Izabele's Mission Washington D.C. South

Happy Monday, everyone!   What an amazing time to be alive! Our dispensation is pretty cool. God really loves us all!    It was a beautiful, snowy week here in Virginia. Met many new souls. Learned new lessons. Ate some snow. Discovered some awesome things in the scriptures. Taught our friends. Had a dance party to JTM. Tried Brazilian food. Learned how to make Mexican tamales. Went on a Spanish exchange with Hna Clegg. Lots of missionary stuff, you know.  IT'S THE BEST.  Seriously.  I love this mission with my entire soul. I wish I could express my love over email but these feels can't be put into words.  "Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. LET YOUR HEARTS REJOICE."  -Jacob (2 Nephi 9:52) Some lyrics to a fantastic Christian song: "So if I wanna catch a glimpse of something bigger than me, I have to look up. An...

Once upon a time three weeks ago we knocked into this woman named Hilda. She is from El Salvador & naturally we talked about how much we love pupusas. She said she would teach us how to make them (but we lacked faith that she would actually call). WELL this week she did!! "Ladies, now that the holidays are over come to my house and I'll show you how to make pupusas! We are sisters in the Lord! I wouldn't forget you!" :') Wow. I was going to wait for Hermana Estrada/ Porter to teach me but now I can enjoy their goodness all year. I love Virginia.  I'm sure y'all have heard.. but sister missionaries can wear pants now. After a long pros and cons list Sister Clark and I decided to buy some! And on January 1st we made a new years card and sent it to a bunch of our friends. AS A JOKE. Millennial humor. "New Year. New us." "2019, what's new?" It's funny I promise. All our senior couples thought we were trying to be cute ...

First I just want to say thank you to everyone that made Christmas so magical! All the letters, emails, and gifts were so thoughtful!   thank you thank you thank you  We have already been given the beautiful gift of love. The gift of forgiveness. The gift of repentance. And the gift of everlasting life/ eternal families. All the other things were a fun bonus! Love you!  Ready for the most missionary story ever? This week we were knocking doors in a neighborhood missionaries haven't been at a lot. We were just about to leave. The last door. A man named John answers. He just got divorced. His ex wife and children are in Cuba for the holidays. He has been having a spiritual awakening. He wants to figure out Gods plan for his life. Where can he find peace? Stability? Comfort? Direction? The church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints!! Who wants to hear something crazy?? We started 2018 with president Monson as our prophet. Woah. What an exciting year it'...

A bonus of moving to a family ward: babies and mom hugs    Fort Belvoir is fantastic. God says "Sister Smith, here is all the peace you need to feel about being here. Focus on growing love for the new friends." Awesome! Every day is a day of miracles and that has not ceased here in the fort. I love living on Earth. I love it more and more each morning.    Our sweet friend Kevin got baptized on Saturday! It was a beautiful afternoon. Later that evening we split taught his parents. Sister Clark taught his mother whilst I taught his father, Juan. Juan has been talking to missionaries on and off for 10+ years. During our conversation he explained to me that Friday night he had a dream where God told him he needs to get baptized! (First time ever admitting this out loud) He said "I am already converted in my heart, I have been, but I must wait for my other half to be ready because I will not do this without her." :') And on Sunday in gospel principles t...

Saturday night we got transfer information. My new home will be Fort Belvoir with sister Clark as my companion! As a YSA missionary that ward boundary was in our area, so I'm semi-familiar. Plus I love sister Clark so it will be great! Perhaps the best part about this next transfer (drum roll...) sister Modersitzki is in my district! :')  Miracles. Blessings from on high.  This week was seriously crazy. And emotional. A chain of events led to my exchange with sister johns being this last Thursday, her last Thursday as a missionary. (AHH) She has seriously made such a huge impact on me and it was really sad to say goodbye. And even worse to say goodbye to this area. Gosh, I'm going to miss them. Real tears.  Every morning I wake up I love being a missionary more and more. NEVER LEAVING. "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life" -Mormo...

President and Sister Caplin chose a handful of missionaries to be part of a secret training this week! Sister Minaker and I were one of the companionships lucky enough to go! Two brothers that work at the Provo MTC came to our mission. It was awesome. So many new ways to improve our missionary work. We have already seen miracles this weekend from implementing the training. Big news, Christmas trees are everywhere!! Happy December, y'all.    I've been getting the impression to study more about the apostles to better understand how to be a disciple of Christ. That led to me reading Peter this week. Peter says "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, ...