Hey Friends and Family,
First off, I didn’t get any e-mails, other then Dads, so I cant really write back to them, but things are good here in Selkirk. This was definitely one of the hardest weeks of my mission! We have honestly tracted ourselves silly! I really, really miss street contacting! haha Things are coming along though! We found 14 new investigators this week. Last transfer they only found 5 the whole transfer. So it was definitely an improvement! We will actually have some appointments this week! The downer is that we, once again, had 0 people to church! I was not happy at all.
My comp is great, but he’s just okay with the fact that we didn’t have anyone come to church. It’s kinda driven me crazy! He is a great kid, but this week has done him in! haha When we get home, he sleeps and he sleeps through workout time every morning. I don’t know what to do or say though because with everything else he is obedient and willing to do.
Missionary work is sooo weird out here! We are the only missionaries out here and it seems like a ton of pressure. We are working so hard and we have found some good new people but a lot of the people are kind of flakey, and a lot of people here aren’t nice! haha I’ve heard more cussing here than probably anywhere else! hahaha The members are really good though. I don’t know what more to say. . . . we have worked our tails of this week! I’ve heard so many funny excuses when we’ve knocked on people’s doors! The funniest had to be from a 30-ish year old guy a couple days ago. He opened the door and before we said a word he said, "I’m born again Christian and I’m having sex with my wife." It was one of the first times on my mission that I really had noooo idea what to say! haha We laughed a lot about it though!
I am really excited about what could happen here though! We talked to the branch president and went through the whole ward list. We have some reactivation plans and we are gonna work with some part member families. We also went to Stonewall this week and found a couple really good investigators! Stonewall is about 30 minutes away and it hasn’t ever seen missionaries before! It seems like everyone in Selkirk knows about us or they think we are Jehovahs but there are tons of jehovas here too that we run into a lot! haha But Stonewall is pretty untouched by any kind of missionaries. We are hoping to get more kilometers so we can go to Stonewall a couple times a week! So hopefully that will workout! I’m so excited to see what happens here, but man it’s hard! In Agnes, if you had a bad day it was okay because you always had at least one solid appointment with a good investigator, that you loved. Here I don’t have anyone that I love yet. haha We are sure looking hard to find some but man it’s tough!
Juliet’s baptism is this week though and I think I’m aloud to drive in for it so I’m excited about that!
It’s funny because it’s been a slow hard week but I’ve learned sooo much! I’m sooo grateful for the chance that I have to serve here! I read a quote that I loved! "No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse." haha Now as you can see I’m still working on this! haha But it’s so true!! Whining accomplishes nothing! And it does make things worse!
Also, dwelling on the positive makes things so much better!! So heres the positive. . . we more than doubled the investigators found last transfer and we did it in a week! We had a lot of good things happen in Stonewall! I have a lot of funny tracting stories! My comp is great and he knows how to work. The branch is great! We have some people to teach now! I’ve learned sooo much! I have great friends! I have an amazing family! I’m safe and happy! I’m on a mission! We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and life is great! haha It’s funny because when you look at what you’ve got you really feel like a PILE for ever feeling sorry for yourself! Life is so great! I’m so excited about this area and I really think that if we keep working hard things will turn around here in Selkirk!
I love all of you so much and hopefully you send those other emails fast! haha If not, just send ‘em next week. I only got Dad’s, so I wanna read the others! I love all of you so much! Stay smart and safe!
Love, Elder Smith!!
