Hey family!
First off, you guys are the best!!! Alex, I am scared out of my mind to see you!!! I can’t believe how mature you sound!! You’re not allowed to like girls yet!! NO DATING TILL YOUR 16!! HAHA Buddy, I’m so proud of you and the great kid you are! I loved your talk and I wish I could have been there for it! I’m gonna have to talk to the Bishop in a couple months and get you to speak again! haha Payt, I loved your email and testimony!! Powerhouse! Mom and Dad you are wonderful!! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all of you!!
Well, this week was another interesting one! It was hard, we broke Canadian heat records and we tracted A TON! It has been super hot! It doesn’t feel like September at all!! But it was a good week! So first off I wanna start by telling you some funny stories! haha First off, Elder McDanel had a sailor’s mouth before he came out here, so I have tried to help him with it a lot. He cut swearing before he got here, but all the other bad talk was still there. So, I’ve been working with him a lot with it and we played a game where I get a quarter every time he slips. haha I made bank! But anyways that’s the background and he’s gotten a ton better, but the other day we were tracting in an apartment building, just going door to door and in front of one door there was this huge birthday balloon, but it was full of water! Like huge! So we walk over, look at it all confused and Elder McDanel nudges it. No big deal, so we knock the door and don’t think much of it. No one was there, so we keep going and all of the sudden the water balloon breaks and water fills the hall and pours in under the door! And Elder McDanel goes, "Oh s***!" I look at him with an apalled look, not knowing what to do and then we both booked it out of there. He is such a punk and so I was mad about it, but trying so hard not to lose it laughing! Then we went out tracting and I hit my head on the rain gutter really hard and the whole thing fell off. Of course Elder McDanel thought it was hilarious and handled it the way Jordan Nelson would! It was funny stuff. Then on Saturday we showed up in the morning to the street we planning to knock and we run into two J-dub families with their kids and all out tracting! haha It was very interesting because there were two J-dub families and two Mormon missionaries having a throw down in the middle of the street! We could of taken ‘em! haha But we just had a nice little chat and then went to a different street! I’m getting to know them pretty well after how many times we have run into them. They hit the town hard though! Everywhere we went, the people told us the J-Dubs were there in the morning! It’s not a huge city and so we have already tracted it once through and some places we have tracted 2 or 3 times! We know everyone! I went in for my blood test today and seriously like everyone there I had talked too! haha It’s funny when you run into them in places like that!
Other funny story for ya. In Gospel Principles this week Gerald used the Lord’s name in vain, the “A” word and the “F” word all in one sentence to answer one of the question, and I was teaching the class! You don’t run into that one everyday! But the class was super good and he was just talking about his childhood, he wasn’t insulting my teaching (: haha It was also John’s birthday and so we made him cupcakes! The class loved them and he was thrilled by the whole thing! He has come so far and he is ready for baptism but things got moved around so his interview is set for this coming Sunday! He is such a goofy, great guy and I think he’s ready! The branch seems to love him! This week there were only 8 members there, counting us!! It was slim pickings!! But Gerald and John are unfazed by it!! Both of them were like the first ones to church, and Gerald was outside cleaning up trash when we showed up! They are both great guys! Gerald is coming along slowly. He has faced all kinds of garbage, but in our lessons this week the Spirit was super strong! He knows it’s true. It’s just now up to whether he will buckle down and do it or not. John’s lessons are great and always hilarious! He is super smart but almost too smart with dumb stuff! haha So he has some crazy tangents and he get the “deer in the headlights” look a lot! haha I love the man to death though!! This week Elder McDanel said, "So John, do you wanna be baptized?” And John said, “I wouldn’t keep showing up if I didn’t!" haha Just the way he said it cracked us up because he asked it after we had read in D&C where it talks about the qualifications for baptism. So it was like a serious moment and the way he answered was funny! It was good, we are stressed though because he is gone all this week and he gets back the day of his interview! Hopefully he is ready!! I think he is!! Things are going so great though!! The last month of a mission feels kind of similar to the month before leaving on one!! It’s just a mess of mixed feelings and a lot of stress to get things done!! I wanna finish strong! It’s craziness! But I love you all a bunch! Thanks for all that you do and have a great week!!
Love Elder Smith!!
