January 6, 2025

From Abby - Motherhood in 2025

HELLO ALL.
This week has been absolutely filled with every emotion.

I admit the hybrid p-day emails are throwing me off because for some reason it feels like I should NOT be writing a weekly right now but that's okay tangent here we come.

New years eve was about to be a zone activity until president Brown said SIKE. New years movie with the entire mission XD We all got together to watch the fighting preacher. Pre movie we got CHASTIZED by president, he told  us he wasn't sure we were ready for the higher law and invited us to reach a higher standard :D
He also asked everyone who was SERIOUS about being a missionary to send him a private message to which I said Facts and immediately sent: 
Hi Prez!
I'm here to play.
Sincerely, Sister Smith.

I thought it was apt. 
It was so fun being with the whole mission, I truly can't believe the amount of times we've been all together since I got in the field. 

TWENTY TWENTY FIVE
Fireworks kept me up for most of the night but I'm proud to say I was in bed with my eyes closed at 10:30 

This week I got the chance to go to bingo at the senior care center. Its so fun to hangout with Old people. Also why is bingo exhilarating?! 
at one point I complimented this Lady named Mary Jean and I said "I love your Toque!" and she says "You like my what?!" and Sister Ortiz goes "Your Beanie" BRUH #CanadianL

Burned a hole in one of my dresses! Friction = Absolutely criminal. Biking sister for the win. 

Sister Heaton found a strange spilled liquid all on the floor of our fridge and in front of our fridge. After standing and examining and Hypothesizing we finally determined (Upon discovery of a tipped over pickle jar) that it was pickle juice. Smart right?

We visited with this old guy who had these awesome overalls and a wise countenance, he shared with us that the only spot that he knows of where Jesus smiles in the book of Mormon was 3rd Nephi 19:25 which was a cool insight. He also said his favorite bit of advice to share is D&C 123:17 Which is one of my favorite scriptures, I felt very in tune with him and his old soul, it felt good. When we asked him if we could do anything for him he asked us to say a prayer for him and his wife. I felt the spirit enter the room it was powerful :)

Sister Ellis got CONKED playing basketball this week and lowkey got a concussion. (A minor one) girl was down for the count so this week went on a ton of spontaneous exchanges with Sister Ortiz so that she can get out of the house. WE HAVE SO MUCH FUN.. one Funny story:
Sister Ortiz and I knocked a door for our second Young Women's President meeting, as we waited for the door to open we found ourselves dancing and bringing up old inside jokes and LAUGHING. After a while we got the common sense to ring the doorbell and this guy opens up, I look at sister Ortiz and her face changes to confusion "Wait.. What's your name?" He replies and we speedily determine that he is NOT the Young women's president XD After laughing at the wrong door situation we found ourselves in we asked if there was anyone we could pray for: He leans in and says "Yeah actually, my buddy Steven. He just started this new job and when he came home he DIED sleeping so I'm just a bit worried about him." to which we said of course and continued to make small talk when STEVEN walks down the stairs :D he goes "Oh heyy Steven!!" and we were like "Oh Heyy!" it was just pure comedy. What gets me the most is the fact we were dancing and laughing on a complete strangers doorstep :) (Ce'st La Vie) 

We also had SUCH a spirit filled ZDC. The spirit felt tangible in the room as our Zone leaders and District bore their testimony of our savior Jesus Christ and their experience with him. We could all feel the gravity of the spirit in the room and everything felt light. SO POWERFUL.
Elder Coromandel and Elder Tacchi were able to give Sister Ellis a blessing which was also completely wonderful. 

I had the chance to go on EXCHANGES this week with Sister Peterson. Their area is also a biking area which I thought "Hah no sweat I bike everyday" MY the lord humbled me. First of all I hopped on Sister Lords Rickety bike who's chain is literally holding on for dear life, and then Sister Peterson is like "We have a massive hill in our area" Which, upon hearing I was shockingly still pretty confident in myself. We start biking up this hill which I think is a little hard but still manageable (In the sense I'm still moving forward at a solid pace) and THEN we round this corner and I see this GARGANTUAN absolute MOUNTAIN of a hill. Bruh. I've never put so much effort into something and also at the same time have never moved so slow on a bike XD It was a criminal humbling experience.
upon arrival at the lesson I was the most hot I've ever been. 
Mid lesson the Elders Quorum President who was the member participating in the middle of one of his tangents determined that we had the Young Woman's theme memorized (He was right but it was bold) and he ASKS me to recite it in front of the person they were teaching (Romeo) to which I SLAYED. BLESS MEMORISING THAT THEME. 
Anyways just had to flex :) 
A humbling and confidence boosting exchange all at the same time! 

This Sunday Sister Heaton and I were biking to our fourth church meeting of the day and as I'm enjoying the lofty mountain view and feeling the brisk wind on my face my peripheral vision discovers two Chickens LITERALLY crossing the road. i think to myself "What in the Urban area Chickens?!" and I immediately stopped because my chicken loving companion would never forgive me if I didn't. As I predicted Sister Heaton makes her way over to the chickens and starts coaxing them with the intent to return them to the owners?? I'm sitting there on my bike watching her, next thing we know the owner of the house comes out  (Cute young couple) asks what's happening and if Sister Heaton was trying to steal their packages to which she replies "Oh no I'm just trying to wrangle these chickens" > Pretty soon it was a team effort. Sister Heaton picks up one of the FOUR chickens we discovered and throws it into my arms and THEN I was THROWN into the shed where the nice couple determined we would store them until we discovered the true owners. Essentially in the space of 10 minutes I went from biking to church to standing in a pitch black shed holding a chicken that was like quietly making chicken sounds.. It was WILD. Long story long we did find the owners after wrangling chickens for 20 minutes and hanging out in a shed. Talk about uniting with members :)
And we still got to church on time! 

last night we got TRANSFER NEWS. Sister Ellis, Heaton Ortiz and I opened it all together and the moment President sent in the transfer board my eyes go STRIAGHT to me and the SOLID angel Moroni icon beside me (Implying the receival of a TRAINEE)

My heart plummeted and I THREW my phone. #Trainingoutoftraining.
First thought was WHAT. THE. FRIDGE.
The second thought was BOOM Inadequacy.

I won't lie I always comment on being humbled and hoping for the opportunity to rely on the lord and then when the chance finally comes its much harder than anticipated. Did you know growing is HARD?! YEAH.

Anyways filled with hope and excited to see how the heck I'm gonna manage this for I feel that it will be completely comedic. 

Tomorrow at 10:00 am is "Train the trainers" So hopefully I can figure out how to not ruin someone's mission experience! (Say a prayer for me at 10:00 AM tomorrow) 

And on Wednesday I discover who my daughter will be. Terrifying 

I think those are the main thoughts and maximum ramblings I can fit into this PDAY.

Next week will be not too wild of an update I hope but I guess we'll see :)

I love you all so much 
Thank you for reading my emails and allowing me to occupy an increment of your life.

Excuse typos! 

Bye <3

From Dad - 2025 is here!

Dearest Abby,

Happy New Year Sister Smith. So excited for you to spend 2025 serving the Lord full time. We really enjoyed being able to talk to you at the Grand Parent's homes and for them to have the chance to talk to you and feel your sweet spirit.

It really was a magical holiday. From buying our Christmas gifts so far in advance that we forgot what we'd bought to having 4/6 kids with us on Christmas Day to being able to be with both our extended families. We ate too much, laughed a lot, played new games and slept in. Mia was complaining that it will take her a week or more to get back on an early morning wake up schedule. 

I took Mia back to her apartment Sunday night. We really enjoyed having her home for a couple of weeks. She is growing up so fast that it was fun to just have her here as our little girl again. I was grateful that she asked me for a blessing before going back to school. In some ways she says it's like she's leaving home all over again and she turned to heaven for help in adjusting back to school, tolerating friends, boyfriends and reaching her goal of jumping into YSA with both feet and trusting something good will happen. We wrapped up our time with her cooking StarDew Valley recipes.

We also really enjoyed having Ben home for a few days. We miss having him so far south but love his enthusiasm for learning. Ben got nothing but books for Christmas! We really enjoyed spending some quality time with Megan as well. Her and Mia got to sleep in the same room and have some meaningful one-on-one time with her.

Sam's favorite thing wasn't the Christmas gifts it was being able to be with Naomi. We were so excited to meet and spend time with her. She is really fun. She jumped right into the sledding and other activities.

Josh and Madison made it both for Christmas evening and also the trip south. I loved waking up on Jan 1 to see them sitting at Grandma's table setting goals. Not sure one of them was to almost cut off Madison's finger but she tried anyway! Madison really loved being able to video call with you and Mia and connect again.

Sam and I started a house project to put up a mock beam in the living room. It's still a work in progress as Mom spotted some shoddy sanding and sent me back for a do over :) It really adds to the room dynamic.

For some reason I did not get a chance to watch the church's Christmas Devotional earlier in December, so as part of my study closer to Christmas I started reading the talks. The first talk "Christ the Babe Was Born for You" by Sister Tamara Runia was very impactful for me. She tells the story of a shepherd who's lamb was hit by a King's limousine and who loved his sheep so much that he refused the compensation and requirement to sacrifice the lamb. The image of it being held in the shepherd's arms saying its name over and over was a powerful symbol of the Savior. Later in her talk she shares this thought:

One of the most tender accounts in all scripture gives us a glimpse of this rest. In the Book of Mormon, as the resurrected Savior is visiting His “other sheep” in the Americas, and after sensing their need without them even asking, He invites all who are broken physically—the lame, the blind, the deaf, or those “afflicted in any manner”—to come forward.
I imagine those lining up whose physical need for healing was obvious. But also in my mind’s eye, I see people like myself and others whom I love in the queue who are afflicted in ways that may not be visible to the human eye. He asked for those afflicted in any manner, “and he did heal them every one.” 
Notice how, in this instance, it didn’t say that He cured them. I love this idea that there is a difference between healing and curing. Curing usually returns us to a previous state of wellness, which is what we long for, right? But healing is different. Healing incorporates that old wound, making us different on the other side.

I love that thought about healing. 

So embrace the hard moments and seek the healing only the Savior can bring for when you fall short. With him we are enough. Good luck with transfers and your new training assignment. You will be great at it.

Love you forever, Abby.

Dad.