Many Are Cold But Few Are Frozen

RUNNING ACROSS THE BORDER WITH BAPTISMAL CLOTHING

2011-09-19T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!!

You guys aren’t trunky at all! hahahaha When I opened Mom’s email all I could see all over the page was “when you get home...” haha It sounds like you guys are all doing great! I feel bad for Payt and his boredom! It’s good stuff though buddy! Enjoy it, but Mom just make sure I don’t have to deal with that when I get home! Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the work with getting me into school!! You guys are so great!! Did those letters I wrote work? I felt bad because they were terrible! What did you do with them? You will have to let me know because what I wrote wouldn’t even have gotten me into byui! Thanks for the great updates though! You guys are the best.

It’s been a crazy week because there is just so much running through my head! I have never been so stressed! hahah The Acutane and stress combo started making my hair fall out! So I was like, oh man, what’s less attractive, zits or baldness, then I saw Dad’s picture and I was like zits for sure! haha But the doc still thought I should go off the meds so I did! Luckily before I bought another month worth. I think I’m gonna stay away from that stuff! haha But I’ll get an antibiotic for the rest of the zits and it should all buff out! I’m doing great though! Blood tests were all good and no side affects, other than I was loosing hair when I washed it! Not a big deal and all is well!

It has been super stressful week though! On Monday all of our appointments bailed and we tracted in terrible weather! Like a blizzard with sleety snow rain! haha I felt dumb for complaining about the heat just last week! On Tuesday it was rougher weather again and we tracted a ton and just had one lesson with Gerald. It was ok but he is frustrating! Wednesday went pretty well with apts and stuff and we left in the evening and stayed in Kenora. I slept on the floor and didn’t sleep too well! Then in the morning we drove to Winnipeg for Zone Meeting! It was good but then we had to get Elder McDanel and Pacis's winter gear for them. So we didn’t get back to Dryden till Thursday night, so the whole day was shot. Then Friday we did weekly planning and got to work more than half the day and then the assistants stayed the night with us! It was a blast to catch up with Elder Woods! He is a champ!! Then Saturday morning all four of us left for Fort Frances for the district conference. We worked there Saturday and Sunday was the Conference. Saturday night I slept on the floor again in International Falls which was rough. We busted over to the conference in Fort Frances on Sunday morning and it was great and Elder Woods and President both gave great talks!! But this Sunday was supposed to be John’s interview. Now this is stressful enough, but on top of it, John was on vacation all week and so we hadn’t talked to him since the previous Sunday. We had told him we would call him throughout the week and we got it all set up but when we called, his phone wasn’t working!! So I was soooo stressed all week because the week before the interview is huge! Not talking to them the whole week is super bad news bears!! So I had all kinds of worries of his family giving him anti and stuff going bad so I was so stressed. But that Sunday before we told John we would meet him at the church at 3:30 and talk to him before the interview that was supposed to be at 4, and it had to go through because we are out in the boonies, so it’s gotta be planned well so someone can come for the interview, so he HAD to be there. So when the conference ended, we were gonna bust out and be to Dryden by 3:30, but we remembered that we needed Baptismal clothes from the International Falls building because Dryden has nothing! Which was on the other side of the border and some of our stuff was in I Falls car, but they had already left and they weren’t answering their phone. So finally we got ahold of them and Elder You and I got picked up by them. We crossed the border and booked it to the I Falls church and got the clothes. Then I Falls dropped us off at the border because you have to pay to drive across! haha So elder You and I ran across the border bridge in the rain with a big bag of white clothes hahaha! As you can imagine, we knew we would get questioned for the bag! And we did! haha We thought about saying "Sir these are clothes for a saving ordinance and we are late for an important interview," but we figured that would lead to more questions! Luckily, the Canadian border patrol is a lot nicer than the American one! No offense Sean Marshall! I’m sure you are nice (: haha But we made it across safe and sound and went and jumped into the car with Elder Woods and McDanel! While we were doing our crazy stuff they had gotten all of our stuff bagged up so it wouldn’t get wet in the pickup for the ride home! Then Elder You drove like a champ to try and get us there in time!! We rolled into town at 4 so I was soooooo stressed thinking maybe he forgot, maybe something bad happened, maybe he got stuck on the rainy roads from Thunder Bay, maybe he already came and left because we were 30 minutes late! aaahhhhh! I was all sorts of worked up! So we’re driving through the country road to the church and we rolled up and there’s John’s jeep in front of the church!!! woooop woooop!! We were all super pumped! haha So we talked to John and he sounds great!! He got interviewed and it went great!! He was in and out quick and Elder You said he was super ready!! It was super great!! It was a great end to the week, but this week is stressing me out! haha We have a Fries, Dogs and Movie Night we are doing for the branch and investigators on Friday, the baptism on Saturday and the confirmation Sunday! We still have to get people invited to the movie night and find a projector or something. We have to get John’s program all put together and we have to clean out the baptismal font because it is filled to the brim with stuff because they turned it into their storage closet because they haven’t had a baptism in forever! And I gotta throw together a District Meeting for tomorrow still! And all this would be normal, but all this home stuff is trippen me out and I’m supposed to get the calls for all that done. We’ve got a good week planned out though and we should have a fair amount of apts!

I’m just sad to say that I still have stress issues! haha I thought the mission would cure me (: I just hope it didn’t make it worse! haha Hopefully we have a good showing for the movie night and the baptism and church! I guess it’ll all buff out! But I love you guys all so much! You are so wonderful!!

Oh, exciting news for you!! I got a letter from Nicole Witbeck this week..that pretty blonde I hung out with before I left.... All that was in it was an announcement to her baptism!! She is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! woop woop! haha I thought it was neat stuff! She has been off and on writing me, and I hadn’t heard from her for awhile so it was really neat! I’ve gotten 4 letters in the last 2 transfers, 3 for weddings and one for a baptism! Neat stuff! Life is so good! Missionary work is the best! I love you guys a ton! Thanks again so much for all that you do!

Love Elder Smith

TRACTING WITH THE J-DUBS

2011-09-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

First off, you guys are the best!!! Alex, I am scared out of my mind to see you!!! I can’t believe how mature you sound!! You’re not allowed to like girls yet!! NO DATING TILL YOUR 16!! HAHA Buddy, I’m so proud of you and the great kid you are! I loved your talk and I wish I could have been there for it! I’m gonna have to talk to the Bishop in a couple months and get you to speak again! haha Payt, I loved your email and testimony!! Powerhouse! Mom and Dad you are wonderful!! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all of you!!

Well, this week was another interesting one! It was hard, we broke Canadian heat records and we tracted A TON! It has been super hot! It doesn’t feel like September at all!! But it was a good week! So first off I wanna start by telling you some funny stories! haha First off, Elder McDanel had a sailor’s mouth before he came out here, so I have tried to help him with it a lot. He cut swearing before he got here, but all the other bad talk was still there. So, I’ve been working with him a lot with it and we played a game where I get a quarter every time he slips. haha I made bank! But anyways that’s the background and he’s gotten a ton better, but the other day we were tracting in an apartment building, just going door to door and in front of one door there was this huge birthday balloon, but it was full of water! Like huge! So we walk over, look at it all confused and Elder McDanel nudges it. No big deal, so we knock the door and don’t think much of it. No one was there, so we keep going and all of the sudden the water balloon breaks and water fills the hall and pours in under the door! And Elder McDanel goes, "Oh s***!" I look at him with an apalled look, not knowing what to do and then we both booked it out of there. He is such a punk and so I was mad about it, but trying so hard not to lose it laughing! Then we went out tracting and I hit my head on the rain gutter really hard and the whole thing fell off. Of course Elder McDanel thought it was hilarious and handled it the way Jordan Nelson would! It was funny stuff. Then on Saturday we showed up in the morning to the street we planning to knock and we run into two J-dub families with their kids and all out tracting! haha It was very interesting because there were two J-dub families and two Mormon missionaries having a throw down in the middle of the street! We could of taken ‘em! haha But we just had a nice little chat and then went to a different street! I’m getting to know them pretty well after how many times we have run into them. They hit the town hard though! Everywhere we went, the people told us the J-Dubs were there in the morning! It’s not a huge city and so we have already tracted it once through and some places we have tracted 2 or 3 times! We know everyone! I went in for my blood test today and seriously like everyone there I had talked too! haha It’s funny when you run into them in places like that!

Other funny story for ya. In Gospel Principles this week Gerald used the Lord’s name in vain, the “A” word and the “F” word all in one sentence to answer one of the question, and I was teaching the class! You don’t run into that one everyday! But the class was super good and he was just talking about his childhood, he wasn’t insulting my teaching (: haha It was also John’s birthday and so we made him cupcakes! The class loved them and he was thrilled by the whole thing! He has come so far and he is ready for baptism but things got moved around so his interview is set for this coming Sunday! He is such a goofy, great guy and I think he’s ready! The branch seems to love him! This week there were only 8 members there, counting us!! It was slim pickings!! But Gerald and John are unfazed by it!! Both of them were like the first ones to church, and Gerald was outside cleaning up trash when we showed up! They are both great guys! Gerald is coming along slowly. He has faced all kinds of garbage, but in our lessons this week the Spirit was super strong! He knows it’s true. It’s just now up to whether he will buckle down and do it or not. John’s lessons are great and always hilarious! He is super smart but almost too smart with dumb stuff! haha So he has some crazy tangents and he get the “deer in the headlights” look a lot! haha I love the man to death though!! This week Elder McDanel said, "So John, do you wanna be baptized?” And John said, “I wouldn’t keep showing up if I didn’t!" haha Just the way he said it cracked us up because he asked it after we had read in D&C where it talks about the qualifications for baptism. So it was like a serious moment and the way he answered was funny! It was good, we are stressed though because he is gone all this week and he gets back the day of his interview! Hopefully he is ready!! I think he is!! Things are going so great though!! The last month of a mission feels kind of similar to the month before leaving on one!! It’s just a mess of mixed feelings and a lot of stress to get things done!! I wanna finish strong! It’s craziness! But I love you all a bunch! Thanks for all that you do and have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith!!

"IF YOU STAY ACTIVE IN A BRANCH, YOU HAVE A STRAIGHT SHOT TO THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM!"

2011-09-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

Sounds like you guys had such a wonderful week!! Tell Madeline congrats! Payton I am so excited for you! I can’t wait to go to the temple with you!! You’re gonna have to get me back in the groove of going!! I haven’t gone in 2 years!! The temple is the best and I am so excited to go again! Dad, thank you so much for sending your testimony!! I loved it! At first I was sad Mom and Payt and Al and Addi didn’t send there’s, but your’s was so great and now I get to still hear there’s next week! Hopefully! Payton I’m so glad to hear that you are having a good time! q for ya? Do you have a temple in your mission? Let me know!! Mom and Dad you are amazing and I love and miss you a ton! I’m so grateful for all that you do!

This week was a rainy one here!! It was raining like crazy and I have this trashy umbrella that I sooo badly wanted to last the season! Fall is definitely here and I thought for sure it would make it but then a huge storm hit and the wind whipped off the top! hahaha So I had the umbrella top and the medal rod, in a nasty rain storm! I was pretty mad, but it was pretty funny! We knocked on a door and they let us in! I took off my shoes and my socks were soaking, so I sat down my mettle rod and then my umbrella top. It was so funny because this was in the wealthy neighborhood! So this house is nice and I left a wet trail walking in from my wet socks! haha Funny stuff! It was a rough lesson! They had no desire to do anything, but it was a funny experience! But after that, I cracked and had to go buy a 10 dollar umbrella! haha It’s nice! I went into the dentist again and he said he would fix it for free because he thinks it’s just a bad filling, so hopefully all goes good there!

Gerald is doing ok, but he is super sketchy lately! We had a great lesson with him this week, but then he bailed! He is frustrating! I love them a lot though!! John is hilarious and I love him to death!! I’ve got a funny story for ya in a bit but he is ready for baptism! Hopefully the interview goes well! It will hopefully be this week!! We found a new lady named Rosa this week! She is in her 70’s but she is such a sweetheart!! She had a little bit of Grandma and Grammy in her and it made me miss both of them! She came to church which was.... interesting! haha We only had like 10 active members there this week and then John, Rosa, Trustine and her kids, and it was fast and testimony meeting! aahhh! So President Vahovick goes first and takes seriously 2 minutes! Down to 9 people who can bear their testimony! So I kinda write a talk in my head and then fill some time! hahah I used between 5 and 10 minutes so about 35 minutes to go and 8 members! Everyone of them got up and it was sooooo good! Just great testimonies!! I love branches!! If you stay active in a branch you’ve got a straight shot to the Celestial Kingdom for sure!! But church ended up pretty good! John is doing really well and he is so funny!! This week we tracted in the rich areas a ton! All the houses along the lake. It is so pretty and there is so much wildlife! We see deer here everyday in the city. But, so funny story about John... He took off work to take us golfing! So yesterday on P-day we went golfing with him! It was so fun and hilarious!! One thing about Elder McDanel, you can take the boy out of the hick town, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t take the hick town out of the boy!! haha This kid is always after some animal, while we are tracting or doing something crazy! Then we go golfing and he’s pulling Happy Gilmore and he’s screaming and laughing and going through the pond for balls and throwing clubs! haha This kid is crazy but so funny and I love him to death! He has grown so much but I donno what John thought of the whole thing! haha He couldn’t help but laugh!! That was the hardest thing for me, is golf can be hilarious!! Like man, I was trying so hard to keep it in, but it was so funny!! The funniest part of it all is that Elder McDanel somehow destroyed both John and I! hahaha The kids got a good drive!! And he almost caught a frog! haha And he found enough balls to make up for all the ones I lost!! Good times! So golfing was a lot of fun!! Definitely a little stressful for me, but all’s well that ends well!! The week was good and I love being a missionary!!

We had district meeting today and it went really well! I have Elder McDanel and then two other greenies that got here his transfer, that are all in my district so it makes meetings really fun to teach!! It’s weird to see where they all are and to remember my first couple transfers!! Missionaries are the best and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be one!! I am so grateful for the Gospel and the blessings that come from living it! I am so excited for Payton!! Missions are the best!! Love ya all! Love Elder Smith

P.S. I got a funny story that might be sketchy for my actual email so I thought I’d tack it to the end! So we were reading with John this week and instead of reading “the last resurrection” I said the last erection. I just quickly corrected and no big deal right...... But Elder McDanel is there! hahahaha And he can’t NOT laugh, so he has this huge grin and his eyes start watering because he is trying sooo hard to keep it in!! He can’t do it, so he tries to pull it off as allergies! hahahaha So he’s fake sneezing and itching his nose and twitchen all crazy between gigles and saying, “Ahhh, stupid allergies.” Just like Napolian, beccause he IS from Preston you know! hahaha It was soooooooooooo funny! And I had to give it everything not to lose it!! He is definitely a hick from Preston!! But, it all buffed out so no big deal! Love ya all!

THERE'S A BEAR IN THE TRUCK & TEACHING GERALD THE LAW OF CHASTITY

2011-08-29T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hey family!!

I love your emails!! Tell Payton that I’m ok with him not emailing me, but payback is coming his way quick! Just kidding, but I am so impressed at how great you all are at emailing me!! Best family ever! I just better get a big one from Payt next week! Alex, it sounds like you had a blast on the camp out! You gotta work on your fishing so we can go a bunch together! Mom, it looks like you had a blast on your sisters retreat!! I loved seeing Aunt Jill and Aunt Camille! You definitely win the classiest and most beautiful sister award though! MY Mom is classy and the best!!! (:

This week was crazy though!! I’ll start with the crazy and funny stories first! So first off we were in Kenora after our exchange the night before district meeting and we were getting ready for bed! So I’m in my usual routine, in the bathroom, and all the sudden I hear the car alarm going off! So I yelled out and they think I’m just playing around or something, but then they hear it! So the 3 of them dart out with basketball shorts and garment tops, with Elder McDanel at the front! He went booking out and the lady across the street yells, "Get inside! There’s a bear in the back of your truck!" haha So they book it back in and tell me. . . so we all book back out! We had a bag of garbage in our truck bed that was spread all over, and there was a fatty bear poop by the tire of the truck! haha No damage to the car though, other than a couple scratches on the side of the bed. It was pretty funny! But here’s the crazy part, the next morning we locked the car and had 240 pound Elder O'Driscoll get up in the bed and jump all over and shake the truck and no matter what he did, he couldn’t get the alarm to go off! He was shaking it good!! So the bear roughed it up pretty good! It was funny stuff!

Then we came in from Kenora and met John at President Vahovick’s for supper! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and it was good, but for coffee. We said it and his jaw dropped! He goes "coffee.... really??? coffee... I need it to stay awake at work!” Needless to say he’s been coffee free a week tomorrow!! woop woop!! He is great!! He’s a goofy guy though! haha He is an electrician and he’s pretty goofy. You will like meeting him! But then this week we taught him tithing too, and that was rough for him but I think he will do it! If all goes well he will get baptized on the 17th!! When we taught him this week though it was soooo funny because he asked what a Gentile was. So we taught him it and he paused for a minute and said, "I don’t feel comfortable calling myself a Jew." haha We both about died! We must have taught it really really bad! hahaha Sooo funny! He has made it to church 3 weeks in a row though and this week he was the first one to the chapel!

Other crazy story, we taught Gerald and his family the Law of Chastity. He has a girlfriend that sleeps over....... and we knew that going into it. So we teach it and he went pale with guilt. He looked kinda sick and said "Wow....... how am I gonna do it? Wow..... does that include masturbation?" So we were like, yep, and pornography. So we talked it out with him and he said he’d live it. He actually did great with it! It was pretty weird though because he talked WAY open about it with his girls right there! Being a missionary is soooooo crazy because a 19 and 20 year old kid having to teach a 38 year old guy, that has 2 kids about the Law of Chastity! It’s really so fun, and exciting and a rush kind of! It’s sooo neat to be a missionary, and I have gained such a strong testimony of the commandments!! Especially the Law of Chastity!! It’s so sad to see his girls compete with his girlfriend for attention! It makes me so sad! I love Gerald’s family so much though! I really hope he mans up and lives the commandments!! I love his girls so much and they deserve so much better! They are great and I love the way they treat us! They see us and they take off running for us saying, "It’s the Elders!" They had a rough week though!! He got bed bugs and his girls got lice!! They are temporarily in a hotel! Luckily with one bed so the girlfriend has to stay away!

Other funny story for you!! So we are tracting and we walk up to a house and right as we walk up these guys open up the garage door and we are hit with a thick wall of weed!! They all hit the ground and started to pretend they were working on a six wheeler. haha It was pretty funny. They were in there hot boxen’ the garage and I’m sure we scared em pretty bad at first! It’s crazy though because it was a dad his friend and a teenager!! Weed is huge here and it’s like a father-son thing, I guess! It was pretty ridiculous! It’s crazy that I learned how to pick out what weed smells like on my mission!

This week we also set up a booth at the fair! President Vahovick got it for us so we went and set stuff up and left it. There were members from Fort Francis there with a booth close, so they kept an eye on it. They told us some funny stories of people looking at the stuff, but they said some girls came over and said, “Oh those guys are so hot! We should take this book so we know stuff about it so we can talk to them.” hah Elder McDanel is convinced they were talking about him! It gave us a good laugh! It was a pretty crazy week but so good! Hopefully my stories aren’t too bad unedited, but I’ve been terrible with a journal and I wanted to remember some of the crazy funny stuff!

I got some bad news. I think that dentist messed up my tooth so I’m probably gonna have to get it fixed up again when I get home! It’s hard to chew with and I went back and he said it might be something else wrong, other than the cavity he fixed, so hopefully Dr. Hoover can fix me up! I’m fine though, it’s not a big deal and it’s just a little tender, but I’m just mad if the dentist did something wrong and it’s gonna cost us more.

Things are great though! its weird with all the home talk from you and President and everybody else! Scary stuff!! I’m so excited to see everyone in Winnipeg again though!! That will be a super fun week!! It was a great week though! John, Gerald, and Gerald’s 2 kids, Emma and Alisha all came to church, which put us at like 17 people there in all! It’s crazy small! But it’s so great!!

I had kind of a neat insight this week though! The Holy Ghost is so great and it plays such a huge role in conversion, but I really have recognized the role it plays with us as missionaries! It really helps us to know what to say, what to do, and it directs us with so many different problems we face. But something I have realized is that it helps us to get a taste of how people really feel and what they are going through too. It helps us to relate with people and have more charity towards them and their situation and I never thought about it much but I think that that is part of the long suffering talked about in the scriptures, because some times it’s so hard to see people and the situations that they have put themselves in. But it’s so good that we can receive guidance and help in showing patience with these people and also receive the charity and guidance needed to help them! I’m so grateful for the Spirit! I’m so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Life is so great and so hard!! But when we live the Gospel it is so worth it!! I love you all a bunch! Thanks for all that you do!

I did have one request for all of you!! It’s a crazy time in life with one kid on a mission and one about to leave, and the feelings that are there are sometimes easy to forget! haha So I was wondering if next email you would all send your testimony? Please and Thank you! (: I love you all a bunch!! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

NEVER BECOME A COWBOYS FAN, PAYT!

2011-08-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

Payton!! And Fam!!

HOLA!! MI AMOR TO HERMANO!!! I AM SOOOOOOO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! When I heard the news, I knew you would be soooo excited and I knew it was were you were supposed to be! It is soooo exciting!! I knew you were smart enough to learn a language!! hahaha You will tear it up!!! I’m definitely sad we only get a month together, but I guess someone there needs to be found by you fast!! You better get on that Spanish, buddy!! Hey and now we have somewhere warm to visit in up coming years!!!! woop woop! I do have some advise for you though!! Write down everything that has happened this summer and the way that you feel about it all!! Write down your testimony and your feeling about your mission call and everything and write it down in the beginning of your mission journal! Get on it fast! You will be super grateful for it later on! And study the lessons in PMG, just focus on Chapter 3 because they don’t teach that in the MTC anymore, but you need to know how to teach it! But don’t stress it too much! You are ready to go right now! (: Just figured that’d give ya a head start! haha Buddy, I am soooooooo proud of you and so excited for you!! You will love the temple! Is there one in your mission? Either way, go a lot and we will go a ton when I’m home! (: Oh, last words of advice, promise me now that you will NEVER become a Cowboys fan!!! hahahaha!

Well, this week was a good one! In big part because Payton’s going to Texas!!!! woop woop! haha But things here are going pretty well!! On Monday we had a great lesson with Gerald and we got his kids to join in! They are 9 and 12 and so good! They want to be baptized with there Dad!! The 12 year old is so great and the 9 year old is all over the place! But the lesson went great, but then they left town for the week so they get back tomorrow and it’s commandment time!! Hopefully all goes well! I love them sooo much!! I taught District Meeting here in Dryden and it went well and right now I am in Kenora for an exchange tonight and District Meeting tomorrow!! I don’t where the week goes!! It’s so ridiculous and frustrating how fast time goes! We found a new lady this week named Sandy and she is great! She and her kids have been listening to the lessons and she set a date. Her husband isn’t much for religion, but he is warming up to us and even sat in on a lesson this week! Get this.. she is already in Jacob! Crazy and she remembers so much of what she has read and she will call us to tell us about it. She made it to church and she would be completely golden if it wasn’t for the family dragging! Hopefully they will come along!! The dad is kinda messed up, but they are big into fishing! haha They have some huge fish pics! Neat stuff! Fishing is huge here!! If you don’t own a boat, you are a reject! We have had a bunch of people say, "I don’t like religion, but you guys wanna go fishin’? I’ll show you a good time!" haha It’s a double dagger to the heart, rubbing salt in the wound!!! The crazy part is we have pretty much knocked every door in the city. Of coarse not all of them have answered, but we have started going over areas again, and everyone knows us!! Almost every door they say "Oh, I saw you the other day, don’t you remember waving at me?" haha Small towns are great though!! I love it here!

So I had some funny stuff for you! I’ve started an Elder McDanel quote book! haha It’s hilarious! Here are a few: When anything bad happens he says, "It’ll buff out". When he proves me wrong, he says "Ha! read um and week!" haha I asked him what ‘week’ means and he says, “I donno, but it’s a phrase, ya know like when you win a card game!?” hahahaha I died laughing! He had to do math the other day for something and he was way off so I was giving him a hard time and he said, "I was always bad at math, but I’m great at English! I can talk to anybody." I said, “Oh, what about the class in high school though?” haha He said "Ya, my baseball coach was the teacher so he let me go hit balls and I got an A." hahaha Preston schooling at it’s finest! He is hilarious though and a great missionary and we have a blast together! He is big into hunting and I really want to do it now! It’s crazy here though because there are tons of deer here in the city!! The other day I was literally 10 feet from a 6 point buck a doe and a fawn, just eating off some guys apple tree! It’s super neat! Elder McDanel wanted to chase it down and brake its neck! He is a lot like Jordan Nelson. It’s so funny!

Things here are really going well though! I so badly hope that these people hit their dates! The last one I wanted to talk about is John Meyer! He is so great! He is an Electrician here at the mill and he is a crack up! He’s super nice and I love teaching him! He has a house to himself and a nice Jeep just like Payt’s, but black! We have already taught him the first 3 lessons and now we’re getting into the big commandments! We taught him the sabbath day this week and he was all stressed and he said, "What if because of work I have to miss church?" I was like, Oh man ): But then we asked him how much he worked on Sunday and he said, “One time every year or two, but when it happens, I have to work. What do I do?” I was like, oh ya! haha He is so good! We taught Law of Chastity, too and he is good to go! Tomorrow we are meeting him at the Vahovicks to teach the Word of Wisdom and have supper! Hopefully all goes well! Keep him in your prayers!! He is so good and he can help the branch a ton! He has already been there 2 weeks in a row and some crazy stuff has happened, like eternal mothers and all the temple stuff. And he’s still solid! He’s great! He told his parents about it and I was like well what’d they say? Hoping not anti! And he said, “Oh they didn’t talk much but I’m gonna invite them to the baptism, so I need to get the time of it!” haha HES SOO GOOD! Once we get Word of Wisdom and Tithing out there, he will be set! And then we can start using him and his Jeep to get other people out to church! woop woop! Hopefully all goes well! But missions are so wonderful!! Payton, I can’t even tell you how excited I am for you!! I don’t envy the heat you are gonna deal with! But everything else you will love sooo much!! The Church is so true! I love you all a ton!! Have a Fantastic week! Love Elder Smith!

Oh, PS So I haven’t got mail in forever, right? So I’m told I have three letters, so I’m pretty happy. I get them this week and it’s 3 wedding announcements! hahah Elder Lovelace is now married! Crazy! Elder Schulte, too! Elder Leonard got home and dropped his girlfriend that waited the full two years! haha Pretty funny stuff!! But I guess the only mail you get at this part of your mission is wedding announcements! hahah Funny stuff!! Love ya all a bunch! Love Elder Smith

REDNECK FISHING OFF A DOCK!

2011-08-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

So this was a pretty good but crazy week!! It started off in Fort Frances where we emailed and then we got to the border. The line was like a 2 hour wait and we were late for a meal appointment. We were with the two other elders and we decided to run across the border! hahah The second we started running it started down pouring rain like a waterfall! We sprinted through it and got to the border to give them our passports! They still let me into America!! Oh and turns out, passports are waterproof! Pretty neat! So we got picked up and went and ate and then later went back and got our car! It was P-day so we shopped there and it was wonderful!! We got everything like half the price that it is in Canada and the dollar is pretty much par! haha So we loaded up and spent hardly anything! It was sooo great. And the sprint in the rain over the border was pretty memorable! We had some great appointments that night and a good exchange! One with an amazing recent convert and his brother! It was really good and I enjoyed International Falls. I taught the district meeting that morning and it went well! because it was in International Falls, the senior couple that is down there came. Their name is Cutler. They are from Shelley and they said that they knew Grandpa Smith from the site! Elder Cutler had nothing but good things to say about Grandpa, of course! It was neat!

So we got home Tuesday night and ate at the Vahovicks with Gerald and his 2 daughters and then we had a great lesson with them!! I love them a ton! Hopefully things work out there. But it was a great night! The Vahovicks are wonderful and I think they will let you stay at there place when you come up! That night we taught Desmond and it went ok! Then we found this great man named John! He is an electrician here at the miss and so he knew almost everyone in the branch! He came to church and I think he enjoyed it! We are inviting him to be baptized this week, so hopefully all goes well! He seems super prepared! We also had a great family of four come to the branch!! It was really great!! So we had 15 branch members, 2 missionaries, and 5 non-members that the missionaries brought. I had to lead again and I was way frazzled because we had a bunch of investigators bail, last minute and some of our investigators rolled in late. It was interesting, but good! I love the branch though!

The dentist went well and hopefully I’m all fixed up! Sorry I haven’t sent those letters yet! They are done, but I totally spaced sending them! The fax number was handy for the dentist though! hahah

So as far as our investigators go, John is new and great, Joe is shady, Maria and Stephen came to church with there kids, but I don’t think they were fans, Desmond is getting a little flakey, but still pretty good, Jeff and Alisha are pretty new, but they set baptismal dates and committed to church next week! We have some others, but time will tell if there gonna progress! John and Gerald seem to be progressing the most, but Gerald has a lot to still overcome. Gerald is doing good but bailed on church! His jaw is all messed up and I guess he hasn’t been sleeping! But he said he’d take us fishing today so we went in and bought licenses. Mine was only like 12 bucks, but because Elder McDanel doesn’t have a Canadian drivers license he had to drop like 40 something! I felt way bad, so I bought the rest of the stuff. Gerald called and bailed on fishing though but he gave us rods and we went down to the docs! I have never felt so redneck! I told Elder McDanel as I walked up the dock that if my Dad saw me, he would be slightly ashamed! hahaha But by golly we went fishing! The saddest part is that Elder McDanel got skunked, and I caught one 20-something inch Walleye. It was a nice fish, but we were both discouraged. It would be one thing if we were inexperienced fisherman! haha But we both claim to be pros! Elder McDanel was actually a guide in Alaska for four months! Crazy, right? He said if we wanna go, he can show us some deep sea fishing!! He’s hilarious, but he was not happy about dropping 4o something bucks and then getting skunked! haha I’m not a fan of lake fishing, especially off the dock! Walleye are kinda neat fish though!

But it was a good week and now we’re gonna go rush to get everything done! Funny story for you! There are tons of deer in the city! Like we are tracting and they will be like 10 feet from us, so it’s pretty neat! But people hook up sprinklers with sensors to scare em away! So the other night at around 8:30 we were tracting and all the sudden I got blindsided and coated across the face by a sprinkler! It scared me to death, but we couldn’t stop laughing! The people felt really bad, but wouldn’t let us teach em! But it was a great week! Every day is just so full of ups and downs! We have some good people that I feel so good about! I really hope things work out!

Oh and April passed her interview this week! I set a baptismal date with her the week I left Wildwood and I guess she stuck with it and gets baptized Saturday! Neat stuff! But things are great! I love you all a bunch and hope you have a wonderful week! Mom I sent Elder Wood’s mom’s email to you earlier! Hopefully you got it! Of the 8 in our group only you guys and Elder Wood’s parents are coming! Call em up!! Payton I am so excited for you and I think you are going to the 1- Philippines or 2- Africa! But as far as stateside definitely California Spanish speaking! haha I love you buddy and I know that even if you do go to Butte, you will love every minute of it and see lots of success and you will know that it is were you are supposed to be! Love you all!

Love Elder Smith

GERALD SET A BAPTISMAL DATE

2011-08-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Hey family!!

Thanks a ton for the emails this week!! You guys are the best!! Dad, I love your thoughts that you give! They really are the best!! You are a champ!! Payton, I am sooo proud of you, and so excited to hear about your call! President Vahovick's # is 807-937-5502. He and Sister Vahovick are wonderful! Get in tight with them because I think they will let you guys stay at there place when you come up! haha It is a beautiful ranch and he has horses and toys and 120 acres! Dad, we can come back up and hunt on his property! It is sooo beautiful! If you can’t get through to him you can call the Heslers. They are crazy, but great! There # is 807-223-5161. Try the Vahovicks first! haha They are great!

I loved the cabin pics! It looks like Marissa is in a lot of the pictures i get..... (: hahahaa Looks like fun stuff! Mom I will go to the dentist this week. Sorry I just keep putting it off! I hate spending so much money on dumb stuff! You’re the best Mom(:

So Dad, I am sooo glad your home! haha For some reason I was worried about your trip all week! I’m glad it wen well and you had a lot of fun! You would love to ride through Ontario! It is really pretty here!! So get this!! I’m going to America today!! i am in fort frances right now to email and just about to cross the border for the first time in 20-something months! haha I have to do district meeting here in International Falls! It’s the only area in the mission that is in the states, so I will teach it there and Kenora will listen over the phone. So we are doing P-day here and an exchange tonight and the meeting tomorrow! The drive here this morning was beautiful!! This part of Canada is sooooooo pretty! There are so many trees and lakes and wildlife! it is neat stuff!

So this week was a pretty good one! Training a new missionary is so funny! hahah It is a blast though! Elder McDanel is as hick as it gets! hahah He cracks me up! But this week we had lots of good, funny, sad, terrible, stuff happen. Missions are such a crazy roller coaster! At the beginning of the week we listened to a zone meeting over the phone, and it was terrible! We didn’t hear much, but we saved 8 hours of driving, so it was worth it! Elder Leonard called and said hello. He called the assistants and got our #. He dropped his girlfriend and is doing great in school. He’s a great kid. His dad is still a mission president and he said it was fun because he went and helped with the training!

We went street contacting this week and all kinds of funny stuff happened but we found some good people! There were two pretty college girls and I told Elder McDanel to do the talking. haha He walked up and stuttered like crazy and got out just a couple words! It was soooo funny! haha Then we tried to talk to this big guy that was walking slow. He walked past and without looking back, put his hand up and flipped us off and just kept it there forever, while he walked away. Of course Elder McDanel just couldn’t stop laughing. Then we talked to this couple and called them later in the day and the guy had turned the girl in for something and so she was in jail! And she was the more interested one. Then we ran into two drunk, pure Canadians sitting in their lawn chairs! The Canadians from the movies are for real! haha These guys were spitting images! Every other word was eh or hoser. Well, that’s the crazy, funny stuff. This week was really good!

We have been working super hard and we found a lot of good new people. Tara and Trent dropped us though. That was super depressing! We were so excited about them! But Joe is doing okay. He bailed on church this week and so we will have to see what happens! Gerald, a man that came to church the first week with his daughter, is amazing!! He is soooo good and he really desires to make changes in his life! We taught him the third lesson this week, The Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to baptism again. He brought out the concern that he wasn’t ready and he didn’t feel like he knew enough. He then told us that he’s praying but he doesn’t really need to because he really wants these things to be true! haha We also found out that his family has been anti-ing him. The Spirit was super strong when we taught him and we invited him to a date. He sat in silence for a bit and then said, “Yes, lets do it!” He is so great and we are eating supper with him and his girl at President Vahovick’s tomorrow night! It should be great! He has a lot of addictions to overcome, but he knows he wants to and needs to and so hopefully we can help him do it! The date is September 10th! Hopefully all goes well! So Friday night we were on a high! We had found some great people and Gerald had set a date, and it was all great! We were expecting a ton of people at church and every member that was in the branch was planning on taking people. And then Sunday night and Saturday, everything fell apart! Gerald was up all night sick. Voltan called us at 5 in the morning and woke us up to bail for him and his family so I couldn’t get back to sleep. Joe’s phone wasn’t working and he didn’t show and Desmond had told his family and they told him we weren’t Christians and went off. Everyone else didn’t show. I talked to Desmond in the morning and helped resolve some of his concerns and him and his 3 kids were the only ones that came! I had to lead music and it was a bunch of songs I’d never heard before! I was so confused I couldn’t even spell my name in the air! It was a rough day! We don’t have a teacher for the second hour and so I taught it again without preparing. It went pretty okay though. It was crazy. All of our appointments fell through and so we tracted the rest of the day. Desmond had a great time though and so that was sooo good because he was going to drop us and then he came to church and had a good time!

The branch is so small and they just lost their biggest family this week!! But man, are they good fellow-shippers! There is such a good spirit in this branch!! Things are going great though! I feel such a horrible time crunch though! We HAVE to find some more solid members for them before I leave! Thank you so much for your fasting and prayers!! You are all wonderful! Payton, I am so excited for you and I can’t wait to hear the news!! I love all of you so much! I have the best family ever! Mom, I was wondering if you could do me a favor! Please tell Belatu and Edilyn I say hello! Thanks a ton! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

PRAY FOR THE DRYDEN BRANCH

2011-08-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

It sounds like you guys had a great week! Mom don’t stress the blood tests or water! I will be in for the next blood test in like 15 days and I pack water everywhere. That would be great if Aunt Jen could get me that job! I gotta stay busy! And anyway, Payt and I will have plenty of time I’m sure! I will do those application essays this week! Thanks for doing all of that for me! You are wonderful! I loved the pictures! Payt, Alex and Colter, nice flexing! I’m impressed! haha As far as the other picture, Alex... cheer up buddy! haha Payt you’re a thug! Kaylee, you are way too old and pretty to be my little cousin! haha Creepy!!! I’m sure Uncle Doug and Aunt Jen have there hands full! It’s a good thing Uncle Doug is ripped! haha Thanks so much for the emails, pics, and updates though! It’s great!! Dad be careful on your Harley trip!! Payt, I’m soo excited for your papers being in!! I’m going to send a members # next week, so right when you get your call you can call them and they can tell me!! That’s so exciting though!!

But this week was a little frustrating, but still good!! I had to go to Winnipeg for a specialized training meeting and so we left Tuesday and didn’t get home till late Thursday night. So again, we didn’t get a full week! Tara and Trent were doing so good, but when we got home their mom had given them anti! So they dropped their date, but we are still working with them. It was sad! People get opposition so fast when they start progressing! So that was kind of disappointing. Then yesterday I had to go and talk to a man that asked to have is records removed. He had already filled out everything he needed to, but President still wanted me to go by and make sure. He was a nice guy but it was an interesting experience! SAD STUFF! We taught Joe a lot this week though and he is still working toward his date, but he had to work this Sunday which was frustrating!! Hopefully it won’t be a regular thing! He is a good kid and we had supper with him over at the Hiscocks. Brother Hiscock is one of the three priesthood holders and he is great! His wife and family are wonderful and great missionaries, but they move this week after being here for like 30 years! More sad stuff! They are like half the branch!! We soooo badly need to find and baptize some priesthood holders and families!! The branch members are amazing though! They all have a ton of callings. Oh funny story for ya! haha So this week we had no chorister, so guess who filled in...... (: And Dad said I had no musical talent! haha Take that Dad! And I didn’t even spell my name or nothing! I kinda did it right! Well at least the leading part haha The hard part is that we have no pianist. I really wish I would have stuck with that!! So we have a CD player! What a pain! Finding the right song was a big struggle because there are like 8 different CDs. Funny stuff! But Saturday night before church we were so sad because everyone had bailed for church! Sooo frustrating! But we were out finding and we found this lady and her kids that wanted to come! We didn’t even teach her, but she came to church, so that was great! Things are going well though. We have 7 appointments for today with some good people, so hopefully all goes well there!! It is so hot here! It’s unreal that it can go from -40 C to +40 C in the course of a couple months! haha But when you guys come up, you will love it here! It is so beautiful!! My comp is great! He’s a good ‘ol Preston boy and I now know what an Idaho drawl is! haha Things are going so well here though!! I really hope we can get this branch rollin! Keep them in your prayers!! I love you all so much!! Be safe and smart and have a great week!

Oh one more thing.. I think I had better go to the dentist! It doesn’t hurt much but it has me worried, so i think I’m gonna get in on P-day!! Sorry let me know what the insurance deal is or whatever. I just don’t wanna have to pay for a root canal for waiting too long haha. Love you all! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

ROCK STARS IN DRYDEN

2011-07-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

It looks like you guys all had a blast this week!! Fun stuff!! Man Greyden must be fast ehh?! That’s crazy! haha Dad, just by seeing that picture, I saw you limping for the next week! haha It gave me a great chuckle! Props for being the only adult to race! That’s super respectable!! Man, I miss you! (: Oh, tell Adrienne, she’s definitely my favorite cousin!! Tell the other cousins they are tied for last!

So this week was hilarious, long, crazy, wonderful and miraculous!! First off, before I left Saskatoon, some members had us over for supper. Now when these members pray before supper they put both hands on the table with the back of their hand against the table and they hold hands with one of their hands. It’s kind of unique, but whatever. Just so you have the background, they are great people but the husband is a super manly man! So when they do this about to pray, for some reason Elder Duncan reached up and grabbed the guy’s hand that is laying on the table! hahaha I folded my arms and tried soooooo hard not to loose it laughing! Oh man it was so funny! After when I made fun of Elder Duncan, he was like, “Man I thought they were doing one of those ‘circle hold hands prayers’ and once I committed it was to late to back out!” hahah Man it was so funny!!

But I had a good finish there and we got to teach a lot before I left. Mom, hopefully the whole Acutane thing is ok. Sorry it cost a ton!! Bishop knew I was leaving, so he hooked me up with 2 months worth. He’s a great man!! But the drugs are good and working and all is well!

So we made the forever drive to Winnipeg. winnipeg was a lot of fun! We slept in the office with the assistants the greenies and the missionaries that were going home! We played football for our workout in the morning and it was fun! I got the greenie I wanted! haha He fishes, hunts, and played all sports in high school and he is ready to work! He is from Preston, Idaho and his name is Elder McDanel. Which is super hard for me to remember and pronounce! haha So President filled me in on the branch; they have about 16 people out to church every week and only 3 priesthood holders. I think all of which are converts, and the one that was their branch president moves this month, so they will just have 2 priesthood holders! Crazy!! So we loaded up the pickup with beds and foldy chairs and some pans and stuff and our luggage and took off Thursday afternoon for Dryden! President had already put everything else in the apartment that we needed and so 4 hours later we got there and ran everything up. We got everything in and the ac set up (because it was so hot and on the third floor!) In about 30 mins. President was nervous about it all, haha so he kept calling us to check up! Right when we were about to leave, the new branch president (President Vahovic) knocked on our door! He had us follow him to the church where the branch had a ton of food for us! President Vahovic is so great and so excited to have us! He then told us that the branch was throwing a party for us and having a BBQ on Friday. We asked if we could invite investigators and he was all game so we went out and tracted the rest of the night! We invited everyone because I knew if we got people there, they would be so excited about it! We got a man named Joe and a couple and their two kids out to it and the branch was trippen out!! The party was a blast and a huge success! haha They were amazed!! We worked so hard on Friday and Saturday and we were soooooo blessed! We found a ton of new investigators! It was a week full of miracles! The couple (Tara and Trent) ended up setting baptismal dates and Trent had to work, but Tara came to church with her son. We taught Joe before church and he set a date and came to church! And a man named Gerald came to church with his daughter!! The branch didn’t know what to do! hahahaha They were running around like chickens with there heads cut off!! They tried to change their talks for the investigators. The talks were on the temple! hahahha I was pretty laid back and stress free, but the branch president was soooooo stressed! He kept shooting me apologetic stressed out glances. His face was all red and he kept running his hand through his hair. He came up after sacrament meeting and apologized to me about the talks. I could tell he was stressed so I was like, well let me teach the plan of salvation the second hour and I’ll tie everything in! He looked so relieved! haha So all the investigators came in with us and the president and we had a wonderful lesson! It was perfect!! Tara loved it!!! Joe did too!! It was sooo wonderful!! It was just such a great week!! They have an average attendance of 16, and on Sunday there were 26 people there! It was such a miracle week!!!!! In a ward you feel loved but a lot less needed. In a branch we are like ROCK STARS!! haha Like it is the best!! The members are all so stalwart and so grateful!! This area is like untouched ground!! People are so nice and a lot haven’t heard much about the church!! It is so wonderful!!! Missions are the best!! I love you all a ton! Thanks so much for all that you do!! Have a great week!! Love Elder Smith!!!

TRANSFERS THIS WEEK - I'M OPENING A NEW AREA IN ONTARIO

2011-07-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Fam!

It sounds like your week was absolutely crazy!! That is such sad news about the Newtons! Hopefully all will go well for their family! They have such a great family! You have all been so great to them! Thanks for keeping me updated and send them my love! Dad, it sounds like the talk was very hard for you, but it sounds like you did a wonderful job! Mom and Dad, I am sooo grateful for you and the wonderful people that you are! You never cease to amaze me!! I just can’t tell you how grateful I am for the lives that you live!! It sounds like you are putting out more pizzas than Papa Toms!! I don’t know how you both do all that you do!!

Payton, I loved your email too! haha That sounds like a great date idea! I have the best family ever! It was good to hear from Preston! He is a great kid! I’m excited to see him! It sounded like he was hinting at the fact that I shouldn’t be emailing friends! haha You can tell him that he is free to email and I’d love to hear from him more. Because we have lots of converts in our mission, who don’t really have family to write, President allows us to email friends and family! And family friends like the Rammells, for sure!

Mom, thank you so much for getting all the University stuff figured out! How long do those essays need to be and when do they have to be done? Also was there anything I needed to do for Utah State or ISU? Let me know and I’ll get on it! Thanks soooo much for all that you do! As far as the meds go, I am doing great and it’s working better and faster than last time, so all is good!

Ok now for the news......We got transfer calls and get this!! I am a District Leader, a trainer, and I am opening a new area that hasn’t had missionaries in 15 years!! Oh, and get this!! It’s in Ontario!! haha It’s called Dryden!! I will go from being a Manitoba missionary for a year and a half to a tri-province missionary! I’m super excited, but dreading the long journey I will have for the next couple days!! haha I guess they weren’t gonna put missionaries back there but President Paulson went out there and they begged to have missionaries. President said they would get them if they found an apartment for them. President got a call 3 days later that they had found an apartment and were ready for missionaries! hahah President also opened Kanora and Elder O’Driscoll will be there to finish his mission! There used to be just one area in Ontario and it is staying open so we have an Ontario District!! It will be soooo neat, and I’m sure soooo stressful! haha I’m way excited! It’s just gonna be way weird to train and have an area that is starting from scratch! It’s gonna be crazy!!! I am way excited about it all, but sad to be leaving Wildwood! They are such an amazing ward! I am frustrated that we didn’t see more success while I was here, but I think good things will happen soon with the people here! It was so hard to say goodbye to Mauricio and Angelica! They are so great!! I don’t know if we will get to go and see them, but he committed to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of my mission! If we don’t go see him I want to come up after with Elder Woods! haha I guess we will see what happens. It’s hard to leave an area that I don’t feel like I saw the success that I would have liked to see, but I learned a ton and I met some wonderful people! I’m very excited to see what’s to come in Dryden!

So this is way off topic, but I have a ridiculous story that probably out does all of my other ridiculous mission stories!! So first off it was my idea to start buzzing apartments to try and talk to more people. We have seen lots of success with it, but Elder Duncan wasn’t a fan. So he asked President about it and President said "Well is it successful?" Elder Duncan said, “Well ya.” haha And President said "well then keep doing it!" So the argument was over and the assistants and others started doing it. So there’s the background, pretty much Elder Duncan isn’t a fan! So we were doing it one day and usually we talked to people through the buzzer and then they let us in. But a lot of times people just buzz you in without talking, so you go talk to them at their door. This often times causes awkward interesting things to happen. I have got some great stories!! But we have gotten to teach a lot because of it and it has been great. But this week we were doing it and we got buzzed in without anyone talking. So we walked up and knocked on the door and a lady yells "come in!" We sit there hoping she will come to the door, but she doesn’t, she just yells louder "come in!" We wait longer and the third time she yells, "doors unlocked, come in!" So Elder Duncan has his nervous face on! haha I grabbed the handle, open the door and take three steps in. On my right side, there is a lady in plain sight, sitting on the toilet, using the bathroom! I dive into the hall, I’m fumbling words she is fumbling words! haha She asks who we were, we tell her from the hall, where we can’t see her, hahah and she says, "Oh, you’re looking for Chris... he’s in room # 14." haha Now, I don’t remember if his name was really Chris, but I do know he was in room #14. At that point though Elder Duncan would NOT let me go talk to the guy in room #14! We were done working that apartment for the day. It was rIdiculous and kind of hilarious.......later!! Luckily she wasn’t mad at all and I think she just felt dumb. We were curious about how she buzzed the buzzer though! haha I guess we will never know.

But it really was a good week! We found some good new people, we taught a fair amount and we had people out to church! It was good! We got to have a great lesson with Mauricio on Saturday! It was so great and I felt that he is so close, but he is a very smart man and when he does get baptized, it will be for all the right reasons and he will be super solid!

Last night had a sour end, though. Christina called us, she is the one that fed us and has now been taught all of the lessons. We were so excited for her! She loved church and we thought she was so close, but she told us she had a letter for us! So we went over on our way in and she was waiting out front for us, because she knows our fellowship rule. She thanked us and said she didn’t want to waste anymore of our time and she said all of her thoughts she had put in the letter. It was super sad and then we read the letter! aaaahhh! It was terrible!! It was 3 full pages of anti!! She wrote all the reasons she couldn’t join our church!! It was harsh and sad because it was a lot of messed up anti, a lot of which was half or full on lies. I wish we could have taught her after she found it, but by the sounds of her letter, we won’t get to teach her. She was very grateful for all that we had done though. That’s what was so weird is I thought that we and other members had a pretty good relationship with her but obviously not that good! She is a great lady though, it makes me super sad! We thought that she was golden!! Thus is a mission, I guess! haha Lots and lots of ups and downs! Missions are the best though!!! I’m sad to be leaving, but super excited about all the craziness to come! I teach district meeting tomorrow and then we will hopefully teach a bit and then we will leave at 6 PM. We will stay the night in Regina and then leave the next morning to be in Winnipeg by supper. We will work in Winnipeg and then the next morning have the training meeting with the new greenie. Then load up all the furniture and dishes and whatever else you need for an apartment and all our luggage and take off for Dryden. After that, I have no idea what’s gonna happen. Hopefully someone has a directory for me and a map. I’m just glad I’m not the greenie! I thought we didn’t teach enough when I came into an area that was doing pretty good, hopefully we can find some great people fast!

But I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do!! Have a wonderful week!! Love Elder Smith!

PS I typed fast this week, so if it doesn’t make sense, just ask me about it next week! Love you! Have a great week! Oh and tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks a ton for the letter they sent! The mailing system finally started running again and I got it! Tell the grandparents and Jay I love em all!

LEARNING TO LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT

2011-07-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

So first off, thank you so much for the great emails and pictures! You guys are the best! I got some news today in one of my emails. Nielle Jensen is going to the Tampa Florida Mission, Spanish speaking! How crazy is that! You will have to get Papa in touch with her! It sounds like you guys had a great 4th of July! I sure do love that holiday!! Ours was pretty good! We cut our P-day short and went and helped the bishop build a play set for his kids! It was great because the play set was a beast and he was grateful for our help! It was a lot of fun too!! It was really good though because the bishop is always sooo busy, so it was great to get to know him better! He is a great guy!!

So Mom, I had an odd question for you!? I was wondering if you could try and get me into like a Paramedic course or the course to learn how to draw blood or something like that, so I can get right into something when I get home! The idea of getting home and having no plans for a couple months is making me nervous! I was just wondering if there are any kinds of courses like that, that I could jump into in the college in the city or at ISU. Thank you! You’re the best!! Also about the cavity? Would it be ok to wait? haha I get nervous about dentists here! hahaha Let me know what you think is best. I couldn’t get your true opinion from your email? So turns out I still haven't learned how to make big decisions without my mother’s approval! haha

Thank you for the update on the Newtons. I just wanted to write about a quick story. . . . Brother Newton was always so kind to me and he always went out of his way at church and activities to come and talk to me. After talking to him I always felt so good! He’s very good at building people up! But most of our conversations were about fly fishing!! We talked a lot about going out together at some point! Eventually Aaron, Dad and I finally found a day that worked and we went fishing! I don’t remember too much detail about the trip other than we had a rough day and didn't catch many fish! We forgot stuff and ran into all sorts of problems. Aaron was the only one that hooked into anything decent the whole day. He hooked a big trout and got it all the way to the boat. Dad told me to whip out the camera for a picture. I fumbled it and the fish flipped and we never got a picture and the fish was gone!! Dad and I weren’t too happy! haha But Aaron continued to fish with a big smile! Even though the day was garbage and everything that could go wrong, did! Aaron stayed happy and loved every minute of the trip! He was so good to be around because it didn’t matter what happened or went wrong, he kept a good attitude about it! Even though it was a garbage day, it was made a lot better by his optimistic attitude! Well, hopefully all goes well with there family!! Please tell him that I am so grateful for his friendship! Tell them that they are in my prayers!!

Well as far as this week goes it was pretty good!! I have tracted more in this area than in any other area! Well, I guess Selkirk is a close second! haha But we are really struggling to consistently teach people! Because of all the tracting, we are finding a lot of new people!! We have found so many great people, but we find them and get super excited about them and then they fall off the deep end!! We are working soooooo hard!! I definitely am doing everything I can to not get discouraged, but I am definitely a little frustrated! haha I have learned a lot from the frustrating things. But I am definitely ready for some blessings!! hahah This ward is just sooooooo amazing!! I can’t figure out why we aren’t seeing more success!! We have been getting people out to church every week and they get fellow shipped like crazy and then they don’t show the next week! It’s ridiculous!! This week we had everyone bail on church!! We had found a great new family and a new Spanish guy that had said the would come too and everyone bailed!! It’s frustrating cus there is so much potential, but people are so busy it’s super hard to meet with them consistently! We had such a great lesson with Mauricio this week about prayer and the sacrament! The Spirit is always there when we teach, but then after that they slept through church! hahaha aaaaahhh, come on!! He makes it out to church a lot and then when we teach the Sabbath Day and he bails! Maybe we should teach why he shouldn’t get baptized this week and see if then he will pull the trigger! He is such a great man and I love him to death, but man he’s taken his sweet time!! He will be such an amazing member once he does it!!

Our Spanish couple is good, but they are really touch and go! We found this amazing family that we are supposed to teach this week! they are pure Canadian and pretty well to do! Their dentist is a member and sparked an interest with them and when we tracted into them they said we could come back this week! Hopefully all goes well!! The Hiddodi family keeps pushing us off, Courtney too! We found a great Chinese family yesterday though!! They are so humble, kind, and smart!! I’m pretty sure China will take over the world! They have a lot going for them! haha

But things are good and I’m doing great!! I love being a missionary sooo much!! This area has taught me a lot, but one big thing it’s made me want to work on is recognizing and listening to the Spirit! I have taught so many people where they know they have felt something, but they second guess it and don’t listen to it and they miss out on so many blessings! I have also seen it with me! It’s so easy to question things or not act on a prompting! And when we don’t, I know we miss out! I’m so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and I wish I was better at recognizing it more! I feel it a lot, but all too often I fail to recognize it!! I’m so grateful for the gospel! I’m so grateful for my wonderful family and all their support! I love you all a bunch!! Have a great week and keep me posted!

Love Elder Smith!!!

HAPPY CANADA DAY! I've finally mastered "OH CANADA"

2011-07-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Fam!

Preston is home?!? That’s crazy!! You guys need to give me more details on what he is like!? haha Was English hard for him? What was his talk like? What’s he like!? Have him write me and say hello! Oh and I saw Brennan in the picture! What’s his story? Did he go on a mish or is he getting married or what? Fill me in!

Alex, I’m so excited for you with this whole Chukars team thing!! That’s so great! You are an all star! Payt I liked hearing about the firework war! haha I’m glad we saved that yellow sweatshirt! We need to hang it up or something!!! Mom and Dad, thanks so much for the help with the meds! I hope it isn’t too costly!! Don't stress how I’m handling it though!! I’m doing great! I’m drinking lots and sunscreen-en’ up!! It should be all good!! I do have another item of concern though! haha Well, I haven’t been to the dentist in a long time and I had a tooth with a small black indent. haha Nothing serious, but just one of my back teeth. It is just kind of sensitive every once in awhile. It really doesn’t bug me at all but I just don’t wanna loose a tooth! haha I am fine, but I wanna see if you can get me signed up for an appointment right when I get back. And I wanted to make sure it was ok to wait till then? It isn’t big at all, just like the size of a pin tip, but I’m pretty sure it’s a cavity. Let me know if it’s ok for me to just wait. AND DON’T STRESS IT! (: haha

Things here are going great though!! I just got news today that Elder Lovelace (Patrick) is engaged!! Creepy, right!?! haha We we all saw it coming. His girlfriend waited for him! Crazy stuff! He’s been home like 4 weeks, tops hahah RM’s are getting married right and left! I think I’d like to extend! Creepy stuff! Things here are going well though!! Brother Kahn (the new, half muslim man) is really good and we have had some great lessons with him! We did exchanges to PA again this week and things didn’t go great, but definitely better than last time! haha We taught Carlos and Danidsa and they are super good! They are the couple from Mexico and they are a little flakey sometimes but super good! Mauricio and the Hiddodi family bailed again this week! We haven’t taught them forever!! We have an appointment with Mauricio for this week though so hopefully it goes through! Canada Day was good! I now know have “Oh Canada” mastered! haha We had a breakfast with the ward and it was great! We had investigators come and it was a really good time! Tracting was slow but the for supper, members fed us good!! It was a good day, but man do I miss the 4th of July! hahah It is such a great holiday!! I hope you guys all have a great day!!

The week was good, but kind of slow! We had some good people that were committed to coming to church, but then only one person showed! Her name is Christina and she has been flakey the last couple weeks! But then she came to church and it was wonderful!! She is the amazing artist and she is so good!! Testimony meeting was wonderful and perfect for her! Like 4 or 5 converts bore there testimonies on their conversion stories! It was so good and she had some great questions! After the first convert spoke she leaned over and said, "So does it usually take only 3 weeks after people start meeting with you before they get baptized?” haha Inside I was thinking "Yes! Actually you should already be baptized!” She is super good and in 2nd Nephi! She’s been reading everyday! She loved church and I was worried about our gospel principles class because there are some crazy people in it! haha One of the less actives was there and he asked an iffy question about the Holy Ghost! I was about to dive in for the save, haha but before I could, Christina started talking AND RESOLVED HIS CONCERN!! haha crazy! When we found her she said she was an Atheist and now she is resolving concerns about the Holy Ghost! She said she would be at church a couple weeks ago and she bailed, so this was her first time there and the members smothered her! It was so good!! I think she really enjoyed it! Then a member invited her and us over for supper! It was so great! I really hope she sets a date this week! She will be a powerhouse member!! Hopefully all goes well! Since she figured out everyone feeds us, she is feeding us this Tuesday before our lesson!! It’s so great!! I’m gonna try and get her to email you guys so you can get to know her and do what you do! Things always go better when my investigators email my Mom! haha I’m way excited about her and I think great things are going to happen! Things have been so slow and I feel like if she sets a date that a lot of other things will catch on fire and things will start moving with our other investigators! It seems like success breeds more success!! But things here are great!! I love and miss you all a ton and I’m so grateful that things are going well! Keep me posted and have a great week!! Love Elder Smith

FINDING WHILE BUZZING!

2011-06-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

ALEX YOU ARE MY HERO!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH CHEEAAAA BOOOIIIII!!!! BUDDY GRAND SLAM!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!??!! HAHA man buddy you are sooo great!! I am sooo proud of you!! Keep up the great work!! That is sooo exciting! Payton, I can't believe you are an Elder! That’s crazy! You will love Elders Quorum! haha I’m so proud of you but I can't believe you are so old!! It’s crazy!!! Mom, I just got off the phone with Sister Poulton and she said you were on the other line! haha Weird! Thanks so much for doing that! Bishop Ledding finally got things figured out for me. He is such a great man! He is a convert and now a bishop and a doctor. He was planning on being a Catholic Priest and he has an amazing conversion story, but he has had funerals and weddings and all kinds of stuff and he finally got the prescription for me! I feel bad bugging him with it, but it should all fall into place! Hopefully our insurance covers it. Sister Poulton told me you just want me to do it, so we will see what happens. Oh the mail system here is on strike and has been for like 2 weeks. So if anybody sent mail, sorry I haven’t said anything about it. And if nobody sent mail... don’t think I’m trying to make you feel guilty hahaha just given ya the heads up! Only in Canada! hahah Dad, as far as next week goes I really don't know if we will be emailing or not. I don’t think there is a holiday, but in Canada the odds of it being a holiday are better than it not, haha so we will see!

Preston is coming home!?! How crazy is that!! Tell him to fill me in when he’s home! Also, when does Landon get home? It’s soon isn’t it? Let me know! (:

Well this week was good! We had Zone Conference and it was a well needed boost!! It was so good to see Elder Woods!! We got to catch up and I got an update on all the Winnipeg stuff! Edilyn sent me these super neat Filipino pillow cases with my name on them! They are so neat and lime green! She is so great! It sounds like everybody for the most part is doing well!! Elder Woods isn’t going to Utah State ): But hopefully he will end up somewhere in Utah in the next year or so! We will see. Zone Conference was great but super weird! Everyone that I looked up to has gone home or is about to go home! haha It’s so crazy!! This week was good! We had people out to church and found a couple great new families! All of our progressing investigators cancelled all of their appointments this week though! aaaahhh! So lame! But it was still a good week!! I really have loved it!! I know I have said this a lot before, haha but this area has been more humbling than any other area!! It’s so easy to get cocky and confident but this is definitely the Lord’s work and the Lord’s timing. I have learned a ton! And I feel like the area is so close to breaking out and seeing some success!! It just requires so much patience! Everyone we are teaching could be such a great kingdom builder! Mauricio is soooo golden!! I just wish he would get answers already! haha He will get baptized...... eventually! The Hiddodi family is so good to but so busy! And Courtney is golden but too busy too!! We are finding people every week, but we just keep going through them and then the fall off the wagon!! It scares me so much how fast time is passing!! It’s been a year this weekend since Karl was baptized!! That’s sooo crazy! I am so grateful for the wonderful experiences I get to have everyday! I’m so grateful for my amazing family! I am so blessed! Sorry my email has been all over the place today! haha

I’m short on time, but I guess I’ll end with a funny story! So in Canada there are lots of apartment buildings... and my whole mission I have been so frustrated that it’s so hard to get to teach these people! So last week in the rain we got the great idea to find, while buzzing! haha And it has been great! haha Like we have found ton of great people, buzzing apartments and then talking to people! But the other day we got let in to the 3rd floor so we sprinted up and they said no, so we went back down and buzzed a different one and got buzzed again to the 3rd floor, haha and rejected again!! This happened 3 times in a row and it was a hot day! haha We were struggling for air and trying to stop laughing!! It’s funny because finding definitely gets old, but man I just love being a missionary! It can be so hard some days, but I’m so happy all the time!! Life is just so great! Even though it’s been harder to see success, I am sooo grateful to be a missionary! I am so grateful for the gospel!! I love sharing it with people!! Missions are the best and if I could, I would definitely want to be in Payt’s spot right now!! haha Life is so much better with a lot of mission ahead of you!! haha But I love you all sooo much!! I am so grateful for all that you do!! Have a wonderful week!!

Love Elder Smith!!!

AGENCY THIEVES, CROSS DRESSERS, AND RAIN!

2011-06-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

It’s always so great to hear from you and get such good updates and pictures! (: A-ROD!!!!!!!! BUDDY YOU SOUND LIKE AN ALL STAR! Buddy, I am so proud of you and the hard work that you have put into become such an all star athlete!! Keep practicing and working hard!! You are such a champ!! I love and miss you a ton! Keep working hard and keep me posted! I love your updates and emails!!

It sounds like the talks went well and everything is going great! It makes me so happy! Things here are also going good! this week was definitely rougher than most! Jelena dropped us because her mom is an AGENCY THEIF, so that was hard. Marcio and the Hiddodi family both had to cancel their appointments because they were so busy. We tracted into a ton of crazy people! We showed up to one appointment thinking we were going to teach an investigator that turned out to be 2 gay Mormons, one of which went on a mission to Brazil, the other was a convert. It was a super sad experience and it caught us way off guard! It’s a crazy story, I will have to tell you someday! It messed me up, but strengthened my testimony for sure. We found out a member of the ward is a liar and she lies about everything! So she was telling us all kinds of crazy stuff! haha Also another crazy, funny story I will have to tell you someday!! And it rained all week and all of our appointments fell through! aahh! So we broke our record of most tracting time ever!! haha It was hilarious because one of the days it just drilled us! haha I honestly felt like I had jumped into a pool! It was way frustrating because people just thought we were stupid and so they wouldn’t listen to us! haha I couldn’t NOT laugh when I looked at our reflection in people’s windows. We looked ridiculous! It was terrible!! But sooooo funny! hahaha We worked so hard and honestly saw like no success!! Well other than this cross-dresser we found that was a YSA turnover, but we didn’t know whether to turn IT over to the sisters or elders? hahaha It was just a crazy week!! I tell you this not trying to whine, or make you nervous, but to set the stage for the weekend! haha So Friday night was when the rain just killed us and we looked like we had jumped into a pool! So all of the streets were pretty flooded, just like in the low spots so there was like more than a foot of water in some places and people were out in tubes floating in it! haha Pretty funny stuff! But we tract all day in it with breaks for meals to try and warm up and get dry. So we are pretty down about it all, but we had one appointment at 8 at night after all day in the rain. We are soaking and honestly too wet to even go in to anyone’s house, so we planned on just rescheduling with these people, if they were even there! But we got there and they were this wonderful Spanish family from Mexico!! They made us come in and sit down, we had them get a plastic bag to put on there chairs so we wouldn’t get them all wet! It was pretty funny. But we had a great lesson with them!! They are so kind and they went and got dry shirts and made us put them on, so we left with different colored shirts than we came with! haha It was soooo great and we are meeting with them again!! I’m so excited for them.

The next day we bought umbrellas and tried tracting apartments. We buzzed from the outside and asked to come in! haha I never had done it, but we actually found tons of great people from it! haha So we got to teach a lot more throughout the weekend!!

It’s so funny all of the crazy stuff that happens and all of the ups and downs that you go through!! There’s a lot of hard stuff on a mission, but the good stuff makes it all worth it!! I’m so grateful for the gospel in my life! I’m so grateful for the amazing people I get to meet and the wonderful experiences I get to have! I’m so grateful for my wonderful family and all the support I have with everything I do!! It’s so good to go through some harder things because it helps me recognize how great my life is!! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do for me!!

Dad, Happy Fathers Day!! I just want you to know that I am so grateful for you and all that you do for me!! I love and look up to you so much and I’m so grateful for our great relationship! It’s great to know that my Dad is better than everybody else’s hahaha ! I love and miss all of you a bunch!! Keep up the great work with everything and have a great week!!!

Love Elder Smith!

MUSLIM FAMILY CAME TO CHURCH!

2011-06-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Thank you so much for the emails! You are all so wonderful! Mom and Dad you never cease to amaze me! I can't believe the papers that you got here so fast! I have felt bad about it since I got them! haha I feel like the second I ask for anything you all drop everything you are doing and do what I ask. You are amazing and I’m so sorry that all my life I seem to be asking!! Thank you so much though! I’m so sorry to put you through the hassle! I got the papers to the doctor, but I feel bad cus I hope he doesn’t think I’m just trying to take advantage of him. At this point I have given him all I can and now it’s just kind of a waiting game because I don’t wanna be to obnoxious about following up with him! haha Man if you thought I was annoying with following up with doctors before my mission, you should see me now that I have followed up with people everyday for the last year and awhile, hahahah. Hopefully he will get on it but I have a feeling it might take awhile. But thank you sooo much for all of the help! You are so wonderful!! I love and miss all of you a bunch! Sister Poulton called me and said "Your mom is a great lady and she misses you a lot." I just smiled and said "I know" haha You are all the best!!

Well first off, I have a funny story!! So this week we tracted A TON again and we were tracting and I street contacted a guy on the road and he walked by me quickly and yelled, "In a better world all Mormons would be hung for heresy." I grinned and said “Have a good day sir." In the sweetest voice I could muster. He then yelled back, "Go to H***!" I don't know why situations like this have become so hilarious, but man they keep ya going after hours of tracting. And I can honestly say I am a proud Mormon! I think I like the situations cus they give me a little adrenaline and I’ve learned to keep my temper a lot better! Missions are such an interesting thing! haha They are the best!!

So this week once again started a little slow. Transfers came and went. Elder Duncan is a good ol’ Virginia boy. He’s a good kid and hopefully we will see lots of great things happen together! We worked so hard this week and tracted soooo much and it was so frustrating because we seriously were finding no one!! We went and taught Jelena and the lesson blew up! Her mom had gotten into more anti or something but she was all fired up! Eventually her mom left, after getting into it with us and the lesson went ok! It was definitely frustrating! So I was a little down about that and about the fact that we hadn't found anyone new the whole week!! But then on Saturday, we had a great lesson with the Hiddoddi's (the rich muslim family). They are soooo amazing and I love them to death! We then had a great lesson with Maricio and he committed to fast on Sunday. Then that night we tracted into a wonderful Filipino family! I whipped out all the Tagalong that I had and they loved it! haha They let us in and we had a great lesson with their family and we are teaching them next week! It was so great! Then Sunday morning rolled around and everything fell in to place perfectly! Jelena made it just by herself and had a great time and she got fellow shipped like crazy by all of the members and a lot of the single girls and guys that are here from Alberta selling security systems. She had a great time and is going to the young single adult FHE tonight! Maricio fasted and had a good time at church and get this!!! The Muslim family followed us to church in there brand new SUV Infinity, leather interior and all! It was sooooo great!! They got eaten alive by fellowship!! Hopefully they liked it!! haha They are sooo great!!

So Sunday was wonderful! But after church we had no appointments and we were fasting, so we tracted till supper! It was a tiring stressful day but it was soooooo great!! I sure hope that things workout with all of these people! they are all so amazing!! Things here are going so good though!! Everything is a little different than any of my other areas but I think I’m finally getting into the groove of things here! I really hope these people all continue to progress because I love them sooo much!! It’s funny because in every area I say, wow if just this person would come to the knowledge of the fulness of the gospel and be baptized, my mission would be worth it all just for them! haha And then that person gets baptized and it’s so wonderful and you meet someone else that you love just as much and you say it again! haha Sharing the gospel is sooooo wonderful!! And it’s so great to see people keep commitments and receive answers to their prayers and get baptized! It is the best!! These people here are so great and I want it for them so bad!! Hopefully all works out!! Please keep them in your prayers!!

Things are going so great here though!! Thank you for all of your love and support!! You are so wonderful!! Don’t worry about me or my zits at all!! haha everything is under control and everything will work out the way that it should!! I love you all a ton! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

TRANSFERS AGAIN! I'M STAYING!

2011-06-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful emails! It sounds like it was a great week for all of you! Payton, I can't believe you are graduated! That’s just crazy! It sounds like all of the parties were just a blast! I loved all of the pictures! But what was wrong with Papa's eye?? Is everything ok? Fill me in if ya can please. Also thanks for all you do with the doctor stuff! The bishop in our ward is trying to get me the medication. Tuns out that there are only two dermatologists in all of Saskatoon, so they are both backed up like 6 months. But Bishop Ledding said he will find me a good doctor that will prescribe it, but I am kind of at his mercy, so hopefully he will get on it. But I will keep you posted.

So this week was a good one. It started out really slow but it picked up a lot in the end of the week! The district meeting went really well. It was a lot different and a little crazy but it went good and hopefully it helped! It’s fun to get to teach missionaries every week again.

We found a lot of good people this week! One of which is an amazing artist! Her stuff looks like the real thing and it is done with colored pencils! But she is super good! Also we got to teach Jelena's mom Nina and it went super good! We finished doing service for her and she has softened sooo much! Jelena is doing soo good and she and her mom and her daughter Isabella all came to church! They had a great time! But, haha Isabella is only 2 and she ran up across the stand in Sacrament meeting! aaaahhh! She is crazy!! We figured if the people her want make fast and testimony meeting normal and super great then we will bring crazy investigators to make it crazy! It just wouldn't be normal if crazy stuff didn't happen! HAHA THIS WARD IS SOOO AMAZING AND SO SUPPORTIVE!!! They just eat up investigators and they are so much help!

Maricio made it to church, but he was to busy to meet with us this week! aah! So frustrating! He is so good! I wish he would just get baptized already! Courtney made it to church too! It felt great to have people come!! Hopefully they keep coming!!

We have been tracting a ton still! haha We tracted like 22 hours this week! haha We have definitely seen blessings from doing it though!! We taught a wonderful Muslim man for the first time this week and we taught him in the church! It went great and he should be at church next week! Also, get this!!! Remember the wonderful, super rich Muslim family I told you about last week!? So this week we confirmed the appointment the night before and then we showed up and JEHOVAH WITNESSES are in teaching them!! aaaahhh! haha So we walked in and sat down next to them and it was super awkward! haha The Muslim family is so nice though and they asked us if we want tea and we said no thanks, water is good, and the J Dubs smirk and giggle a little, haha I wanted to say “No, but we'd love to donate blood or come to your birthday party!” haha But I held my tongue! haha They were really nice though! haha And they left quick! Turns out they don’t have a closing prayer! Or maybe they were nervous because we were there so they just got out fast! They were a pretty old couple and all the ones that knock doors that I have ran into have been super nice! But after they left, it was great because the investigators questions set up the Apostacy and Restoration perfectly! We had a wonderful lesson and they committed to coming to church next week! woop woop!

Also on Friday, because we helped Nina, she had us over for supper and a lesson! IT WAS SOOOO GOOD AND SHE WENT FROM BEING SUPER ANTI, TO REALLY LOVING US AND COMING TO CHURCH!! It was neat because we had been struggling to get people to church and we fasted for it and lots came! It was a great ending to a great week!!

Oh, and transfer calls came!! Elder Porter is going to PA and I am staying here! I am getting an Elder Duncan. I’m super nervous because he is only a transfer younger than me and kind of a rebellious kid! haha Hopefully we will hit it off good! He seems nice and funny. I guess we will see what happens! I’m nervous but really excited! Hopefully I will grow a lot! I’m sad to see Elder Porter go! He is a diligent beast!! He is such a hard worker! He will be senior now and he will tear it up!! Funny story! haha He is actually senior with Elder Turner! The same one I was first senior with over a year ago! haha Elder Turner is great though! They will do good!!

Well things here are going great! The ward is wonderful and we are teaching some great people!! Elder Leonard and Elder Lovelace go home in 4 days and it is sooo sad! haha He’s called a ton this week, he is such a good missionary and friend! I will miss him a ton! He saw Akon this week and promised her that we would be there in October, haha so we are on lock! It’s stressen’ me out! I love you all a ton!! Thank you so much for your love and support! Have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith

ELDER PORTER IS TEACHING ME TO SING!

2011-05-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Thank you so much for the wonderful emails!! You guys are all so great! Payton I’m so excited for you! TURN YOUR HEAD AND COUGH! haha Once that’s over, your papers are on the way, woo woo!! You are a champ! I can't believe you are so old! You are such a stallion! I loved the pictures! Mom don't feel bad about the senior pictures, I’m pumped for the super senior pics when I get home! We should definitely send out announcements again and see if I get more money!! Just kidding, don’t worry about the pics! I definitely wouldn’t have lasted longer than your pictures took and they were all pro, anyways!! Thank you so much for sending Payt’s though! That was neat! I love all your emails!

So first off, Elder Porter is like an all state singer! haha Like he was in these competitions and stuff and he has a beautiful voice and as you all know, I do not! haha So, he has been teaching me to sing while we drive to appointments. It’s been hilarious, but I think I am getting better. So Dad and Payt, I’ll have you know that one day I will sing and it will sound ok!! haha But Elder Porter is a great kid! We have been working super hard and things are going well. This week we had a lot of great stuff happen and a lot of frustrating stuff happen! We set a date with Jelena on Monday and I think I told you about it last week! She is doing great! We taught her 3 times this week and she is way good but then she bailed for church! aaaahhhh So frustrating! But hopefully she will make it this week!! She has a ghetto apartment downtown, but we always teach her at her Mom’s house and her Mom is loaded! The house is way nice. This week on exchange Elder Porter and Elder Clarine did service for her and it went great, which was really good because she had some serious polygamy issues! She has softened a lot and we even got to teach her this week! Hopefully some great things happen there!! It’s crazy because our area is so rich! We don’t get to teach as much and tracting is hard, but man we teach some wealthy people!! This week 3 of our new investigators were from Iran!! They live in this huge house with an indoor pool and everything! Like man they are so loaded and they are Muslim! We had such a good lesson with them, like wow it was the best lesson I have ever had with a Muslim!! It’s funny because back home the Muslim people from Iran are catagorized as terrible people but it is just the opposite!! Muslims are way nicer than the a lot of the self-proclaimed Christians in our area! It’s super interesting and to me it’s been a testimony strengthener of the apostacy. People can be so cruel and rude when they meet us on the door and they claim to be Christians. I have committed myself to never talk down on other faiths or group people because of there faith or culture! haha It’s still a work in progress though, because I think I just barley bashed on self-proclaimed Christians! haha I’m working on it! It’s so interesting though because there are good and bad people in all faiths! I just hope I can always live my life in a way that is in line with the way the Savior would have me live. I have also met some wonderful Christian people that are very kind! You get to learn and experience so much on a mission! It is so great!

So as for the update on Maricio, it was kind of a downer week! He is so good and we gave him 3rd Nephi 11 to read this week. He had big issues with the animals it talks about and the grapes and chandels and all this stuff that he says he knows wasn’t apart of the culture there. He said other than that, he feels really good about everything we have taught and he is still reading and praying about it, but it is definitely a struggle for him! We had a great RM with us (it was actually at his house so we were with him and his wife) haha But he was tons of help and we had some good answers for his concerns, but he is definitely still struggling with it! I sure hope he gets over it!! We had a great lesson plan and we were hoping to set a date, but it all kind of blew up in our face because of his concern. But hopefully this week will be good!! It is so different teaching people here. Like I have had to change my teaching a lot because the people we are teaching know so much! They are so great, but it’s just different than a lot of people and they are so ready for baptism!! ahahhh Just pull the trigger already! And I am getting super tan. My skin went back to its old ways, so I’ve got more zits, but I don’t burn! haha I have a nasty farmers tan and it’s only been summer here for like a week! But things are great! The ward here is so wonderful! It is like a young married ward with a ton of cute young couples, fresh off missions and struggling through medical school!! I love them a ton and it’s way fun teaching with members that are RM’s because everything goes right!! All the lessons are way fun but more stressful too because you feel kind of inadequate sometimes. I have learned a ton!!

Well it’s crazy, but transfers are this week!! It’s insane! I’ve got bets that the next assistant is Elder Platt!! He’s a champ and one of the only ones still young enough, that is a still Zone Leader. We will see what happens! I’m also super interested to see who gets sent out this way because I think Elder Porter is gone this transfer. I guess we will see, but things here are so great! You all are so good to me! I am well looked after and I feel that there are some great people here that I am supposed to find. Please continue to pray that I can find them! I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you all! I am so grateful for the Gospel and for the joy that it brings!! I sent you a package this week so keep an eye out for it! It should be there in a week or two! Payton I am so proud of you! "keep getten’ better everyday!" (The legend Scott Berger) haha

Love Elder Smith

oh ps: I got to talk to Elder Lovelace! He and Elder Leonard go home in like 2 weeks!! aaaahhhhh!!! Gut punch!! But Ronald and Bruce are doing great!! They have callings and are passing the Sacrament and everything!! Good stuff!! Edilyn is doing well and Belatu emailed me and said she has been trying to email you! You will have to see if she writes. Her emails are more broken English than Edilyn’s! haha I love it!! But have a wonderful week!! I love you all a ton!!

TRACTING IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES. . . .

2011-05-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Thank you so much for the wonderful emails!! I can't believe what a wonderful family I have! I am so proud of all of you and I love you so much! Your emails make me so happy because you are all so great!! Thank you for the pictures! I can’t believe how old everyone is! haha I know I say that every week, but it’s so ridiculous! I love Payt’s Grizzly painting! The Smith legacy will hang in Skyline for years to come! Man, I am just so proud of Payton!! He is such a great kid and I love and miss him a ton! I also am so proud of Addi and Alex! It looks like they are both healthy, happy and doing all the right stuff! Thanks for all of the things you all do! You are so great!!

So I’m gonna start with a hilarious story!! So this week was just ridiculous because we tracted soooooooooo much!! All in all we tracted over 25 hours!! haha That’s just knocking doors...... for 25 hours!!! haha I am already looking pretty dark. The weather has been great! But we have had a lot of appointments fall though, but even with all the tracting, we still taught 17 lessons. So it was good, but back to my story. When you knock this many doors, you have lots of hilarious stuff happen! I’ve walked in on door-to-door salesmen, family parties, immodestly dressed people, crazy people, mean people, drunks, nuns, the list goes on. But most of the stuff just becomes old news and so you don’t really pay much attention to it. But a couple days ago, I knocked on a door and a large man came to the door. Picture the Brother Landon (Barry) that pulled up on the four wheeler after Payt hit the skunk, except picture him with a lot rougher haircut, and beard and a really hairy chest and a huge beer belly and completely and thoroughly butt naked!! Like, no kidding, this guy flings open the door with one hand on the door and one hand on his hip completely naked! hahaha So instantly my head shoots up and I say “you wanna card?” I gave him the card I don’t even know if he said he wanted it! Then we took off. He stood in the window waiting for a reaction, and he got it! I made it like 10 steps before losing it laughing! It was pretty good. But the week was good! We tracted a bunch and found some super solid people!! The tracting is hard though because there are a ton of wealthy people that won’t give us the time of day. It’s good though! We have been having some amazing lessons! The members here are so amazing! Like man!! It’s a ward full of powerhouse returned missionaries! Our ward mission leader is so great!! He has been the ward mission leader just a couple weeks now and he had Maricio and Angelica over for supper with him and all the couples they are friends with in the ward. Maricio and Angelica had a blast with them and they are doing so good!! I really hope he sets a date soon! He is so great!! This week’s lesson with him went good! We’ve tried so hard to meet with him more than once a week, but they are just too busy!! But we have now taught him all of the commandments and he pretty much agrees with everything! Tithing is hard, but I think he will do it!! Hopefully this will be the week!! They are great though!

Cleavon gets married this week and hopefully after the honeymoon he will be getting baptized! He has a testimony, but a really hard situation. Hopefully all goes well there! We also just started teaching a part member family that is super great! The guy has been less active for years and his girlfriend grew up with no religion. They have come out to church and she really likes it and we finally got to teach them last week!! It went well and they fed us! It was great!! We were supposed to meet with them tonight, but they just called and bailed! aahhh! So we will probably teach them in a couple days. More tracting time I guess (: haha

We are teaching a lot of Atheists still and I don’t no how to teach them! It gets a little frustrating because it’s just hard to know what to say! It’s hard to teach faith and when they struggle to understand God and faith its hard to get them to read, pray, and come to church, so they will get faith.

But things in the area are good. It’s getting super high stress because the time is just going so fast! I feel like I just got into this area and I still feel clueless with a lot of the members, but the transfer is already more than half over! It’s ridiculous!! Things are going great though!! Being a district leader is really fun! It’s funny because I was really hoping to be done being a zone leader and get the chance to finish my mission as a district leader. So even though it was hard leaving Winnipeg, it was exciting, but I thought all my meetings would just be amazing! I thought it would be way more stress free and I’d do everything right! haha But it’s not that way! I have loved teaching district meetings but it definitely isn’t as easy as I thought it would be! I miss teaching meetings with a companion, even though before I was wishing I could go back to teaching by myself! ha ha And, motivating district leaders is a lot easier than motivating districts! It’s been really fun though and I have learned a ton!! The meeting today went pretty good! All in all, everything is going so great!!! I love being a missionary so much!! These last couple weeks have been super weird and stressful! It feels like my senior football season with like 4 games left, except like 10 times worse! I have worked SO hard and done my best, but I feel super pressed for time. I wanna make sure I do everything that I was sent here to do! It seems like the more I stress it, the faster it goes and I’m loosing my mind! It’s just a really weird thing!! Missions are so great! It’s just weird because every time I hear about Payt’s papers or that stuff I just get a stomach ache! I can't believe how blessed I have been and how many miracles I get to see out here!! Everyday as a missionary is such a blessing!!

Well I’m just rambling but I wanted to tell ya one more story! Yesterday we taught this young single mother and it went sooo well!! She lives in this huge house with her mom and her kid. She is so good!! We had an amazing returned missionary with us and he was so great!! The Spirit was really strong and she was eating it up!! We taught the lesson one and she had great questions!! At the end she was excited about reading and praying and church and so we invited her to be baptized. She said yes and set a date in June! Like man it is so great! haha It’s just crazy all of the wonderful experiences there are on a mission!! I’m so grateful for you and all the love and support you give me! I have the best family ever! I love you a bunch and have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

I'M GRATEFUL FOR THE CHANCE TO BE STRETCHED!

2011-05-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hey!!

First off, before I forget, here is my address: 303-215 Kingsmere Blvd the problem is that I don’t know the zip code ): It’s Saskatoon Sask......... haha um.... hopefully you can figure out the rest hahaha Thanks so much for the wonderful pics and updates! You guys look like you are just liven’ it up! And Payton is definitely your more attractive son! Wow! That kid looks good!! And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more attractive group!! I’m so proud of you for the great kid that you are Payt!! You are a beast!! I love you guys all sooo much!! It made me super happy to see all of the grandparents doing so well! They also are some gooood looken’ couples!! It definitely runs in the family! (: Mom and Dad you look so healthy happy and proud! haha I love you all a bunch!!

So this week was a good one for the most part! Things are really warming up and it’s great! It was like 18 celsius the other day and I was dying! I’m worried for what the actual summer will do to me! Canada weather really messes with ya! But Bruce got baptized!!! I have been way out of the loop with everything, so it has definitely made me Winnipeg homesick!! Elder Woods still calls me every once and awhile to give me updates, but other than that I’m way out of the loop! I’m really starting to love it here though!! We are working with some really great people! Finding people through tracting has definitely been a little more difficult, but we are still seeing some success with it! There are some wonderful members here though and some great part member gold!! Maricio is sooooooo golden!! He was gonna set a date this week for sure! haha But they had to bail on our appointment because of family! ahhhh!! Because of work they can only meet on weekends and so missing the one appointment for the week kills!! They made it to church though and he is so ready!! We have a new ward mission leader and he is fantastic!! He is a RM of a couple years and I love him!! This weekend he is having Maricio and Angelica over for supper and games with a bunch of other RM's and their wives! Half of which speak Spanish! And we are meeting with them the next day!! The members here are amazing!! We get fed more than we should and there are so many people willing to help and they know how because they are all RM's! It’s sooooo great!! Super intimidating too, though!! It’s just a way different atmosphere!! It’s so good and I can’t wait to see what is to come!! We also finally got an appointment with a less active member and his fiance! They have been trying to come back out to church and they have made it a couple times and they finally are letting us come and see them this week!! Her name is Courtney. We are teaching tons of Chinese people that are Atheist, Indian people that are Muslim or Buddist or some other crazy religion and they are so hard to teach!! They are so smart and kind, but everything that we teach is so new and different that it makes it so hard to teach them!! Any ideas?? The hardest are the people from China because they really have like no faith and they are so smart and humble and kind! It’s super difficult!! Any ideas!?

But things here are so great and I’m really starting to love it! It’s been frustrating because I haven’t got to settle into the area because I keep having to leave it. This week I had to go up to Prince Albert with one of the Zone Leaders to do a baptismal interview. It was a frustrating experience all the way around!! First off, the zone leader is a punk! I’ve tried super hard to get to know and love him, but he is so undignified and disobedient that it is so frustrating! He is also very talented and funny and he can do great things when he wants to! He isn’t the worst ever, but he definitely is a very poor example for the other missionaries and it makes me mad! It’s been really hard to love him and respect him when he is doing such ridiculous stuff. But it’s been good because when I’m able to look past it, I really do learn a lot from him! I think a big part of it is just my pride makes it hard to do stuff that a disobedient missionary tells me to do! haha It’s been a good learning experience to be around him. But the missionaries who needed the interview are not the most obedient either, so the interview was poorly planned and it had to be done at her house with her dad there, who is a non member, so it was a super odd experience. I was really frustrated and outnumbered three to one, with less diligent missionaries. But the interview went amazingly well!! She is so prepared! She has a good friend in the church and her friend had taught her everything. It was so great, minus all the odd, weird, bad stuff going on around. Oh, then the night was filled with missionaries being dumb, staying up and then all three of them slept through studies. aahhhh! I was ready to pull my hair out!! It was so ridiculous and then I feel like trash because they’re all being dumb! Man, I was sooo glad for it to be over. It’s funny though, because you learn so much with stupid things like this. I hated the experience because I felt so powerless, but I learned a lot and it made me want to do even better myself! It’s funny because since this is my journal I wanted to put this story in, but just talking about it is making me feel bad. It’s funny because in life, and on your mission, you have so many opportunities to make decisions and every decision has a consequence. You can waste a lot of your mission and life doing stupid stuff and we all do! But it’s been so good to see how important time is and how much you can do when you do your best to take advantage of every minute!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be on a mission! It is the best! I have never ever been so stretched! I am sooo grateful for my great family and the gospel of Jesus Christ! And I’m so grateful for the chance to be stretched, tried, and the chance to make right and wrong decisions! Agency and trials are the best!! I love you all a bunch! Stay healthy and happy and keep me posted! Have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith

WEIRD PHONE CALL, EH?

2011-05-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Wow! Weird week, eh!? haha Man this call was definitely the weirdest! I felt so out of the loop and I didn’t know what to say or think or do about it!! From the second I heard Addi's woman singing voice and Alex’s manly voice and Payton’s fat kid voice, I was way thrown off. I loved hearing from you all and I love and miss you so much, but it’s weird that it was kind of a relief that it’s over because it’s such a weird thing!! haha That picture of Payton is hilarious! I’ve spent most of my email time staring and laughing! I feel so bad for you buddy!! It’s definitely the first time in your life that most girls wouldn’t want to kiss you! hahaha I use the word “most” loosely because you are PAYTON SMITH! haha But thanks so much for the call and emails and pictures and everything!! You guys are so great!! Well, I know I talked about a lot of this stuff in my call, but since this IS my journal, I’ll say it again!! Ronald was baptized!!! It went so good (I heard)! His brother in law Grundig baptized him and his brother Joefer and his sister were supposed to speak, so all of the members of the church in his family had a part! But Joefer slept in and didn’t prepare a talk, so Elder Woods was nominated to speak. Elder Woods spoke using Ronald’s new scriptures and then at the end said “Well, I couldn’t find a lot of the scriptures quickly because these are Ronald’s scriptures that Elder Smith’s mom sent!” So he went and handed them to Ronald! Ronald was so excited and gave Elder Woods a big hug. After the baptism, Ronald called me and he was so happy about everything!! He told me all about the baptism and he was excited to tell me that Bruce (a great investigator that had been taught everything and scheduled his interview right before I left) had passed his interview and he had asked Grundig to baptize him too!!! It was so neat!! I love Ronald and his family so much!! It was a big jump for him to make because all of his other family are really strong in the Catholic church! He will be such a wonderful member!!! But after talking to him for a little bit he ended by saying, "Ok, I’ll see you and your family in 6 months." haha After you told me you were coming I kinda told a couple people, so hopefully all works out so we can go and see em!! But all of that is so exciting and I can’t wait to hear about Bruce’s this week!! It should be great!!

Now as far as this ward goes... honestly, it’s a little overwhelming with all of the new stuff and how different things are but I am so excited for it! I want to do everything I can to make sure it is the climax of my mission!! Right now we are working with some super great people! First off, a man named Maricio that is amazing! He married a member in Chili and they just moved here about a year ago or something like that and wow, they are so wonderful!!! When I got here, he had been taught the first 2 lessons and a bit of the 3rd. We are now going through the commandments and it is so great!! The Spirit is always there and it is so great to teach them!! He has a couple concerns but I am so excited to see what happens!!! He made it to church again this week and he has been a couple weeks in a row. Hopefully he will receive answers soon! He is so great!!

Also April is really great! She is a single lady that has been investigating for a while and I think she is finally ready!! We are meeting with here tonight so hopefully all goes well! I did have some questions for you guys that it would be great if you could give me your ideas!! In this area there are a ton of Atheists that are humble and wanting to learn but they have been brought up without a believe in God. Any tips? It’s weird how hard it is to teach it!! Ammon makes it look way easier than it is! haha Also there is a lady with a Jason Brown/ Ken Despot situation! Part member, with calling, and fully active, but won’t get baptized!? Any ideas??

Well my times up, but I love you all so much! Thank you for all that you do!! Sorry I was kinda out of it for the call!! haha You are all the best!! Have a great week! Payt...... ice up and don’t go on any dates! haha The church is true! Missions are so great! Payt I’m so proud of you and excited for what is to come with exciting mission news!! Keep up the great work!! I love you all soooooo much!! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith!!

I MADE IT TO SASKATOON!

2011-05-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Man, all kinds of crazy news this week eh!? Alex you are a beast!! I want more pics of you playing!! Mom and Dad you are amazing! Thank you so much for the package this week and thank you for sending that stuff for Ronald!! You are sooo great!! Man I love and miss you all so much and I can’t wait to talk to you!! I’m so excited for Kegan!! He will love it there so much! I’m so jealous that he gets to learn Tagolog! Edilyn tried to teach me and the little that I learned is gold for getting into Filipino’s homes!! He will love the filipino people!! Family, you are amazing!! Thank you so much for all that you do!! I love you a ton!

Alright, so this week was another crazy one!! I guess Mom looking at my credit card spoiled the good news of the first crazy thing! hahaha Elder Lovelace was behind me listening and he joked about how the trick to getting tickets off is to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit! In the middle of my explanation, the lady said "It looks like you already got a photo cop here?" and I said "Well mam, this is actually my third... but......" hahaha I was super lucky and blessed, I guess! She knocked it from 216$ down to 75$! I was pretty happy. But the rest of the week was pretty hard! It was so hard to say good bye to Edilyn and Maritess and Ronald! It was way hard to say goodbye to everyone, but they were the worst!! Please email them all and tell them I miss em!! They are so great though! They all fed me and Ronald and the Avilas bought me a bunch of Canadian stuff and Ronald gave me fresh mangos that came fresh from his friend in the Philippines! haha They were sooo good!! I love mangos!! But it was really hard to leave!! I’m so excited to hear news of his baptism this week!!! I’ll probably get to call him on saturday and I can tell you about it on Sunday!!

So the day before transfers we went to and appointment with Brother Gibson (one of my favorite members) and he took us out to eat fish and chips at this nice restaurant!! It was way good but it the middle of the meal we get a call and then a text from President Paulson that says call asap. So we went into the washroom and called him and got word that a missionary isn’t coming and so I wouldn’t be in a threesome. It was good and bad news. President said the other missionary was the one he wanted me to work with the most, but it wasn’t going to work out, so I’m not in a threesome anymore. So I finished saying good byes to everyone and we took off on the long trek to Saskatoon!! Man it was terrible!! Such a long, painful drive! And I have to drive back this week for a day for a training meeting for all of the district and zone leaders. It’s terrible!! It was fun and different though, but sitting for so long makes you lose your mind!! haha I got to stop and sleep in Regina with Elder Platt and Elder Bileu and that was a blast! It was fun to see Elder Platt! He is doing a lot of great work! But we finally made it to Saskatoon! I am soooooo Winnipeg home sick!!! haha Like man, I didn’t know I was so attached to that city. I was just so comfortable there because I knew my way around the city and I knew so many amazing people! It felt a little like being in the MTC again! But it wore off fast!! This city is wonderful and this ward is amazing!!! This ward functions so good!! It’s kind of like an Idaho or Utah ward because there are a ton of RM’s and there wives here at school!! It is just such a great atmosphere!! Our area has the University in it and so we talk to a ton of young couples that are great!!! And there are some great people here that are super prepared!! One of them is a man named Maricio! He just married his wife and she is a member and great!! We taught them a couple days ago and they are so good! Hopefully we can set a date with him soon!! There are lots of great things going on and the ward is so supportive!! I still miss Winnipeg sooooooo much but I’m excited to see what will happen here! I’m hoping this is my last area so I can just work it to death for the next 6 months!! It’s a great place! My companion’s name is Elder Porter. He is from Northern Arizona and he is super diligent, humble and quite! I’m so excited about what will happen here! But my times up! I love you all so much!! You are wonderful!! Good luck with everything!! I love you all a ton!!

Love Elder Smith!

P.S. I don’t know what will happen with the call! I’ll try and call just before supper! And I think you will need a phone card because we won’t be at a members, sorry, new area.

Love you

I'M BEING TRANSFERED OUT OF WINNIPEG - STILL IN SHOCK!

2011-04-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

Atta boy Payt!!! Mr. Skyline 2011, man, I was so happy with the news!! I can't say I’m surprised though!! I called that one years ago!! hahaha That’s great!! Mom that news about the Disneyland trip for the Newton Family is sooo neat!! Tell them I say hello!! It sounds like you guys are just doing great!! I loved all your emails!! Dad, get feeling better!! I feel bad because it sounds like you aren’t doing too well!! Keep me posted!!

So once again I’m sorry for the speeding ticket!! It’s so frustrating! I’ll be paying up tomorrow. Hopefully they are kind AGAIN. So this week was just insane! Sounds like you heard the news already. I was so upset at first, it was funny because we’re all at President Paulson’s niece’s baptism on Friday. Ronald came to it and it was a blast! But they rounded up all the missionaries there and gave transfer calls. President started going through them and he told me mine and I said, "what?" in a confused, not so happy tone. haha So he said it again and I leaned over to Elder Leonard and asked again because it didn’t really click! Then I asked Elder Leonard like 2 more times! hahaha I was so caught off guard and it was super sad because Ronald is getting baptized on the 7th, and Bruce on the 14th! It was super hard and sad to tell him I wouldn’t be there! Elder Woods had my back and talked to him about moving it up so I could see it and he was all game but he had family that wouldn’t be able to make it and I just didn’t feel good about it so I had him keep it. It was so hard! Ronald is sooooooo amazing!!! And soooo ready!! He will be such an amazing member!!! I love him and his family so much!! I know I’ve blown all my money on speeding tickets but can we get him scriptures??? His name is Ronaldo Hitalia Domingo. Send the normal size that you sent everyone else. Elder Lovelace is getting him a case for them. Thank you so much family!! You are amazing!! Don’t send me anymore packages!!! I don't need anything!! You’re the best! He is such an amazing man with such a soft heart!! I love him and his family so much!! If you could do that, I’ll have Elder Woods or Elder Lovelace give them to him when they get here!! Thanks sooo much!! But his baptism I’m sure will be great!! They said they would send you pictures. But man things here are going so well right now!! I love this area so much!! I’m so sad to be leaving! Like it is such a weird thing because I feel just sick inside about it!!! Winnipeg is just home now! All 3 of my areas have all bordered each other! It’s so crazy! I love it here so much!! Ronald is doing amazing, Bruce is great!! Laury is close and there are lots of other people that are close too!! I have loved this area so much!! It will be so hard to leave the great members, especially Edilyn and Maritess and their crew!! They are so great!!! Also Nathen and Maria are just amazing!! We get to go see them tonight! He came to the fireside on Sunday and he loved it!! I gave them your email too! Amie and Godwin are doing so great too!! It was sad this week though because they moved to BC. We got them in touch with the bishop and hopefully they will love it there. It was definitely hard to see them go though! They are such great people!! Also this week Belatu knew I was going to the fireside so she made supper and brought it to me!! It was so good!! I love her so much and it’s so good to see her!! Tim Jackson was there too and it was hilarious because I was sitting there talking to President Paulson before the fireside and Tim Jackson got there early. He saw me and ran over and while President is mid sentence Tim full-on bear hugs me! hahahaha It was hilarious and so great!! President Paulson didn’t know what to do! It cracked me up!! Tim is doing so great!! His girlfriend got baptized and they will probably get married soon!! Sooo exciting!! Sorry I’m jumping all over the place, I just have so much to say! haha Back to the baptism, after it finally clicked in that I was getting moved and I was definitely down, but I went and broke the news to Ronald and he was pretty down and President came over. I felt bad because it was kind of awkward. It’s super sad to leave, but it will be good! I guess I knew I had to leave at some point. So I am no longer a Zone Leader! woo woo! It was a blast and I learned a ton! But it will be great to get out of a lot of the busy work stuff! But turns out I’m going to an amazing ward and there will just be one set of missionaries for the whole ward! woo woo. Here’s the catch, it’s a threesome! I’m super nervous! 3 missionaries, new ward, new province! I've been stressen it for sure!! I don’t know much about the other elders but hopefully all goes well!! I’ll be a district leader though so it will be fun because I’ll get to teach district meetings again and still get to work with other missionaries, but hopefully not so much busy work! I have loved Winnipeg so much though! It’s just such a hard, scary thing to leave!! Oh, before I forget.. we had stake coordination with the stake president this week again and his son is in Idaho Falls!! He lives by the temple!!! He is probably in Gma and Gpa’s ward!! You should definitely feed him!!! It would be super great to get to know his family better, they are amazing!! Look him up! It’s Elder Robison!!

Other updates... we have now taught Laury everything and she committed to live the Word of Wisdom!! She is doing everything, but getting baptized and she is in Alma! She is so great and will hopefully pull the trigger soon!!! We found a great new lady this week named Joelle who is super prepared!! Hopefully something happens there!! Man sorry my mind is just scrambled! Sis. Avila said she emailed you!! Please thank her so much for all the food she gives us! She is so good to us! Thank Ronald too! They are such an amazing family!! Things here are just going so well!! I’m so grateful to be a missionary! I’m so grateful for my amazing family! I’m so grateful for the gospel!! It’s the Best!! I love you all so much and I’ll give you details about everything next week!! Thank you so much for all that you do!! Please save all my emails because I have had NO time to keep up my journal and I feel terrible about it!! haha If my emails don’t make sense, ask questions so I can feel ya in!! Stay safe and have a great week and email Edilyn if you have any questions about Ronald’s scriptures or anything else!! You are so amazing and I love and miss you all a bunch! Have a great week!!! Love Elder Smith!!!

RONALD IS GETTING BAPTIZED!

2011-04-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

Hey!!

Well it’s been an interesting week! First off, thanks so much for all that you do for me! And Dad thank you so much for checking that out for Elder Woods!! Man I have the best parents in the world!! I’ll talk to you about it more on the phone in a couple weeks! Elder Woods is just a great kid and we’ve become super good friends and so I wanna make sure he gets a good hook-up when he gets home! Thank you so much though!

That’s exciting about the new bishopric! It’s gonna be weird to have everything different! Sounds like everybody is doing great though! Tell Addi to get something ready to sing to me on the phone! But thanks again all of you for all that you do! So I have lots of bad and good news, so I figure I’ll get the bad out of the way and then repent and hopefully cheer you up with some good. So first off, the stupid photo cop got me again...... I hate these things soooooo much!!! 13 k's over again, it’s like 7.5 mph over and it’s the slowest that they give out tickets. I’m soooo frustrated because I’ve tried hard to go slow. But I’m done driving! I’ll just have my comp drive the rest of my mission, because this is terrible!! I’m super sorry and I think I had for sure better get a job right when I get home. It’s so frustrating and I’m super sorry! I wish Dad was here to get it off! haha But I’ll see what I can do. It’s $240 again, but I’m gonna go talk to them again. SORRY!!! I get to clean the dog kennel all of 2012!! haha

Alright, now to some funny news. Edilyn moved out from her family and she and Maritess got an apartment. So I had my mattress double stacked with 2 not so good mattresses put together and they made a good one. But Elder Paulson (President’s brother) is over our apartments and so he was helping her move. She didn’t have a bed so we told Elder Paulson we had double stacked and he was game for us to give one to her. So we gave it and all is well, till it’s time for bed. It’s a terrible mattress! So I woke up super sore! But, we also have this beater couch with tons of cushions. haha So the next night Elder Lovelace and I stuffed all the couch pillows under the bad mattress and I’m sleeping wonderfully once again! It looks hilarious, but man I might sport it for the rest of my life! It’s pretty comfy! But Edilyn moved safe and sound and she is doing great!! She and Maritess now have a place to themselves and it’s pretty nice. I just hope she got a better mattress than me!

But this week was super busy! I got to go on an exchange out to Selkirk and it was a blast!! I saw Sarah, Karl and Chris! Sarah and her mom are doing so great! It’s crazy because her mom didn’t let me come teach the first 5 months I was there and she was on the “do not contact” list! She had even filled out the papers to get her records removed!! Now she is a super Mormon Mom that is teaching the crazy kids in primary and she gave a talk last week! And Sarah is still amazing!! Karl is doing great but he hasn’t been making it to church as much as he should. He’s a great kid with a super testimony, but he is just at kind of a crazy time in life! He’s so good!! I loved seeing him! Chris is just doing ok. He has such a good heart, but he’s been missing church a lot!! It’s a really hard thing to see!! He wants to do the right thing though so hopefully he will pull out of the slump he’s in!! Man, I love all of the people up there so much!! It’s such a great little city!! It was fun to go back!! It’s hard to see people struggling though!

We are teaching so many amazing people right now though man!! Nathan and Maria are so amazing! I gave them your email!! He is in medical school and she is a stay at home mom! They look like a Mormon family and they have such strong faith and they are really searching!! We have taught them all of the big doctrines of the church and they are so smart!! I love meeting with them!! Mom, if they email, you and Dad gotta get em converted. They are so searching!! I hope it clicks for them! Man I love em though!!

Bruce is doing great!! He was out to church again and he is great!! He’s excited for his date and he just needs to get off coffee! He’s so close!! Laury is amazing!! She was out to church again this week!! She has a super nice house and she is also really searching! She is now in like Mosiah 20 or somethine!! She is cooking! And this week she made it to church and it just went amazing!! She got eaten alive with fellowship!! It was so great!! She went to a fireside with some members without us and a member gave her some nice scriptures! Hopefully she will set a date this week!!! Church was sooo wonderful though! Laury, Bruce, and Ronald all made it and they all had a great time! So now for the best part of the week! Ronald was only able to meet with us once a week, so we taught him once and then cheated the system. We were like "Ronald, Elder Woods is coming on exchange and he really wants to see you again." hah So he made the time and his family fed us! It was so good! We had crab and we ate the whole crab guts and all and we picked it over with our hands! haha I love filipino food! It was a blast and super good!! I think Payt will go to the Philippines, or Africa, or if he’s really lucky, Canada! But we finished all the commandments and ended by teaching fasting. We invited him to fast about being baptized on the 14th and us, the assistants, the Henderson Elders, the whole Avila family and Ronald all decided to fast on Sunday!

So, I obviously got Dad’s jeans (ha ha) because the next day after crab, I found myself in a nasty McDonald’s washroom for like 30 mins haha but then we went up to Brandon. We had 2 great kids that got interviewed and are being baptized next week! We drove back and had some good lessons and a lot of tracting. Then Sunday rolled around! It was a great service! Everything seemed to go so good! Ronald had a good day and it just went great! So we told Ronald we wanted to come see how the fast went that night. We told him we wouldn’t have time to teach but we would just come see how it went and chat for 5 or 10 mins! We got there and he had just finished watching The Restoration with his family! Man, they are great!! So we came in and said, “So, how’d it go?” haha He said, "well good." So we were like, “well how do you feel?” And he’s like "good" haha and were like, “sooo?” haha and then somehow something happened with the family, so they got off topic! Elder Lovelace and I were looking at each other. haha So we say, “Well, you were fasting about getting baptized, so how do you feel?” He smirks and says "good." haha So we are like, well so are you gonna be baptized?! He sat there awhile and then looks with a big grin and says "Ya." So we are like, “Well when?” It can be any Saturday between now and the 14th! And he says the 7th! hahaha Man, it was so good!! Like, we didn’t know what to expect or how to go about it but he had already made up his mind! He is so great!! I love that kid so much!! So we were super excited!! The only bad news is that transfer calls are this week! And I’ve been here like 7 months and Elder Lovelace goes home next transfer, so if I did stay, it would be for 2 transfers, which is kind of unlikely! I love this area so much and I really hope I get to be here for it! Either way, he’s getting baptized though and its soooo exciting!! He is such a great kid!! It has been so fun to teach him!! He is such a humble, smart, loving, kind man!!! He will be a great member! It’s been so fun to see him grow!! I met him for the first time like 6 months ago and he wasn’t even willing to listen to us! When we started teaching him he was too busy to read the scriptures, but I knew he liked power aid. haha So I bought a bunch of Power Aid and crossed out the Power and wrote Scripture aid. So every time we’d go over I’d toss him some Scripture Aid. He has read every night since! He is such a hilarious kid and it’s a big joke in his family with the Scripture Aid. Man he is so funny and so great! I wish I could tell ya all the great stuff that has happened with him! But to top off the night, after he set the date, his sister that he is living with was so happy! She is actually a convert as well! But she and her husband got out the guitar and sang to us with Ronald. It was great and then they got us to end by singing a hymn! it was so great!! The Spirit was so strong there!! It was such a great night!!

The church is so true!! Missions are the best!! I love you all so much!! Have a great week!! Love Elder Smith

oohh!! ps!! John Nordness, the excommunicated member, gets baptized on Wednesday!! I can’t believe I forgot! He has an amazing story!! Elder Leonard is baptizing him!! Super neat stuff!!! Love you!!

JUST LIKE A SCENE FROM A MOVIE!

2011-04-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Hey!!

Man, it sounds like it has been a crazy week!! I can't believe the news about Jayson Ralph's Mom! That kid has always had such a good spirit! That’s so crazy to me! I was in the MTC with him! It sounds like he has grown a lot. It’s hard to hear things like that because I know their family will be ok, but I wish there was something I could do to help!! Please keep me updated on how they are doing!!

It’s also crazy news about Bishop Russell!! He is such a great man!! I wrote him a short email, but I feel bad because I haven’t written him like at all, my whole mission!! Tell him I love him and I’m so grateful for all that he does!! As far as guesses on who will be the new bishop, I don’t even remember who all is in our ward! haha um... ya, I don’t know. I’ll look forward to the news next week!

I DO know the Roldans, they are in the Waverly Ward! They are a great family and I have eaten in their home before! Great food!

Sounds like A-rod is still an all star and I think we all knew that him growing up dealing with Payt and Dad, he would end up with a sense of humor! haha I expect some homers out of him this year and some big plays in the field!

Payt Heather Hill said she saw you at the party the other night.... she said you’re like me except I’m funnier! haha That made me happy, mostly the part about how you’re like me! I love and miss ya a ton buddy, and I think we all know you are funnier. But she wasn’t gonna go so far as to say I’m better looking! hahaha YOU take the cake on both!For sure! I’m so excited about you working on your papers! That’s such an exciting thing!! Just make sure that you don’t leave before we hangout for a while! Well thanks for the update! You guys are so great!!

Mom, I wanted to ask you a favor? It’s Edilyn’s birthday soon and I was wondering if you could get that lotion for her? Also, Elder Woods comes from a family where no one has gone to college. He wants to go, but he doesn’t know how and his family doesn’t know anything about it. I can tell he’s a little stressed and we would love to room together at Utah State, or wherever. It’s forever away, but he didn’t take the ACT, but he did have like a 3.8 GPA in high school. He’s a super smart kid and I was just wondering if you could do some research and see if he could even get in anywhere with out the ACT, and see what he would have to do. I don’t think it’s a rush, but I was wondering if you could just check it out. He’s such a good kid and I don’t want him getting home and getting stuck in his little town, if there’s a way out. Sorry, I feel like a lot of my email is just asking you to do stuff. Some things never change! haha You’re amazing Mom!!

Well this week was great! First off, I went on an exchange with another Elder Smith. It was great! I’d knock on a door and say, "Hi, I’m Elder Smith and this is Elder Smith...” We had interviews and Zone Conference this week and so we got out early to go and get stuff set up, and we got a flat tire! So we had to put on a spare. Let me just say, if you wanna bad tire off and a spare on, in under 3 hours, Elder Lovelace and I are the guys to call! hahaha Just kidding! It wasn’t quite that bad, but man, it was a pain! We were in our nicer suits out in the mud, trying to get to interviews. Luckily, Elders Leonard and Woods bailed us out, got everything set up, and it all went smooth. It was a funny morning for sure!

We are working with so many great people right now! Like they are all such golden investigators who sincerely want to know the truth!! Laury is now in Mosiah 8!! It’s crazy! I think she knows it’s true, but she is just nervous to pull the trigger and she wants to finish the book first. Ronald is so good, but his family didn’t come to church this week, so he didn’t either! aaahhh! So frustrating! The Spirit is always so strong when we teach him! He has to know it’s true!! We will see what happens this week! Bruce is doing so good! He is supposed to have an interview this week, but he is still struggling with coffee, so we will see what happens. Karla is good, but she is living with her boyfriend, who is a member, and who doesn’t want to move out. Teaching the Law of Chastity to people that you love (one of which is a member and already knows it’s wrong) is super .....hard, interesting, and frustrating! I have such a testimony of the Law of Chastity though!!! Man it make so much sense!! JUST LIVE IT!! aaahhh!! So that lesson didn’t go too great and so hopefully we can make a recovery with them this week!!

We also are teaching this Baptist/Menanite family and all I have to say is, WOW! They are so good!! They know the bible so good, but they listen to us!! They read the Book of Mormon. He even came to Conference. Their names are Nathan and Maria!! If they get Baptized they with be the next Chris and Rocky Baronins! Like wow, they are so great! They are so kind to us and they feed us homemade pastries every time we go over. Man, it’s crazy how many great people we have to teach!

I did have a question for everybody this week for the entire fam, Jay, G-pa, G-ma, Papa and Grammy, Aunts, Uncles and cousins included. What are some ideas to bring the Spirit into the lesson and help these people get answers to their prayers? I know that’s a super broad question, and one that I’m sure we would all like the perfect answer for, but I just wanted to hear your ideas? I really would just love to try any ideas you have so that the Spirit can play a bigger role in our teaching!

I’m so grateful to be here though, and I’m so grateful for all that you all do for me!! I am so blessed!! So I had a really neat experience a couple days ago that really topped off the week. It started out with bad news. The bad news is that Amie and Godwin are moving soon to BC. The good news is that they threw a going away party. haha We got there and it is Elder Woods, Leonard, Lovelace and me, Edilyn, Amie, Godwin, and Brother Lord! It was sooo much fun!! Great food, great Christian-African music, that I didn’t understand and great company! haha Elder Woods leaned over to me and said, "Man, did you ever think this would happen!?” haha Then he said, “This is like the last scene in a movie!" haha He cracks me up! But it’s so true! It was so neat! I love these people sooo much and it’s such a neat thing to see the Gospel change them!! I’m so grateful to be a missionary! There are a lot of frustrating things, but the blessing out weigh the hard times 1,000,000 to 1!! I’m so grateful for how blessed I am!! I’m so grateful for the gospel!! Time’s going way too fast!! I’m sooo grateful to be here!! I love you all so much! Have a great week! Love Elder Smith

WE ARE GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!!

2011-04-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

WE ARE GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!

Man! I can’t believe it! It is sooooo exciting!!! Everyone here was so caught off guard!! It was so great because we were there for conference and we had Ronald and Laury there for the first session!! We sat down and all was going good. President Monson started and I was excited about the Idaho one and then they announced the Winnipeg Temple and the place just went crazy!!! hahaha It was so wonderful! It was the first time I’ve ever heard so much gasping, clapping, screaming and crying in the chapel!! The Spirit was so strong and I was trying not to bawl and trying to explain what was going on to Ronald and Laury! I don’t think what I said made any sense and I’m pretty sure they still had no idea what was going on, but I don’t think there is any way that they didn’t feel the Spirit!! I LOVE CONFERENCE!!! IT WAS SUCH A WONDERFUL WEEK!! I just can’t believe that we are getting a temple!!! I haven’t been to the temple in a year and a half and I love and miss the temple so much!! We take the blessings of the temple so for granted in Idaho!!! It is such a wonderful thing to have a temple close by! There are members here that for years have driven 7 hours to Regina, at least once a month. They are all so excited!! It’s such a neat thing to be here for!! It really just re-excited everyone for the work!! It is such a neat thing!!

But man, this week all around was great! Our meetings in both Brandon and Winnipeg went great! We put together a fun object lesson - relay race thing and it went great!! I love teaching!! It is so fun when it goes well!! We had some wonderful lessons and we are working with so many good people right now!! Ronald is amazing and so ready!! I hope he pulls the trigger soon!! He is so ready!! The Spirit is so strong when we teach there!! His sister makes us amazing food too!! And Mom and Dad, I’m so sorry but my table manners have gotten worse while I’ve been here! hahah In the Philippines the only table rule is enjoy your food!! The last couple meals we have eaten with our hands. We had fish and rice the other day and my hand smelt fishy the rest of the week! My manners have gotten worse, but I’m getting really good at eating with my hands and eating with a spoon in my right hand and a fork in my left! Double fisting is suggested!

Ronald came to 2 sessions of conference though, and he seemed to really enjoy it! He is so great! We have a ton of great people we are working with!! We had 9 different investigators that came to conference!! It was so great!! Bruce and Karla are still working towards their date but they both have some things to get over before they will be ready! Ronald is ready, but he just needs to decide to take the leap of faith! I feel that he knows it’s true, but he’s just scared of the reaction of his family! They were hard on Sister Avila (his sister) when she was baptized so hopefully he can make the leap!

We have been so blessed and I’m so excited to see what’s to come in the next few weeks!! So I had a funny story for ya! We were teaching Karla and Keri the other day. Keri is a less active member that is great and his GIRLFRIEND is Karla. She’s the one investigating and she’s great but we decided to go through the baptismal interview questions and talk about what all we still had to teach and what she had to do to be ready for baptism. We knew she was all good except the law of chastity issue because they are living together. So it gets to that question and we read it and briefly describe it and sit there in silence! Keri says, "awkward silence......" He turns to Karla and says, "We need to get married!" haha It was so funny. Me and Elder Lovelace were both trying to not laugh! haha They are way good and I think all will workout, but we have to wait till there married first. Hopefully all goes well there! But man, missions are the best!!! I learned so much from conference and I’m so excited to go crazy applying it all!! The gospel is so true!! It’s such a neat thing because no matter where you go, the gospel is still true!! I am so grateful for how blessed I have been to have always had it in my life! It’s so crazy how much we take it for granted. We have church, the scriptures, prayer, the priesthood, prophets, apostles, the temple and more and so often we don’t take advantage of it all! I’m so grateful for all that I have been blessed with and I’m so grateful for all the love and support that you all give me! Thanks for the wonderful emails and the vacation update!! You are all so wonderful! Be safe and smart and have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith

P.S. Mom, definitely schedule in being here for the dedication!! hahaha Man it’s sooooo exciting! Love you!!

"I FEEL LIKE I DON'T HAVE TIME TO TAKE A BREATH!"

2011-03-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hey!

First off, Dad I hope you don’t feel bad about last week! i knew you wouldn't miss! haha i figured the computer was being dumb! Edilyn is sooo great! haha She had it to me like the next day! She said it made her happy to know that you could rely on her. Payt, thanks so much for the missionary and life update! I can’t believe everybody is on a mission and getting home from missions! I’m so sad that I wasn’t there for Chet’s homecoming! I love that kid! He is a spiritual giant! It’s soooooo weird that he is home though!! Like he just left!!! Tell him I say hello!

Mom it looks like you had a blast in Cali and I’m glad to hear that everybody survived!! Your California adventure stories made me laugh. I loved the pic and singing with Farley story! You guys looked like some classy, happnen young mothers! Mom and Dad thanks for the email last week! I really liked the advise! You are all so wonderful!! Dad I love the quotes you send!! I love and miss all of you so much, thank you so much for all that you do!

So this week was another good one!! The last couple weeks have been ridiculous! I feel like I don’t have time to take a breath, and the week is over!! We are working so hard, but a week just isn’t enough time and it comes and goes so fast! It’s ridiculous! We had ZLC this week so we were out of our area for a day. This week we are in Brandon Monday and half of Tuesday, and then we have another meeting in the city on Wednesday. It takes a lot of time, but it’s super fun to teach missionaries! We are excited about our Zone meeting this week! Hopefully it goes well! We also had Stake Correlation this week which was good!! I love the Stake President! He is a great guy and it’s been fun to get to know him!! You definitely need to treat is son good, if you see him because President Robison had the hookups here for us when we come to visit! He is a great guy! So that’s all the crazy, odd stuff we have going on! We also went to a fireside last night and I saw the Baronins there! They are sooo great!! I love and miss them a ton! Also, I talked to Belatu the other day!! She is doing sooooooo good!! She hasn’t missed a day of church since she was baptized! I love and miss her and her kids soooo much!! It’s sooo good to hear that she is doing so well!

This week was good though!! we are teaching so many good people right now and something’s got to give!! We invited Ronald to be baptized for the 3rd time this week! He knows it’s true and the Spirit is always so strong when we are there teaching him! But he just won’t pull the trigger. We had some great lessons with him this week. He has finally been reading and praying everyday and he was super committed to church on Sunday and then he stayed up till 4 AM on Saturday night talking to people in the Philippines!! aaaahhhh He slept in and missed church! So frustrating! haha We will get him next week though!! There are four sessions! haha Good luck thinking up four excuses in 2 days! I love Ronald so much though and his only hold up is that his family is almost all Catholic! He’s ready though! Hopefully all goes well! Keep him in your prayers!!

Laury was sick all week so we haven’t seen her. Michelle and Derick are so good! We had a great lesson with them and they said they would be to church! Edilyn has been amazing fellowship! She invited them to church and she was there ride and it was gonna be so good, she was so excited!! And they bailed Sunday morning! I felt so bad and mad because I wanted them there, but mostly because Edilyn was so mad! haha She takes missionary work seriously! She was not happy! That family is so great!! Oh and you were wondering what you could send her? She likes a lotion from Victoria Secret called Sweet Temptations hahaha I know that’s kind of a funny request, but they don’t have Victoria Secret in Canada or the Philippines haha So I don’t think she even knows what the store is! hahaha But she likes the lotion! She’s funny! But you will definitely be her favorite if you send her that.

But hopefully this week Michelle and Dereck will come! They are so good! This week we taught a member and his girlfriend. The member is great and we set a baptismal date with his girlfriend, but they have to get married first. Her name is Carla and she’s really good and they made it out to church! We also set a date with a great man named Bruce! He is way good but his wife. . . . not so much! haha He came to church by himself because she bailed!! We will have to see what happens there. We have so many good things going and so hopefully we see some more baptisms soon! I feel super rushed because I don’t think I will have another transfer here! Hopefully I will, but I’ve been here a long time so I probably won’t have more than just over a month left here! Hopefully everything starts falling into place for all of these great people! We really have been so blessed with great people to teach! Hopefully all goes well!!

Missions are the best! Oh Dad, to answer you and Gpa and Gma’s questions, Elder Lovelace is from Georgia! He says “yawl” a lot! haha He’s great! He did a year at BYU before his mission and that’s where he will be when he gets home. He was the youngest in his family, so since he left, his parents moved to Utah for a job and now they are just moving again to London!! Crazy! I’m glad you aren’t going anywhere crazy! He has no home to go home to! But he does have a future wife and his parent’s old house in Utah! hahaha He’s a funny kid and a super hard worker! It’ll be a great transfer!! Well I gotta go, but I love all of you so much! I’m so grateful for all that you do for me!! I have the best family ever!! Stay safe and keep me posted!! Love ya lots!

Love Elder Smith!

ON EXCHANGE WITH A GREENY FROM IDAHO!

2011-03-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Man! Mom leaves town and Dad and Payt don’t email!! I see how it is!! Well, I know who loves me most! hahahaha It looks like you guys had a great week! Man, Mom you are like the crazy fun Mom! haha Ditchen’ the fam to go to Cali!! You should do it again with me next year! haha I love the pics! Be safe and don’t drive home late at night or Dad won’t be happy!!! Kinda like someone else you know did a few years ago!

Well, first off, I am wondering if Alex ever got his b-day package... I haven’t heard anything and I’m hoping it made it there!! Let me know. Second, so who IS Payt dating?? I can never tell! Marissa is a funny girl! I’m glad he’s such a champ, with such good friends!! Payt and Dad please don’t have nightmares because I didn’t get your emails. I know things are crazy and I’m sure you probably sent them and they didn’t come through! Just give Edilyn a shout out and let me know your all good and you didn’t get thrown in jail because of a crazy bachelor party or something! Let me know!

Well this week was interesting! We worked super hard and had a wonderful week!! We thought we were gonna have 7 amazing people out to church, then Sunday came and not one person showed! It was soooo frustrating!! Going to church without investigators is like going to a dance without a date. It just feels terrible!! It was just kind of a lame ending to a great week!! We are working with so many great people right now. This week we found a new Filipino house! We brought Edilyn and Roel over with us and had such a great lesson!! Edilyn is so amazing! Like she does more than you would ever dream of expecting her to do! She is the fellow-shipping champ! Whatever she touches, wants to get baptized!! It is just so neat to be around members who have that missionary work fire! We taught them again and Edilyn brought them food and committed them to church! They are so good! They had to bale on church because friends were over till 5 in the morning and Edilyn was so upset. She won’t let them miss next week! THEY ARE SO GOOD THOUGH! The two we are teaching are Derrick and Michelle and I’m super excited for them! We also found a great family and older couple this week! We are super excited about them!! Ronald and Laury still don’t have baptismal dates yet, but the are both amazing! We are teaching both of them tonight! Ronald lives with the members and he is so good!! He didn’t make it to church because the members he is living with, slept in! How ridiculous! They have a family member with them that wants to come to church, that is investigating, and they sleep through church!! aaahhhh!! Tonight we will be teaching SABBATH DAY! Fun stuff! haha Laury’s family came to her house so she couldn’t come either! She is so good! She is struggling through 2 Nephi right now and I don’t know how to answer her questions!! I just keep saying, "Um, I think that’s talking about the Savior or Second Coming, or something...." hahaha Just kidding! Man, I wish the Isaiah scriptures weren’t so close to the beginning!

We are also teaching two super smart Baptist families! Man, they know there bibles! Roger and Dana are having us over for supper this Friday and I’m nervous! He is a Baptist pastor, but he has Mormon family members. They have hard questions!! We also are teaching this couple that have his parents on a mission for the Baptist Church in Ethiopia! He grew up there! He’s a white guy, but he is so nice and humble! Like both of the young couples look like Mormon families! They are so great, and really so kind to us!! I don’t know why they are meeting with us though??? They are pretty set in there ways, but they aren’t trying to convert us, and they are really trying to learn. I have learned a ton from teachig them!! It really has strengthened my testimony, especially teaching the Plan of Salvation because it really makes sense to them! You see the wheels turning and it’s neat! Very intimidating too though, because they know the scriptures well!! It’ll be fun to see what happens with them this week!

So it really was a great week! We are teaching a lot, and this area is so wonderful!! Amie and Godwin rolled up to church in there own rig again this week! haha Seeing all the recent converts there, makes me so happy!! They are SO on fire!

So it was a great week, but the end was kinda dumb! On Saturday we drove all the way to Brandon for a baptismal interview. We got there and it didn’t work out! We didn’t get to even do any interviews! It’s so frustrating! So we turned around and came back!! We were mad, but it was ok because since we were going, the night before, on Friday, we left and went to Portage where there is a young missionary in our zone that is training. We went on exchange for the night, and I got to go out with the new Greeny and it was a blast! His name is Elder Bodily and he’s from Westen Idaho! It was his second day in the mission and we went out tracting! We set a goal to set 4 appointments and get in and teach a lesson in the 2.5 hours that we had. He was so nervous!! We have really been pushing our zone to invite more people to be baptized and so I told him to do it on a door approach! He was so nervous! I invited a couple people but it just wasn’t working out for him. But then finally he did it! It was hilarious, but sooo good! Then we got invited in and we only had 15 minutes so I told him that we would teach the first half of lesson one. We got it started and we prayed. Then the first principle in lesson one is ‘God is our loving Heavenly Father’ so I set is up perfect and say, "First, we want talk about how God is our loving Heavenly Father.” I turn to him, and he totally just says everything he knows about lesson one, in like 60 seconds. haha Seriously! In 60 seconds he said prophets, apostasy, restoration, Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon. haha It was hilarious! The investigator was a great guy and a little caught of guard, but I’m like, hey let’s roll with it! So I kinda tied it all together and we invited him to be baptized! He said yes, and set a date! hahaha It was soooo great!! We got our 4 appointments and taught our lesson! We also found a new investigator and set a baptismal date! It was so great and so fun!! I love the fire that new missionaries have! So that little exchange made our trip to Brandon (for a candy bar) all worth it!!

Missions are the best!! I’m so grateful for how blessed I am! I love all of you so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do!! Mom, I love you so much! Stay safe and have a great trip!! Payt and Dad... I still love you!! haha Please don’t have nightmares!! I didn’t wanna tell ya tha I didn’t get them, but I wanted you to know so I didn’t miss any info you sent! haha I love you all so much! Tell A-rod Happy Birthday again! Hopefully he got his package! Tell him and Addi I love them! Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Smith

UNCLE DOUG IS SO LUCKY - FOR ONCE!

2011-03-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hey!!

First off, tell Uncle Doug that if BYU gets into the big game I’m sure President will let me leave for a couple days and it’s only right that Uncle Doug invites his favorite nephew to go with him!! That’s crazy that he won! Man, Uncle Doug does have some good luck come his way, every once in awhile!! Man I miss him and his fam!! Tell them I love and miss um! It looks like you had a fun week cleaning! Dad and his new toys gave me a good chuckle! Don’t burn your eye out! haha And sounds like Jimmer is crazy good!! It’s too bad he plays for BYU because they will get your hopes up and loose the second game of the tourney! haha At least they are consistent! I can’t wait to hear the news! Payt and Dad why aren’t you going to the tourney? Or are you!? We need to keep that tradition going! And Mom and Dad, don’t stress!! I’m doing great!! My nose just hasn’t stopped running all week!! Edilyn shot me up with some homemade lemonade and I’m feeling great!! I have been so blessed to stay healthy on my mission! Hopefully it stays that way! I really am doing great! DON’T WORRY!!!

So this week was really weird! I lost another comp to the office. haha Elder Woods and Elder Leonard are the Assistants and they will do sooo great!!! It’s crazy because when I got to this area, Elder Woods had just became a district leader! I’VE BEEN HERE A LONG TIME!! I love this ward and the people here and I’m super grateful to be staying another one! I had such a great time with Elder Woods and I had a feeling he’d be headed for the office! He is such a great missionary and I’m super glad I got to serve with him!! We have big plans for a road trip back up here after the mission! We will have to see what happens. There are so many great missionaries here!! Missions are the best!!

This week was great, but crazy! We had exchanges and then Elder Woods had to go to the office so I was with Elder Felix for a day which was a lot of fun and then I got my new comp Elder Lovelace! Elder Lovelace is a champ! He only has 3 months left!! He is a humble giant and a ton of fun!! He was a LaCross star back home so I’m gonna come home one! haha We were messen around with his sticks today for p-day and it was a blast! I’m sad I never played!! He’s had a crazy mission! He was a district leader like 6 months ago, but then the last 6 months he’s just been a normal missionary, put with some of the missionaries with issues!! He is so patient and humble!! I’m super excited to work with him and he will be a great zone leader!! He’s a champ and it should be a great transfer!! I have been so blessed with great companions!!! Oh, get this! Elder Platt is the other new zone leader this transfer! haha He’s a champ!

So this week was weird but sooo great!! Ronald is gold!! I’m sooo excited for him! We taught him another couple times last week and he is doing so good!! He came to church this week and his sister, that he is living with, spoke! It was a great talk and I’m so excited for him! We are hoping to set a date with him tonight! Hopefully all goes well!! Church went great except for priesthood meeting! haha I love the ward, but there are some crazies and they got into an argument about what all is included in the Word of Wisdom!! Man it was hilarious and terrible! It’s funny because the missionaries here play such a different role! haha Like back home, they are the bystanders, but here we are the referee and the ones that stop the false doctrine. haha It was a combined Elders and High Priests for the class and the argument didn’t end until I spoke up and set everybody straight! It’s soooo crazy!! Hopefully it didn’t set Ronald back too much!! The church is still true!

Laury came this week too and she had a great time! We talked to a member before and she fellow shipped her so good! We hope to set a date with her this week, too!! Ronald and Laury are kingdom builders for sure! Keep them in your prayers and hopefully all goes well!! Bill made it again this week too but he has a lot going against him right now! He wants to get baptized, but he’s going through some crazy stuff right now! We have been so blessed in this area!! I love it so much and I’m super excited for another 6 weeks!!

It’s sooo crazy that Riley is home and time is going so fast!! It’s all so crazy how much some people have progressed while I’ve been here! I got an update on the Waverly Ward this week!! All the recent converts are doing great! Tim Jackson’s girlfriend is baptized and they are a cute super hilarious couple! haha Obengs are doing so good! Akoth spoke in church a couple weeks ago and I guess it was great! Belatu doesn’t miss a week! They all are doing so great! And get this!!! Pious is the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum! It’s so great! I love him so much! Just over a year ago he wasn’t active and after the Obeng family, he is one of the most solid members in the ward! He is so wonderful!! This week he gave a talk and I guess the speakers to the satellite thing got turned on, so the speakers in the chapel were saying ENGLISH in the funny computer ladies voice. haha They eventually fixed it but when he was speaking and it said it in his African accent, he said “Oh, I must be really good at english.” haha I guess the ward lost it laughing! He is such a funny guy and a spiritual powerhouse! I love and miss that ward a bunch! I’m super jealous that Elder Woods gets to go to the Waverly Ward! But I can’t complain, I was there a long time! There are so many wonderful people here and I have gotten to see so many miracles!! And I’m sure there are many to come!! I’m so nervous and excited for Laury and Ronald! I hope all goes well! I will keep you posted!! It should be another great week!!

I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do! I did have a question for all of you! I feel bad because I really haven’t used you enough for advise and help!! I’m gonna try and ask for more help and advice from now on but this transfer Elder Lovelace and I really want to work on being more charitable and we want our investigators and missionaries in our zone to know that we really love them and care about them? So I was wondering if you have any advice on things to do to gain people’s trust and help them to know that we really love them and want the best for them! Sorry I know that’s kind of a hard question, but I’m sure you will have some wonderful advice! haha No pressure. But I love you all so much and I am doing so great!! The church is sooo true and missions are the best!! I love all of you a bunch!! Have a great week!!! Love Elder Smith

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

2011-03-07T22:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Alex!!

It looks like it was a fun party!! But Mom, you’re supposed to get after kids for door bell ditching, your not supposed to be the get away car! hahaha You are the best Mom ever! I showed Elder Woods the picture of Riley and he’s like, man is your Mom just involved in everything!? haha Yep, she sure is!! She’s the best! Edilyn loved what you sent her! She is obsessed with lotion so that gift was wonderful!! She also loved the apron! You are all so wonderful!! Dad, sorry about yet another holiday incident! That stinks! Hopefully all goes well with Al’s bow! We all know how much you care! You’re amazing! But Alex buddy!! Happy Birthday!! Man it’s your B-day, you haven’t gotten a gift from me and you didn’t even write me!! Bold move!! haha I sent your gift last week, hopefully it gets there soon! I put in a card but it’s hidden between the 2 boxes, so make sure you don’t throw it away!! Buddy I’m so proud of you! I can’t believe how big and handsome you are!! Hopefully you can get around school without all the ladies getting in your way and following you around! Just make sure you don’t invite any of them to your baseball games because then they will really be after you! I’m so proud of you and all of the great decisions you are making!! I can’t believe you have the Priesthood!! That is so great!! Keep being a great example to all of us and hopefully you had a wonderful week!! I love you a ton buddy!! Keep being a stud!! Mom, thank you so much for the package!! I loved the chocolate stuff! And the zit stuff is great! Thank you so much!! You are wonderful!! Payton buddy, I miss you! Please give me more updates and more pics!! I want some skiing pics please!!!! Love ya!

Well this week was a good one!! We have been very blessed with finding wonderful people!! Edilyn is like the referral champ! She is always doing missionary work!! We also have been blessed with some great people through finding and part member families. Right now I am most excited about a young man named Ronald. He lives with the Avila family that are wonderful members. He just moved in with them 9 months ago from the Philippines! I love Filipino people!! The missionaries have tried to get in to teach him before, but he wouldn’t have it, but he started playing b-ball with us on p-days and we got to know him better. During the course of the last couple months I asked him a couple times if we could come and teach him, but he kept saying I donno. And then just dodging the question. Finally he let us in! We had a wonderful lesson with him!! We then got invited back and ate supper, with our hands, Filipino style! And Dad thought I’d learn table manners on my mission!!! hahahah It was a blast! Then we told them that the next time we’d feed them some Idahoan waffles with choke cherry syrup! It was a blast and we had another great lesson with him!! We are meeting with him again on Tuesday!! His family here, that are members, are wonderful!! I love all of them so much and I really hope things work out! Ronald is a champ!! Please keep him in your prayers! He felt the Spirit in the lesson and I think he already knows it’s true, he just has lots of family that are Catholic, that live here too! Hopefully all goes well! He is so great!

We also had a lesson with Laury this week but I couldn’t go because I was on kind of a last minute exchange. Elder Woods said it went good though and she was even planning on church, but she bailed last minute. We had to go on exchange because we have this 3-some in our zone and 2 of them have been at each others throats. So we went on exchange and I got to be Mom with the two that were fighting. It was a lot of fun. They both are great kids, but very different and both of them have there own way of going about things. It was an interesting exchange, but a lot of fun. Hopefully it helped. They got along great the whole day, but then at the end they were fighting over something ridiculous. It was funny because it helped me to realize that most of the time if people don’t get along it’s because of both of them. My mission has made me feel terrible about not being better friends with Payt, and others!! Payt is the best friend a kid could have though!!! When we are both home, we will be inseparable! But it’s fun to go on exchanges because hopefully I help, but I always learn a ton! I’ve found that the Gospel, and cookies, are the solution to every problem! haha After they were fighting, I whipped out a cookie mix before bed and everyone was friends again! Hopefully they can get along for the next week before transfers! I am so grateful for the chance to serve a mission! Missions are the best! I really have met so many amazing people and I have been so blessed with so many wonderful opportunities! I feel selfish a lot because I’m so happy all the time! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so wonderful and as we live it, it can really change us and make our lives better!!

This Sunday we had some good people out to church but the climax of the day was that Amie and Godwin got their car going! They had us go over so they could follow us to the church because it’s a good 10-15 minute drive from their place to the church! We have wonderful members that are willing to give them rides, but it was so wonderful to see their little family roll up to church in their own rig! haha That made my week!! It’s been so wonderful to watch them and Marites and Edilyn change so much!! It is so great to be a missionary! The Gospel is wonderful!!

I love all of you sooo much!! I’m so grateful for all that you do for me! Tell Gpa and Gma thanks again for the wonderful letters!! I feel terrible about never being able to write them back! I love their letters! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and love everyday! Love Elder Smith

Oh, I got time for one more story because I’m too lazy to write in my journal and I don’t wanna forget it. We found a man named Dennis that is so prepared! We taught him 3 times in about a week and a half and he left on Sunday for the Philippines. Edilyn came with us and our lessons were so great! He said he wanted to get baptized, but he is moving back to the Philippines for a year! He gave us all of his info though and he promised he’d keep investigating there. He is such a wonderful man and I’m so sad that he is moving!! Hopefully I get some pictures of his baptism in a month or so! I guess we will see! But I love you all a ton! Have a wonderful week! Happy Birthday Alex!

Love Elder Smith

BIBLE BASHING IN QUIZNO'S

2011-02-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

Hey!

Thanks so much for all of the great emails! It sounds like it was a great week for everybody! Sounds like you’ve got an exciting spring break coming! That should be a blast!! I can’t wait for spring! It keeps warming up to like -10 and we think its coming and then it shoots back down to the -30’s. It’s ridiculous! Luckily we’ve been teaching a lot! It sounds like it’s been cold there too eh? That’s no good! How’s the skiing been Payt? Mom thanks for staying on top of all the schooling stuff. I have to say its kind of depressing to think about school again! Listening to Payt talk about his senior thesis made me upset to my stomach! By the way, what did you write it about, Payt? I loved your emails though! I got a chuckle because both mom and dad said "well not to make you trunky but...." haha Over a year down and you still want me back. I also laughed because Mom said she’d be content to have me there for bike rides, lunches, shopping and movies. I’m sure after a week a that you’d be ready to ship me off again! You guys are the best! I love and miss you a ton!!

So this week as just been crazy! Today we thought we were gonna be on schedule to get everything done so we could have time to clean up the apartment and get Alex’s gift sent, but then we ran into a guy that wanted to bash with us at Quiznos. Man, I was so excited about Quiznos and this guy really messed it up! haha I didn’t even enjoy my sandwich. We were there for an hour and it went no where! How do people not see that the church is true!?!? It’s funny because I’ve tried so hard to not get contentious with people and I’ve gotten a ton better like I haven’t bashed with someone in a long time. But man, when you interupt Quiznos and tell me that Joseph Smith is not a prophet, it sets me off! haha This guy caught me at the wrong time, so i just went bible bashing crazy. It’s funny because like all our points are right and make sense! I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I always feel terrible when it’s all said and done because without the Spirit, it goes no where. It’s a funny thing! It’s been one of those things that has been so neat for me to see on my mission! The Holy Ghost is sooo wonderful! As we strive to live worthy of it, it can make such a huge impact on our lives! It’s been hard to learn because of my pride, but it really isn’t me at all that converts people to the Church of Jesus Christ and if it is because of me, it doesn’t last. People don’t truly gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ until they receive and recognize an answer from the Holy Ghost. And once we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, it can help us so much as we let it! And when we live worthy of it and listen, life is sooo great! I am so grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost!!

But anyways, this week was kinda crazy!! We had a lot of miracles and craziness! A lady that we tracted into, invited us over for food. She said, “Whatta you want?” And she listed off some things and we said we were happy with anything and she said, “Well I’ll make whatever.” She listed of some more and then said “steak” and both me and Elder Woods said, “Yes please!” haha So we showed up and the steaks are all ready and everything. She lives with her boyfriend so we were excited because we wanted to teach him and we thought she was a member. After eating, we found out that neither one of them was a member!! My eyebrows raised! haha I guess her whole family got baptized when she was younger, but her. They live in a super nice house with a kid and they want to get married but they don’t know what church to get married in! After supper we had a great lesson, and we are going over again this week! It was super exciting! We also taught a great lady on Saturday night! We had a great lesson with her and she came to church the next day!! We were super excited about the week and then church got here.... we had a couple people there, but man the Sacrament Meeting was soooo painful! Crazy speakers, the choir of 7 people sang, (3 never went to the practices and 2 were the other elders). hahaa Man, I was cherry red and trying to decide wether to laugh or cry! I promise you that you have never experienced a meeting like that! haha Like man, I’ve had a goal to not say anything negative and I was doing great until Sunday! haha Good thing it’s a new week and I can repent and reevaluate! Like man I wish Dad would have been there. We would have had some good laughs! BECAUSE OF IT, I KNOW THAT THE CHURCH IS TRUE!! There is noooo way that people would come back week after week if it wasn’t! The people here are so amazing and so loving and long suffering! I asked the new lady what she thought. She said "hmmm, what did I think........." She looked at me with a confused questioning look and said "It was... interesting." Luckily, even with crazy people and crazy services, I think new people still feel something there, because she is still having us come and see her this week! It’s been so neat though because even with all of the imperfections of this ward, the Spirit is still there and there are some amazing members!

We have a busy, exciting week ahead of us! Hopefully all goes well!! I love and miss you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do for me! The church is so true!! Have a wonderful week! Love Elder Smith

A LONG COLD WEEK!

2011-02-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hey hey hey!

haha I’m running out of titles for my emails.... The same one is fitting for a lot of weeks! This week was a hard fought one for sure! Everything is so great! Missions are so great but we had kind of an “elevator affect” in our area where we got some people baptized and some bailed out of the elevator and now we are going back down to try and find more people! It’s been crazy because we have been super blessed with finding and teaching but not a lot of the people are willing to keep commitments. It’s great to have humbling weeks to reevaluate where you are, and make new plans and goals! I can’t even say its been a humbling time because we have been so blessed. But it was just kind of an odd week! It is so amazing how blessed we have been and I’m so excited to go and find some more great people! We were out at Brandon last Monday and it was fun to go bowling again! It always makes for a crazy week though because we don’t get back until Tuesday evening and then we have to teach another meeting Wednesday morning and then we have to try and teach everybody and get people to church with the days we have left! I always thought that missions would be this spiritual, relaxing 2 year get away with some hard work, but man! Like the spiritual stuff is definitely there but I feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off all the time! haha We have exchanges all the time and meetings and a ton of crazy stuff with trying to find, teach, and baptize!! It has been such a great experience though because I really have seen how much we all are capable of and what a difference it makes when you rely on the Lord!!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any funny stories for ya this week. It was a week full of driving, tracting, teaching, and people bailing on commitments! Maritess and Edilyn and Amie and Godwin are all doing so great though! The ward here is wonderful and it is so great to be here!! I did have a couple questions for ya. A lot of the missionaries have already applied for school! I’m not trunken out or anything, but it made me nervous because they already have applied for the fall semester, which means I probably have to apply for the winter one in the next couple months, or so. I know you are probably all on top of it but I was wondering if you had any info? They had to write some little short essays and stuff to apply. So I was wondering if you could see what the details are on that. I was wondering if you could get info so I can apply to Utah State, BYU, ISU, U of Utah, BUYI, and any others that you think are a good idea. I haven’t thought about it at all but Elder Leonard already has been accepted and picked out his classes and he only came out 2 transfers before me, so I was a little worried about it! hahaha I’m sure that Mom is already all over it though! So maybe wait till next week, after the “family thesis” is over to check out the schooling stuff! haha

Sorry my email is so lame this week!! It was an interesting week and I don’t have much time because we have an appointment to rush off to! I love you all so much though! I’M SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL THAT YOU DO! I hope you had a blast at the cabin and have a great week! I love you all a bunch!! Love Elder Smith

AMIE AND GODWIN GOT BAPTIZED!

2011-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Hey!! Happy Valentines Day!

Mom, great work on the cookies, yet again! You and Nae are champs!! You both look like the more kids you get out of the house, the younger you get! haha I miss you a bunch! Sounds like you had a burnt meat miracle ehh!? That’s great that everything worked out! Tell Bishop I say hello! I feel terrible because I haven’t written him at all! Also before I forget, Sister Paulson loved your apron! Everytime I’m at the mission home eating her food she wears it proudly! You’re amazing! Payt it sounds like you had a blast at the dance! I’m pretty sure that you’re ‘breaking even with sunday blessings theory’ is flawed though! It’s like eating a salad and then eating all you can at McDonalds! hahah I love you kid! I felt terrible when I got your letters talking about your nightmares because I called you out about not writing me. I loved the Jedi braid though. I think I’ll carry it all over and rub it for good luck! Addison and Dad, looking good for the Daddy/Daughter Date!! I’m diggin’ the pink, Pops. I love and miss you all a ton and I’m so grateful for all that you do!!

So I’ve got some funny stories to start off. I couldn’t remember if I told you this one when it happened so I’ll tell ya now. First off, a couple weeks ago we were tracting and our car was down the street. All of the sudden a big SWAT bus with tons of cop cars and an ambulance rolled up right in front of us! The cops go crazy and tell us to get away and the SWAT guys bale out of the huge bus thing and surround the house and bust in! We were standing like 8 houses down, just in shock! haha The cops were punks and just ridiculous with us. They acted like WE were criminals! The problem was that we had and appointment, and our car was right where the SWAT bus was. So we had to wait for it to clear out before we could go to the appointment. It was pretty funny.

The other funny story was last night, we were tracting and tons of ridiculous hilarious stuff was happening. But we get to this one house and this guy invites us in! He was nice and we went in and sat down and he had a huge thing of vodka on his coffee table. He was a little tipsy so we were gonna leave but he told us that he had lost his whole family and now he was an alcoholic. He started crying and I felt way bad for him. We comforted him a little and we told him that we would come back when he was sober. He said he wanted us to, but he wasn’t sure. So there was a checkerboard on his desk and I remembered all those missionary movies where the missionary beats the kid in basketball and then teaches him and he gets baptized...... so I’m like, “If I beat you in checkers, you let us throw away all your alcohol and come teach you when your sober.” He said, “Deal!” So I’m like alright I’ll rock this drunk guy and get rid of all of his alcohol. 2 minutes later, I’m sitting there in confusion after being completely destroyed by a drunk guy in checkers! I give him a card and walk out in disgrace! We were there for like 10-15 minutes and in that time he pounded like 3 glasses of vodka and then rocked me in checkers! It was ridiculous! I definitely learned my lesson! I felt way dumb after and Elder Woods hasn’t been able to stop laughing about it.

The week was wonderful though!! Edilyn is so amazing! She has helped Amie and Godwin so much!! They were so ready! Edilyn’s surprise party was way good and Amie and Godwin loved it! It’s always a bitter sweet thing when people ask you to baptize them because I wanted a member to do it! When we asked her who she wanted to do it we listed all the possible members and then she said, “Can you do it?” So I changed the subject. And then asked her later and she was like, “Well can’t YOU do it? Aren’t you allowed to?” So we asked Godwin and he said, "Elder Smith!" I dodged it again and told her to pray about it and then I felt bad because I worried that I had offended her. So the third time I told her I’d love to. It’s just a weird thing because it’s a wonderful experience, but I think it’s best for members to do it. So it’s hard.

The Baptism went sooooooo great! The members really showed up! Edilyn’s talk was wonderful! She was so nervous about it! She is such a great lady! Brother Tolintino did a great job conducting! The whole service was so wonderful! Then at the end Brother Tolintino asked Amie and Godwin to bear their testimonies. This part for me is always super nerve wracking! Amie and Godwin were way nervous and I worried that members would judge them or that something embarrassing would happen to them. haha I don’t know, I shouldn’t worry, but I do and most baptism they don’t have them say anything. But they both said they would. Amie got up and shared such a wonderful, amazing testimony! It was so good and way funny too! She talked about how the missionaries would just never leave here alone and she tried to dodge them and she didn’t talk to us for a couple weeks and then one night she prayed and felt she should call us. That’s when we went over with Edilyn and set a date. She talked about setting a date and actually reading and praying and she talked about how she got her answer! It was so wonderful!! Like man, I was so happy! It was the best part of the night! She has such a strong testimony. Then Godwin got up! He’s only 10 and I had no idea what was gonna happen because he’s a lot like Alex! He’s way good and way funny but super shy. He got up and talked for like 8 minutes!! We were all shocked!! It honestly was amazing! He is such a bright kid!! It was such a wonderful night!! It was super stressful to get everything together, but man it went so well!! They were so grateful and it was such a wonderful night!

I honestly love being on a mission so much!! They are the best!! I have been so blessed in so many ways!! It was a really neat thing getting ready because this baptism really reminded me of my own baptism! I remember being super nervous and excited and relaxed because I had complete confidence that Dad knew what he was doing. I had a lot of those memories come back, being in with Godwin, having him wait for me to get all ready and me waiting for him to dry of and get dressed so I could go change. It’s crazy how fast time goes and crazy how different our lives all are. It made me so grateful for the amazing family that I have and for the wonderful things that I grew up with that I took so for granted! It also made me so grateful to be blessed with the opportunity to make a difference in Amie and Godwin’s lives. Missions are such a neat thing! Their confirmation was wonderful! Brother Tolintino did it and it was so great!! He is a great man that was a convert when he was younger in the Philippines. It’s crazy because here in Canada the members born into the church are the minority. It really was such a wonderful weekend!

I’m sure I forgot something, but hopefully Edilyn will fill in on anything I missed! haha The church is so true! I am so grateful for the gospel in my life! I’m so grateful for my wonderful friends and family and all the other blessings I receive and I’m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that knows all of us by name and wants the very best for us! Thanks for everything that all of you do! I love you all so much! Happy Valentines Day! Love Elder Smith

I LOVE BALUT! DID YOU KNOW - HOT TOMALES STOP A GAG REFLEX?

2011-02-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

Hey!!!

Wow! Another week come and gone! Thank you so much for all of the emails! You are all the best!! I love reading all of your emails so much! Payt you and your pals have the ski bum look down!! I’m very jealous, but very excited that I get all your clothes! Dad, the cupboard/bench they were sitting on looks great! I hope I got you and Grandpa’s carpenter jeans and I’m proud to say that I got your spelling jeans!! haha I also hope I can make a profit and follow the prophet the way you do! hahaha Man Dad I love and miss you soooooo much! haha Your bad spelling makes me trunky!! You all always write such great emails!! I loved hearing about our heritage. I feel so uneducated with it all! This transfer I have learned a ton about the Prophet Joseph Smith and so it was really neat to hear how close our family members were involved in the whole thing. Could you please send me a Line of Authority and also more neat stories? I’m worried about you all getting sick! Stay healthy please and keep me posted! I also have been worried about G-pa and G-ma since the accident.. How are they!? They are my most faithful letter writers and I feel terrible because I haven’t written a letter in FOREVER!!! Tell them I love them a bunch and I am so grateful for their wonderful letters! Please give me an update on Papa and Grammy! Tell them I love em and miss em a ton too! I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do!

I got some good pictures and videos of the people we teach and me eaten balute! haha So this week was crazy! I think I say that like every week but it was a good one! It started off with a birthday party at Edilyn’s! We ate great food and then they got us to eat balute! It’s a duck egg that has been left longer so that it actually has the little baby duck embryo in the egg. Filipinos love it and they love watching missionaries eat it even more! I pounded it no problem, but Elder Oberg didn’t do so well! I’ll send the video. But it was such a great night! Roel (Edilyn’s nephew) had invited a friend that is in his 20’s or 30’s named Chris. He isn’t a member and Edilyn’s daughter that isn’t a member was there too. So we rounded them all up and taught the whole group. Chris liked it but when we finished teaching we ended and I guess we chickened out on trying to get to teach him again. He recorded us eating balute and he thought it was hilarious. So we were rushing off to our next appointment, but I really didn’t wanna loose him with out setting up another appointment but I wasn’t sure how to do it with the whole crew there so I said “Alright, you think you’re so could at eaten balute, I bet you couldn’t eat 5 of those things... and Chris said “Sure I can, but I will eat 5 if you eat 2." So I said "Bets on Wednesday night, when we are here teaching again!" So we went back Wednesday and taught him the first lesson and I had to eat 2 balute, hahaha So I pounded 3 of those nasty things this week! It was great though and the lesson went good! He has a Book of Mormon and hopefully things will work out with him! Oh and I learned a neat missionary trick this week! Hot Tamales, the little red candy things, stop your gag reflex. So if you eat 3 or 4 of them, no matter what you eat, you can’t gag! haha Give it a try, it’s pretty neat! You can play with that thing in the back of your throat! haha

So the rest of the week was great too. We were worried about Amie and Godwin because they are always busy and they take a long time for us to teach them stuff but when we mentioned maybe moving the date back, they were not impressed. haha Amie said she was ready and she didn’t want to move it back. So we said ok but we had to meet with he a lot this week because we still had a ton to teach them and their interview was supposed to be Friday. It was so wonderful though because I finally felt like they were really committed this week! We met with them a lot and the lessons went so great!! I love them so much! They are wonderful and Edilyn is amazing fellowship! We finished everything and reviewed everything in one week. She is so busy with work that we had to meet with her a couple nights at 8 after she had worked the whole day! She is so great! We had some great lessons and she doesn’t read that well or remember stuff that great, so we had some really fun object lessons that helped a ton!! It’s so neat and fun when you have people with needs, and you pray about it and find ways to help them work through them! The lessons we taught really were just for Amie and godwin and the Spirit helped a ton! It was stressful, but by Saturday they were ready! Amie had some things that made it so she needed to be interviewed by President but it went great!! Both her and Godwin passed and they are both getting baptized next Saturday 7:00 PM!!! They are such amazing people and we are super excited for it!

Amie and Godwin’s interview was hilarious because they were both super nervous! They went in and got out and we started talking about the baptism. I asked her how it went and she just said good but she seemed like she was upset. It was weird, but we figured it had just been a stressful night. When she got home we talked to her on the phone and asked her what she was doing. She said her and godwin were watching a church movie we had given them and eating popcorn. She said after that they were gonna read scriptures and go to bed. That put a grin on my face, but she still seemed kinda down. I asked her if she was excited for the baptism and she said, “Well ya, but did I pass the interview?” President hadn’t told her she passed and she just figured we were talking about the baptism as if we were waiting on the final ok from President. I was like, “Amie, you passed!” She started screaming in the phone and going crazy! She said, "I’m the happiest lady in Manitoba!” It was the best! I felt super bad because I realized how we are so in the loop, but everything is so new and scary for investigators. I’m super glad I was born a member because I don’t know if I would have the guts and faith to go through the stuff a convert goes though! But it was a wonderful night!! I’m so excited for them! Hopefully all goes well this week and the baptism goes smoothly! They are so amazing and Edilyn is a powerhouse missionary! If it wasn’t for Edilyn’s help and testimony I don’t know if Amie and Godwin would be where they are!

Edilyn has such a strong testimony! She bore it in Sacrament Meeting and it was so powerful! She talked about what a blessing it has been for her to see her friends find the gospel! There weren’t too many dry eyes after her testimony. She is wonderful!!! She loves missionary work so much it’s crazy!! Amie and Godwin have grown so much it has been so neat to see! I love missionary work so much!! I can’t believe how blessed we have been to meet all of these wonderful people!! Also, on Sunday another one of our baptismal dates, Ralph came to church! He buses 45 minutes and because of the bus schedule he gets there 30 minutes early for church! He is great! He has his struggles with the Word of Wisdom, but hopefully he will be ready by the end of the month!! On Sunday he got up and bore a wonderful testimony! It was better than most of the members! It was pretty neat!!

It was such a great week!! Missions are the best!! There are so many ups and downs but it is such a wonderful blessing to be a missionary!!

Finally, I know you want an update on Mattie. She is ok, but still at the doctor a lot and her mom has gotten lots of people to ‘anti’ her lately. She still knows it’s true and we got to meet with her this week, but she has so much opposition! I will keep you posted! She is still reading and praying and loving the Book of Mormon. She is great!! we have a bunch of other great people we are working with and we keep finding great new people! We have been so blessed!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful emails and letters! I have the best family ever! I love you all a ton! Thanks for the football update! I was getting updates on every door I knocked last night hahaha I even got let in and caught a glance of one play. It was a nothing run up the middle. I’m hoping I got the guys # right because I wasn’t very focused, hahah I love you all a ton! Mom don’t worry about sending anything else I’m doing great! You are all the best! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

MARITESS GOT BAPTIZED!

2011-01-31T16:28:00.000-08:00

Hey kuma sta ka!

I’m working on my Tagalog! haha It has been such a wonderful week! First off, Payton I’m loving the rat tail because it’ll keep the girls away till you go on a mission! hahah I died lauphing when I saw it. That’s hilarious! Hearing about Garrett gave me a big smile! That kid has so much enthusiasm! That’s the best! Between the rat tail, Garrett and the soccer flashback, you had me chuckling pretty good today Payt. When I hear the soccer story, to this day all I can think about is the free pizza I almost got. Good times!!

Dad, I’m sorry your sick! That’s no bueno! Hopefully you get feeling better! The Canadians here say that it gets so cold that you can’t get a cold cus it kills all the bacteria! I believe them! On Sunday it was in the negative 30’s and when we left for church it was negative 43 with wind chill!! The other day it was negative 10 and people walked around in swimming suits! haha Suprisingly it hasn’t been that bad though! As long as you’re covered up.

But as far as transfers go, Elder Woods and I are both staying and we are both super excited! The area is doing so well right now! We have been so blessed!! Maritess's Baptism was wonderful!! For our lunch we made waffles, bacon, and eggs with choke cherry syrup! I don’t know that Edilyn trusted us because she still made some filipino food. It was a delicious combo!! It was a blast and we had a good lesson with them after!! That day was crazy though because it snowed a ton!! We were all over for the rest of the day and got to the church just in time to fill the font!! The Baptism was soooo great! We had 3 investigators there and they loved it! It helped Amie and Godwin’s testimony a ton!! If all goes well this week they will be interviewed on Saturday and Baptized on the 12th. Maritess is such an amazing lady!! You would never be able to guess it from the pictures but she is 40 years old! Crazy ehh!? Edilyn is 38! haha They both look a lot younger than they are but Maritess looks like she’s 16! And she is hilarious! I can’t wait till you meet her! I’ll send you a video of them and our breakfast/lunch thing. Oh and Edilyn is really smart, but she just is still figuring out English grammar. She cracks me up!! I love that whole Filipino crew so much!! Edilyn cooks some good filipino food!! They are amazing!! Oh and also Belatu was at the baptism! Edilyn and her have kind of become friends because of all the events they both go to! I love and miss Belatu a ton! She is doing so good!! Her kids are so cute!! It was such a great day!

This week was just crazy though! We were sooooo busy!! We taught a ton all week and then had the baptism on Friday and then Stake Coordination was on Sunday! We got in Saturday night and after making calls and planning for the next day, it was close to 10. Then we started Stake Cor. stuff. We had to do all new stuff and it was such a pain! I felt like I was in high school with a dumb paper due the next day, but Mom wasn’t there to do it for me! haha We finished at like 2 in the morning. It was ridiculous!! We got our 4 and a half hours of sleep and then we were off to morning meetings and pounding down doors to get people up for church! We had 6 investigators to church and when we get there the whole Stake Presidency was there! I love President Baronins!!! Have you heard anything from them lately? He is sooo great! But they finally called a new bishopric!! It was way surprising! The new bishop, Bishop Cormack has 3 kids, all under 6, a job and he is in his last year of dental school!! haha How he’s gonna do it, I have no idea! But he is great!! Change was kind of exciting! Maritess's confirmation went so good! Brother Rico did it and it was a beautiful blessing! I got to stand in and it was such a neat thing to be a part of!

To cap off the week, Amie and Godwin are doing sooooooo good!! Everything Edilyn touches does well! Elder Leonard and I found Amie, but once she knew Edilyn was in our church, she has done so well!! Edilyn is such a great missionary!! She always follows up with Amie about church and her baptism and everything. It’s so great! But Amie has been struggling because she doesn’t read. Dad, I was so happy to hear about your goal because it is so needed! I’ve promised myself to never ever go a day without reading the scriptures because it makes such a huge difference. If people really read the Book of Mormon they always gain a testimony of it and if they pray about it they always get answers! It’s so neat and so important! It has been so hard for Amie because it’s hard to get a testimony from just listening to us and coming to church! This week was really neat though because she definitely felt the Spirit at the Baptism and she committed to read with her son Godwin every night. Godwin is only 10 but he reads better than his mom. So every night they have been reading and they usually only get through half a page in 10 or 15 minutes. Godwin circles all the words he doesn’t know and explains the ones his mom doesn’t know that he does know! It makes me so grateful for my education, but it is also so neat because even like that they feel the Spirit and it has helped them so much!! That Book of Mormon has a lot of circles in it! Godwin is so smart! So Alex, I don’t want any excuses for not reading your scriptures! Godwin reads them to his Mom every night! We also have had them watch lots of church movies! We dropped of like 15 and told them to watch one every night!! They are so great!! It’s crazy because Amie has a very good job and a really nice apartment and set up but she cannot read. She only has a grade 3 education and she just hasn’t worked on it. She only knows English so she can speak great but she can’t read and big words are hard for her. They are so great and I am so excited for them! It’s been so neat to see their testimony grow and so neat to see what they are doing to strengthen it! Hopefully all goes well this week and I will have good news for ya next week! But please READ YOUR SCRIPTURES! It is so easy to set aside a couple minutes every day and it makes such a huge difference!! We have been so blessed to have the education so that we can receive that spiritual strength from the scriptures!!!! The scriptures are such a great blessing!! Life is sooooo great on a mission!! I’m so grateful for all of you and all that you do for me! I love you a ton!

salamed po! (: Love Elder Smith

NOTHING TOPS THE CANADA WINNIPEG MISSION!

2011-01-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

Hey!

First off, tell Payt I’m keeping track on when he doesn’t write! hahahahah Just tell him I love him and hopefully he’s liven’ it up! It sounds like you’ve been chatting a bunch with Edilyn! She really is a ball! She is super smart and so I’m sure it’s frustrating for her to try and pick up on English! I hope she isn’t expecting too much for the food. I’m just sharing some waffles, bacon, and eggs, covered in coke cherry syrup! Luckily that’s one recipe I’ve got down! Dad and Alex, it sounds like the baseball camp was a blast! A-rod, keep working hard and you’re gonna be an all star! Mom, it sounds like you are doing all kinds of neat fun stuff and really magnifying your calling! You’re great! Oh and guess what! This week Sister Baronins was called as the Waverley Relief Society President, too! She said she wrote you and hasn’t heard back in awhile. She loves you and hasn’t even met you! She is super great! You two have a lot in common. It’s kinda crazy.

So this week was another crazy one!! First off, I’ll start with some bad news. We went over to teach Mattie this week and when we called before we came she said she had bad news. We were super nervous and when we got there she told us that she had some disease or infection or something crazy. She was sobbing and so we couldn’t completely understand the whole situation, but the doctors told her that she can never have children and that they don’t know how long she will live. They are doing tests on her and stuff but it is super bad, super scary stuff. So when she told us we were just shocked. Their whole family was all messed up and crying and mad at each other and it was honestly like the craziest, saddest, hardest lesson I’ve ever been in. We all walked out with tears in our eyes and super confused. I honestly didn’t know what to say. . . like it was such a weird thing! I’m super frustrated because she doesn’t even know the details of it. Like if it was in our family we would know everything. We would be seeing specialists and all kinds of stuff, but because of their situation they barley know anything other than that she has problems and the doctor told her they don’t know how long she will live. It’s just crazy! When we left that night she was depressed and confused. We put together a lesson plan for a couple days later though and talked about getting through trials with the gospel. After her bad news she stopped reading and praying and she said she wasn’t up to coming to church, but after her lesson she started reading and praying again and she made it to church this week! It’s just so hard though because we don’t know how to handle the situation. It’s so confusing and frustrating. For now her baptism is on hold. This next week will hopefully help us all figure things out. It’s just all so crazy!! She is such an amazing girl and hopefully it will all work out! Please keep her in your prayers.

Well this week was honestly loaded with ups and downs! Sounds like Edilyn already spilled the beans with the exciting stuff. haha But I’ll still tell ya the whole story with Maritess. We had a lesson with her and Elder Leonard and I were together on exchange. We told her we would all fast and she would go and talk to her boss to ask for her Sundays off! She had been to afraid to get work off for months and it’s been a big thing holding her back from getting baptized! It was so neat because their whole family, Brother Rico in the Waverly Ward (who is amazing and has been great help in teaching her), the Assistants and the other companionship in our ward, all fasted! It was so neat because we all fasted, she talked to her boss and that night we called her and she said she was getting baptized on the soonest Saturday that she had work off! Her boss said she could get every other week off, which wasn’t as good as every week, but it was what she needed to pull the trigger. It really was such a miracle! The funny part is that before we talked to Maritess, Edilyn called us all super excited to tell us! haha Edilyn is an amazing missionary!! Maritess's interview went great and she is good to go! She has a super solid testimony and she is hilarious!! That whole Filipino crew is amazing! They feed us some wonderful food!

The Canada Winnipeg Mission is the best!! When I get home I will be able to one up everyone because I’ve gotten a taste of the best things of every mission! haha Here we get all the good experiences of an Africa mission, Philippine Mission, Mexico Mission, Thailand Mission. You name it, we got it all! And we don’t have to sleep in huts or ride bikes or fight off critters or face tornadoes or even walk up hills! We get nice cars and apartments and fast food! Nothin’ tops the Canada Winnipeg Mission!!! It really has been a wonderful week and we have been so blessed!! I can’t believe how blessed we are!

Amie and Godwin are doing well. A new kid named David is great and he should get baptized next month! There really are so many amazing things happening! Missions are the best! Sunday went great and we had a lot of people show! It’s so funny how many ups and downs there are!

Last night I got way sick and was on the John perfecting the turn around jumper!! haha I really have learned to love the ups and downs. Because the rough patches in life make you so grateful for the gospel!! I still stress so much with so many things and I’m super worried about Mattie but I know that the gospel is the cure all for every situation!! I have such a strong testimony that no matter what trials we face, the gospel can help!! Life is so great! Missions are the best and the gospel is soooo true! MARITESS IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! I love you all a ton! Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Smith

THE MIRACLE OF MATTIE

2011-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

Hey!!

Mom, thanks for answering all of my questions! Please don’t send me to many sweets though! I have tons and no self control! I think my eating habits are causing the zits! The Cutlers are here! They are great, but they got shipped out to a little outlying city so I don’t get to talk to them much. As far as the weather, they say it’s a mild Canadian winter again but man I must be soft! It should be below negative 30’s with wind chill this week! All I know is that it’s cold! Luckily, we have been teaching a ton, so we don’t have much to complain about!! Payt, I’m glad to hear that you are having so much fun! Be safe!!

So this week was so great! We saw so many miracles!! Ediline is amazing! She helps us so much and I think her friend, that lives with her, Marites, will be Baptized very soon! She knows it’s true, she just has to pull the trigger! Ediline went with us to Amie and Godwin and they set another baptismal date!! Hopefully they will be ready!! THEY ARE GREAT! We also saw tons of miracles with finding new amazing people!! We found a couple great families this week that I’m super excited about!! The best thing of the week was Mattie though!! We fasted for the area at the beginning of the week and things just went crazy this week! We have been so blessed!! But let me tell you about Mattie! She is 17 years old and the translator for her Mom because her mom doesn’t speak English. She has been investigating since I got into this area. She had come to church a couple times but things weren’t clicking for her and she wasn’t reading the Book of Mormon. But we taught her last week after giving her a couple week brake and invited her to read again. Her mom wasn’t too thrilled about the whole thing and when we had talked about baptism in the past, her mom was really put-off because she was a preacher in Africa and they have a church here! Since Mattie came to church, she made friends with a girl in the ward and so we were excited about it, but she wasn’t progressing much because of her Mom. So after inviting her to read again and telling her she would get answers and know that it was true, etc. We kind of forgot about her through out the week. So this week Elder Woods said, “Hey, we should call and see how Mattie is doing.” We called her and the first thing she says is, "I’m getting baptized!" haha I’m like, what? She said, "I know its true, I’m getting baptized!" I asked her about her mom, and she said "Well, she had a dream the other night that she should let me do what I think is right and she wants me to get baptized!" So I’m like, “Ok, we are having a baptism on Feb 12th, will you prepare yourself for that day?” and she says, "Sign me up!" I say “OK” and set up an appointment and hang up. Then me and Elder Woods jumped around in confusion and excitement for a couple minutes! hahahah It was the best!!! It was soooo amazing and such a miracle! We went and taught her with the family that she made friends with and she is so ready!! She was in Jacob when we went over. I was shocked!! She kept saying I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! She knows 8 languages and she has been reading it in Swahili. That’s what the Lion King stuff is haha! “Akuna mattata” really does mean no worries! hahaha She said that everyone at school was asking her what was wrong because she is usually loud and really sociable, but all she has been doing lately is reading in her spare time at school! At church she answers all of the questions and she is so great! We talked to her on Sunday at church and moved her date up to Feb 5th. She is so ready and her interview will be in 2 weeks! We are teaching commandments tonight and it’s gonna be great!! She already has such a strong testimony and she is willing to do anything because she knows its true!!! Hopefully all goes well and I can’t wait to tell you about it all next week!!!

It really has been such an amazing week with so many miracles!! Missions are the best!! I love you all so much and I know that the church is true! I know that God answers prayers and I know that his hand is in everything!! I really have learned this transfer more then ever that I really am nothing! haha I have seen so many things that have strengthened my testimony so much that if we turn things over to the Lord and do our best he makes up the big differences and blesses us in so many ways! I can’t wait to apply this in so many other things in life, school, work, friends, family, everything! In life I often have relied on myself or others more than God. As we do our best and push forward in faith and rely on the Lord, he will help us to get through anything! I love and miss you all so much! I’m so grateful for all that you do for me! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith!

CONGRATULATIONS ADDISON!

2011-01-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

Addison Congratulations!

That is soooo exciting and I am sooooo proud of you!! I can’t believe how big you are!! It’s ridiculous!! I can’t believe how fast life goes! It’s scaring me out of my mind!! I remember my baptism so clearly it is ridiculous to think how long it has been!! Mom would you please send a picture of Addison’s baptism quilt! I remember how important my quilt has always been to me! Even till the day I left on my mission, I wouldn’t let anyone touch my bed because I didn’t want anything to happen to my quilt!! You are amazing Mom! But Addison, I am so proud of you!! You are the best!! Dad, I am some what concerned though... does a “commando confirmation count!? hahaha That cracks me up!! I just can’t believe that I didn’t hear about it until now! I just remember you helping me get my wet clothes off. It was one of those neat experiences in my life where it was just me and you together!! It’s funny now to think that you were probably stressing. It’s also fun to think back to all of the great amazing experiences I’ve had in life where it was just me and you! Good times!! It made me laugh to hear that some things never change with you though! Even when I’m on my mission, you can’t follow through with working out every day! Payt, I’m so glad that you are enjoying life! It sounds like you are having a blast! Keep tearing things up and love every day!

Well, honestly this week was so great!! We re-evaluated what we were doing and the area and this week went great! We fasted at the beginning of the week and things really just went so much better than they have been going! We have been working so hard, but this week really helped me to realize that I have been relying on myself way to much and not enough on the Lord! It’s so easy to get prideful in life when we see success, but after looking back on the last year and my mission, even my life this far, I can say that every good thing that has happened on my mission and in life has been because of the Lord. I cannot believe how blessed I really am! I have gotten to see so many miracles and met so many wonderful people and it is all because the Lord has blessed me with these wonderful opportunities. It’s so hard to realize sometimes, but man I am so blessed!! But this week we really tried hard to rely on the Lord and be more grateful for the blessings we receive everyday and it really made the week so much easier and so much less stressful and so much better!! We taught tons of great lessons! We were let in 3 days in a row while tracting to teach people and all of the lessons were great! Maritess has a rock solid testimony and will get baptized once she gets a new job so she doesn’t have to work Sundays! Amie, Godwin, Dominique, Mattie, and this less active member we have been teaching and her daughter, all made it to church! We found some amazing people and are so close to getting others to come to church and set dates!! We were honestly so blessed!! I got to watch Robert Hase (the man I interviewed) get baptized and Mattie was there to watch it and it was the same day as Addison’s! It was just such a great week and for a cherry on top Emmanuel was called and set apart Sunday as a Ward Missionary!! And get this!! He spoke on Sunday!! hahahahah Also, in Waverly Ward, Celia’s sister in law was baptized and Belatu gave the closing prayer. She also spoke at the last baptism because she has been helping fellowship people like crazy!!! Emmanuel’s talk was so great! (for those that could understand his strong Nigerian accent! haha He has such a strong testimony and I love him to death!! Funny thing is that his tardiness never changes! He is always fashionably late to everything (usually over 10 mins. late) haha Wether it’s his baptism, confirmation, church or EVEN church when he is speaking! The Bishop was messing his pants! In all, this sunday morning we pounded down doors waking people up for church and then I threw together a talk in 10 minutes. Emmanuel, Brother Crezsenzi, the ward mission leader, and I all spoke! It was all so great!! I love being a missionary!!

I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do! Addison, I am so proud of you!! Have a great week! Oh and hello from Brandon! We are here for a Zone Meeting again already! Crazy!! Oh, also one of the 70 spoke to us this week and it was so great. (Elder C Smith) I didn’t get called out or nothin! haha But I got talking to his Assistant and he fly fishes and he lives in Montana. He gave me a card and we are hitten’ up the Missoula River in Montana in a year or so... you game Dad?? haha He wants to trade trips! I think he said the Missoula??? I don’t know, he said the best river in Montana to fish in a drift boat. I told him the South Fork was better, so we will see! haha I love and miss you all so much! You are the best! Have a great week and I’ll talk to you next week!

Love Elder Smith!

SHOUT OUT THANK YOU'S & HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDISON!

2011-01-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Man, this is just craziness!! Blackout year is over. It’s just ridiculous! First off, I have some shout out thank you’s! Grandma and Grandpa, thank you so much for the letters and the money and everything!! You do WAY TO MUCH! Mom, thank you for all that you do! You are amazing!! Moss family, thank you so much for the package!! Crezee family, thanks a ton for the package!!! Tell Tanner he has a BEAUTIFUL wife! hahah I also got a letter from Uncle Bob Andrus! Tell him thanks a ton for keeping me in his thoughts and prayers! Well, I think that is all! I feel so bad that I don’t have time to write thank you letters for everybody, but please let them know I’m so grateful!

So, it was an interesting week!! I welcomed in the New Year sick! The night before New Years Eve I was up puking all night. So I got up on the 31st and felt horrible! We got up and Elder Woods did a baptismal interview and then we tracted all day in the cold! haha At 5PM we were locked in for the night!! I ate some junk food mixed with ibuprofen, my happy pink sleeping pills and a Martinelli’s Apple Cider (I had to keep some of the tradition alive!) and I passed out to welcome in the New Year unconscious! It was the best because we were allowed to sleep in till 8, so I got a ton of sleep and felt like a new man the next morning!

Addison, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can’t believe you are 8!! It’s sooo exciting! I can’t wait to see pictures of your baptism! It will go great! Also, congrats on giving up the waawee!! That is so great!! You are such a big girl! In your pictures you look like a teenager!! I’m so sorry your B-day present isn’t there yet!! It is in the mail though!! I couldn’t find a hockey jersey yet though, but I will find one and send it soon!! Hopefully you like what I did send though!! I love and miss you so much and I’m so proud of you!! I love you so much! Also, Mom did the hats make it there safe and sound? Do they fit? Well I love and miss you all a ton!

I’m short on time today so I’m typing fast but I have a neat story for ya!! so this week I interviewed a man for baptism that has been investigating for well over a year and he is super smart! He has done tons of schooling and he has written a couple of the math books used in the schools. He also is a writer and like an English major and he knows his bible really good!! It was such a neat experience to do his baptismal interview!! We got in the room and I could tell that he was pretty nervous so I explained the interview and just tried to make him feel comfortable and get to know him for a couple minutes and man, does he know a lot!! He has a super neat, long conversion story too! But it was just so neat to see how he had humbled himself and really sought after the truth and acted on it when he found it! He has such a rock solid testimony and I felt the Spirit a ton throughout the interview!! It was a really neat experience!! It was funny because after the interview we he was so excited and he really opened up! He was a University professor here in Winnipeg for a good 30 years and so he was really interested in what my plans were after my mission and he had some great advice. It was just a super neat experience!! Interviews are so neat and such a great opportunity. You talk to someone for an hour and you get to hear their life story, there conversion story, and there testimony and it is so neat!!

Elder Woods is great! This transfer will be great and this year will be great!! Life is such an exciting thing because we have so many opportunities to reevaluate where we are, set goals, and do better. That man was in his 60s and yet he was able to recognize his shortcomings, recognize the truth and make the needed changes to bring him closer to God!! The Gospel is so amazing because we are given so many opportunities to repent and make steps to work towards perfection and the opportunity to return to live with God again!! I’m so grateful for the Atonement, for repentance, and for the gospel of Jesus Christ! It’s so true and it makes so much sense!! I love you all so much! I’m so grateful for all that you do! I’m sorry because I have a ton of other stuff I’d like to say, but I got to go! I love you so much!! Love Elder Smith!!

"THE CALL MADE YOU ALL REAL AGAIN, JUST FOR A LITTLE WHILE"

2010-12-27T20:41:00.000-08:00

Hey!

Thanks so much for the great emails and the wonderful Christmas call! It’s crazy because Christmas out here is so great, but so exciting to get over because you can get back into the routine of things! Even with having permission to call home and play wii and hangout at member’s, you just feel like a disobedient pile! haha By the end of Christmas day I was twitchen’ and sniffing my hands and making funny noises, hahahah! It will be so great when transfers are over today and we can just get back into the swing of things! It’s so funny how weird things are on a mission!

It was so great to hear from all of you though!! I loved hearing all of your voices! I felt bad I didn’t get to hear from Papa and Grammy! Please tell them thank you for the great card and tell them I love and miss them and they better be there for the next call! Please thank Gma and Gpa for all that they do for me! Their packages and letters never stop! Tell them I was so grateful to hear from them! Man, the call made you all real again, just for a little while. I saw the pictures today and I just can’t believe how big everybody is!! I can’t wait to go talk to girls with Payt and Alex! haha Those two are studs! I’m so grateful for all of you! You are the best and I love and miss you so much!!

I don’t have much to update you on! Church was lame this week because it was Boxing Day and no one came! There were just over 60 people there. . . IN A WARD! It was ridiculous! And no investigators came! Kind of a shot to the face right after Christmas. But I’m excited for this week! It’s gonna be crazy though! We have Zone Leader Council tonight that we still aren’t ready for, we have Stake Coordination on Saturday and Elder Woods has never done it and we haven’t even started! We have transfers in about an hour and we have to get this area going a little bit better! It’s ridiculous. It’s the best though!! This area is in a little bit of a slump, but I have learned so much and I’m so excited for the potential of this next transfer!

Addison, I will do my best to find you a hockey jersey! Your present is gonna get there late though! Sorry! I already got ya some neat stuff though, so it will all be there soon! Mom, Dad, Payton, Alex and Addison, you are all the best!! I love and miss you all so much! I have the best family ever!! Sorry I don’t have a ton of time to write today I gotta get going! I love you all so much though!

Oh, and Mom, just for the heads up, the Canadians hate January and February too, so they throw in like a ton of Monday holidays! haha So if I don’t write, don’t stress because it’ll just probably be later on in the week! I don’t know when all the holidays are though. So just keep writing before Monday!!

I love you all a ton! Be safe and have a great week! Payt, live it up skiing, but please be careful and safe driving and skiing!! love ya all! LOVE ELDER SMITH!

Szypkowski Visit

2010-12-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

Hey!!

Man it’s Christmas time already! This is ridiculous!!! haha Payt, be safe skiing!! And be careful on the ride there!! I can’t believe how old you all look! Was A-Rod in my old snow board boots!?! You all look way too old!! I can’t believe that the Szypkowskis came and saw you!! I love their family! They are sooo great! And so upfront and they are work- aholics! I hammered 10 to 1 of Elder Platt’s nails and one of them hammered 10 to 1 of my nails! haha They are sooo great! And Miki is gonna be going on his mission soon!! Their family is the best! Tell them I miss them a ton! You can also tell them I’m better with a nail gun! They hammered all of the chicken wire up for the walls, by hand! haha They are crazy!! It was a blast though!! Tell Chris I can’t wait for the hunting trip to try out his over-under! I had to turn him down when he handed it to me at his place. hahaha I got so trunky then! He took a shot, reloaded it and then handed it to me! I wanted to shoot so bad! They are great though! Mom, make a filling meal! All of the food they eat is super heavy and filling!! I loved it but after just a couple bites I was stuffed! haha They know how to eat, but they are super skinny! I don’t know! But tell them I miss em!!

So this week was a gooden!! We are teaching a ton, but really having struggles getting people to progress and come to church! We are working through it, but we got transfer calls this week and I’m staying again!! Elder O'Driscoll is headed for Regina! I think I will break the record for longest time spent without breaking the Manitoba border! I love it! Winnipeg is the best! Elder Woods was a district leader and so I get to be with him for his first transfer as Zone leader! He is a champ and I am super excited! I’m sad to see Elder O'Driscoll go, but super excited to be with Elder Woods!! I will learn a ton from him! He came out with me and he is a champ!! Also Elder Leonard is the new assistant to the President!! So he’s back in Winnipeg! This is definitely the hardest area I think I’ve served in, but I’m super excited for this next transfer because I think a lot of great things will happen!

I had a funny story for ya this week though! We went out teaching with Emmanuel and I

gave him his scriptures!! He was way excited!! Mom and Dad, thank you so much!! Emmanuel just kept saying "thank you! Tell your mom thank you so much!" haha He is such a great man with a rock solid testimony! The funny part though was that we took him to an appointment and he is a great teacher! He always helps when we ask him to. He is a great member to bring out! But after coming with us he has learned to be pretty bold with invitations to church! We were teaching and we invited a lady to church and she said she couldn’t because of work. Emmanuel jumped in and said do you have to work every sunday? And she said yes and he said "OH SH**" haha I think we were all caught way off guard! The funny thing was that we had taught repentance earlier in the week and one of the girls there said, "Oh well that’s why there’s repentance, he had better repent!" haha Elder O'Driscoll and I were shocked and holding back from bursting out laughing! And then just a couple minutes later Emmanuel almost did it again! He barely caught himself. He is a great guy, but could definitely use some help with the dignified language. And none of them made it to church, but they are committed to be their this week!

We taught Jamie this week but he is definitely having struggles! He likes his girlfriend and I think he is thinking about getting married, but his testimony is struggling because he isn’t doing what he should be doing! He’s a great kid, but right now things aren’t looking too good.

Some good news is that we are teaching Amie tonight, and Ediline (an amazing recent convert that is friends with Amie) is coming! Hopefully all goes well! Setting up appointments has been a pain because everyone says, "after the new year, we are too busy until Christmas". It’s getting frustrating, but all is well! I’m way excited for this week! We have some good lessons planned and the members have really pulled through! We have supper appointments like all week and a fun day planned for Christmas! We will be with missionaries in the morning and then we are eating at Ediline’s for lunch and the Garcia’s for supper! We got permission to watch “The Best 2 Years” and play WII Tennis. Brother Garcia talked trash about being the best and asked us to ask for permission. President didn’t have a problem with it so we will see what happens! We will call from the Garcias too! We will probably call around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, if that is ok with you? I’ll call ya in the morning to see what your schedule is, but plan on that. Just buy a calling card for an hour because Brother Garcia has a phone with calls to the states for free and we will probably switch off with his phone so we can both make calls at the same time! If you don’t want to buy a card that’s fine too. I can just wait till Elder O'Driscoll is done, I just don’t know what our timing will be like. It’s sooooo crazy that it is here again already! I just called for Mother’s Day! I’m way excited, but kinda nervous too! It’s been a LONG time since we’ve talked. It’s gonna be sooo great! But I guess if you want anymore updates you can remind me when I call!

I love you all a ton! Your package should be there sometime this week! It might be a day or two late for Christmas!? I don’t know for sure! Hopefully you like it though! Oh, Happy Annaver....... I donno how to spell it. hahaha Happy ‘that thing were you remember when you were married’! haha My mission has helped me with many things but spelling isn’t one of them! Grammer niether! HAHA But I feel way bad for not remembering! haha Sorry!! I love you all a ton!! Oh Dad, I sent your letter and B- day stuff with the Christmas stuff!! I’m so sorry! I know that’s lame! Bonus is that you are the only one that gets a letter! Welp, times up but I love you all a ton and I’ll look forward to talking to ya soon!!

Love Elder Smith

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM PRESIDENT AND SISTER ROBISON

2010-12-19T16:43:00.001-08:00

As President of the Winnipeg Manitoba Stake, it was such a privilege for me and my wife to have your missionary in our home last night for a Christmas Dinner. You'll never know how much it means to us to have these missionaries in our home, as we currently have a son currently serving in the Idaho Pocatello Mission.

We have attached a picture and hope that you are able to find your missionary ; )

We want you to know how much we appreciate you for doing such a great job raising a chid willing to serve a mission. Thank you.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

President and Sister Robison

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

2010-12-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

I’m sooooooo sorry that I didn’t get a gift to you in time! I bought you a cheesy little gift, weeks ago, but I kept putting off your letter!! I am going to try and send it today! I’m so sorry that I am so far behind! I might just send it with the Christmas stuff! I found some neat stuff the last couple P-days, but it’s gonna cost an arm and a leg to send home! I hope that all is well there so I can afford to send it! haha. Please let me know if my account is getting low!! I’m living a pretty high roller life here in Canada, so I can always cut back, if needs be! haha Dad, I love and miss you so much!! I can’t believe that you are 45! Right? haha That’s insane!! That like looks close to 50!! You’re SO old! Now you aren’t allowed to use the “mid-life crisis excuse” anymore!! haha No more Harleys or house changes or helicopters or nothin! Dad, I am soooooo grateful for you and the amazing example that you are to me!! I love and miss you so much and I’m so grateful for you and all that you do!! I’ve got the best Dad ever!! Have a great day and week!! Oh, and get this! I begged and pleaded to call you on your birthday and they said I could, but just a couple weeks late! I did it that way because I wanted your gift to get there before. hahaha Love you dad! Thank you so much for all that you do!! I loved your joke! Hey, please tell Grandma thank you for the Christmas stuff! Those chocolates are so good! I only opened what wasn’t wrapped! And Mom, thank you for the syrup!! I’ve eaten waffles for supper two days in a row! You are all amazing!!

So this week was crazy!! We taught a ton and even taught a couple rich families! We also had zone conference!! It’s so crazy how things change!! Last year I was depressed out of my mind for the Christmas Zone Conference! It made me so homesick and it was way hard. It was funny this year because we were just stressed! haha It was a Bi-zone conference and we had to get everything ready and put together for both zones! It was a great relief to have it go smooth and it was a blast! We watched “It’s A Wonderful Life” and it was the best! We also did Sister Paulson’s Christmas bells and it was so fun. She loves those things and it’s so funny to watch President roll his eyes at the whole idea! It was just so fun!! This month will be a blast! It’s such a great time of year!! It’s just funny to think how last year I could find the negative things about being on a mission for Christmas, but man it is the best!!!!

Shopping, however, has not been fun! I spent some of the last 2 P-days looking for Christmas stuff and it has been a pain! There just isn’t enough time! But I got some stuff. Hopefully you like it! I don’t have any details on the call yet but I will give them to you next week!

So this week was interesting because we taught a ton, but everyone bailed for church! Amie and Godwin are still doing ok, but they won’t make their date and they are moving very slow! Jamie moved out but now he isn’t in our ward and we’ve had troubles staying in contact with him. Hopefully things will work out there. We found an amazing African family that is way good and they should be to church next week! And we taught like 3 different rich families this week! It was crazy. Like I’m talking big houses! It was sad though, because one of them we taught everyone but the dad and it was a great lesson with a member and everything! The Spirit was really strong, but then the dad called and cancelled the next appointment! He’s loaded and owns 2 pizza places in town!! They all said they would get baptized on the first lesson and now we can’t even teach them!! We taught another wealthy family that said they know they should listen to us and come out to church, but they are too busy and another family we taught the whole family the first lesson and they were great but they stood us up for the second one!! It’s intimidating teaching rich people, but it’s neat because they generally are full families with both parents there and the kids. So it’s really fun to teach! The finding is slow in rich areas though! Any ideas on helping rich people progress!?

Also, we are teaching some loaded people who are “Seek”? It’s some weird religion that has only been around for like 300 years and they have like 12 gods or something? Do you think you could check it out and let me know what it’s all about and any helpful approaches because there are lots of rich “Seek” people! It’s a religion from India!

But things are going good!! It has been freezing here! A couple days ago it was -40 with wind chill!! That’s when Fareinheit and Celcius are the same. Sorry I can’t spell it I just know either way it was cold! We threw boiling water out the door and it all turned into steam and disappeared! haha It was pretty neat. It’s funny to tract because my mind moves faster then my lips in the cold so some funny stuff comes out! hahaha It’s been fun! Especially on exchanges with newer missionaries who haven’t seen a winter here before! Transfers are this week too and so we will see what happens! This is definitely the hardest area I have ever served in, but I have learned a ton and if I end up staying, I know there is a ton more to be done here!

Elder O'driscoll is a blast!! I have learned a ton from him and gotten a lot more patient and I don’t stress as much. I still do a lot, but it’s hard to be stressed when you’re around someone who is never stressed! He’s really helped me to look and learn from others strengths, rather than dwelling on a couple weaknesses! He’s a great missionary and I’d love to go another transfer with him!

Things here are great and I’m excited to talk to you on Christmas! We have some fun stuff planned with members and other missionaries, so I’ll let ya know what’s going on soon!! Dad Happy Birthday!! I love ya so much!! Thank you for all that you do for me!! Have a great week!! Payt thanks a ton for your emails! I love them! Sounds like you are doing great!! I’m so grateful for you and the great example that you are to me!! I love and look up to you more than you know!! Keep having a blast with life and keep being such a great kid!! I love all of you so much! Tell A-rod he is huge and he needs to buy a bat to keep the ladies off! haha Tell Addi I love her and that she is beautiful!! I love you all a ton! Have a great week! Love Elder Smith

RICH PEOPLE CAN BE SO FLAKY!

2010-12-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

Hey!

Thanks so much for the great emails! Payt I missed hearing from ya! I don’t know if it didn’t work, or if you just forgot! I want a big one from ya next week!! Mom thank you so much for the Christmas package! The scriptures are so great and the socks were life savers!! The Reeses are gone and the choke cherry syrup will be gone after I buy some waffle mix today! haha You are the best! Thank you soooo much! I’ll look forward to opening the others when christmas comes around!! Thank you so much! You do too much!! I love the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party picture!! You really have just gone so fashionable since I left! hahaha It gave me a good chuckle. Dad, I loved your email! Especially the quote, thanks a ton!! You guys think I’m way better than I am! And tell Jose CONGRATS!!! That is so crazy and exciting!! Man! When I left, the kid wasn’t even a member, was he!? Am I thinking of the right Jose!? If so that is insane!!! Thank you so much for your emails and all that you all do! You are the best and I love and miss you a ton!

So this week was crazy! First off, Amie and Godwin haven’t been doing that well! It was pretty sad! She is working like crazy and has been too busy to meet and she missed church, so we will probably have to move her date back! Jamie is living all commandments and excited for his baptism, but he is living with his girlfriend, who is a Member! They are living the law of chastity, but he still has to move out before he can get baptized, so when he finds a place things will work out! Hopefully everything pans out there! Celia is doing great! She got a calling as the Gospel Principles President so she conducts the meeting. It’s soo great! She was pretty nervous, but did great! We are working with some other good people but this week was super frustrating! WE HAD ABOUT 40 LESSONS PLANNED, MOST OF THEM WITH RICH PEOPLE........and 11 went through and a big portion of those were with the poorer people we were already teaching! It’s so frustrating because our entire day will be filled with lessons and then we end up just tracting most of the day! I don’t know what to do!! I wanna teach! Any ideas!? The ward just can’t support anymore people without cars. We set up all these good appointments and there’s always a different excuse or they don’t show! We are trying everything! We are also frustrated with the ward because they just have no fire. The recent converts are so great, but the ward doesn’t do much for them! It’s frustrating but I sure am learning a lot from the experiences!

This week was pretty crazy too because we had so much going on! We had a baptism we took investigators to, the Christmas Devotional, 2 district meetings, and 2 baptismal interviews in Brandon. We also did two exchanges. First off I went with Elder Woods and it was a blast!! He came out with me and he is a champ! He came to our area and we had a lot of fun! We had some good lessons and some crazy ones! We went to teach this one guy and he was drunk! We said we couldn’t stay and he said, “No, I want you to stay!” So I said, “Ok, we will if you tell us what we taught you last time we came.” He looked at me and then burst into tears and then passed out! He literally passed out!Like he tipped over and drilled the floor! So me and Elder Woods tried to revive him but he was out cold! I called 911 and just as it started ringing he like hickupped and started breathing normal. So I hung up and we tried to get him up and he came to. He stood up and then we get him to sit in the chair. He sat down and said he was ok and we were like, ok we gotta go. We didn’t know what to do! I felt way bad, but we didn’t know what to do.. he was up and going and we were in his house. Any words of advice for the next time it happens?? The rest of the exchange was interesting too, but nothing too crazy.

Then I went on exchange with this kid from England. They hate Americans! haha It was funny! We had a good time and hopefully we helped em out. They had been struggling in their area and with their companionship for the transfer. It was a great exchange and this week they found some new investigators and got some people to church and set a new baptismal date, so they are sounding a lot better! It’s always great to see them get some success, when they had been struggling!

Oh and get this! While on exchange, we found this guy with a huge model railroad set! He said it cost over 30 grand! I got a ton of neat pics for you Dad! He loved showing it off!

Our week was rougher than we would have liked, but it ended up pretty good in all! On Sunday morning we taught this lady and it was insane! We had Bother Gibson with us and the lady was moody with him and us. haha We taught her a little bit about the Book of Mormon and coming to church she said she would come, but just for an hour because she had been up working all night! She then told us she was an escort! We both looked at her, completely tongue tied for a minute. While we were tongue tied she reaches under the couch and says, “Are donations allowed at the church?” As she pulls a ton of money out from under her couch, and we both just kinda nod. She shoves easy 2 or 3 hundred dollars in her shirt and then she was ready for church! She then said "It’s always good to give back, at the end of the year." She was dressed really modestly and when the Bishop saw her filling out a tithing slip, he came over to see if she was a member. It was really an odd experience and it made me think a lot of how blessed I am. Some people’s situations are so crazy and it’s so sad because they know what’s right! They know what God wants, but they are in a hole they don’t know how to get out of, or they are afraid to try. It’s crazy how weird experiences like that really make you think and make you so grateful for what you have. Hopefully we can help her! It’s so easy to judge and look down on people, but I really hope it’s something I can continue to get better at!

But I just had one more story for ya! This week I got to go to Brandon for probably the two neatest baptismal interviews I have ever done! I interviewed this lady named Bonnie. She has had the hardest life you can imagine! Mental illness and family problems and so many other things. Then the missionaries came along and she gave the sister missionaries grief for months! Finally she, as a 60 something, year old lady with all of these different crazy things in her life, comes to be interviewed by ME! It really made me feel super humble as this lady that has been through so much comes and looks up to me. She asked me some amazing questions and she just acted as if I was all knowledgeable. The neatest thing was her talking to me about just not being sure that she was ready. She knew it was true but she just felt unprepared. It was a really neat experience. Then the other one was even better!! A man named Bjorn. This man is super smart and just amazing! His wife has been a member forever and he has been an Athiest. His wife left him and the kids and it was a very humbling experience for him. Then the missionaries knocked on his door! Now he has such a super solid testimony and he and his son are getting baptized on Saturday with Bonnie!! The Mom is still no where to be found! But the dad and kids are amazing! I honestly loved that interview so much!! When he would bear his testimony, the Spirit was super strong!! It was such a neat experience! He will be an amazing member!!

Missions really are the best!! I have been so blessed with so many neat experiences!! I’m so grateful for all of you and the great support that you are to me!! I love you a ton and I’ll talk to you next week!! Love Elder Smith

THE DAY THE WARD MISSION LEADER STOLE THANKSGIVING!

2010-11-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hey!!!

Thank you soooo much for all of the great emails!! Mom I don’t think you are fat and Akon just thinks your taller hahaha! I was super mad about the t-shirts because we were way late and I couldn't find anything to give you and then when I did, all they had were xxl! haha Hopefully it really is the thought that counts because that was a lame gift and I’m way sorry! haha I promise the gift next year will have more thought and it will be on time! Unless I’m shopping with Dad, and then we will pick it up the day of! But either way it’ll be better than 2 weeks late! Just kidding Dad. I loved our good, last minute, shopping! It’s just because you’re a lot better impulse buyer! I love and miss you all sooo much! Payt, that jeep is beautiful!! Don’t roll it!! Have fun, but please be safe!! The 2 of us are gonna look good sportin’ that on the way to the slopes next year! That is if you’re not gone on the mish! Mom, don’t stress my shoes!! I evaluated them this week and found a hole in the bottom! So I’ve been sportin’ the boots and they are great!! I still have another pair of shoes that are great and should last me.

It’s been snowing like crazy here! Way more then last year at this time which has been good because it’s stayed pretty warm. We’ve had some cold days but nothing too bad! This week was crazy. We drove out to Portage La Prarie for a mini zone meeting. We taught all the outlying areas there and then Wednesday, we taught the rest of the zone. It went well and it was a lot of fun. Our area is doing well. We had a lot of great lessons this week and church went great!! We are teaching a lady named Amie and her son Godwin and they are amazing!! They have a baptismal date for the 18th! We had some great lessons with them this week and they made it to church! The ward is not too great at fellow shipping, but it went sooooo good because Sister Evangilista (a recent convert) knew Amie from work! She sprinted over so excited to see her! Amie loved it and really enjoyed it! Her big struggle was getting work off for church, but after Sunday, she seems super committed! And I love her and Godwin sooo much!

Jamie is still doing well. He snapped all of the rest of his cigarettes in front of us! It was great! If everything works out, he should get baptized on the 18th!

This week we have been really working the rich part of our area and I have been shocked at how accepting people are at the door! We have got a ton of return appointments and phone numbers, but these rich people have not been showing up for the appointments. I was so frustrated because I thought the biggest battle with rich people would be getting them to set up appointments. Turns out they have no problem setting up an appointment and then not being there! It’s funny because after a day of 7 rich people standing us up, I was super frustrated! I was like, “Man! how can people say they will be somewhere to do something and then not show!?! It’s happened a lot on my mission, but this week it really made me think! It made me think about how our family would have a hard time all being available for good ole faithful home teacher Brother Bowen! ha ha I experienced a lot of guilt as I thought back to the times where he’d be there waiting for us or just half of us would be there. I feel way bad! You can tell him, pay back comes 10 fold! Also, tell Brother Bowen that I’m super grateful for his dedication, because if the members here were home teachers like him there would be a lot more less active members coming out to church! Please give me the update on how he is doing and tell him I say hello! Also, tell Bishop that I’m sorry for not coming to more activities! It’s so funny because everyone can make time for the church activities. Now, of course there are exceptions, but man I look at the members here and the busiest ones with work and school and family are the ones that always show up!! I’m super grateful for you Mom and Dad because you are some of those members that are always there for moves and church parties and events and everything else! It’s so funny because if everyone would just do their part, the church would function sooo much better! Even though now it functions so good because of those great members that just always show up!! I’m so committed to never saying I’m busy when there is a way I can help with that kind of stuff, when I get home! haha sorry I’m rambling on! Thank you for the great people and examples that you are Mom and Dad!!

So this week we met with the Bishop and it went well! He still isn’t gonna help much but I can’t blame the guy. He has like 5 kids, a full time job, and he is still in school. He’s in his 30’s and he has a super strong testimony! He does love the missionaries though. He just is a very busy man! We had a great chat though and hopefully some of our ideas will get the ward excited!

So Thanksgiving was interesting! It’s funny because I remember being so depressed last year for Thanksgiving. haha I hated the world! So this year I was super excited for it, to make it a great one! But we weren’t allowed to go to the big party with all of the missionaries because Brother Cresenzi, our ward mission leader, wanted us to come eat with him. So we were a little down, but kept a good attitude. We got there for the fake microwave potatoes and store bought pumpkin pie. haha Then we listened to the ward mission leader talk down on the ward for not helping us and then giving us all of his excuses for why he never can help us! It was hard to not laugh. It was an interesting night, but it really was soooo great! haha I truly am so grateful for all that I have been blessed with! It’s so funny because I really am pretty good at picking out the bad! I sat there thinking bad about the ward mission leader, when he had spent all night trying to give us an American Thanksgiving! It’s so funny how often on my mission I have had these shots of humility were I get to see all of my shortcomings and I get to see how blessed I really am!!

I’m so grateful for my amazing family, my great friends, and my wonderful life! I’m so grateful to be on a mission!! Missions are the best!! And I’m grateful for our good bishop and our great ward mission leader! hahaha It’s so neat to see how, with all of our short comings, life goes on and the work goes forward!! I love and miss you all so much!! And I really am so grateful for all that you have done for me! I have the best family ever!! Stay safe and smart and have a great week!! Love Elder Smith!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2010-11-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Hey!

Man! It’s almost Thanksgiving! I loved your emails this week! Mom, me and my comp died laughing with your description of Dad’s fit!! haha It made me sad that our mission president probably won’t show those movies for Christmas like Papa did! haha It made me think of many wonderful times!! Mom and Dad, you are the best!! I am so blessed to have you as my parents! I can’t believe all of the wonderful times that we have had together! We went and ate mexican today and I had a “blast from the past” of a lot of times skipping school or something else to go and hang out at Puerta Vallarta with you two! I just want you to know that I love you so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do! Fits and all! haha And I know that the fits aren’t your fault Dad! It is definitely the stubborn washing machine and dishwasher and car and door frame and remote control car, etc! Dad, you are the best! I look up to you so much and you will always have WAY more wisdom than your son! It was great to see Payt’s bad arm with a thumbs up! Thank you so much for all of the emails!

So this week has been crazy! It has gotten a lot colder and it has snowed a ton! The other night we left our shoes in some people’s awkward room (the room between the front door and the house) while we taught. My shoes were all wet, so when the appointment was over they were rock hard!! haha I had wooden clogs the rest of the night!! It’s crazy that the good weather held out for so long though!

This week we had an all day training session and then we had Zone Leader Council at night. It went on for ever, and so we didn’t get home until like 11 pm, so we got to bed late and we had Stake Correlation this week too, so we lost a lot of pros time, which is getting annoying! We had a pretty great week with lots of great lessons. We have 4 people right now with pretty solid dates, but getting them to church has been like pulling teeth! They all work and the one that didn’t, didn’t show! We were planning on a couple people still though, but a big storm hit Saturday night and Sunday morning and no one showed! It was so frustrating!!! Agency can be a pain sometimes!!

I have a crazy update for you though! I don’t know if I told you but Jamie, the Jew, has read half of the Book of Mormon!! I made a bet with him that I’d buy him a burger if he’d read it all in three weeks. Hopefully that wasn’t bad! haha But since then, he has set a baptismal date and he is working on quitting smoking!! He was the one that didn’t have work on Sunday, but he didn’t make it! He’s already been a couple times though!! Hopefully all goes well with him!

We are pretty frustrated with the ward right now because they are so hard to get excited about the Gospel! The only one that is willing to help us is Brother Peterson and he’s a goofy guy! Payt, hopefully he isn’t bugging you on face book! haha I’m never getting a face book because it’s an addiction for people! He’s great, but we need some other help! Do you have any ideas on what we could do! It’s just that everyone in the ward is in need! They don’t fellowship any of the investigators that come and they are afraid of the missionaries. They are struggling in so many ways! The Bishop isn’t supportive of missionary work at all!! I’ve tried so hard to build a relationship with him, but he just doesn’t like the missionaries. We are meeting with him tonight to see what we can do for the ward. Hopefully he will give us something to do that will help us gain his trust! It’s so hard because he really isn’t that nice. haha I have tried so hard to get to know him and help, but he won’t say more then two words to us! I went from feeling like a rock star in Waverly and Selkirk. And then coming here was a downer! haha I’m loving it but I so bad wish that we could find a way to help the ward! If you have any ideas, please let me know! Don’t get me wrong, things are going great, but I just keep thinking that there has to be something we could do to bring some fire to the ward! We are starting to spend a lot more time in the upper class parts of our area!! Hopefully we can find some wealthy kingdom builders that have cars to help the work!

Elder O'Driscoll is a lot of fun and a great missionary, but he is very similar to Matt Collette! We would make great friends back home, but keeping him in line and keeping a good relationship can be stressful! If I learn how to do it, it will be a great blessing for life!! hahaa And he isn’t bad! He just does little things that make ya wonder! He has been very successful though because he loves his mission and he works hard!! We will have a great transfer, as long as we can find a happy medium of what is okay. haha I have learned a ton, though!! After serving with Elder O'Driscoll, I will either lose my mind or learn to stress a lot less! I have gotten a lot better about not stressing stuff, but he is so laid back! It’ll be good for me, I guess!

This next week we will be in Portage, La Prarie tomorrow to teach half the zone and then back in Winnipeg Wednesday to teach the other half! If I see one, I’ll send you a post card. It’s only an hour or two from Winnipeg. It should be fun, but its frustrating because we miss a lot of time in our area!

But I guess I’m out of time! Let me know what you would like me to send more of in my emails. There’s a ton too I want tell you, but I never know what you want to hear or what I want to say so I seem to babble on! hahaha I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for you and all that you do for me!! Thank you so much for all of the great emails and pics!! Stay safe and smart and Payt be careful in the Jeep!! Alex and Addi, thank you for your emails! You are the best!! Mom and Dad, you are the best parents ever! I can’t even tell you how grateful I am for all of you!

Have a great Thanksgiving and eat a ton of turkey for me! And don’t worry about me! I’m sure I’ll be pounding some turkey too! There are some very charitable Canadians here looking out for us!! Love you a bunch!! Have a great week! And thank you so much for the package! Especially the scriptures for Emmanuel! He will be way excited!! And don’t stress what you sent me!! What ever it is, it will be way too much! The only downer is that I doubt any of it will have technical difficulty! haha When I got stuff that didn’t work was always my favorite because I saw how much you cared for me!! haha You two would give your life, just to find batteries on Christmas morning! You are amazing and I love and miss you a ton!! Love Elder Smith

NOVEMBER 10TH - CELIA AND KIM GET BAPTIZED!

2010-11-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

Hey!!!!

Thank you so much for all of the great emails! You are the best!! Mom I feel horrible because your present will be way late because this week went crazy and I sent it way late!!! I’m sooooo sorry!! But Happy Birthday!! You are such an amazing woman and I love and miss you so much!! I can’t even tell you how grateful I am for you and all that you do!! Sorry the package is way late, but hopefully it gets there soon! I told my new comp I was way late with sending your birthday present and he told me to cross out Happy Birthday and put "Just thinking of you." haha It gave me a good chuckle and then I felt more guilty! Hopefully it gets there soon!!

Congrats to Tanner and the family!! Will you please send me pics of the wedding and him and her? I haven’t seen any. Keep me updated on Uncle Kellan and tell him he’s in my prayers! Tell Alex I love the totem pole and his does look better then mine did! Except my bear, it was legit!! haha Alex and Addi look so old!!! It’s crazy! Tell Addi I miss hearing her sing and I’m sure she great this last week! The weather here is great!! Global warming is for real! haha It hasn’t snowed and stuck yet!! And it really hasn’t been that cold yet! Hopefully it stays that way! Tell Payt I’m so proud of him and I miss and love him a ton!! Same with all of you! Thank you so much for getting the face stuff!! Keep it coming and I’ll try to do everything to stay on it this time! I’m also “Super Face” so don’t worry about me at all!

So this week was crazy!! First off, I went in and got the same judge as last time for my ticket! haha I thought I was done for because other missionaries have had bad luck getting even their first ticket knocked down. I was pretty nervous, but I whipped out the puppy dog face charm and gave him my excuses and he cracked again! He said, “Well, since this is your first offense I’ll cut it in half.” I was like, “Sir, this is actually my second and I talked to you the last time.” He was like, “Well, I respect your honesty, I’ll still knock it down.” I was pretty happy until I realized that I still had to drop 120$. But I guess it’s just like getting one ticket, right??? I’m soooo sorry and I won’t speed by photo cops ever again. IF I ever get to drive again. But I’m so sorry, and I feel super bad!! Those things are dumb!!

But the Baptism went great and I was so stressed and it was so crazy that I didn’t have time to even think about Mom’s birthday!! It was unreal because we had district meeting in the morning that we had to rush to and then appointments and then filling the font and then getting everything set up!! Both speakers showed up 10 minutes late! Then I did the missionary presentation. Elder Leonard Baptized her like an old pro! It went so great!! Then, the second it ended I said congrats and talked with Celia for 5 minutes and then left with another missionary to book it across town to another Baptism in the Waverley Ward! Her name is Kim and she has been investigating for over a year! She was a hardcore Jehovah’s Witness! She has been investigating behind the J-dubs back and her family’s back the whole year!! She would come to church every other week so they wouldn’t know about it! The sister missionaries have been working with her the whole time! She teaches preschool and so of course I hit it off great with her right when I first got on my mission!! I’d always talk to her at church and she would always ask how Mom’s preschool was and for details about it and my family! I never taught her, but we got to know each other pretty good from church. They got some sisters there that were amazing together! They were in my district when I was in Agnes and they were tearing things up! Then Kim finally decided to make the leap!! Giving up her friends and family to join the church!! But the neat thing was that she asked me to be there to stand in for the confirmation! So, the time was way tight because Celia’s baptism started at 6 but it started like 15 minutes late and Kim’s started at 7! It’s a 30 minute drive from one building to the other! So I left Celia’s baptism right and 7 and got to Kim’s right at 7:30! I walked in just in time to walk up for the confirmation!! It was so neat! They did a waterside confirmation because of certain circumstances, so it worked out great!! Bishop/President Baronins (yes, he’s still both) gave a beautiful blessing and President Paulson, Elder Scheel, And Elder Masters (both senior missionaries that helped the Sisters teach Kim) and the elder that taught Kim online flew in from Utah for her Baptism, and me, all stood in for it! It was such a neat experience!! She thanked me a bunch for coming and she was just so happy!! It was such a neat night!! Both Baptisms went so great! Celia’s whole family was at hers!! Non members and all! She was so happy and her confirmation, on Sunday, went great!! It was a crazy great week!!

Missions are the best!! It was crazy though because after the crazy day we came in and and I was like man it’s my Mom’s birthday!! I sat there completely confused because it had come and gone so fast!! It’s so weird to think that it was my last chance to have Mom’s Birthday in the mission field!! Birthdays in the mission are so great because you just get the chance to think for a bit about how blessed you are!! I am in the best mission in the world and I have the best mother in the world back home that would do anything for me! I am sooooooo blessed!! Mom thank you so much for all that you do and Happy Birthday!!! I love and miss you so much!! Sorry again for the late gift! I am definitely thinking of you!!

Transfers were crazy!! Elder O'Driscoll is a fireball but he does what he wants! He is definitely very similar to Matt! It will be a very crazy, fun, great transfer, if I can keep him under control! haha He loves to work hard and he’s game to do whatever, but he’s pretty undignified with a lot that he does! And it’s hard to know how to handle it!! I’m sure I will learn a ton from him though and I’m way excited to see how the transfer goes!! It’s been pretty stressful with all the stuff to do!! The missionary work part is easy to keep up with but its all the zone leader stuff that I’m still trying to get down that stresses me out! haha I should have payed better attention to all that we did last transfer! It’s definitely been a learning experience!! Right when you get a little bit comfortable with what you are doing, ya get new stuff to pull ya out of you comfort zone!! It has been a crazy week, but such a blast!! The ward has grown on me a lot and I love the people we are teaching and the zone I’m in!! It’s a blast!! We have four people with baptismal dates right now and hopefully more coming. The ones we have right now are great, and our zone is doing really good!! It should be another great week!!

I love and miss you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do for me!! Be safe and have a great week!! Love Elder Smith

PS Please give me an update on Grandpa, Grandma, Papa, Grammy, Jay Kellan and anybody else!! You are the best! Thanks so much! Love Elder Smith!

ZITS, HEMORRHOIDS, BED BUGS, AND SPEEDING TICKETS

2010-11-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

Hey!

So, it was a great week, but a lot of not so great things happened! haha I’m getting zits again, I have hemorrhoids, we have bed bugs, and I got another speeding ticket!! So I thought long and hard about Christmas, like you asked. And I was just wondering if you would forgive me for all the money I have to blow on Preparation H, face wash, suppositories, dry cleaning, and speeding tickets? haha I’m sooooooo sorry about the ticket! I hate photo cops!! I asked to not drive anymore and the vehicle coordinator laughed and said, “Ok... well you can’t anyways until you come and watch the defensive driving video!” haha Luckily, it doesn’t do anything to my insurance or my record or anything because they can’t prove it was me. It is just the fine, that has to be paid!Hopefully I can talk them down again! But I’m so sorry, I feel way bad. I got it racing to church. It is so ridiculous because I slow down in all intersections so I won’t get them but it was a hidden one in between intersections! I’m so sorry!!!

So for Christmas, I was just hoping for a new copy of my Patriarchal blessing, with more ink and Mom’s name spelled right. Also, no books please. I love all the books you’ve sent, but I’m not aloud to read them and so they just sit in my suitcase. I’m way excited to read them at some point though!! Also, I know you won’t send just my blessing because you’re amazing and stubborn! haha So would you get scriptures for EMMANUEL AYENI, with his name on them. He is amazing and he lives in our ward now! He comes and helps us teach a bunch. And if you can’t remember, he was the first man I taught, that got baptized! If you did, that it would be so great!! I am allowed to listen to books on tape in the car when we drive, so if there is a good one on the Atonement or the Gospel or something, I would love that! Also, zit pills and I promise I’ll take them. haha I don’t like the rub on stuff because it makes my skin too sensitive, but if the doc has any magic pills, that would be so great! And yes, choke cherry syrup is always the best! Please don’t worry about sending a bunch of stuff, though!! The scriptures and phone call would make a great Christmas!! You are the best!! Sooo sorry for all of the blown money on stupid stuff!! If you’re mad or out of money, just stop putting money in the account, hahaha You are amazing!! Elder Holland brags about his Dad paying for his mission, my parents pay for my mission, plus speeding tickets, hemorrhoid and acne treatments, and anything else you can think of!! You are so amazing and I love and miss you so much!!

Mom, sorry I won’t be there to make you a cake, but you can count on one next year! Your gift is coming, but it’s late and lame!! Hopefully you will forgive me!! You’re the best!!

So this week was crazy!! All this ridiculous stuff happened, but it really was a great week!! I really have been so blessed!! Bed bugs were figured out fast. Suppositories give you the best poops ever! And I can read my scriptures more when we are driving, now that I am the passenger!! Also, Celia is doing amazing!! She passed her interview on Sunday morning and she will be baptized this Wednesday!! She has been ready for a little while, but she was set on the date she set to begin with!! I don’t know why we set it so far away! We didn’t think she’d be able to quit weed and coffee so fast, but she stopped the day we taught it and only had one slip up!! She is so amazing and she has a great testimony!! But she heard Elder Leonard was getting transfered and she wanted to move it up so that he could be here! Before the general authority came, the mission was against this kinda thing, but he said baptism is like Christmas. . . why wouldn’t you want it to come now, if you are ready! So, President was all game. It will be a great week!! She is so ready!! So she will get baptized Wednesday and Elder Leonard leaves for Saskatoon on Thursday! I’m staying here for another one and I’m excited about it!! I will be serving with Elder O'Driscoll. He is a champ! He’s the one who had a rough start but is tearing up Brandon right now! He is the only new Zone leader this transfer and he’s great! I’m kinda nervous because I don’t think that I know all the zone leader stuff and I have to show him. I guess if it doesn’t go well, I can blame it on Elder Leonard! But I’m excited because I have never served with someone like Elder O'Driscoll before! He’s comparable to Matt Collette. Like he’s super hard working, but a goof ball, so hopefully all goes well! I’m sure I’ll learn a ton!

The area here is doing so good!! We really had a great week and we are teaching some amazing people!! I had a funny story for ya though!! We were teaching a less active family who has been getting more active, but the mom was engaged to this guy and they called off the wedding. But he is still hanging around! He was over at their place the other day and we were teaching and he said that he had some issues with the church. So his “girl friend” (I guess) haha said “like what?” All of this is in front of me and my companion. He said, “This law of chastity thing, I just don’t get it!” She said, “Well you can’t have me until I have a ring and you can’t give me a ring until you turn things around and get baptized!’ haha So we were a little shocked by that, but we kinda just sat there nodding our heads. He started arguing with her and then says, “I just can’t keep myself off of you!” He then looks over to us (the 20 year old kids) and says, “Don’t you think this is crazy!?! She’s being ridiculous!” He said it with hope that we’d back him up! hahaha So I started teaching the law of chastity and he wasn’t too happy! Once he saw that we weren’t gonna back him up, he started arguing with her again. She then started taunting him, waving her fingers at him saying, “You don’t get any of this without a ring on my finger.” hahah He finally stood up and said, “Fine! We are done!” And he stormed out! She laughs in shock and said, “Well, I don’t care, I want to get to the temple!” It was pretty crazy!! Also hilarious and the funny part is that he showed up to church two days later with her! Funny stuff!! It’s amazing the funny things you see happen!!

Also, in our area there were 3 shootings last week. I almost didn’t tell you this because I didn’t want you nervous because we are 100% safe and we stay in good, safe areas at all times, I promise!! I told you because our area used to be the scariest area in the mission, but since the shootings, there are 2 cop cars on every corner. I thought it would give you comfort, because now our area is the safest area in town!

Things are going so great though!! We are teaching a ton of great people that have set dates and I will try and update you on them next week!! Missions are the best! Its funny because Elder Schulte came back to visit after being gone only 6 weeks! He is way depressed and misses the mission sooo much! I felt so bad for him!! It made me so grateful to be out here though!! Missions really are the best!! I’m safe healthy and happy and if it wasn’t for amazing parents, I would also be in debt!

Again, I’m so sorry for the ticket!! I love you all so much!! I’ll look forward to telling you how the baptism goes! It should be another great week!! I love you a ton and tell Payton and Alex and Addi that I’m glad to see they aren’t too torn up that I’m still gone! hahahah Tell ‘em I love ‘em and I would love to hear from them! Tell Payt it’s fine, I know he’s way busy with stuff! Give me an update on the arm! Love you!

Love Elder Smith

ZONE MEETINGS WENT GREAT! ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO TEACH A JEW?

2010-11-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Man, you all look so great! Alex and Addi, I loved the costumes! You both look so happy and healthy! I’m so glad you are doing so well!! Payton, you have more facial hair than I do! Lookin good! Sounds like Senior Football Night was a downer!! It’s a sad day when you know you will never get laid-out again, you’ll never get to look up to all of the smart coaches and there life changing stories(haha don’t get me wrong, I really do look up to SOME of the coaches), you’ll never again get to walk like you pooped you pants because you’re beat up after game day, you’ll never again be part of something that makes it impossible for you to put your right arm around a girl, or pick your nose or wipe your bum, you will never again get to see others succeed because they didn’t give 100%, so they stayed healthy all season! hahaha I could go on! Don’t get me wrong, I love and miss football a ton! But, there are bigger, better things buddy! Cheer up and love life! You’ve got a lot of exciting stuff coming your way!! I can’t wait to hear some of your skiing stories! Don’t break anymore bones though and watch out for trees, please!! Payt, I love you a ton and I’m so proud of you and what a great kid you are!! I love and miss all of you guys a bunch!

So this week was interesting! We taught zone meeting and it went really well! The trip home from Brandon was good and both zone meetings were fun! President came to the other one and I think he liked it! The week went really well!! Celia is doing super good! She hasn’t missed a week of church and she is excited for her date!! It’s the 20th, so it’ll be here before we know it!!

Waverley had another baptism this week and get this!!! Belatu spoke at it and did a great job!! I didn’t get to go, but I heard it was super good! It was someone that the sister missionaries had been teaching! Her name is Rachell and she is actually a cousin of Akons! It was a great day and President Paulson baptized her!

We are still teaching a lot of great people and we had a really good week. We taught a lot and we have a bunch of people who are really good!! This transfer has gone so fast!! It seems like every transfer is cut in half!!

This Halloween was a pretty interesting one!! We taught in the morning before church and then went to church. It went great and most everyone we were planning on, made it! Then we rushed over to the other church across town for Stake Coordination. This was my second one and it was pretty scary, again! It was the four Winnipeg Zone Leaders, the Assistants, President Paulson, President Robison and one of the High Councilman. It’s funny because we get updates from all of the different branches and wards in our zone and then report on them. We report on the recent converts and bishops and ward mission leaders. Then they ask us questions about them. It is pretty scary, just because they are intimidating! But it all went well!!

Then we went home and ate quick and then had an appointment with a lady named Amie and her son named Goodwin. They were so good and set a baptismal date! I’m super excited about them! But then our night was pretty much over. The members here don’t really think about the missionaries during the holidays. There are some great members here though, it’s an interesting ward because it is full of super humble people. But almost everyone needs help, rather than can give help. It really is a miracle that it functions the way that it does! haha I definitely am learning to love the people here though and hopefully we are helping!

We really did have a great week, but nothing too crazy happened. We set a couple more dates and we had a new man named Jamie come to church and he’s Jewish!! Anybody know how to teach a Jew!? He’s way interested and he seems really good but everyone else I’ve taught usually shares the common ground of a belief in Jesus Christ. Any ideas?? I just want to say, “Come on man! The Messiah came already!!!”

But nothing else too crazy! We did final stewardships today for transfer planning this week and it’s so interesting to talk about the missionaries in our zone. I’ve learned so much from trying to find ways to help them. It’s just interesting to me how some missionaries treat there mission. It’s super sad to see some and super exciting to see others because you know they are going places!! There are so many missionaries that perform so far under their potential and it’s so sad!! I definitely hope to always do my best to reach my full potential! It’s so amazing because we all have the potential to do such great things and due to disobedience or just laziness, it’s so easy to miss our full potential! It’s also been sad to see people fall short of there potential, just because they lack the faith and confidence that they can do great things! It’s also been a testimony builder to me that as we do our best and turn the rest over to the Lord it’s amazing how much we can do! There is a missionary in Brandon that has had a rough mission so far because of his attitude and some bad companions. But the last couple transfers he started to see some success and he has blossomed!! He now has 15+ baptismal dates and he is just tearing Brandon to pieces! It’s just funny because a year ago or even 6 months ago you never would of guessed that he could tear up an area like that! It’s amazing because I don’t think any of us really realize our full potential! Everyday I see more and more that there is so much more that I can learn and do better!! And it can either be an exciting thing or a depressing thing! But I know that as we do our best and work our hardest, pushing forward in faith and then turn the rest over to the Lord, everything will workout and we can accomplish amazing things.

I’m so grateful for the great experiences I get to have everyday and I’m so grateful for all of the great love and support I get from home! I’m so blessed!! Mom, Dad, Payt, Alex, Addi, Gpa and Gma, and Papa and Grammy and Everybody else, you are the best!! Thanks for everything!! Love ya a ton and have a great week!! Love Elder Smith

BISHOP BARONINS WAS PUT IN THE STAKE PRESIDENCY!

2010-10-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hey!

It sounds like you are all doing great! Mom and Dad looking good!! haha I’m glad you guys had fun at the Moss’s Halloween Party and nobody had anything to crazy happen! Oh Payton, don’t keep hurting your arm! Get better for skiing season!! And if you’re healthy you gotta try out for basketball and mess around and throw some elbows! haha You probably won’t be healthy in time, but I was hoping you could show Zack Smith a thing or two, one more time.

So Dad, as for your question about P-days, they haven’t been too exciting. If we have spare time, we take a nap! But this week has been a really fun one for P-day. We actually left early this morning to drive to Brandon. It’s a couple hours west of Winnipeg. We are teaching the zone meeting this week, but the Brandon district has too far to drive in, so we come out here to teach it, and then we will teach it again to the rest of the zone on Wednesday. Dauphin, Portage, La Prairie and the 2 Brandon sets, will all be in here tomorrow for the meeting! Today we got to drive here, then we went bowling, ate “all you can eat” at Pizza Hut and now we are emailing! Tonight we will do an exchange here with the Brandon elders and then tomorrow morning we will teach the mini zone meeting and do interviews and teaching evaluations. Then we will bust it home for our appointments starting at 5 PM. It’s been fun and different, but it gets frustrating not having as much time in our area. It’s just the only way that it can be done with how huge the mission is! It should be a fun couple days though!

I’m excited for the zone meeting! I’ve really learned to love teaching, investigators, members or missionaries! It’s honestly addicting!! This week was another great one though! Celia is doing so good! She’s been clean for like 10 days or something now and she went to Stake Conference yesterday and a fireside last night! We found out she has also been meeting with Jehovah Witnesses. She told them about her baptism and that she knows the Book of Mormon is true! Of course they went off, but she stood up for herself. Hopefully all goes well there. She is set on getting baptized and she has been taught and is living everything now. Any ideas on how to completely get rid of the J-dubs? She knows the church is true, but they are her friends so we aren’t sure how to handle it because she can still have friends of other faiths, but just not J-dubs trying to convert her! She is doing great though and hopefully all goes well there.

This week went great though! We had tons of great appointments and set baptism dates with Amber, Ali, Rita, Alfea and we have others that are close! People feel the Spirit and are setting dates in the first lesson, but it’s just when we hit the commandments that it slows a lot of them down. We are teaching a bunch of really great people though!! If things work out good we should have a lot of baptism coming up.

We have one stubborn old lady named Margaret, that has been a J-dub for 29 years, that is now investigating. She has been coming to church and she feels the Spirit there, but she has real problems with certain doctrinal issues, because she’s been a J-dub for so long! She has a friend that was excommunicated, that is amazing though! He has a crazy story, but he is trying to get baptized again and he is trying hard to help us convert Margaret! His name is John and he is amazing!! Since he started working on getting "un-excommunicated" a couple months ago, he has read the Book of Mormon 4 times! He is an RM and he is amazing! But Margaret is sooo stubborn that all she wants to do is argue with us when we try to teach her. I’ve tried teaching her twice since I’ve been here and it is so frustrating because I can’t get two words in! And the words I did get in, I was pretty much yelling because I was sooo frustrated. But John really wants us to teach her. And she still comes to church every week! But she refuses to read the Book of Mormon. . . until this week! John made her read with him and she called us and said, “How come I’ve studied the bible for years with the Jehovah Witnesses and it doesn’t make sense at all and then I read this book and everything makes perfect sense??" Then Elder Leonard pretty much yelled into the phone, "Because it’s TRUE Margaret!!" haha She then passed the phone to John. The next day she called and said she wanted to be baptized! So we teach her Wednesday and we will see what happens!

Other crazy stuff, I had supper at a part members house where the husband is an Athiest. We had quite the debate. It was hard for the Spirit to be there because he was just plain mean. It was the only supper appointment I’ve been to where I was made fun of the whole time for believing in God. I got some shots in, but it was going no where. He just threw “Anti” at us the whole supper appointment. It’s funny because Elder Leonard just took it and enjoyed his supper. I’ve really worked hard to not argue with people because you go no where, but I had had enough with this guy! So it turned into a debate. It was good because I’m pretty sure I won! But bad because the Spirit wasn’t there and that man will never change. It was all in good fun and never got heated, but it was definitely an interesting experience! His wife is amazing though and she helped us get people to church this week!!

And get this! It was Stake Conference this week and it was the best!! I saw everybody from Waverly and Selkirk!! It was so great! Belatu is doing great the Obengs are still crazy! Everyone else is doing really good!! Emanuell is also now in our area here and he is great! He goes out and teaches with us and he has a super testimony! But get this!! Bishop Baronins is now in the Stake Presidency!! When it was announced you heard all of the Waverley Ward and the missionaries let out a gasp like they’d been punched in the gut! He will be the Bishop and the Second Counselor for the next four weeks. He is amazing!! I told him how great he was and congratulated him and he said "I don’t do anything, the Lord does everything, I just have to not get in the way!" haha He is a champ! But it’s so sad to have him gone! It’s definitely a shot to the Waverley Ward! And get this!! 29 years ago he was baptized and he had to speak in Stake Conference. When he spoke, President Oler was the 1st counselor in the Stake Presidency. 29 years later (now President Baronins) stood up to speak for his second time in stake conference, this time as the 2nd Councelor and now President Oler is once again the 1st counselor! Now if that isn’t amazing I don’t know what is!! haha President Baronins joked about how President Oler never would have guessed that 29 years later he would be up speaking again, but as the 2nd Counselor. It’s crazy! President Robison is still the Stake President! It was such a neat thing though!! I loved seeing everybody!! I have met sooo many amazing people here!! I love it here so much!! The crazy part is that I’ve now been in Canada almost a whole year! It’s insane and super scary!! Winnipeg is the best!!

I’m healthy and happy and all is well!! Stay safe and have a great week!

Love Elder Smith!

PS Tell the Baronins congrats please! Sister Baronins loves your emails!! Please tell them I’m so grateful for them and I love and miss them a bunch!! Also thank her again for my great B-day bash that she threw and tell her thanks a ton for the great apple pie! haha She’s so good to me!! Thanks!! I love and miss you guys a ton! Have a great week!

CELIA IS ON TRACK! ELDER PLATT AND I GO TO SELKIRK FOR LAUREN'S BAPTISM

2010-10-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Wow, I was just emailing ya! haha I should of just skipped last week! Sounds like Payt is still hanging in there! Mom you are amazing!! I just can’t get over all that you and Dad do for us!!! You are the best!! There was a talk in church from President Robison yesterday in ward conference that really made me think!! He talked a lot about the large roll his parents played in his life and in the gospel, even though his dad was an inactive member. And NO, it didn’t remind me of you because I’m worried about Dad going inactive because he’s turning into a redneck! haha It really made me think about how blessed I have been!! I honestly have the best family ever!! Mom and Dad, you do so much for me!! It’s funny because I have a reputation in the mission for being the most loved son! And it is so true!! You do so much for me and I am so sorry that I wasn’t more grateful!! You are the most amazing parents ever!! I love and look up to you sooo much! Thank you for all that you do for me!!

Now, on that note... Mom are you going soft on me!?! I thought Addi wasn’t getting her ears pierced till she was 12!? haha What’d she do to talk you into it!? I had to atleaste give you a little bit of a hard time for that!! Payt, buddy I hope you are doing well! Keep relaxing and keep your head up and focus on skiing season! I want lots of pics, so you better go get a camera!! Stay safe and heal quick! Love ya buddy!

So this week was good! Or I guess the last 4 days! So Kerry got shipped back to New Zealand and is hopefully being taught there now. But we found some great people this week and had some amazing lessons! Celia is really good!! We taught the Word of Wisdom and she’s been clean from marijuana and coffee for 3 days now!! It has been hard on her but she is doing so great!! Last night she called because she was supposed to call if her cravings were really bad and if she had already tried reading, praying, and deep breathing! haha She called and she had locked herself downstairs with her Book of Mormon. She said that she had prayed and started crying and she felt really good and uplifted, but then the cravings were hitting hard! We talked about it on the phone and then I said a prayer with her over the phone. She is so good and I think if she makes it through this week, she will be set and we might even move up here date!

Since Elder Sybrowsky came, President is all about setting dates as soon as possible. Celia is such a great lady and it amazes me that she is doing what she is doing! I often wonder if I were in the same situation, if I would have the guts and diligence to try to push out addictions and all the other things she has just always known and done!! It is such a neat thing to see!! The gospel truly changes lives and it is amazing!!! Hopefully she can continue to stay strong and get through these addictions!! I just now talked to her on the phone again and she’s doing all good!! She turned down her friend for coffee this morning!! I’m super excited for her! Keep her in your prayers!!

Because of all the crazy stuff last week, I forgot to tell you that Lauren, in Selkirk, was baptized! He is the man that Elder Platt and I found. I taught him most everything, but when I left, he was still struggling with the Word of Wisdom. Elder Platt worked with him and then was transfered right before the baptism! So last Saturday, Elder Platt and I got to go up to it and I was asked to speak, last minute. haha I didn’t have anytime to prepare, but luckily I’m a missionary and I talk about baptism a lot so it was no stress! haha It was great driving back up with Elder Platt! He is a great kid and he is doing great work in Agnes, which is now called Stafford. When I left, the Agnes apartment shut down and the area got bigger because there are going to be less missionaries. So now they are in Stafford, same area, just a bit bigger! Elders Platt and Skinner are tearing things up there!!

Last night we had an amazing appointment with a man named James. He set a baptismal date and he is quitting smoking today. But he lives just out of our area, so we have to turn him over. It will be good for the elders there though!! They have both been out a year and neither of them have seen a baptism! They are great elders, but just haven’t seen much success!! They were way excited when we turned James over, so it was good!

I went on exchange with Elder Perry, one of the Assistants to the President and it was great!! He has a full ride football scholarship when he gets home. He loves fly fishing and hunting and he is an amazing missionary!! I learned a lot and we had a blast!! Elder Oberg, the elder that wanted to go home, met with Elder Sybrowsky and he’s a fireball now!

Oh and yesterday a drunk man ran into our car with his bike! We were about 20 feet away street contacting! He jumped up and took off! We didn’t know what to do, we ran over, but he was gone to quick to do anything! Now our car has no side mirror and a big gash down the side! haha It’s ridiculous!!! It’s been a crazy, but great week!! I love my mission so much!! It is such a crazy, amazing experience!!!

Oh and finally I’ve been making homemade fries almost everyday! We usually don’t have time for supper, so we make fries before bed, while we make our calls. It is great!! We have almost gone through a 50 pound bag of potatoes this transfer! haha And our kitchen is now a grease pit! hahaha Life is great! I’m healthy and loving everyday!! I love and miss you all a ton! Stay healthy and safe!!

Love Elder Smith

ZONE LEADER CONFERENCE WITH ELDER SYBROWSKY

2010-10-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hey!!

Thank you so much for the great pics and emails!! I loved it all!! Payt, I feel horrible for you!! It sounds horrible to do that traction thing!! I’m glad that you are handling it like a champ though!! I’m sure when I get home there will be no squirrels left in IF! haha I love the green cast and I’m sure the ladies do to! The Jeep looks soooooooo good!! hahaha I’m so jealous!! Those rims are so nice!! Hang in there and before you know it you’ll be healthy again and out doing cookies in the Jeep!! Don’t roll it!!

So this week was insane!! The birthday with Akon, Belatu and the Baronins was the best and I recorded videos on my camera that I’ll send home soon! It was an amazing night and such a blast!! Then the week got crazy!! We had Zone Leader Council where all the zone leaders come and have a meeting with President and the Assistants. I was pretty nervous because I am the youngest and one of the new zone leaders, but it went really well! I love President and Sister Paulson!! President loves to make fun of people and make them feel dumb, haha so you watch what you say!! Everyone talks about how the zone leaders get burned and made fun of in ZLC but I made the whole thing without getting it, until it was over and President started talking about his beloved BYU Cougars! I told him they will always let ya down and he got a little fired up! haha He’s so funny and it was a lot of fun!

Then we set a date with an amazing lady named Celia! She is so good and friends with one of the recent converts that Elder Willardson baptized! She is great and will be baptized in November!

The week was going well and then on Tuesday the madness started!! Elder Sybrowsky of the Seventy came for Zone Conference. Check out his picture in the Ensign and know that he is 10 times scarier then he looks!! He wanted a meeting with just the zone leaders, assistants and President Paulson before the Zone Conference!! We were told to report on what we thought the strengths and weaknesses of the mission were. We got in there and I knew it wasn’t gonna be good. He called out Elder Felix (one of the assistants) for conducting wrong, right there on the spot! Then he asked us questions and tore into us with how we should be baptizing a lot more then we are in this mission! He told us that right now in the mission 1 missionary baptizes on avg. 1.2 times a year. Then he asked us questions we didn’t know the answers too and made us feel dumb! haha He was relentless to all of us, President included!! Then it was time for zone conference!! We had prepared a little portion, but we changed it during the hymn, so that we talked about baptism! hahaha Because he talked about how we are here to baptize and our mission’s focus was in the wrong place. Elder Ewell and Elder Davidson changed their portion too! It was funny because we all said “baptism” a ton. After our portions he called us up for public humiliation!! He went over, again, what he had said in the leadership meeting before, then broke us up into zones and told us to figure out a goal for how many we will baptize. The whole time he is asking us hard questions and making us look stupid in front of everyone! haha One of the funny ones was he asked Elder Ewell a question and Elder Ewell didn’t know the answer so he answered it by asking a question, hahaha Elder Sybrowsky said, “What are you a Jew!? We are Mormons here! When we get asked a question, we answer it. We don’t answer with a question!” hahah I laughed pretty hard, but wanted to cry a little because I knew he’d come back over to take some more shots at me and Elder Leonard. He asked me in front of everyone what my purpose as a zone leader was and I gave what I thought was a pretty good answer with something about helping missionaries fulfill their missionary purpose, and he said, “No. stop beating around the bush! You are to help your zone baptize!! haha I should’ve guessed! By the end of the day, if anyone asked me anything I replied by saying, BAPTIZE!” haha It was super scary and super humbling, but I learned a ton!! The stuff he said was what I think a lot of the missionaries needed! I don’t know how I feel about the way he went about it, but what do I know, He’s the Seventy! And he was pretty funny!! It was neat too because I had a good little chat with him after. He’s a great man! But very bold!! And anyway not many people can say they have been called out and made fun of by a general authority, in front of half of the Canada Winnipeg Mission. Me and the other zone leaders can say we have had that privilege! It was funny too because we all came away with some fire! We are setting baptismal dates on people’s door steps now! It’s been frustrating because we have all of these meetings now!

Oh, also we had Stake Coordination a bit back where we accounted for all of the recent converts and ward mission leaders to President Paulson and Stake President Robison. President Robison is the Stake President for all of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I was way nervous for that one too, but it went well! Oh and get this! President Robison’s son is serving in the Pocatello Idaho mission!! Look him up!! I think he’s in Blackfoot!! But it’s hard to keep our area going the way we want it with all of the busy work stuff and meetings!! It’s kinda crazy, but the area still is doing alright!! We are finding lots of great people and there are lots of good things happening!! I really love helping other missionaries too! We do a ton of exchanges and it’s neat to give advice and training and see missionaries apply it!!

I am loving everyday, but its ridiculous how fast it is going!! I feel like I haven’t had time to even think since I was in Selkirk, walking a couple minutes between doors! hahaha In this area I can jump from door to door! Things are so good and I’m learning a ton!! Thank you so much again for the great birthday stuff!! You are all amazing!! And yes, you can give my email to people you think I want to talk too, it’s allowed. Also, I will find our address for the apartment! We see the Assistants a ton though, so I get stuff fast, if you send it to the office.

Payton, keep your head up and get feeling better!! I love you a ton and I’m so proud of you!! I love you guys all a bunch and I’ll talk to you Monday, probably.

(: Love Elder Smith

CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING! FAREWELL TO FAVORITE ELDERS

2010-10-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Hey, sounds like a lame week!! First off, thank you so much for all of the stuff for my birthday! You are all amazing! Mom, I loved it all and I look good in the Grizz stuff!! Grandma and Gpa, thank you so much for the tie and toffee and everything! You are so great! Papa and Grammy, thanks a ton for the great card and the American money! I love and miss you guys a ton!!

So I’ve been thinking a lot about what I could say to cheer Payt up...... I figured I’d give you the update of my week and then do my best with some advice!

The week started out rough with 16 appointments falling through, in the first 3 days! It was so ridiculous! I felt like ALL the investigators here aren’t too solid! And we spend so much time doing Zone Leader busy work. It definitely was a little frustrating!! I was pretty upset and kinda mad about the whole situation. . .But we just took it with a smile and figured it was what was supposed to happen because we HAD been working our tails off. We just kept tracting and working hard. So, the end of the week rolls around and Elder Willardson, Randal, Schulte, Eyres, Yorgoson, and a couple others were all going home. We somehow found an investigator that wanted to go hear them speak at their ‘farewell’ testimony meeting. It was an amazing night!! Akon was there, Belatu was there, and the Spirit was so strong as they bore their testimonies! Conference came and it was another great 2 days! I learned and grew so much!! And out of nowhere, a couple of investigators we had found that week showed up for conference! Then, we got a call Saturday night that there was a man that wanted to go to priesthood, who is in our area. He showed up and he loved it! We invited him the next day and he came for both sessions! He was just soaking everything in!! After the session, he set a baptismal date with us, right there in the chapel! That night we met with him and we felt that we should go through the baptismal interview questions. And he said he will live everything! After our lesson we had him say the prayer and he broke down crying. He said a beautiful prayer and we are meeting with him four times a week until his date on Nov. 7th, and it might get moved up! His name is Keri and he is great!

Also at conference, Chris and Karl, and a ton of the Selkirk members came to the same chapel we where in!! It was so great to see them and it was such a great week!! Also at the Priesthood Session I spotted Devin Munk in the choir, with a ton of other missionaries! haha It honestly turned into an amazing week!!

Tonight I got permission to say good bye to Belatu and Akon since I got rushed out and Sister Baronins, Akon, and Belatu have a big birthday party/family home evening planned for me tonight! Because Mom told them it was my birthday. I love my mission so much!! I’ve learned that life is so full of ups and downs, but if we let the downs get us down then our faith slacks, and our effectiveness, success, and happiness decrease! It’s funny because no matter what we do, we will always have downs! But if handled in the right way we will get through them, learn from them, and enjoy the happiness that comes after, in the up, that much more!

Payton, I know that you are feeling horrible right now! It’s the worst!! But the great thing about it is, there will be an up, soon enough!! Payton, I love you and look up to you so much! You are such a champ and a star athlete!! I know that you will handle this situation like a pro! But I figured I’d give you some advice on some things that I wished I would have done when I was down and out!! First off, learn from it! haha It’s a great time to learn patience and how to really be tough! hahahaha That one’s kind of a joke because I know how frustrated you are with the whole thing, but love everyday!! Don’t be upset and turn away girls that want to come and comfort you! As a matter of fact, when ever they call, say that you really think a Jamba Juice or a hamburger would really help with the healing process! Also, enjoy the time off school! Milk it for all it’s worth with the teachers!! Don’t text while on pain killers! Eat as many of Mom’s cookies as you can!! Also, don’t let Berg tell you that you can play with one arm and then try to finish out the season! hahaha Payt I feel so bad because I know how frustrated you feel! I know that it is so upsetting and I know how miserable you feel! Actually, to be honest, I don’t because your injury sounds a lot worst... But I can imagine! But don’t get down! Keep your head up and love everyday! It’s funny because I look back and football was everything to me but I look at things today and I have such a different perspective!! Football is so great! I loved it and I learned so much from it, but the last year of my life has meant more to me than any football game or football season!

Today I talked to a brand new missionary in our zone that is super homesick and he really wants to go home and it made me think a ton!! It was hard to know what to say to him because I wanted to say so much!! It really helped me to realize what a great blessing a mission is!! I have been so blessed and had so many life changing experiences! I love the people here and my mission so much!!! And it’s funny because I don’t know if I would have gotten this much out of my mission so far if it wasn’t for the trials that I went through when I was home! When I messed up my shoulder, it helped me to switch my focus to preparing for a mission and life! Now I’m not saying you wouldn’t have been ready for a mission if you hadn’t messed up your arm, but I know that we all face so many trials in our life and if we react to them negatively, they can really slow down our progression. But as we humble ourselves and come unto Christ, and live the gospel through our trials, it truly can bless us and help in our progression. Trials are so great because they really are opportunities for growth!!

Payton, I love you so much and I’m so grateful for you example to me!! Love everyday! Stay positive! Milk your situation as long as you can, haha and learn and grow from it!! Buddy I love you so much and I’m so excited for what is to come in your life!! Don’t get down though!!

Love you all! Love Elder smith!

CHANDLER'S 20TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

2010-10-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

(Email from Sister Baronins sharing the details of the Family Home Evening/Birthday Party she, Akon, and Belatu threw for Chan)

Hi Kris,

Here are the photos from last night. You may not recognize the Filipino gentlemen in the group shot. He's a man in our ward named Bro. Rico (your son may have mentioned him to you before) He's such a good man! Bro. Rico drives so many downtown families to and from church on a regular basis. His van is jokingly referred to as the "Rico Bus" by ward members and missionaries alike.

Once again we would like you and your family to know how grateful we are to know your son and have him serve among us. He's truly been a blessing to the Canada Winnipeg Mission and the people whom he has taught and will continue to teach.

All the best!

Love

Chris and Rocky Baronins

P.S. I forgot to mention this last night but Elder Smith also went home with Birthday Apple Pie. I didn't cook it and sent them off with instructions so they could cook it fresh when they wanted it. He was very grateful to get the pie and shared the fact that having the pie made it feel like it was truly his birthday.

TRANSFERED A WEEK EARLY TO BE ZL IN NORTH DOWNTOWN

2010-09-27T22:18:00.001-07:00

Belatu, Bishop & Sister Baronins, Akon

Elder Leonard, Elder Smith, Elder Willardson

Belatu's Baptism

Hey!!

Payt, keep your head up! You’re gonna have bad games! It happens! If you get down about it it’ll just mess you up!! Just stay positive and get a couple pick 6’s in the dome!! Dad, you are the greatest! Sorry about your tough cases! Just so you know, whenever we were down after games you always handled it perfectly! You are amazing!! Mom, you too!! Payt’s real problem is that he can’t enjoy the losses because he doesn’t like apple pie enough!! haha I learned to enjoy losing because apple pie usually followed! Addison, thank you soooo much for your email!! i love and miss you so much!!! I love and miss all of you so much! Tell A-rod to write me!!!

So this week was so crazy!! It started out great. . . great lessons, everything going good and then get this!! I get a call from President on Wednesday! Elder Felix was called as the new assistant and so I got my transfer call a week early! I am now a zone leader serving with Elder Leonard in the north end of downtown! Right above Agnes! It was so crazy and depressing though because I got the call at 9:30 Wednesday night, and I had to be packed and ready to go by 8 the next morning. I got packed and ready and we left for Dauphin to do a baptismal interview!! We drove all morning on Thursday and right when we got there, Elder Leonard said that I was doing the interview. So I hopped out and walked into the branch building and started the interview. The man, Brent had a super solid testimony but I ended up finding out that he had slipped up with Word of Wisdom problems the night before!! So I had to teach the Word of Wisdom and help him understand that he couldn’t get baptized until he was living it! So I was in with him for about an hour and 15 minutes and then I had to break the news to the missionaries! They are really good, but really young and not a whole lot of experience. Brent really just didn’t understand the Word of Wisdom, but he is way good and if he is clean for 2 weeks, we will go back up for another interview! So then that night we went on exchange in Dauphin! It is a beautiful city and it was a blast! The next morning we drove all the way home and on the drive it started to set in that I had left my favorite ward ever without talking to anyone! I was as Agnes sick as I was homesick in the MTC. It’s been hard because I miss them all soo much! But President is letting me go on a day exchange next week to teach everybody one more time!!

I got back to find out that this area is dead! They had some baptisms a month or so back but since then nothing is going. So it will be fun to build it up! Hopefully all goes well! I’m way excited to serve with Elder Leonard again! He’s great!! So we had a rough Friday and then Belatu and Jr. (the assistants investigator that I interviewed) got baptized! Elder Skinner baptized Belatu and he was way nervous but it went soooo great! It was a great day!! She’s so prepared and she will be an amazing member!!! It was a great day!! I love her and her kids so much!! They are amazing!! She is a big fashion buff and she had both her kids dressed in all white! Then after her baptism, she came out looking great with all kinds of fancy, flashy clothes on!! Every week at church the Relief Society attacks her to ask her were she gets all her stuff! haha She is so great and will be an amazing member!! Also this Saturday Sarah Anderson got baptized in Selkirk!! Elder Platt is still tearing it up up there and Lauren gets baptized after conference! Both people me and Elder Platt found and were teaching! Sarah was in a family that her mom asked for her records to be removed! We started teaching Sarah, who is 11 or 12 and her mom’s heart softened a ton and she set a date right before I left!! I guess since then Sarah’s mom and grandparents have come back to church because of her! she is amazing and it is so neat the impact she is having on her family!! Lauren is a little crazy, but it’s exciting to hear that he’s getting baptized soon too!! And get this!!! Elder Platt is now a district leader in Agnes!!! hahahahahaha He’s only had me as a companion and one jr. companion! He is a champ and I’m sure he will keep the work moving there! Oh and get this!! Karl is now a primary teacher in the Selkirk Branch and he is super solid!!! I am going to call and talk to him tonight!! I’m sure you will hear about it next week! It’s funny because once again I have that homesick gut ache feeling because I don’t know this area or the members and I miss Agnes and Selkirk sooo bad!!! This ward I’m in is the most disfunctional ward in the city! It is full of needy people. There were 75 people at church on Sunday and 8 of them were missionaries and a lot of the people that came are struggling. There are only a couple solid members. Elder Leonard says that it feels the same as when he trained a new missionary. haha You don’t expect a whole lot from them, but when they do do something good you are like wow, I didn’t expect that, that was pretty good! haha It would be so great to find some solid kingdom builders for this ward because they could really use it!! I’m sad because I miss so many people so much, but I’m super excited to take it on!! Hopefully we can get some good things going!!

Oh and zone leader is definitely not my favorite thing. More dumb missionaries to deal with and more lost time with busy work! But I’m way excited and hopefully we will do a good job with things!! We have some exciting fun ideas for some of the training and I love working one on one with other missionaries because it’s neat to see that you have helped! Oh and get this.. I forgot to tell you that we had 0 people to church this week in Tyndal! I haven’t had that in a while and it stung pretty bad!! I was glad I had excuses, but hopefully we get people next week because I won’t have any!

But I’m doing great and things are crazy! I haven’t even told Akon that I’m gone yet so that’ll be fun??? Belatu was sad, but happy that I’m going next week so she can feed me and they know I’m not far!! I’m loving everyday and things are great!! It’s weird to be with a missionary that knows a ton! I’m not used to teaching with someone older than me! It’s way different because I’ve been with new missionaries that you kinda have to set up so they know where you want them to go with it. haha It’s been way fun and weird though!! It should be a fun transfer! Oh, and President Paulson said that I will probably be here for two transfers. So that’s good because I can settle in and know I won’t bounce around for a bit! Sorry I’m all over the place, haha I just have said what I remember as it comes!! Payt, glad you like the sweatshirt. I wrote you a letter, but it still isn’t sent yet. I’ll try and do it today! I love you guys so much!! Have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith

P.S.

Oh, thanks again for the great pictures!! Can you get me an update on Landon and Matt!? Oh and get this! Elders Willardson, Schulte, Randall, Scott, and a bunch of others all go home on Thursday!!! If you can go to Utah to hear homecomings Elder Willardson or Schulte’s will be sooooo good! They are amazing! It will be so sad to have them gone!