Happy Birthday Alex!!
It looks like it was a fun party!! But Mom, you’re supposed to get after kids for door bell ditching, your not supposed to be the get away car! hahaha You are the best Mom ever! I showed Elder Woods the picture of Riley and he’s like, man is your Mom just involved in everything!? haha Yep, she sure is!! She’s the best! Edilyn loved what you sent her! She is obsessed with lotion so that gift was wonderful!! She also loved the apron! You are all so wonderful!! Dad, sorry about yet another holiday incident! That stinks! Hopefully all goes well with Al’s bow! We all know how much you care! You’re amazing! But Alex buddy!! Happy Birthday!! Man it’s your B-day, you haven’t gotten a gift from me and you didn’t even write me!! Bold move!! haha I sent your gift last week, hopefully it gets there soon! I put in a card but it’s hidden between the 2 boxes, so make sure you don’t throw it away!! Buddy I’m so proud of you! I can’t believe how big and handsome you are!! Hopefully you can get around school without all the ladies getting in your way and following you around! Just make sure you don’t invite any of them to your baseball games because then they will really be after you! I’m so proud of you and all of the great decisions you are making!! I can’t believe you have the Priesthood!! That is so great!! Keep being a great example to all of us and hopefully you had a wonderful week!! I love you a ton buddy!! Keep being a stud!! Mom, thank you so much for the package!! I loved the chocolate stuff! And the zit stuff is great! Thank you so much!! You are wonderful!! Payton buddy, I miss you! Please give me more updates and more pics!! I want some skiing pics please!!!! Love ya!
Well this week was a good one!! We have been very blessed with finding wonderful people!! Edilyn is like the referral champ! She is always doing missionary work!! We also have been blessed with some great people through finding and part member families. Right now I am most excited about a young man named Ronald. He lives with the Avila family that are wonderful members. He just moved in with them 9 months ago from the Philippines! I love Filipino people!! The missionaries have tried to get in to teach him before, but he wouldn’t have it, but he started playing b-ball with us on p-days and we got to know him better. During the course of the last couple months I asked him a couple times if we could come and teach him, but he kept saying I donno. And then just dodging the question. Finally he let us in! We had a wonderful lesson with him!! We then got invited back and ate supper, with our hands, Filipino style! And Dad thought I’d learn table manners on my mission!!! hahahah It was a blast! Then we told them that the next time we’d feed them some Idahoan waffles with choke cherry syrup! It was a blast and we had another great lesson with him!! We are meeting with him again on Tuesday!! His family here, that are members, are wonderful!! I love all of them so much and I really hope things work out! Ronald is a champ!! Please keep him in your prayers! He felt the Spirit in the lesson and I think he already knows it’s true, he just has lots of family that are Catholic, that live here too! Hopefully all goes well! He is so great!
We also had a lesson with Laury this week but I couldn’t go because I was on kind of a last minute exchange. Elder Woods said it went good though and she was even planning on church, but she bailed last minute. We had to go on exchange because we have this 3-some in our zone and 2 of them have been at each others throats. So we went on exchange and I got to be Mom with the two that were fighting. It was a lot of fun. They both are great kids, but very different and both of them have there own way of going about things. It was an interesting exchange, but a lot of fun. Hopefully it helped. They got along great the whole day, but then at the end they were fighting over something ridiculous. It was funny because it helped me to realize that most of the time if people don’t get along it’s because of both of them. My mission has made me feel terrible about not being better friends with Payt, and others!! Payt is the best friend a kid could have though!!! When we are both home, we will be inseparable! But it’s fun to go on exchanges because hopefully I help, but I always learn a ton! I’ve found that the Gospel, and cookies, are the solution to every problem! haha After they were fighting, I whipped out a cookie mix before bed and everyone was friends again! Hopefully they can get along for the next week before transfers! I am so grateful for the chance to serve a mission! Missions are the best! I really have met so many amazing people and I have been so blessed with so many wonderful opportunities! I feel selfish a lot because I’m so happy all the time! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so wonderful and as we live it, it can really change us and make our lives better!!
This Sunday we had some good people out to church but the climax of the day was that Amie and Godwin got their car going! They had us go over so they could follow us to the church because it’s a good 10-15 minute drive from their place to the church! We have wonderful members that are willing to give them rides, but it was so wonderful to see their little family roll up to church in their own rig! haha That made my week!! It’s been so wonderful to watch them and Marites and Edilyn change so much!! It is so great to be a missionary! The Gospel is wonderful!!
I love all of you sooo much!! I’m so grateful for all that you do for me! Tell Gpa and Gma thanks again for the wonderful letters!! I feel terrible about never being able to write them back! I love their letters! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and love everyday! Love Elder Smith
Oh, I got time for one more story because I’m too lazy to write in my journal and I don’t wanna forget it. We found a man named Dennis that is so prepared! We taught him 3 times in about a week and a half and he left on Sunday for the Philippines. Edilyn came with us and our lessons were so great! He said he wanted to get baptized, but he is moving back to the Philippines for a year! He gave us all of his info though and he promised he’d keep investigating there. He is such a wonderful man and I’m so sad that he is moving!! Hopefully I get some pictures of his baptism in a month or so! I guess we will see! But I love you all a ton! Have a wonderful week! Happy Birthday Alex!
Love Elder Smith
