TRACTING IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES. . . .

Hey Family!

Thank you so much for the wonderful emails!! I can't believe what a wonderful family I have! I am so proud of all of you and I love you so much! Your emails make me so happy because you are all so great!! Thank you for the pictures! I can’t believe how old everyone is! haha I know I say that every week, but it’s so ridiculous! I love Payt’s Grizzly painting! The Smith legacy will hang in Skyline for years to come! Man, I am just so proud of Payton!! He is such a great kid and I love and miss him a ton! I also am so proud of Addi and Alex! It looks like they are both healthy, happy and doing all the right stuff! Thanks for all of the things you all do! You are so great!!

So I’m gonna start with a hilarious story!! So this week was just ridiculous because we tracted soooooooooo much!! All in all we tracted over 25 hours!! haha That’s just knocking doors...... for 25 hours!!! haha I am already looking pretty dark. The weather has been great! But we have had a lot of appointments fall though, but even with all the tracting, we still taught 17 lessons. So it was good, but back to my story. When you knock this many doors, you have lots of hilarious stuff happen! I’ve walked in on door-to-door salesmen, family parties, immodestly dressed people, crazy people, mean people, drunks, nuns, the list goes on. But most of the stuff just becomes old news and so you don’t really pay much attention to it. But a couple days ago, I knocked on a door and a large man came to the door. Picture the Brother Landon (Barry) that pulled up on the four wheeler after Payt hit the skunk, except picture him with a lot rougher haircut, and beard and a really hairy chest and a huge beer belly and completely and thoroughly butt naked!! Like, no kidding, this guy flings open the door with one hand on the door and one hand on his hip completely naked! hahaha So instantly my head shoots up and I say “you wanna card?” I gave him the card I don’t even know if he said he wanted it! Then we took off. He stood in the window waiting for a reaction, and he got it! I made it like 10 steps before losing it laughing! It was pretty good. But the week was good! We tracted a bunch and found some super solid people!! The tracting is hard though because there are a ton of wealthy people that won’t give us the time of day. It’s good though! We have been having some amazing lessons! The members here are so amazing! Like man!! It’s a ward full of powerhouse returned missionaries! Our ward mission leader is so great!! He has been the ward mission leader just a couple weeks now and he had Maricio and Angelica over for supper with him and all the couples they are friends with in the ward. Maricio and Angelica had a blast with them and they are doing so good!! I really hope he sets a date soon! He is so great!! This week’s lesson with him went good! We’ve tried so hard to meet with him more than once a week, but they are just too busy!! But we have now taught him all of the commandments and he pretty much agrees with everything! Tithing is hard, but I think he will do it!! Hopefully this will be the week!! They are great though!

Cleavon gets married this week and hopefully after the honeymoon he will be getting baptized! He has a testimony, but a really hard situation. Hopefully all goes well there! We also just started teaching a part member family that is super great! The guy has been less active for years and his girlfriend grew up with no religion. They have come out to church and she really likes it and we finally got to teach them last week!! It went well and they fed us! It was great!! We were supposed to meet with them tonight, but they just called and bailed! aahhh! So we will probably teach them in a couple days. More tracting time I guess (: haha

We are teaching a lot of Atheists still and I don’t no how to teach them! It gets a little frustrating because it’s just hard to know what to say! It’s hard to teach faith and when they struggle to understand God and faith its hard to get them to read, pray, and come to church, so they will get faith.

But things in the area are good. It’s getting super high stress because the time is just going so fast! I feel like I just got into this area and I still feel clueless with a lot of the members, but the transfer is already more than half over! It’s ridiculous!! Things are going great though!! Being a district leader is really fun! It’s funny because I was really hoping to be done being a zone leader and get the chance to finish my mission as a district leader. So even though it was hard leaving Winnipeg, it was exciting, but I thought all my meetings would just be amazing! I thought it would be way more stress free and I’d do everything right! haha But it’s not that way! I have loved teaching district meetings but it definitely isn’t as easy as I thought it would be! I miss teaching meetings with a companion, even though before I was wishing I could go back to teaching by myself! ha ha And, motivating district leaders is a lot easier than motivating districts! It’s been really fun though and I have learned a ton!! The meeting today went pretty good! All in all, everything is going so great!!! I love being a missionary so much!! These last couple weeks have been super weird and stressful! It feels like my senior football season with like 4 games left, except like 10 times worse! I have worked SO hard and done my best, but I feel super pressed for time. I wanna make sure I do everything that I was sent here to do! It seems like the more I stress it, the faster it goes and I’m loosing my mind! It’s just a really weird thing!! Missions are so great! It’s just weird because every time I hear about Payt’s papers or that stuff I just get a stomach ache! I can't believe how blessed I have been and how many miracles I get to see out here!! Everyday as a missionary is such a blessing!!

Well I’m just rambling but I wanted to tell ya one more story! Yesterday we taught this young single mother and it went sooo well!! She lives in this huge house with her mom and her kid. She is so good!! We had an amazing returned missionary with us and he was so great!! The Spirit was really strong and she was eating it up!! We taught the lesson one and she had great questions!! At the end she was excited about reading and praying and church and so we invited her to be baptized. She said yes and set a date in June! Like man it is so great! haha It’s just crazy all of the wonderful experiences there are on a mission!! I’m so grateful for you and all the love and support you give me! I have the best family ever! I love you a bunch and have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

I'M GRATEFUL FOR THE CHANCE TO BE STRETCHED!

Hey!!

First off, before I forget, here is my address: 303-215 Kingsmere Blvd the problem is that I don’t know the zip code ): It’s Saskatoon Sask......... haha um.... hopefully you can figure out the rest hahaha Thanks so much for the wonderful pics and updates! You guys look like you are just liven’ it up! And Payton is definitely your more attractive son! Wow! That kid looks good!! And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more attractive group!! I’m so proud of you for the great kid that you are Payt!! You are a beast!! I love you guys all sooo much!! It made me super happy to see all of the grandparents doing so well! They also are some gooood looken’ couples!! It definitely runs in the family! (: Mom and Dad you look so healthy happy and proud! haha I love you all a bunch!!

So this week was a good one for the most part! Things are really warming up and it’s great! It was like 18 celsius the other day and I was dying! I’m worried for what the actual summer will do to me! Canada weather really messes with ya! But Bruce got baptized!!! I have been way out of the loop with everything, so it has definitely made me Winnipeg homesick!! Elder Woods still calls me every once and awhile to give me updates, but other than that I’m way out of the loop! I’m really starting to love it here though!! We are working with some really great people! Finding people through tracting has definitely been a little more difficult, but we are still seeing some success with it! There are some wonderful members here though and some great part member gold!! Maricio is sooooooo golden!! He was gonna set a date this week for sure! haha But they had to bail on our appointment because of family! ahhhh!! Because of work they can only meet on weekends and so missing the one appointment for the week kills!! They made it to church though and he is so ready!! We have a new ward mission leader and he is fantastic!! He is a RM of a couple years and I love him!! This weekend he is having Maricio and Angelica over for supper and games with a bunch of other RM's and their wives! Half of which speak Spanish! And we are meeting with them the next day!! The members here are amazing!! We get fed more than we should and there are so many people willing to help and they know how because they are all RM's! It’s sooooo great!! Super intimidating too, though!! It’s just a way different atmosphere!! It’s so good and I can’t wait to see what is to come!! We also finally got an appointment with a less active member and his fiance! They have been trying to come back out to church and they have made it a couple times and they finally are letting us come and see them this week!! Her name is Courtney. We are teaching tons of Chinese people that are Atheist, Indian people that are Muslim or Buddist or some other crazy religion and they are so hard to teach!! They are so smart and kind, but everything that we teach is so new and different that it makes it so hard to teach them!! Any ideas?? The hardest are the people from China because they really have like no faith and they are so smart and humble and kind! It’s super difficult!! Any ideas!?

But things here are so great and I’m really starting to love it! It’s been frustrating because I haven’t got to settle into the area because I keep having to leave it. This week I had to go up to Prince Albert with one of the Zone Leaders to do a baptismal interview. It was a frustrating experience all the way around!! First off, the zone leader is a punk! I’ve tried super hard to get to know and love him, but he is so undignified and disobedient that it is so frustrating! He is also very talented and funny and he can do great things when he wants to! He isn’t the worst ever, but he definitely is a very poor example for the other missionaries and it makes me mad! It’s been really hard to love him and respect him when he is doing such ridiculous stuff. But it’s been good because when I’m able to look past it, I really do learn a lot from him! I think a big part of it is just my pride makes it hard to do stuff that a disobedient missionary tells me to do! haha It’s been a good learning experience to be around him. But the missionaries who needed the interview are not the most obedient either, so the interview was poorly planned and it had to be done at her house with her dad there, who is a non member, so it was a super odd experience. I was really frustrated and outnumbered three to one, with less diligent missionaries. But the interview went amazingly well!! She is so prepared! She has a good friend in the church and her friend had taught her everything. It was so great, minus all the odd, weird, bad stuff going on around. Oh, then the night was filled with missionaries being dumb, staying up and then all three of them slept through studies. aahhhh! I was ready to pull my hair out!! It was so ridiculous and then I feel like trash because they’re all being dumb! Man, I was sooo glad for it to be over. It’s funny though, because you learn so much with stupid things like this. I hated the experience because I felt so powerless, but I learned a lot and it made me want to do even better myself! It’s funny because since this is my journal I wanted to put this story in, but just talking about it is making me feel bad. It’s funny because in life, and on your mission, you have so many opportunities to make decisions and every decision has a consequence. You can waste a lot of your mission and life doing stupid stuff and we all do! But it’s been so good to see how important time is and how much you can do when you do your best to take advantage of every minute!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to be on a mission! It is the best! I have never ever been so stretched! I am sooo grateful for my great family and the gospel of Jesus Christ! And I’m so grateful for the chance to be stretched, tried, and the chance to make right and wrong decisions! Agency and trials are the best!! I love you all a bunch! Stay healthy and happy and keep me posted! Have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith

WEIRD PHONE CALL, EH?

Hey!

Wow! Weird week, eh!? haha Man this call was definitely the weirdest! I felt so out of the loop and I didn’t know what to say or think or do about it!! From the second I heard Addi's woman singing voice and Alex’s manly voice and Payton’s fat kid voice, I was way thrown off. I loved hearing from you all and I love and miss you so much, but it’s weird that it was kind of a relief that it’s over because it’s such a weird thing!! haha That picture of Payton is hilarious! I’ve spent most of my email time staring and laughing! I feel so bad for you buddy!! It’s definitely the first time in your life that most girls wouldn’t want to kiss you! hahaha I use the word “most” loosely because you are PAYTON SMITH! haha But thanks so much for the call and emails and pictures and everything!! You guys are so great!! Well, I know I talked about a lot of this stuff in my call, but since this IS my journal, I’ll say it again!! Ronald was baptized!!! It went so good (I heard)! His brother in law Grundig baptized him and his brother Joefer and his sister were supposed to speak, so all of the members of the church in his family had a part! But Joefer slept in and didn’t prepare a talk, so Elder Woods was nominated to speak. Elder Woods spoke using Ronald’s new scriptures and then at the end said “Well, I couldn’t find a lot of the scriptures quickly because these are Ronald’s scriptures that Elder Smith’s mom sent!” So he went and handed them to Ronald! Ronald was so excited and gave Elder Woods a big hug. After the baptism, Ronald called me and he was so happy about everything!! He told me all about the baptism and he was excited to tell me that Bruce (a great investigator that had been taught everything and scheduled his interview right before I left) had passed his interview and he had asked Grundig to baptize him too!!! It was so neat!! I love Ronald and his family so much!! It was a big jump for him to make because all of his other family are really strong in the Catholic church! He will be such a wonderful member!!! But after talking to him for a little bit he ended by saying, "Ok, I’ll see you and your family in 6 months." haha After you told me you were coming I kinda told a couple people, so hopefully all works out so we can go and see em!! But all of that is so exciting and I can’t wait to hear about Bruce’s this week!! It should be great!!

Now as far as this ward goes... honestly, it’s a little overwhelming with all of the new stuff and how different things are but I am so excited for it! I want to do everything I can to make sure it is the climax of my mission!! Right now we are working with some super great people! First off, a man named Maricio that is amazing! He married a member in Chili and they just moved here about a year ago or something like that and wow, they are so wonderful!!! When I got here, he had been taught the first 2 lessons and a bit of the 3rd. We are now going through the commandments and it is so great!! The Spirit is always there and it is so great to teach them!! He has a couple concerns but I am so excited to see what happens!!! He made it to church again this week and he has been a couple weeks in a row. Hopefully he will receive answers soon! He is so great!!

Also April is really great! She is a single lady that has been investigating for a while and I think she is finally ready!! We are meeting with here tonight so hopefully all goes well! I did have some questions for you guys that it would be great if you could give me your ideas!! In this area there are a ton of Atheists that are humble and wanting to learn but they have been brought up without a believe in God. Any tips? It’s weird how hard it is to teach it!! Ammon makes it look way easier than it is! haha Also there is a lady with a Jason Brown/ Ken Despot situation! Part member, with calling, and fully active, but won’t get baptized!? Any ideas??

Well my times up, but I love you all so much! Thank you for all that you do!! Sorry I was kinda out of it for the call!! haha You are all the best!! Have a great week! Payt...... ice up and don’t go on any dates! haha The church is true! Missions are so great! Payt I’m so proud of you and excited for what is to come with exciting mission news!! Keep up the great work!! I love you all soooooo much!! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith!!

I MADE IT TO SASKATOON!

Hey!

Man, all kinds of crazy news this week eh!? Alex you are a beast!! I want more pics of you playing!! Mom and Dad you are amazing! Thank you so much for the package this week and thank you for sending that stuff for Ronald!! You are sooo great!! Man I love and miss you all so much and I can’t wait to talk to you!! I’m so excited for Kegan!! He will love it there so much! I’m so jealous that he gets to learn Tagolog! Edilyn tried to teach me and the little that I learned is gold for getting into Filipino’s homes!! He will love the filipino people!! Family, you are amazing!! Thank you so much for all that you do!! I love you a ton!

Alright, so this week was another crazy one!! I guess Mom looking at my credit card spoiled the good news of the first crazy thing! hahaha Elder Lovelace was behind me listening and he joked about how the trick to getting tickets off is to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit! In the middle of my explanation, the lady said "It looks like you already got a photo cop here?" and I said "Well mam, this is actually my third... but......" hahaha I was super lucky and blessed, I guess! She knocked it from 216$ down to 75$! I was pretty happy. But the rest of the week was pretty hard! It was so hard to say good bye to Edilyn and Maritess and Ronald! It was way hard to say goodbye to everyone, but they were the worst!! Please email them all and tell them I miss em!! They are so great though! They all fed me and Ronald and the Avilas bought me a bunch of Canadian stuff and Ronald gave me fresh mangos that came fresh from his friend in the Philippines! haha They were sooo good!! I love mangos!! But it was really hard to leave!! I’m so excited to hear news of his baptism this week!!! I’ll probably get to call him on saturday and I can tell you about it on Sunday!!

So the day before transfers we went to and appointment with Brother Gibson (one of my favorite members) and he took us out to eat fish and chips at this nice restaurant!! It was way good but it the middle of the meal we get a call and then a text from President Paulson that says call asap. So we went into the washroom and called him and got word that a missionary isn’t coming and so I wouldn’t be in a threesome. It was good and bad news. President said the other missionary was the one he wanted me to work with the most, but it wasn’t going to work out, so I’m not in a threesome anymore. So I finished saying good byes to everyone and we took off on the long trek to Saskatoon!! Man it was terrible!! Such a long, painful drive! And I have to drive back this week for a day for a training meeting for all of the district and zone leaders. It’s terrible!! It was fun and different though, but sitting for so long makes you lose your mind!! haha I got to stop and sleep in Regina with Elder Platt and Elder Bileu and that was a blast! It was fun to see Elder Platt! He is doing a lot of great work! But we finally made it to Saskatoon! I am soooooo Winnipeg home sick!!! haha Like man, I didn’t know I was so attached to that city. I was just so comfortable there because I knew my way around the city and I knew so many amazing people! It felt a little like being in the MTC again! But it wore off fast!! This city is wonderful and this ward is amazing!!! This ward functions so good!! It’s kind of like an Idaho or Utah ward because there are a ton of RM’s and there wives here at school!! It is just such a great atmosphere!! Our area has the University in it and so we talk to a ton of young couples that are great!!! And there are some great people here that are super prepared!! One of them is a man named Maricio! He just married his wife and she is a member and great!! We taught them a couple days ago and they are so good! Hopefully we can set a date with him soon!! There are lots of great things going on and the ward is so supportive!! I still miss Winnipeg sooooooo much but I’m excited to see what will happen here! I’m hoping this is my last area so I can just work it to death for the next 6 months!! It’s a great place! My companion’s name is Elder Porter. He is from Northern Arizona and he is super diligent, humble and quite! I’m so excited about what will happen here! But my times up! I love you all so much!! You are wonderful!! Good luck with everything!! I love you all a ton!!

Love Elder Smith!

P.S. I don’t know what will happen with the call! I’ll try and call just before supper! And I think you will need a phone card because we won’t be at a members, sorry, new area.

Love you

I'M BEING TRANSFERED OUT OF WINNIPEG - STILL IN SHOCK!

Atta boy Payt!!! Mr. Skyline 2011, man, I was so happy with the news!! I can't say I’m surprised though!! I called that one years ago!! hahaha That’s great!! Mom that news about the Disneyland trip for the Newton Family is sooo neat!! Tell them I say hello!! It sounds like you guys are just doing great!! I loved all your emails!! Dad, get feeling better!! I feel bad because it sounds like you aren’t doing too well!! Keep me posted!!

So once again I’m sorry for the speeding ticket!! It’s so frustrating! I’ll be paying up tomorrow. Hopefully they are kind AGAIN. So this week was just insane! Sounds like you heard the news already. I was so upset at first, it was funny because we’re all at President Paulson’s niece’s baptism on Friday. Ronald came to it and it was a blast! But they rounded up all the missionaries there and gave transfer calls. President started going through them and he told me mine and I said, "what?" in a confused, not so happy tone. haha So he said it again and I leaned over to Elder Leonard and asked again because it didn’t really click! Then I asked Elder Leonard like 2 more times! hahaha I was so caught off guard and it was super sad because Ronald is getting baptized on the 7th, and Bruce on the 14th! It was super hard and sad to tell him I wouldn’t be there! Elder Woods had my back and talked to him about moving it up so I could see it and he was all game but he had family that wouldn’t be able to make it and I just didn’t feel good about it so I had him keep it. It was so hard! Ronald is sooooooo amazing!!! And soooo ready!! He will be such an amazing member!!! I love him and his family so much!! I know I’ve blown all my money on speeding tickets but can we get him scriptures??? His name is Ronaldo Hitalia Domingo. Send the normal size that you sent everyone else. Elder Lovelace is getting him a case for them. Thank you so much family!! You are amazing!! Don’t send me anymore packages!!! I don't need anything!! You’re the best! He is such an amazing man with such a soft heart!! I love him and his family so much!! If you could do that, I’ll have Elder Woods or Elder Lovelace give them to him when they get here!! Thanks sooo much!! But his baptism I’m sure will be great!! They said they would send you pictures. But man things here are going so well right now!! I love this area so much!! I’m so sad to be leaving! Like it is such a weird thing because I feel just sick inside about it!!! Winnipeg is just home now! All 3 of my areas have all bordered each other! It’s so crazy! I love it here so much!! Ronald is doing amazing, Bruce is great!! Laury is close and there are lots of other people that are close too!! I have loved this area so much!! It will be so hard to leave the great members, especially Edilyn and Maritess and their crew!! They are so great!!! Also Nathen and Maria are just amazing!! We get to go see them tonight! He came to the fireside on Sunday and he loved it!! I gave them your email too! Amie and Godwin are doing so great too!! It was sad this week though because they moved to BC. We got them in touch with the bishop and hopefully they will love it there. It was definitely hard to see them go though! They are such great people!! Also this week Belatu knew I was going to the fireside so she made supper and brought it to me!! It was so good!! I love her so much and it’s so good to see her!! Tim Jackson was there too and it was hilarious because I was sitting there talking to President Paulson before the fireside and Tim Jackson got there early. He saw me and ran over and while President is mid sentence Tim full-on bear hugs me! hahahaha It was hilarious and so great!! President Paulson didn’t know what to do! It cracked me up!! Tim is doing so great!! His girlfriend got baptized and they will probably get married soon!! Sooo exciting!! Sorry I’m jumping all over the place, I just have so much to say! haha Back to the baptism, after it finally clicked in that I was getting moved and I was definitely down, but I went and broke the news to Ronald and he was pretty down and President came over. I felt bad because it was kind of awkward. It’s super sad to leave, but it will be good! I guess I knew I had to leave at some point. So I am no longer a Zone Leader! woo woo! It was a blast and I learned a ton! But it will be great to get out of a lot of the busy work stuff! But turns out I’m going to an amazing ward and there will just be one set of missionaries for the whole ward! woo woo. Here’s the catch, it’s a threesome! I’m super nervous! 3 missionaries, new ward, new province! I've been stressen it for sure!! I don’t know much about the other elders but hopefully all goes well!! I’ll be a district leader though so it will be fun because I’ll get to teach district meetings again and still get to work with other missionaries, but hopefully not so much busy work! I have loved Winnipeg so much though! It’s just such a hard, scary thing to leave!! Oh, before I forget.. we had stake coordination with the stake president this week again and his son is in Idaho Falls!! He lives by the temple!!! He is probably in Gma and Gpa’s ward!! You should definitely feed him!!! It would be super great to get to know his family better, they are amazing!! Look him up! It’s Elder Robison!!

Other updates... we have now taught Laury everything and she committed to live the Word of Wisdom!! She is doing everything, but getting baptized and she is in Alma! She is so great and will hopefully pull the trigger soon!!! We found a great new lady this week named Joelle who is super prepared!! Hopefully something happens there!! Man sorry my mind is just scrambled! Sis. Avila said she emailed you!! Please thank her so much for all the food she gives us! She is so good to us! Thank Ronald too! They are such an amazing family!! Things here are just going so well!! I’m so grateful to be a missionary! I’m so grateful for my amazing family! I’m so grateful for the gospel!! It’s the Best!! I love you all so much and I’ll give you details about everything next week!! Thank you so much for all that you do!! Please save all my emails because I have had NO time to keep up my journal and I feel terrible about it!! haha If my emails don’t make sense, ask questions so I can feel ya in!! Stay safe and have a great week and email Edilyn if you have any questions about Ronald’s scriptures or anything else!! You are so amazing and I love and miss you all a bunch! Have a great week!!! Love Elder Smith!!!

RONALD IS GETTING BAPTIZED!

Hey!!

Well it’s been an interesting week! First off, thanks so much for all that you do for me! And Dad thank you so much for checking that out for Elder Woods!! Man I have the best parents in the world!! I’ll talk to you about it more on the phone in a couple weeks! Elder Woods is just a great kid and we’ve become super good friends and so I wanna make sure he gets a good hook-up when he gets home! Thank you so much though!

That’s exciting about the new bishopric! It’s gonna be weird to have everything different! Sounds like everybody is doing great though! Tell Addi to get something ready to sing to me on the phone! But thanks again all of you for all that you do! So I have lots of bad and good news, so I figure I’ll get the bad out of the way and then repent and hopefully cheer you up with some good. So first off, the stupid photo cop got me again...... I hate these things soooooo much!!! 13 k's over again, it’s like 7.5 mph over and it’s the slowest that they give out tickets. I’m soooo frustrated because I’ve tried hard to go slow. But I’m done driving! I’ll just have my comp drive the rest of my mission, because this is terrible!! I’m super sorry and I think I had for sure better get a job right when I get home. It’s so frustrating and I’m super sorry! I wish Dad was here to get it off! haha But I’ll see what I can do. It’s $240 again, but I’m gonna go talk to them again. SORRY!!! I get to clean the dog kennel all of 2012!! haha

Alright, now to some funny news. Edilyn moved out from her family and she and Maritess got an apartment. So I had my mattress double stacked with 2 not so good mattresses put together and they made a good one. But Elder Paulson (President’s brother) is over our apartments and so he was helping her move. She didn’t have a bed so we told Elder Paulson we had double stacked and he was game for us to give one to her. So we gave it and all is well, till it’s time for bed. It’s a terrible mattress! So I woke up super sore! But, we also have this beater couch with tons of cushions. haha So the next night Elder Lovelace and I stuffed all the couch pillows under the bad mattress and I’m sleeping wonderfully once again! It looks hilarious, but man I might sport it for the rest of my life! It’s pretty comfy! But Edilyn moved safe and sound and she is doing great!! She and Maritess now have a place to themselves and it’s pretty nice. I just hope she got a better mattress than me!

But this week was super busy! I got to go on an exchange out to Selkirk and it was a blast!! I saw Sarah, Karl and Chris! Sarah and her mom are doing so great! It’s crazy because her mom didn’t let me come teach the first 5 months I was there and she was on the “do not contact” list! She had even filled out the papers to get her records removed!! Now she is a super Mormon Mom that is teaching the crazy kids in primary and she gave a talk last week! And Sarah is still amazing!! Karl is doing great but he hasn’t been making it to church as much as he should. He’s a great kid with a super testimony, but he is just at kind of a crazy time in life! He’s so good!! I loved seeing him! Chris is just doing ok. He has such a good heart, but he’s been missing church a lot!! It’s a really hard thing to see!! He wants to do the right thing though so hopefully he will pull out of the slump he’s in!! Man, I love all of the people up there so much!! It’s such a great little city!! It was fun to go back!! It’s hard to see people struggling though!

We are teaching so many amazing people right now though man!! Nathan and Maria are so amazing! I gave them your email!! He is in medical school and she is a stay at home mom! They look like a Mormon family and they have such strong faith and they are really searching!! We have taught them all of the big doctrines of the church and they are so smart!! I love meeting with them!! Mom, if they email, you and Dad gotta get em converted. They are so searching!! I hope it clicks for them! Man I love em though!!

Bruce is doing great!! He was out to church again and he is great!! He’s excited for his date and he just needs to get off coffee! He’s so close!! Laury is amazing!! She was out to church again this week!! She has a super nice house and she is also really searching! She is now in like Mosiah 20 or somethine!! She is cooking! And this week she made it to church and it just went amazing!! She got eaten alive with fellowship!! It was so great!! She went to a fireside with some members without us and a member gave her some nice scriptures! Hopefully she will set a date this week!!! Church was sooo wonderful though! Laury, Bruce, and Ronald all made it and they all had a great time! So now for the best part of the week! Ronald was only able to meet with us once a week, so we taught him once and then cheated the system. We were like "Ronald, Elder Woods is coming on exchange and he really wants to see you again." hah So he made the time and his family fed us! It was so good! We had crab and we ate the whole crab guts and all and we picked it over with our hands! haha I love filipino food! It was a blast and super good!! I think Payt will go to the Philippines, or Africa, or if he’s really lucky, Canada! But we finished all the commandments and ended by teaching fasting. We invited him to fast about being baptized on the 14th and us, the assistants, the Henderson Elders, the whole Avila family and Ronald all decided to fast on Sunday!

So, I obviously got Dad’s jeans (ha ha) because the next day after crab, I found myself in a nasty McDonald’s washroom for like 30 mins haha but then we went up to Brandon. We had 2 great kids that got interviewed and are being baptized next week! We drove back and had some good lessons and a lot of tracting. Then Sunday rolled around! It was a great service! Everything seemed to go so good! Ronald had a good day and it just went great! So we told Ronald we wanted to come see how the fast went that night. We told him we wouldn’t have time to teach but we would just come see how it went and chat for 5 or 10 mins! We got there and he had just finished watching The Restoration with his family! Man, they are great!! So we came in and said, “So, how’d it go?” haha He said, "well good." So we were like, “well how do you feel?” And he’s like "good" haha and were like, “sooo?” haha and then somehow something happened with the family, so they got off topic! Elder Lovelace and I were looking at each other. haha So we say, “Well, you were fasting about getting baptized, so how do you feel?” He smirks and says "good." haha So we are like, well so are you gonna be baptized?! He sat there awhile and then looks with a big grin and says "Ya." So we are like, “Well when?” It can be any Saturday between now and the 14th! And he says the 7th! hahaha Man, it was so good!! Like, we didn’t know what to expect or how to go about it but he had already made up his mind! He is so great!! I love that kid so much!! So we were super excited!! The only bad news is that transfer calls are this week! And I’ve been here like 7 months and Elder Lovelace goes home next transfer, so if I did stay, it would be for 2 transfers, which is kind of unlikely! I love this area so much and I really hope I get to be here for it! Either way, he’s getting baptized though and its soooo exciting!! He is such a great kid!! It has been so fun to teach him!! He is such a humble, smart, loving, kind man!!! He will be a great member! It’s been so fun to see him grow!! I met him for the first time like 6 months ago and he wasn’t even willing to listen to us! When we started teaching him he was too busy to read the scriptures, but I knew he liked power aid. haha So I bought a bunch of Power Aid and crossed out the Power and wrote Scripture aid. So every time we’d go over I’d toss him some Scripture Aid. He has read every night since! He is such a hilarious kid and it’s a big joke in his family with the Scripture Aid. Man he is so funny and so great! I wish I could tell ya all the great stuff that has happened with him! But to top off the night, after he set the date, his sister that he is living with was so happy! She is actually a convert as well! But she and her husband got out the guitar and sang to us with Ronald. It was great and then they got us to end by singing a hymn! it was so great!! The Spirit was so strong there!! It was such a great night!!

The church is so true!! Missions are the best!! I love you all so much!! Have a great week!! Love Elder Smith

oohh!! ps!! John Nordness, the excommunicated member, gets baptized on Wednesday!! I can’t believe I forgot! He has an amazing story!! Elder Leonard is baptizing him!! Super neat stuff!!! Love you!!

JUST LIKE A SCENE FROM A MOVIE!

Hey!!

Man, it sounds like it has been a crazy week!! I can't believe the news about Jayson Ralph's Mom! That kid has always had such a good spirit! That’s so crazy to me! I was in the MTC with him! It sounds like he has grown a lot. It’s hard to hear things like that because I know their family will be ok, but I wish there was something I could do to help!! Please keep me updated on how they are doing!!

It’s also crazy news about Bishop Russell!! He is such a great man!! I wrote him a short email, but I feel bad because I haven’t written him like at all, my whole mission!! Tell him I love him and I’m so grateful for all that he does!! As far as guesses on who will be the new bishop, I don’t even remember who all is in our ward! haha um... ya, I don’t know. I’ll look forward to the news next week!

I DO know the Roldans, they are in the Waverly Ward! They are a great family and I have eaten in their home before! Great food!

Sounds like A-rod is still an all star and I think we all knew that him growing up dealing with Payt and Dad, he would end up with a sense of humor! haha I expect some homers out of him this year and some big plays in the field!

Payt Heather Hill said she saw you at the party the other night.... she said you’re like me except I’m funnier! haha That made me happy, mostly the part about how you’re like me! I love and miss ya a ton buddy, and I think we all know you are funnier. But she wasn’t gonna go so far as to say I’m better looking! hahaha YOU take the cake on both!For sure! I’m so excited about you working on your papers! That’s such an exciting thing!! Just make sure that you don’t leave before we hangout for a while! Well thanks for the update! You guys are so great!!

Mom, I wanted to ask you a favor? It’s Edilyn’s birthday soon and I was wondering if you could get that lotion for her? Also, Elder Woods comes from a family where no one has gone to college. He wants to go, but he doesn’t know how and his family doesn’t know anything about it. I can tell he’s a little stressed and we would love to room together at Utah State, or wherever. It’s forever away, but he didn’t take the ACT, but he did have like a 3.8 GPA in high school. He’s a super smart kid and I was just wondering if you could do some research and see if he could even get in anywhere with out the ACT, and see what he would have to do. I don’t think it’s a rush, but I was wondering if you could just check it out. He’s such a good kid and I don’t want him getting home and getting stuck in his little town, if there’s a way out. Sorry, I feel like a lot of my email is just asking you to do stuff. Some things never change! haha You’re amazing Mom!!

Well this week was great! First off, I went on an exchange with another Elder Smith. It was great! I’d knock on a door and say, "Hi, I’m Elder Smith and this is Elder Smith...” We had interviews and Zone Conference this week and so we got out early to go and get stuff set up, and we got a flat tire! So we had to put on a spare. Let me just say, if you wanna bad tire off and a spare on, in under 3 hours, Elder Lovelace and I are the guys to call! hahaha Just kidding! It wasn’t quite that bad, but man, it was a pain! We were in our nicer suits out in the mud, trying to get to interviews. Luckily, Elders Leonard and Woods bailed us out, got everything set up, and it all went smooth. It was a funny morning for sure!

We are working with so many great people right now! Like they are all such golden investigators who sincerely want to know the truth!! Laury is now in Mosiah 8!! It’s crazy! I think she knows it’s true, but she is just nervous to pull the trigger and she wants to finish the book first. Ronald is so good, but his family didn’t come to church this week, so he didn’t either! aaahhh! So frustrating! The Spirit is always so strong when we teach him! He has to know it’s true!! We will see what happens this week! Bruce is doing so good! He is supposed to have an interview this week, but he is still struggling with coffee, so we will see what happens. Karla is good, but she is living with her boyfriend, who is a member, and who doesn’t want to move out. Teaching the Law of Chastity to people that you love (one of which is a member and already knows it’s wrong) is super .....hard, interesting, and frustrating! I have such a testimony of the Law of Chastity though!!! Man it make so much sense!! JUST LIVE IT!! aaahhh!! So that lesson didn’t go too great and so hopefully we can make a recovery with them this week!!

We also are teaching this Baptist/Menanite family and all I have to say is, WOW! They are so good!! They know the bible so good, but they listen to us!! They read the Book of Mormon. He even came to Conference. Their names are Nathan and Maria!! If they get Baptized they with be the next Chris and Rocky Baronins! Like wow, they are so great! They are so kind to us and they feed us homemade pastries every time we go over. Man, it’s crazy how many great people we have to teach!

I did have a question for everybody this week for the entire fam, Jay, G-pa, G-ma, Papa and Grammy, Aunts, Uncles and cousins included. What are some ideas to bring the Spirit into the lesson and help these people get answers to their prayers? I know that’s a super broad question, and one that I’m sure we would all like the perfect answer for, but I just wanted to hear your ideas? I really would just love to try any ideas you have so that the Spirit can play a bigger role in our teaching!

I’m so grateful to be here though, and I’m so grateful for all that you all do for me!! I am so blessed!! So I had a really neat experience a couple days ago that really topped off the week. It started out with bad news. The bad news is that Amie and Godwin are moving soon to BC. The good news is that they threw a going away party. haha We got there and it is Elder Woods, Leonard, Lovelace and me, Edilyn, Amie, Godwin, and Brother Lord! It was sooo much fun!! Great food, great Christian-African music, that I didn’t understand and great company! haha Elder Woods leaned over to me and said, "Man, did you ever think this would happen!?” haha Then he said, “This is like the last scene in a movie!" haha He cracks me up! But it’s so true! It was so neat! I love these people sooo much and it’s such a neat thing to see the Gospel change them!! I’m so grateful to be a missionary! There are a lot of frustrating things, but the blessing out weigh the hard times 1,000,000 to 1!! I’m so grateful for how blessed I am!! I’m so grateful for the gospel!! Time’s going way too fast!! I’m sooo grateful to be here!! I love you all so much! Have a great week! Love Elder Smith