First letter from Concepcion

AND I PROMISE THAT I WILL POST THE RECORDING OF SAMI SINGING A SONG SHE WROTE AS SOON AS I GET IT COMBINED WITH SOME SLIDES SO I CAN UPLOAD IT TO UTUBE. HOPEFULLY BY WEDNESDAY EVENING!

First a letter from Sami to us:

Dear Family,

The ward in Santa Sabina is about twice the size of the one in San Carlos ( 156 people this Sunday and about 80 in San Carlos was normal for Sundays). We are living in the same house where they have always lived. It has a lot more amenities than the house in San Carlos. We have a sofa! But we don't have any time to use it. We have everything we need. Things here in Conce (Concepción) are normalizing pretty fast. In my sector there wasn't that much damage from the earthquake because the houses are a little nicer and therefore better built and it's not close enough to the ocean to receive damage from tsunamis.

My companion is named Hermana Carzoli, she is from Texas and is going home at the end of this cambio.

I played guitar and sang for a baptism yesterday.

It's still warm and not raining, daylight savings hasn't started here yet.

I saw Hermana Grahn. I officially love here and I'm about 95% sure that she will be married before I get back from my mission in 10 months. Her name is Rachel Melissa Grahn (so it is easier for you to stalk her). I already offered her a place to stay on my futon bed and some canned food, I hope that's alright. She has a goal of going to the temple with YOU mom. Make it happen. And buy her a tasty dinner from me. And some chocolate from the liquidation store. Please and thank you.

I will try to send stuff but I will never make any promises that it will actually work.

Love you all!!!
love, Hermana Smith

Now, a rough translation of a letter to her mission president (with help from Google & some hopefully educated guesses on my part)

President Chavez,

First I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to progress through a change of sector. Even I learned things change. This week was good. I am learning the area and Hermana Carzolio is helping a lot in that. It seems we have some challenges in this sector: we don't have many investigators , for now, and we are having difficulty entering homes to share the gospel. Of course, we must teach everywhere in every moment, but in the homes of people they can feel the Spirit in a more relaxed environment. So they want us to return. Hermana Carzolio said we often have good first lessons. but then we have trouble meeting with them again.

I've been thinking about what we did in San Carlos to see if there is anything we can do here to overcome this challenge. I know that the best remedy is prayer and focused on the problem. In San Carlos, we had a challenge of haveing our investigators come to sacrament meeting, but we focused on that alot and when I left we were having five or more investigators in church on mst Sundays. I know there is no problem or difficulty that we can not improve with the help of the Lord. This is His work and thus, he is very concerned about how it goes. Sometimes we are left alone for a few moments to give us the chance to be our own agents. It is a blessing to have a difficulty because it means that the Lord knows that we are able to overcome it. I am a little anxious about having to teach the sector to someone new in a few weeks but I know that the Lord prepares us for the callings that he gives us .

This week I also learned something of love. I have a struggle at times to know if I really love people enough. My last night in San Carlos when I said good-bye to the members, new converts, investigators, that is to say all the people that I came to know; in the process of saying good-bye, I realized that yes, I love the people . There was one person who we taught who was baptized and later married a church member who had reactivated a year or so ago. Her name is Karen and when she started talking and crying, it gave me sadness to leave, but also so much joy to see how her life has changed. When I started teaching her, I never could have imagined the changes and the blessings She has received. I am so grateful for the privilege to know her and all the people I know now in San Carlos. It makes me feel so happy that I love certain people very much. I know that while it is progressing, my ability to love people will increase and I will be able to love more fully.

Well, this post is super long but I am learning a lot. I know this change is the answer to many of my prayers. I can always see after something happens when the Lord answered my requests. I am always ready to learn more of the things that the Lord wants me to learn during this mission. I'm still working on my diligence with accuracy. I want to be an example to others as some other missionaries have been good examples for me.

with love, Hermana Smith

Now some info on what else she did this week - some pictures & comments from Elder Jarr (he is in her zone & may be the Zone leader) from his blog about some service work the zone did this week.

'WE WENT TO DICHATO, AN AREA AFFECTED BY THE TSUNAMI. OUR WHOLE ZONE WENT DOWN TO A PUEBLO THAT'S RIGHT BY THE BEACH. A CAPTAIN COMMUNICATED WITH US AND TOLD US THE PLACES THAT WE HAD TO CLEAN UP, THEY ASSIGNED 3 BLOCKS TO OUR ZONE, AND WHAT WE WHERE SUPPOSE TO DO WAS GO INSIDE, TAKE ALL THE STUFF OUT AND CLEAN THE MUD INSIDE OF THE HOUSES THAT THE TSUNAMI HAD LEFT. THERE WAS ABOUT A FOOT OF MUD AND SAND IN THE HOUSES, THE WATER WENT LIKE 9 FEET HIGH, THE HOUSES WHERE ROTTING AWAY BECAUSE OF THE SALT WATER, THE WHOLE POINT OF CLEANING THIS HOUSES AND WHY IT WAS IMPORTANT IS BECAUSE WINTER IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER HERE AND PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A ROOF ON TOP OF THEM. THEY ARE SLEEPING IN TARPS. SO NOW THAT WE CLEANED SOME HOUSES IF IT RAINS, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NOTHING, THEY CAN STILL HAVE A PLACE TO BE SO THE RAIN DOSEN'T FALL ON THEM. IT WAS SAD TO SEE HOW MUCH DESTRUCTION THERE WAS. . . . WE CLEANED AROUND 25 HOUSES IN 7 HOURS, THAT'S CLEARING ALL THE STUFF INSIDE AND TAKING AWAY THE MUD. BY THE END OF THE DAY WE WERE WAY TIRED BUT WITH A HEART FULL OF ENERGY AND JOY.'