Hello Loved Ones!!
     Thank you for the letters and emails. I enjoyed hearing about what's going on. I hope that Monty's baby will be fine, and I send my love.
So as for us, Elder Parker is getting transferred and I am staying here and getting Elder Barton, not the Barton that I've already been companions with, I'm getting a black companion!! I'm so excited for it. I don't know much about him, but he's from Louisiana. It should be a good time. When I first got into this area there were a lot of potential investigators we were trying to meet with and they were all black. We haven't had any luck with them, so I'm going to give them another shot with my new companion and see if that changes anything. We hope so. As of this past week, things have been great, we have had a lesson everyday, which was my goal for the week and we made it. Even if we didn't get to teach a non member one day, we would teach members just for practice and trust. I hope it continues on this next week. There will be a lot of changes in the zone, 5 missionaries will be leaving and getting replaced, and it's hard to see them go, but I'm excited to see the change and work with different Elders and Sisters.
There was one thing I wanted to mention that happened. A couple Sundays ago we were greeting at the door at church and this guy walked in with a heavy accent and asked where the coat racks were. Well Elder Parker and I looked at each other like "coat racks? They don't have coat racks in church buildings" And told him there wasn't one. Then it dawned on both of us, we were in Las Vegas and duh, it doesn't get cold here so they don't have them. haha just a funny thing that we had not realized until now. So there are not coat racks in every church building, just in case someone wants to know that in the future!
Anyways, I thank you all again for what you do. I love you and hope everyone has a great week. Oh and by the way, Kaumaka's father said that he could be baptized, so February 8th will be that baptism. We're excited for that.
Love Elder Smith

Bruce surprised us by bringing us a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, 

how did he know those were my favorite?!

Hey Mom and Dad!
So yes, the holiday changed our email time, but we also spent the whole time at the park playing rugby and frisby. It's been a good week, Dad thanks so much for the papers you sent, they were really good and I already was able to use one of the examples from that in District Meeting today. So for Kaumaka, he hasn't been baptized yet, we're still working towards it. First off, it didn't happen that first Saturday because they were having family come into town for it and had to push it back a week, but now his Dad is having second thoughts about wanting him baptized, because he's not a member. We haven't been able to talk to him too much so I don't know all of his concerns. But we are hoping it will work out soon so he can be baptized. Tony is still doing really well, he txted us last night and said, "I just finished reading Mosiah 18, verse 18-28 is very interesting to me, Alma has found some followers after fleeing from King Noah!!!" haha he's a funny guy, we love him. We've been trying to meet with a few less active members in the ward and have had some success with that. Last night we taught Starr and his family, he played football for UNLV for 4 years so he's pretty ripped. Awesome guy though, we hope to meet with him more. Eric, the guy we helped move, is finally able to move into his new house next door, so we might be helping him with that today. He was without a place to stay for the past 4 or 5 days so he's been sleeping in his repo truck and couch in the storage unit, poor guy. But now he has the house so things will get better. Also transfers are on Monday but we don't know yet what will happen. I'm pretty sure I will stay and Elder Parker will leave, we've been together 3 transfers so it's about time, I will miss him though. So that's pretty much the most of my news for the week haha. I'm happy to hear that things are going well for Matt and his job and also Janell and Bruce and the new dog! I hope all is well with everyone and thanks again for all you do and the letters you send to me. I love you.

Zone Pictures

It has been a great week! Thank you for all you do and for the letters. Mom, thanks for getting on top of the things for college. So this will be a short email because we have to go help an investigator, Eric, he is struggling right now and he needs us, so I will email you on Wednesday with more details. But I did get to baptize Tony on Saturday, which was a great experience, and this morning we had a great time hiking at Redrock Canyon. Anyways I love you all and thank you again for everything.

Tony

RedRock Canyon

Hey all! Well here's the rest of my email from Monday, haha. It was a busy day, so for the story of Eric, the guy we have been helping to move, he has been living in this house by himself that his girlfriend owns, she moved out awhile ago when they broke up, but she evicted him the other day and he has to have everything out by tonight. He is buying the house next door so you would think it would be easy to just move everything over, well it's not haha. He can't move in until the 20th for some reason, so he had to get a storage unit to move everything into for 6 days. And he only had a moving truck for 2 days, so there is still a lot of expensive things in his house he couldn't get moved over that he will lose when he's evicted tonight, along with his dog. Plus on top of all that he's a full time repo guy and is on call, so he's been working in between moving and hasn't gotten any sleep since Monday! It's been a tough situation and we've been helping him a lot and calming his nerves. I've been grateful that we have been able to help him because he has really needed it. But on a better note-Tony's baptism was soooo good, and like I said, I was privileged to be able to baptism him. He had a couple of his boss's come down that live in St George cause they are members so that was cool to have that support. Yesterday we taught him about Temples and the Priesthood so he is really excited about having both those things in his life now. He was already assigned a home teaching companion, who is our ward mission leader, and he's excited about that too. The pictures I sent you of our hike in Red Rock Canyon remind me of home because of the cool weather and pine trees. I hope everyone is well and thank you for all you do for me. Love you all, Elder Smith

Well, it's here, 2014!
Who would have thought it would come this quick? It's weird to think that my 'dash' year is done, the full year that I'm a missionary. But I'm excited to have this half a year left to work the hardest I can and do the Lords work how it should be done. The past year has been full of blessings directly from God that I can't deny receiving. I have grown closer to Him and have really understood and been grateful for this Gospel that I have been given. This mission I am in is truly wonderful. I wouldn't be able to imagine a better mission President to serve with then President Ahlander, he is a great man that is called of God. I am sorry to hear about Michael and the struggle he is having with his President and mission, I hope things will work out. This morning we had the opportunity to take a "visa waiter" in our zone, Elder Jex, to the mission home at 4 in the morning. He received his visa and flew to Mexico this morning. We were able to briefly talk to President Ahlander and it was great. We dressed up in our shirts and ties to take him, and President Ahlander said, "you could have came in your pj's! Now go home and get some sleep!" it was funny. We are sad to see Elder Jex go, he's a great missionary, they will be lucky to have him in Mexico.
So this Saturday, we are still planning on having 2 baptisms! We met with Tony last Monday and once again stressed the importance to stop smoking, after that he said, "OK, I'm done" and hasn't had a cigarette since! When he gets a craving he just chews gum or eats peanuts. He is such a cool guy! To see his determination and desire to follow God's commandments is really a blessing to all who knows him. We've built a pretty good friendship which I hope will last a long time. He's already starting to refer friends to us to teach, so awesome! As for Kaumuka, we have struggled to meet with him to finalize things and get his interview done, so we are hoping and praying that things will work out for Saturday.
Thanks for all the things you all do for me, Thank you for the Christmas packages and cards, thank you for your Love and support, thank you for always being there when times get hard. I receive more than I deserve and it's a blessing that I'm grateful for. I really appreciate the video of Charlie as well, that was really cute, can't wait to meet him! One last thought, Mom you mentioned how the world is a cruel place with a lot of bad things going on. I wanted to share a favorite passage of mine that comes from the New Testament. 2 Timothy Chapter 3 Verses 1-5, The Apostle Paul teaches us what our world is like and warns us of the wickedness that will come. A few verses later, 14-17, he gives us direction and council on what to do about it. He expresses the importance of the scriptures and the guidance that they give us. In this world of tumult, the thing we can do to have comfort is immerse ourselves in the scriptures the best we can. If we know them and follow their direction, we will be ready, and suited for what is ahead. This is what I am trying to bring to people who will accept our message. We have a living Prophet to guide us today, and 12 Apostles to help in the work. What a great blessing that is to know. If we listen to him, we will be saved, and I know that's true. I love you all. Elder Smith