Friends and Family!
Family, you are the best! Man I love and miss you! Thank you soooo much for the great emails and pictures! Oh man, you are friends with Yo Murphy!? Technically, you’re famous! hahah I’m so glad that you guys are having so much fun! It sounds like the camp was great and the concert was a blast!! Dad, was that a pink shirt!? Are your legs shaved too? Just kidding, you are looking sooooo good! You all look so great! Man, I love and miss you!! Payt, it sounds like you tore up the camp! Stay healthy and don’t work hard in 2-a days, when they get here! YOU ARE A GAMER!!! I loved the jumping picture and you and your buddies matching cleats made me smile! Looking good!!
Mom, who did you pick as your counselors?? And thanks for the update on Cody Cook! I miss him! Hopefully he emails me!! Dad it’s super humid here and it has been raining a lot! I like the rain but it means mosquitos! I have been so eaten that I am immune! The bites don’t even itch anymore! Thank you so much for all the pictures! I miss my dog! And Payton, she might love and listen to you, but she will always respect me the most!
So this week was pretty insane!! I am so tired and stressed. I have learned to cope with stuff so much better, it’s great! I’m doing all that I can to help the district but man it’s a lot of work! I have call-in’s or stuff to do every night during personal time so I don’t get time for anything but missionary work, all day! It’s kinda crazy! I know why missionaries get home and go crazy with sitting still! I have some disobedient missionaries in my district and it is so frustrating!! I don’t get why kids come on missions when they just waste their time and the Lord’s time! It’s so confusing! And it’s hard to know how to handle it because if I’m just bold and upfront they don’t change, but they also hate their district leader! I am learning so much, but it can be pretty frustrating! Weeks are so crazy too because I still have to keep the area going but I have exchanges to do and more meetings. I have to drive to Winnipeg 2 or 3 times a week! It’s so different but a lot of fun! It’s hard because there is so much that I want to help people with, but it’s hard to know the best way to go about it! I also have been spending most of my personal studies on district meeting.
This last district meeting went well but get this! I drove down in the morning and I didn’t get to eat or drink much before because I was preparing. So I got there and taught district meeting. President Paulson was there and the meeting went well, but get this! At the end things were rapping up and I started to feel light headed. I had been standing the whole time and I think I left my legs locked. haha The meeting was pretty much over and President had some things he wanted to say so I was standing there and I was like, “Oh man, I hope he hurries up because I’m really light headed! I unlocked my legs and started moving and trying to slow down my breathing, but it got worse! hahaha I just kept saying, “Aahh, I’ll be fine.” But I’m grabbing the podium and doing everything I can to stay up! Elder Platt (he’s a good son!) saw that I was shaking and not looking so good so he ran up and grabbed me! I was almost out! I stumbled to a chair and sat down and I could see straight again. I felt sooooooo stupid though!! I’ve never had that happen before and it made me so mad! I should have just sat down when I felt a little dizzy but I thought I could just tough it out! Now that I think about it, it’s pretty funny, but not really the way I wanted my first district meeting to end! I’m definitely eating breakfast next week and keeping my legs unlocked!President Paulson is the best though! He reminds me of a mix of a friend an Apostle and a football coach! He made sure I was okay and then he just joked about it! I felt dumb, but it all worked out. I won’t ever make fun of Payt for passing out at church or in the hospital again!
But then I went on exchange with Elder Morris. He came out with me and now he’s in my district! We were laughing because the thought of us getting dropped of in the middle of Winnipeg together 9 months ago is insane! He has grown a ton and it was a great exchange!! Elder Platt has really picked up the slack when I’m gone on exchanges! He is a great missionary!! It’s crazy how much he has grown since he’s been out! He’s been out over 3 months now and for the exchange he was in Selkirk with Elder Green who has been out six months. Elder Green is a great kid, but he has had troubles staying motivated. It was great for him to go with Elder Platt because Elder Platt is a little fireball! He’s nearly comparable to the kid from “The Best Two Years” haha It was Elder Platt’s first real time not being with me on the exchange, and he did great!! It’s so neat to see how fast he has grown!
The area is doing good! Karl has been helping us teach and he is great! Chris is doing good, but hopefully he will start to help us too! The branch is doing good and all of our other investigators are doing good! Kimberly and Ben are both still coming along, slowly but surely! They are still coming to church, but they both are struggling to live all of the commandments! It’s so hard because they know its right, but change is hard!! Things are going great though! Don’t stress about me almost passing out because I’m fine! I wasn’t gonna tell you, but it is a pretty funny story. Just don’t stress!! If you stress, I can’t tell you other funny stories! I love and miss you all so much! You all look so great!!
Please keep being safe and smart!! Payt, please get me some info on your weight and lifts! Keep me updated and get used to writing me more because once 2-a days start, I need ALL of the details! I know they’re a ways away, but man I’m excited to hear how you tear it up this year!!
I love you guys all so much, have a great week!! Don’t stress if my emailing is unpredictable, I will try and shoot for Tuesday or Wednesday, but things are crazy with everything!! I love you all a ton!
Love Elder Smith
Oh and tell Preston congrats! He’s a champ! Tell him and his fam I love and miss them!!
