Tuesday, April 27, 2010

PIOUS IS BAPTIZING THE OBEING FAMILY!



Friends and Family,


Wow! Another week gone. haha It’s unreal because I keep finding myself sitting here writing home. It’s scary how fast life goes! Mom, Dad and Payt thank you so much for the emails! I love them sooo much! Payt you are such a stud! Your story (about asking to Commencement) cracked me up! I love that gorilla suit! Have a blast at the dance and get energy drinks! But BE SMART! Can’t have you hurting anything this close to football! You gotta stay healthy all summer! What are your lifts at? And congrats on your weight! You could hold your own at 130 though! You’re gonna tear it up this year!! Love ya buddy!


Dad I read your letter and now I can’t stop looking at my shoes! I really need to shine um! You are the best and I love and miss ya a ton! Mom, I love the pictures and the update! A-rod is a good looken kid! I love the fohawk! haha Man I love and miss you guys! Hopefully all is well and tell Addi I wanted to get her Flat Stanley some better pictures but there’s only so much stuff here in Selkirk!


As for this week, it was another one full of ups and downs but definitely more ups!! Biggest up being that the Obeing family is getting baptized this Saturday! They all passed the interview! Even Mary, the mom, with Pious translating! The dad isn’t getting baptized though but the rest are!! And guess what? PIOUS IS BAPTIZING THEM!!! I honestly just want to cry about it when I think about it!! He was baptized a year ago and he was completely inactive when I got to Agnes! I didn’t even meet him till my second transfer there and he is completely active and he is going to baptize them all!! I am sooooo excited and I just want to bawl about it! HAHA But man that news was fantastic!! I love those people so much and I am so happy for them all!!


Alright that’s the Agnes update, as for Selkirk it was also a good week! We committed Karl to come to church for the rest of his life, so that was great and he was there Sunday! Chris is now going on 2 weeks smoke free and he went to a baptism this week which was good for him, but he didn’t make it to church. He is planning on this week though. Both Karl and Chris are still planning on their dates!! As for our other investigators and the bold lessons we had planned.... they all fell through, so we are meeting with them this week. Hopefully all goes well.


This week we found a ton of great new people too though!! The Renz family will hopefully make it to church this next week. We taught them once and the kids are crazy but they are good! We also found a great old guy named Ron and a great lady named Velma! I’m super excited about both of them! We also set a date with Eddie a young man that moved here from Mexico! He is great and we have another appointment with him in about 20 mins!! He should make it to church this week too!!


It really has been a great week!! There were still rough patches, but all around it was great! It’s so weird though because I’ll be doing great and then I will hear about Agnes people and get a little Agnes homesickness! haha But Selkirk is well on its way to becoming the “New Agnes”! It’s so funny because you take things so for granted! In Agnes I missed home, in Selkirk I miss Agnes! I don’t know what I’ll do when I’m moved again and I miss Agnes, Selkirk, and home! hahaha But things are going sooo great!


Training is such a blast and I have learned so much! I also have gained so much patience, and I’ve tried to be super positive because my comp gets a little homesick every once in awhile! haha But he’s a great kid and get this! He’s a UTAH DEMOCRAT! And his dad was an attorney! hahaha We were at President Anderson’s Dad’s house with the whole Anderson family and he loves to mess with the missionaries. He said he always plays with them with politics because they are always super far to the right. So to mess with us, he asked us if we were Democrat or Republican, expecting the usual missionary response. My comp answered fast and proudly and they were as shocked as I was! haha They laughed at my reaction because they thought I was Republican and then I told them I was a Democrat too and they lost it! He said this is the first time in 35 years they have had a missionary that was a Democrat, and they got 2! It was funny! We had a good chuckle and then I had to try and end it because we aren’t supposed to talk politics on our missions. But they really wanted to talk because in Canada everyone is a bit more liberal. At first he was sad because he couldn’t mess with us but that definitely boosted our member trust! haha I love the members here! They are so great!


Brother Mckay that emailed you is the branch mission leader. He isn’t the one that fell asleep driving. He is a young cop here in town. He is super funny but a punk, haha. He definitely fits the cop mold, but I like him. He’s a great guy and he helps us out a lot!


It was a good week though, we spoke in church and it went great! We had two investigators there and a couple less actives showed up, so it was great! I am super excited about this week because we have a ton of appointments and we are hoping that a lot of people will make it to church!


Elder Platt is getting better and better everyday! He takes criticism super good and he just sucks it in and does everything to get better. He’s a funny kid though! We are having a lot of fun and working our tails off!! I said I wanted to leave Selkirk because it’s almost tracted out, but I really don’t because good things are starting to happen!! It’s such a good feeling to have so many appointments again!!


But as for calls home, we are gonna make them from the Watson’s that Sunday. They will be between 1 and 6 sometime and I will call you first on the cell phone and then I will have you call with the calling card to the Watson’s place so make sure you get the calling card. haha It’s crazy that we are thinking about the Mothers Day call! But I will give you more info about it next week. And Mom I sent you a letter, it should get there before Mother’s Day, but let me know if it doesn’t make it.


Thank you so much to everyone for all of the letters! Grandpa, I read yours last night and it was the best!! Thank you so much!! And thanks a ton to everyone else! You are the best! Payt, I want more letters from you if possible! I love your updates!! I love you guys all so much! Thanks a ton for everything and have a great week! Love every day!! Oh, one last thing, if you could get me Landon and Matt’s email addresses or mailing addresses that would be great! I want to tell them hello!!


But things are great and I love you a ton! Hopefully I will have some good news next week about some more of these people to church! Thanks a ton for the prayers and please keep them comin! The Selkirk Branch deserves a big pick up!!


Love ya a ton! Elder Smith!!