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