UNCLE DOUG IS SO LUCKY - FOR ONCE!

Hey!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

Happy Birthday Alex!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love Elder Smith

BIBLE BASHING IN QUIZNO'S

Hey!

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

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

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

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

A LONG COLD WEEK!

Hey hey hey!

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

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

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

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