Wednesday, August 18, 2010

YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE IT. . . I'M GOING BACK TO AGNES

Friends and fam!!


What a week!! Aaaaahhhh!! Dad, you look miserable! Elder Platt’s Dad was about to go for surgery for his back a couple years ago so he went crazy and drank insane amounts of water and it really helped! I know it sounds crazy, but I’m a believer! Pound the water! Like carry around a gallon with you and just force it down, and get off the pop!! Just try it for a week and let me know how it goes! I’ll be following up and I should hope my Dad would follow through and keep commitments! haha Love ya and get feelin’ better!


Payt, you are a champ! Keep tearin’ it up and stay healthy and don’t take out teammates! hahah You need Glaser!


So transfers!! You will never believe it...... I’M GOIN BACK TO AGNES!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahha I know it’s insane!!! I’ll be the District Leader in Agnes with an Elder that has only been out one transfer, and get this, his name is Elder Skinner, and he is from Rigby!! Also, I think they are planning on Akon getting baptized! Her cousin Gabriel, that I taught forever ago, just got baptized! And he’s working on her husband! And, I’M GOING BACK TO AGNES!! Aaaahhh! She’s still in Texas though, so hopefully she gets back soon! I will have spent 1 year in just 2 areas, the 2 best areas in the Canada Winnipeg Mission!! Oh and get this! My Zone Leaders are Elder Willardson and Elder Ewell!! hahaha It’s soooo crazy!! Elder Schulte, the Assistant, talked to me and he said, "ya, we hooked you up!" Man, I am so excited! It was probably the only thing that could take a lot of the sting out of leaving Selkirk!


I’m so excited, but the goodbyes have still been pretty hard! Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the scriptures! It was so great to give them to Chris and Karl!! Chris was way excited and he said the closing prayer after I gave them to him and after we taught him! I said my goodbyes, and he had grabbed his hat and put it on and he was looking down and way quiet when I was saying goodbye. I shook his hand and said good bye and walked out, not really thinking too much. When we got out Elder Platt was like "Why didn’t you hug him!? He was crying, I never thought Chris would cry!" I was totally clueless to it, but man I love Chris!! He is such a humble, amazing man!! I can’t believe how far he has come!! It’s amazing how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change people! Missions are the best!!!! It was way fun to give Karl the scriptures, too! He was shocked and he didn’t know what to say! Man, I love the people here so much!! President Anderson announced that I was leaving on Sunday and talked me up a bunch! I love him!! He had us over for steaks the other night and then when it was time to say goodbye (he’s such a funny guy) he was shaking my hand, said, “Is it weird for guys to hug?” haha I was like, “naa” and he grabbed me in a big awkward hug. I’m gonna miss him and his family a ton! Since the branch heard I was leaving, we have had big dinner appointments every night this week! This branch is so amazing and I love them all so much!! I love branches!!! aaaahhh Missions are so great!


So District meeting this week went well, but it was kinda nerve wracking because the Zone Leaders, Assistants, and President and Sister Paulson were all there! It went well though, but it’s weird teaching with them there! When President Paulson called and told me about transfers I felt pretty dumb because I screamed pretty loud! I don’t know that it was the most dignified thing ever. But it’s so weird because I’m so sad to leave, but so excited to be back in Agnes!! It’s so funny because I always talk about Agnes and everyone always told me I’d never go back. I’m sooo excited.


As for Selkirk, Elder Platt is staying and going Senior! He has only had one companion and one area and he is going senior in that area! It’s pretty crazy, but he’s way excited and I’m sure he will do great!! There are some good things going here! We set a really solid baptismal date with Brother McKay the other day! His wife is less active and he isn’t a member. They live an hour from Selkirk and the first 4.5 months I was here they never went to church and I hadn’t met them! A couple weeks back we made the trek out there with her home teacher thinking to just try and get her active. But we met Brother McKay and I smelled fresh blood! hahaha I kinda took charge and figured out that he fly fishes. I whipped out my fly fishing pics and it just got better from there! We mainly just taught him and she even bore her testimony! That lesson went well and he’s made it out to church 2 weeks now! We went and taught him again this last week and he set a date!! Hopefully Elder Platt does some good finish work!!


But it has been a great week, until about 3 minutes ago! I just got a call that I got flashed by a photo cop and it’s like a $200 fine! No affect on my insurance or anything because they can’t prove it was me driving, so it won’t be anything on my record, but the mission got the letter and they DO know who was driving! So I guess you can pull that out of the money for my college. haha Man this stinks! Sorry to end on a bad note for the email! All is well here! Opposition in all things, eh?! haha Missions are the best!! I love you guys so much!! So sorry for my poor driving!! Have a great week!! You are the best! Thanks again for the great package!! Love ya a ton!


Love Elder Smith!!