ROCK STARS IN DRYDEN

Hey family!

It looks like you guys all had a blast this week!! Fun stuff!! Man Greyden must be fast ehh?! That’s crazy! haha Dad, just by seeing that picture, I saw you limping for the next week! haha It gave me a great chuckle! Props for being the only adult to race! That’s super respectable!! Man, I miss you! (: Oh, tell Adrienne, she’s definitely my favorite cousin!! Tell the other cousins they are tied for last!

So this week was hilarious, long, crazy, wonderful and miraculous!! First off, before I left Saskatoon, some members had us over for supper. Now when these members pray before supper they put both hands on the table with the back of their hand against the table and they hold hands with one of their hands. It’s kind of unique, but whatever. Just so you have the background, they are great people but the husband is a super manly man! So when they do this about to pray, for some reason Elder Duncan reached up and grabbed the guy’s hand that is laying on the table! hahaha I folded my arms and tried soooooo hard not to loose it laughing! Oh man it was so funny! After when I made fun of Elder Duncan, he was like, “Man I thought they were doing one of those ‘circle hold hands prayers’ and once I committed it was to late to back out!” hahah Man it was so funny!!

But I had a good finish there and we got to teach a lot before I left. Mom, hopefully the whole Acutane thing is ok. Sorry it cost a ton!! Bishop knew I was leaving, so he hooked me up with 2 months worth. He’s a great man!! But the drugs are good and working and all is well!

So we made the forever drive to Winnipeg. winnipeg was a lot of fun! We slept in the office with the assistants the greenies and the missionaries that were going home! We played football for our workout in the morning and it was fun! I got the greenie I wanted! haha He fishes, hunts, and played all sports in high school and he is ready to work! He is from Preston, Idaho and his name is Elder McDanel. Which is super hard for me to remember and pronounce! haha So President filled me in on the branch; they have about 16 people out to church every week and only 3 priesthood holders. I think all of which are converts, and the one that was their branch president moves this month, so they will just have 2 priesthood holders! Crazy!! So we loaded up the pickup with beds and foldy chairs and some pans and stuff and our luggage and took off Thursday afternoon for Dryden! President had already put everything else in the apartment that we needed and so 4 hours later we got there and ran everything up. We got everything in and the ac set up (because it was so hot and on the third floor!) In about 30 mins. President was nervous about it all, haha so he kept calling us to check up! Right when we were about to leave, the new branch president (President Vahovic) knocked on our door! He had us follow him to the church where the branch had a ton of food for us! President Vahovic is so great and so excited to have us! He then told us that the branch was throwing a party for us and having a BBQ on Friday. We asked if we could invite investigators and he was all game so we went out and tracted the rest of the night! We invited everyone because I knew if we got people there, they would be so excited about it! We got a man named Joe and a couple and their two kids out to it and the branch was trippen out!! The party was a blast and a huge success! haha They were amazed!! We worked so hard on Friday and Saturday and we were soooooo blessed! We found a ton of new investigators! It was a week full of miracles! The couple (Tara and Trent) ended up setting baptismal dates and Trent had to work, but Tara came to church with her son. We taught Joe before church and he set a date and came to church! And a man named Gerald came to church with his daughter!! The branch didn’t know what to do! hahahaha They were running around like chickens with there heads cut off!! They tried to change their talks for the investigators. The talks were on the temple! hahahha I was pretty laid back and stress free, but the branch president was soooooo stressed! He kept shooting me apologetic stressed out glances. His face was all red and he kept running his hand through his hair. He came up after sacrament meeting and apologized to me about the talks. I could tell he was stressed so I was like, well let me teach the plan of salvation the second hour and I’ll tie everything in! He looked so relieved! haha So all the investigators came in with us and the president and we had a wonderful lesson! It was perfect!! Tara loved it!!! Joe did too!! It was sooo wonderful!! It was just such a great week!! They have an average attendance of 16, and on Sunday there were 26 people there! It was such a miracle week!!!!! In a ward you feel loved but a lot less needed. In a branch we are like ROCK STARS!! haha Like it is the best!! The members are all so stalwart and so grateful!! This area is like untouched ground!! People are so nice and a lot haven’t heard much about the church!! It is so wonderful!!! Missions are the best!! I love you all a ton! Thanks so much for all that you do!! Have a great week!! Love Elder Smith!!!

TRANSFERS THIS WEEK - I'M OPENING A NEW AREA IN ONTARIO

Hey Fam!

It sounds like your week was absolutely crazy!! That is such sad news about the Newtons! Hopefully all will go well for their family! They have such a great family! You have all been so great to them! Thanks for keeping me updated and send them my love! Dad, it sounds like the talk was very hard for you, but it sounds like you did a wonderful job! Mom and Dad, I am sooo grateful for you and the wonderful people that you are! You never cease to amaze me!! I just can’t tell you how grateful I am for the lives that you live!! It sounds like you are putting out more pizzas than Papa Toms!! I don’t know how you both do all that you do!!

Payton, I loved your email too! haha That sounds like a great date idea! I have the best family ever! It was good to hear from Preston! He is a great kid! I’m excited to see him! It sounded like he was hinting at the fact that I shouldn’t be emailing friends! haha You can tell him that he is free to email and I’d love to hear from him more. Because we have lots of converts in our mission, who don’t really have family to write, President allows us to email friends and family! And family friends like the Rammells, for sure!

Mom, thank you so much for getting all the University stuff figured out! How long do those essays need to be and when do they have to be done? Also was there anything I needed to do for Utah State or ISU? Let me know and I’ll get on it! Thanks soooo much for all that you do! As far as the meds go, I am doing great and it’s working better and faster than last time, so all is good!

Ok now for the news......We got transfer calls and get this!! I am a District Leader, a trainer, and I am opening a new area that hasn’t had missionaries in 15 years!! Oh, and get this!! It’s in Ontario!! haha It’s called Dryden!! I will go from being a Manitoba missionary for a year and a half to a tri-province missionary! I’m super excited, but dreading the long journey I will have for the next couple days!! haha I guess they weren’t gonna put missionaries back there but President Paulson went out there and they begged to have missionaries. President said they would get them if they found an apartment for them. President got a call 3 days later that they had found an apartment and were ready for missionaries! hahah President also opened Kanora and Elder O’Driscoll will be there to finish his mission! There used to be just one area in Ontario and it is staying open so we have an Ontario District!! It will be soooo neat, and I’m sure soooo stressful! haha I’m way excited! It’s just gonna be way weird to train and have an area that is starting from scratch! It’s gonna be crazy!!! I am way excited about it all, but sad to be leaving Wildwood! They are such an amazing ward! I am frustrated that we didn’t see more success while I was here, but I think good things will happen soon with the people here! It was so hard to say goodbye to Mauricio and Angelica! They are so great!! I don’t know if we will get to go and see them, but he committed to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of my mission! If we don’t go see him I want to come up after with Elder Woods! haha I guess we will see what happens. It’s hard to leave an area that I don’t feel like I saw the success that I would have liked to see, but I learned a ton and I met some wonderful people! I’m very excited to see what’s to come in Dryden!

So this is way off topic, but I have a ridiculous story that probably out does all of my other ridiculous mission stories!! So first off it was my idea to start buzzing apartments to try and talk to more people. We have seen lots of success with it, but Elder Duncan wasn’t a fan. So he asked President about it and President said "Well is it successful?" Elder Duncan said, “Well ya.” haha And President said "well then keep doing it!" So the argument was over and the assistants and others started doing it. So there’s the background, pretty much Elder Duncan isn’t a fan! So we were doing it one day and usually we talked to people through the buzzer and then they let us in. But a lot of times people just buzz you in without talking, so you go talk to them at their door. This often times causes awkward interesting things to happen. I have got some great stories!! But we have gotten to teach a lot because of it and it has been great. But this week we were doing it and we got buzzed in without anyone talking. So we walked up and knocked on the door and a lady yells "come in!" We sit there hoping she will come to the door, but she doesn’t, she just yells louder "come in!" We wait longer and the third time she yells, "doors unlocked, come in!" So Elder Duncan has his nervous face on! haha I grabbed the handle, open the door and take three steps in. On my right side, there is a lady in plain sight, sitting on the toilet, using the bathroom! I dive into the hall, I’m fumbling words she is fumbling words! haha She asks who we were, we tell her from the hall, where we can’t see her, hahah and she says, "Oh, you’re looking for Chris... he’s in room # 14." haha Now, I don’t remember if his name was really Chris, but I do know he was in room #14. At that point though Elder Duncan would NOT let me go talk to the guy in room #14! We were done working that apartment for the day. It was rIdiculous and kind of hilarious.......later!! Luckily she wasn’t mad at all and I think she just felt dumb. We were curious about how she buzzed the buzzer though! haha I guess we will never know.

But it really was a good week! We found some good new people, we taught a fair amount and we had people out to church! It was good! We got to have a great lesson with Mauricio on Saturday! It was so great and I felt that he is so close, but he is a very smart man and when he does get baptized, it will be for all the right reasons and he will be super solid!

Last night had a sour end, though. Christina called us, she is the one that fed us and has now been taught all of the lessons. We were so excited for her! She loved church and we thought she was so close, but she told us she had a letter for us! So we went over on our way in and she was waiting out front for us, because she knows our fellowship rule. She thanked us and said she didn’t want to waste anymore of our time and she said all of her thoughts she had put in the letter. It was super sad and then we read the letter! aaaahhh! It was terrible!! It was 3 full pages of anti!! She wrote all the reasons she couldn’t join our church!! It was harsh and sad because it was a lot of messed up anti, a lot of which was half or full on lies. I wish we could have taught her after she found it, but by the sounds of her letter, we won’t get to teach her. She was very grateful for all that we had done though. That’s what was so weird is I thought that we and other members had a pretty good relationship with her but obviously not that good! She is a great lady though, it makes me super sad! We thought that she was golden!! Thus is a mission, I guess! haha Lots and lots of ups and downs! Missions are the best though!!! I’m sad to be leaving, but super excited about all the craziness to come! I teach district meeting tomorrow and then we will hopefully teach a bit and then we will leave at 6 PM. We will stay the night in Regina and then leave the next morning to be in Winnipeg by supper. We will work in Winnipeg and then the next morning have the training meeting with the new greenie. Then load up all the furniture and dishes and whatever else you need for an apartment and all our luggage and take off for Dryden. After that, I have no idea what’s gonna happen. Hopefully someone has a directory for me and a map. I’m just glad I’m not the greenie! I thought we didn’t teach enough when I came into an area that was doing pretty good, hopefully we can find some great people fast!

But I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do!! Have a wonderful week!! Love Elder Smith!

PS I typed fast this week, so if it doesn’t make sense, just ask me about it next week! Love you! Have a great week! Oh and tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks a ton for the letter they sent! The mailing system finally started running again and I got it! Tell the grandparents and Jay I love em all!

LEARNING TO LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT

Hey Family!

So first off, thank you so much for the great emails and pictures! You guys are the best! I got some news today in one of my emails. Nielle Jensen is going to the Tampa Florida Mission, Spanish speaking! How crazy is that! You will have to get Papa in touch with her! It sounds like you guys had a great 4th of July! I sure do love that holiday!! Ours was pretty good! We cut our P-day short and went and helped the bishop build a play set for his kids! It was great because the play set was a beast and he was grateful for our help! It was a lot of fun too!! It was really good though because the bishop is always sooo busy, so it was great to get to know him better! He is a great guy!!

So Mom, I had an odd question for you!? I was wondering if you could try and get me into like a Paramedic course or the course to learn how to draw blood or something like that, so I can get right into something when I get home! The idea of getting home and having no plans for a couple months is making me nervous! I was just wondering if there are any kinds of courses like that, that I could jump into in the college in the city or at ISU. Thank you! You’re the best!! Also about the cavity? Would it be ok to wait? haha I get nervous about dentists here! hahaha Let me know what you think is best. I couldn’t get your true opinion from your email? So turns out I still haven't learned how to make big decisions without my mother’s approval! haha

Thank you for the update on the Newtons. I just wanted to write about a quick story. . . . Brother Newton was always so kind to me and he always went out of his way at church and activities to come and talk to me. After talking to him I always felt so good! He’s very good at building people up! But most of our conversations were about fly fishing!! We talked a lot about going out together at some point! Eventually Aaron, Dad and I finally found a day that worked and we went fishing! I don’t remember too much detail about the trip other than we had a rough day and didn't catch many fish! We forgot stuff and ran into all sorts of problems. Aaron was the only one that hooked into anything decent the whole day. He hooked a big trout and got it all the way to the boat. Dad told me to whip out the camera for a picture. I fumbled it and the fish flipped and we never got a picture and the fish was gone!! Dad and I weren’t too happy! haha But Aaron continued to fish with a big smile! Even though the day was garbage and everything that could go wrong, did! Aaron stayed happy and loved every minute of the trip! He was so good to be around because it didn’t matter what happened or went wrong, he kept a good attitude about it! Even though it was a garbage day, it was made a lot better by his optimistic attitude! Well, hopefully all goes well with there family!! Please tell him that I am so grateful for his friendship! Tell them that they are in my prayers!!

Well as far as this week goes it was pretty good!! I have tracted more in this area than in any other area! Well, I guess Selkirk is a close second! haha But we are really struggling to consistently teach people! Because of all the tracting, we are finding a lot of new people!! We have found so many great people, but we find them and get super excited about them and then they fall off the deep end!! We are working soooooo hard!! I definitely am doing everything I can to not get discouraged, but I am definitely a little frustrated! haha I have learned a lot from the frustrating things. But I am definitely ready for some blessings!! hahah This ward is just sooooooo amazing!! I can’t figure out why we aren’t seeing more success!! We have been getting people out to church every week and they get fellow shipped like crazy and then they don’t show the next week! It’s ridiculous!! This week we had everyone bail on church!! We had found a great new family and a new Spanish guy that had said the would come too and everyone bailed!! It’s frustrating cus there is so much potential, but people are so busy it’s super hard to meet with them consistently! We had such a great lesson with Mauricio this week about prayer and the sacrament! The Spirit is always there when we teach, but then after that they slept through church! hahaha aaaaahhh, come on!! He makes it out to church a lot and then when we teach the Sabbath Day and he bails! Maybe we should teach why he shouldn’t get baptized this week and see if then he will pull the trigger! He is such a great man and I love him to death, but man he’s taken his sweet time!! He will be such an amazing member once he does it!!

Our Spanish couple is good, but they are really touch and go! We found this amazing family that we are supposed to teach this week! they are pure Canadian and pretty well to do! Their dentist is a member and sparked an interest with them and when we tracted into them they said we could come back this week! Hopefully all goes well!! The Hiddodi family keeps pushing us off, Courtney too! We found a great Chinese family yesterday though!! They are so humble, kind, and smart!! I’m pretty sure China will take over the world! They have a lot going for them! haha

But things are good and I’m doing great!! I love being a missionary sooo much!! This area has taught me a lot, but one big thing it’s made me want to work on is recognizing and listening to the Spirit! I have taught so many people where they know they have felt something, but they second guess it and don’t listen to it and they miss out on so many blessings! I have also seen it with me! It’s so easy to question things or not act on a prompting! And when we don’t, I know we miss out! I’m so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and I wish I was better at recognizing it more! I feel it a lot, but all too often I fail to recognize it!! I’m so grateful for the gospel! I’m so grateful for my wonderful family and all their support! I love you all a bunch!! Have a great week and keep me posted!

Love Elder Smith!!!

HAPPY CANADA DAY! I've finally mastered "OH CANADA"

Hey Fam!

Preston is home?!? That’s crazy!! You guys need to give me more details on what he is like!? haha Was English hard for him? What was his talk like? What’s he like!? Have him write me and say hello! Oh and I saw Brennan in the picture! What’s his story? Did he go on a mish or is he getting married or what? Fill me in!

Alex, I’m so excited for you with this whole Chukars team thing!! That’s so great! You are an all star! Payt I liked hearing about the firework war! haha I’m glad we saved that yellow sweatshirt! We need to hang it up or something!!! Mom and Dad, thanks so much for the help with the meds! I hope it isn’t too costly!! Don't stress how I’m handling it though!! I’m doing great! I’m drinking lots and sunscreen-en’ up!! It should be all good!! I do have another item of concern though! haha Well, I haven’t been to the dentist in a long time and I had a tooth with a small black indent. haha Nothing serious, but just one of my back teeth. It is just kind of sensitive every once in awhile. It really doesn’t bug me at all but I just don’t wanna loose a tooth! haha I am fine, but I wanna see if you can get me signed up for an appointment right when I get back. And I wanted to make sure it was ok to wait till then? It isn’t big at all, just like the size of a pin tip, but I’m pretty sure it’s a cavity. Let me know if it’s ok for me to just wait. AND DON’T STRESS IT! (: haha

Things here are going great though!! I just got news today that Elder Lovelace (Patrick) is engaged!! Creepy, right!?! haha We we all saw it coming. His girlfriend waited for him! Crazy stuff! He’s been home like 4 weeks, tops hahah RM’s are getting married right and left! I think I’d like to extend! Creepy stuff! Things here are going well though!! Brother Kahn (the new, half muslim man) is really good and we have had some great lessons with him! We did exchanges to PA again this week and things didn’t go great, but definitely better than last time! haha We taught Carlos and Danidsa and they are super good! They are the couple from Mexico and they are a little flakey sometimes but super good! Mauricio and the Hiddodi family bailed again this week! We haven’t taught them forever!! We have an appointment with Mauricio for this week though so hopefully it goes through! Canada Day was good! I now know have “Oh Canada” mastered! haha We had a breakfast with the ward and it was great! We had investigators come and it was a really good time! Tracting was slow but the for supper, members fed us good!! It was a good day, but man do I miss the 4th of July! hahah It is such a great holiday!! I hope you guys all have a great day!!

The week was good, but kind of slow! We had some good people that were committed to coming to church, but then only one person showed! Her name is Christina and she has been flakey the last couple weeks! But then she came to church and it was wonderful!! She is the amazing artist and she is so good!! Testimony meeting was wonderful and perfect for her! Like 4 or 5 converts bore there testimonies on their conversion stories! It was so good and she had some great questions! After the first convert spoke she leaned over and said, "So does it usually take only 3 weeks after people start meeting with you before they get baptized?” haha Inside I was thinking "Yes! Actually you should already be baptized!” She is super good and in 2nd Nephi! She’s been reading everyday! She loved church and I was worried about our gospel principles class because there are some crazy people in it! haha One of the less actives was there and he asked an iffy question about the Holy Ghost! I was about to dive in for the save, haha but before I could, Christina started talking AND RESOLVED HIS CONCERN!! haha crazy! When we found her she said she was an Atheist and now she is resolving concerns about the Holy Ghost! She said she would be at church a couple weeks ago and she bailed, so this was her first time there and the members smothered her! It was so good!! I think she really enjoyed it! Then a member invited her and us over for supper! It was so great! I really hope she sets a date this week! She will be a powerhouse member!! Hopefully all goes well! Since she figured out everyone feeds us, she is feeding us this Tuesday before our lesson!! It’s so great!! I’m gonna try and get her to email you guys so you can get to know her and do what you do! Things always go better when my investigators email my Mom! haha I’m way excited about her and I think great things are going to happen! Things have been so slow and I feel like if she sets a date that a lot of other things will catch on fire and things will start moving with our other investigators! It seems like success breeds more success!! But things here are great!! I love and miss you all a ton and I’m so grateful that things are going well! Keep me posted and have a great week!! Love Elder Smith

FINDING WHILE BUZZING!

Hey Family!

ALEX YOU ARE MY HERO!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH CHEEAAAA BOOOIIIII!!!! BUDDY GRAND SLAM!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!??!! HAHA man buddy you are sooo great!! I am sooo proud of you!! Keep up the great work!! That is sooo exciting! Payton, I can't believe you are an Elder! That’s crazy! You will love Elders Quorum! haha I’m so proud of you but I can't believe you are so old!! It’s crazy!!! Mom, I just got off the phone with Sister Poulton and she said you were on the other line! haha Weird! Thanks so much for doing that! Bishop Ledding finally got things figured out for me. He is such a great man! He is a convert and now a bishop and a doctor. He was planning on being a Catholic Priest and he has an amazing conversion story, but he has had funerals and weddings and all kinds of stuff and he finally got the prescription for me! I feel bad bugging him with it, but it should all fall into place! Hopefully our insurance covers it. Sister Poulton told me you just want me to do it, so we will see what happens. Oh the mail system here is on strike and has been for like 2 weeks. So if anybody sent mail, sorry I haven’t said anything about it. And if nobody sent mail... don’t think I’m trying to make you feel guilty hahaha just given ya the heads up! Only in Canada! hahah Dad, as far as next week goes I really don't know if we will be emailing or not. I don’t think there is a holiday, but in Canada the odds of it being a holiday are better than it not, haha so we will see!

Preston is coming home!?! How crazy is that!! Tell him to fill me in when he’s home! Also, when does Landon get home? It’s soon isn’t it? Let me know! (:

Well this week was good! We had Zone Conference and it was a well needed boost!! It was so good to see Elder Woods!! We got to catch up and I got an update on all the Winnipeg stuff! Edilyn sent me these super neat Filipino pillow cases with my name on them! They are so neat and lime green! She is so great! It sounds like everybody for the most part is doing well!! Elder Woods isn’t going to Utah State ): But hopefully he will end up somewhere in Utah in the next year or so! We will see. Zone Conference was great but super weird! Everyone that I looked up to has gone home or is about to go home! haha It’s so crazy!! This week was good! We had people out to church and found a couple great new families! All of our progressing investigators cancelled all of their appointments this week though! aaaahhh! So lame! But it was still a good week!! I really have loved it!! I know I have said this a lot before, haha but this area has been more humbling than any other area!! It’s so easy to get cocky and confident but this is definitely the Lord’s work and the Lord’s timing. I have learned a ton! And I feel like the area is so close to breaking out and seeing some success!! It just requires so much patience! Everyone we are teaching could be such a great kingdom builder! Mauricio is soooo golden!! I just wish he would get answers already! haha He will get baptized...... eventually! The Hiddodi family is so good to but so busy! And Courtney is golden but too busy too!! We are finding people every week, but we just keep going through them and then the fall off the wagon!! It scares me so much how fast time is passing!! It’s been a year this weekend since Karl was baptized!! That’s sooo crazy! I am so grateful for the wonderful experiences I get to have everyday! I’m so grateful for my amazing family! I am so blessed! Sorry my email has been all over the place today! haha

I’m short on time, but I guess I’ll end with a funny story! So in Canada there are lots of apartment buildings... and my whole mission I have been so frustrated that it’s so hard to get to teach these people! So last week in the rain we got the great idea to find, while buzzing! haha And it has been great! haha Like we have found ton of great people, buzzing apartments and then talking to people! But the other day we got let in to the 3rd floor so we sprinted up and they said no, so we went back down and buzzed a different one and got buzzed again to the 3rd floor, haha and rejected again!! This happened 3 times in a row and it was a hot day! haha We were struggling for air and trying to stop laughing!! It’s funny because finding definitely gets old, but man I just love being a missionary! It can be so hard some days, but I’m so happy all the time!! Life is just so great! Even though it’s been harder to see success, I am sooo grateful to be a missionary! I am so grateful for the gospel!! I love sharing it with people!! Missions are the best and if I could, I would definitely want to be in Payt’s spot right now!! haha Life is so much better with a lot of mission ahead of you!! haha But I love you all sooo much!! I am so grateful for all that you do!! Have a wonderful week!!

Love Elder Smith!!!

AGENCY THIEVES, CROSS DRESSERS, AND RAIN!

Hey family!

It’s always so great to hear from you and get such good updates and pictures! (: A-ROD!!!!!!!! BUDDY YOU SOUND LIKE AN ALL STAR! Buddy, I am so proud of you and the hard work that you have put into become such an all star athlete!! Keep practicing and working hard!! You are such a champ!! I love and miss you a ton! Keep working hard and keep me posted! I love your updates and emails!!

It sounds like the talks went well and everything is going great! It makes me so happy! Things here are also going good! this week was definitely rougher than most! Jelena dropped us because her mom is an AGENCY THEIF, so that was hard. Marcio and the Hiddodi family both had to cancel their appointments because they were so busy. We tracted into a ton of crazy people! We showed up to one appointment thinking we were going to teach an investigator that turned out to be 2 gay Mormons, one of which went on a mission to Brazil, the other was a convert. It was a super sad experience and it caught us way off guard! It’s a crazy story, I will have to tell you someday! It messed me up, but strengthened my testimony for sure. We found out a member of the ward is a liar and she lies about everything! So she was telling us all kinds of crazy stuff! haha Also another crazy, funny story I will have to tell you someday!! And it rained all week and all of our appointments fell through! aahh! So we broke our record of most tracting time ever!! haha It was hilarious because one of the days it just drilled us! haha I honestly felt like I had jumped into a pool! It was way frustrating because people just thought we were stupid and so they wouldn’t listen to us! haha I couldn’t NOT laugh when I looked at our reflection in people’s windows. We looked ridiculous! It was terrible!! But sooooo funny! hahaha We worked so hard and honestly saw like no success!! Well other than this cross-dresser we found that was a YSA turnover, but we didn’t know whether to turn IT over to the sisters or elders? hahaha It was just a crazy week!! I tell you this not trying to whine, or make you nervous, but to set the stage for the weekend! haha So Friday night was when the rain just killed us and we looked like we had jumped into a pool! So all of the streets were pretty flooded, just like in the low spots so there was like more than a foot of water in some places and people were out in tubes floating in it! haha Pretty funny stuff! But we tract all day in it with breaks for meals to try and warm up and get dry. So we are pretty down about it all, but we had one appointment at 8 at night after all day in the rain. We are soaking and honestly too wet to even go in to anyone’s house, so we planned on just rescheduling with these people, if they were even there! But we got there and they were this wonderful Spanish family from Mexico!! They made us come in and sit down, we had them get a plastic bag to put on there chairs so we wouldn’t get them all wet! It was pretty funny. But we had a great lesson with them!! They are so kind and they went and got dry shirts and made us put them on, so we left with different colored shirts than we came with! haha It was soooo great and we are meeting with them again!! I’m so excited for them.

The next day we bought umbrellas and tried tracting apartments. We buzzed from the outside and asked to come in! haha I never had done it, but we actually found tons of great people from it! haha So we got to teach a lot more throughout the weekend!!

It’s so funny all of the crazy stuff that happens and all of the ups and downs that you go through!! There’s a lot of hard stuff on a mission, but the good stuff makes it all worth it!! I’m so grateful for the gospel in my life! I’m so grateful for the amazing people I get to meet and the wonderful experiences I get to have! I’m so grateful for my wonderful family and all the support I have with everything I do!! It’s so good to go through some harder things because it helps me recognize how great my life is!! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for all that you do for me!!

Dad, Happy Fathers Day!! I just want you to know that I am so grateful for you and all that you do for me!! I love and look up to you so much and I’m so grateful for our great relationship! It’s great to know that my Dad is better than everybody else’s hahaha ! I love and miss all of you a bunch!! Keep up the great work with everything and have a great week!!!

Love Elder Smith!

MUSLIM FAMILY CAME TO CHURCH!

Hey Family!

Thank you so much for the emails! You are all so wonderful! Mom and Dad you never cease to amaze me! I can't believe the papers that you got here so fast! I have felt bad about it since I got them! haha I feel like the second I ask for anything you all drop everything you are doing and do what I ask. You are amazing and I’m so sorry that all my life I seem to be asking!! Thank you so much though! I’m so sorry to put you through the hassle! I got the papers to the doctor, but I feel bad cus I hope he doesn’t think I’m just trying to take advantage of him. At this point I have given him all I can and now it’s just kind of a waiting game because I don’t wanna be to obnoxious about following up with him! haha Man if you thought I was annoying with following up with doctors before my mission, you should see me now that I have followed up with people everyday for the last year and awhile, hahahah. Hopefully he will get on it but I have a feeling it might take awhile. But thank you sooo much for all of the help! You are so wonderful!! I love and miss all of you a bunch! Sister Poulton called me and said "Your mom is a great lady and she misses you a lot." I just smiled and said "I know" haha You are all the best!!

Well first off, I have a funny story!! So this week we tracted A TON again and we were tracting and I street contacted a guy on the road and he walked by me quickly and yelled, "In a better world all Mormons would be hung for heresy." I grinned and said “Have a good day sir." In the sweetest voice I could muster. He then yelled back, "Go to H***!" I don't know why situations like this have become so hilarious, but man they keep ya going after hours of tracting. And I can honestly say I am a proud Mormon! I think I like the situations cus they give me a little adrenaline and I’ve learned to keep my temper a lot better! Missions are such an interesting thing! haha They are the best!!

So this week once again started a little slow. Transfers came and went. Elder Duncan is a good ol’ Virginia boy. He’s a good kid and hopefully we will see lots of great things happen together! We worked so hard this week and tracted soooo much and it was so frustrating because we seriously were finding no one!! We went and taught Jelena and the lesson blew up! Her mom had gotten into more anti or something but she was all fired up! Eventually her mom left, after getting into it with us and the lesson went ok! It was definitely frustrating! So I was a little down about that and about the fact that we hadn't found anyone new the whole week!! But then on Saturday, we had a great lesson with the Hiddoddi's (the rich muslim family). They are soooo amazing and I love them to death! We then had a great lesson with Maricio and he committed to fast on Sunday. Then that night we tracted into a wonderful Filipino family! I whipped out all the Tagalong that I had and they loved it! haha They let us in and we had a great lesson with their family and we are teaching them next week! It was so great! Then Sunday morning rolled around and everything fell in to place perfectly! Jelena made it just by herself and had a great time and she got fellow shipped like crazy by all of the members and a lot of the single girls and guys that are here from Alberta selling security systems. She had a great time and is going to the young single adult FHE tonight! Maricio fasted and had a good time at church and get this!!! The Muslim family followed us to church in there brand new SUV Infinity, leather interior and all! It was sooooo great!! They got eaten alive by fellowship!! Hopefully they liked it!! haha They are sooo great!!

So Sunday was wonderful! But after church we had no appointments and we were fasting, so we tracted till supper! It was a tiring stressful day but it was soooooo great!! I sure hope that things workout with all of these people! they are all so amazing!! Things here are going so good though!! Everything is a little different than any of my other areas but I think I’m finally getting into the groove of things here! I really hope these people all continue to progress because I love them sooo much!! It’s funny because in every area I say, wow if just this person would come to the knowledge of the fulness of the gospel and be baptized, my mission would be worth it all just for them! haha And then that person gets baptized and it’s so wonderful and you meet someone else that you love just as much and you say it again! haha Sharing the gospel is sooooo wonderful!! And it’s so great to see people keep commitments and receive answers to their prayers and get baptized! It is the best!! These people here are so great and I want it for them so bad!! Hopefully all works out!! Please keep them in your prayers!!

Things are going so great here though!! Thank you for all of your love and support!! You are so wonderful!! Don’t worry about me or my zits at all!! haha everything is under control and everything will work out the way that it should!! I love you all a ton! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith