I'm so happy I have a new niece! She looks really cute, I hope all is well and that she's healthy! I appreciated the pictures as well. It's hard being away when all these new exciting things are going on, so pictures are great!
Also I'm glad to see Payton is home, but that's to bad about him being really sick. I hope the doctors can get things straightened out soon. We also had 2 welcome home talks in our ward here on Sunday, one was in Seattle and the other was in Ghana Africa. They both did a great job and it was so cool to hear about Ghana. I don't know if you remember me saying before I left that I wanted to go somewhere like that, so maybe that's where I'll go when I'm older serving another mission, haha.
It has been a great week for us as well, we have done a lot of teaching this week and have a couple people close to baptism. Megan, the girl I mentioned before, accepted baptism but just want to read the whole book of Mormon before she does, so that's the latest on that. We are also teaching a 14 year old named Kaumaka. He is so cool! Last night we asked again about baptism and he said he's ready for it! He understands what he has read in the Book of Mormon so far and he told us everything that has happened in the chapters he's read, so he is ready and we're excited. We just have to get things worked out because he lives part time with his dad in Henderson, and part time with his mom here. So we will see if he comes to our ward because he's been going to the one in Henderson. I'll keep you posted on that! I'm super excited for this week of Thanksgiving! We will be staying at the Rosequists. And also the turkey bowl in the morning will be fun as well. I'm not expecting to have another niece or nephew come see me this Thanksgiving, but I guess that's what I said last year haha. Don't do it with out letting me know! haha. Mom, the letter you sent awhile ago about Aunt Gloria coming, I didn't get it until today for some reason so that's why I didn't say anything about it last week. If I could have talked about it then I would have had her come to the Rosequists and maybe bring some Reeds dairy chocolate mile with her too haha. It would have been cool to see her. But I hope she finds the mission office (not mission home) OK to drop off the package. Thanks a lot in advance, I appreciate it!
Oh and about the camera, the one I bought was a Samsung, but one day the lens wouldn't retract, so I took it in and had them fix it under warranty and then when I got it back the lens has a hard time focusing. So apparently it's just a bad camera. So don't worry about it anymore, I'll deal with it, I'm not wasting any more money on another one.
Well, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving week and hope that everyone travels safe! I love you all. Elder Smith
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
The Joys and Trials of a mission!
Well thanks so much for the emails and good news. I'm looking forward to hearing about Brad's talk Dad. It sounds like it was really good. I was just thinking about Island Park and the outings we had there as youth. I was really missing it! So hopefully you had fun for me! That's also crazy to hear about the Philippines and the tragedy that happened there. I'm also grateful that I am in a safe place with nice things. There was a missionary in our ward here that just came home from Ghana South Africa last week and we heard about some of the things he went through. He lost 65 pounds! We played some football with him on Saturday, luckily he was already pretty big when he left so he looks good now after losing that much weight. But the culture is just so different, he got to the airport in New York and looked at a water fountain like it was some new invention he had never seen haha. It won't be much of a culture change for me when I get back, just temperature change!
So there have been some crazy things happen in our zone lately, I'll mention one thing. On Sunday we were sitting in ward council and got a call from President Ahlander and a text saying, we have a missing missionary in your zone, call me ASAP....Now, that's not a normal text you would usually get haha, we always wondered if it would happen, and it actually did. So we learned more about it and found out what happened. This Elder had just had enough, he was done and wanted to go home. When his companion was in the shower he called a taxi, packed up, and left to the airport. And that's the last we've heard of him. So our job was to figure out a new companion for the other Elder that was now left alone. Kinda crazy, like I said haha. We were talking about the whole situation and I was told by someone this, In the mission, and in other church callings, there will be times where people will just get under your skin and you will be pushed to your limit. You will want to give up, as this missionary did. But those are the times where we will receive the most blessings, IF we endure it well. We all have choices in this life and have our own agency to choose what we will do. Our choices and actions will determine our way. It is my testimony, and sure knowledge that if we endure it well and push through our trials, our spiritual strength will increase significantly and we will be blessed beyond our knowledge, I pray for this Elder who will undoubtedly have very hard times in front of him because of his actions, but I know things will work out. And if it turns out that we choose the wrong way, God WILL NOT leave us. He will continue to love us with all his heart because that's who He is. I know that's true.
I pray for all of you and thank you for your love and support. I hope things go well for Jordan and Brittney and hope the baby is healthy and happy when she is born. Send my love to them for me, I'm looking forward to hearing all about my new niece! I love you all, Elder Smith
Well thanks so much for the emails and good news. I'm looking forward to hearing about Brad's talk Dad. It sounds like it was really good. I was just thinking about Island Park and the outings we had there as youth. I was really missing it! So hopefully you had fun for me! That's also crazy to hear about the Philippines and the tragedy that happened there. I'm also grateful that I am in a safe place with nice things. There was a missionary in our ward here that just came home from Ghana South Africa last week and we heard about some of the things he went through. He lost 65 pounds! We played some football with him on Saturday, luckily he was already pretty big when he left so he looks good now after losing that much weight. But the culture is just so different, he got to the airport in New York and looked at a water fountain like it was some new invention he had never seen haha. It won't be much of a culture change for me when I get back, just temperature change!
So there have been some crazy things happen in our zone lately, I'll mention one thing. On Sunday we were sitting in ward council and got a call from President Ahlander and a text saying, we have a missing missionary in your zone, call me ASAP....Now, that's not a normal text you would usually get haha, we always wondered if it would happen, and it actually did. So we learned more about it and found out what happened. This Elder had just had enough, he was done and wanted to go home. When his companion was in the shower he called a taxi, packed up, and left to the airport. And that's the last we've heard of him. So our job was to figure out a new companion for the other Elder that was now left alone. Kinda crazy, like I said haha. We were talking about the whole situation and I was told by someone this, In the mission, and in other church callings, there will be times where people will just get under your skin and you will be pushed to your limit. You will want to give up, as this missionary did. But those are the times where we will receive the most blessings, IF we endure it well. We all have choices in this life and have our own agency to choose what we will do. Our choices and actions will determine our way. It is my testimony, and sure knowledge that if we endure it well and push through our trials, our spiritual strength will increase significantly and we will be blessed beyond our knowledge, I pray for this Elder who will undoubtedly have very hard times in front of him because of his actions, but I know things will work out. And if it turns out that we choose the wrong way, God WILL NOT leave us. He will continue to love us with all his heart because that's who He is. I know that's true.
I pray for all of you and thank you for your love and support. I hope things go well for Jordan and Brittney and hope the baby is healthy and happy when she is born. Send my love to them for me, I'm looking forward to hearing all about my new niece! I love you all, Elder Smith
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Gladys Knight is amazing!
First off, it has been a great week, mostly because of the Gladys Knight concert, but I'll talk about that in a bit. Thanks for the email and good news from home. Mom, I don't even want to talk about my camera, that's all I'll say. It's still good though. I'm glad you were able to help get Matt's bathroom finished and looking good. I'm excited to see the changes. And Dad you just blew my mind when you said Payton finished his mission next week. I cannot believe that! Time flys!
So the concert...We were asked to help usher along with a ton of other missionaries. We were at the church helping set up from about 11 am to 1. And then we were ushering from 3 to about 11:30 pm, when it got over with, looooong day! Don't worry, we all got permission to be out that late haha. President Ahlander was there as well. There were two shows; the first show Elder Parker and I were in the back of the church by all the choir members acting as security. Then the second show we were out in the hall by the chapel and we got to see the whole show. Gladys and her husband have very very strong testimonies and it was amazing to be there and witness how the people reacted to it. We also had a few investigators and less active members there so we were excited about that. Gladys wanted the crowd to be excited and clap and dance, so we (all the missionaries) got up and started dancing and getting the crowd going. It was like nothing you'll ever see in an LDS chapel and the amen's and hallelujahs praising out! At the end there were a few people that came out of there so excited to hand us a referral card with their names on them. This one lady walked out shouting, "I'm joining this church!" If you ever get the opportunity to watch the Saints Unified Voices concert, I would highly recommend it haha. It was great. So now we are working hard trying to get more gift packages to our zone to give to all the referrals received. For all of Vegas there were about 200 referrals received from the concert, big success!
Things are going great here. We had a great Zone Training Meeting today and I was grateful to be part of it. I think the zone really enjoyed it. We are having a Turkey bowl football game on Thanksgiving so we have been practicing for that as well. Our zone doesn't have the most solid team, but we just got a new visa waiter that played football at Dixie state, so he will help us a lot haha. Oh and Dad, I was wondering if Bishop Westwood's nephews named is Elder Koval, he is from Idaho and he just came out, I saw him but haven't had the chance to talk to him yet. Anyways, I hope things are going well for everyone. Just so you know, because I've had a lot of questions about it, I DO NOT want any presents sent to me for Christmas. Any money that would be used on a gift for me, I want that to be used for someone else back home. Jordan and Brittany, Matthew and Ashlie, Janell and Bruce, the kids of course, etc. I would appreciate that a lot. Thanks. I love you all and hope you have a blessed week full of good spirit and love. Oh and good luck with Jordan and Brittany and the baby! I'm anxious to here all about it and how she is!! Love Elder Smith
First off, it has been a great week, mostly because of the Gladys Knight concert, but I'll talk about that in a bit. Thanks for the email and good news from home. Mom, I don't even want to talk about my camera, that's all I'll say. It's still good though. I'm glad you were able to help get Matt's bathroom finished and looking good. I'm excited to see the changes. And Dad you just blew my mind when you said Payton finished his mission next week. I cannot believe that! Time flys!
So the concert...We were asked to help usher along with a ton of other missionaries. We were at the church helping set up from about 11 am to 1. And then we were ushering from 3 to about 11:30 pm, when it got over with, looooong day! Don't worry, we all got permission to be out that late haha. President Ahlander was there as well. There were two shows; the first show Elder Parker and I were in the back of the church by all the choir members acting as security. Then the second show we were out in the hall by the chapel and we got to see the whole show. Gladys and her husband have very very strong testimonies and it was amazing to be there and witness how the people reacted to it. We also had a few investigators and less active members there so we were excited about that. Gladys wanted the crowd to be excited and clap and dance, so we (all the missionaries) got up and started dancing and getting the crowd going. It was like nothing you'll ever see in an LDS chapel and the amen's and hallelujahs praising out! At the end there were a few people that came out of there so excited to hand us a referral card with their names on them. This one lady walked out shouting, "I'm joining this church!" If you ever get the opportunity to watch the Saints Unified Voices concert, I would highly recommend it haha. It was great. So now we are working hard trying to get more gift packages to our zone to give to all the referrals received. For all of Vegas there were about 200 referrals received from the concert, big success!
Things are going great here. We had a great Zone Training Meeting today and I was grateful to be part of it. I think the zone really enjoyed it. We are having a Turkey bowl football game on Thanksgiving so we have been practicing for that as well. Our zone doesn't have the most solid team, but we just got a new visa waiter that played football at Dixie state, so he will help us a lot haha. Oh and Dad, I was wondering if Bishop Westwood's nephews named is Elder Koval, he is from Idaho and he just came out, I saw him but haven't had the chance to talk to him yet. Anyways, I hope things are going well for everyone. Just so you know, because I've had a lot of questions about it, I DO NOT want any presents sent to me for Christmas. Any money that would be used on a gift for me, I want that to be used for someone else back home. Jordan and Brittany, Matthew and Ashlie, Janell and Bruce, the kids of course, etc. I would appreciate that a lot. Thanks. I love you all and hope you have a blessed week full of good spirit and love. Oh and good luck with Jordan and Brittany and the baby! I'm anxious to here all about it and how she is!! Love Elder Smith
Monday, November 4, 2013
Hey Family!
Thanks for the email and updates on home. Sounds like it's been a great week for birthdays, happy belated Matt and Charlie! Hope they had a good day. That's too bad to hear about Blaze. I know he's really old, I just feel so bad for him that he has to go through the pain of arthritis. Maybe he's waiting for me to get home before he goes to a better place.
Thanks for the letter Dad, I really appreciate the story from Payton, that's an amazing story. He's such a good example to me and I appreciate that. Elder Parker and I had a good time reading that.
So transfers are today, we are staying together of course, but we are anticipating the arrival of a new visa waiter this transfer. We just had one leave this morning to Brazil that we got pretty close to. He'll do great down there. There will only be a couple changes within the zone, not too much.
There's at least one crazy thing that I'll write about this week that happened. It was on Friday night and we were trying to find someone to go visit. We came up with a name that was in the north part of the area, so started driving up there. I had just crossed an intersection and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a Mercedes run right through the stop sign, kept watching and then saw an SUV T-bone the car! I flipped around and we stopped to see if they were alright. Both cars were pretty totaled when we ran up, so we helped the ladies get out of the SUV, everyone turned out to be alright, but there was a 1 and a 3 year old in the back seat, so we were grateful they were fine. The kids were cold, (it was cold for Vegas, haha) so we let them sit in our car to stay warm. The cops took 40 minutes to get there! So we waited and talked to the people the whole time, but they were so grateful that we were there. I know that we needed to be there at that time to help them and I know it was the Spirit guiding us. Even though we didn't get a teaching out of the experience, every time those people see missionaries from now on they will know that we are good and they might want to listen to our message. The Lord plants seeds in people's hearts all the time. Every time somebody see us it plants seeds, which can hopefully grow to the point that they will accept the gospel. I love this work and everyday that goes by is a blessing. I'm grateful for all that you do for me and th esupport I get from home. Thank you once again. I love you and hope you have a great week.
PS Gladys Knight concert is this Thursday and we have invited a lot of people, we are so excited! Hopefully there will be a lot of referrals that come from it.
Also, there is a kid in the ward that's 19 and from Utah, he's just here playing basketball for college, because he is 7'2" !! haha so the picture I'm sending is us standing next to him, while he's in a morph suit for Halloween. Elder Parker and I are both 6'4" (still not the tallest companionship in the mission)and we feel pretty short around him. I am also sending pictures of the pumpkins we carved for Halloween. We went to a trunk or treat, and we watched 17 miracles at the Rosequists. Everyone thinks Elder Parker and I are related! haha I wonder why?
Thanks for the email and updates on home. Sounds like it's been a great week for birthdays, happy belated Matt and Charlie! Hope they had a good day. That's too bad to hear about Blaze. I know he's really old, I just feel so bad for him that he has to go through the pain of arthritis. Maybe he's waiting for me to get home before he goes to a better place.
Thanks for the letter Dad, I really appreciate the story from Payton, that's an amazing story. He's such a good example to me and I appreciate that. Elder Parker and I had a good time reading that.
So transfers are today, we are staying together of course, but we are anticipating the arrival of a new visa waiter this transfer. We just had one leave this morning to Brazil that we got pretty close to. He'll do great down there. There will only be a couple changes within the zone, not too much.
There's at least one crazy thing that I'll write about this week that happened. It was on Friday night and we were trying to find someone to go visit. We came up with a name that was in the north part of the area, so started driving up there. I had just crossed an intersection and I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a Mercedes run right through the stop sign, kept watching and then saw an SUV T-bone the car! I flipped around and we stopped to see if they were alright. Both cars were pretty totaled when we ran up, so we helped the ladies get out of the SUV, everyone turned out to be alright, but there was a 1 and a 3 year old in the back seat, so we were grateful they were fine. The kids were cold, (it was cold for Vegas, haha) so we let them sit in our car to stay warm. The cops took 40 minutes to get there! So we waited and talked to the people the whole time, but they were so grateful that we were there. I know that we needed to be there at that time to help them and I know it was the Spirit guiding us. Even though we didn't get a teaching out of the experience, every time those people see missionaries from now on they will know that we are good and they might want to listen to our message. The Lord plants seeds in people's hearts all the time. Every time somebody see us it plants seeds, which can hopefully grow to the point that they will accept the gospel. I love this work and everyday that goes by is a blessing. I'm grateful for all that you do for me and th esupport I get from home. Thank you once again. I love you and hope you have a great week.
PS Gladys Knight concert is this Thursday and we have invited a lot of people, we are so excited! Hopefully there will be a lot of referrals that come from it.
Also, there is a kid in the ward that's 19 and from Utah, he's just here playing basketball for college, because he is 7'2" !! haha so the picture I'm sending is us standing next to him, while he's in a morph suit for Halloween. Elder Parker and I are both 6'4" (still not the tallest companionship in the mission)and we feel pretty short around him. I am also sending pictures of the pumpkins we carved for Halloween. We went to a trunk or treat, and we watched 17 miracles at the Rosequists. Everyone thinks Elder Parker and I are related! haha I wonder why?
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