Transfer, Training, and District Leader...Goin' to YUMA!

I got this from a member the other day!  Happy Mommy!!

9 Sept 2013

Well we got transfer calls this morning.... I will be going to a new area and I will be serving the Lord and other missionaries as a district leader and will be training another new missionary at the same time. So white wash, district leader, trainer. Talk about fun...not so much. Well actually it is really fun once you get there and start working, but I am really nervous right now. White washing is kinda scurry to me. Along with that I don't really know how to be a district leader. I guess I will just FTS (follow the spirit) and do what I can to serve.

As for the investigators. Not a lot of progress except with one lady who we found this week. She was a referral from the visitors center. She is dating a member that is less active but wants to come back to activity. We called her on Wednesday and set up a lesson for Thursday night. We had to go on splits that night so Brother K.(WML) and I went and taught. She is a really kind lady. We extended the date of September 28th for baptism and she accepted. She has been reading to Book of Mormon. It is just neat to see how the Lord has prepared people already we just need to invite. 

As for everyone else it has been pretty slow and we have had a lot of cancellations this week. What can you do? It was still a good week though. 

That was pretty much all this week. As for the pictures, I would be ecstatic if you could put them back on a memory card and send them back :) But don't be doing that anytime soon because I dont know where I will be living. Yuma would be kind of fun. I wouldn't mind going back to Gilbert either. We will see and I will let you know next Monday.

I am excited for Hayden and all his med school business. Really exciting. And it sounds like Christian is adjusting well back to normal life :) Now it is time for him to get married :) I would like to be an uncle when I get home :) 

I love you all!! Sorry it is short!

Love 

Elder Smith

16 Sept 2013

  

Well so everything is going good in Yuma. We only cover one ward and the work is pretty much non existing. There are no investigators and no potential investigators. We are basically starting from scratch. But its whatever. Been doing a ton of street contacting. 

My comp is from Moore ID. Near Arco. He just graduated. He is doing good. Just tired all the time, which is understandable because it is a new way of life and very tiring. I remember it.

The size of Yuma is about 100,000. There are 6 sets of missionaries in actual Yuma and then another 5 sets around the area. Foothills and somerton and san luis. ask Gma and gpa about it. 

Sorry this email is so short, but we really don't have like anything going in the area right now. We are working on it. Mom I have a bday present I am trying to get mailed but with transfers and all it has been a little chaotic. Sorry!!

The blog you can keep updating but i will be doing fb. You can link the blog with your fb if you want but I probably wont be.

Good to hear that Hayd and Chris are working hard!! And yes my Spanish is  definitely getting tested everyday. 

As for K. I love that kid to death. I was praying at every transfer that I would get to be his comp. Please do keep him in your prayers. He taught me alot and I will def be hanging out with him after the mish. 

Well I love you all

Elder Smith

Still Havin' FUN!!

I didn't get transferred & So Many New Invesigators We Must Be Criminals

 5 August 2013

Soooo after I emailed last week the AP's called like 5 hours later and said that I was staying in Maricopa and Elder B. was leaving. So I am still at the same address but training.  My new comp is Elder J. He is 18. Just graduated in June. We get along super well.  I get along with Elder J. great! He is from SLC. Family of 10. Plays bball and vball. 

The work is really slow right now. After N. and Sis K. and the E. family getting baptized that was pretty much our teaching pool. We have been tracting and biking a lot looking for people to talk to and teach. I feel bad being a trainer in this area because there is not that much work here so it is hard to get Elder J. teaching and learning because we don't teach a lot right now. I'm not to worried though because from the lessons that we have had he seems to know his stuff and will do great as a missionary. 

The one progressing investigator that we do have is named A. He is 17 and is related to our WML. He has been coming to church for about a month and we have taught him twice. He was on date for the 3rd but felt a little pressured, so he wants more time to read and pray for an answer. He does want to be baptized though. So we will keep teaching him and help him receive an answer.

About the tech stuff we haven't really heard anything. We do have a member of the 70 coming to visit the mission. Elder Craig A Cardon. My hope is that he brings some big boxes with iPhones and iPads.

Sounds like all is well back home. Chris deserves some fun after a summer at the golf course. That place can be muckduck (The Office (Dad dont say anything)) 

I love you all and the mission is the greatest time of my life. Wouldn't change it for the world!!

Elder Smith  

12 August 2013

 

This week has been off the chain!! On Tuesday we got a call from a lady that is a member somewhere in AZ and told us that her sister, V., is going through some hard times and has to move and could use some help. We went to V's house and helped her move across town for like 3 hours. Then the next day she needed some more help so we went and helped for another hour or so. V came to church on Sunday and loved it and then we taught her a lesson at the RSP's home and she accepted the invitation to be baptized, but Elder J. and I both felt as though we would wait until our next lesson to extend a date. 

Then last Sunday this lady that Elder B. and I had talked to about a month ago decided to come to church out of the blue. When we first talked to her she was a wreck. She was being evicted and going through a divorce and a ton of other stuff all at once and didn't really want to talk at the time so we left her with a mo dot o card with the address of the church and the time. Out of the blue she came last week with her 4 kids. Sacrament meeting was fine but when primary came along she didn't want her kids to be split. So our potential investigator (D.) just took her kids and left. Elder J. and I decided we should stop by and aplogize for the rough experiance. Turns out when she answered the door she was aplogizing to us leaving. After all was said we set up a lesson. When we went by for the lesson the first thing she tells us is that she is gay. We had a good talk about the churchs' stance on that and she wasnt mad or anything. She actually knew from reading the Bible. So that was good. The lesson went well. She didn't come to church yesterday though which was a bummer. She is still in a rough situation finacially. 

And then yesterday we had a part member family come to church. She wife is the nonmember and at church we set up a lesson for that evening. We taught the wife and the husband who hasn't been to church in 10+ years. The wife got really emotional about learning more and wanting to be baptized. She is on date for the 24th of August. Pretty cool.

And then we also had a nonmember couple come to church for no reason. They just saw the church building and wanted to see what it was like. We have a lesson with them on Thursday. That will be awesome.

 

I hope Dad is reading this and realizing that I am trying to use correct spelling and punctuation so I don't get to out of it :) I hope everyone is enjoying life because that is all we need to do. Don't stress about anything Mom. I never did and I still graduated high school. Hold your comments about that because I know you have some :) 

Sounds like all is going good at home. That is good to hear. I love you all and hope things continue to go well!!

Love

Elder Smith

Oh Transfers...

29 July 2013

Two weeks in a row...I'm on a roll!-Deb

Welllll last night we got transfer calls..... and once again I will be whitewash training. I just want to be with a companion for more than six weeks and in an area for like six months so i can really get into the work and get some stuff going. Maricopa has been awesome though. Only here for 4.5 months but it was really successful and I loved every second of it. This whole mission thing really teaches me how I need to align God's will with mine. I don't want to be transferred. I will miss Elder B. I will miss Maricopa, but I know that Heavenly Father has more in store somewhere else. Somewhere I need to be to learn and grow so I will go and do. Hopefully I will learn and do what I am supposed to do in the new area. And I will be training again. I do like training. It's fun. So far after I got trained I have been a trainer. I hope it continues like that because I really like new missionaries. They are so gung ho about the work and it us super fun.

As for N. he got baptized on Saturday. It was a really cool service. His girlfriend and her family made it down and the dad did the baptizing and confirming. The spirit was super strong during the confirmation. Really incredible. 

We also started teaching a 17 year old boy on Friday who has come to church 3 times with his friend. He accepted the baptismal date of Aug 3. So another baptism this weekend. Too bad I wont be there. oh well.

Aside from that it has been alot of trying to find. We got a few referrals so hopefully something good will come of those. 

On Friday we had a visit to make but since it is the end of the month we are almost out of miles for our car so we had to bike like 20 miles to go make this visit in what felt like the worst head wind of my life. It sucked so bad and my butt hurt soooo bad after that. but it was an adventure so it was good. We have been working with a lady that got excommunicated a few years ago and decided she wanted to come back to churhc. She is doing really good and is really working hard on doing whats right. She is still trying to quit smoking but that will come. What is even cooler is to see her 15 year old son getting really excited to start coming back to church and reading the scriptures and Preach My Gospel. It sounds like he is preparing for a mission now. Super cool. I am going to miss Copa'. 

How is all back home? Sounds like everything is going good. I hope you all are doing well.

Well I love you all and pray for you

Love

Elder Smith

We Keep It Poppin' Like a Needle in a New Balloon

22 July 2013

Well I haven't got the letter with the tweezers yet so I haven't heard what happened with the CRV! That looks crazy! I hope everyone is okay. Especially Brooklyn... and mom too :) Love you mom!!!

Well last week was pretty good. We have been teaching a lot of lessons because while we are tracting or street contacting we just start teaching adn people are usually willing to listen right on the spot and they have questions and stuff but when we try to set up appointments that is where the interest ends. Its weird.

Anyway so on Monday we were going to this house and there was a lizard on the door way arch thing but it was to high to grab so my instincts kicked in and i took my planner and threw it at the lizard and it came flying down in the air and i caught it and it was awesome. that was Monday's highlight. Tuesday was just tuesday. Wednesday we were walking to a few different houses and it is around 8:30 so it is dark and there arent any street lights in Maricopa because it just became an official city in 2008 and if its not a city there doesn't have to be street lights to it is really dark in the neighborhoods. So anyway we were walking and someone yelled at us but we looked around and couldn't see anyone and then they yelled again and we saw this big guy in the shadow smoking and he told us we needed some visibility. So we started talkin to him (his name is D.) and found out that he had this experience when he was younger that when he was leaving a bar a security guard came up to him and told him that he should leave and it would be in his best interest. so he left and then i guess something bad happened at the bar that night and D. told us that the security guard was Jesus. Interesting. Then he told us that he believed that with all the stem cell research going on that in the next 20 years people would be able to go to a Circle K and get a new heart for 20 bucks and be all better. Interesting guy. we have a lesson with him tomorrow. 

Thursday we had Zone Conference. We had training from the zls, the apes, and President and Sister Toone. They are from somewhere in UT. I think they have 8 kids. President is, as he says, "Five foot, twenty four inches." He is 7 feet tall. When we hug him its like hugging a tree. Crazy. But he is cool and chill and i think we are going to get along good. 

As for investigators N. is still good for the 27th. We sat down with his mom and addressed her concerns which was more that N. was just doing this for his gf. She is just worried that he is going to get baptized and then not follow through. Which I am glad that she is worried about that because hopefully she will push him to go to church functions and such. N's gf and family are coming down from UT for the baptism and the dad is doing the baptizing. gonna be awesome. 

That is pretty much it for this week. good week. Looks like mom and brooke had an adventure. looking forward to hearing about that. Love you all and hope you are doing wonderful!!

Love

Elder Smith

15 July 2013

Whats goin on in the Tri Cities? Looks like you guys are having a ton of fun! The only downside for you is that AZ is way better!  Man working with Elder B. is so much fun and we work so well togethter that when we are teaching everything just flows. Contention really is Satan's way. I've noticed the difference when you go into a lesson with not the greatest of feelings toward your companion and the lesson is just ehh. But when you are on the same page and get along everything really does just flow and the spirit is there soooo much more strong.  We don't have a ton going on right now. 

N. is still looking good to get baptized on the 27th. His gf and her family are coming down for the baptism and her dad is going to do it. That should be really exciting. Aside from that we have been doing a ton of different finding ideas. We are organizing a church tour and made flyers and handouts and everything so hopefully that will be successful and there will be a good turn out. We also have been doing a fair amount of tracting. Not alot of people are outside right now considering it is 110+ almost everyday so we have been going to them. It has actually been going better than I thought. I like tracting :)

Yesterday I realized how cool it is to let your tongue be loosed and let the spirit direct what you say. David A Bednar gave a talk addressing worries about whether thoughts are of the spirit or not and he said, "Don't worry about it." That is something I am working on. We talked to a guy yesterday and taught him about the restoration. He brought up some concerns and without hesitation I just started talking not really knowing what I was saying and he totally understood and we scheduled another lesson with him. Super cool experience. I love being on a mission and seeing all these miracles happen all the time. I don't know how people live without the gospel in their lives. It truly is amazing.

 Well Im glad you all had an awesome week! I love you all!!!!

Love

Elder Smith

Fresh to the death like we're drowning in Febreeze

8 July 2013

This week was LEGIT. Sister K. got baptized and confirmed this weekend. It was awesome. One of the best baptisms I have ever attended. The spirit was super strong and awesome. So that was a treat. 

N. was supposed to get baptized on July 13 but didn't get to church on Sunday so that is kind of frustrating because he says he wants to be baptized and all but just isn't coming to church. Really cool kid though. He is 15 or maybe 16 (when we asked him he said he forgot so he would ask his mom) but his gf lives in UT and is a member and so at first we thought he was just a victim of the 14th chapter of Preach my Gospel, "Flirt to Convert." After talking to him a few times we found out that may be part of it but he really does want to change and is a good kid. Our WML Bro B. was a teacher at the middle school and now principal but is really surprised to see how much he has changed in the last year or two. He is a great kid!

We are also working with a lady that got excommunicated a few years ago and wants to come back to church. After we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon she had a bunch of thoughts about how baptism should be later than the age of 8 so that people can mess up and then just be baptized later and BAM. Clean. So everything addressed back to her testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. One awesome thing is that she has a super strong testimony of the priesthood and that is way cool to see. I love being able to help people build their testimony through the Holy Ghost testifying to them and telling them of truths. 

Oh we also called M. this week who has pretty much turned into an eternal investigator. Anyway we went over to her house to give her a blessing because life has been hard for her. So we sit down and she starts talking to us about how hard her life is and how she would much rather be on the cross and doing what Christ did because that is nothing compared to what she was going through. So we sat there and the spirit just told me to interrupt her and I literally told her to stop talking and that she didn't know what she was talking about. After I explained what Christ did and how He knows exactly what we are going through and what He did is FAR harder than anything we will ever go through. After I was kind of worried about what she would say but she didn't really say anything and then changed the subject. She wasn't mad or anything because I know that the Holy Ghost testified to her of the truthfulness of the atonement. Really cool to see.

Well life is good here. The heat sucks but all else is well. thank you for the package. Oh I meant to ask for another pair of tweezers. Some how mine fell out and are gone and they always come in handy!! Thanks for everything and all the support!! 

Love
Elder Smith