JUST LEAVE ME IN SELKATRAZ FOREVER!

Ben, Elder Platte, Elder Smith (clad in Ben's jackets)

Family Home Evening at President Anderson's with Kimberly and kids

Friends and Fam!

Payton, I am die-ing laughing in the library right now! haha You crack me up kid! haha Keep tearing life up!! Man I miss you!! Your puke story made me laugh so hard!! Dad you are the best! I’m still bitter that i didn’t get to call you! Thanks a ton for your email! You are the best with taking something I love and turning it into a gospel thought! Your the greatest!! Mom, thanks for the Akon update!! Hopefully she is doing good, I think I’m gonna write her this week!! Thanks a ton for all of the pictures in the email and in the letter! All the boys in the picture at Uncle Kellan’s are looking good!! The picture of Josh looked great too! He looks different! It’s so neat to see the change of a mission! I see Madeline still looks good too! haha You will have to tell the whole Olsen family I say hello!

So golfing was crazy! Just Elder Platt and I went last P-day and I am horrible! I woofed so many times! I would just play Elder Platt’s ball because I was too embarrassed to go get mine or I didn’t know where it was! It was weird becaus I felt so out of place!! It was just awkward because I didn’t feel like a missionary! I felt like a guy at a girl’s sleepover! I don’t know if it was because we were in full pros (shirt and ties) hahaha or if it was because we weren’t doing missionary work or the combo. It was fun and all but I won’t do it again.

So this week has been crazy! First off, I HATE mosquitos SOOOOOOO MUCH!!! They are so thick you can’t believe it! They say once you get bit so much, the bites start to not even show! Lucky for me my skin is tough and the bites don’t bug me but Elder Platt swells up like a balloon! He has huge bites everywhere. And ya, we have been spraying a ton of stuff but they find the one place you miss and they find ways in your clothes! Elder Platt got 2 on his head this week and he really looked like a Mormon with horns! I’ve decided that Manitoba is like Texas except with bad things! If you have cold, we’ve got colder. If you have hot humidity, we’ve got more! If you have flooding, ours is higher. If you have mosquitoes, ours will carry you away and tear you apart! hahah Canada is the best! But honestly it is! Mosquitoes or not, I am loving it sooo much!!

Karl had his interview this week and he passed with flying colors! We were hoping he would ask one of the members to baptize him but he asked me to baptize him and Elder Platt to confirm him! I’m super excited, but I feel bad too because we have done a ton to get him friends in the church! He loves a ton of the members, but he still chose us. We told him he should pick someone that he can stay in contact with his whole life and he said, “That’s why we have email and telephones!” hahaha It’s way good, but I’d prefer one of the members were doing it. I’m so excited, but it’s weird because I feel a little bad that he asked me. It’ll go great though and I’ll definitely never forget it! He is such a great kid!!! I love him to death! It’ll be at 7 PM this Saturday!! And get this! Chris as been coming to church and living all the commandments, so he will be at Karl’s baptism and when it is over he will have his interview! I’m so excited for him! He has such a great heart!! This branch is just on fire!! They haven’t seen a baptism in over a year and there will be 2 on back to back weekends! We also set 2 more dates this week, so there will be 4 more dates coming up after Karl and Chris!! It’s sooo great!! Kimberly is coming along good too! We had FHE at President Anderson’s house yesterday with Kimberly’s family! It was insane because both of their kids are crazy!! haha It was so insane but so much fun!

Ben also made it to church and he loves it and the branch is really making good friends with him! Velma is still working with us, but she hasn’t set a date yet! Dylan Leforte set a date this week and so did a lady named Wendy (she is new, we just found her this week and set a date with her the first appointment).

This area is the best!! Hopefuly they keep me in Selkatraz forever! haha Tonight we are doing a mini fireside at the Holme’s house with Chris, Karl and maybe Ben! It should be a ton of fun! The members here are so amazing! They do so much for us! It is so neat to watch members go from being surprised to see people at church, to expecting it and then when we do get people there, they just eat them up! It is so great and so fun to watch!! It is so amazing how many people I have learned to love and care about! I honestly never thought that I would be able to meet so many people that I would care so much about!! Missions are the best!! I feel soooo bad for ever being down about this area!! I have been so blessed!

I will get you pics of Karl’s baptism and send them next week. I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do!! Be safe and smart and I’ll talk to you next week! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

DON'T SKIP THE LITTLE THINGS!

Friends and Family!

Hey! Man, it’s so crazy that I keep finding myself in the Selkirk library!! Every week gets away so fast its ridiculous! Mom thank you so much for the package!! All of the stuff made it here great and I’ve had a great opportunity to work on my love, charity, and long suffering by sharing my purple bottles of gold! haha Man, that syrup is so good! You are the greatest!! Thank you for all that you guys do! And tell Grandma thank you so much for all of her letters! She doesn’t seem to miss a week to write! Tell her to stop sending money though!! haha The fudge and toffee put enough weight on me already! You guys are the greatest!! Payt, congrats on the great camp!! Stay healthy and tear it up!! Oh and will you take the ACT for me??? haha I’m sure you will score better and it’ll save Mom and Dad money! See what you can do! A-rod you are such a champ! I love the baseball picture of you! You are sooo athletic looking! I’m so proud of you being a great catcher! I always liked that position, but I wasn’t good enough to get to play it a lot! You are such a champ! Keep it up and lay some kids out for me!! Write me an email and let me know about your plans for football!! I’m looking forward to hearing about what your plans are! Keep tearing up baseball!!

So this week was another crazy one! Karl didn’t show to church last week and we didn’t know why so we went over to see what happened! Turns out on last Saturday night he decided to show a girl how to drive! He is such a great guy, but he doesn’t always think things through. haha So he was showing her how to drive and he was trying to tell her all the rules of the road, because it’s just how he is. So because his tail light was out he tells her to use hand signals for turns! hahahaha So she does a signal to turn and there was a cop behind her that thought she was throwing something out the window and thought she was drunk, so she gets pulled over and the cop was really a jerk, I guess. So she doesn’t have a license and so they search the car and there was a little flask with some alcohol in it that Karl didn’t know about. So they took his car and he had to walk home! The next morning he walked to get the car and by the time he got it, church was over. So he now has a court date for August 6th and his baptismal date WAS August 7th. He told us all this and he was super sad and mad. So we get the idea to move up his date. We talked to President and got the ok and then we had like the best lesson ever with him!! We planned a ton and things just fell into place perfect! He said he really felt the Spirit and he bore a super solid testimony!! We moved up the date to June 26th! We meet with him tonight to go over the interview questions and his interview is this Saturday! He made it to church this week too and he is super excited for the baptism!! It is so great and now I will for sure be here for the baptism!! It’s under two weeks away!!! So that was so great and we are super excited!

Thank you so much for the stuff you said about the Atonement and Word of Wisdom! It was great! As for the update on everybody else.. Kimberly is still doing great and she made it to church! She knows this is what she wants for her and her kids, but the Word of Wisdom is really hard for her! Chris is doing good but his boss keeps scheduling his work during church and Chris keeps saying that his boss is changing it, but he keeps missing! As soon as he can get to church regularly he will get baptized! He’s so good and he loves meeting with us and loves the members and he has a testimony, but the work issues are killing him! Hopefully things will fall into place with that soon!

Velma is moving this week and get this! She is moving into the Agnes area!! I’m super jealous of her! But the crazy thing is that I love Selkirk just as much as Agnes these days!! The members and people here are so great!! Last week we had 9 appointments with members there!! They come and help us so much and it is so great for the investigators!! Back to Velma, she is doing really good and she is so close to beating these Word of Wisdom problems, but she’s got to much stress with moving and everything! Hopefully the Agnes Elders will get her baptized!

Ben’s about the same and we have some other people that are really coming along! Things are good but some crazy stuff happened this week! Our car got broken into and Elder Platt got his camera and backpack full of stuff stolen! I felt so bad! We don’t know if we left it unlocked or if they broke in, but either way it really stunk. I didn’t have anything in the car, but I feel super bad for Elder Platt! He’s such a good kid though and he handled it like a champ! He jokes about how now he doesn’t see the Child of God in people, he just sees the possible thief! haha He’s a great kid and he’s doing great!

Other bad news.. Brother Watson told us this week that he has no testimony of anything. Yes, he is the member that emailed you for me. It’s so sad. He still goes to church and even had a calling as the secretary but he says he knows the church helps people so he keeps going and doing, but he doesn’t believe there is a God. It’s so sad and it was so hard to here from a man that I respect so much! They have such an amazing conversion story and I don’t get how his testimony is just gone! It reminded me of Elder Holland’s talk when he said even many of the elect would be deceived! It’s so sad, but it helped me realize how important it is to continually live the commandments and strive to spiritually progress everyday! Daily scripture study and prayer are soooooooo important! It’s crazy because back home I would miss days reading and out here when investigators miss days reading or praying it is devastating and so confusing to me! Why would anyone ever turn down the blessings that come from daily study and prayer! They are so important! It’s so easy to skip out on the little things but it can hurt us so much! It’s so funny how you can see the huge impact that reading, praying, and going to church every week make!!

But I got to go! You guys are the best! I love you so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do! Love everyday and don’t skip out on the little things!! haha You guys are the greatest! I love you so much!!

Love Elder Smith!!

A CHALLENGING STAKE CONFERENCE!

(This was an email sent to us by one of Chandler's favorite missionary's Dad)

Sister Smith: We were in Winnipeg this last weekend picking up our son and met your son at a Fireside on Sunday night. What a great elder! Attached are a couple of snapshots of him and a some other elders plus another (for reference) with us and the mission president and wife. My son says Elder Smith is a "superstar" in the mission! It was great meeting him.
Thanks for making a connection through Carolynn.
Paul Riding

Friends and Family!

Thanks a ton for the emails Mom, Dad and Payt! You are the best! Grandpa, Happy Birthday!! I wrote you a letter but it didn’t say anything about your b-day! haha But its got some pics! Hopefully that works! Grandpa you are the best! Make sure that you out live me!! I have no doubt that you will be able too!! I am so sad that I missed the unveiling of the bike, but keep it in good shape so we can take some good rides when I get home, preferably to a fishing hole somewhere!

Mom, I haven’t got your package yet but don’t stress it! It will get here soon enough, I’m sure! Thank you so much!! Did you get Akon’s package or any news from her? I’m worried about her and I feel bad because she was so excited to get you that package!

Dad, I loved your email! And yes, I miss clean water!! I heard there is some great lakes for streamers up north a ways! We might have to take a trip and see the polar bears in Churchill and fish some lakes up there! Check it out and let me know the details on fishing up that way! I love knowing what I’m talking about when I talk to people. Mom, thanks a ton for the picture! Is Alex wearing my pants!? haha That kid is growing like crazy!! How is baseball going for him? Tell him and Addi I love them and they need to write me more!

As for your trip, be careful and Payt be smart at the Utah State Camp!! That’s messed up way to many senior years! Be smart and careful! Same with 2 a days!! Don’t work too hard and stay healthy!! You are definitely a gamer!! haha Love ya kid!!

So this week was crazy!! It rained non stop forever!!! I couldn’t get dry! haha Which is bad news because they say mosquitoes are going to be horrible!! So hopefully you are allowed to mail me some 100% Deet. But this week went really good and crazy otherwise! We taught Ben the Word of Wisdom and I was super nervous, but he took it great and all he has to get over is coffee, tea, and beer! NO SMOKING! I was happy to hear that! I’m yet to meet anyone in Canada that hasn’t at one point had Word of Wisdom problems! And Ben’s a stud, so he will do great!

This Sunday was insane!!! It was Stake Conference so we had to drive in to Winnipeg to watch! Which meant that we had to find rides for all of the investigators to go! A ton bailed last minute because of flooded basements and other stuff but Kimberly’s family made it and a kid named Dillion made it. Ben, Chris, Karl and Velma all couldn’t make it! Kimberly’s family did though and it was insane!!! We get there and her kids are going crazy!! They’re running all over and yelling and crying and screaming! Conference starts and because of the the storm outside, the connection kept cutting out so every couple minutes the video was going off and on! So I’m juggling kids, there’s food and toys going everywhere, I’m in and out every couple minutes because one wants a drink or needs to go to the washroom. It was so crazy and I didn’t get one thing out of conference! Except when President Uchdorf spoke I was able to hear a 5 min portion of it that was so powerful and I felt the Spirit so strong I had tears in my eyes! Now this might be because I was already on the verge of tears because of all of the madness! I’m convinced I’ll come home a much more patient kid! Or I won’t make it home at all! ha ha One or the other has to happen!

But then after conference the kids were all over in the gym, but it was over so we just let them go. I got to talk to Kimberly and she was stressed about the kids too, but she really enjoyed the conference! It’s funny because 30 mins into conference it felt like I’d been there for days and I legitimately thought the world was coming to an end! haha It’s funny how it doesn’t matter what happens with kids or weather or anything, the work still goes forward! It was funny because I was sitting close to Elder Willardson and he had a family with crazy kids too! He is such a great missionary but he looked like I did by the end of the day. It was fun to talk to him after because he can always make everything funny and he is so good at just making what comes, work! It’s so fun to be in his Zone!!

On Monday, we set up a Family Home Evening with Kimberly and her kids in the Holmes’ home. They are the best member family ever!! They help us out so much! And ya, it wasn’t a typo, haha their last name is Holmes! I didn’t have time to write any letters this week because all P-day we helped them paint. Then after painting, we hustled home and changed and then did the Family Home Evening with their family and Kimberly’s family! It went great!! The kids were crazy, but it really went well and Kimberly just keeps saying that this is really what she wants for her family!! I am super excited for her and she’s planning on getting baptized before the transfer is over!

Karl is doing great and getting closer to his date! It’s August 7th, but he’s ready now. We just have to get him over being nervous and move it up! haha Everything is going great!!

I love and miss all of you so much! Thank you so much for all that you do! Please be safe and smart! I did have just enough time to send you some pics this week. Sorry I didn’t have time to write a letter, but hopefully you enjoy the pics!! Love you a ton! Good luck with everything!! Love ya a ton!

Love Elder Smith!!

WORD OF WISDOM PROBLEMS ARE KILLING ME!

Friends and Family,

Payt, it sounds like it has been a really hard week. I’m so sorry to hear the news (about Michelle Mickelson)! Please let her know that she is in my prayers! Payton, I am so proud of you and your strong testimony! YOU ARE SUCH A GREAT EXAMPLE TO ME! Please keep me updated and know that I love and miss you a bunch!

Mom and Dad, thanks a ton for your emails, you are the best! Mom, I got your package! Thank you so much! Akon’s letter made me super nervous, sad and Agnes homesick!! She is such a great lady! Thank you so much for the package! You are the greatest!!

So this week was really tiresome! I hate drugs, tobacco and alcohol!! I wish I would have been more rebellious in high school so I could know what these people are going through! haha Well I won’t go that far, but comparing their addictions with my fly fishing and cookie addictions just doesn’t work! It’s so good that the Savior knows what they are going through, but it’s hard to have the confidence to teach them when I really don’t know what they are going through! Kimberly quit coffee and tea but she is really struggling with smoking! All of her friends smoke and they aren’t being supportive at all! It’s so frustrating! She is so ready and we helped her start the quit smoking program but her friends came and tore down all the no smoking signs and they got her to smoke! I hate agency steelers!! haha And there are so many of them here! It’s soooo true that misery loves company! Kimberly knows that this is right and true but it’s so hard for her to break out of her culture! That is the hardest thing for people here, it seems like! They feel the Spirit and they know it’s right, but it’s so hard to be different and break out of what they have just always known! It’s so sad because we have so many people that are so close! Three of the people we teach would be baptized tomorrow if it wasn’t for Word of Wisdom problems! It’s so hard, but I know that they all can break it! They know that it’s right!! Hopefully things work out there!

Good news is that Chris finally got work off! He’s been Word of Wisdom problem free for over a month now, and he has a baptism date for the third of next month!! Karl is doing great but he got pulled over by the cops the other day and there was alcohol that was open in his car. He hasn’t drank since we taught him Word of Wisdom, but he has dumb friends and he doesn’t always think things through! The weird part is that his court appearance is Aug. 6th and his baptism date is Aug 7th! It’s ridiculous how good Satan is at what he does! Then again, if Karl would have thought things through, he wouldn’t have been in this predicament! We are going to try and move his date up because he is ready for baptism but I don’t know what to do, really! We are talking to President about it tonight to see what we should do! Once again, Word of Wisdom problems are killing me!!

After tracting this last Saturday where every single person that we talked to had a beer, I about lost it! It’s so ridiculous! But we had a lot out to church again this week and things are going great other than Word of Wisdom problems!!

Thank you so much for all of your love and support! The packages, mail , and emails are so great! You guys are the best! I love and miss you all so much!! Payt, you are such a champ and I love and miss ya a bunch! Keep being a great kid and keep me updated on everything!

Sorry I’m not saying too much lately. We are in a rush to get going, but I love you all so much!! Stay safe and smart and tell all the newlyweds congrats!! (Bruce & JaNell, Stuart & Katherine) they all look great!!

Mom don’t stress about sending the 100% Deet at all! If everyone here can survive without it, I can! haha I was gonna ask you if you could get me the EFY 2008 CD and any other good church CD’s. We drive a lot, so it’s nice to have some other stuff! Don’t stress it, but if ya have a little time that’d be great! Keep me updated on Akon and if you get the stuff she was gonna send you!!

You guys are all the greatest and I love you all so much!! Stay safe and good luck with everything!! Last thing, I was just wondering if you could all give me a little input on anything to better understand the Atonement and helping people with addictions. I’ve been studying it a lot, but if there is anything that you have that can help me relate better or understand better, that would be great!

Dad, I loved the stuff you said this week! I needed to hear it! Payton, your letter also helped me a ton! Mom you are the greatest! haha You guys are all so amazing! Love you a ton!

Love Elder Smith!!

SIX MORE WEEKS IN SERKIRK!

Friends and Family!

You guys are the greatest! Mom, Dad and Payt, thanks a ton for the emails!! Dad, I miss the trips to Home Depot like crazy!! haha Mom, now I’m mad because I know everything on your quiz but one of them! hahaha My favorite part (of Sweet Baby James) to sing was already written in! You’re the best!! We are totally taking a road trip when I get home and we can jam out to some James Taylor! Dad you always say that you hope your letters make sense but you shouldn’t stress it! I love your letters! They are so good and they always get me re-fired up! You’re the best!! Man it sounds like everybody is getting mission calls! It’s weird to think that Payt’s group of kids is next!! That scares me a ton!! It’s so weird that school is ending!! My mission still just feels like a dream that I haven’t woke up from yet!! It’s amazing how fast the past year has gone! Flyfishing and missionary work can really mow a year over fast!

So as for transfers, me and Elder Platt are staying! It’s the first comp that I will stay with for 2 transfers. It was a let down because change is exciting, but at the same time it’s great because so much good stuff is happening here and Elder Platt and I really get along! He’s a goof, but a lot of fun and we both love working, so it will be great!!

I need some advise though. If you look at a map of Selkirk, we are clear down on Oliver Street. We have tracted everything above it, and we only have a few streets we haven’t tracted! We are teaching a ton now but we still have time that we need to find new people and we are running out of places to go! Any ideas? I don’t know if I will have the faith to start at the top again!

This week has been crazy though! Last Saturday we sheet rocked a member’s ceiling. Then this week we helped Ben plant a huge garden! It was a ton of fun and it reminded me of home, ALOT! I wish I would have spent more time in the garden with you Mom!! In a couple years you can count on me, for sure! We set two new dates this week too!!! Ben set a date for Sept. 10th. He’s a great guy! This week we helped him with the garden and on P-day he threw a barbeque for us! It was really fun and really good! We have to take on Word of Wisdom this week though so hopefully all goes well!!

We also set a date with Kimberly!! She is great and she and her four kids all made it to church this week!! Ben, Kimberly and kids, Karl, and Velma all made it to church! Karl’s date is Aug 7th, but he is ready now! We have taught him everything and we are going to try and push his date up even more this week!! Velma’s date was for the 5th but she is really struggling with Word of Wisdom problems, so we are gonna have to move it back this week. But hopefully she can figure things out and all will go well!

Chris has been taught everything and he is living everything but the Sabbath Day! He is so close if he can just get work off and start coming to church!!

Things are going great!! I am so glad I got sent to Canada! Because I hate wearing church clothes in the heat!! I pray for rain or snow a lot! I’m wet no matter what! I just prefer that it isn’t due to my sweat! haha Oh, and the mosquitoes are coming out and they don’t sell 100% Deet here! Could you get me a couple of those small bottles of it from Jimmy’s and mail it to me? That stuff works so much better the the bug spray! Don’t send it if we are gonna get in trouble for it because it IS illegal in Canada, but if it looks possible rip off the tags and send some my way please!

Things here are really going good! It’s amazing how fast time is going!! It’s so scary! Six weeks used to seem like forever and now it feels like it’s not enough time to get anything done. Life is crazy! But I’ll be here another six weeks and mail and packages get to me faster her then when you send them to the Shaftesbury address! So you can send stuff here but only for the next 4 weeks.

Payton, I want more of an update on life! haha I love your emails and letters but gimmie some more details, please! That’s about it for this week though, we are in a hurry to get to our next appointment! Next week I might email Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on what’s going on so if you don’t here from me Tuesday don’t stress it!!

I love and miss you guys all so much!! You are the greatest! Dad I wanted to tell you that I’ve been taking your advise with taking stories and relating them to the gospel! You told me that last summer and I’ve thought about it a lot and I’ve really been trying to use it! It’s amazing how receptive people are to it! I carry around my family and fishing pictures everywhere and use stories in teaching, a lot! It’s way funny because my comp uses a lot of my stories and analogies to teach too! He will say "yah, Elder Smith loves Flyfishing and he always talks about......." haha It’s funny but what can I say, they are some pretty good fishing stories that really help people to understand the gospel!

I love you guys all so much! You are the greatest! Please keep being smart and safe and know that I love you a ton!!! Make it a great one and I’ll talk to you next week!!

Love Elder Smith!!

PRAYING IN THE PARK

Friends and Family!

You guys are the greatest! Grandma, your toffee and fudge made it to me here in Selkirk and it is amazing! You are the greatest!! Aunt Camille and family you also are on my favorite list! I got your package today and it is so great! Thanks a ton! My feet love you right now! haha Also family thanks a ton for the great letters and emails!! Your emails are the best! Payt, you are such a good looken’ man!! I’m so excited to look for a wife because she will marry me just to have you as her brother in law! haha I’m so happy you had such a good time at the dance and so jealous! Dances are the best! A-rod, it sounds like you are tearing up baseball! Mow some kids over at catcher and hit me a homer! Mom, you are the greatest! haha I don’t know how you always get stuck moven’ poop! haha I promise I’ll take that job when I get home. Tell Payt I am glad that he got his chance to spring clean the kennel though! Take that! Man, I love and miss you guys!!

Fill me in on Akon’s health stuff though. I haven’t heard anything! Did you get her package?? That’s probably why she emailed you. It should have gotten there. And tell Juliet I say hi if possible! And Dad, plan on many late nights in the future!

As for the heat here, I am die-ing! The last couple nights I have planned for the next day while I lay in on the floor in my garments! It is an oven in our apartment! We got a fan and an air conditioner today though so I’m super excited about that!

As for the area ...... things are going crazy here! We have four streets left that we haven’t tracted. But we now have 4 people who have set dates and we had 12 people to church this week! 7 were 8 years or older and the rest were kids! The branch was going crazy! It was the best! It feels like Agnes!!! The Primary President looked like she was gonna lose her mind! hahaha It was sooooo great! And we are planning on even more people next week!! We have been working so hard and everything is finally starting to workout and transfer calls are Sunday. My fingers are definitely crossed! President Anderson said he was going to call President Paulson this week to try and keep us here.

President Paulson called Sunday night and congratulated us! He knew I wasn’t happy to leave Agnes, but he said, “Elder Smith, now Selkirk is another Agnes.” haha It was a great day!! I really love the people and the members here!! There were 79 people in church this Sunday!! It was packed!! I wanted to die laughing when I saw President Anderson’s face when new people just kept walking in! haha Also, I got a call Saturday night that I was speaking, and all Saturday night we were setting up rides for church. So Sunday morning I had to prepare a talk in like 15 minutes and then I practiced it once and we had to go make sure everybody was ready for there ride! It was an insane morning, but man, it feels soooo good to be overloaded with appointments again!!

We had a pretty neat experience this week though! We were walking down Main Street and we street contacted this kid. He was walking home and he had some time, so we asked him if we could teach him right there, after he had already shown interest. We walked a little further and sat down with him in the park. We said a prayer in the park and taught him the first lesson. We committed him to church the next week and to baptism in a month and a half! We are meeting with him again Wednesday, but he is a great kid! His name is Steven.

Karl missed church for work and Chris missed too. Velma was sick so everyone that was at church was new! Velma is doing great but she is sick and dealing with Word of Wisdom problems. Karl is doing great but it’s the busy month at work and Chris has a great heart but he flakes out every once in awhile. Hopefully they all buckle down in time for there dates!!

Kim has 4 kids and she was at church with 2 of them and she is great! We found her a couple weeks ago but she made it to church this week and loved it! She said she’d go next week and we hope to set a date with her this week! Milton and all of his kids made it to church, too! We found them last week and we are teaching them tonight. Leona and Dylan also made it to church and they are great!

It’s so funny because there is a map that says all of these streets have been tracted before but there are all these amazing people that have been looking for the truth for so long! I am so convinced that there is no bad area (that’s not what I thought 10 weeks ago!) hahaha There are prepared people everywhere and we have been so blessed to find some of them!! I am loving Selkirk! I never thought I’d say it, but man it’s great here!! Training is great, missions are great, life is great!!

Thank you so much for everything that you all do! You are the greatest! Mom, Dad, Payt, Alex and Addison I love and miss you all so much! Keep up the great work and keep me posted! I love you all a ton!! Have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith

ZONE CONFERENCES

ZONE CONFERENCES