Hey ya'll!
Thanks a lot for the news from home and the letters sent to me. You all are awesome!
This week has been so good, really long, but good. The first of the transfer with a new companion always seems like it takes forever, but we have got some really good work done. Elder Barton is great, I love him already. Elder Parker is in Redrock stake and he's on bike, and his new companion is someone I lived with for 4 months while I was in South stake, Elder Jarman, so they will do good together. But like I said, Elder Barton is from Baton Rouge Louisiana, yes, good ole southern boy haha! He has a pretty amazing story. He was baptized about 5 years ago after getting fellowshipped by friends in the church, and he is still the only member in his family. He has 1 brother and 1 sister and his mom, who are supportive of him but are not interested in the Gospel. It's inspiring to hear about people like him that have such a strong testimony and are the pioneers in their family to lead and do what they believe is true, even without too much support. I look up to him a lot. This week we had a cool experience, we were trying to think of who we could go see, sitting in the car thinking. And he suggested these people that Elder Parker had talked to briefly before and written on a paper. So we drove to their neighborhood and I parked down the street. I had a feeling that we shouldn't go there at that specific time, so I just told him what I felt, pulled out the map and pointed at a street in the next neighborhood that we could go tract. Immediately we went and started knocking. Well the first door we knocked on was Crystal, a member of the church that we didn't know lived there and she hadn't been to church for 7 years. She stopped going because her dad passed away and was mad at God for taking her father. We stood on the porch for 30 minutes while she cried and told us her feelings. We talked about how the Gospel can help her and expressed that we wanted to help her and teach her family. We have a return appointment for this week and we are looking forward to it. This was another experience for me, out of many, that lets me know that the spirit is real and can guide us to where we need to be. I am so grateful for that and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us comfort and joy in life so we don't have to hold on to feelings of regret and pain like she has been doing. We also spent a couple days on bike in our area so we could talk to more people on the street and that was very productive too. We had one day where we set up 5 return appointments just from street contacts and visiting less active members. I've grown to love talking to people on the street and learning about who they are and how we can help them, its very rewarding.
So Kaumakas baptism is this Saturday and I will have the privilege of baptizing him. He is a great kid and I'm excited for him. It will be a great experience for him and his family. Thanks again for all you do, I love you all and hope you have a great week!!
Love Elder Smith

Another Day At Red Rock