Sisters Small
TRANSFER WEEK MADNESS!

Okay so let's just say that leaving the Little Apple (Manhappenin') was quite the struggle but I know the Lord was helping me. I made so many eternal friends there and I am sooooo grateful for all that I learned those 6 months I was blessed to serve there. Transfers on Wednesday were insane. The mission has changed transportation to using the Greyhound buses to give us more opportunities to share the gospel. And anyone that knows me knows that I love public transportation so I was stoked about this. There have been some way cool stories from that but there has also been some mad happenings where missionaries have been stranded, kicked off of buses, etc. Long story short, we arrived at the bus stop and waited for a couple hours longer than anticipated.. After awhile, our zone leaders got a call from President Bell telling them that they might not have anybody ride the bus because of how many mix-ups and problems it has caused. As they were trying to make a decision the bus starts to pull up... aka they had to make a decision in 30 seconds because those buses don't wait for anybody ha. They were like okay just kidding everyone get to the bus.. we all grabbed our stuff and ran towards it only to find out they didn't even have room for us and our stuff... (even though we had pre-purchased tickets?) Sister Call and I were put into some senior missionaries car (the Peterson's) and they shipped us out to Topeka.

We love Lake Shawnee! Sister Call and I feel like princesses every morning. We live in some member's home, the Broz. (Yeah sweetest name ever) They SPOIL US. It is soooo surreal being in a HOME and I just love it so much. We live in the basement apartment which is super nice. Also, it is sooo beyond peaceful out here because we live like out in the middle of the country. Sister Broz is not active and the Bishop and bro Broz were both so thrilled she agreed to let us live there. They treat us like their kids and we love them already.

Luckily we had that zone training Friday so we were able to become acquainted with the zone and such. We love them! It was super hard leaving Manhattan, for both Sister Call and I, because the Manhattan zone are all besties basically. But we loved it here right away. The training went well! They also had the coolest role plays ever! They planned ahead to have real investigators, members, and less actives meet us at the church and we just rotated and taught them all lessons. It was awesome. 

We have been getting organized and planning a tooon, plus the meetings so we haven't had much time to work sadly. But we have met some members and they have all been awesome! Our ward mission leader (Bro Scerbo) is from New Jersey. Him and his wife are HILARIOUS. They work/talk at 100 miles per hour and it is so awesome. They are stoked to get work done! Also, side note, the ward is sooo excited to have sisters so that is a huge bonus! This weekend was stake conference, which again was focused on missionary work and we were blessed to sing our mission song on the stand again and the talks were all incredible. It was so fun being with President and Sister Bell and all the missionaries in this area all weekend!

I started out with not the best attitude about being called as a sister training leader (STL) but after meeting the 10 sisters we are over, I just looooved them immediately. I know that this is what Heavenly Father would have me be doing at this point in my mission and I know He will help me. It is pretty different because we go on exchanges at least once a week, have tons of meetings, and are on the phone a LOT. Sisters call us all the time with problems and it is going to be a great learning experience in serving them.

To end, I LOVE MY COMP! We have soooooo much fun all day long and we feel so blessed. Literally every day we ask ourselves if this is real life. It is too good to be true. President and Sister Bell were dying laughing when they saw us! They told us to wipe our smiles off of our faces and that we are living a dream haha. Only kidding of course.

I love you all so much! A huge focus lately has been Elder Ballard's challenge, that was issued as a challenge again this weekend, to reach out to at least ONE person before Christmas. So will you all just do that!? (say yes) I KNOW the Lord will help you. And it truly will be the best Christmas present we could give our Savior. 

You are in my prayers,

Sister Smartt 

aka Sisters Small (everyone now combines Sister Smartt and Sister Call because we are the same person)

PS Pres and Sis Bell are soooo funny every time they speak. Favorite quote this time: Sister Bell gets up for the adult session and starts off by announcing that "The mission age has changed to 16 years old because they already know everything and their moms won't cry at the farewells." True story. Sorry mom. :)