May 26, 2025

From Abby - E I G H T!

Hiiii :)
Isn't Eight Such a weird way to spell that word? WHO thought a G belongs in any word that has a GH. 

HAPPY PDAY 

I often think about the fact that on my technical day off the rest of the world is starting.. I never thought that I would view Monday as such a pleasant day. (Although its summer now so kids riddle the streets.)

Last Pday was jam packed.

I can't lie I had anger in my chest as I went through the somewhat tedious tasks that are a weekly requirement.. one task that has been added to that list is the glamorous Quick Quack subscription that comes with every mission car, I kid you not popping the car into nutral so that it can catch the wheel and pull you through felt like mission impossible. The person outside was yelling "Neautral! Neautral!" And everyone inside is freaking out and I'm just trying to freaking put the car in Neautral.
I don't want us to die either you geese 

Anyways we survived but my wallet didn't. Sister Peterson and I went to Seaugul book, I came for a journal and left with a dress I DO NOT need. Its fine. (Will be pictured below)

We also went on a hike with a senior lady in our ward and her non member friend!! This lady is 60+ and absolutely careening up the mountain while all of us are trying to catch up. Vial.

We also were able to go to the Lindon temple and have a picnic all together!! Nothing like munching food and playing cards (and avoiding sports) for the win.

After taking this picture Elder Lowry said "Why would you do me dirty like that" So now it must be posted here :)
Yayy ^ Not the entire zone because all the elders DIP out before we EVER take a group picture. Crim.

One of our elders lost his childhood ring, we all got in our cars to go but then the elders decided to take one more look in the field. 
Sister Peterson and I get a CRIM call with some wild details (DCFS involved with one of our friends...?? Everything is resolved now but it was a cereal phone call) and then Sister ORTIZ pops out of no where (Because she lives by the lindon temple) and I couldn't even say hi. Scarred. 
Glad to be on the same page with my comp because right when we hung up we were out looking with the elders :) 
YAY COMP UNITY 

Monday night we were able to meet with our recent convert and this RANDOM lady we phoned up from Ceder Hills (Well.. She isn't random) but for some reason the PG1st ward doesn't have a freaking family history consultant so we had to resort to whatever number was in the directory. 
This LOVELY older sister pulls up to the lesson and she walks martin through how to plug himself into family tree!!
It was fun watching this little Old lady (Sister White) Help out this rough Englishman XD It was a ball of a time.
Martin asked Sister White to say the closing prayer and she said "I might cry" and Martin said "That would be just fine." 
Bro's a gentle soul, FR

We were able to trio up with the sweetest Sister Mateo (new trainee from the Philipines) Since her comp had to go to MLC, she shared her conversion story and how she asked her dad to be baptized right before leaving on her mission. her WHOLE FAM is active now. 
I also saw Sister Ortiz because she had to be comps with bravo (Mateos comp).. She walked into our apartment and I sat on the floor of the study as I watched her explain her CRAZY morning (her comps always have health problems) And I was just LAUGHING. I literally love Sister Ortiz so much.

Also it was CRAZY driving with Sister Ortiz in the back, girls been a passenger princess/ DD everytime i've been in a car with her.
Slayyy driving.

We had a lesson with our friend Georgia (Turning 11 this month!) literally the Kemps are the most IDEAL fellowshippers, we always walk in with an invitation in mind and EVERY TIME they're already doing it 

Or Georgia just does it in the moment XD We shared with Georgia the book of mormon and we were able to give her a childs BOM, the moment she got it she flipped open to the first page and just starts reading outloud XD She was reading all silly by pronouncing the names "LeMON LeMULE sam and Nephee" and we were all laughing as she read. I don't know how much she retained but it was a sweet moment :)

We never want to leave the Kemps its actually terrible. I'm def coming back after the mission. 

We had to go into the mission office this week because our key bettery was Low. Usually we can only go on Pday but Elder Mayo (Our vehichle coordinator) Said we should and Elder Mayo knows all. Def forgot to text the ZLS that we were going to the mission office (Sorry Elder Cease and Lowry :))
Elder Mayo showed us our driving records and our "Coaching events" (When Tiwi gets mad at you) and i'm glad to say that after one week I have a pretty clean record (Jokes I had 7 coaching events.. But elder Mayo said there were missionaries with FAR worse) 
He can see more than I thought 
Tell me why I have "Big Brother" From 1989 just watching me all the time 
Also I've hit 3 more curbs since writing this paragraph. Pray for me. I miss my little car.

We were able to see the Ellis's at the mission office too and

Gotta love the Great Value :))

We were able to do some service on a Ranchette and Sister Peterson and I were given this WICKED patch of weeds to tackle, we shoveled and pulled, and quite honestly BATTLED those weeds. It was 100% satisfying and the bonus was we got to feed 3 wheelbarrows worth of weeds to horses!! YAY.

For some reason on wednesday night, we got in from prime time and I was NOT feeling cute, on the verge of tears. Feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, anger, I knelt to pray, and as I did so and asked for peace and comfort and then stayed still, I felt that wonderful feeling of Gods love washing over me, I stayed on my knees, as still as I could be.. Focusing on the thoughts that came to my mind and letting those feelings chase away any trace of anger or sadness.
I felt the reality of the scripture 
"Be still, and Know that I am God" 
-D&C 101:16

Prayer is so cool 

had a BUSSIN ZDC on Thursday, Sister Harris talked about the book of mormon and asked these questions 
"What would your life be like without the book of mormon? What would you not have? What would you not know?" 
I plan on answering these in detail but for now 
I'd be ignorant, unhappy, searching.

I HIT EIGHT MONTHS AS A MISSIONARY

Yes, time keeps moving on and its absolutely not okay. 

I had some dissapointing moments this week. 
We got this text from a lady who REALLY wants her friend to be taught.

Despite our best efforts we haven't been able to get in contact with the family but after recieving the text at 8:45 I got the thought to go and knock the door.

 OBVIOUSLY you're hoping for some crazy spontaneous miracle but upon knocking there was another dissapointing no answer. 
its SO HARD when you think something was the spirit and it DEF was just a spontaneous thought (Yes you could argue the spirit needed me there so that I wasn't somewhere else or whatever) But sometimes its just hard when you try so hard to listen to those spontaneous thoughts or feelings and you don't see gods vision, so then you just end up being late for cerfew and using miles you don't have to for no reason. 
It was a bruh moment I didn't feel cute about it. 

We lent the car to the sisters this week so when they brought it back the next day we were able to have a sisters breakfast and we CHEFFED up. following our delicious breakfast (French toast, eggs, hashbrowns) We had a cray deep doctrine conversation, about Resurection, black holes, If the Sons of Perdition are just reincarnated as mid objects (IDK about that one) 

Our miles are WACKED now and we don't know how to fix them so thumbs down for drivers swap. (Goes from over 200 miles remaining to -31!?!? VIAL.)

We were able to go out with the Looslis (YAY)

Pioneer pictures.^ 

It was CRIM. The first door we knocked was someone who either spoke spanish or Portuguese and we had a super awkward conversation but still somehow set up a time to come back?! (Figured out we knocked the wrong house) we then knocked the RIGHT house and ran into someone who was housesitting... The last house we went to was Susanne Seegmiller (Crim basher apos lady whos super nice but also terrifying) We chatted for way too long about plants, and I think the fact that we're trying to "Proseletyze her" has become a joke so I think we're on great terms..? I don't know how to read her if im being super real with you 

We were able to laugh with the Looslis about it so its fine. 

Visited with two older couples who shared their Gardens with us!! ROSES GALORE 
Sister Hansen gave us some :) 

^Dress I spent way too much money on. 

Knocked some apartments, fixed some dots, endured some trauma dumps, ETC

Saturday was BACK TO BACK TO BACK appointments I don't even know.. 
We had a lesson with Georgia (Trying to have two a week) And she told us about some SKETCH stuff happening at home, The lady thats living with them is taping symbols to the ground and burning stuff?! Witchcraft is no joke. we explained choosing the right/ dark and light and tried to give her some solutions. 
Georgia is so interesting because she wants to learn more, has a BOMB fellowshipping family, and friends in the church.. but her home life is the LAST place that will build her relationship with Christ.. You have to wonder why some (Me) are born into such ideal circumstances and are given that gift of idealism.. while others are born in poverty, or with addiction, or without stability, and possible abuse.
God is a confusing guy but he makes so much sense at the same time. 

had a SKETCH message with this single guy. His. house. Was. Vial. I never will live like a man. Never. 

Yknow the family we're co teaching with the Elders? We walk in and we're gonna start the lesson with the three kids and Miss Tillman, (the Grandma) says "The girls wont be participating today." and everything is suddenly AWKWARD. She declares that the girls arent ready and need to understand the bible first.. We're all like "oh freak.." and then the FIVE of us taught Leroy (The little boy).. Something needs to change in this teaching sitch but it's hard to figure it out. 

We invited Miss Tillman and the girls to listen to our talks on sunday though! That was good! 
I can tell Miss Tillman has been a baptist for 33 years because she was hyping me up from the audience (Quietly but the head nods and mouthing "thats right" or "Hellelujah" is the BEST.) 

We spent Miracle hour (Saturday night) outdoors as we invited our friends to church, and wrote the stake email.. We may have gotten a little too distracted with the pretty lighting and trees 

^ I love taking Semi non conventional pictures.. Sister Peterson is very patient .
At one point Sister Peterson asks
"If you were a Giraffe, which tree in this park would you munch first" 
I hope that gives you an idea of our conversation XD

On sunday we were able to attend the Thornberry branch church (60+ branch) and it was SO CUTE. Heres a journal exerpt 
"All these cute older ladies and gentleman are sauntering in, greeting eachother, chatting. Each of them steeped in the style of their youth, wonderfully individual, faithful, seasoned saints. Shaky hands grasp sacrament trays, bread pieces, and water cups, tears fall over wrinkled cheeks...all is well."
Cheer for me I guess 

a couple weeks ago I was looking through our calender and noticed that ALL OF OUR SUNDAY MEALS had been destroyed.. for some reason none of them were in and I laughed when sister Peterson asked if I remembered who we had meals with. 
At 5:15 sunday evening we were living in fear KNOWING that we were standing someone up
We were silly geese so we made dinner and at 5:17 Sister Hansen texted us "Are you still coming for dinner?" We ABANDONED our meals that we had freshly made and when she was like "Ohhh no worries you're busy missionaries" We just stood their like "Yeahh Totally" *Had just made ourselves a whole meal*
It was a lovely dinner and we talked about the scripture Alma 30:44
This is where Alma is absolutely FLAMING the Anti Christ Korihor and then he drops these bars
"44 But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

Each of them were nature lovers and we marvelled at the earth together. 

I also wanted to share this poem that one of my very good friends Eva Francis posted on her facebook and I haven't stopped thinking about it so that means I MUST share

"Natures first hue is gold

her hardest hue to hold
Her early leafs a flower

but only so an hour 

Then leaf subsides to leaf

so Eden sank to grief
so dawn goes down to day

Nothing Gold can stay"

Isn't that lovely?

OKAY. I'M DONE 
I never want to miss an email again this is crim 
I love you all. 
All things denote THERE IS A GOD. 
and how joyful that news is, that there is a God, a loving heavenly father, that LOVES YOU. Individually!! He knows you by name. He is cheering for you. 
All things are working together for your good.

All things for your good :)

Bye
photos 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XUXT8gMVvExvkJbJ9

Bye. 

-Sister Smith 

P.S. yes the Second Bye was intentional..

From Mom - Cheeky Little Chickadee

Dear Abby,

In February, I finally installed my clear bird feeder to the outside window by my desk in the library. A cute male black-capped chickadee found it immediately. (I used to be young and hip but now I watch birds for fun.) I was wondering why he was making a mess and violently scattering seeds around all over the place until I realized he was looking only for the sunflower seeds! The seeds are still in their shells and he would grasp one in his little beak and fly away with it. (Apparently I will be purchasing only sunflower seeds in the future to put in the bird feeder, since the cheeky, resilient little chickadees are by far my favourite bird.) After a little research I learned that it's their nesting season and he was probably bringing food to his mate while she sat on the eggs. When I'm walking on our forest path, I can see them silently flitting from one bush to the next, kind of keeping me company. I love them. They stick around when all the other birds have abandoned the north, and have different song patterns bringing me so much joy.

At Easter, when we were in Ivins, Steph put a book in my Easter basket called The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, written by an Anishinaabe woman, Robin Wall Kimmerer, who is also a botanist. (We used to call the Anishinaabe people "Ojibway," but out of respect for Indigenous autonomy, we call them what they want to be called. And, I suppose, we all want that same privilege!). Kimmerer wrote the book to present a new economic perspective of the "gift economy." After a bit of AI help, I learned that economists are looking for "new," sustainable ways to maintain and improve our currently unsustainable model. Aren't humans amazing? We typically ignore problems until doom is upon us, and then we put our heads together and come up with ingenious and innovative ways to solve them, big and small, and everyone has a part to play. Kimmerer, combining her scientific knowledge with her Anishinaabe heritage writes a simple, little book that convinced me about the value of learning lessons from our natural world. The serviceberry (or saskatoon) produces abundance and gives it freely for anyone or anything to partake, also known as "the gift eonomy." The birds eat the berries and distribute the seeds all over, adding to the abundance in a symbiotic realtionship. Do you remember our saskatoon bushes that grow along the barb-wired fence along the road? They were blooming last week so I went and really looked at them for the first time. Then I walked through the forest path and found a bunch of others growing wild all over the place! I didn't even know! This brings new meaning to having eyes to see! When Sam was over last, he was kind enough to go tromping through the forest so we could mark those trees to identify when it's harvest time in the fall. We hung gold beads on the trees to mark areas of abundance. Hopefully we can find them when the time is right! I've never really liked saskatoons but I think I'm going to try to like them. I know they make good syrup, and last summer, Steph put them in pancakes, which were also good. Sheena makes saskatoon pies. So this will be something new.

So I've been thinking about abundance lately especially in relation to an economic model. I suppose we already know about this and call it the Law of Consecration. We identify what we have in abundance and offer the surplus to anyone who wants it. In theory, this would allow for everyone to have what they need since abundance looks different for everyone and it also looks different at different times for an individual. The abundance of my time, might help a young mom who has no time at all. The abundance of one person's knowledge will fill another person's ignorance, etc, etc, etc. Yesterday in the Devon Ward, Chloe Daniels spoke about this idea too. She shared the example about how she had a leadership calling with Pam Swendsen and she was nervous if they could even work together because they have such polar opposite personalities, strengths and abilities. It turns out Chloe's flamboyant, scattered, flying-by-the-seat-of-her-pants exuberance was tempered by Pam's organized, quiet, capable ways and it was a perfect fit for getting stuff done. Wouldn't it be nice if we could look at everything that way? Seeing abundance and strength in every person and working with that? A funny side note: after Chloe was finished her talk, I sent a text to Pam and said, "I love that she put you on the spot! And I feel the same way! Love you Pam!" and her immediate response was, "She is dead to me." Hahaaaaa. (She really is a true introvert and detests being in the spotlight.) People are hilarious and I was chuckling to myself during the rest hymn and even included Sheena in the mirth. Which reminds me, I think it's the strangest thing to go to church by myself! I don't have any worries about it and I don't mind sitting alone or anything ... but it's just so weird! How I deal with that is to look around and see if there is anyone who needs me to sit with them. (Abundance, right?) One time I felt like I should sit with Cheryl Carlson, who had just lost her mom. She cried during the rest hymn because it happened to be one of Rae's favourites and I was there to put my arm around her. Yesterday I sat with Peter Rector and got caught up on his new job (he doesn't talk to anyone anymore, which is so uncharacteristic for him that I'm actually worried about it), but then I kicked him out so I could sit with Sheena, so I'm not sure how charitable I was, haha. But church continues to inspire.

There is a new woman starting to attend Relief Society and her story is SO. SAD! She lives in Leduc and was not active and had no records, so she was off the radar. She has three small children and when her youngest was newborn, her husband died unexpectedly. She has no support and was basically frozen in fear and desperation and mourning. In those circumstances, she remembered her early church experiences and found Kelly Gusa's contact info on the church's website. Enter the most loving, generous, kind-hearted soul of a Relief Society President who took things in hand in the most supportive way. Sarah was at church yesterday in spite of her fear of how people would respond to her tattoos. And I was a little scared because Kelly was away and I was in charge! But the Devon ward women stepped. up. Without any backstory they were introducing themselves and holding her baby and putting their arms around her. Me, who knows the backstory, almost starting bawling like a cheap anime cartoon, at the love showered on her. She was greasy, unwashed, tatted up, looking nervous, wearing a skirt and shirt combo from 2010 but that girl was supported and loved. I could tangibly see the relief on her face (it is RELIEF Society after all). Enter ministering sisters and now that girl has someone to turn to on the daily. I mean, I don't know how these things work out in the long run, but for now she is being carried on the backs of women and that's all we have to do. Just what is right in front of us.

We've been having those 5-minute counselling sessions at the beginning of RS and asking women to give us a question about the things that keep them up at night. We present the question and open it to the room. Sometimes there are crickets, sometimes I have to stop a fist fight (like when Arja accused the knitters of detracting from the reverence of sacrament meeting, haha) and sometimes ... lightning in a bottle. When those women are unified in solving a problem, watch out! I can feel the power. Yesterday, a question was handed in to use in the future and I can't stop thinking about it. What do you do when you're trying to heal a relationship but the other person doesn't want it to be healed? This made that pesky lump in my throat rise to the surface again. Tricky. I'll keep pondering that one. 

In family news, Mia started her hostess job at The Local Public Eatery in south Edmonton and immediately asked for time off to go to Benson's grad. Hahaaaa! She promised the boss she's not unreliable so now she feel she has to prove herself moving forward. And she will! They will not regret hiring her. I'm assuming Josh and Sam are busy with their new business because I have not heard from them this week. I'm proud of their proactivity. I think they've already earned enough to pay for their start-up fees and are making a profit of powerwashing driveways and houses and decks as well as window washing. If any of that information is wrong, I hope they will correct me. Madison has been supportive and I give her full kudos for the stretch of adapting to our family's haphazard ways. Ben is also working as a window washer. Who knew this would become a thing? But it was the only job that would hire him for a short time as he will be busy this summer being a co-ordinator (or something) for FSY. Again, please correct me if I'm wrong. Bowie has been counting down the days until school is over and actually ... this might be the week her first year of school ends! She is such a champ. Miss Margo continues to be the chubbiest and cutest baby on the planet. Every time we get a little video update, it's all I can do to not cancel everything and purchase a same-day flight. She's growing too fast! I have to console myself that we will see them in six-weeks-ish at the Bruce family camp at Premier Lake. But if Steph continues to send those freaking adorable videos, there will come a day where I just won't be able to help myself and she will get an unexpected grandmother on the door step, showing up out of the blue.

Abby,

In reviewing the sent email, half of it was missing.

I don't know what happened but now I'm mad.

There were at least 1200 more words, with more blather from your mother.

Maybe Dad can save it from the ether but I'm not re-typing. Oh well.

I ended with ... 

Keep on keeping my my crackerjack of a girl. Heaven is on your side forever and always!

Then I incuded three P.S's explaining this is what happens when I have time on my hands.

Love you!

Mom