So in missionary terms, your blackout year is the year you
spend entirely on your mission. And...mine is over. The time has gone by so
fast. I can't believe it. I honestly can't. 2015 has been the best year of my
life, hands down. It's been the most incredible experience I've ever had. I
can't even put into words how much I loved 2015. And 2016 is prepping to be
pretty dang good, too! But, I realized yesterday kind of why 2015 was the best.
About May of last year, I was miserable. I wasn't having fun, I wasn't really
progressing, anything. And I prayed that something would change. God sent me my
answer in a 4'11 Peruvian companion who taught me how to work hard and
completely forget about myself. And I realized...I am truly and honestly only
happy when I think about other people and forget about myself. Before the
mission, my life was the Morgan Smith Show. Everything was about me. Everything
I did..it was mostly for me. Even my reasons for going on a mission was because
of me. And I realized..that doesn't matter at all. I don't matter. Other people
do. I am completely happy when I forget about myself and focus on others.
That's why 2015 turned out to be one of the best years ever. My life isn't
really about me anymore. I'm not perfect...I still think about myself a lot.
But. I'm working on changing, and that's what matters.
Anyway.
This week was amazing! We had the opportunity to go to the
temple in Rexburg and that was awesome. A ton of miracles happened this week.
We had a referral that we went to go contact on Tuesday night. it was 8:45,
dark, snowing, cold, etc. But we knocked on this guys door, and it went
perfectly. We set a return appointment, and when we came back, his less active
wife was there and was talking about how she wanted to go to church again and
how she wants her husband to be baptized and stuff like that. They're in the
perfect position to accept the gospel, too. It was perfect.
We also set a baptismal date with one of my favorite
investigators! Pleaseeeee pray that she'll know that February 13th is when she
needs to be baptized. She's got some stuff she needs to overcome, but she's
amazing and we love her a lot. She needs a lot of prayers.
New Years was awesome, too. On NYD, we had a giant breakfast
thing at President's house. It was so much fun! We had a huge game of Phase 10
going on at one point. Like, 10 of us were playing at once. It was awesome.
Anyway, have a great week! 8 more.
Merry Christmas, Indeed –
December 28, 2015
Dang, Gina. This Christmas was so good. Obviously you saw me
for about an hour..but here's how the rest of the day went.
So, we woke up around 8 (all day pdays mean we can sleep in)
and opened presents. I promptly put on my new sweats and wore my Vans blanket
around and put on new socks. So. Thank you for those!!
We had breakfast with the Nelsons (the people we live with).
They had all their family over, so that was fun. Then, we went and skyped. I
graced you all with my face and funny stories.
Then, we drove down to McCammon and had lunch with one of
the bishops that Sister Brewer was close with. She served in McCammon for like,
7 months by the way. So. That was fun! He was the bishop in the ward where
Janice got baptized, and he said she's been coming to church every sunday! that
was soooo good to hear. But we had fun, played phase 10, and then we drove back
to inkom.
We had dinner with one of our Ward mission leaders, Brother
and Sister Clark. I just love them. They are amazing, and dinner was so much
fun.
Then, we went to the institute building in pocatello and
watched movies and played games during the evening. So, it was a fantastic
christmas.
So, the baptismal date we set didn't really work out as we
would have hoped. But...it's ok. We did all we could. And we'll still work with
them. It's all good, though.
We're going to the temple tomorrow. HALLELUJAH. I am SO EXCITED.
We're going with the Clarks, so that will be fun. Yayyyyyyy
