November 3, 2014- Week 13 in Atlixco!

Hey everyone!

So this was the first week of the new transfer! Tuesday we went to the transfers meeting in Puebla and there are tons of new hermanas here in Atlixco! It'll be great getting to know them more during intercambios these next few weeks! This week was a little crazy for us, because both Hermana Traylor and I were sick. We didn't have a lot of time to go out and teach, and on top of that, Saturday all of the missionaries had to go to Puebla (again) for flu shots! So this week was a lot of traveling, and a lot of trying to feel better. So sorry if there isn't much to read this week!

But Thursday, we were able to have intercambios with Hermana Talbott and Hermana Gomez! This time, Hermana Talbott came to our area with me. She is such a sweet woman, and the people in our area just fell in love with her. Even though our time in intercambios was the only real time I had to work this week, we were able to do a lot. And it paid off, because one of the less-actives that we visited together came to church this Sunday for the first time! It was pretty exciting to see her there :) 

Last night, I read this really good talk by Elder Eyring from the April 2012 conference. It's called "Mountains to Climb". In it, he quoted President Spencer W. Kimball, who said this: “There are great challenges ahead of us, giant opportunities to be met. I welcome that exciting prospect and feel to say to the Lord, humbly, ‘Give me this mountain,’ give me these challenges.”

I know that I haven't learned how to say that yet, but I sure hope that one day, I will have enough faith to do so. I've learned a lot about mountains, or rather hills, these last few months. Literally. I'm not sure if I've sent pictures of our area or not, but our area is literally built all over a hill. Some days, we walk up and down those hills, in the blazing sun, and no one opens up the door to us. There are some days when we go to sleep, completely sore and achy, and wake up feeling the exact same. There are some days when we stand at the bottom of the hills, knowing we have to go up, and not knowing where the strength to do so is going to come from. The hills sometimes seem never ending. And of course all of the our investigators live on the steepest ones. So...when I read this quote last night, it made me think a lot about my time here, and my time as a missionary in general. There has not been one day in 3 months when I have looked at one of those hills in el Cerril or Casas Geo and said "Look at this great hill I get to climb! Can't wait til I get to the top of that!" And I'm not the type of person to look at challenges either and think to myself "What a great opportunity to learn and grow this is going to be!" And it made me think a lot about how important it is to be grateful. Just like President Uchtdorf says, "We can choose to be grateful, no matter what." It's easy to be grateful when it's a cloudy day, when you're walking on flat ground or when everyone is home and ready to listen. But it's a little bit harder when the heat is more than you can bear, when you have absolutely no energy left, and when you feel disappointed and discouraged. But, it's not impossible. It was definitely a lesson that I needed to learn - to be more grateful, and to learn how to welcome the hard moments.

I love all of you so much! I hope you all have a great week! You're in my heart and prayers!

Love always,

Hermana Smith

Scripture of the Week: Mosiah 2:41