Come Follow Me: Happy Easter! "I didn't even know it was Easter yesterday"

March 28, 2016

Happy Easter Lovely Friends and Family!
Yes I'm not kidding I had ZERO idea yesterday was Easter, I thought it was this coming Sunday. So sad... But no worries we were still focusing on him a lot these past week or so with the new video and stuff so we had the spirit here. Sounds like all is well though over there with Easter and finding some eggs etc. CONGRATS to my adorable big nephew Carter for getting the priesthood. I'm so proud of you and I know having the priesthood power, Gods power will bless your life. Way to go buddy! Okay well if I was to title this week, it would be "A Door Slam Before the Smile." Why? Let me tell you🤗 In a second, first other experiences.. First the elders had a baptism this week and it was awesome! He is a solid, prepared person and it was great to see someone else draw closer to Christ. Next we taught Aladdin and her mom this week and we shared the Easter video with them and after the video she goes, "I just saw a video about this yesterday that we bought, it's about Christ atonement and sisters, I bawled because I just want to help him and can't believe He did that for me." And we testified of how amazing the atonement is and how much Christ loves all of us so much. It was so spirit filled and we were all teared up and boy did it strengthen my testimony of the Savior as I had the opportunity to testify of what I know. Okay so the nurse student is still on! She gets baptized on Sunday! AH, We had our "last" required lesson with her on Saturday and wow.. It was amazing. And guess what she did?! FINISHED THE WHOLE BOOK OF MORMON! She had a goal to do so before her baptism and she did it. It was amazing to hear her talk about it and how she knows it is true. I love the Book of Mormon. It is what helped her and changed her and I know as well the Book of Mormon is true. I'm so excited for her to see that change in her life soon. So we were biking around trying to find this former investigators house and we thought we found it but it was not her. We were getting pretty bummed and it also started pouring (yup, Japan) So we asked this lady whose house we actually knocked on and asked her for help and she ended up being so sweet and helped us for 30 minutes to find this house but we couldn't find it... So we decided to teach her and she thought it was interesting and said maybe but to come back soon because she thinks we were so sweet and liked us so we will see. God led us to that house for that reason, I know it! She kept trying to give us tea we can't drink, it was so cute. She offered us everything possible haha on I love old ladies here! Okay, so back to the door slam and smile title... So Sarah our investigator, we had an appointment with her at 3 but we decided to go earlier and try finding some new people in her apartment building. So we knock on this last door with having no success before and right when my sweet companion says "konichi..." The man SLAMS the door hard in our face. Ouch... So we both were feeling bummed and thought great now it's time to go teach her and we feel crushed.. So we said a prayer and went to teach Sarah. Well, GREATEST lesson ever. We asked her if she was able to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and she pulls out 3 pages of notes and tells us how she read the intro, and all the testimonies sections. She opened up and expresses how amazing she thought this was. She said "I tried putting myself in Joseph Smith shoes and as I read it, I felt it was true. This book has blessed me a lot already and I was telling my friend to read it too." WOW! WHAT?? Haha so we taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and committed her to be baptized when she knew it was true and she said "of course, I want to be in your church." YAY!! No specific date yet but we are so excited for her. So after that brutal door slam, we couldn't stop smiling in the next lesson and it was a day and week changer. So my thought this week is a smile quote I heard from Elder Holland this week in a video, he said "Love is what you go through together." And when I heard that I thought of my Savior and my relationship with him. The reason I am strengthening my relationship with him so much lately is because I am literally going through all things with him. Happy, sad, tiring, exciting, etc. all those things are WITH Christ
and now the love I feel is even stronger than I knew possible. Isn't that awesome? You don't know your relationship with someone, whether it be friends, family, or our Savior, we will see true love when we rely on those people and it will grow. I know that with ALL my heart. I challenge you all to try better to strengthen your relationship with Christ or family or friends by going through EVERYTHING with them. And I promise you that love and relationship with grow and be even stronger than you can imagine. This church is true, and I KNOW Christ was resurrected and because of Him we can do the same. I love Christ and Easter season. Enjoy conference next week! I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU ALL! #RELY #LOVEスミス姉妹