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!!

TRAINING ELDER PLATT

Friends and Family!

What a week!! First off thank you so much for the great emails and letters! You are all the best! Tell Grandma Happy Birthday! And tell her I love and miss her sooo much! Also, thanks for the update on Jordan Bowman! I actually got a letter from him this week! That’s insane! My friends shouldn’t already be getting married! As for Elder Neff, I saw that one coming. ha ha I think he did too! Addi’s Flat Stanley should be there any day, it was mailed over a week ago. As for your question, I don’t know where Elder Riding is from but he is an animal!! He is tearing up that new area! As for the call you should probably buy a calling card like you did last time and don’t get to excited, yet! haha It’s still a ways away. And Dad, just so you know, I totally believe you and I’d stand up for you for sure! But I’d have to say you’ve got a better case if you say it was Payton rather than Mom, that locked the keys in the truck! ha ha ha Man I love and miss you guys so much!

So this week was definitely the most stressful week ever! haha I am so stressed about this area, training, and all the great investigators here. I put a ton of pressure on myself but on top of that there is pressure from everywhere else; leaders, President Paulson, and God! Some days are just so overwhelming! I love President so much and we have a great relationship, but because of that he just makes it known that a lot is expected.

It’s great to know that he knows, that we will have success, but it’s so much pressure. I’m working so hard, but we had 0 people to church this week! It’s so tough when you put everything into it and that happens. Karl and Chris (our baptismal dates) didn't show because stuff came up and all of our other investigators had some kind of excuse. I was not happy! But so many people are right there and I think this week will be a make or break week because we are going in with some super bold, powerhouse lessons! Next week I will either be excited out of my mind, or we will have no investigators. We will see what happens.

We are extending a date to Sandy tonight and telling her that she has to go to our church to get answers to her prayers. I’m nervous but excited! I love being bold but hopefully it goes well! I love her and her family so much. So we will hope for the best!

Chris quit smoking this week and he’s been off 5 days now! We are going in bold with Christy tomorrow so hopefully that goes well! We also set up Sharon for a Family Home Evening with some members this week! These people are all so great, but they are so nervous about change!

After church we found another family, though! I’m super excited about them and we are meeting with them tomorrow! Hopefully all goes well there!

As for training, it is so fun/funny/stressful/hard! haha My companion is Elder Platt from St. George Utah! He loves the work and he has a lot of energy, but he doesn't know what to do with it! haha It is soooo fun to be around a new missionary because it revives you, but also makes you see how much you have grown. I have had to learn so much patience, when it comes to letting him teach. The other day he started teaching lesson 3 when we were supposed to be teaching lesson 1. Then I corrected it and then turned it back over to him and he shared the same scripture I had just shared! It was hilarious and the investigator thought it was pretty funny, too. It all worked out, but man it’s funny to train. He isn't nervous at all but he doesn't know what to say with all of his excitement.

We went street contacting and it is so hard for me to let contacts get lost that I think wouldn't have, if it was me. But at the same time it’s so fun to teach him and see him get better! He definitely likes to work though and as long as it stays that way, it should be a great transfer!

A little more info on Elder Platt, he is the youngest, again! Every companion I have had has been the youngest child! haha It’s crazy because the youngest kids really are wired a little different. And I’ve come to find out that the oldest (like me) are wired really different too! I have learned so much from all of my companions, but I will learn so much from this one! It really has made me go back to the basics and evaluate my teaching! It has already helped me a ton and I think it will continue to help me a lot more! I am usually a big ball hog, when it comes to teaching and that was when I was with missionaries that had been out and knew what they were doing. So it has been so hard to sit back and let him teach, but it has been so good for me! Also, I must say that the most fun part about training is when they are teaching or talking to some one we tract into or street contact and they don’t know what to say. hahaha He looks over to me with this horrified expression on his face, that is pleading with me to jump in and help! haha It is the best!! At first, I would jump in and save him, but now I’m having to make myself smile and look back at him. It’s horrible and so hard for me, but it’s what we’ve been asked to do and it really does help him! But man, it’s fun to see that face! The other funny thing about training is when they think they know everything! I’m sure I was the same way when I got out but he will come up with what he thinks is the best idea in the world and it’s something that you just do anyways as a missionary. haha But I play along with it and build him up! It’s so much fun and so neat! It makes me respect my trainer a lot more, too!

It’s been so weird because I am still a young missionary, but I’ve been given this responsibility. There is so much that I don’t know! It’s been super humbling and I have learned so much! I think I’m learning more than Elder Platt!

The training meeting and transfer meeting was a blast! I learned a ton at the training meeting and it was so fun to see all my missionary friends! It’s so weird how fast time is going! Life is just unreal! I’ts just a huge crazy dream right now! I’m so stressed, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else and I think that I wouldn't be happy with myself if I wasn't this stressed. haha It’s just part of life I guess!

I’m doing good though, healthy and happy! I’m so excited about this week and I really hope things go well! This branch really needs a boost and I feel like it is so close to getting it!

I love you all sooo much and I’m so grateful for all of you and all that you do! I love you all a bunch and I’ll talk to you next week. Love Elder Smith

STAYING IN SELKIRK AND TRAINING!

Friends and Family!

Hey! It was a great week!! First off, family I got to listen to your tape and wow!! It was amazing! It was soooooo great to hear all of your voices!! Addison, your voice is amazing, and A-rod I know you and Dominique are gonna smack some homers this year! Man, I miss all of you guys! You are the best!! I love and miss you so much! Thank you so much for all that you do! Also, thank you to Grandpa and Grandma and Papa and Grammy! Thank you so much for your love and support and great letters! You gotta stop sending so much money! My comps all feel unloved after serving with me! haha

Alright, well this week was great!! We only had one person to church this week, but it was Carl which is great!! We also set a date with Chris for June and he committed to church next week!! Sandy, Kristie and Sharon all committed to church too for sometime this month, so we will see what happens! We are teaching a ton lately and everything is going great! I’m really starting to love Selkirk!! We also found a great lady named Kristen this week!! She let us help rake her whole lawn and we’ve already taught her the first 2 lessons! She is great and she did her reading and she’s praying! We meet with her again Friday, so hopefully she will make it to church too! We also visited a part member family that lives two hours away! President Anderson took us and the lesson went great and they will hopefully drive in once a month for church and hopefully the dad and kids will set dates soon! The dad reminds me of Jordan Boman! haha Will you see how that kid is doing for me, please! It was great to go there with the President though! He’s a great guy, but a big goof! haha He had me laughing pretty good! haha He was way tired so he was falling asleep while he was driving! haha It was scary, but it kept me talking to him to keep him up!

As for Dad’s bad day with the truck, that gave me a good chuckle! haha I am sure that some neighborhood kid locked the door, Dad!! I believe you! Don’t listen to what anybody else says! You know you didn’t lock the keys in! haha Man, I love and miss you guys! haha But I wish I would have been there! I actually learned how to break into a car last week! haha Some people had locked themselves out and they got a clothes hanger to reach in and unlock it! They were working on it with no success and we walked up. I asked how it was going and they weren’t haven much luck. But we got talking and I asked to try. Somehow I got lucky and got it! It was great and they got a kick out of the fact that a Mormon Missionary broke into their car. It was funny, but then I felt bad because it probably didn’t look the best. haha

But it was a great week! Good things are happening here! We have been so blessed!! Missions are so great! Mom as for your talk topic, I wish I could help more but checkout Alma 7. I love what it says about the Atonement! Also try Mosiah 14. I don’t have my scripts with me but I know those two are really good! But you will do great and please send me your talk when you are done! I’d love to read it!! Also, thank you so much for the pics in the email! I love them! Make sure you save all the emails you send me please!

Finally, TRANSFERS! Elder Turner is headed to Winnipeg and I’m staying and I’M TRAINING!! haha I’m like sooo excited but soooo nervous!! I still feel like I’m a new missionary! I don’t know what’s going on! I really hope I get a stud and hopefully I will do okay! It’s sooo weird though because I was just trained! And I’ve only been Senior one transfer! I barley know how to do that! But I go down Wednesday night and I’ll meet him Thursday morning! First I guess they train us to be trainers, haha! Which will be crazy because Elder Riding (he has been an assistant for over a year) just got released as assistant and he will be training too. I look up to him soo much! He is such a stud and I’ll get to be there and learn from him and the assistants and President and all the other trainers. It’s gonna be so neat, but it’s super intimidating. We get to meet them at the Paulson’s mission home and then when they are done talking to us, we will get to meet our new missionary. I’m way nervous but its gonna be super neat! And we get to eat Sister Paulson’s food for lunch! So that’ll be good! haha

That’s the news for the week! I will fill you in next week on the new guy! Hopefully, all goes well! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do for me!! You guys are all so great! Keep up the great work!!

Love Elder Smith!

WOW! Wasn't Conference Great!

Friends and Family,

Hey, it was a crazy, but good week! First off, Mom and family, thank you so much for the Easter package! It made my day!! Also, your emails were great and Dad, I loved yours! You are such a champ! Also Uncle Kellan, thank you soooo much for your letter! I just got it and I loved it!! You are the man! Also Payton, you are stacked!! I would not mess with you! haha Atta boy! I’m so proud of you! Your hard work is paying off for sure! It sounds like you had a blast in Mexico and I’m so happy for ya! I’m also super happy that all went well and now you are home safe and sound!! haha I was worried about you!

Wasn’t conference great!!! WOW!! And it was all about families!! I loved it!! We went into Winnipeg for it and we have been there since Saturday! We just got back into our area and I’m so pumped up and ready to go again!! It was a needed conference session to get me fired up again! I learned so much from conference! We stayed with our zone leaders and so we learned a lot from them too! It’s funny though because my zone leader is Elder Willardson who I served with, so it was so much fun to work with him again! Their area borders Agnes, so I got to go street contacting on the border line street! It helped me to remember that not everyone there excepts what you say either! haha The area doesn’t change anything I am convinced! Some areas just take more patience than others!!

If you missed the Priesthood Session, you all have to get on right now and listen to President Uchtdorf’s talk! It was such a good talk! He talked about patience and I learned sooooo much! Like wow, I could start giving you quotes, but I’d have to quote the whole talk! It was so good! You have to watch it! But after that I realized that I am an extremely impatient person! haha And patience is such a good Christlike attribute to have!! But wow, was his talk good! Please watch it!! Conference was so great!! The only downer was that no investigators made the drive to Winnipeg to watch it! But hopefully we will have some people to church this week!

Just a quick update on everyone. Sandy and her kids are still coming along. She told us that she knows that we are from God, but she doesn’t know that the Book of Mormon is yet. Which is ridiculous! But good at the same time, I guess. She has been praying and I asked her if she has gotten answers yet and she said, "Well, your still here." haha She’s great though and such a great Mom! I think we are gonna have her watch the conference talk about Moms because I loved that one! As for Karl (he’s the one that set a date a year down the road) haha He committed to start reading 45 mins. a day and praying twice a day! We meet with him again tonight and hopefully he will come to church this week! Kristie is coming along, slowly but surely! We painted her kitchen and it was good. But 5 minutes in to it she took away Elder Turner’s brush and said he was doing a bad job! hahaha She’s a perfectionist, but she complemented on my painting skills! I just wanted to tell you this because I thought it’d make Dad proud. Maybe now I’m worthy to help paint in our house... well maybe I’m not quite that good yet! One day! It was a blast and our Branch Mission Leader was there so he got to know her pretty good! It was great and we are going to meet with her in the next couple days! Hopefully she makes it to church this next week too! We set a date with this kid named Chris but he is kinda flakey, so we will see! We also found a lot of other people, but so many people end up being flakey!

But that’s the update for some of the investigators and transfer calls are this week. It’s insane!! Life is flying by and it’s unreal!! It’s so scary because one transfer in Selkirk is about over and who knows how long I have left here! Hopefully all goes well! I know that good things will happen here and I’m hoping to stay around for a little longer!! We will see what happens!! Oh and Agnes update, no news on Akon or Martha but the Obeing family is getting baptized the 17th! There are going to be 6 of them getting baptized! Everyone but there Dad, hopefully all goes well there! I’ll let you know if I get to go see it! It was fun to be with Elder Willardson because we found them!! It was good talking about ‘good old times!’ It’s weird that I have ‘good old times’ to talk about, and they happened while I was on a mission! haha But all is well! Next week I will know if I’m staying or going.

Life is so crazy but so good! The Church is so true! I love all of you so much and I am so grateful for you! I have the best family ever! You are all so amazing!! I love and look up to you so much! Be safe and keep doing everything right! You are the best!!

Love Elder Smith!!

For in His strength, I can do all things!

Szypkowski Family

Friends and Family,

You spoiled, rotten punks! haha Just kidding, I’m way excited for you and your trip to Mexico! And yes, I plan on going multiple times while Payton is on his mission! It’s weird to think that you are there soaking up the sun in Mexico while I’m here in good ‘ol Selkirk! It’s crazy that it’s spring break already! You will have to tell me all about Mexico and get me lots of pics!! Have a blast!

Alright, this week as been pretty good! First off, I cut my hair again this week and I need some balding shampoo or something! haha I’m starting to look more and more like Dad everyday! Dad asked what my favorite thing about Selkirk is and I’m gonna have to say people’s hobbies! Everyone here fishes and hunts! They are definitely not fly fisherman, but they like their fishing and they love hunting! I’ve ran into like 3 hunting and fishing guides, so its a blast to talk to them! It’s tough though because when I work some gospel into it most of them won’t have it! They all give me there phone # but not to teach them. But we’ve got some good fishing and hunting trips set up for 2 years down the road! It’s frustrating that a lot of the people will talk to you all day until you go into the gospel. But a couple people have listened, but its just because they feel bad after they get talking to me about fishing or hunting. Any ideas? Iv’e tried so many different things! I swear I’ve done every door approach known to man! We are finding some good people though, but they are few and far in between! The work has picked up though!! We have some people that we are really excited about! The Chaneys came to church again this week, but Sister Chaney took a smoke break across the street between every class. Word of Wisdom is this week! woop woop! They also actually aren’t a part member family because she was excommunicated, but she has talked to the Bishop about getting re-baptized and her kids both want to get baptized, so that’s good! We want to set dates this week, but we are worried because we don’t want them to get baptized unless they have the support to stay active, so we are trying to figure that out! We have a lady named Sandy that we are meeting with tomorrow and we are on the 3rd lesson! She is great and has two super smart kids! We are hoping to set a date with her this week, too. But she is a really strong member of her church so we will see what happens. Karl (a single kid that is 20 something) set a date for one year from last week! haha So that’s great, but we are gonna try and cut it down too less than a year away. We meet with him tonight so we will see what happens. He set it so far away because he wants to finish the whole Book of Mormon before he gets baptized and he’s too busy to read it any too fast. I’ll let you know how that goes! We are meeting with some other great people, but they all seem to progress really slow. They are great but out here in Selkirk, they aren’t in any kind of a hurry, which is frustrating but we are trying to make it work!

I have learned so much here, and there have been so many ups and downs! It’s funny because it has been super humbling for me! It made me think a lot about the scripture in Alma 26:12, “Yea, I know that I am nothing. As to my strength I am weak therefore I will not boast of myself but I will boast of my God. For in his strength I can do all things.” I came out to Selkirk thinking I could take names and show everyone how missionary work is done. haha Boy was I wrong! Anything that has happened that was good has not been because of my strength. I know that as we work hard for things we will be blessed, but only if we put faith in the Lord and become an instrument in his hand! In Zone Conference they shared a great talk that really helped me! It talked about how competition causes pride, and if we have pride we aren’t doing what God wants us to do. We are actually on the other side of things! It was a great talk and it really hit me! I am such a competitive, prideful person, and pride is such a hard thing to beat! Unless you are a missionary in Selkirk Manitoba, of coarse! It can knockout pride pretty fast! But I have learned so much! It’s funny how you don’t notice so many of your weaknesses, but when you do, you see so many places were they have slowed you down it the past! I still have so many weaknesses but Selkirk has helped me a lot to see some of them!

I’m starting to love this area more and more and the people more and more everyday, but I still have some “Agnes sickness” haha But things are going really well! The next couple weeks will either be really great or rough because we have a lot of people that are at the point where they have to choose one way or the other! We will see what happens and pray and hope for the best!

Oh, one more thing, I met with the Szypkowski family (great branch members) this week and had a great supper and lesson with them! They also told me that they are going down to BYUI soon for their son. So I told them to look you up! They are the best and they are already planning on taking us hunting with there pointer in a couple years. They also want to learn how to fly fish! They are so great and in the lesson with them they gave us a great referral and they want to have this family over for supper with us! So that’s way exciting too! They are great and I think they already e-mailed you but they said you haven’t emailed them back (probably because you are in Mexico). Let me know how that goes and let them know they are free to my room when they come down, if thats okay with you of course.

Well I love you all so much and I wish you the best! Have a blast in Mexico!!

Love Elder Smith!

SELKIRK IS COMING AROUND! SPOKE AT JULIET'S BAPTISM!

Juliet's Baptism!

Elder Leonard, Juliet, ME

Hey Friends and Family!

First off, thanks a ton for the emails from everybody! I loved them! Tanner (Crezee’) is an animal! We couldn’t get anyone to church our first week here. . . let alone have two baptisms!! What a stud! And I loved Clark Hatch’s email! I feel for him and I loved what he said! Oh, also I got your emails (that didn’t come through) from the Watson’s that next day! They are amazing and thanks so much! You’re the greatest Mom!

This week was definitely a turnaround!! But man it was a roller coaster of emotions for me!! My comp I think is sick of the way I like to do things, but he knows its what we should be doing, so he goes with it! It’s been hard and I’m doing my best to get along! He’s a great kid but he’s sick of tracting! ha ha We have mixed it up with members and less active work, which has been great, but we are still tracting a lot! I don’t know what we are gonna do though because there are only so many houses in Selkirk! haha But we are definitely seeing things turn around! We actually got part of a family to church this week! It wasn’t much, but it was an improvement! They are a family that the Mom got excommunicated, but she wants to change and I think the kids are coming around too! The missionaries used to go just hang at her house and the few other investigators that have been around for years. So I ended that and said we would come and teach with a member but otherwise we weren’t coming to just hang out. I think this frustrated my comp but it’s what we need to do, and he agrees with that. So we’ve actually been teaching some of these people and its been great! The excommunicated Mom made it to church with one of her kids and we taught them and both kids said they wanted to be baptized! We are meeting with the whole family this week! Crazy Dad included, and we are going to try and set some dates!

We also met with a lady named Sandy, who has been around for a bit and she is starting to progress! The other day we were teaching one of the old investigators and she said, “Wow, you’re a lot more aggressive than the other missionaries! haha I hope that’s a good thing! But she has agreed to meet with us, with members from now. We had a good lesson with her the other day! We also found a great kid named Remi that we taught and we are hoping he will be ready to set a date this week! We will see! We also found a family of 6! They are great and we helped them set up there blinds and we are meeting with them tonight! We have three appointments tonight with investigators, with members coming! That’s unreal! haha I’m way excited!! We are being blessed for sure and I really think things will start to happen here in Selkirk!!

Also, we got to go back for Juliet’s baptism and it was the best night ever! She asked me to speak on the Holy Ghost and I got to be a witness for her baptism! Elder Leonard baptized her and it was great!! And Akon was there!! So I got to see them and I really think they should set dates soon!! President talked to her about her husband and about a game plan!! It was sooo great though! Juliet had a huge smile the whole night!! I’ve never seen her so happy, excited and confident!! She probably shook my hand and thanked me a thousand times! I love her to death! haha And Elder Willardson was there! When it was me, him, and Elder Leonard there talking to Akon’s family and Juliet and the Bishop, I could have died right there and been happy!! haha It was sooo great!! It was such a pick up week, but hard too because I don’t know how to handle my comp! I’m worried that maybe I’m taking too much charge, but at the same time he agrees with what we are doing, he just wants some things different I think. There are a couple ladies that he still wants to stop by and just chat with, but I want to either teach them or not go over. We asked them if we could come teach them with a member but they said no. They are women, so we aren’t aloud to teach them without a member, but my comp wants to keep stopping by their house just to chat on there doorstep (which I think is breaking the rules anyways). But I don’t know, I can tell he isn’t happy with it but he knows it’s right. And don’t get me wrong, he is a great kid and we get along fine but I don’t know! haha Things really are going good though!! It was a great week! We are hoping to have a lot more at church this week, but we will see.

Alright, I have some questions! Is Landon (Walker) alive? How is Matt (Collette)? Can you get me their information so I can say hello? Also, can you send me my orthodics that Uncle Kelvin made. Thank you so much for everything! Tell Addison, “Yes I miss and love her sooooo much!” The same with all of you!! Tell Tanner he is a stud and Clark too! And thank Grandpa and Grandma for the great letters!! They are the best! You guys are the best and I love you so much!! Keep up the great work!! Love you! Payton is a stallion and Dad is the best! Alex and Addison are too cute! haha Just know I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for you!

One last thing, I wrote a letter to Bishop Russell awhile back and I was pretty excited when I wrote it! haha Did he say anything about it? Hopefully I didn’t say anything too crazy.

Love, Elder Smith!

P.S. Sorry I was so down last week! I was on exchange with my District Leader and he is a real pile! haha He is so disobedient and he goes home in four months! It’s ridiculous but I learned sooo much because of it! I was really down but going on an exchange with him got me excited about getting back to Selkirk! ha ha I’m so grateful for how hard things have been though! I’ve learned a ton!! And I’m sure I’ve got a ton more to learn! ha ha It’s so funny though because you can let every experience either take you away from God or bring you closer to Him! I’ve really learned to love the harder days. . . not more than the good ones of course. ha ha But things are great! Life is great! Thank you so much for all of your prayers! I know they have helped!! I love you so much! please tell the rest of the fam i love and miss them a ton! i loved all of the emails!! they were sooo great!

LOOKIN' FOR SOMEONE TO LOVE IN SELKIRK!

Hey Friends and Family,

First off, I didn’t get any e-mails, other then Dads, so I cant really write back to them, but things are good here in Selkirk. This was definitely one of the hardest weeks of my mission! We have honestly tracted ourselves silly! I really, really miss street contacting! haha Things are coming along though! We found 14 new investigators this week. Last transfer they only found 5 the whole transfer. So it was definitely an improvement! We will actually have some appointments this week! The downer is that we, once again, had 0 people to church! I was not happy at all.

My comp is great, but he’s just okay with the fact that we didn’t have anyone come to church. It’s kinda driven me crazy! He is a great kid, but this week has done him in! haha When we get home, he sleeps and he sleeps through workout time every morning. I don’t know what to do or say though because with everything else he is obedient and willing to do.

Missionary work is sooo weird out here! We are the only missionaries out here and it seems like a ton of pressure. We are working so hard and we have found some good new people but a lot of the people are kind of flakey, and a lot of people here aren’t nice! haha I’ve heard more cussing here than probably anywhere else! hahaha The members are really good though. I don’t know what more to say. . . . we have worked our tails of this week! I’ve heard so many funny excuses when we’ve knocked on people’s doors! The funniest had to be from a 30-ish year old guy a couple days ago. He opened the door and before we said a word he said, "I’m born again Christian and I’m having sex with my wife." It was one of the first times on my mission that I really had noooo idea what to say! haha We laughed a lot about it though!

I am really excited about what could happen here though! We talked to the branch president and went through the whole ward list. We have some reactivation plans and we are gonna work with some part member families. We also went to Stonewall this week and found a couple really good investigators! Stonewall is about 30 minutes away and it hasn’t ever seen missionaries before! It seems like everyone in Selkirk knows about us or they think we are Jehovahs but there are tons of jehovas here too that we run into a lot! haha But Stonewall is pretty untouched by any kind of missionaries. We are hoping to get more kilometers so we can go to Stonewall a couple times a week! So hopefully that will workout! I’m so excited to see what happens here, but man it’s hard! In Agnes, if you had a bad day it was okay because you always had at least one solid appointment with a good investigator, that you loved. Here I don’t have anyone that I love yet. haha We are sure looking hard to find some but man it’s tough!

Juliet’s baptism is this week though and I think I’m aloud to drive in for it so I’m excited about that!

It’s funny because it’s been a slow hard week but I’ve learned sooo much! I’m sooo grateful for the chance that I have to serve here! I read a quote that I loved! "No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse." haha Now as you can see I’m still working on this! haha But it’s so true!! Whining accomplishes nothing! And it does make things worse!

Also, dwelling on the positive makes things so much better!! So heres the positive. . . we more than doubled the investigators found last transfer and we did it in a week! We had a lot of good things happen in Stonewall! I have a lot of funny tracting stories! My comp is great and he knows how to work. The branch is great! We have some people to teach now! I’ve learned sooo much! I have great friends! I have an amazing family! I’m safe and happy! I’m on a mission! We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and life is great! haha It’s funny because when you look at what you’ve got you really feel like a PILE for ever feeling sorry for yourself! Life is so great! I’m so excited about this area and I really think that if we keep working hard things will turn around here in Selkirk!

I love all of you so much and hopefully you send those other emails fast! haha If not, just send ‘em next week. I only got Dad’s, so I wanna read the others! I love all of you so much! Stay smart and safe!

Love, Elder Smith!!