February 23rd 2015

So the fist week has been accomplished! It started out great! Tuesday night was mutual so we went to go and meet the bishop of the ward but instead we ended up talking with a less active member of the ward for about 30 minutes and we set up a time to meet with her later in the week. I was not able to meet the bishop but instead was blessed by finding this member. On Wednesday we got a new investigator and she is golden! Her name is Pattie and she was found by Elders during a Zone Blits a while ago and was given a BOM. (A blits is where the zone gets together and tracts an area for an hour. they are fun!) She called The Sisters and asked if you could read more than just the Introduction of the book. When we visited with her, she had read the first two chapters and told us how she was praying for some spiritual guidance when the Elders knocked on her door. So i am excited to get to teacher her!!  Thursday, we were able to meet with other less active members in the ward. They are an old couple that never goes to church. Whenever anyone tries to visit them, they tell them to leave right away. We ended up talking with them for about and hour and a half about their friends conversion stories and even their own stories of coming into the church! It was wonderful! As we were leaving, Sister Migao asked if we could come back and teach them the lessons so that i could practice... they said yes!! What miracles!! We met with them on Friday and taught them the first lesson in PMG. It went very well! 

That is when the luck ended. I. got. sick. Both Sister Migao and I ended up getting sick on Saturday morning and it made working very difficult. Also, we got a snow storm! I did not stop Snowing from Saturday around noon to this morning. Saturday night was the worst... we got a text from the office telling us to park our cars and stay in our apartments. CRAZY! I love the snow... it has been beautiful and cold here. We have been safe and doing our best with the snow and being sick. Because of the snow, we were not able to teach anyone saturday afternoon or sunday afternoon. It was tough but we did a lot of studying. 

There is an old missionary couple (Elder and Sister Nelson) that live in our ward and in our apartment complex. They are so amazing and i have gotten to know them a lot this weekend! Elder Nelson is the mission doctor so we visited with them last night to see how to get better and how i can start sleeping better as well. They are helping me a lot with my transition into the missionary life. 

Well i have a good feeling about this week. It will be a good one :) 

Love you all!! 

Sister Smithson

February 17th 2015

So i have finished my MTC training and am now officially in the field. My last week in the MTC was pretty tough but i learned so much. Sister Dumas and I had another hard Saturday but we endured through it and Sunday came and fixed it all again.  

So i had to say goodbye to everyone at the MTC on Sunday and it was so hard to do! I saw Brooke a lot during the day and at the end of it we finally got our picture at the map! I did not see Clarissa... :(  i looked for her everywhere but couldnt find her. Saying goodbye to my district was probably the hardest part of the day. Before Devotional we had a District testimony meeting and i think we all, at one point, started to cry. It was so spiritual!  Because of the testimony meeting, we were a little bit late for the Devotional but it was still a great talk. He talked about loving our companion and always trying to serve him/her. so once again we all got teary-eyed. Before we all departed to our residence halls, we all went back to the classroom and had our last district prayer and said our last goodbyes. (More tears). Then it was bedtime. 

Monday morning was hectic! The bus was supposed to leave at 2:30 so i planned on waking up at 2.  My plan was to be quiet and not wake anyone up and leave without anyone really knowing.... that didnt happen.  My alarm didnt go off so at 2:35 i woke up to banging on my door. Sister Dumas opened it and random girls said that there were 3 Elders waiting outside for me. (These Elders were in my District and were going to my mission with me). So frantically i jump out of bed (Not really i was on the top bunk so that would have hurt if i actually jumped out), threw the random stuff from the night before into my bags and as i was doing this the Hermanas in my room woke up and helped me finish packing and helped with my bedding stuff, then i left. Sister Dumas came with me to the bus and saying goodbye to her was something i did not want to do. Sadly i had to. So more tears and goodbyes. (Aren't the Hermanas and Sister Dumas the best?!?!)

So the trek to the airport was long and boring. The waiting at the Airport was even longer and more boring. However, the best part of the day was getting to call my family!! I talked with them when it was 4:30 there... sorry family! But it was so awesome and made me really happy that they answered :) I got to Denver around 8 and met the mission president and his wife. They are super nice and awesome! then we went to the mission home and i met my new companion Sister Migao! She is super Awesome and fun. We get along really well so far :) She is from San Diego, CA so that was pretty cool (I keep getting California companions:P). I am not in a district or zone with any of my Elders from the MTC. :( but i will get to see them sometime during the next two transfers for a meeting. 

This morning after studies we went and helped an older sister in the ward practice studying english for a driving test thing. She speaks mostly spanish so it was really hard understanding what she was saying. but at the same time i understood a lot of the words that she used. It was when she said sentences that i didnt understand anything. 

So i am serving in Aurora right now and it is beautiful! It snowed quite a few inches yesterday after it had been in the 60s the entire week before. (The snow came just to welcome me!) I am already moved in and settled so now i just have to get food to eat and ill be good! 

I am glad that you all had a fun holiday off of school and work! Quading is always a blast! 

I am so happy to be out of the MTC and get some real food! the food there was horrible (Besides the chocolate milk, ice cream, and tater tots). On Saturday the bookstore was closed and Sister Dumas had to buy a few things so we went to the front desk to see if they would open it for a minute so that she could get her things but instead they called a driver to take us to rite aide. It was so weird being out of the MTC and being around normal people! the driver was pretty cool... his name is Clark. (Not Superman). He had sass and made the trip fun for Sister Dumas and I. 

Well I love you all!!! Wish me luck on my first week in the field! I'm praying for you all:)

Love,

Sister Smithson

February 11th 2015

Well, here is Sister Brittani Smithson's first email. I am also adding her mission address just in case you are interested in using snail mail. Missionaries love hand written letters.

Sister Brittani Smithson

Colorado Denver North Mission

1250 Main St.

Broomfield, CO. 80020

Enjoy...

Dear Family,

That is so exciting about camp!! I wish I could go but at the same time I am happy that I am not going. I never would have guessed that dad would get to go! That is awesome!  Whitewashed?? All of them?? that is crazy! Ya sister Green is the short blonde... I'm sure you will like her :) Who is her companion? and who are the Elders? Shelbie mentioned that one of them is a greeny.  how fun!! maybe i saw him here... but i doubt it.

Keep going with the studies mom!! The other day I got to have a skype lesson with a member and she started speaking to us in Mandarin so that was fun! I know that you will get it back soon:) I see Clarissa pretty much every day! and every time I see her it is in a different spot. I also run into Brooke most days. We live in the same building so there have been a couple of times that we visit each others rooms.  I have not gotten pictures with them yet... I haven't taken very many pictures. 

So my companion is great! Her name is Sister Dumas. She is from Southern California, her middle name is Lynn, her mom served her mission in Taiwan, her sister served in New York. Every day we find out something that is similar about us. We get along very well and work great together. My district is kind of crazy but we all are really good friends. I am learning a lot from my teachers and classes. I have 3 "investigators" right now and it is crazy teaching them.  It has been a fun week, crazy and tiring, but fun. 

I am Sister Trainer Leader here and I am not sure what that means buy I love the chance to serve. So far I am the only sister going to Denver North. There are three elders in my district going to my mission and two are going to Fort Collins. All the other sisters are going to Minnesota, bummer.

Well... not too much happens here in the MTC. My p-day is on Wednesday but I probably will not have another p-day for two weeks.

 I love you Mom, Dad and family!! Unit number is 117... I think. 

Love,

Sister Smithson

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