18 March 2013
Another week has flown by and I don't even know where the
time has gone. We had another dinner with A. and the food was great and the
family that came was great and the spirit from the lesson was great but she
still wont commit to being baptized. She says she has a testimony of the church
and that it is true but i cant imagine anyone has a real testimony and wont be
baptized. i dont know. Just my thoughts. So she says not now. That was a
bummer. I mean Holland says that when our investigators wont keep commitments
or dont want to be baptized we will be devastated but i didn't feel that way
until now. I want for her so much to be baptized because i know that she will
be so much more happy with the fulness in her life. The fulness of this gospel
brings eternal happiness that cant really be achieved anywhere else. We just don't know what else to do. So hopefully with time missionaries will be able to
come back and she will be ready :)
Also this week D. had her third back surgery. She has to
stop smoking by yesterday so I pray everyday that she will be able to stay off
the cigs and prepare herself for baptism. Her son is doing great though.
B. has such a strong testimony for a 10 year old boy and knows so much
about the scriptures for only being in the church for 3 weeks now. It is
amazing to see how the spirit can teach way better than any missionaries.
Right now we don't have any other investigators. We are
searching everyday and trying to get the members help.
Elder D. (in our district) and I were on exchanges on Thursday and we were riding along and decided to play the trust game. its where
you ride your bike next to each other and then grab the other persons handle
bar with your close hand and then let go of your outside hand. Well so we got
close together and grabbed each others handles and then let go of our outside
hand. And to both of our surprise it didnt work at all. We ate asphalt. We were
both okay though. Just a little scrape but both good. It was pretty funny. :)
Well that is all that has happened down here. It sounds like
you are gonna have a brand new house by that time I get home :) One thing
I dont miss is cleaning up Macys barf. That is so cool to hear about Masons
call! EXCITING! And wish Kaylee luck for me!! Excitng to hear all the calls and
everyone leaving.
Well I love you all and miss you dearly, but not enough to
come home :)
Love
Elder Smith 4.0
25 March 2013
Sunday in Bridlegate ward the meeting was completely
focused on missionary work. Elder DeGraw, Bro Ogburn (Ward Mission Leader), Bro
Barren(Convert), and I spoke. I spoke on member missionary work. There is
a quote in Preach My Gospel from Joseph Smith that says, "The greatest and
most important duty is to preach the gospel." I thought that was really
cool because it is so simple and direct.
Oh yeah and transfers. So from 9 to 9:30 President makes
calls for anyone that is going to be a new district leader, zone leader, AP or
trainer. And then from 9:30 to 10:30 the AP's make the calls to the zl's and
tell them who is going and who is staying. I live with the Zl's so i get all
the news first hand. So I got a call at 9:15....I am training a new Elder. And
I also got news that I am moving to a new area. So when you are training and
moving it means you are also white washing. So yeah at 3 months out I am
whitewash training. In my case they should call it yellow-wash training because I
am peeing my pants!!! I AM SO NERVOUS. New elder and new area?!! AHHH I guess i
am just going to do what ever i want because i don't know how the area does it
and the new elder wont have many set ways yet. This is gonna be a fun transfer
i guess. Make the most of it and do my very best. That is all i can do. I guess that's why i liked Kamiakin so much. Their motto fits me perfect, 'Be the best
you can be' Thats what I am going to do.
So just tell me everything that is going on. I guess i care
about everything. But i love hearing of
everything that is going on!!
I love you all!!
Elder Smith 4.0
1 April 2013
Well this week didn't go as expected. I was supposed to be
whitewash training but something happened to my comp in the MTC and he didn't
make it down to AZ. So now I am in Maricopa with the elders that cover the
wards I am going to cover. We are in a trio. I was really worried at
first because sometimes trios don't work out to well, but so far everything has
been really good and we all get along great. I will be getting a new comp in
about another week from the MTC. I am excited to be training but also nervous.
I don't really have much to report investigator wise because
I don't know any of the investigators in the area yet. I did however get to go
back to Gilbert on Saturday night and baptize D. The baptism went really
well and I am excited for what the Lord has in store for her and her family.
So about emailing. You can go ahead and give it out. We have
the same amount of time. I will write my email to you guys first and then any other
time I have can go to everyone else. Not like that many people will write me
anyways but that's okay.
Well I love you guys all and hope everything is going well
in Kennewick!
Love
Elder Smith 4.0
8 April 2013
So this week has been really good. We got a referral on
Monday that we went and taught on Thursday and he is on date to get baptized on
the 27 of April. I'm really excited for him but a little bummed because he is
not going to be in my area. Its okay though, as long as people are coming unto
Christ it doesn't matter who teaches and whatever. Um we taught a lot of lessons
this week and the work is really progressing in this area. I'm supposed to
be getting my new greenie this week on Wednesday. I'm excited to start training
but also really nervous to take over part of the area and be taking the reigns
in every situation. Should be a good learning opportunity for me. It will
really show me what i need to work and improve on. Umm what else happened this
week. We had a baptismal interview for a lady the other elders had been
teaching before i got here so that was cool. Im just always excited for
people to come unto Christ and get baptized. There really is no greater decision to be made. Its awesome.
Conference was really good. I really liked Quentin L Cooks
talk on Saturday about preaching about Christ. He then went on to talk about
how following Christs teachings will bring great peace into anyone's life. Then
I thought about what Emma tells me, "Preach peace" really that is
what I am trying to do. This message is completely centered on Jesus Christ and
teaching others about Him will bring great peace. So that is exactly what i am
to do. Preach Peace.
So yeah its been good around here. Just takin' it day by day
working hard in the moment. Excited to get the new comp and take over the area.
OH also i will be moving across town so i will be using a new address. it
is 45175 W Cypress Ln, Maricopa 85139. The house is SUPER
nice. 4 bedroom house for just me and another missionary. Its
exciting.
Well I hope Hayden paid close attention to L Whitney
Claytons talk on what makes a successful marrige! HA! Actually Christian
should probably make sure he rereads that talk in a few weeks! AHAH Well I love
you guys and know that the church is true!
Love
Elder Smith
15 April 2013
So the day has finally come when I get to go to the mission
home and pick up the new greenie. Gosh it seems like transfers was just last
week but really it was almost a month ago. Holy Cow time flies when you're in a
trio. Well we had another baptism this week. Although I only taught her
once, no matter who it is there is always a special feeling at a baptism. This week
kind of sucked for lessons. I think we had about 20 lessons planned and
fell through this week. It really become tiring when you plan and study for all
these different lessons and then an hour before you go a call or text comes in
saying that they are at work or not feeling well or just busy. It seems like
everyone in the whole world is to busy. I hope that is something I never do.
Become to 'busy' to fulfill a calling or something like that.
We did have a few lessons though. We taught M. She
started meeting with the missionaries a few months ago. Before that she was a
practicing Jew. Its amazing to see that now she has a belief in Jesus
Christ. She wants to be baptized but it will take some time considering
all she is going through. She has been in a fair amount of surgeries in the
last few months and is on a lot of meds and wants to get off them. The only
problem is that to not take she meds she uses smoking as her crutch. She has
cut back to about 2 cigs a day which is pretty good. She is the nicest lady
though. She bought us a big box of otter pops that rocked!
That is about all that is going on this week. In about 3
hours I will be senior comp and starting work in the new area. I think I was
pretty blessed to get to have come to Maricopa and meet all the Ward Mission
Leaders and everyone before I have to take over. My nerves have definitly
calmed. Im really excited to train. I think it is going to be a wonderful
experiance. The new house is super nice and big and awesome. I gave you the
address in the last email and i hope there is some mail waiting for me ;)
To Mason: Dude so exciting!! Ah you are gonna love the SLC
mission. It is going to be like Gilbert here. Members everywhere and they will
just give you money and buy you stuff all the time. I don't think i paid for a
single fast food meal for three months i was in Gilbert!!
I love you all and hope all is going well!!
Love
Elder Smith
Later that morning we got this email...
So Thursday we had Zone conference
and President tld me my comp would be here today. Last night we moved a bunch
of stuff to the new house and i found a ride into Tempe to get the new guy.
literally an hour ago we got a call from the AP's saying he didn't come. So i
will continue to be in a trio. :(
22 April 2013
Soooo this week has been good and bad. On Wednesday it was
our Zone temple day so that is always a great way to start the day. The Mesa
Temple is beautiful and always a good experience. Then right after that I went
to the mission home and picked up Elder J. Finally. So we drove around
Tempe getting him a bike and other supplies he didn't have. He is technically a
greenie but kind of not. He served a trial mission in the Provo mission for two
transfers. Then after that went through the MTC and now is here. President
asked me to train him but there isn't a ton of training to do because he has
already been in the field. But we still do training hour and go over some
stuff. I mean we can all use the extra help. He is from Orem UT. He likes to
program computers and take pictures of stuff. We don't have a ton in common so
the house is kind of quiet at nights. Besides that I don't foresee any arguments
so all should be good. He did get called to the Gilbert mission though so he
will be transferred either this transfer or the next. That would be weird if it
were this transfer because he would have only been in Copa for two weeks. We
will see.
That was the good of the week. The bad is that the weekend
was supposed to be packed with lessons but within the hour of the lesson each
one cancelled. I think we had 6 lessons set up and they all fell through and
then no one came to church. This has to be the most draining work I have
ever done. So the last few days we have spent a lot of time walking and talking
to people. I think within the last three days we walked about 20 miles which is
only because all of our lessons fell through. It happens though. Just gotta
keep your head up and do all that you can. So yeah that was pretty much the
week.
We are going to go Lazer tagging today :) should be a good pday. Oh and what about Christian? When is he
going to get married. Yesterday we were talking to this RM of about a month and
we learned that he was engaged already. Then his fiancee walked up and he puts
his arm around her like some sort of trophy and says," This is what you
win.' she didn't look very happy. So don't do that Christian. haha i couldn't help
but laugh.
Well I love you all and hope everything in Kennewick is
going good!!
Love
Elder Smith
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