THE CHRISTMAS PHONE CALL

Friends and Family!

Wow! What an amazing week! I have so much to say, but no time to say it!! First off sorry this is late. I love Canadians and Dad would too because they drag out Christmas as long as they can! After Christmas, they have Boxing Day and because it was on a weekend the figured they’d give the whole country another day off! haha So on Monday nothing was open, including the library, so that’s why I’m late! But Christmas was amazing!! It so funny how I have had 19 years to talk to my family, but an hour and a half of just hearing their voices was the best Christmas present I have ever received by far! It was definitely an emotional week, but I have never been more grateful for what I have! I am honestly the luckiest kid in the world! Thank you so much to everyone for all the Christmas stuff and all the support! You are all amazing!! And family, it sounds like you had a great Christmas! Dad, you will get the perfect electronics Christmas one of these years I know it! ha ha It’s funny because I was talking to my comp about my bummer christmas, that one year and I was die-ing laughing thinking about it! Then I just wanted to bawl when I remembered the look on Mom and Dads face when they saw the look on my face when nothing worked! I was such an ungrateful little punk!! Mom and Dad you are so amazing!! You talked about how you were grateful for our relationship, thank you so much for how you are!! Our family is amazing! It was soooo great to hear all of your voices!! You all sound so good!! You are the best and I love and miss you all so much!! The rotten post Christmas blues definitely stink! haha But I cannot complain at all because I have the best family in the world and I am loving Canada and the people here!! I have no reason to ever be down ever again!! I am so blessed!! Alright, I could go on forever, but I’ll send this portion and then talk of other things.

Ok, first off there are some funny things I forgot to tell you! The other day I was walking in our apartment and my companion said that I walked like a dinosaur. So I said, “Really? My Dad always said it sounded more like a bull in a china closet. haha Actually, when he told me I just died laughing! I guess you were right all along. Everyday I’m out here I learn more and more that everything that Dad said was true! Dad, I miss you so much!! Thank you so much for the email!! Everything you say is what I need!! You’re the best!!

Another funny that I forgot to tell you is that Manitoba is the Slurpy capital of the world, and this is the 10th year in a row!! And I believe it! It’s crazy, it’ll be -40 outside and you will see people with a Slurpy in their bare hand!! They are crazy! I figured it out though, it’s because you can feel the warmth! haha The other day I came in from outside and my hands were frozen and numb! I reached into the freezer and grabbed a frozen chicken patty with my bare hand and it warmed up my hand! I’m a believer and I’m getting me a Slurpy this week!!

Also the other day I saw the “My Flag” song in the Children Songbook and my eyes watered up! (The song Addi sang for my Eagle Court of Honor) I’d give anything to here Addi sing that song!! I feel horrible because I remember yelling at her to stop singing that stupid song. But I would honestly give anything to here her sing it right now! haha I am sorry for the mess up that I was Addi! Keep singing! Your voice is beautiful!!!

Ok, moving on. One of the amazing investigators that I forgot to tell you about is Daniel!! He is from Sudan also and he is amazing!! He said that he’s will get baptized after he talks to the bishop and the bishop says that his other baptism doesn’t count. We were going to tell him that we new the answer, but we figured it would be good for him to talk to the bishop and build that friendship, so we are going to do an appointment this week with the bishop! He knows the answer, as well, because I’m pretty sure we taught it to him pretty clearly before we extended the commitment. But it’ll be great for him to talk to the bishop and I’m super excited for that!! He is taking everything in and he is amazing!!

Also Derek and Yvonne are doing great! We actually meet with them in about one hour and it’s Word of Wisdom time! We are on exchanges and I’m with a new missionary that came out with me, but he’s taught very few lessons and he says he’s never taught the Word of Wisdom. haha So it’ll be interesting! I’m so grateful for my area and my companions because we teach so much more then a lot of the other missionaries! This Elder that I’m on exchanges with says he has only taught about 10 lessons his whole mission! In Agnes we teach like 5 a day! He has never gotten to extend a baptismal commitment either and sometimes I think we extent to many. haha It’s sad too because I’ve tracted about 45 minutes my whole mission and he says he’s tracted everyday, most of the day, and not seen much success. So I’m excited to take him in our area, and we are going to extend a baptismal commitment to Deon tonight and I’m gonna let him do it!! It’ll be a great night!! I have been so blessed with my companions and area and everything!! I get so many blessings it is ridiculous!! I am sooo grateful!!

Finally Akon’s family is doing good but they aren’t home from Christmas yet, so I will fill you in next week!! I love you all a ton and thank you soooo much for all that you do!! Love Elder Smith!!

FROM THAILAND TO SUDAN!

New Companion Elder Willardson

Hey Friends and Family!

Payton! Bud sounds like a rough week!! I would feel a lot more sorry for you if i didn’t know you were sitting in the warm comfortable leather couch playing video games! Just kidding, I’m worried about you! Be careful and get feeling better!!

(Payton had an emergency appendectomy on Thursday.)

Thank you to everyone again!! You’re the greatest! Thank you for all of the packages everyone! It’s killing me to not open them!! I’m way excited!! As for the call, I’ll call you around 10 or 11 in the morning! Don’t stress it though, you know me, haha I’ll make sure it gets made. I’m super excited to hear all of your voices!!

Ok, and now I’m gonna ask for permission/tell you that I’m about to spend some money on my investigators. ha ha I have too!! They are amazing and they all could use at least something. So watch my account, I’m gonna try and be thrifty!!

This week was absolutely amazing!! Me and my comp are both just giddy about everything that happens! haha We are very easily excited, and we do everything we can to have something to be excited about! We had one of the best weeks ever!! We had 13 people to church and the President and the Assistants called wondering what we were doing! The President said that we had more to church than an entire zone! There are only 5 zones in our mission! It was an amazing week and we are just more excited to do better! We see so many areas where we can improve!! It’s so exciting!! But wow, the people we are teaching are absolutely amazing!! Like I can’t even explain how much I love these people!!

The Sacapos family (the Thai family) are actually starting to progress and we got permission to teach an all Thai class at church so the word is spreading with the people from Thailand! Only three made it this week, but we are counting on a lot more next week, now that we have this class! They are so kind and they give everything they have! They gave me a Thailand bag/purse and I’ll send it as soon as I can for Addi’s birthday! Don’t tell her about it though! But please go shopping for this one family for me!! They are a family of four! Two boys that are 8 and 9 and then the parents. They are amazing!! But ya, this family is so good and so I was wondering if you could find some neat little toys for the kids and something American for the parents. Don’t go crazy, but just something neat, pretty please! That would be great!! haha

Alright, miracle story for the week, other then pretty much the whole week! haha We street contacted a lady named Akon. She is from Sudan and she wanted us to come back! We came to teach her and she has six kids that are all absolutely beautiful! They are black and I have never seen a cuter family, other then ours of course! haha We get there and they are all so well behaved and so fun!! The 10 year old (Deng) then tells us that he had prayed a couple days before, to know more about God and then we showed up! He said that at first it scared him because it was so crazy! It was so amazing and I love their family! We then taught them the first lesson and I don’t know if I have ever felt the Spirit so strong! The Mom kept saying how good she felt inside and how she felt warm inside and how she was so happy that we had found her family!! It was absolutely amazing! We got outside and we were jumping around and soooo excited! haha It was the best!! Then they showed up on Sunday and all of the boys had suits on (all of the kids are under 10) and all of the girls have dresses that would actually have a chance at competing with Addison! haha They looked sooooo good and church was absolutely amazing! The musical numbers were great and it went so good!! We meet with them Tuesday and we are hoping to set baptismal dates for the Mom and Deng, the 10 year old and Ian the 9 year old so I will let you know how that goes!!

We also have an appointment tonight with Maureen who as been sick but she’s doing better so hopefully, we can set a date for her and get her to church this week! We meet with Daniel tonight too! He was at church this week, but he was just by himself. He loved it and he is hoping to bring his kids next week!! We are also hoping to set a date with him tonight, as well!!

It is craziness, but I am loving it!! I’m stressed a lot, but especially the night before church and on Sunday! haha It’s gets crazy!! Lately we have had as many missionaries and investigators at church as we have had members! Well, not really, but it feels like it! I love this so much, but it is soo hard!! You get to love these people so much and it just becomes so stressful! You constantly see how inadequate you are! Everyone of the people that we are working with is truly a miracle!! We are being so blessed and I know it’s not because we are good. Everything that is happening is such a blessing!! I’m so grateful!!

Finally, I’m excited to talk to you! It will be 10 or 11-ish. It’s crazy because at Zone Conference, we got to watch Miracle on 34th Street!! I love that show! The attorney reminds me of Dad, except Dad’s a lot better than he is! haha But I realized that I’m in Canada and it’s Christmas! It just feels like a crazy dream!! I’ve looked forward to a mission my whole life and I’m in the middle of it right now!!! its soooo crazy! ha ha But know that I love you all so much and I’ll talk to ya on Christmas!! Payt, get feeling better! Love ya! Love Elder Smith

EMANUEL'S BAPTISM: FONT MIRACLE

Hey Friends and Family,

So it’s been an insane week!! First off, Dad your letter made me mad! haha You are the best father in the world!! I hope you know that! Thank you so much for all that you do and hopefully you had a great birthday!! Everyone else, thank you so much for all that you do for me! You are all so amazing!! Special thanks to Payton for the great Plan of Salvation thing (drawing)! It works great!! Thank you also Mom you’re amazing and Heather, Heidi, Whitney, Chelsea, Uncle Kellan and family (I loved the picture and the notes, my comp loves motorcycling and I got to show him what pro’s from Idaho look like!!) Also thank you Morgan! You are my hero and you and Lauren are a super cute couple! I’m so excited for you!

O.K. so this week was the best week of my mission easy!! I love this mission and I love this area!! First off Emanuels baptism was Wednesday! The day before transfers and it was amazing! So we thought baptismal fonts took 4 hours to fill and no one in the ward could fill it so we got stuck with it! We were really mad because we had to give up most of the day to fill the font! So we showed up about 4.5 hours before game time and the zone leaders came and opened the door for us but they were wondering why we were so early because the font really only takes 2 hours to fill, I guess. So we were a little mad because we were 30 minutes from our area because the church is forever away, so it wasn’t worth it to drive there and all the way back so we decided to just start filling and wait it out. So we start filling, but the water is freezing!! The temperature gages lowest reading was 10 c and it was well below that! haha Just barley above freezing probably!! So we started making calls! We got a mechanic that fixed it eventually and we started filling! The font was full just five minutes before the baptism! It really was a miracle! Everything fell into place perfectly and Emanuel loved it! The Spirit was sooo strong! All the new missionaries and the mission president were there and it was just perfect!

Then the next day was transfers! I got a new comp from Utah named Elder Willardson and he is amazing!! He is such a hard worker and we teach really well together! Change is hard,

but so exciting!! The first night was crazy because I have to be in charge! I know all the people and the area and I had a good night planned, but it was so stressful! hahaha But I am loving it! I am the one that people know now. My comp is so good, too! He just goes and we teach so good together! We’ve already had some amazing experiences, and since I’m in charge we went to a man named Derrek that Elder Ewell dropped a couple weeks ago, but I loved him so much I wanted to go back! So we taught him and he came to church! It was so great! We have just been packed with lessons lately, too! We haven’t done like any finding because we haven’t had time! All of the people are there for the lessons and we have lessons all day most of the days! It’s sooo great! We are being so blessed right now! Also we started teaching another Thai family and I love them so much, like I cant even explain it! They are the most kind, humble people ever and their children are so cute! I actually have learned a lot of Koran, haha! I can say prophets and apostles and hello and good bye and others but can you please try and find a Koran to English dictionary? I love these people so much, like they are amazing!! Every time we go to teach them they have fruit and drinks laid out for us! I’ve had a lot of soy milk, and its not half bad!! We are now teaching three Thai families and we are getting a lot better at it!! I’ve learned so much because we ha

ve to teach everything out of the Bible and there is so much good stuff in the Bible! haha It’s been such a good experience!! We also are teaching Maureen and Lane a lot and we are going to try and set dates with them this week! They are super good! Lane has a family too, and a baby on the way, so I really think he’s ready for the gospel! He is a native and he really has his head on straight! I hope that will go well!! Maureen is a single lady who is pretty lonely, but she does service at the hospital everyday, pretty much! She’d sure help out our ward! haha

Ok, last person I want to tell you about is Burt!! He missed church this week because he was drinking the night before and he was barfing/sleeping when we went to get him for church! This was really sad and hard on me, but also exciting because lucky for him this is commandment week, specifically WORD OF WISDOM!! We are so excited to teach him this and show him the comparison of this Sunday and last Sunday and how he felt. haha Like with this I think he should be able to see the very obvious contrast in his happiness! It really is pretty simple: church = good+happiness, boos= bad+puking your brains out all night and feeling poopy! haha I’m super excited for it and we are teaching him tonight!! woo woo Hopefully all goes well because I love burt to death!!

Finally, I have to go but Elder Ewell taught me something that really hit me hard right before transfers! He showed us a scripture in district meeting that is really neat! It’s Jeremiah 16:16, he talked about hunting (I was thinking about fishing and pheasant hunting) but he said that he absolutely loves hunting! He does it as much as he can! But he doesn’t just love killing the animal. He loves the whole experience! Even when everything goes wrong and it’s hard, he still loves it because he loves hunting! I thought of a day when I went with Dad and I didn’t catch a single fish and it rained and it was cold and miserable and nothing went as planned! Now that I look back, I can honestly say that I loved that day of fishing!! It was a great experience, mostly because I was with Dad, but it was an all around great day, because I was fishing! Because I loved fishing! Elder Ewell then compared it to mission work and I realized that it’s the same! Days are hard, but then there are those 100 fish days were you are on top of the world! I realized that I love my

mission. Everyday is such a great experience! I’m so blessed and so lucky to be here!! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do for me!! Stay safe and love everyday! You’re the best!

Love, Elder Smith

This is what 40 below

looks like!

Staying in Winnipeg!

"Canadian Cold Gear"

Volunteering at the Old Folks Home

Hey Friends and Family,

I’M STAYEN AT AGNES!! WOO WOO! My companion is gone though. He’s going to Regina and Elder Schulte (my zone leader) is gone too, which is really sad because I love and look up to him a ton! It’s sad that good friends are leaving, but the change is exciting!! Mom, thank you so much for the package!! It was sooooo great!! I opened it at district meeting and now everyone wants to be my comp! haha Elder Ewell was so shocked that he got a stocking with his name on it! It was great!! You are amazing! Oh, and I got Grandma’s Christmas early! That has been fantastic! I didn’t open the presents yet, but the toffee and fudge are almost gone. Grandma, thank you so much you are amazing!! No other candy tops your toffee!

So, this week started out great!! I took Burt to lunch! Of course the man never gets good food, so I asked him what he wanted and he was quick with his response of the Big Mac Meal with the fry and drink! haha It was great to eat with him and then we taught him at Brother Browns. It was great!! I love the man to death! But then we were going to take him to the Christmas party on Saturday and he missed his ride. He called us all upset because he had been looking forward to it and he had already had a rough day. He told us he didn’t want to see us for a couple days because he was so upset. We dropped by the next day anyways and he was all mad and yelled at us and told us not to come by. This killed me!! I was so depressed about it!! But then that night we got a call from him. He called and apologized and asked if we could get him a ride to church. I WAS SOOOO HAPPY! We got his ride and church went really good! It was Fast Sunday again already! It was a really good one!! Oh and Terry (the man that I slipped on poop in his house) shaved his head super short and came to church! He missed a couple spots in the back, but he looked great!! I don’t blame him because I had to shave mine and its hard!! But he got there and he was way excited!! He bore his testimony and it was really good! He thanked me and Elder Ewell for getting him to come back to church! It was really neat, he was signing up for everything, too! haha He’s great! He said we just need to keep calling him every Sunday, because he works nights and he doesn’t have an alarm clock! But that was exciting!

Oh and Emanuel’s baptism fell through on Saturday because of some problems but we are all good and planned for Wednesday! The last day before transfers!! That’s way exciting and Burt’s going to be there to watch, which is super good!! I’m really excited for that!

Back to the Christmas stuff, though! It was really neat to watch the devotional and think about all of you lounging by the fire watching it, too! haha It was great! And the Christmas party here was so good!! I love the members here, they do so much for us! It felt like home, except Santa wasn’t a little person (Frank Price) which completely crushed my universe! I’ve grown up loving the little Santa and he wasn’t at this Christmas party! Other than that, it was great!! It was so fun because we nodded the President over and just chatted with him. I love him so much!! We were trying hard to get info out of him about transfers. Just to make Elder Ewell mad, he whispered that I was staying. So I knew before anyone else! It’s so crazy that its Christmas already! Time is flying bye!! It’s crazy! I have all of your Christmas stuff to send though! Hopefully you like it! My comp didn’t like shopping for it. I don’t get these other missionaries, they don’t Christmas shop! They’d rather play basketball, haha. But things are going great!

I have so many stories, but I cant think. We had to drop a ton of people the last couple weeks because they weren’t progressing, which is hard! We teach so many lessons, but people just dont keep their commitments! I hate sounding like I’m complaining at all though, because we have been so blessed! We will have had 2 baptisms this transfer and we are hoping to set another date tonight! We are also getting a lot better at teaching Thailand people!! THAILAND PEOPLE ARE AMAZING! THEY ARE SO HUMBLE AND KIND! They are poor, but when we come to teach they have food and drinks waiting for us! We are doing all of our teaching out of the Bible because there isn’t a translated Korean or Burmese Book of Mormon! Everything goes well until you try to teach the Restoration. But we’ve been studying a lot for them and so hopefully we can get them to understand it. We are teaching 3 big Thai families! I’m hoping they let us start a Thai Branch! Oh, I love them!! They are learning English fast, so hopefully all goes well there!!

I am loving it here!! It is so good, but there are hard days! Derrek, a man we have been teaching for a while, got a new girlfriend. I love the man and he had finally decided to come to church and then he totally changed! He told me straight to my face that he just wasn’t interested anymore. I like lost it and just started ranting a crazy testimony about how this is salvation, and what IS his purpose in life, and who knows what else! He just said “I don’t know” over and over and that he just didn’t care anymore and he just wasn’t interested! I just can’t understand how people can do that! It’s ridiculous. My comp doesn’t let that stuff bug him, but man it sure gets me upset. But things are great other then a few crazy things!

Oh and my new comp is Elder Willardson. I don’t know how to spell it or what he’s like but I’ve heard he’s good and a super hard worker! I am a little nervous because I’m the one that has to know the area, members, and all the investigators because he’s never served here before. He’s coming from Regina. It’s super exciting, but sad to see friends go! It will be great!!

Usually I have a thought or something, but I don’t have anything particular today. haha I do have a quote that Heather Hill sent me though and I love it! It’s by Neal A. Maxwell: "The Lord doesn’t ask about our ability, only our availability, and if we prove our dependability, the Lord will increase our capability!” Out here I thought that ability would play a big part, and it does. But the best missionaries are so good because they give everything! When they have spare time at meals or before bed they just study more. I really look up to them and I hope I can be like them! But this quote really applies to members! It’s all about just showing up! haha Like really, if everybody would just show up their lives could change! We have members here who are the goofiest people ever and they come and help us all the time and it makes such a huge difference! There is a man named Elton John who just got more active a couple months ago and he helps us every day! He is amazing!!

Dad your birthday is here! I’ll probably tell you Happy Birthday again next week! haha but Happy Birthday now too! I love you a ton and I sent you a present! Hopefully you like it!! I love you all a ton! Good luck with everything and keep me updated!

Love ya bye!

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!

Hey Friends and Fam!

Thank you so much for all of the support! I feel horrible, I really don’t have time to write everyone back. But please keep them coming! They are so great!! ha ha It sounds like it was a crazy week and Alex, I feel your pain! That sounded like a rough weekend! I’m worried about Grandpa! I got Grandma’s letter and I know he will be fine because he’s a stud, but that really stinks that it didn’t go good! Please keep me up dated!!

Alright, this week was crazy! I just need to get used to having hard days and amazing days because that’s just how it is. You hit higher than you’ve ever been and you drop lower then you’ve ever been. But you grow through it all! First off, Thanksgiving was depressing, straight up! ha ha I just wanted to find something wrong with the day because I wasn’t in Mexico eating turkey ‘till I was sick and then tanning it off! ha ha So as you can imagine, I was able to find a lot wrong with the day!! Me and my comp weren’t getting along, it was just a hard day! We still worked hard, but when you have a bad attitude and the Spirit isn’t with you, nothing goes well!

I met a man that is going to sue all of the churches because he has proof that they are all wrong! He remembers all of his past lives and he can prove it! He used to be General Custer, actually! He remembers it all very clearly! I was wondering if Dad wanted to take the case, because ALL of the churches in the world have a lot of money! ha ha He also said he can see the future, so I asked him when would I go home from my mission. He said, June 10, 2010. So maybe I’ll see you sooner then you think! ha ha I told him he was wrong and he said, “I know. Come back tomorrow and then I will know, it takes a little while!" ha ha He also has worn a suit everyday for the last 8 years so he is used to it when he sues the churches next year! He’s way nice though, so that was interesting!

But after the rough Thanksgiving, me and my comp made up and did some serious work. And we had worked really hard everyday before! I taught one man that has 12 cats and he feeds them all something bad because they all have the runs and the poop is all over! ha ha So you can’t breath in his house and of course when I walked in I slipped on a big juicy poop! (I’m aloud to say “poop” but turd isn’t dignified) ha ha So all the way up his stairs I’m slipping all over because my shoe is covered in poop! But the lesson went okay. Then I was street contacting a man and he gave me a box of raisins and he started eating a box. Then right in the middle of the Restoration he just chucks his box over his shoulder! This hit me and my companion’s funny bone real bad!! ha ha I’m just starting the First Vision and I can’t hold it in, so I just loose it laughing and my comp did too! We couldn’t regain our composure! ha ha We laughed harder and harder until all three of us were die-ing! In between laughs my comp asked for his number, and we are teaching him now! He is soo good!! ha ha

Oh! And it finally snowed! We were sliding all over. It was a blast! But this week I learned so much about attitude! Attitude is honestly everything!! Something is only as good as you make it! I ate amazing food on American Thanksgiving prepared by amazing ladies who stayed up all night making it for me and I complained and made the very worst of it!! It was horrible! But I taught a man where I couldn’t breath and my suit will never be the same and my shoes still have poop on them! But because I was trying to be positive, the Spirit was there and it went good! If we stay positive and open to the Spirit, it will be there for us. I learned this more then ever this Sunday! Last Sunday we had a ton of investigators and it was so good, but honestly I wanted more and I had a negative attitude about it! I wasn’t positive and I didn’t get anything out of that meeting because of it! I’ve been that way every Sunday I’ve been here because their wards are so small and have so few strong members that I just had a negative attitude about it and the Spirit wasn’t there! This week we had two investigators show and I was so happy for them! I love them to death! It was Burt the man from McDonalds and Emanuel, the one who has been investigating for 9 months. It was the best Sunday I have ever had! The choir sang and they were horrible and small, but the Spirit was so strong! They were all trying so hard! Everything in the day seemed perfect! I don’t know if I would have learned any more if a General Authority had been there and it was all because of my attitude!! Emanuel is being baptized this Saturday and Burt set a firm date for January 2nd. Both decided on these dates after Sacrament Meeting! It was the best day ever! I love them both so much! After church I was so excited that I told Burt to meet us at McDonalds on Tuesday for our lesson! ha ha That’s where we first set a date with him, and eating at McDonalds for him, and us, is a big thing! ha ha It’s a treat! I’m soooo excited for it! ha ha I love Burt! He’s a goofy native, but he really is changing and it’s sooo amazing!

I never want to have another bad day again, though! Even if it’s the worst day in the world, if I look at it with a good attitude, good things will happen! And if they don’t, they will the next day! ha ha I honestly love it out here but I am scared about transfers! I love the people we are teaching and we have Robert who has the same baptismal date as Burt, if we can get him to come to church! His job is messing things up! But I love this area and I really don’t want to leave! It would kill me! I can see already that this mission thing is all about leaving people that you care about. It’s ridiculous! I’m sick about it already and the transfer hasn’t even happened. ha ha I need to get a better attitude about that one still!! ha ha ha I know that whatever the Lord wants, will happen and I guess that better be good for me! Missions are hard, but so great. It’s crazy!

I love you all so much! Thank you for all that you do for me! Oh and mom the package is here, but I get it tomorrow, so thank you so much in advance! I’m sure it will be amazing!! Oh and you talked about choke cherry syrup! Is there anyway you could get me some of that??? ha ha It sounds amazing!! Oh and also a mini preach my gospel, if you can find one. They might not sell them anymore! Oh, and a super small Book of Mormon and Bible for street contacting, just like a cheap one that we would hand out, but one that is super small? If not, that’s totally fine but that would be neat! Thank you sooooo much! You all are so amazing and I love and miss you all soooo much! Good luck with everything and Payt snowboard it up!! I want stories and pictures!

Love ya! Elder Chandler Smith

LOVIN' THE NATIVES

"Preach My Gospel"

November 23, 2009

Hey Friends and Fam!!

First off if I wasn’t working so hard to gain Christlike attributes I’d have a whole lot that I would want to say to Coach Shippen and all of those other . . . I better stop there! Payt, I sent you a letter congratulating you (before I got word of the stupid last cut) but I’m going to be completely honest with you! High School basketball really isn’t that neat! ha ha I want you to go down stairs in my room and get out my snowboard and I promise that you will have the best winter ever!! And you know that you can rock any kid on that basketball team and they all know it too!! And I also know that by next years football season you are going to be the biggest beast that as ever played Skyline Football! Keep your head up and don’t let it get you down at all! You have an amazing family, great friends, cute girls all over you and NOW, a very nice snowboard! ha ha Life doesn’t get better I promise you! I have some great stories to prove it! You’ve got it made and you are too good for basketball anyways!!

Alright, first off, tell the grandparents that they are all soooo amazing! Grammy, thank you so much for the great letter and Papa, I’m praying for you!! I know that you’ll handle all this surgery stuff like an old pro because you are one! I look up to you so much for all that you’ve been through! Grandpa and Grandma, you are amazing!! I love all of your letters so much! Grandpa, your letter on graph paper made my week!! It was so great!! And family!! Wow, thank you so much for all of the letters!! They were all so great!! The drawings from Payt finally got here and I love them sooo much!! Payt, can you please make another one that has the whole Plan of Salvation!! Make it the size of my scriptures so that I can use it in lessons!! That would be sooo great if you could do that but I love the ones that you already sent!! They are sooo great!! So thank you all soo much! Thanks to Chelsea, Heather and Whitney too! All the letters are great! Sorry I don’t write back often, I have NO time!!

Okay, story time! This was the best week ever, but it had some downers too! First off, we set a baptismal date for a man named Robert and he is so good! So hopefully that goes well! The average baptisms for a whole mission here is four so the fact that I’ve been part of one and we are setting so many dates is so great! We’ve been so blessed!

Also, get this! We met a man named Bert and scheduled an appointment. He wasn’t there and this happens a lot so we forgot about him! We have so many investigators that we don’t have time to mess with those that aren’t interested. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but we totally just forgot about Burt. A week later we were eating at McDonald’s and we see Burt! He runs over and sits by us and tells us how sorry he is that he missed our appointment and he has been thinking about us all week! Turns out, the night before our appointment, he had gone out for pizza and a man came to rob the pizza store with a machete! So he’s robbing it and Burt sits there and just keeps eating his pizza! ha ha But the owner of the store fights off the robber with a pizza pan and another worker locked the door so they are all locked inside with the robber with the big machete! ha ha So all this is happening and Burt keeps eating his pizza! Then the cops burst in and tell everyone to get on the ground and drop everything on the ground. So Burt has to drop his pizza on the ground and get down. Then the cops get the robber and take him, but they ask Burt for a statement so he gives them one and they get his name. Well they find that there is a warrant for him so they hall him off to jail after he helped them! He was in jail for a week and that’s why he missed our appointment! ha ha A bunch of other stuff happened that he told us about and we just ate with him while he told us this crazy story. He’s a really funny native man and through the whole story I’m busting’ up!! He was really mad that he had to throw down his pizza! ha ha But after he told us his story in McDonald’s we totally related the gospel to his life and his experience. I don’t even remember how but it was amazing and believe it or not we all felt the Spirit in McDonald’s!! We then committed him to be baptized and he set a date. He’s been at all the appointments since! He’s so great and he is way excited about the baptism date!! In Preach my Gospel it says to look for families with a recent death or birth, but me and my comp think that they should add recently out of jail, and recently jumped to it too! ha ha

The people here are sooo humble and I love the natives so much! There are so many people from all over the world too, though! We teach a couple families from Thailand with a translator and that is way fun! We also taught a man that left Columbia because people wanted to kill him! We taught him with a Spanish man in our ward that translated! We taught a crazy lady that said she has the Gift of Tongues and we are teaching a bar bouncer that is super ripped!! I’ll get a picture with him! We taught a man that is super bipolar! One day he loves us and the next day he rages! I mean, this guy can goo off! We are teaching a man named Derek who is so great and we want to set a date for him really bad but he’s just progressing really slow! We teach this guy who loves Elvis and his wife has cancer! They are really great and starting to progress! I love this! It’s so fun and exciting, but soo hard!

Tim got confirmed this week and I got to stand in! That was neat. Also this week me and my companion were bound and determined to get everyone to church!! We skipped a meeting with the ward and ran around before church waking people up and getting them ready for there rides!! It was a rush! We were running like crazy from house to house!! We were expecting 17 and we had 12 show!! Two of them we weren’t expecting, so they didn’t count! But it tied the ward record. Our district got more than ever before and the President called us because he was so shocked! But even with that I was disappointed and I’m trying so hard not to be. A couple of my favorite investigators didn’t show! It’s so hard to see people not show! It’s funny because numbers don’t matter, they are good, for sure, but I need to want them for the right reasons. This week we are going to try to get even more, but we have to stay humble! It’s so easy to think that we are good when really we are nothing. ha ha We can do so much better I know it and I know our only success is because of the Lord! I love this so much, but it’s so hard to see what people go through and see them not progress! But it’s great!

Just so you know, I am super safe and completely healthy, so don’t stress!! Finally, I have one thing that I’ve learned that is so huge in this life and I’ve been taught it before by Coach Berger, ha ha ridiculous I know, but he’d always say, “Better every day" and wow it is so true! I have wasted so much time of my life not getting better! Everyday is an opportunity to grow! If you don’t learn something new or have some kind of growth, the day is wasted! I’ve learned so much out here but it is nothing compared to what there is to learn!! Everyday, we have a chance to get better and it’s so great! Take advantage of it! Set goals and achieve them! If you pick a little goal every day, just after a week you will grow so much. Check out Alma 34:32! Every day is a day to prepare to meet god! Never have a bad day! Everyday has something great about it! I love you all so much and I look up to you so much!! I am doing great so don’t worry about me and Payt, keep your head up!! Snowboarding is so fun I’m so jealous, ha ha, love it and remember how great your life is!! I love you all!! Elder Smith

Tim Jackson Baptism

November 16, 2009

Hey Friends and Fam!

So today I came to do email and it wasn’t working ha ha i thought i wasn't gonna get to hear from you! ha ha you know how i handled that hahaha but all finally worked out and it sounds like your doing great!

Ok so this week was great! haha I don’t know if you got to check my debit card lately, but I got to pay my first Canadian parking ticket! Canadian Police... firm... firm, but fair! haha But the week started out a little rocky! I woke up Tuesday and I was like deathly sick! I couldn’t breath and I was achy all over, but I got up and tried to work still but after 5 minutes, my comp had me go back to bed. I was out cold for 4 hours and woke up miraculously healed! haha My comp knew I loved potatoes, so he woke me up with potatoes and chicken nuggets with chicken noodle soup poured over the top! ha ha He is amazing! But I still haven’t felt great but we’ve been able to work everyday without anymore incidents!!

Then the week got great! Tim got baptized!! woo woo! It was way stressing though, ha ha He showed up 5 minutes late for his own baptism! He lumbered in and waved at the crowd and went to change! ha ha ha He is a huge man though and we lost the XL jumper somehow and he barley could squeeze into an XL as it was! ha ha But somehow he made it into a Large!! Me and my comp wanted to die laughing!! I’m talking super power wedge-y! But it was so amazing! It didn’t even phase him! haha He has such a strong testimony and he was so ready!! It was a great experience and me and my companion did the first lesson for the whole audience after the baptism! It went great!! His whole family was there and none of them are members, but after they asked for the missionaries to come and we gave some of them Book of Mormons! It was great!! The only bad part is that he has H1N1 so he missed church and still hasn’t gotten the Holy Ghost yet! So we are hoping he’s better by next week! But we can’t even go see him because he’s locked in! Hopefully that all goes well!

We are also teaching a family that the guy is a member and he knows 20 languages so we are lining him up to translate for us!! If we get him to help it could be huge because we are teaching a couple families who all speak other languages! So hopefully that goes good! But listen to this!! It’s crazy and hilarious. . .the man that knows 20 languages is a member but his wife isn’t and so we are trying to teach her but they are married and they don’t speak the same language!!! He knows 20 languages and he doesn’t know hers! ha ha ha What are the odds!! But they speak the UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, I guess! ha ha ha To communicate, they use like sign language and a mixture of each other’s languages. It’s insane and I don’t know how we are gonna teach her! Her own husband can’t even talk to her!

Other funny stories, I saw my first blood trail the other day. ha ha I’ve heard it won’t be the last I see. Also my comp reminded me of Dad on Sunday because he was talking to an investigator and he said, “You said you’d be sober by church?... well, will you be sober later tonight so we can come by??" haha I died laughing because all the church members walking in heard and gave some looks. It was great!! Oh and my first super scary super great experience happened! We were street contacting and we started talking to this huge native! He was way nice and pretty interested! But then... ha ha This other big native came up and said we were blanking this and that and blanking liers and just went off on us. ha ha So I said something to him really polite like and he said some more bad stuff and then said, "dont look at me again or ill mace you!" So I turned my head away to not get maced, ha ha but I’m still talking. So I’m like looking away talking and then the native that we were talking to, to begin with starts yelling at the one that said he was gonna mace us!! He stood up for us and was like, "I’m calling you out! You aint gonna mace them, go ahead do it, I dare ya!! You aint gonna do it!!" And I’m thinking, “Hey now, he might do it! ha ha What are you thinking calling him out for us, haha! But then the native with the spray totally backed down and he was like, "Sorry bro I thought I was helping you out." And then the native that stood up for us chewed him out and talked some more trash, and the one with the spray took off! At this point I’m pretty cocky, ha ha I wanted to call the native with the spray out and be like, “Ya! Come on, we can take you!” ha ha It was way neat! After that we talked to the native that saved our life some more. I thanked him and shook his hand over and over, then we gave him a Book of Mormon. Then he told us all the fights he’d been in and showed us the scars! He had stab wounds all over his face and a scar across his neck and more stab wounds on his body and scars in his legs from getting shot by a shotgun! He was way nice and he said that in jail he turned to Jesus. ha ha It was great though! I don’t know if we will ever get to teach him more! I asked for his number, but he said he wasn’t that interested and I didn’t want to push the point with this guy, ha ha!

I’m starting to love missionary work! The first weeks were a little hard but I learn and grow so much every day!! We taught a man the first lesson and in the first vision the spirit was so strong!! Both me and my companion got a little choked up! It was really neat!! We have no problems finding people to teach or getting in their home! They even admit to feeling the Spirit and wanting what we have! The biggest problem is getting people to commit to do things!! They just can’t keep commitments!! They instantly forget how they felt and they don’t read or pray or come to church! It’s so discouraging! Every week we have like 15 people that promise that they will be at church and we get them rides and everything and they don’t show!! We have to drop so many people and find more every week because no one wants to do the work!! They know it will help them, I swear, but they are just to lazy or something! aaahhh! It’s hard! But I’m loving it! I love you all a ton and I wish you the best! Keep lots of letters coming! They are the best!! I have a quote for dad that I loved! The other day I told my comp that it stinks that I don’t even have time to write back. He told me this quote: When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes a quest, in that moment God will endow us with power!! ha ha I love this quote and I want to be worthy of that power!! Times can be hard, but man this is so worth it!!! I love you a ton!

Hopefully you’re getting all my emails! I got your frantic letter, but you should get 2 every week that are long and then maybe some short ones, it just depends. I’m gonna try and get the amazing Bishop’s wife to email you this week too, so hopefully that works out!! I love you all so much! Keep the letters coming! Mom your gift should be there in a week from today-ish! Love you bye!! Oh send me a recorder and tapes or something and I can send you those. I want you to send me some too!! love you bye! Elder Smith

COFFEE, TEA OR BAPTISM?

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Friends and Family!

Hey! It was great to hear from you all! Mom I just got the blanket! You are so amazing!! This week was definitely harder for me! It hit me that tomorrow morning I wouldn't get to make my mom a cake. This has been working on me all week and it’s hard I don’t get to tell her Happy Birthday and I don’t get to tell her how amazing she is and how much I love her! This killed me most of the week! Then I realized that if this was on my mind I’d regret time wasted out here! It sounds cheesy and we have all heard it a thousand times but, love every day! You never get them back! I’ll never get my Mom’s past b-days back but I’ll never get this short two years back either! So please take advantage of everyday! Mom I love you so much! You are amazing and I sent you a present today! Hopefully you get it soon! But please forget me out here and take advantage of everything there! I’m trying hard to do the same thing here because this work is honestly amazing and I don’t want to miss a second! But wow, is it hard!

Yesterday I approached a lady and she was drunk she grabbed my face and said I was cute! This was hard on me! haha I don’t like drunk ladies making moves on me! hahah But it was pretty funny! Oh Payt, draw me a picture of that. haha I’m pretty sad because I haven’t got your pictures yet. And Mom, sorry for my crazy order and writing! Hopefully ur fixen it up alot!! haha

Another funny story.. We did service for the old folks home and they had us serve them coffee or tea haha! It’s fantastic helping the old folks, but I thought that it was kind of ironic!! haha Oh and we have a super nice investigator that had us come over to teach him! He asked why Satan wasn't killed by God and so we taught the whole Plan of Salvation and answered his question perfectly! Everything we said he would nod and say “yes.” After the whole 45 minute lesson, he said, “Ok, next time you answer my question!” haha He was just saying yes but everything we were saying was going right over his head! haha He can speak English pretty good but I guess he really doesn't understand it very well! haha It was sooo painful because he was answering questions and I though he was picking up everything good. Guess not! haha

Language is a hard barrier out here!! We have a member that knows over 20 different languages that translates for us and there are still people with languages that he doesn't know. haha It’s crazy! And get this. . . He knows 20 different languages but he doesn't know the one language his wife speaks! So they talk with a mixture of languages and sign language! It’s amazing!!

A man named Tim has decided to be baptized on Wednesday! He is so ready! He’s been getting taught for about 2 months and he’s already read the Book of Mormon. My comp found him last transfer and he was super “Anti” haha So my comp just said, “Read this and tell us if you want to know more.” He read it and prayed and he gets baptized Wednesday, which is Remembrance Day in Canada! It’s so exciting! Also, a black man named Emanuel has been taking the lessons for 9 months, off and on, and he has finally set a date for the 28th of this month!! The average number of baptisms in our mission is like 4 or something. Like it’s super low, but I get to be a part of 2 in my first month!! It’s so amazing, but I’m getting greedy! haha Me and my comp don’t like taking no for an answer!! Every rejection still hurts and we get a lot!! haha But I’ve been able to teach some of the best lessons!

The other day we were with a family of 6 and they only spoke Chinese and a little English. Their two children Platu, age 8 and Plaset, age 7 are way smart though and they translate for their parents! We’ve been doing a combo of teaching the Gospel and English! We sit on the floor with a Children's Book of Mormon with pictures and the Dad reads it out loud and asks questions about words and we try to describe them or act them out! haha It’s so fun! It feels like teaching preschool with Mom! haha They are so amazing!

We also taught a couple (Robert and Patricia) that are super interested and we had a powerful lesson with them last night. They are so good and I really hope it works out with them! It’s so hard to see amazing people that just aren’t interested! We have a family, the Garcias that are so good, but they just aren’t interested. It’s way hard because a lot of people here just don’t have much backbone or work ethic! We had 12 investigators that we set up rides for church and called them the night before and they said they'd be there and not one showed! We think its because it was in like the 50’s Fahrenheit. haha It’s so nice here its crazy!!

But being a missionary is so fantastic because at first people don’t want to listen to you but if you just smile and keep teaching you can watch them change! They see there is something different and I can tell that they want it! They just don’t want to do the work to get it! Oh, another thing, my comp is the district leader and a stud! haha But because he is a district leader I got to do transfers with the zone leaders! I got to go with Elder Shulte and he is amazing! We were instant best buds and we stayed up late chatting. haha I learned so much from him though! He’s an amazing teacher! Out here it is sooo fun and amazing! But when you’re eating or when you wake up it can be so hard! At nights I’m to tired to think of anything, haha but in the mornings and when I eat I think of the family! It’s so crazy how it’s a constant up and down!! It’s so good but it’s so hard! But please listen to me and love every day together! I’ve already promised myself that when I get home I’m doing everything I can for my family! It was so easy, I don’t know why I wasn't better when I had the chance!! I love you all so much and Mom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! You are soooo amazing!! I have the best mother and family in the world!!

Oh, and Dad Canada is a lot like the USA but everything costs a ton! haha and the USA and Canada dollar are the same! So a chicken sandwich and large fry are $5 instead of $3 haha, and we only get $5 a day for everything! So, no more fast food! I get a lot of Ramen and things called Sidekicks! I don’t get candy because I don’t have money! haha So we eat straight peanut butter because its cheap! haha love you by!!

Elder Smith

FANTASTIC FIRST WEEK

Kris Smith writes: Wednesday morning I was still distraught about the missing email, and I got thinking that maybe, for some reason it had been snagged in the junk mail filter. I called Cableone tech support and they helped me retrieve two emails from Chandler that he had sent nine times! I was so happy!! That's what I get for joking about Chan's two-finger typing and maybe I should improve on MY computer skills! Anyway, here you go.

Hey friends and fam!
First off, Payton, YOU ARE THE MAN!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!! (Highland win) It was great to hear from you all! Before I start, you need to know that I'm no longer aloud to use slang. So I can't say cool, sweet, awesome, or any of those words that I use a lot. haha It's been really hard but it will be super neat when my vocabulary is completely changed! haha Well my mission president is absolutely amazing and my area is amazing! I am in the heart of Winnipeg!! So is the President, so we get to see him all the time!! And my companion is so great!! We are like the same accept he hunts more than me and he fishes with worms! But he is really good at all sports and super athletic. He works so hard! He honestly is the perfect first companion! We teach really good together and our teaching style is pretty similar, so it's perfect!! He has already taught me so much and we have a ton of fun together!! The first night here was great though because I didn't know who my comp would be and we got to go out with some random missionaries before the next day when we would meet our trainers. That night I got paired up with Elder Nef who is the only other missionary that went to Skyline High School! woo woo! It was so fantastic!! Talk about pure luck because missionaries are spread out all over Canada and I happened to get paired up with him for this first night! In one night he taught me a ton and reminded me of the good farming people of Idaho!! We had one appointment that night and me and the other Idahoan taught the Restoration and it went so good! It was just the first lesson but we got a baptismal commitment!! It was a great way to start!! Mom, you should track down his mom Sister Nef, she is in the Hillibrant's ward. Then the next day was when I got my companion/trainer, Elder Ewell, he is so amazing, like I said earlier! haha

So the first day with my companion we just went street contacting which is way fun! The average new investigators you try to get a day is two. In a couple hours we got 8! We were splitting up and getting two at a time. We had to stay in sight and sound of each other, haha It was so great! Three of them I was able to get without any help from my companion, while I was by myself and he was behind me talking to someone else! It was a blast and he kept saying that I was alot different than the other new kids that hate talking to people. haha But we've already taught a lot of lessons and we have a baptism next week! I love the people! It's funny though because we are in the craziest part of the whole mission! I've been told to off a couple times, haha, but once you say you are a representative of Jesus Christ they're usually pretty nice haha! it's funny though because I've talked to alot of drunk people! haha But their breath smells fantastic because alot of them get drunk with Listerene mouth wash! Instead of beer bottles all over there are Listerene bottles all over, hahaha!

The Bishop here is one of the most amazing men I have ever met! He does everything for the ward and I mean it, like everything! And he feeds us great food once a week! The other day he was moving this lady and he asked for our help so we came in our suits thinking it would be quick and easy! But oh my!! We were there for close to four hours and tell Dad and Art that their ward member moves don't hold a candle to what me and my companion and the Bishop went through! I'm talking a floor of cat poop, fur and who knows what! Even human poop and urine as well! This person was the biggest pack rat in the world, like wall to wall crap and then the stuff the cat is supposed to poop on spread all over the floor! I'm pretty sure there were a ton a bed bugs as well! I want to burn my suit! It looks horrible! It was so disgusting, like honestly, I wish I could describe it to you all in person! haha I'm pretty sure that that is the reason you won the Highland game or I'm gonna see 10 baptisms this week, because the blessings gotta go somewhere! hahaha But the people here are great and honestly I can't even tell you how great this Bishop is! His moving skills remind me of Dads!! I mean this bishop does work!! And so does my companion!! It is so great because I'm surrounded by extremely hardworking people!

Oh I got to go to my first Winnipeg testimony meeting. I got to pass the sacrament because they have only two priests and that's it! And then the show began!! First off the Bishop and his wife spoke and they have the most amazing testimonies ever!! Like wow!! But then it got interesting! haha Boulevard Ward also can't touch a Winnipeg fast and testimony meeting!! haha The best was an investigator that doesn't want to get baptized because she thinks she already has been by another church. haha This definately didn't slow her down from bearing an interesting testimony in OUR church! haha She talked of her own Joseph Smith experience and about some other crazy stuff for about ten minutes, haha! The President Assistant told me "the church isn't a circus for the righteous, but a hospital for the sinners" haha! I also got to work in an old folks home a couple days ago and that was fantastic! Really sad but it makes you feel good to be helping at the same time! It's been amazing so far. It's constant ups and downs! You will teach a great lesson and really feel the Spirit and then you will have a trial of some kind! I've already grown a ton and I love it here! "Anti's" have been fun because they say I'm going to hell, haha! It's been funny because the more people tell me that, the more my testimony grows! I know this church is true and I know this is were I am supposed to be! A mission is so fun, exciting, spiritual, funny, crazy, sad and amazing!

I love you all so much and I miss you a ton!! You are all amazing! Sorry for the bad writing but I have no time! Dad, thanks for the quote and don't worry about me at all!! It's great here and so fun! I couldn't have gotten a better companion!! I LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!! Payt, good luck with basketball! Rock it!

Love, Elder Smith

NEW ADDRESS

Mail letters to:

Elder Chandler David Smith

394 Agnes #3

Winnipeg, MB R3G 1N4

CANADA

Mail Packages to:

Canada Winnipeg Mission

Elder Chandler David Smith

845 Shaftsbury Boulevard

Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M5

CANADA

PANIC P-DAY!

Friends and Family:

Hey! You have no idea what I've been through today! I thought my time ran out and I thought you wouldn't get either of my emails! I was freaking out and I'm sure my comp wants to kill me. haha We finally found a place where I could retype it to send it to you. Oh, wow I'm so happy it went through. I love you all so much and I'm gonna send it again to make sure it made it! I hate this not knowing! Today I got all of my snow gear so don't even stress. I love you all so much and things are good! I have to hurry now and go buy food! ha ha love you bye!

Elder Smith's Mom writes:

We obviously didn't get the e-mail he sent, twice! We are sure he will work out the kinks of P-day e-mailing before next Monday. . . We hope! I'm sure he is regretting not progressing beyond "two finger typing" in high school!

The family is grateful to have had a phone call from the airport before Chandler left for Canada. He called about 6 AM last Wednesday. He sounded wonderful! He was missing life in Idaho Falls and wanted details like how Skyline could have lost the Emotion Bowl and if his Dad had been fishing. Mostly he was excited to go serve the people of Canada.