Szypkowski Family
Friends and Family,
You spoiled, rotten punks! haha Just kidding, I’m way excited for you and your trip to Mexico! And yes, I plan on going multiple times while Payton is on his mission! It’s weird to think that you are there soaking up the sun in Mexico while I’m here in good ‘ol Selkirk! It’s crazy that it’s spring break already! You will have to tell me all about Mexico and get me lots of pics!! Have a blast!
Alright, this week as been pretty good! First off, I cut my hair again this week and I need some balding shampoo or something! haha I’m starting to look more and more like Dad everyday! Dad asked what my favorite thing about Selkirk is and I’m gonna have to say people’s hobbies! Everyone here fishes and hunts! They are definitely not fly fisherman, but they like their fishing and they love hunting! I’ve ran into like 3 hunting and fishing guides, so its a blast to talk to them! It’s tough though because when I work some gospel into it most of them won’t have it! They all give me there phone # but not to teach them. But we’ve got some good fishing and hunting trips set up for 2 years down the road! It’s frustrating that a lot of the people will talk to you all day until you go into the gospel. But a couple people have listened, but its just because they feel bad after they get talking to me about fishing or hunting. Any ideas? Iv’e tried so many different things! I swear I’ve done every door approach known to man! We are finding some good people though, but they are few and far in between! The work has picked up though!! We have some people that we are really excited about! The Chaneys came to church again this week, but Sister Chaney took a smoke break across the street between every class. Word of Wisdom is this week! woop woop! They also actually aren’t a part member family because she was excommunicated, but she has talked to the Bishop about getting re-baptized and her kids both want to get baptized, so that’s good! We want to set dates this week, but we are worried because we don’t want them to get baptized unless they have the support to stay active, so we are trying to figure that out! We have a lady named Sandy that we are meeting with tomorrow and we are on the 3rd lesson! She is great and has two super smart kids! We are hoping to set a date with her this week, too. But she is a really strong member of her church so we will see what happens. Karl (a single kid that is 20 something) set a date for one year from last week! haha So that’s great, but we are gonna try and cut it down too less than a year away. We meet with him tonight so we will see what happens. He set it so far away because he wants to finish the whole Book of Mormon before he gets baptized and he’s too busy to read it any too fast. I’ll let you know how that goes! We are meeting with some other great people, but they all seem to progress really slow. They are great but out here in Selkirk, they aren’t in any kind of a hurry, which is frustrating but we are trying to make it work!
I have learned so much here, and there have been so many ups and downs! It’s funny because it has been super humbling for me! It made me think a lot about the scripture in Alma 26:12, “Yea, I know that I am nothing. As to my strength I am weak therefore I will not boast of myself but I will boast of my God. For in his strength I can do all things.” I came out to Selkirk thinking I could take names and show everyone how missionary work is done. haha Boy was I wrong! Anything that has happened that was good has not been because of my strength. I know that as we work hard for things we will be blessed, but only if we put faith in the Lord and become an instrument in his hand! In Zone Conference they shared a great talk that really helped me! It talked about how competition causes pride, and if we have pride we aren’t doing what God wants us to do. We are actually on the other side of things! It was a great talk and it really hit me! I am such a competitive, prideful person, and pride is such a hard thing to beat! Unless you are a missionary in Selkirk Manitoba, of coarse! It can knockout pride pretty fast! But I have learned so much! It’s funny how you don’t notice so many of your weaknesses, but when you do, you see so many places were they have slowed you down it the past! I still have so many weaknesses but Selkirk has helped me a lot to see some of them!
I’m starting to love this area more and more and the people more and more everyday, but I still have some “Agnes sickness” haha But things are going really well! The next couple weeks will either be really great or rough because we have a lot of people that are at the point where they have to choose one way or the other! We will see what happens and pray and hope for the best!
Oh, one more thing, I met with the Szypkowski family (great branch members) this week and had a great supper and lesson with them! They also told me that they are going down to BYUI soon for their son. So I told them to look you up! They are the best and they are already planning on taking us hunting with there pointer in a couple years. They also want to learn how to fly fish! They are so great and in the lesson with them they gave us a great referral and they want to have this family over for supper with us! So that’s way exciting too! They are great and I think they already e-mailed you but they said you haven’t emailed them back (probably because you are in Mexico). Let me know how that goes and let them know they are free to my room when they come down, if thats okay with you of course.
Well I love you all so much and I wish you the best! Have a blast in Mexico!!
Love Elder Smith!
