Monday, October 29, 2012
Family!
First off, thank you so much to the Cottle family for the box of candy. I loved it! And thanks Dad for the letter. Sounds like it's been a great eventful week for all of you! I love the picture of Lexie and Mason, they are getting so big. I can't believe it! Little Mason looks like Matt haha! I'm glad it's a good car they bought and that they made it home safe. I was looking forward to pictures of Charlie this week, but maybe next! I'm excited for that. I can't believe it snowed there already, it still feels like summer here so it's hard to believe the weather difference, but I'm loving it. We had a tri-ward trunk or treat on Saturday that we went to--it was fun! Sooo many people were there and since it was tri-ward, 2 other sets of missionaries were there from my district and we played some catch football afterward in the parking lot, then it was Elder Steentras 6 month mark so he burned a tie...tradition haha, it was fun.
This week's been pretty slow because of last week before the transfer, we got our calls on Saturday and I'm staying here in my area and getting Elder Barton, I don't know much about him but I've heard good and bad things, ha, we transfer tonight at 5:30. Elder Pulsipher is going to Overton though! I'm jealous because that would put me closer to St George. So that's the news on transfers, we better have some baptisms this next transfer! It's been discouraging that we've had some come really close, then it doesn't happen, but soon it will. Well sorry there's not much to report on this week--it's been slow, but we'll be working hard this next week!
Love you all, hope the baby comes soon!
Elder Smith
First off, thank you so much to the Cottle family for the box of candy. I loved it! And thanks Dad for the letter. Sounds like it's been a great eventful week for all of you! I love the picture of Lexie and Mason, they are getting so big. I can't believe it! Little Mason looks like Matt haha! I'm glad it's a good car they bought and that they made it home safe. I was looking forward to pictures of Charlie this week, but maybe next! I'm excited for that. I can't believe it snowed there already, it still feels like summer here so it's hard to believe the weather difference, but I'm loving it. We had a tri-ward trunk or treat on Saturday that we went to--it was fun! Sooo many people were there and since it was tri-ward, 2 other sets of missionaries were there from my district and we played some catch football afterward in the parking lot, then it was Elder Steentras 6 month mark so he burned a tie...tradition haha, it was fun.
This week's been pretty slow because of last week before the transfer, we got our calls on Saturday and I'm staying here in my area and getting Elder Barton, I don't know much about him but I've heard good and bad things, ha, we transfer tonight at 5:30. Elder Pulsipher is going to Overton though! I'm jealous because that would put me closer to St George. So that's the news on transfers, we better have some baptisms this next transfer! It's been discouraging that we've had some come really close, then it doesn't happen, but soon it will. Well sorry there's not much to report on this week--it's been slow, but we'll be working hard this next week!
Love you all, hope the baby comes soon!
Elder Smith
Monday, October 22, 2012
I'm so anxious about the baby! It needs to come already!
But this week has been good, Thanks so much for the box of candy, I loved it! That is awesome that Matt and Ashlie got to spend some time in St George to get their car, I hope Matt enjoyed the ride along with Bruce cause I know I did, it was awesome! There's a cop in our ward here that we talk to a lot, he's awesome, but he went to the monster energy cup her in Vegas this past weekend, (motocross/super cross event) and I was super jealous, I haven't been able to ask him how it was yet.
Well this week is a little slower for investigators. We are still teaching the young family, and it was funny when we were teaching the plan of salvation and the kids asked if Jesus was Black or White so we showed them the picture in the Book of Mormon of Him and the 7 year old says, "See I told you Jesus was white!!" With a disappointed expression, haha. I'm looking forward to this weeks lesson.
We have this new guy in our ward that was less active for most his life but started going back to church when I got here in the area. He decided to change his whole life and start being active again, so when he was going through the repentance process he decided he needed to turn himself in for past transgressions, so he is currently serving 6 months in jail. But this guy is amazing. He's been in about a month and a half and we have already got about 10 calls from people asking for help that got our number from him. We have no idea how he contacts these people outside of jail to give them our number, but he refers everyone to us haha. A lot of them are in the other mission so we just have to call it over through the mission office, but if only all the members were like him, so ready to share the gospel and knows that whatever their problems are, the church can help. It's a testimony builder to me! We expect a lot more calls from people with the time that he will be in jail, haha.
I hope I get to see pictures of a brand new baby by next Monday!! Love you all, Elder Smith.
But this week has been good, Thanks so much for the box of candy, I loved it! That is awesome that Matt and Ashlie got to spend some time in St George to get their car, I hope Matt enjoyed the ride along with Bruce cause I know I did, it was awesome! There's a cop in our ward here that we talk to a lot, he's awesome, but he went to the monster energy cup her in Vegas this past weekend, (motocross/super cross event) and I was super jealous, I haven't been able to ask him how it was yet.
Well this week is a little slower for investigators. We are still teaching the young family, and it was funny when we were teaching the plan of salvation and the kids asked if Jesus was Black or White so we showed them the picture in the Book of Mormon of Him and the 7 year old says, "See I told you Jesus was white!!" With a disappointed expression, haha. I'm looking forward to this weeks lesson.
We have this new guy in our ward that was less active for most his life but started going back to church when I got here in the area. He decided to change his whole life and start being active again, so when he was going through the repentance process he decided he needed to turn himself in for past transgressions, so he is currently serving 6 months in jail. But this guy is amazing. He's been in about a month and a half and we have already got about 10 calls from people asking for help that got our number from him. We have no idea how he contacts these people outside of jail to give them our number, but he refers everyone to us haha. A lot of them are in the other mission so we just have to call it over through the mission office, but if only all the members were like him, so ready to share the gospel and knows that whatever their problems are, the church can help. It's a testimony builder to me! We expect a lot more calls from people with the time that he will be in jail, haha.
I hope I get to see pictures of a brand new baby by next Monday!! Love you all, Elder Smith.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Hey Family!
I'm glad to hear the weathers been good. It's been awesome here! We roll down the windows now instead of using AC. But sometimes we still have to use it, we are so blessed with a car! Mom, we only wear our suits during meetings and on Sundays. That's awesome that Jordan's busy killing mice in his house haha! We just have crickets, cockroaches, and black widows everywhere outside and sometimes they come inside, but mostly crickets. We torch them if they come inside haha! I'm getting excited to here about when the baby comes! And I hope Dad doesn't try to ride down here on his bike since it's so close haha!
Well anyways this week has been great! We had 5 investigators at church yesterday! We had a referral and we went and taught her and she is soooo awesome, African-American lady with 4 kids, 10,7, and two 5 year old twins, they are so cute! She didn't make it to church but Daphne brought the kids with her and I got to sit by all of them during sacrament. They are so funny, after the water in the sacrament they all say, "That is some gooood water!" the 5 year old girl was flirting with me the whole time haha! But they loved church and hopefully they will all make it next week. We are also teaching a 10 year old boy, his family is active but they were busy moving when he was 8 so he never got baptized, he knows basically everything so it's an easy one. Daphne started making jewelry awhile back and they were selling some of it on Saturday so we went to support her. It is some nice jewelry! She orders real crystals and gems from outside of the country and designs it all herself. So her stuff is very expensive but maybe it'll help her out. She said she has sold some things to Celine Dion and Eva Longoria, that's impressive to me! So if you want something from her, let me know haha! We were going to go hike Mt Charleston today but the zone couldn't find enough member rides up there so we cancelled it, maybe another time, I was excited for that because there's actually some snow up there on the top of the mountain, probably the most I'll see in 2 years!
I'm so blessed to be here, I'm loving it, yes it's really hard sometimes, a mission is not easy at all, but it's what the Lord has asked us to do. I'm excited for all the 18 year old guys that can now go and excited to see what the future holds for missionary work. There are a lot of changes going on and I can really see how this is the Lord's work on the earth. I'm so thankful for it! I hope everyone's week is great! I Love You. Elder Smith
I'm glad to hear the weathers been good. It's been awesome here! We roll down the windows now instead of using AC. But sometimes we still have to use it, we are so blessed with a car! Mom, we only wear our suits during meetings and on Sundays. That's awesome that Jordan's busy killing mice in his house haha! We just have crickets, cockroaches, and black widows everywhere outside and sometimes they come inside, but mostly crickets. We torch them if they come inside haha! I'm getting excited to here about when the baby comes! And I hope Dad doesn't try to ride down here on his bike since it's so close haha!
Well anyways this week has been great! We had 5 investigators at church yesterday! We had a referral and we went and taught her and she is soooo awesome, African-American lady with 4 kids, 10,7, and two 5 year old twins, they are so cute! She didn't make it to church but Daphne brought the kids with her and I got to sit by all of them during sacrament. They are so funny, after the water in the sacrament they all say, "That is some gooood water!" the 5 year old girl was flirting with me the whole time haha! But they loved church and hopefully they will all make it next week. We are also teaching a 10 year old boy, his family is active but they were busy moving when he was 8 so he never got baptized, he knows basically everything so it's an easy one. Daphne started making jewelry awhile back and they were selling some of it on Saturday so we went to support her. It is some nice jewelry! She orders real crystals and gems from outside of the country and designs it all herself. So her stuff is very expensive but maybe it'll help her out. She said she has sold some things to Celine Dion and Eva Longoria, that's impressive to me! So if you want something from her, let me know haha! We were going to go hike Mt Charleston today but the zone couldn't find enough member rides up there so we cancelled it, maybe another time, I was excited for that because there's actually some snow up there on the top of the mountain, probably the most I'll see in 2 years!
I'm so blessed to be here, I'm loving it, yes it's really hard sometimes, a mission is not easy at all, but it's what the Lord has asked us to do. I'm excited for all the 18 year old guys that can now go and excited to see what the future holds for missionary work. There are a lot of changes going on and I can really see how this is the Lord's work on the earth. I'm so thankful for it! I hope everyone's week is great! I Love You. Elder Smith
Monday, October 8, 2012
Family,
Thanks so much for the package of things, I can't believe you sent a rose in a bag just so I could smell it, haha, me and my companion get the biggest laugh with some of the things you send, like the yes or no question sheet, that was funny! But I appreciate everything you send. It's been a great weekend with conference and all the wonderful talks. I love President Uchtdorfs talk as well about airplances and how the gospel is the same where ever you are. We were at the stake center for that and brought Kody with us. We watched Sunday sessions at the stake center and we were the only ones there along with 2 other missionaries, so we pulled the couches into the chapel to watch it, haha. Saturday we were at Shari's watching both sessions with her. I loved all the talks, Yes, Mom it's true we watched it at the same time, it was just 9 for me and 10 for you. And I was glad to hear the story of Ann Rowley, I remembered she was my ancestor. That story is also in 17 miracles, we watched that last transfer. We couldn't believe the news that 18 year olds can now go and 19 year old sisters. We're going to be getting a lot more of them now! Our next transfer is at the end of the month, the 29th. I'm not sure what will happen with me but we're pretty sure Elder Pulsipher will be going somewhere else. He feels like he's going to Mesquite, which would be funny because he has a lot of family there.
I'm loving the weather here, the nights cool down to a perfect temperature and the days aren't burning hot anymore! But I'm not too jealous of the freezing temperatures there! We got a new investigator yesterday, Oscar. He's a 16 year old that is so interested in everything. He's friends with one of the priests in the ward and has been to church a couple times. He's going to seminary too so we hope he will be baptized soon. We gave Daphne and Dimitri a blessing because Dimitri has a dangerous job, and the spirit was soooo strong and we knew they felt it. They followed us out the door just staring at us saying thank you over and over again. It was amazing. This morning we hiked Lone Mountain---it was so fun. I'll send a few pictures of it. The view from up there is awesome-- you can see everything in the valley. Hope it's a good safe week for everyone. Love Elder Smith
Thanks so much for the package of things, I can't believe you sent a rose in a bag just so I could smell it, haha, me and my companion get the biggest laugh with some of the things you send, like the yes or no question sheet, that was funny! But I appreciate everything you send. It's been a great weekend with conference and all the wonderful talks. I love President Uchtdorfs talk as well about airplances and how the gospel is the same where ever you are. We were at the stake center for that and brought Kody with us. We watched Sunday sessions at the stake center and we were the only ones there along with 2 other missionaries, so we pulled the couches into the chapel to watch it, haha. Saturday we were at Shari's watching both sessions with her. I loved all the talks, Yes, Mom it's true we watched it at the same time, it was just 9 for me and 10 for you. And I was glad to hear the story of Ann Rowley, I remembered she was my ancestor. That story is also in 17 miracles, we watched that last transfer. We couldn't believe the news that 18 year olds can now go and 19 year old sisters. We're going to be getting a lot more of them now! Our next transfer is at the end of the month, the 29th. I'm not sure what will happen with me but we're pretty sure Elder Pulsipher will be going somewhere else. He feels like he's going to Mesquite, which would be funny because he has a lot of family there.
I'm loving the weather here, the nights cool down to a perfect temperature and the days aren't burning hot anymore! But I'm not too jealous of the freezing temperatures there! We got a new investigator yesterday, Oscar. He's a 16 year old that is so interested in everything. He's friends with one of the priests in the ward and has been to church a couple times. He's going to seminary too so we hope he will be baptized soon. We gave Daphne and Dimitri a blessing because Dimitri has a dangerous job, and the spirit was soooo strong and we knew they felt it. They followed us out the door just staring at us saying thank you over and over again. It was amazing. This morning we hiked Lone Mountain---it was so fun. I'll send a few pictures of it. The view from up there is awesome-- you can see everything in the valley. Hope it's a good safe week for everyone. Love Elder Smith
Monday, October 1, 2012
Hey Family!
I enjoyed the emails and the news from home, there was a lot of it this week! Mom, I'm glad you had a good birthday but I felt bad you were alone, but also glad Dad had a good riding trip and was safe. I think of him every time I see a Harley, haha. And good job in school Mom. That's cool that you talked with Bostrom's about me eating with their aunt. There are so many people I've talked to that are from Idaho falls or have visited family there, but mainly I've heard kids attending BYU-I that are from here, so I told Taylor to look for someone from my wards here and I might know their families, haha. Mom, I will be voting absentee, they should send me a ballot in the mail. And that's so awesome that me and my companion are related to Shawn Bradley. I guess that's where I get my height from! You would never guess that me and Elder Pulsipher are related, we are the complete opposite and no he's not tall, pretty short!
I'm excited for General Conference weekend. I think we are all just going to the stake center unless someone invites us over. But I look forward to hearing from our prophet and apostles. This is a great opportunity we have to invite others to listen to what our church leaders have to say. We have been doing a lot of visits to less active members of the ward since I got here, and we have successfully got about 2 or 3 people back to church. We visited a lady last night that hasn't been to church for 10 years and I had the prompting to find out why that was. She expressed a couple things then thought and said, well I don't really know why I stopped going. So hopefully she will show up to church in 2 weeks. Elder Pulsipher mentioned that I must have a skill for reactivation or something, haha.
There's one story I'd like to share. Friday night we went to visit a less active member, it was around 7:30 so getting dark. We knocked on the door, no answer, rang the bell, no answer, we waited a second cause there were lights on inside, well this guy comes out the garage and around to where the front door is with a handgun! He says, 'who are you?' Well I didn't see the gun at first so of course I start walking up to him and introduce ourselves, well once he realized we were missionaries he said, oh hold on, and takes the gun back inside, and then I realized what could have happened! He came out the front door and said, "You guys almost got jacked up." Then we had a little friendly conversation but he wasn't interested in the church and hadn't been for 20 years. It's my testimony to all of you that I know the Lord is watching over us and protecting us wherever we go. Especially us being representatives of Jesus Christ people notice that we aren't just 19 year old kids dressed in a shirt and tie, the Spirit is there to guide and protect us, and I am so Grateful for that and for the protection we received.
I love you all and thanks again for all you do for me.
Love Elder Smith
I enjoyed the emails and the news from home, there was a lot of it this week! Mom, I'm glad you had a good birthday but I felt bad you were alone, but also glad Dad had a good riding trip and was safe. I think of him every time I see a Harley, haha. And good job in school Mom. That's cool that you talked with Bostrom's about me eating with their aunt. There are so many people I've talked to that are from Idaho falls or have visited family there, but mainly I've heard kids attending BYU-I that are from here, so I told Taylor to look for someone from my wards here and I might know their families, haha. Mom, I will be voting absentee, they should send me a ballot in the mail. And that's so awesome that me and my companion are related to Shawn Bradley. I guess that's where I get my height from! You would never guess that me and Elder Pulsipher are related, we are the complete opposite and no he's not tall, pretty short!
I'm excited for General Conference weekend. I think we are all just going to the stake center unless someone invites us over. But I look forward to hearing from our prophet and apostles. This is a great opportunity we have to invite others to listen to what our church leaders have to say. We have been doing a lot of visits to less active members of the ward since I got here, and we have successfully got about 2 or 3 people back to church. We visited a lady last night that hasn't been to church for 10 years and I had the prompting to find out why that was. She expressed a couple things then thought and said, well I don't really know why I stopped going. So hopefully she will show up to church in 2 weeks. Elder Pulsipher mentioned that I must have a skill for reactivation or something, haha.
There's one story I'd like to share. Friday night we went to visit a less active member, it was around 7:30 so getting dark. We knocked on the door, no answer, rang the bell, no answer, we waited a second cause there were lights on inside, well this guy comes out the garage and around to where the front door is with a handgun! He says, 'who are you?' Well I didn't see the gun at first so of course I start walking up to him and introduce ourselves, well once he realized we were missionaries he said, oh hold on, and takes the gun back inside, and then I realized what could have happened! He came out the front door and said, "You guys almost got jacked up." Then we had a little friendly conversation but he wasn't interested in the church and hadn't been for 20 years. It's my testimony to all of you that I know the Lord is watching over us and protecting us wherever we go. Especially us being representatives of Jesus Christ people notice that we aren't just 19 year old kids dressed in a shirt and tie, the Spirit is there to guide and protect us, and I am so Grateful for that and for the protection we received.
I love you all and thanks again for all you do for me.
Love Elder Smith
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