"charlie the catfish"
Hey Friends and Family,
WOW! What a hard week!!
First off thank you so much Aunt Jill and the rest of the Jones family! I loved the package! You guys are great!!
Aright, so this week was sooo hard! I had to go say all my good byes and it was horrible! I got a lot of great notes from investigators and it was great, but so hard! Then we got asked to go out with the new missionaries on their first night! This was a blast, but it started out rough! haha They only asked me and my companion to go, but we had to take out four missionaries. So they gave me the assistance car and cut me loose with two brand new missionaries! I hadn’t watched the way we had taken to the mission home and I hadn’t driven in quite awhile so I’m sure they were like, “Who did President send us with!!” But once we found the Agnes area we tore it up!!! It was soooo much fun!! I really hope I train at some point because that was a blast!! We went all over street contacting and it was so fun! It helped me to see that I really have improved. The new missionaries were so nervous, and they were trying so hard to impress! It brought me back to my first night with Elder Neff!! Man he is a stud!! He promised me he’d go see you mom. His report should be great! So that was so fun with the new guys, though!
Two Idaho Boys!
Elder Nef & Elder Smith
Then it was transfer day!! Elder Turner is a stud!! He is definitely a follower though!! Which is so wierd. He is older, he’s been out longer, he knows the area, but I’m senior and he expects me to call all the shots. It’s been a blast, but its weird too! I feel like there is so much pressure on!! This area is DEAD! I don’t know what they have been doing the last six weeks! There is like one and a half investigators that they were working with! I guess all they did last transfer was drop by people that weren’t progressing! It’s ridiculous! They hadn’t found one new investigator in the last three weeks, and there were ZERO investigators to church this week! It has been such a shock and really so hard for me! I got a call from Elder Leonard and Open’s family all finally set dates the day after I left! So all together there are seven baptism dates in Agnes right now and Akon and others are close! I honestly have been sooo homesick for Agnes! I feel like I did the first week in Agnes! And the pressure is on because President is expecting a lot! I’ve been thrown into the fire for sure. It’s a downer but at the same time its super exciting! We have no where to go but up!
Since I got here, we’ve found seven new investigators, which is more then they found all last transfer. My knuckles are all bruised up! haha I miss street contacting!! People here are nice, until they see the tag and then they can get nasty. And yes it feels like Firth!! I am so excited about it though! Like, I miss the people at Agnes so much!! I never thought I’d be so homesick for Agnes!! But it’s really just because of the people that I loved so much there! I’m sure that once we start finding people to love here, it will be good!
The branch is amazing but I can tell they definitely don’t like the missionaries, like what I’m used to! I felt like I couldn’t even look any of them in the eye on Sunday because we had no investigators there. I didn’t know what to do. It was so ridiculous and I hope it never happens again!! It has been such a huge shock, but I know it can turn around!! It’s gonna take some serious faith, though. Iv’e realized that all the success I’ve had has purely been a blessing. This last couple days have been super humbling for me because I’ve “found” every day strait and we really haven’t found that many people. We have made plans to literally tract out all of Selkirk! And we are already well on our way! We also have some good ideas for workig with less actives and part member families. We scheduled a meeting with the Branch President to see if he can help and see how he feels about our ideas! I’m so excited but we are gonna have to work this area to death! I wanted a mix-up and something that would push me, but WOW this is gonna be interesting! haha WELCOME TO SELKIRK!!
Oh and I really, really, really miss black people!! Oh and those members that emailed you about the library being closed on Mondays are amazing!! They have an amazing conversion story! They were baptized and put into a four person branch and they were put in charge of it and the missionaries left! They were told they would get missionaries back if they converted more people! haha It’s a crazy story! I’m gonna have them put it on my tape! But they are great! I honestly am embarrassed almost to be a missionary here though! It’s so sad that this amazing little branch has had such little missionary work success! I sure hope that things turn around!! They deserve it!! And yes, being in a branch on Sunday was crazy! It was like 30 or 40 people! Definitely not home! And I thought Waverly Ward was small!! It’s so funny because now I love Waverly more than anything!! When at first I hated it! I’m sure I will feel the same about Selkirk soon enough!!
I just want you to know that I love and miss you a ton!! Sorry if I come off sounding discouraged. I really am excited for this new area. It’s just definitely been a hard change but it’s gonna be great!! I love you all so much and I am doing great!! Hopefully I’ll have some news next week of some new amazing investigators that we find!! I love you a ton!! Good luck with everything and tell Al happy belated b-day! He’s the best! You are all the best! I love all of you so much!! Talk to you later!!
Love, Elder Smith
