WE ARE GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!!

WE ARE GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!

Man! I can’t believe it! It is sooooo exciting!!! Everyone here was so caught off guard!! It was so great because we were there for conference and we had Ronald and Laury there for the first session!! We sat down and all was going good. President Monson started and I was excited about the Idaho one and then they announced the Winnipeg Temple and the place just went crazy!!! hahaha It was so wonderful! It was the first time I’ve ever heard so much gasping, clapping, screaming and crying in the chapel!! The Spirit was so strong and I was trying not to bawl and trying to explain what was going on to Ronald and Laury! I don’t think what I said made any sense and I’m pretty sure they still had no idea what was going on, but I don’t think there is any way that they didn’t feel the Spirit!! I LOVE CONFERENCE!!! IT WAS SUCH A WONDERFUL WEEK!! I just can’t believe that we are getting a temple!!! I haven’t been to the temple in a year and a half and I love and miss the temple so much!! We take the blessings of the temple so for granted in Idaho!!! It is such a wonderful thing to have a temple close by! There are members here that for years have driven 7 hours to Regina, at least once a month. They are all so excited!! It’s such a neat thing to be here for!! It really just re-excited everyone for the work!! It is such a neat thing!!

But man, this week all around was great! Our meetings in both Brandon and Winnipeg went great! We put together a fun object lesson - relay race thing and it went great!! I love teaching!! It is so fun when it goes well!! We had some wonderful lessons and we are working with so many good people right now!! Ronald is amazing and so ready!! I hope he pulls the trigger soon!! He is so ready!! The Spirit is so strong when we teach there!! His sister makes us amazing food too!! And Mom and Dad, I’m so sorry but my table manners have gotten worse while I’ve been here! hahah In the Philippines the only table rule is enjoy your food!! The last couple meals we have eaten with our hands. We had fish and rice the other day and my hand smelt fishy the rest of the week! My manners have gotten worse, but I’m getting really good at eating with my hands and eating with a spoon in my right hand and a fork in my left! Double fisting is suggested!

Ronald came to 2 sessions of conference though, and he seemed to really enjoy it! He is so great! We have a ton of great people we are working with!! We had 9 different investigators that came to conference!! It was so great!! Bruce and Karla are still working towards their date but they both have some things to get over before they will be ready! Ronald is ready, but he just needs to decide to take the leap of faith! I feel that he knows it’s true, but he’s just scared of the reaction of his family! They were hard on Sister Avila (his sister) when she was baptized so hopefully he can make the leap!

We have been so blessed and I’m so excited to see what’s to come in the next few weeks!! So I had a funny story for ya! We were teaching Karla and Keri the other day. Keri is a less active member that is great and his GIRLFRIEND is Karla. She’s the one investigating and she’s great but we decided to go through the baptismal interview questions and talk about what all we still had to teach and what she had to do to be ready for baptism. We knew she was all good except the law of chastity issue because they are living together. So it gets to that question and we read it and briefly describe it and sit there in silence! Keri says, "awkward silence......" He turns to Karla and says, "We need to get married!" haha It was so funny. Me and Elder Lovelace were both trying to not laugh! haha They are way good and I think all will workout, but we have to wait till there married first. Hopefully all goes well there! But man, missions are the best!!! I learned so much from conference and I’m so excited to go crazy applying it all!! The gospel is so true!! It’s such a neat thing because no matter where you go, the gospel is still true!! I am so grateful for how blessed I have been to have always had it in my life! It’s so crazy how much we take it for granted. We have church, the scriptures, prayer, the priesthood, prophets, apostles, the temple and more and so often we don’t take advantage of it all! I’m so grateful for all that I have been blessed with and I’m so grateful for all the love and support that you all give me! Thanks for the wonderful emails and the vacation update!! You are all so wonderful! Be safe and smart and have a great week!!

Love Elder Smith

P.S. Mom, definitely schedule in being here for the dedication!! hahaha Man it’s sooooo exciting! Love you!!

"I FEEL LIKE I DON'T HAVE TIME TO TAKE A BREATH!"

Hey!

First off, Dad I hope you don’t feel bad about last week! i knew you wouldn't miss! haha i figured the computer was being dumb! Edilyn is sooo great! haha She had it to me like the next day! She said it made her happy to know that you could rely on her. Payt, thanks so much for the missionary and life update! I can’t believe everybody is on a mission and getting home from missions! I’m so sad that I wasn’t there for Chet’s homecoming! I love that kid! He is a spiritual giant! It’s soooooo weird that he is home though!! Like he just left!!! Tell him I say hello!

Mom it looks like you had a blast in Cali and I’m glad to hear that everybody survived!! Your California adventure stories made me laugh. I loved the pic and singing with Farley story! You guys looked like some classy, happnen young mothers! Mom and Dad thanks for the email last week! I really liked the advise! You are all so wonderful!! Dad I love the quotes you send!! I love and miss all of you so much, thank you so much for all that you do!

So this week was another good one!! The last couple weeks have been ridiculous! I feel like I don’t have time to take a breath, and the week is over!! We are working so hard, but a week just isn’t enough time and it comes and goes so fast! It’s ridiculous! We had ZLC this week so we were out of our area for a day. This week we are in Brandon Monday and half of Tuesday, and then we have another meeting in the city on Wednesday. It takes a lot of time, but it’s super fun to teach missionaries! We are excited about our Zone meeting this week! Hopefully it goes well! We also had Stake Correlation this week which was good!! I love the Stake President! He is a great guy and it’s been fun to get to know him!! You definitely need to treat is son good, if you see him because President Robison had the hookups here for us when we come to visit! He is a great guy! So that’s all the crazy, odd stuff we have going on! We also went to a fireside last night and I saw the Baronins there! They are sooo great!! I love and miss them a ton! Also, I talked to Belatu the other day!! She is doing sooooooo good!! She hasn’t missed a day of church since she was baptized! I love and miss her and her kids soooo much!! It’s sooo good to hear that she is doing so well!

This week was good though!! we are teaching so many good people right now and something’s got to give!! We invited Ronald to be baptized for the 3rd time this week! He knows it’s true and the Spirit is always so strong when we are there teaching him! But he just won’t pull the trigger. We had some great lessons with him this week. He has finally been reading and praying everyday and he was super committed to church on Sunday and then he stayed up till 4 AM on Saturday night talking to people in the Philippines!! aaaahhhh He slept in and missed church! So frustrating! haha We will get him next week though!! There are four sessions! haha Good luck thinking up four excuses in 2 days! I love Ronald so much though and his only hold up is that his family is almost all Catholic! He’s ready though! Hopefully all goes well! Keep him in your prayers!!

Laury was sick all week so we haven’t seen her. Michelle and Derick are so good! We had a great lesson with them and they said they would be to church! Edilyn has been amazing fellowship! She invited them to church and she was there ride and it was gonna be so good, she was so excited!! And they bailed Sunday morning! I felt so bad and mad because I wanted them there, but mostly because Edilyn was so mad! haha She takes missionary work seriously! She was not happy! That family is so great!! Oh and you were wondering what you could send her? She likes a lotion from Victoria Secret called Sweet Temptations hahaha I know that’s kind of a funny request, but they don’t have Victoria Secret in Canada or the Philippines haha So I don’t think she even knows what the store is! hahaha But she likes the lotion! She’s funny! But you will definitely be her favorite if you send her that.

But hopefully this week Michelle and Dereck will come! They are so good! This week we taught a member and his girlfriend. The member is great and we set a baptismal date with his girlfriend, but they have to get married first. Her name is Carla and she’s really good and they made it out to church! We also set a date with a great man named Bruce! He is way good but his wife. . . . not so much! haha He came to church by himself because she bailed!! We will have to see what happens there. We have so many good things going and so hopefully we see some more baptisms soon! I feel super rushed because I don’t think I will have another transfer here! Hopefully I will, but I’ve been here a long time so I probably won’t have more than just over a month left here! Hopefully everything starts falling into place for all of these great people! We really have been so blessed with great people to teach! Hopefully all goes well!!

Missions are the best! Oh Dad, to answer you and Gpa and Gma’s questions, Elder Lovelace is from Georgia! He says “yawl” a lot! haha He’s great! He did a year at BYU before his mission and that’s where he will be when he gets home. He was the youngest in his family, so since he left, his parents moved to Utah for a job and now they are just moving again to London!! Crazy! I’m glad you aren’t going anywhere crazy! He has no home to go home to! But he does have a future wife and his parent’s old house in Utah! hahaha He’s a funny kid and a super hard worker! It’ll be a great transfer!! Well I gotta go, but I love all of you so much! I’m so grateful for all that you do for me!! I have the best family ever!! Stay safe and keep me posted!! Love ya lots!

Love Elder Smith!

ON EXCHANGE WITH A GREENY FROM IDAHO!

Hey Family!

Man! Mom leaves town and Dad and Payt don’t email!! I see how it is!! Well, I know who loves me most! hahahaha It looks like you guys had a great week! Man, Mom you are like the crazy fun Mom! haha Ditchen’ the fam to go to Cali!! You should do it again with me next year! haha I love the pics! Be safe and don’t drive home late at night or Dad won’t be happy!!! Kinda like someone else you know did a few years ago!

Well, first off, I am wondering if Alex ever got his b-day package... I haven’t heard anything and I’m hoping it made it there!! Let me know. Second, so who IS Payt dating?? I can never tell! Marissa is a funny girl! I’m glad he’s such a champ, with such good friends!! Payt and Dad please don’t have nightmares because I didn’t get your emails. I know things are crazy and I’m sure you probably sent them and they didn’t come through! Just give Edilyn a shout out and let me know your all good and you didn’t get thrown in jail because of a crazy bachelor party or something! Let me know!

Well this week was interesting! We worked super hard and had a wonderful week!! We thought we were gonna have 7 amazing people out to church, then Sunday came and not one person showed! It was soooo frustrating!! Going to church without investigators is like going to a dance without a date. It just feels terrible!! It was just kind of a lame ending to a great week!! We are working with so many great people right now. This week we found a new Filipino house! We brought Edilyn and Roel over with us and had such a great lesson!! Edilyn is so amazing! Like she does more than you would ever dream of expecting her to do! She is the fellow-shipping champ! Whatever she touches, wants to get baptized!! It is just so neat to be around members who have that missionary work fire! We taught them again and Edilyn brought them food and committed them to church! They are so good! They had to bale on church because friends were over till 5 in the morning and Edilyn was so upset. She won’t let them miss next week! THEY ARE SO GOOD THOUGH! The two we are teaching are Derrick and Michelle and I’m super excited for them! We also found a great family and older couple this week! We are super excited about them!! Ronald and Laury still don’t have baptismal dates yet, but the are both amazing! We are teaching both of them tonight! Ronald lives with the members and he is so good!! He didn’t make it to church because the members he is living with, slept in! How ridiculous! They have a family member with them that wants to come to church, that is investigating, and they sleep through church!! aaahhhh!! Tonight we will be teaching SABBATH DAY! Fun stuff! haha Laury’s family came to her house so she couldn’t come either! She is so good! She is struggling through 2 Nephi right now and I don’t know how to answer her questions!! I just keep saying, "Um, I think that’s talking about the Savior or Second Coming, or something...." hahaha Just kidding! Man, I wish the Isaiah scriptures weren’t so close to the beginning!

We are also teaching two super smart Baptist families! Man, they know there bibles! Roger and Dana are having us over for supper this Friday and I’m nervous! He is a Baptist pastor, but he has Mormon family members. They have hard questions!! We also are teaching this couple that have his parents on a mission for the Baptist Church in Ethiopia! He grew up there! He’s a white guy, but he is so nice and humble! Like both of the young couples look like Mormon families! They are so great, and really so kind to us!! I don’t know why they are meeting with us though??? They are pretty set in there ways, but they aren’t trying to convert us, and they are really trying to learn. I have learned a ton from teachig them!! It really has strengthened my testimony, especially teaching the Plan of Salvation because it really makes sense to them! You see the wheels turning and it’s neat! Very intimidating too though, because they know the scriptures well!! It’ll be fun to see what happens with them this week!

So it really was a great week! We are teaching a lot, and this area is so wonderful!! Amie and Godwin rolled up to church in there own rig again this week! haha Seeing all the recent converts there, makes me so happy!! They are SO on fire!

So it was a great week, but the end was kinda dumb! On Saturday we drove all the way to Brandon for a baptismal interview. We got there and it didn’t work out! We didn’t get to even do any interviews! It’s so frustrating! So we turned around and came back!! We were mad, but it was ok because since we were going, the night before, on Friday, we left and went to Portage where there is a young missionary in our zone that is training. We went on exchange for the night, and I got to go out with the new Greeny and it was a blast! His name is Elder Bodily and he’s from Westen Idaho! It was his second day in the mission and we went out tracting! We set a goal to set 4 appointments and get in and teach a lesson in the 2.5 hours that we had. He was so nervous!! We have really been pushing our zone to invite more people to be baptized and so I told him to do it on a door approach! He was so nervous! I invited a couple people but it just wasn’t working out for him. But then finally he did it! It was hilarious, but sooo good! Then we got invited in and we only had 15 minutes so I told him that we would teach the first half of lesson one. We got it started and we prayed. Then the first principle in lesson one is ‘God is our loving Heavenly Father’ so I set is up perfect and say, "First, we want talk about how God is our loving Heavenly Father.” I turn to him, and he totally just says everything he knows about lesson one, in like 60 seconds. haha Seriously! In 60 seconds he said prophets, apostasy, restoration, Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon. haha It was hilarious! The investigator was a great guy and a little caught of guard, but I’m like, hey let’s roll with it! So I kinda tied it all together and we invited him to be baptized! He said yes, and set a date! hahaha It was soooo great!! We got our 4 appointments and taught our lesson! We also found a new investigator and set a baptismal date! It was so great and so fun!! I love the fire that new missionaries have! So that little exchange made our trip to Brandon (for a candy bar) all worth it!!

Missions are the best!! I’m so grateful for how blessed I am! I love all of you so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do!! Mom, I love you so much! Stay safe and have a great trip!! Payt and Dad... I still love you!! haha Please don’t have nightmares!! I didn’t wanna tell ya tha I didn’t get them, but I wanted you to know so I didn’t miss any info you sent! haha I love you all so much! Tell A-rod Happy Birthday again! Hopefully he got his package! Tell him and Addi I love them! Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Smith

UNCLE DOUG IS SO LUCKY - FOR ONCE!

Hey!!

First off, tell Uncle Doug that if BYU gets into the big game I’m sure President will let me leave for a couple days and it’s only right that Uncle Doug invites his favorite nephew to go with him!! That’s crazy that he won! Man, Uncle Doug does have some good luck come his way, every once in awhile!! Man I miss him and his fam!! Tell them I love and miss um! It looks like you had a fun week cleaning! Dad and his new toys gave me a good chuckle! Don’t burn your eye out! haha And sounds like Jimmer is crazy good!! It’s too bad he plays for BYU because they will get your hopes up and loose the second game of the tourney! haha At least they are consistent! I can’t wait to hear the news! Payt and Dad why aren’t you going to the tourney? Or are you!? We need to keep that tradition going! And Mom and Dad, don’t stress!! I’m doing great!! My nose just hasn’t stopped running all week!! Edilyn shot me up with some homemade lemonade and I’m feeling great!! I have been so blessed to stay healthy on my mission! Hopefully it stays that way! I really am doing great! DON’T WORRY!!!

So this week was really weird! I lost another comp to the office. haha Elder Woods and Elder Leonard are the Assistants and they will do sooo great!!! It’s crazy because when I got to this area, Elder Woods had just became a district leader! I’VE BEEN HERE A LONG TIME!! I love this ward and the people here and I’m super grateful to be staying another one! I had such a great time with Elder Woods and I had a feeling he’d be headed for the office! He is such a great missionary and I’m super glad I got to serve with him!! We have big plans for a road trip back up here after the mission! We will have to see what happens. There are so many great missionaries here!! Missions are the best!!

This week was great, but crazy! We had exchanges and then Elder Woods had to go to the office so I was with Elder Felix for a day which was a lot of fun and then I got my new comp Elder Lovelace! Elder Lovelace is a champ! He only has 3 months left!! He is a humble giant and a ton of fun!! He was a LaCross star back home so I’m gonna come home one! haha We were messen around with his sticks today for p-day and it was a blast! I’m sad I never played!! He’s had a crazy mission! He was a district leader like 6 months ago, but then the last 6 months he’s just been a normal missionary, put with some of the missionaries with issues!! He is so patient and humble!! I’m super excited to work with him and he will be a great zone leader!! He’s a champ and it should be a great transfer!! I have been so blessed with great companions!!! Oh, get this! Elder Platt is the other new zone leader this transfer! haha He’s a champ!

So this week was weird but sooo great!! Ronald is gold!! I’m sooo excited for him! We taught him another couple times last week and he is doing so good!! He came to church this week and his sister, that he is living with, spoke! It was a great talk and I’m so excited for him! We are hoping to set a date with him tonight! Hopefully all goes well!! Church went great except for priesthood meeting! haha I love the ward, but there are some crazies and they got into an argument about what all is included in the Word of Wisdom!! Man it was hilarious and terrible! It’s funny because the missionaries here play such a different role! haha Like back home, they are the bystanders, but here we are the referee and the ones that stop the false doctrine. haha It was a combined Elders and High Priests for the class and the argument didn’t end until I spoke up and set everybody straight! It’s soooo crazy!! Hopefully it didn’t set Ronald back too much!! The church is still true!

Laury came this week too and she had a great time! We talked to a member before and she fellow shipped her so good! We hope to set a date with her this week, too!! Ronald and Laury are kingdom builders for sure! Keep them in your prayers and hopefully all goes well!! Bill made it again this week too but he has a lot going against him right now! He wants to get baptized, but he’s going through some crazy stuff right now! We have been so blessed in this area!! I love it so much and I’m super excited for another 6 weeks!!

It’s sooo crazy that Riley is home and time is going so fast!! It’s all so crazy how much some people have progressed while I’ve been here! I got an update on the Waverly Ward this week!! All the recent converts are doing great! Tim Jackson’s girlfriend is baptized and they are a cute super hilarious couple! haha Obengs are doing so good! Akoth spoke in church a couple weeks ago and I guess it was great! Belatu doesn’t miss a week! They all are doing so great! And get this!!! Pious is the 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum! It’s so great! I love him so much! Just over a year ago he wasn’t active and after the Obeng family, he is one of the most solid members in the ward! He is so wonderful!! This week he gave a talk and I guess the speakers to the satellite thing got turned on, so the speakers in the chapel were saying ENGLISH in the funny computer ladies voice. haha They eventually fixed it but when he was speaking and it said it in his African accent, he said “Oh, I must be really good at english.” haha I guess the ward lost it laughing! He is such a funny guy and a spiritual powerhouse! I love and miss that ward a bunch! I’m super jealous that Elder Woods gets to go to the Waverly Ward! But I can’t complain, I was there a long time! There are so many wonderful people here and I have gotten to see so many miracles!! And I’m sure there are many to come!! I’m so nervous and excited for Laury and Ronald! I hope all goes well! I will keep you posted!! It should be another great week!!

I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do! I did have a question for all of you! I feel bad because I really haven’t used you enough for advise and help!! I’m gonna try and ask for more help and advice from now on but this transfer Elder Lovelace and I really want to work on being more charitable and we want our investigators and missionaries in our zone to know that we really love them and care about them? So I was wondering if you have any advice on things to do to gain people’s trust and help them to know that we really love them and want the best for them! Sorry I know that’s kind of a hard question, but I’m sure you will have some wonderful advice! haha No pressure. But I love you all so much and I am doing so great!! The church is sooo true and missions are the best!! I love all of you a bunch!! Have a great week!!! Love Elder Smith

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

Happy Birthday Alex!!

It looks like it was a fun party!! But Mom, you’re supposed to get after kids for door bell ditching, your not supposed to be the get away car! hahaha You are the best Mom ever! I showed Elder Woods the picture of Riley and he’s like, man is your Mom just involved in everything!? haha Yep, she sure is!! She’s the best! Edilyn loved what you sent her! She is obsessed with lotion so that gift was wonderful!! She also loved the apron! You are all so wonderful!! Dad, sorry about yet another holiday incident! That stinks! Hopefully all goes well with Al’s bow! We all know how much you care! You’re amazing! But Alex buddy!! Happy Birthday!! Man it’s your B-day, you haven’t gotten a gift from me and you didn’t even write me!! Bold move!! haha I sent your gift last week, hopefully it gets there soon! I put in a card but it’s hidden between the 2 boxes, so make sure you don’t throw it away!! Buddy I’m so proud of you! I can’t believe how big and handsome you are!! Hopefully you can get around school without all the ladies getting in your way and following you around! Just make sure you don’t invite any of them to your baseball games because then they will really be after you! I’m so proud of you and all of the great decisions you are making!! I can’t believe you have the Priesthood!! That is so great!! Keep being a great example to all of us and hopefully you had a wonderful week!! I love you a ton buddy!! Keep being a stud!! Mom, thank you so much for the package!! I loved the chocolate stuff! And the zit stuff is great! Thank you so much!! You are wonderful!! Payton buddy, I miss you! Please give me more updates and more pics!! I want some skiing pics please!!!! Love ya!

Well this week was a good one!! We have been very blessed with finding wonderful people!! Edilyn is like the referral champ! She is always doing missionary work!! We also have been blessed with some great people through finding and part member families. Right now I am most excited about a young man named Ronald. He lives with the Avila family that are wonderful members. He just moved in with them 9 months ago from the Philippines! I love Filipino people!! The missionaries have tried to get in to teach him before, but he wouldn’t have it, but he started playing b-ball with us on p-days and we got to know him better. During the course of the last couple months I asked him a couple times if we could come and teach him, but he kept saying I donno. And then just dodging the question. Finally he let us in! We had a wonderful lesson with him!! We then got invited back and ate supper, with our hands, Filipino style! And Dad thought I’d learn table manners on my mission!!! hahahah It was a blast! Then we told them that the next time we’d feed them some Idahoan waffles with choke cherry syrup! It was a blast and we had another great lesson with him!! We are meeting with him again on Tuesday!! His family here, that are members, are wonderful!! I love all of them so much and I really hope things work out! Ronald is a champ!! Please keep him in your prayers! He felt the Spirit in the lesson and I think he already knows it’s true, he just has lots of family that are Catholic, that live here too! Hopefully all goes well! He is so great!

We also had a lesson with Laury this week but I couldn’t go because I was on kind of a last minute exchange. Elder Woods said it went good though and she was even planning on church, but she bailed last minute. We had to go on exchange because we have this 3-some in our zone and 2 of them have been at each others throats. So we went on exchange and I got to be Mom with the two that were fighting. It was a lot of fun. They both are great kids, but very different and both of them have there own way of going about things. It was an interesting exchange, but a lot of fun. Hopefully it helped. They got along great the whole day, but then at the end they were fighting over something ridiculous. It was funny because it helped me to realize that most of the time if people don’t get along it’s because of both of them. My mission has made me feel terrible about not being better friends with Payt, and others!! Payt is the best friend a kid could have though!!! When we are both home, we will be inseparable! But it’s fun to go on exchanges because hopefully I help, but I always learn a ton! I’ve found that the Gospel, and cookies, are the solution to every problem! haha After they were fighting, I whipped out a cookie mix before bed and everyone was friends again! Hopefully they can get along for the next week before transfers! I am so grateful for the chance to serve a mission! Missions are the best! I really have met so many amazing people and I have been so blessed with so many wonderful opportunities! I feel selfish a lot because I’m so happy all the time! The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so wonderful and as we live it, it can really change us and make our lives better!!

This Sunday we had some good people out to church but the climax of the day was that Amie and Godwin got their car going! They had us go over so they could follow us to the church because it’s a good 10-15 minute drive from their place to the church! We have wonderful members that are willing to give them rides, but it was so wonderful to see their little family roll up to church in their own rig! haha That made my week!! It’s been so wonderful to watch them and Marites and Edilyn change so much!! It is so great to be a missionary! The Gospel is wonderful!!

I love all of you sooo much!! I’m so grateful for all that you do for me! Tell Gpa and Gma thanks again for the wonderful letters!! I feel terrible about never being able to write them back! I love their letters! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and love everyday! Love Elder Smith

Oh, I got time for one more story because I’m too lazy to write in my journal and I don’t wanna forget it. We found a man named Dennis that is so prepared! We taught him 3 times in about a week and a half and he left on Sunday for the Philippines. Edilyn came with us and our lessons were so great! He said he wanted to get baptized, but he is moving back to the Philippines for a year! He gave us all of his info though and he promised he’d keep investigating there. He is such a wonderful man and I’m so sad that he is moving!! Hopefully I get some pictures of his baptism in a month or so! I guess we will see! But I love you all a ton! Have a wonderful week! Happy Birthday Alex!

Love Elder Smith

BIBLE BASHING IN QUIZNO'S

Hey!

Thanks so much for all of the great emails! It sounds like it was a great week for everybody! Sounds like you’ve got an exciting spring break coming! That should be a blast!! I can’t wait for spring! It keeps warming up to like -10 and we think its coming and then it shoots back down to the -30’s. It’s ridiculous! Luckily we’ve been teaching a lot! It sounds like it’s been cold there too eh? That’s no good! How’s the skiing been Payt? Mom thanks for staying on top of all the schooling stuff. I have to say its kind of depressing to think about school again! Listening to Payt talk about his senior thesis made me upset to my stomach! By the way, what did you write it about, Payt? I loved your emails though! I got a chuckle because both mom and dad said "well not to make you trunky but...." haha Over a year down and you still want me back. I also laughed because Mom said she’d be content to have me there for bike rides, lunches, shopping and movies. I’m sure after a week a that you’d be ready to ship me off again! You guys are the best! I love and miss you a ton!!

So this week as just been crazy! Today we thought we were gonna be on schedule to get everything done so we could have time to clean up the apartment and get Alex’s gift sent, but then we ran into a guy that wanted to bash with us at Quiznos. Man, I was so excited about Quiznos and this guy really messed it up! haha I didn’t even enjoy my sandwich. We were there for an hour and it went no where! How do people not see that the church is true!?!? It’s funny because I’ve tried so hard to not get contentious with people and I’ve gotten a ton better like I haven’t bashed with someone in a long time. But man, when you interupt Quiznos and tell me that Joseph Smith is not a prophet, it sets me off! haha This guy caught me at the wrong time, so i just went bible bashing crazy. It’s funny because like all our points are right and make sense! I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I always feel terrible when it’s all said and done because without the Spirit, it goes no where. It’s a funny thing! It’s been one of those things that has been so neat for me to see on my mission! The Holy Ghost is sooo wonderful! As we strive to live worthy of it, it can make such a huge impact on our lives! It’s been hard to learn because of my pride, but it really isn’t me at all that converts people to the Church of Jesus Christ and if it is because of me, it doesn’t last. People don’t truly gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ until they receive and recognize an answer from the Holy Ghost. And once we have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, it can help us so much as we let it! And when we live worthy of it and listen, life is sooo great! I am so grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost!!

But anyways, this week was kinda crazy!! We had a lot of miracles and craziness! A lady that we tracted into, invited us over for food. She said, “Whatta you want?” And she listed off some things and we said we were happy with anything and she said, “Well I’ll make whatever.” She listed of some more and then said “steak” and both me and Elder Woods said, “Yes please!” haha So we showed up and the steaks are all ready and everything. She lives with her boyfriend so we were excited because we wanted to teach him and we thought she was a member. After eating, we found out that neither one of them was a member!! My eyebrows raised! haha I guess her whole family got baptized when she was younger, but her. They live in a super nice house with a kid and they want to get married but they don’t know what church to get married in! After supper we had a great lesson, and we are going over again this week! It was super exciting! We also taught a great lady on Saturday night! We had a great lesson with her and she came to church the next day!! We were super excited about the week and then church got here.... we had a couple people there, but man the Sacrament Meeting was soooo painful! Crazy speakers, the choir of 7 people sang, (3 never went to the practices and 2 were the other elders). hahaa Man, I was cherry red and trying to decide wether to laugh or cry! I promise you that you have never experienced a meeting like that! haha Like man, I’ve had a goal to not say anything negative and I was doing great until Sunday! haha Good thing it’s a new week and I can repent and reevaluate! Like man I wish Dad would have been there. We would have had some good laughs! BECAUSE OF IT, I KNOW THAT THE CHURCH IS TRUE!! There is noooo way that people would come back week after week if it wasn’t! The people here are so amazing and so loving and long suffering! I asked the new lady what she thought. She said "hmmm, what did I think........." She looked at me with a confused questioning look and said "It was... interesting." Luckily, even with crazy people and crazy services, I think new people still feel something there, because she is still having us come and see her this week! It’s been so neat though because even with all of the imperfections of this ward, the Spirit is still there and there are some amazing members!

We have a busy, exciting week ahead of us! Hopefully all goes well!! I love and miss you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do for me! The church is so true!! Have a wonderful week! Love Elder Smith

A LONG COLD WEEK!

Hey hey hey!

haha I’m running out of titles for my emails.... The same one is fitting for a lot of weeks! This week was a hard fought one for sure! Everything is so great! Missions are so great but we had kind of an “elevator affect” in our area where we got some people baptized and some bailed out of the elevator and now we are going back down to try and find more people! It’s been crazy because we have been super blessed with finding and teaching but not a lot of the people are willing to keep commitments. It’s great to have humbling weeks to reevaluate where you are, and make new plans and goals! I can’t even say its been a humbling time because we have been so blessed. But it was just kind of an odd week! It is so amazing how blessed we have been and I’m so excited to go and find some more great people! We were out at Brandon last Monday and it was fun to go bowling again! It always makes for a crazy week though because we don’t get back until Tuesday evening and then we have to teach another meeting Wednesday morning and then we have to try and teach everybody and get people to church with the days we have left! I always thought that missions would be this spiritual, relaxing 2 year get away with some hard work, but man! Like the spiritual stuff is definitely there but I feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off all the time! haha We have exchanges all the time and meetings and a ton of crazy stuff with trying to find, teach, and baptize!! It has been such a great experience though because I really have seen how much we all are capable of and what a difference it makes when you rely on the Lord!!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any funny stories for ya this week. It was a week full of driving, tracting, teaching, and people bailing on commitments! Maritess and Edilyn and Amie and Godwin are all doing so great though! The ward here is wonderful and it is so great to be here!! I did have a couple questions for ya. A lot of the missionaries have already applied for school! I’m not trunken out or anything, but it made me nervous because they already have applied for the fall semester, which means I probably have to apply for the winter one in the next couple months, or so. I know you are probably all on top of it but I was wondering if you had any info? They had to write some little short essays and stuff to apply. So I was wondering if you could see what the details are on that. I was wondering if you could get info so I can apply to Utah State, BYU, ISU, U of Utah, BUYI, and any others that you think are a good idea. I haven’t thought about it at all but Elder Leonard already has been accepted and picked out his classes and he only came out 2 transfers before me, so I was a little worried about it! hahaha I’m sure that Mom is already all over it though! So maybe wait till next week, after the “family thesis” is over to check out the schooling stuff! haha

Sorry my email is so lame this week!! It was an interesting week and I don’t have much time because we have an appointment to rush off to! I love you all so much though! I’M SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL THAT YOU DO! I hope you had a blast at the cabin and have a great week! I love you all a bunch!! Love Elder Smith