FANTASTIC FIRST WEEK

Kris Smith writes: Wednesday morning I was still distraught about the missing email, and I got thinking that maybe, for some reason it had been snagged in the junk mail filter. I called Cableone tech support and they helped me retrieve two emails from Chandler that he had sent nine times! I was so happy!! That's what I get for joking about Chan's two-finger typing and maybe I should improve on MY computer skills! Anyway, here you go.

Hey friends and fam!
First off, Payton, YOU ARE THE MAN!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!! (Highland win) It was great to hear from you all! Before I start, you need to know that I'm no longer aloud to use slang. So I can't say cool, sweet, awesome, or any of those words that I use a lot. haha It's been really hard but it will be super neat when my vocabulary is completely changed! haha Well my mission president is absolutely amazing and my area is amazing! I am in the heart of Winnipeg!! So is the President, so we get to see him all the time!! And my companion is so great!! We are like the same accept he hunts more than me and he fishes with worms! But he is really good at all sports and super athletic. He works so hard! He honestly is the perfect first companion! We teach really good together and our teaching style is pretty similar, so it's perfect!! He has already taught me so much and we have a ton of fun together!! The first night here was great though because I didn't know who my comp would be and we got to go out with some random missionaries before the next day when we would meet our trainers. That night I got paired up with Elder Nef who is the only other missionary that went to Skyline High School! woo woo! It was so fantastic!! Talk about pure luck because missionaries are spread out all over Canada and I happened to get paired up with him for this first night! In one night he taught me a ton and reminded me of the good farming people of Idaho!! We had one appointment that night and me and the other Idahoan taught the Restoration and it went so good! It was just the first lesson but we got a baptismal commitment!! It was a great way to start!! Mom, you should track down his mom Sister Nef, she is in the Hillibrant's ward. Then the next day was when I got my companion/trainer, Elder Ewell, he is so amazing, like I said earlier! haha

So the first day with my companion we just went street contacting which is way fun! The average new investigators you try to get a day is two. In a couple hours we got 8! We were splitting up and getting two at a time. We had to stay in sight and sound of each other, haha It was so great! Three of them I was able to get without any help from my companion, while I was by myself and he was behind me talking to someone else! It was a blast and he kept saying that I was alot different than the other new kids that hate talking to people. haha But we've already taught a lot of lessons and we have a baptism next week! I love the people! It's funny though because we are in the craziest part of the whole mission! I've been told to off a couple times, haha, but once you say you are a representative of Jesus Christ they're usually pretty nice haha! it's funny though because I've talked to alot of drunk people! haha But their breath smells fantastic because alot of them get drunk with Listerene mouth wash! Instead of beer bottles all over there are Listerene bottles all over, hahaha!

The Bishop here is one of the most amazing men I have ever met! He does everything for the ward and I mean it, like everything! And he feeds us great food once a week! The other day he was moving this lady and he asked for our help so we came in our suits thinking it would be quick and easy! But oh my!! We were there for close to four hours and tell Dad and Art that their ward member moves don't hold a candle to what me and my companion and the Bishop went through! I'm talking a floor of cat poop, fur and who knows what! Even human poop and urine as well! This person was the biggest pack rat in the world, like wall to wall crap and then the stuff the cat is supposed to poop on spread all over the floor! I'm pretty sure there were a ton a bed bugs as well! I want to burn my suit! It looks horrible! It was so disgusting, like honestly, I wish I could describe it to you all in person! haha I'm pretty sure that that is the reason you won the Highland game or I'm gonna see 10 baptisms this week, because the blessings gotta go somewhere! hahaha But the people here are great and honestly I can't even tell you how great this Bishop is! His moving skills remind me of Dads!! I mean this bishop does work!! And so does my companion!! It is so great because I'm surrounded by extremely hardworking people!

Oh I got to go to my first Winnipeg testimony meeting. I got to pass the sacrament because they have only two priests and that's it! And then the show began!! First off the Bishop and his wife spoke and they have the most amazing testimonies ever!! Like wow!! But then it got interesting! haha Boulevard Ward also can't touch a Winnipeg fast and testimony meeting!! haha The best was an investigator that doesn't want to get baptized because she thinks she already has been by another church. haha This definately didn't slow her down from bearing an interesting testimony in OUR church! haha She talked of her own Joseph Smith experience and about some other crazy stuff for about ten minutes, haha! The President Assistant told me "the church isn't a circus for the righteous, but a hospital for the sinners" haha! I also got to work in an old folks home a couple days ago and that was fantastic! Really sad but it makes you feel good to be helping at the same time! It's been amazing so far. It's constant ups and downs! You will teach a great lesson and really feel the Spirit and then you will have a trial of some kind! I've already grown a ton and I love it here! "Anti's" have been fun because they say I'm going to hell, haha! It's been funny because the more people tell me that, the more my testimony grows! I know this church is true and I know this is were I am supposed to be! A mission is so fun, exciting, spiritual, funny, crazy, sad and amazing!

I love you all so much and I miss you a ton!! You are all amazing! Sorry for the bad writing but I have no time! Dad, thanks for the quote and don't worry about me at all!! It's great here and so fun! I couldn't have gotten a better companion!! I LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!! Payt, good luck with basketball! Rock it!

Love, Elder Smith

NEW ADDRESS

Mail letters to:

Elder Chandler David Smith

394 Agnes #3

Winnipeg, MB R3G 1N4

CANADA

Mail Packages to:

Canada Winnipeg Mission

Elder Chandler David Smith

845 Shaftsbury Boulevard

Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M5

CANADA

PANIC P-DAY!

Friends and Family:

Hey! You have no idea what I've been through today! I thought my time ran out and I thought you wouldn't get either of my emails! I was freaking out and I'm sure my comp wants to kill me. haha We finally found a place where I could retype it to send it to you. Oh, wow I'm so happy it went through. I love you all so much and I'm gonna send it again to make sure it made it! I hate this not knowing! Today I got all of my snow gear so don't even stress. I love you all so much and things are good! I have to hurry now and go buy food! ha ha love you bye!

Elder Smith's Mom writes:

We obviously didn't get the e-mail he sent, twice! We are sure he will work out the kinks of P-day e-mailing before next Monday. . . We hope! I'm sure he is regretting not progressing beyond "two finger typing" in high school!

The family is grateful to have had a phone call from the airport before Chandler left for Canada. He called about 6 AM last Wednesday. He sounded wonderful! He was missing life in Idaho Falls and wanted details like how Skyline could have lost the Emotion Bowl and if his Dad had been fishing. Mostly he was excited to go serve the people of Canada.

There Is No Snow in Winnipeg!

Friends and Family!
I made it to Canada! woo woo! Canadian Mission President...firm...firm, but fair! hahaha just kidding. I absolutely love my mission president! He is such a great man and super nice! He likes football and fishing, so we should get along pretty well! It was great to talk to him and then he gave me a fantastic blessing!! I love him already!  Oh, and there isn't even snow here, so it cant be as cold as everybody keeps telling me! haha It's crazy though!! I'm in CANADA! 

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all of you! I love and miss you all so much, but this is going to be amazing! It's so exciting and I can't wait for tomorrow to meet my comp! Hopefully that goes over well! 

If you want to send me a letter, it will take a while for me to get it, haha but here is the address:

Canada Winnipeg Mission

Elder Chandler D. Smith

845 Shaftsbury Boulevard

  Winnipeg, MB R3P 0M5    

CANADA

   

I love you so much and l look forward to hearing from you!!  Good luck with everything!! Oh and sorry I cant tell you more, I'm just supposed to tell you that I'm safe and that I love you!  So, I'm safe and I love and miss you a ton!!  Good luck and kick trash on Friday Payt!!

Elder Smith

MTC Veteran. . . Countdown to CANADA!

Elder Gelwix & Elder Smith

"Boulevard Ward Boys"

Family and Friends,
Thank you so much for all the letters and packages! Your support is awesome! I feel like the most loved missionary in the MTC! Addison and Alex, thank you for the pictures and letters also. Dad and Payt, your letters are awesome. Mom and Grandma, you top out with amazing packages.

I have so much amazing food here. Haha. This is awesome because here, we go by the law of consecration. So in this aspect of the MTC, I think I'm one of the favorites. It's extremely fun too, because I've been able to greet the new missionaries in the MTC next door to us in our dorms. I know how hard the first day is, so it's been awesome to greet two new sets of missionaries with amazing homemade food. At first, they were shocked, just like I was when I first got here when I was greeted with food and nice missionaries as well. It's awesome here because everyone is so nice and helpful. The firesides have been awesome and a ton of fun. I've learned so much. One of the coolest parts was at one of our firesides when the whole auditorium full of missionaries was singing "Armies of Helaman." It was so powerful. It's an awesome place! It's been really cool because I run into a ton of Canadian missionaries. I really think I've learned how to speak their language. Two of them came into one of the districts that we welcomed into our dorm. They're really cool. One of them reminds me of a mix of Jordan Bowman and Matt Collette. He's really cool. He's told me a ton of cool facts about Canada, and they do say 'tight' there, which I think is 'tight'. It's gotten a ton easier as I've gotten into the routine, and now I'm just ready for Canada. I HAVE MY TRAVEL PLANS!!! I have to be up Wednesday morning at three AM, and report by four. I then am driven to the Salt Lake Airport, and my plane leaves for Denver at 7:30. I should get there at 9, and then I'll leave at 10:20 for Winnipeg. I should get there at 1:30. AND GUESS WHAT, I'M ALLOWED TO CALL HOME!!! So expect a call before 7:30, and hopefully another, once I get to Denver, haha. I'm so excited to hear your voices and to be on my way to Canada.

I just wanted to let you know that I love and miss you soooooo much! I looked at my life and I can't believe how blessed I have been! I am sure that I have better family and friends than anyone here!! I have been so lucky and I regret not being more grateful for it throughout my life! You people are so amazing! I can't even express how grateful I am for you! I love you all so much! Thank you for all of the support! It's crazy because while I've been here, I've seen kids who have broken families, messed up parents, wierd friends, lost sibling, and all around horrible lives! I even met a super cool kid who is completely color blind! But they are all still out here doing the Lord's work! Its been a shocker to me because I am sooo blessed! I wouldn't want anything different about my life! You all are so amazing and you have been soo good to me! We all run into hard times but we have to remember how lucky we are!

Finally, I know even with all the blessing that we have life isn't easy! We all have trials of our own that we have to get through! Even out here in this "spiritual prison" haha and I mean that in a good way rather than in the bad way we are used to! haha But out here and everywere else there are going to be trials! I found this scripture chapter and it honestly is my fav of all time, right now! It's Ether 12!! Check out the whole chapter its amazing! Mom read through it for Family Home Evening! its good stuff! But once again, I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all you do! You are amazing! Don't worry about me at all because I'm fantastic!! Oh and alex! Way to rock the football championship! you're the man! And payt, kick trash friday night and "pick" a couple for me! Everyone knows you're the stud of that teams so just keep rockin' it in the games! love you all!!

Chandler

MTC Address

To write to Chandler in the MTC, either go to www.dearelder.com,  Mailbox #220, or 

US Mail Address: 

MTC Mailbox #220
CAN-WIN 1028

2005N. 900 E. 

Provo, UT 84604-1793. 

He would love to hear from you!

"Redouble My Efforts" D&C 127:4

Friends and Family,

One week at the MTC is officially down. I can honestly say that this has been the hardest experience of my life! Thank you for everything you have sent! Especially the Canadian advice Payt! Haha, oh and Alex, great job on the football stuff! Addison, I love the book, it's on my wall. My comps and district are awesome. We're all so different, but we can learn a ton from each other.

The first day was so crazy. In about two minutes, they slapped on a name tag, took my luggage, got all of my info, showed me my room, introduced me to my companion, to my teacher and showed me my classroom. It was so stressful that I was sitting there completely overwhelmed, and I was LITERALLY dripping sweat. I wanted to start crying and call my mom (ha ha). Then I realized that I somehow lost the small packet of everything that I needed to survive here at the MTC. At this point, I was ready to rage. I was grabbing desperately for my cell phone to call my mom (ha ha). But immediately, the teacher pulled me aside and settled me down. I think he noticed that my suit was wet with perspiration! It was quite an experience. 

For the next three days, I kept my cool and learned a lot. But I spent most of my time thinking about myself and my family. I kept asking myself how I had gotten into this (ha ha). Then I watched  a talk from Jeffrey R. Holland "Miracle of a Mission". I truly believe this talk was for me. Elder Holland literally threw down the most powerful talk/testimony I'd ever heard! He said that this is the most important thing I'll ever do! This is the most important work in the entire world! He said whenever we were down and wondering why it was so hard, and why people weren't  flocking to the font, it's because salvation is not cheap. It will never be easy, and it is not supposed to be. This was where everything began to click for me. The next morning , I was still so tired. If you work hard here at the MTC, it is truly the most spiritually, mentally, and physically draining experience ever. I was running in circles in the class studying just to stay awake. I asked one of the veteran missionaries (he's been here two weeks) when did he get over the tiredness and how did he deal with it. He said, "you don't get over it" (ha ha) But he showed me this scripture, D&C 127:4. After reading this, I decided that when I'm down I just need to "redouble my efforts" (easier said than done). 

There has also been some funny experiences here at the MTC. I got rocked in basketball by some Studly's, so I gave up basketball the next day and dominated some nerdy missionaries in four square. Then our district leader (my roomy) got the Swine Flu. They tested us for it, gave us some pills so we don't get it, we call 'em birth control pills. I've made many good friends with Elders that I wouldn't usually get to know. And I've learned to love goofy scripture jokes.

Oh! I also placed my first Book of Mormon. Everyday we get a little time to call back people that have called about church commercials. So I called this man, but it was the wrong number (ha ha). But I just told him I had a quick message and I laid down a two minute testimony, and asked him if he would like a Book of Mormon. He said that he would love one, so I got his info and sent it! It was one of the coolest things ever! And I'm pretty positive he will get baptized. I'm really pumped because from the couple minutes I talked to him he seemed like the "enduring to the end" kind of man. Honestly, this has been the biggest emotional roller coaster of my life. I've never cried so much for my friends and family, but I honestly have cried more over the Spirit that I've felt here. Everyday, I have the best spiritual experiences ever. Yesterday, I was making phone calls again, and I placed six more Book of Mormons! Two of the ladies that I placed them with talked to me for close to thirty minutes each. I gave both of them the first lesson and quoted the First Vision from memory. It was the coolest thing ever! Right then, I knew there was no better work than this. I also know that I would never be able to teach like that without the help of the Spirit. This place is so hard, but  so amazing! I know this is where I'm supposed to be. It is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's worth it! I love you all so much and thank you for all your support. The letters and packages are so amazing and I cannot believe how blessed I am.

Sorry I don't have time to write anyone else. PLEASE send all your stuff through Dear Elder.com or the mail. I won't have time to read or even look at the email.  The package was AWESOME. You never cease to amaze. Thank you so much. Good luck with everything. I love you all. I'll look forward to your letters.

Love, Chandler