Jehovah´s Witensses so I was sure it was them and I thought to myself "man this is going to be fun." But it wasn´t them, it was a car with a loudspeaker attached that started to play a message that went somehting like this- "prepare your hearts to be touched etc etc " And at this point I was sure it was either some evangelical church or the universal church or something, but it actually turned out to be none of these. It was just a message for the engaged couple wishing them happiness and felicity in their marriage and lives. It was quite strange and interesting and I hope the happy couple loved it. The visit overall was quite good though. We talked to Gabriela and some of her concerns surfaced about why she is not going to church and struggles she is having. She also gave us cake and chocolates which were homemade and amazingly delicious. Many blessings.

So this week we weren´t having much success finding people at home and teaching a bunch, but we were doing everything we should, like waking up on time, studying, etc. Our own efforts weren´t amounting to much, but the Lord truly gave us a miracle. We were walking to an appointment when a woman called out to us from her house. Her name is Tânea and she lives literally right next to the church. She just moved there, but says she probably wont be staying for much longer. However, she told us that she is feeling lonely and looking for a church and wondering if we could help her. Obviously, we were elated. We invited her to church and said we would pass by on Sunday. We did and she was right ready to go which is super rare! She said she wasn´t sure if we would come and decided if we didn´t she would go to that church right by her house (ours) so basically the Lord is directing her to the true church because she is earnestly searching for what is right. We told her of course we are here and that we would definitely not forget to pass by. She went to all the meetings and loved them! She had been previously attending various churches, mostly Universal, and said that she had been feeling really really confused. She is going through some tough times and she said that she felt that maybe it was because she didn´t pay enough tithing (in the Universal church they pass around a sack or tray asking for offerings of the most valuable thing you have, the most money you can offer, etc. Some people turn in cellphones, the keys to their cars, even their houses at times). I said of course it was not that and explained to her how tithing works, how it is all in private and the money doesn´t go to the preacher/pastor but directly to building chapels, temples, helping the needy, etc and that at the end of the year you receive a record. She said that made so much more sense and that she really liked that. She said multiple times that here everything was so much more clear and that it made perfect sense and that she felt really good. She is someone that was definitely prepared by the Lord. She is probably going to move to Florianopolis on Friday, but we are going to pass by today and make sure she knows how to find the church there, etc. It was a marvelous blessing to meet her and a testimony that the Lord will place people in our path if we are doing what is right. 

Another miracle this week was when we had a lunch appointment in Bolaxa, which is one of the areas we have to take a bus to get to. Our area is HUGE. It has 9 bairros, or mini-town/city neighborhood places. Not sure how to describe it. Consequently, we have to take the bus a lot. Also consequently, we can´t visit every area every week and there are some areas I haven´t even visited yet, usually ones without members or investigators. So basically I was stressed because we had only gone there once and I wasn´t sure how to get there and my companion had never been there so we were kind of going off of faith. We got some vague directions from Shélem´s mom (we were going to the house of Shélem (member) and Claudio (investigator)), however after we descended the ônibus, we asked a man how to get to Rua 129 and he said it didn´t exist. So we said thanks and started walking, not sure how everything was going to work out. As we went along the road, we heard  a man call out "Irmãs!" We turned and it was Claudio! He was working (he is a bricklayer) at a house nearby. He gave us clear directions how to get to his house (it was pretty close) and said he would join us in a few minutes. The Lord truly is watching out for us every second of the day. Lunch was great and we were able to teach Claudio a bit more. He is very kind and giving and is going to make a wonderful member of the church. He sometimes doesn´t like to come to church because he doesn´t read well and is embarrassed, but we are trying to help him overcome that.

Also this week, we had Natal Branco (White Cristmas) where some wards in our stake realized some baptisms and the missionaries sand in a choir (I played the piano :D) It was a lovely evening. This week we have a zone conference in Pelótas and we get to have lunch with President Castro! I´m excited. 

I am getting burnt to a crisp even though I have SPF 50 sunscreen. Yay tanlines!

I have been enjoying the scriptures that my family sent and reading them as part of my personal study. Thanks to everyone that sent cards and mail. I am always super excited and happy to read them. Thanks for all the updates on everyone. Merry Christmas season! It is truly the most wonderful time of the year when we take time to focus on the reason we celebrate Christmas- the birth of the greatest life that ever walked this planet. He truly fulfilled His mission perfectly and understands all of our struggles and difficulties. (Alma 7:11-13 Isaiah 53:3-5)

Love you all <3

Sister Smith

Kieren is doing great!  She received the Christmas Birthday package we sent.  If any of you want to wish her a Happy Birthday it is the 21st of Dec.  She will be 21 so it is her GOLDEN Birthday!

Thanks to all the support you are all giving to her.  She is so happy!


Dearest Family and Friends,

First Transfer has arrived! I will stay in Jardim do Sol but I will be receiving a new companion tomorrow, about whom I will write next week. 

A great experience we had this week was when we changed our plans and went to go visit a less active member, Nilsa. We talked to her for a while, and she said she felt bad about drinking coffee and knew that she should be going to church and stuff, and Sister Mileib asked her if it was just coffee that was making her so sad, and she said no, and started telling us about some challenges she is having. Her son won´t talk to her or let her see her grandkids and her boyfriend said he was going to leave her in January. She said she is really afraid to be alone. We cried with her and sang some hymns. We encouraged her to start getting her life in order because that will truly bring happiness and help with a lot of the issues she is having. We will be working with her these upcoming weeks to help her make changes and come back to the fold. Elder Uchtdorf´s talk from the last conference has been very helpful in learning how to relate to and help those who have for one reason or another left the church. I would encourage everyone to re-read it. 

Yesterday we had churrasco (barbecued meat on spear-like skewers) at two peoples houses. And at each house there are tons of types of meat and you have to eat a lot. Also there was a lot of fat on the meat, but some people consider that the best part.  I was looking around like "are they going to eat that part?" because we follow the host´s exapmple and all that. When they ate it, I was like "here we go, ready to gain some weight" It wasn´t too bad and aside from the fat, the meat was amazingly delicious! Also I don´t think I will be eating for another few days. 

The work is great. Lots of investigators with potential, but there is always some sort of barrier to overcome, like they have to get married, quit smoking, get parent´s permission, etc. Satan really works to make sure people don´t get to baptism, but we ork even harder and we have the Lord on our side, who is more powerful. He truly knows everything and we have to trust in His timing (see Isaiah 55:8-9)

Love you all!

Sister Smith 

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2 Dec 2013 - More Pictures!

Kieren has been busy and happy in Brazil. Enjoy her letter from this week and at the end I have attached pictures from her mission so far.

Hello Dearest Friends and Family!!!

This week was awesome!! The biggest news of the week is that Lucas got baptized on Saturday!! He got confirmed yesterday in church by André, who has only been a member for about a year, but he gave an amazing blessing full of promises about how Lucas will be a great leader in the church and have a lot of opportunities as a result of the gospel. It was amazing to see the change in him this week. He is a lot more respectful to his leaders and is a lot happier and has more light in his life. One key moment this week was when we saw him on the street and reminded him about meeting him at the church at 7. He was with some of his friends and they were giving him a hard time. He told us that he didn´t want to meet with us that day and kind of blew us off. Later, we decided to call him and prayed about what we could do and say. We called him and asked him to come and that it was important, and said that he didn´t have to come in, just to meet us at the gate. He conceded and we met him and he decided to come in. We told him that we would be quick so he could get back to his friends, but he told us that he decided to leave them and that he decided to stay here (there was a young men´s activity at the church at that time). He apologized for the way he treated us and he had a great time at the activity. There was a visible change from the Lucas we met on the street to the Lucas at the activity. It reminded me of the scripture that reminds us to "Stand in holy places, and be not moved." Truly if we do this, it will bless us and there will be a tangible difference in our lives. Not only us, but others will be able to see that difference and we will be able to be an examle to them. 

More good news- I dreamed in portuguese! I was on the street and there was a lady asking me directions to the milk festival. I told her to continue until the end of the road and turn right. I had been studying directions this week, so I am sure that is why I had that dream. 

Food adventure of the week- we were having lunch at a member´s home in St. Anges and the Irmã brough out this platter with a giant black fish on it. it was about the size of a computer keyboard (the giant old ones, not the laptop ones) and was staring at us with its beady little eye and sharp teeth. It tasted pretty good though. 

Remember to be happy this week! True happiness comes as a result of living the gospel. Mosiah 2:41. Love you all!

Sister Smith

Kieren's CTM leader sent some photos from the CTM!!!

25 Nov 2013

Dearest Family and Friends!

It has been an amazing week! I forgot my journal so I am sure I will leave out some awesome things, but I will try my best to share what I remember.

Update on Wagner- he went from 15-20 cigarettes to 7, and when we went with him to church yesterday, he hadn´t smoked any, so at least up until noon (church gets out at 12) he was cigarette-free! We went to pick him up for church for the first time yesterday (it is a 20-30 minute walk there and back) and he was ready and waiting with a nice polo and new jeans he bought for church. He had expressed concern about not owning any nice clothes and we told him that the reason we dress up on Sunday is to give our best to the Lord and show respect, so he could wear the best clothes that he owned and know he was showing the Lord respect and love. He was all cleaned up, with combed hair and cologne and it was really touching to see his wiillingness to change and sacrifice. He has problems with hand coordination so he told us he was having trouble with his belt, so he had to walk all the way to the church until we could get the bishop to help him. It was amazing to see his faith and sacrifice. He shared during gospel doctrine that he believed in Joseph Smith and in the Book of Mormon. He comes from a different religion so whenever people pray he says his hallelujahs, truth, and amens, which makes me smile. I am not sure he realizes that when we pray the congregation just listens and participates in their hearts, so we will mention that with him, but its nice to know he wants to participate. 

We helped Irmã Gisela and Irmão João Arthur (wheelchair and health problems) clean their house, and Irmão João Arthur made bread for us while sitting down at the table with Gisela´s help getting the things together. The people here are so giving and so willing to make people feel welcome and wanted. 

There was one day this week that we had an awesome lunch with roast, fried potatoes, purple cabbage mayonnaise apple salad, rice and beans. After that, we went and visited a less active member, Nilsa, who is struggling to overcome hurt feelings from something a member said (side note-please never take offense and always remember that Christ´s church is perfect but the people are not, just as no one perfectly healthy goes to the doctor to get cured, no one perfectly spiritually healthy goes to church to be healed.) and she gave us cake and corn muffins. She is so giving and kind and has a wonderful heart. Then we went to visit a member who is struggling with depression and she gave us lemon cake and chocolate milk. I could barefly walk due to everyones loving generosity.

Another investigator, Claudio (husband of Shélem, a member who recently returned to church), bought new shoes and a white shirt and is coming to church every week! They live a 30 minute bus ride away and both work a ton, so it is hard to coordinate teaching appointments, but these next few weeks we are hoping to prepare him for baptism. He accepted to be baptized, we just have to help him along the way.

I made banana bread today without a recipe! No one here uses recipes so I decided to just go for it. It was, in my humble opinion, delicious. 

The Lord truly looks out for the needs of His children. This week we were blessed to be able to help meet the needs of one of our investigators. Nycieli is 11 years old and comes to church every week. She has been going for the last 6 years, but is waiting until she turns 12 to get baptized, we are not sure why yet. But anyway, we cleaned out our house and there were a bunch of clothes that missionaries left. We took them to Nycieli and her family and they were very gratful. That week, she had expressed that she felt kind of bad that she went to church and everyone was wearing skirts and she didn´t have one. When I saw her in the primary program wearing one of the skirts we brought, it made me so happy.

Oh, and the primary program was so lovely and adorable. I played the piano/organ and the kids were so sweet and touched many hearts when they sang and bore testimony. Aside from Amon falling out of his chair and a bunch of the kids crying during the practices because they weren´t chosen to say the closing prayer and they all wanted to, the program went without difficulty and was a wonderful experience. 

This week, I could definitely see the tender mercies of the Lord in the lives of all our investigators. "E eis, porém, que eu, Néfi, vos mostrarei que as ternas misericórdias do Senhor estão sobre todos aqueles que ele escolheu por causa de sua fé, para torná-los fortes com o poder de libertação." 1 NE1:20

Heavenly Father really is looking out for each of us. Like some emails I received this week said, if we look for it, we will definitely find the hand of the Lord in the details of our lives. I know that God loves us. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that through the atonement we can overcome any challenge or difficulty. 

Love you all!

Sister Smith

18 November 2013

I think its safe to say that we are all jealous Kieren went to the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. Well, at least I am. I think it will be strange for her to have Christmas when it is warm on the coast. It will also be her first Christmas away from home so if any of you have a moment these next few weeks think of something nice, or share a photo with her. Send her your family Christmas card, etc. I know she would love it. 

Dearest Family and Friends,

It´s been an awesome week! I am at São José do Norte again because we decided to go to the beach this time because it is so sunny and nice out (it was weird to hear that there has been some snow already back in the states)

Last thursday I got mail for the first time out in the field (it is all sent to the mission home and we only get it about once a month) Thanks for all your letters! Its bad to brag and I need to stay humble, but I got the most letters of anyone in my zone :). Not a big deal though. Special thanks to the Activity day girls! It was so fun to get those letters. 

Yesterday when we got to church, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting. As missionaries, we always are supposed to have a talk prepared and I was kind of expecting it that morning so it wasn´t a huge surprise. It went really well I think. I spoke about the gifts from God that are freely available to us if only we ask and are obedient. He wants to bless us with protection, strength, and love (shown through the atonement see John 3:16-17) and all we have to do is listen, obey, and accept his gifts. 

Yesterday in church we had several investigators and a whole lot of less actives! We worked a lot this week with some less active members and had many of them come to church. We visited Ionice and her son Mateus this week and invited them to come back to church, and Ionice was super funny. She said she hadn´t had time that week to dye her hair and her roots were showing but that she would come anyway. And she did! 

In portuguese, you can add the ending -ão to some words and it means a bigger version of the thing, like amigo is friend and amigão is a super great friend. I can´t remember the grammatical term for that, but anyway. An orelhão is a little telephone booth thing shaped like a giant ear (orelha is ear). Also, one that I thought was funny was the word for coffin- caixão. It literally means the big box or the ultimate box (caixa).

A cool experience we had this week was teaching Wagner, an investigator we found as a street contact. He is the one I mentioned last week that we taught on the street in the rain. He was smoking when we found him, so we knew that might be an issue. We taught him about the restoration last week, and this week we taught him about the word of wisdom. He is super eager to hear the lessons and is always waiting for us. He said that he knows that God sent us to help guide him. We challenged him to live the word of wisdom and set a goal this week to go from smoking 15 cigarettes a day to 5, and he said that he would rather just stop entirely! He is so willing to make changes and even though it will be hard, I know he will be blessed. Please pray for him this week to have the strength to make those changes. 

Erik, Eduardo and Lucas all came to a young men´s activity this week. We had churrasco (super intense barbecue where the meat is on giant spears and stuff) with chicken and they played soccer and it was really fun. The young men are great and helping a lot with helping them feel included. 

At the member´s houses, we always share a spiritual thought and this week a couple of times I shared 2 Ne 31:10. I know that if we persevere to the end, we will be happy during the process and ultimately inherit eternal life and happiness. Sometimes it is hard to do all the things we know we should and sometimes it is hard to see how it will all work out, but that is when we have to exercise faith in Jesus Christ by doing the things we need to and repenting daily so that we can have the Holy Ghost to guide us. 

I love you all and love hearing from you! Thank you for your love and prayers. 

Love,

Sister Smith

11 November 2013

Dearest Family and Friends,

Hello! I am writing from São José do Norte, a little island off the shores of southern Brazil. It is a 20 minute bus ride and a 30 minute boat ride from my area. We are having a pday with a bunch of the missionaries from our zone. 

Yesterday it was raining so hard and we got completely soaked, but it was super fun and we were laughing the whole time because our umbrellas kept flipping inside out and pulling us around and stuff. Basically no one is on the streets during the rain, but we were really fortunate and got to teach a lesson to one of our investigators, Wagner. He lives alone so we aren´t supposed to go into his house, so we stood outside with our umbrellas and he stood in the doorway and we taught about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. He has accepted baptism, and we are really excited to teach him. He smokes, so we are going to have to work with him on stopping, but he is really receptive and kind and it was kind of miraculous that he let us teach him in the rain, because people here are pretty wary of the rain. Everyone stays inside and gets angry at the rain. It´s kind of funny. 

That afternoon, we also visited two less active members, Irmã Gisela and Irmão João Artur. They wish that they could come to church, but João Artur is confined to a wheelchair and has to get his blood replaced every couple days so he is really struggling healthwise and Gisela has to get up at 4:30 every morning to take him to the hospital. They are so charitable and loving. João Artur is really sad because he is unable to do his home teaching. Gisela gave me a capa de chuva (kind of like a thin raincoat) because all I had brought that day was a sweater and umbrella and with the wind you need basically full body protection. In their hearts, they want to do everything they can to help and serve the Lord. They are a great example of pure hearts. 

We had 5 investigators at church! Lucas, a 14 year old boy from the Bahía, has a lot of questions! He used to be a Jehovah´s Witness so he has studied a lot, but we are able to talk with him, answer his questions, and hopefully help him gain a testimony. He has a hard family situation, so he could use everyone´s prayers. This week, we will talk to his parents about letting him get baptized (he accepted baptism at FHE this week)

Erik and Eduard are the sons of a less active member. They came to church this sunday even though their mom didn´t go and are going to activities, but they are really really shy. They are super nice though. We are hoping to start teaching them this week and hoping that they are able to make a lot of friendships at the activities. 

It is funny because I have been asked if I am Italian and German, I think because a lot of people here have ancestry of immigrants from Italy or Germany. Someone said I kind of have an Italian accent, which I guess is a step closer to portuguese than an American accent haha. 

So the word for afro in portuguese is black power, said with a portuguese accent (blahck powah). We were at a member´s house for lunch and he was describing someone who had an afro and he kind of mimed what it looked like and said black power and I almost started laughing. It is really funny how people describe other people here. Like one time someone was describing a child and said something along the lines of, oh yeah, that little fat kid. But it is all said in love. I hope. 

I am starting to get used to the bus system. One of the first times I rode, I had white knuckles afterward because I was so afraid of falling down. The busses are crazy. They go super fast so everyone bounces way up and down on the bumps.

Our mission president told us to study 1 Ne 10:17 this week. It is a great scriptures and teaches a lot. For me, it helped me understand better how to receive personal revelation. One part that stuck out to me was ´diligently seek.´ We have to diligently seek, which insinuates that it doesn´t just happen immediately. We must work hard and sometimes wait to know or receive what we want, but I know Heavenly Father will always answer our prayers. 

Have an excellent week!

Love,

Sister Smith