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

AMIE AND GODWIN GOT BAPTIZED!

Hey!! Happy Valentines Day!

Mom, great work on the cookies, yet again! You and Nae are champs!! You both look like the more kids you get out of the house, the younger you get! haha I miss you a bunch! Sounds like you had a burnt meat miracle ehh!? That’s great that everything worked out! Tell Bishop I say hello! I feel terrible because I haven’t written him at all! Also before I forget, Sister Paulson loved your apron! Everytime I’m at the mission home eating her food she wears it proudly! You’re amazing! Payt it sounds like you had a blast at the dance! I’m pretty sure that you’re ‘breaking even with sunday blessings theory’ is flawed though! It’s like eating a salad and then eating all you can at McDonalds! hahah I love you kid! I felt terrible when I got your letters talking about your nightmares because I called you out about not writing me. I loved the Jedi braid though. I think I’ll carry it all over and rub it for good luck! Addison and Dad, looking good for the Daddy/Daughter Date!! I’m diggin’ the pink, Pops. I love and miss you all a ton and I’m so grateful for all that you do!!

So I’ve got some funny stories to start off. I couldn’t remember if I told you this one when it happened so I’ll tell ya now. First off, a couple weeks ago we were tracting and our car was down the street. All of the sudden a big SWAT bus with tons of cop cars and an ambulance rolled up right in front of us! The cops go crazy and tell us to get away and the SWAT guys bale out of the huge bus thing and surround the house and bust in! We were standing like 8 houses down, just in shock! haha The cops were punks and just ridiculous with us. They acted like WE were criminals! The problem was that we had and appointment, and our car was right where the SWAT bus was. So we had to wait for it to clear out before we could go to the appointment. It was pretty funny.

The other funny story was last night, we were tracting and tons of ridiculous hilarious stuff was happening. But we get to this one house and this guy invites us in! He was nice and we went in and sat down and he had a huge thing of vodka on his coffee table. He was a little tipsy so we were gonna leave but he told us that he had lost his whole family and now he was an alcoholic. He started crying and I felt way bad for him. We comforted him a little and we told him that we would come back when he was sober. He said he wanted us to, but he wasn’t sure. So there was a checkerboard on his desk and I remembered all those missionary movies where the missionary beats the kid in basketball and then teaches him and he gets baptized...... so I’m like, “If I beat you in checkers, you let us throw away all your alcohol and come teach you when your sober.” He said, “Deal!” So I’m like alright I’ll rock this drunk guy and get rid of all of his alcohol. 2 minutes later, I’m sitting there in confusion after being completely destroyed by a drunk guy in checkers! I give him a card and walk out in disgrace! We were there for like 10-15 minutes and in that time he pounded like 3 glasses of vodka and then rocked me in checkers! It was ridiculous! I definitely learned my lesson! I felt way dumb after and Elder Woods hasn’t been able to stop laughing about it.

The week was wonderful though!! Edilyn is so amazing! She has helped Amie and Godwin so much!! They were so ready! Edilyn’s surprise party was way good and Amie and Godwin loved it! It’s always a bitter sweet thing when people ask you to baptize them because I wanted a member to do it! When we asked her who she wanted to do it we listed all the possible members and then she said, “Can you do it?” So I changed the subject. And then asked her later and she was like, “Well can’t YOU do it? Aren’t you allowed to?” So we asked Godwin and he said, "Elder Smith!" I dodged it again and told her to pray about it and then I felt bad because I worried that I had offended her. So the third time I told her I’d love to. It’s just a weird thing because it’s a wonderful experience, but I think it’s best for members to do it. So it’s hard.

The Baptism went sooooooo great! The members really showed up! Edilyn’s talk was wonderful! She was so nervous about it! She is such a great lady! Brother Tolintino did a great job conducting! The whole service was so wonderful! Then at the end Brother Tolintino asked Amie and Godwin to bear their testimonies. This part for me is always super nerve wracking! Amie and Godwin were way nervous and I worried that members would judge them or that something embarrassing would happen to them. haha I don’t know, I shouldn’t worry, but I do and most baptism they don’t have them say anything. But they both said they would. Amie got up and shared such a wonderful, amazing testimony! It was so good and way funny too! She talked about how the missionaries would just never leave here alone and she tried to dodge them and she didn’t talk to us for a couple weeks and then one night she prayed and felt she should call us. That’s when we went over with Edilyn and set a date. She talked about setting a date and actually reading and praying and she talked about how she got her answer! It was so wonderful!! Like man, I was so happy! It was the best part of the night! She has such a strong testimony. Then Godwin got up! He’s only 10 and I had no idea what was gonna happen because he’s a lot like Alex! He’s way good and way funny but super shy. He got up and talked for like 8 minutes!! We were all shocked!! It honestly was amazing! He is such a bright kid!! It was such a wonderful night!! It was super stressful to get everything together, but man it went so well!! They were so grateful and it was such a wonderful night!

I honestly love being on a mission so much!! They are the best!! I have been so blessed in so many ways!! It was a really neat thing getting ready because this baptism really reminded me of my own baptism! I remember being super nervous and excited and relaxed because I had complete confidence that Dad knew what he was doing. I had a lot of those memories come back, being in with Godwin, having him wait for me to get all ready and me waiting for him to dry of and get dressed so I could go change. It’s crazy how fast time goes and crazy how different our lives all are. It made me so grateful for the amazing family that I have and for the wonderful things that I grew up with that I took so for granted! It also made me so grateful to be blessed with the opportunity to make a difference in Amie and Godwin’s lives. Missions are such a neat thing! Their confirmation was wonderful! Brother Tolintino did it and it was so great!! He is a great man that was a convert when he was younger in the Philippines. It’s crazy because here in Canada the members born into the church are the minority. It really was such a wonderful weekend!

I’m sure I forgot something, but hopefully Edilyn will fill in on anything I missed! haha The church is so true! I am so grateful for the gospel in my life! I’m so grateful for my wonderful friends and family and all the other blessings I receive and I’m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that knows all of us by name and wants the very best for us! Thanks for everything that all of you do! I love you all so much! Happy Valentines Day! Love Elder Smith

I LOVE BALUT! DID YOU KNOW - HOT TOMALES STOP A GAG REFLEX?

Hey!!!

Wow! Another week come and gone! Thank you so much for all of the emails! You are all the best!! I love reading all of your emails so much! Payt you and your pals have the ski bum look down!! I’m very jealous, but very excited that I get all your clothes! Dad, the cupboard/bench they were sitting on looks great! I hope I got you and Grandpa’s carpenter jeans and I’m proud to say that I got your spelling jeans!! haha I also hope I can make a profit and follow the prophet the way you do! hahaha Man Dad I love and miss you soooooo much! haha Your bad spelling makes me trunky!! You all always write such great emails!! I loved hearing about our heritage. I feel so uneducated with it all! This transfer I have learned a ton about the Prophet Joseph Smith and so it was really neat to hear how close our family members were involved in the whole thing. Could you please send me a Line of Authority and also more neat stories? I’m worried about you all getting sick! Stay healthy please and keep me posted! I also have been worried about G-pa and G-ma since the accident.. How are they!? They are my most faithful letter writers and I feel terrible because I haven’t written a letter in FOREVER!!! Tell them I love them a bunch and I am so grateful for their wonderful letters! Please give me an update on Papa and Grammy! Tell them I love em and miss em a ton too! I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do!

I got some good pictures and videos of the people we teach and me eaten balute! haha So this week was crazy! I think I say that like every week but it was a good one! It started off with a birthday party at Edilyn’s! We ate great food and then they got us to eat balute! It’s a duck egg that has been left longer so that it actually has the little baby duck embryo in the egg. Filipinos love it and they love watching missionaries eat it even more! I pounded it no problem, but Elder Oberg didn’t do so well! I’ll send the video. But it was such a great night! Roel (Edilyn’s nephew) had invited a friend that is in his 20’s or 30’s named Chris. He isn’t a member and Edilyn’s daughter that isn’t a member was there too. So we rounded them all up and taught the whole group. Chris liked it but when we finished teaching we ended and I guess we chickened out on trying to get to teach him again. He recorded us eating balute and he thought it was hilarious. So we were rushing off to our next appointment, but I really didn’t wanna loose him with out setting up another appointment but I wasn’t sure how to do it with the whole crew there so I said “Alright, you think you’re so could at eaten balute, I bet you couldn’t eat 5 of those things... and Chris said “Sure I can, but I will eat 5 if you eat 2." So I said "Bets on Wednesday night, when we are here teaching again!" So we went back Wednesday and taught him the first lesson and I had to eat 2 balute, hahaha So I pounded 3 of those nasty things this week! It was great though and the lesson went good! He has a Book of Mormon and hopefully things will work out with him! Oh and I learned a neat missionary trick this week! Hot Tamales, the little red candy things, stop your gag reflex. So if you eat 3 or 4 of them, no matter what you eat, you can’t gag! haha Give it a try, it’s pretty neat! You can play with that thing in the back of your throat! haha

So the rest of the week was great too. We were worried about Amie and Godwin because they are always busy and they take a long time for us to teach them stuff but when we mentioned maybe moving the date back, they were not impressed. haha Amie said she was ready and she didn’t want to move it back. So we said ok but we had to meet with he a lot this week because we still had a ton to teach them and their interview was supposed to be Friday. It was so wonderful though because I finally felt like they were really committed this week! We met with them a lot and the lessons went so great!! I love them so much! They are wonderful and Edilyn is amazing fellowship! We finished everything and reviewed everything in one week. She is so busy with work that we had to meet with her a couple nights at 8 after she had worked the whole day! She is so great! We had some great lessons and she doesn’t read that well or remember stuff that great, so we had some really fun object lessons that helped a ton!! It’s so neat and fun when you have people with needs, and you pray about it and find ways to help them work through them! The lessons we taught really were just for Amie and godwin and the Spirit helped a ton! It was stressful, but by Saturday they were ready! Amie had some things that made it so she needed to be interviewed by President but it went great!! Both her and Godwin passed and they are both getting baptized next Saturday 7:00 PM!!! They are such amazing people and we are super excited for it!

Amie and Godwin’s interview was hilarious because they were both super nervous! They went in and got out and we started talking about the baptism. I asked her how it went and she just said good but she seemed like she was upset. It was weird, but we figured it had just been a stressful night. When she got home we talked to her on the phone and asked her what she was doing. She said her and godwin were watching a church movie we had given them and eating popcorn. She said after that they were gonna read scriptures and go to bed. That put a grin on my face, but she still seemed kinda down. I asked her if she was excited for the baptism and she said, “Well ya, but did I pass the interview?” President hadn’t told her she passed and she just figured we were talking about the baptism as if we were waiting on the final ok from President. I was like, “Amie, you passed!” She started screaming in the phone and going crazy! She said, "I’m the happiest lady in Manitoba!” It was the best! I felt super bad because I realized how we are so in the loop, but everything is so new and scary for investigators. I’m super glad I was born a member because I don’t know if I would have the guts and faith to go through the stuff a convert goes though! But it was a wonderful night!! I’m so excited for them! Hopefully all goes well this week and the baptism goes smoothly! They are so amazing and Edilyn is a powerhouse missionary! If it wasn’t for Edilyn’s help and testimony I don’t know if Amie and Godwin would be where they are!

Edilyn has such a strong testimony! She bore it in Sacrament Meeting and it was so powerful! She talked about what a blessing it has been for her to see her friends find the gospel! There weren’t too many dry eyes after her testimony. She is wonderful!!! She loves missionary work so much it’s crazy!! Amie and Godwin have grown so much it has been so neat to see! I love missionary work so much!! I can’t believe how blessed we have been to meet all of these wonderful people!! Also, on Sunday another one of our baptismal dates, Ralph came to church! He buses 45 minutes and because of the bus schedule he gets there 30 minutes early for church! He is great! He has his struggles with the Word of Wisdom, but hopefully he will be ready by the end of the month!! On Sunday he got up and bore a wonderful testimony! It was better than most of the members! It was pretty neat!!

It was such a great week!! Missions are the best!! There are so many ups and downs but it is such a wonderful blessing to be a missionary!!

Finally, I know you want an update on Mattie. She is ok, but still at the doctor a lot and her mom has gotten lots of people to ‘anti’ her lately. She still knows it’s true and we got to meet with her this week, but she has so much opposition! I will keep you posted! She is still reading and praying and loving the Book of Mormon. She is great!! we have a bunch of other great people we are working with and we keep finding great new people! We have been so blessed!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful emails and letters! I have the best family ever! I love you all a ton! Thanks for the football update! I was getting updates on every door I knocked last night hahaha I even got let in and caught a glance of one play. It was a nothing run up the middle. I’m hoping I got the guys # right because I wasn’t very focused, hahah I love you all a ton! Mom don’t worry about sending anything else I’m doing great! You are all the best! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

MARITESS GOT BAPTIZED!

Hey kuma sta ka!

I’m working on my Tagalog! haha It has been such a wonderful week! First off, Payton I’m loving the rat tail because it’ll keep the girls away till you go on a mission! hahah I died lauphing when I saw it. That’s hilarious! Hearing about Garrett gave me a big smile! That kid has so much enthusiasm! That’s the best! Between the rat tail, Garrett and the soccer flashback, you had me chuckling pretty good today Payt. When I hear the soccer story, to this day all I can think about is the free pizza I almost got. Good times!!

Dad, I’m sorry your sick! That’s no bueno! Hopefully you get feeling better! The Canadians here say that it gets so cold that you can’t get a cold cus it kills all the bacteria! I believe them! On Sunday it was in the negative 30’s and when we left for church it was negative 43 with wind chill!! The other day it was negative 10 and people walked around in swimming suits! haha Suprisingly it hasn’t been that bad though! As long as you’re covered up.

But as far as transfers go, Elder Woods and I are both staying and we are both super excited! The area is doing so well right now! We have been so blessed!! Maritess's Baptism was wonderful!! For our lunch we made waffles, bacon, and eggs with choke cherry syrup! I don’t know that Edilyn trusted us because she still made some filipino food. It was a delicious combo!! It was a blast and we had a good lesson with them after!! That day was crazy though because it snowed a ton!! We were all over for the rest of the day and got to the church just in time to fill the font!! The Baptism was soooo great! We had 3 investigators there and they loved it! It helped Amie and Godwin’s testimony a ton!! If all goes well this week they will be interviewed on Saturday and Baptized on the 12th. Maritess is such an amazing lady!! You would never be able to guess it from the pictures but she is 40 years old! Crazy ehh!? Edilyn is 38! haha They both look a lot younger than they are but Maritess looks like she’s 16! And she is hilarious! I can’t wait till you meet her! I’ll send you a video of them and our breakfast/lunch thing. Oh and Edilyn is really smart, but she just is still figuring out English grammar. She cracks me up!! I love that whole Filipino crew so much!! Edilyn cooks some good filipino food!! They are amazing!! Oh and also Belatu was at the baptism! Edilyn and her have kind of become friends because of all the events they both go to! I love and miss Belatu a ton! She is doing so good!! Her kids are so cute!! It was such a great day!

This week was just crazy though! We were sooooo busy!! We taught a ton all week and then had the baptism on Friday and then Stake Coordination was on Sunday! We got in Saturday night and after making calls and planning for the next day, it was close to 10. Then we started Stake Cor. stuff. We had to do all new stuff and it was such a pain! I felt like I was in high school with a dumb paper due the next day, but Mom wasn’t there to do it for me! haha We finished at like 2 in the morning. It was ridiculous!! We got our 4 and a half hours of sleep and then we were off to morning meetings and pounding down doors to get people up for church! We had 6 investigators to church and when we get there the whole Stake Presidency was there! I love President Baronins!!! Have you heard anything from them lately? He is sooo great! But they finally called a new bishopric!! It was way surprising! The new bishop, Bishop Cormack has 3 kids, all under 6, a job and he is in his last year of dental school!! haha How he’s gonna do it, I have no idea! But he is great!! Change was kind of exciting! Maritess's confirmation went so good! Brother Rico did it and it was a beautiful blessing! I got to stand in and it was such a neat thing to be a part of!

To cap off the week, Amie and Godwin are doing sooooooo good!! Everything Edilyn touches does well! Elder Leonard and I found Amie, but once she knew Edilyn was in our church, she has done so well!! Edilyn is such a great missionary!! She always follows up with Amie about church and her baptism and everything. It’s so great! But Amie has been struggling because she doesn’t read. Dad, I was so happy to hear about your goal because it is so needed! I’ve promised myself to never ever go a day without reading the scriptures because it makes such a huge difference. If people really read the Book of Mormon they always gain a testimony of it and if they pray about it they always get answers! It’s so neat and so important! It has been so hard for Amie because it’s hard to get a testimony from just listening to us and coming to church! This week was really neat though because she definitely felt the Spirit at the Baptism and she committed to read with her son Godwin every night. Godwin is only 10 but he reads better than his mom. So every night they have been reading and they usually only get through half a page in 10 or 15 minutes. Godwin circles all the words he doesn’t know and explains the ones his mom doesn’t know that he does know! It makes me so grateful for my education, but it is also so neat because even like that they feel the Spirit and it has helped them so much!! That Book of Mormon has a lot of circles in it! Godwin is so smart! So Alex, I don’t want any excuses for not reading your scriptures! Godwin reads them to his Mom every night! We also have had them watch lots of church movies! We dropped of like 15 and told them to watch one every night!! They are so great!! It’s crazy because Amie has a very good job and a really nice apartment and set up but she cannot read. She only has a grade 3 education and she just hasn’t worked on it. She only knows English so she can speak great but she can’t read and big words are hard for her. They are so great and I am so excited for them! It’s been so neat to see their testimony grow and so neat to see what they are doing to strengthen it! Hopefully all goes well this week and I will have good news for ya next week! But please READ YOUR SCRIPTURES! It is so easy to set aside a couple minutes every day and it makes such a huge difference!! We have been so blessed to have the education so that we can receive that spiritual strength from the scriptures!!!! The scriptures are such a great blessing!! Life is sooooo great on a mission!! I’m so grateful for all of you and all that you do for me! I love you a ton!

salamed po! (: Love Elder Smith

NOTHING TOPS THE CANADA WINNIPEG MISSION!

Hey!

First off, tell Payt I’m keeping track on when he doesn’t write! hahahahah Just tell him I love him and hopefully he’s liven’ it up! It sounds like you’ve been chatting a bunch with Edilyn! She really is a ball! She is super smart and so I’m sure it’s frustrating for her to try and pick up on English! I hope she isn’t expecting too much for the food. I’m just sharing some waffles, bacon, and eggs, covered in coke cherry syrup! Luckily that’s one recipe I’ve got down! Dad and Alex, it sounds like the baseball camp was a blast! A-rod, keep working hard and you’re gonna be an all star! Mom, it sounds like you are doing all kinds of neat fun stuff and really magnifying your calling! You’re great! Oh and guess what! This week Sister Baronins was called as the Waverley Relief Society President, too! She said she wrote you and hasn’t heard back in awhile. She loves you and hasn’t even met you! She is super great! You two have a lot in common. It’s kinda crazy.

So this week was another crazy one!! First off, I’ll start with some bad news. We went over to teach Mattie this week and when we called before we came she said she had bad news. We were super nervous and when we got there she told us that she had some disease or infection or something crazy. She was sobbing and so we couldn’t completely understand the whole situation, but the doctors told her that she can never have children and that they don’t know how long she will live. They are doing tests on her and stuff but it is super bad, super scary stuff. So when she told us we were just shocked. Their whole family was all messed up and crying and mad at each other and it was honestly like the craziest, saddest, hardest lesson I’ve ever been in. We all walked out with tears in our eyes and super confused. I honestly didn’t know what to say. . . like it was such a weird thing! I’m super frustrated because she doesn’t even know the details of it. Like if it was in our family we would know everything. We would be seeing specialists and all kinds of stuff, but because of their situation they barley know anything other than that she has problems and the doctor told her they don’t know how long she will live. It’s just crazy! When we left that night she was depressed and confused. We put together a lesson plan for a couple days later though and talked about getting through trials with the gospel. After her bad news she stopped reading and praying and she said she wasn’t up to coming to church, but after her lesson she started reading and praying again and she made it to church this week! It’s just so hard though because we don’t know how to handle the situation. It’s so confusing and frustrating. For now her baptism is on hold. This next week will hopefully help us all figure things out. It’s just all so crazy!! She is such an amazing girl and hopefully it will all work out! Please keep her in your prayers.

Well this week was honestly loaded with ups and downs! Sounds like Edilyn already spilled the beans with the exciting stuff. haha But I’ll still tell ya the whole story with Maritess. We had a lesson with her and Elder Leonard and I were together on exchange. We told her we would all fast and she would go and talk to her boss to ask for her Sundays off! She had been to afraid to get work off for months and it’s been a big thing holding her back from getting baptized! It was so neat because their whole family, Brother Rico in the Waverly Ward (who is amazing and has been great help in teaching her), the Assistants and the other companionship in our ward, all fasted! It was so neat because we all fasted, she talked to her boss and that night we called her and she said she was getting baptized on the soonest Saturday that she had work off! Her boss said she could get every other week off, which wasn’t as good as every week, but it was what she needed to pull the trigger. It really was such a miracle! The funny part is that before we talked to Maritess, Edilyn called us all super excited to tell us! haha Edilyn is an amazing missionary!! Maritess's interview went great and she is good to go! She has a super solid testimony and she is hilarious!! That whole Filipino crew is amazing! They feed us some wonderful food!

The Canada Winnipeg Mission is the best!! When I get home I will be able to one up everyone because I’ve gotten a taste of the best things of every mission! haha Here we get all the good experiences of an Africa mission, Philippine Mission, Mexico Mission, Thailand Mission. You name it, we got it all! And we don’t have to sleep in huts or ride bikes or fight off critters or face tornadoes or even walk up hills! We get nice cars and apartments and fast food! Nothin’ tops the Canada Winnipeg Mission!!! It really has been a wonderful week and we have been so blessed!! I can’t believe how blessed we are!

Amie and Godwin are doing well. A new kid named David is great and he should get baptized next month! There really are so many amazing things happening! Missions are the best! Sunday went great and we had a lot of people show! It’s so funny how many ups and downs there are!

Last night I got way sick and was on the John perfecting the turn around jumper!! haha I really have learned to love the ups and downs. Because the rough patches in life make you so grateful for the gospel!! I still stress so much with so many things and I’m super worried about Mattie but I know that the gospel is the cure all for every situation!! I have such a strong testimony that no matter what trials we face, the gospel can help!! Life is so great! Missions are the best and the gospel is soooo true! MARITESS IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! I love you all a ton! Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Smith

THE MIRACLE OF MATTIE

Hey!!

Mom, thanks for answering all of my questions! Please don’t send me to many sweets though! I have tons and no self control! I think my eating habits are causing the zits! The Cutlers are here! They are great, but they got shipped out to a little outlying city so I don’t get to talk to them much. As far as the weather, they say it’s a mild Canadian winter again but man I must be soft! It should be below negative 30’s with wind chill this week! All I know is that it’s cold! Luckily, we have been teaching a ton, so we don’t have much to complain about!! Payt, I’m glad to hear that you are having so much fun! Be safe!!

So this week was so great! We saw so many miracles!! Ediline is amazing! She helps us so much and I think her friend, that lives with her, Marites, will be Baptized very soon! She knows it’s true, she just has to pull the trigger! Ediline went with us to Amie and Godwin and they set another baptismal date!! Hopefully they will be ready!! THEY ARE GREAT! We also saw tons of miracles with finding new amazing people!! We found a couple great families this week that I’m super excited about!! The best thing of the week was Mattie though!! We fasted for the area at the beginning of the week and things just went crazy this week! We have been so blessed!! But let me tell you about Mattie! She is 17 years old and the translator for her Mom because her mom doesn’t speak English. She has been investigating since I got into this area. She had come to church a couple times but things weren’t clicking for her and she wasn’t reading the Book of Mormon. But we taught her last week after giving her a couple week brake and invited her to read again. Her mom wasn’t too thrilled about the whole thing and when we had talked about baptism in the past, her mom was really put-off because she was a preacher in Africa and they have a church here! Since Mattie came to church, she made friends with a girl in the ward and so we were excited about it, but she wasn’t progressing much because of her Mom. So after inviting her to read again and telling her she would get answers and know that it was true, etc. We kind of forgot about her through out the week. So this week Elder Woods said, “Hey, we should call and see how Mattie is doing.” We called her and the first thing she says is, "I’m getting baptized!" haha I’m like, what? She said, "I know its true, I’m getting baptized!" I asked her about her mom, and she said "Well, she had a dream the other night that she should let me do what I think is right and she wants me to get baptized!" So I’m like, “Ok, we are having a baptism on Feb 12th, will you prepare yourself for that day?” and she says, "Sign me up!" I say “OK” and set up an appointment and hang up. Then me and Elder Woods jumped around in confusion and excitement for a couple minutes! hahahah It was the best!!! It was soooo amazing and such a miracle! We went and taught her with the family that she made friends with and she is so ready!! She was in Jacob when we went over. I was shocked!! She kept saying I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! She knows 8 languages and she has been reading it in Swahili. That’s what the Lion King stuff is haha! “Akuna mattata” really does mean no worries! hahaha She said that everyone at school was asking her what was wrong because she is usually loud and really sociable, but all she has been doing lately is reading in her spare time at school! At church she answers all of the questions and she is so great! We talked to her on Sunday at church and moved her date up to Feb 5th. She is so ready and her interview will be in 2 weeks! We are teaching commandments tonight and it’s gonna be great!! She already has such a strong testimony and she is willing to do anything because she knows its true!!! Hopefully all goes well and I can’t wait to tell you about it all next week!!!

It really has been such an amazing week with so many miracles!! Missions are the best!! I love you all so much and I know that the church is true! I know that God answers prayers and I know that his hand is in everything!! I really have learned this transfer more then ever that I really am nothing! haha I have seen so many things that have strengthened my testimony so much that if we turn things over to the Lord and do our best he makes up the big differences and blesses us in so many ways! I can’t wait to apply this in so many other things in life, school, work, friends, family, everything! In life I often have relied on myself or others more than God. As we do our best and push forward in faith and rely on the Lord, he will help us to get through anything! I love and miss you all so much! I’m so grateful for all that you do for me! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith!

CONGRATULATIONS ADDISON!

Addison Congratulations!

That is soooo exciting and I am sooooo proud of you!! I can’t believe how big you are!! It’s ridiculous!! I can’t believe how fast life goes! It’s scaring me out of my mind!! I remember my baptism so clearly it is ridiculous to think how long it has been!! Mom would you please send a picture of Addison’s baptism quilt! I remember how important my quilt has always been to me! Even till the day I left on my mission, I wouldn’t let anyone touch my bed because I didn’t want anything to happen to my quilt!! You are amazing Mom! But Addison, I am so proud of you!! You are the best!! Dad, I am some what concerned though... does a “commando confirmation count!? hahaha That cracks me up!! I just can’t believe that I didn’t hear about it until now! I just remember you helping me get my wet clothes off. It was one of those neat experiences in my life where it was just me and you together!! It’s funny now to think that you were probably stressing. It’s also fun to think back to all of the great amazing experiences I’ve had in life where it was just me and you! Good times!! It made me laugh to hear that some things never change with you though! Even when I’m on my mission, you can’t follow through with working out every day! Payt, I’m so glad that you are enjoying life! It sounds like you are having a blast! Keep tearing things up and love every day!

Well, honestly this week was so great!! We re-evaluated what we were doing and the area and this week went great! We fasted at the beginning of the week and things really just went so much better than they have been going! We have been working so hard, but this week really helped me to realize that I have been relying on myself way to much and not enough on the Lord! It’s so easy to get prideful in life when we see success, but after looking back on the last year and my mission, even my life this far, I can say that every good thing that has happened on my mission and in life has been because of the Lord. I cannot believe how blessed I really am! I have gotten to see so many miracles and met so many wonderful people and it is all because the Lord has blessed me with these wonderful opportunities. It’s so hard to realize sometimes, but man I am so blessed!! But this week we really tried hard to rely on the Lord and be more grateful for the blessings we receive everyday and it really made the week so much easier and so much less stressful and so much better!! We taught tons of great lessons! We were let in 3 days in a row while tracting to teach people and all of the lessons were great! Maritess has a rock solid testimony and will get baptized once she gets a new job so she doesn’t have to work Sundays! Amie, Godwin, Dominique, Mattie, and this less active member we have been teaching and her daughter, all made it to church! We found some amazing people and are so close to getting others to come to church and set dates!! We were honestly so blessed!! I got to watch Robert Hase (the man I interviewed) get baptized and Mattie was there to watch it and it was the same day as Addison’s! It was just such a great week and for a cherry on top Emmanuel was called and set apart Sunday as a Ward Missionary!! And get this!! He spoke on Sunday!! hahahahah Also, in Waverly Ward, Celia’s sister in law was baptized and Belatu gave the closing prayer. She also spoke at the last baptism because she has been helping fellowship people like crazy!!! Emmanuel’s talk was so great! (for those that could understand his strong Nigerian accent! haha He has such a strong testimony and I love him to death!! Funny thing is that his tardiness never changes! He is always fashionably late to everything (usually over 10 mins. late) haha Wether it’s his baptism, confirmation, church or EVEN church when he is speaking! The Bishop was messing his pants! In all, this sunday morning we pounded down doors waking people up for church and then I threw together a talk in 10 minutes. Emmanuel, Brother Crezsenzi, the ward mission leader, and I all spoke! It was all so great!! I love being a missionary!!

I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do! Addison, I am so proud of you!! Have a great week! Oh and hello from Brandon! We are here for a Zone Meeting again already! Crazy!! Oh, also one of the 70 spoke to us this week and it was so great. (Elder C Smith) I didn’t get called out or nothin! haha But I got talking to his Assistant and he fly fishes and he lives in Montana. He gave me a card and we are hitten’ up the Missoula River in Montana in a year or so... you game Dad?? haha He wants to trade trips! I think he said the Missoula??? I don’t know, he said the best river in Montana to fish in a drift boat. I told him the South Fork was better, so we will see! haha I love and miss you all so much! You are the best! Have a great week and I’ll talk to you next week!

Love Elder Smith!