Hey Mom, Dad, and Family!
How is everyone doing?? Man your letters sounded great! I love P-Days so I get to hear from you all. Dad I am glad the foot treatment went so well. That is a huge blessing! Mom I am glad you have been going to the temple so often and getting together with all the missionary parents! That sounds like so much fun. Man it is crazy that Justin and Chase leave on Wednesday.. I am glad I am not in their shoes! haha jk. I am glad I already have a couple of months under my belt. I have already been out for like 4 months! That is crazy. This week went by so fast It was crazy.. So I hear the weather back home is getting pretty cold huh? That does not sound like fun at all. Not to brag or anything, but it was 80 yesterday! :) So nice, but it gets really cold here too. It has snowed here 3 times in the past like 40 years and everyone thinks it is going to snow this year. I hope not. The humidity really does not make it fun at all, but oh well! :) Come what may and love it right? Alright well I am just going to get started on this letter.
Alright so starting out with Monday and Tuesday. Not a whole lot happened. Everyone wasn't really home and we had a lot of appointments fall through. We did see a couple of people on Tuesday though. Then we had interviews on Wednesday with our mission President. I was really excited for this! The assistance told us all to come prepared with a 20 minute lesson to give before hand with them before our interviews. So Elder W. and I thought oh it will be easy. Lets just talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we go in and we start teaching. And the situation was all about teaching people and not lessons. SO we are teaching and we noticed that they both seemed like something was on their mind. We didn't think anything of it and we kept on going. Then we asked them a question and they both answered and said that they didn't feel like they could become a member of our church. We asked why and they said they were gay... So my companion and I completely changed our lesson plan and started talking about the Family Proclamation to the World. It was good. We pretty much just told them what we believe. It was a super hard topic though! We both never thought that would happen. Afterwards the assistance told us we did a great job and said we would be really good in the situation if it ever came up.. The reason I am telling this story is because something happened the very next night. Alright so we had a referral and he lives out on the point. In the information it told us that he had served a mission in Korea. It said how he has been a member for awhile so we thought oh sweet it will be a perfect opportunity to get him to come back to church. So we go over there and start talking and we ask him if he wants to come to church. He pauses for a while and he said.... Well you won't be seeing us there. And we asked why and he said... Well I am gay.. My companion and I looked at each other and we both had a blank stare in our eyes for a moment but then we shared our message that we had just worked on with the AP'S. It really helped. Right after that we called the assistance and told them the story! We couldn't believe it. They said well it was a good thing we practiced! I hope I don't have anymore of those conversations. Alright so back to the interview with President Wall. It was a really good interview. We just talked about what is going on in Algiers and we talked about you mom and dad. He said just the way I describe you guys he can tell you both did a great job raising me. He is very right! Then we just started talking more about the mission and all of that. We talked about his promise to me about becoming a master teacher and he gave me a challenge to whenever I meet someone to learn 3 things about them just by observing or asking a inspired question. So I have been trying that and I have noticed a huge change. People like that a lot more because they can tell you are sincerely interested in them. And you only talk about them. I really have liked that. He also talked about being an ODD missionary. ODD stands for Observe, Discern, and Do it! I really like this. We all need to be ODD missionaries. Also in my interview he told me that I will be training really soon! That will be cool and fun! So that means I am probably going to be in Algiers for a long time... Like 9 months maybe. So we will see.
Then the rest of the week was great. We had a lot of good lessons and spiritual thoughts. We were able to see a lot of less active people. We had a total of 13 lessons this week. That may not sound like a lot, but that is more than what we have done for awhile!
Oh yeah another thing happened. On Friday night we went to the Emergency Room!! At 9:30! Us Elders were over working out and Elder Vaughn got his ear bud from his headphones stuck in his ear! So we called sister Wall and she told us to take him to the ER room to get it out. It took like 3 hours... We didn't get home until 12:30 and Elder Willis and I had to get up at 5 to go to the Temple the next morning. So it was a late night. Then on Saturday we went up to the Temple. We were planning on going through all 3 sessions, but we didn't make the 11 so we decided to wait for someone who was going through the 11 oclock session in the Celestial room. So we ended up sitting in the Celestial room for 2 hours. It was sooo nice. I just sat and read my scriptures and prayed and pondered. I loved it. The Temple is such an amazing place. I love going there. Everytime it is so nice to just get away from the world and just relax and be closer to our Heavenly Father. I love the Temple. It was so great. Then we came home and had a lesson.
This week has been a really good week. We have had a car the whole week and we will have it again this next week. It has been soooo nice! Well Elder W. and I have been getting along really well. He is a good kid and a we work really well together. My testimony is growing so much. Every day I learn something new. I have seen the blessings of serving a mission already. I have seen them by the safety of all of you back home. I have seen it with dads feet. I have seen it with the comfort I get every time I am a little down or things did not go the way I expected. Obedience brings blessings. I know that Prayer is real and we can talk to our Heavenly Father everyday. I know this Gospel is true. I know the Lord has prepared people for all of us to help bring in the Gospel. Mom and Dad I am so glad you both are doing so many missionary things. That makes me so happy! I am glad the rest of the family is too! We all are missionaries, I am just wearing the name tag. That is the only difference! Heavenly Father and the Spirit will help us if we just open our mouths. That is so awesome to know! Alright everyone I have a favor to ask. Will you all think of ideas to help me out with the sister I have been working with. She is not sure if she wants to come back because it brings back so many memories and it makes her feel a little depressed she said. Maybe for family night tonight all of you can think of ideas and let me know. That would be so nice. I want to make my mission every ones mission! I love all the advice!
Well my family and friends I love you so much! I hope you all are doing great! Keep up the good work and keep smilin! If anyone has any questions just let me know and I will try my best to answer them! :) Well I am doing great! The work is great! Slow, but Great! Well until next week! I love you all! :)
Love Elder Smith
PS sorry mom I have taken forever to get the pictures! I will try this week I hope!
PSS Yes I have a lot of plans for thanksgiving. I am going to hate turkey and ham by the end of it all!
PSSS Hey all of my letters are getting returned to me. Like I will send them out and then a week later they get returned. I am using the same addresses of all of them, but they are being returned.
PSSSS will you tell Ryan that I just got his emails from like October 21. So tell him to use his other account! haha!
PSSSSS I love you all sooo Much!! have a great week!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
"The work here in Algiers is really starting to pick up" - 11/12/13
Hey everyone! How are things going? Everything sounds like it is going great! Dad I hope you are doing alright with your treatment. That does not sound fun at all. Well like mom always says, "Come what may and love it"! That is a tough one though having your feet shocked everyday for 45 minutes. Have you noticed any improvements? I sure hope you are starting to feel better. Mom I am glad you had a great week and were able to go down and watch Jacque play in her match. That really sounds like a lot of fun! I remember when we did that last year and we got that sweet hotel room that had a wrap around balcony. Oh the girls loved it! Tell Jacque good job for me alright? Also speaking of tennis there are 6 tennis courts right across the street from our library and my companion and I really want to go play! I think that is what we will be doing for P-Day next week. Well how are all of my little nieces and nephews doing? I sure do miss them. I am sure they are loving life and doing the very best in everything they do! Jen and Dave how is everything going? I sure am glad you are safe Jen with that whole airport thing last week. That is crazy! And Dave I have heard some of the scores of BYU and they aren't doing too bad this year. I guess on Saturday they had a tough loss. Down here in our branch there are so many BYU fans. They really keep us missionaries updated! I love it. Ryan and Heidi I hope you guys are doing great. I miss those little boys that is for sure! Ryan dude I am getting really good on my bike. I can't wait to go up riding when I get home! All of us are going to have to go up and do the night riding! Bryson and I did that a couple weeks before I left and it was one of the funniest things I have done in a long time! And Dan and Brit I hope you guys are doing great! Hey Brit how is the mouth? I hope that new medicine is really helping you out. Well I want you all to know that I pray for you guys everyday. I know that Heavenly Father will watch over all of you while I am gone.
Well I am doing GREAT!!! I love my new companion! Elder W. and I have so much in common. He loves sports and I love sports! He loves to work and I love to work! We really have kicked it off good. The work here in Algiers is really starting to pick up. We have been tracking and handing out a lot of pass along cards and Book of Mormons. I really like it. We also have a lot of fun together. It is not serious the whole time. Yes we are working the whole time, but we are joking around and having a good time while sharing the Gospel. I don't remember who said this, but we need to have moderation in all things. Even missionary work. HaHa Hey so yesterday was our P-Day and it was one of the best P-Days ever. We all went up to Materie to the Stake Center to play basketball with the spanish zone. It was so much fun! We had full games of 5 on 5. We all were so rusty, but it was so much fun! I played pretty good and I kept up with all of them! My companion is a really good basketball player. He is going to be playing for a junior college back home when he is done with his mission. So it is fun to play.
Well last week we did a lot of work. Non-stop the whole week. We only had 4 hours of service this week, because of how cold the weather got. Oh yes... It gets cold down here in LA! The low was like low 40's with humidity so it just cuts right through you. So we did a lot of contacting. We received 5 or so referrals this week and we got in contact with all of them. Oh guess what! We picked up a new investigator and he seems really interested! It was kind of a funny story how we met him. It was a few weeks ago Elder W. and I were about to ride our bikes to the church for a meeting. When we went outside we saw two guys trying to carry in 2 couches that were really big. They looked like they needed some help. So we asked them if they needed help. It was tough to ask because we then would probably be late for our meeting, but we did it anyways. So we help move all of the couches in and we say our goodbyes. I gave him and his brother a pass along card. The one with the Book of Mormon on the back of it. Then we left because we needed to get to our meeting. Then a few nights later we were going to go over to some appointment and as we were leaving he flagged us down and wanted to talk to us. He told us a little more about himself and how he is trying to find a church to go to. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and the Restoration pamphlet and gave him directions to come to church and our phone number. Well Sunday rolls around and he didn't show up... Kind of a disappointment, but we are going to be going over there some time this week to talk to him and teach him the lessons. I was soooo excited!!
So on Sunday we had 3 investigators that we left with commitments to come to church and guess what.... None of them showed up.. One of them is a guy in a wheel chair and is hard of hearing. We have been teaching him the lessons and he is really interested, but just didn't have a ride. So we found a ride and we had a member come and pick us up and take us over to pick him up for church. So we knocked and guess what.... No answer... So he didn't come. And then with Sister M. (the lady we have been working with for baptism) She hasn't been to church in 2 weeks. She said she would come, but she didn't.. That was kind of sad. So with her we went over there with the Spanish Elders to mow her lawn. Afterwards she fed us some good Jumbalya and Dirty Rice. It was really good, after we sat down and had a lesson with her. We talked about how we need to follow Christs example and be baptized. I then asked her again if she wants to become a member of our church again and she said that she still does not know. She loves us missionaries, but we can't make the decision for her. So she still doesn't know so the only thing we can do for her is love her and pray for her. She is a great lady and I know she will find the right way again it is just a matter of time.
Well there were a lot of really cool things that happened this week. A lot of little miracles. I saw a lot of prayers answered this week. Not just mine, but the members. A member was going through a really rough time and he went into his bedroom and prayed to Heavenly Father to help him out. And an hour later we showed up. And the thing is we never would have gone over to this members house unless I didn't have the prompting to do so. Also Heavenly Father put us in his path because we were tracking and no one was listening or answering their doors. I had a feeling to go see this person, but I didn't think anything of it and he lived a really long ways away. I hate to say this, but I just put it to the back of my mind and I said we would do it tomorrow. Then we went and knocked on some more doors and then the prompting came back and so we decided to act on it and then come to find out this member had prayed for help and then an hour later we showed up at his door step. It was soo cool and such a neat experience.
Well I am doing great! I am loving being able to teach more people. I love teaching them about the Gospel. The cool thing is all of us can be teachers. All of us are teachers everyday just by the Example we set as members of this church. I love that! I love this work. I have been doing really good these past few weeks. I am not homesick any more! Yes I still miss you guys like crazy, but this is my home now. I love it here. I am really excited to serve in the bayous one day though! It is going to be so sweet! Oh yeah and guess what! I get to go to the temple again on Saturday! We are going to try and do 2 sessions this time! I am super excited! Also tomorrow we have our interviews with President. I am excited to be able to speak with him and hear all of the advice he has to give.
Well My family and friends I love you all! This Gospel is true. Prayer is real. And one thing I have come to appreciate out here is our trials. I read a scripture today that says "we are never given a trial that we can not over come". So no matter how hard this life can be, we always can make it through it with the help of Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God as well as the Bible. I love to study all of the scriptures. It helps me feel closer to my Father in Heaven. Well Everyone keep up the good work back home! Tell everyone hi for me! I love you guys!! :)
Love Elder Nick Smith AKA Nickalaka
Alright mom so I have your answers to your questions. Thank you so much again for the Packages! I love them! It is like Christmas every time I get one! Hey speaking of Christmas it is just right around the Corner!!!! :) :) :)
> Alright so with the whole iPad thing. We are going to be getting iPads in January!! We also are going to be becoming a Technology mission. This means we are going to start working through FaceBook to contact people and share the Gospel. This is going to be super nice during the dead hours of the day from like 1-4. It is going to be really cool!
> So with my Groceries... Man this is a tough one! haha Some times we get the van to go get groceries, but when we do not have the van then we have to ride our bikes. It is about 2 miles to the Walmart. That may not seem far away, but on a bike with groceries everywhere then it really is a long ways away! I bring a bag and try and stuff as much of the things I can in it.
> I love my bike! It is so nice out here. 29ers is the way to go for sure! I cruise! I have not had any bike troubles these past couple of weeks so that is really good.
> Do I cook much? Yes I cook almost every lunch and dinner about 4 times a week. I cook quesidillas. I have a lot of oat meal. I bought one of the huge things from Sam's club. Instead of getting regular milk I now get Silk Milk. It last a lot longer and stays good for a lot longer. I eat mac and cheese and pb&js too. I don't eat too badly. We eat out quite a bit too. I am trying to eat healthy, but it is super expensive to.
> Well that is about it! Hey I hope you don't mind, but I went and bought me some protein. I have been working out hard and staying in shape. This has been super nice! Also I am wondering if I can get some sweat shirts and some brown shoes and a brown belt. It is getting colder here and I am going to be needing those for sure! Is that okay? If so can you put some more money on my card just in case? Thanks sooo much mom and Dad! I love you both so much. I hope you have the best day ever! I will do the same! Well until next week! Peace out!! :)
> Love you guys!
Well I am doing GREAT!!! I love my new companion! Elder W. and I have so much in common. He loves sports and I love sports! He loves to work and I love to work! We really have kicked it off good. The work here in Algiers is really starting to pick up. We have been tracking and handing out a lot of pass along cards and Book of Mormons. I really like it. We also have a lot of fun together. It is not serious the whole time. Yes we are working the whole time, but we are joking around and having a good time while sharing the Gospel. I don't remember who said this, but we need to have moderation in all things. Even missionary work. HaHa Hey so yesterday was our P-Day and it was one of the best P-Days ever. We all went up to Materie to the Stake Center to play basketball with the spanish zone. It was so much fun! We had full games of 5 on 5. We all were so rusty, but it was so much fun! I played pretty good and I kept up with all of them! My companion is a really good basketball player. He is going to be playing for a junior college back home when he is done with his mission. So it is fun to play.
Well last week we did a lot of work. Non-stop the whole week. We only had 4 hours of service this week, because of how cold the weather got. Oh yes... It gets cold down here in LA! The low was like low 40's with humidity so it just cuts right through you. So we did a lot of contacting. We received 5 or so referrals this week and we got in contact with all of them. Oh guess what! We picked up a new investigator and he seems really interested! It was kind of a funny story how we met him. It was a few weeks ago Elder W. and I were about to ride our bikes to the church for a meeting. When we went outside we saw two guys trying to carry in 2 couches that were really big. They looked like they needed some help. So we asked them if they needed help. It was tough to ask because we then would probably be late for our meeting, but we did it anyways. So we help move all of the couches in and we say our goodbyes. I gave him and his brother a pass along card. The one with the Book of Mormon on the back of it. Then we left because we needed to get to our meeting. Then a few nights later we were going to go over to some appointment and as we were leaving he flagged us down and wanted to talk to us. He told us a little more about himself and how he is trying to find a church to go to. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and the Restoration pamphlet and gave him directions to come to church and our phone number. Well Sunday rolls around and he didn't show up... Kind of a disappointment, but we are going to be going over there some time this week to talk to him and teach him the lessons. I was soooo excited!!
So on Sunday we had 3 investigators that we left with commitments to come to church and guess what.... None of them showed up.. One of them is a guy in a wheel chair and is hard of hearing. We have been teaching him the lessons and he is really interested, but just didn't have a ride. So we found a ride and we had a member come and pick us up and take us over to pick him up for church. So we knocked and guess what.... No answer... So he didn't come. And then with Sister M. (the lady we have been working with for baptism) She hasn't been to church in 2 weeks. She said she would come, but she didn't.. That was kind of sad. So with her we went over there with the Spanish Elders to mow her lawn. Afterwards she fed us some good Jumbalya and Dirty Rice. It was really good, after we sat down and had a lesson with her. We talked about how we need to follow Christs example and be baptized. I then asked her again if she wants to become a member of our church again and she said that she still does not know. She loves us missionaries, but we can't make the decision for her. So she still doesn't know so the only thing we can do for her is love her and pray for her. She is a great lady and I know she will find the right way again it is just a matter of time.
Well there were a lot of really cool things that happened this week. A lot of little miracles. I saw a lot of prayers answered this week. Not just mine, but the members. A member was going through a really rough time and he went into his bedroom and prayed to Heavenly Father to help him out. And an hour later we showed up. And the thing is we never would have gone over to this members house unless I didn't have the prompting to do so. Also Heavenly Father put us in his path because we were tracking and no one was listening or answering their doors. I had a feeling to go see this person, but I didn't think anything of it and he lived a really long ways away. I hate to say this, but I just put it to the back of my mind and I said we would do it tomorrow. Then we went and knocked on some more doors and then the prompting came back and so we decided to act on it and then come to find out this member had prayed for help and then an hour later we showed up at his door step. It was soo cool and such a neat experience.
Well I am doing great! I am loving being able to teach more people. I love teaching them about the Gospel. The cool thing is all of us can be teachers. All of us are teachers everyday just by the Example we set as members of this church. I love that! I love this work. I have been doing really good these past few weeks. I am not homesick any more! Yes I still miss you guys like crazy, but this is my home now. I love it here. I am really excited to serve in the bayous one day though! It is going to be so sweet! Oh yeah and guess what! I get to go to the temple again on Saturday! We are going to try and do 2 sessions this time! I am super excited! Also tomorrow we have our interviews with President. I am excited to be able to speak with him and hear all of the advice he has to give.
Well My family and friends I love you all! This Gospel is true. Prayer is real. And one thing I have come to appreciate out here is our trials. I read a scripture today that says "we are never given a trial that we can not over come". So no matter how hard this life can be, we always can make it through it with the help of Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God as well as the Bible. I love to study all of the scriptures. It helps me feel closer to my Father in Heaven. Well Everyone keep up the good work back home! Tell everyone hi for me! I love you guys!! :)
Love Elder Nick Smith AKA Nickalaka
Alright mom so I have your answers to your questions. Thank you so much again for the Packages! I love them! It is like Christmas every time I get one! Hey speaking of Christmas it is just right around the Corner!!!! :) :) :)
> Alright so with the whole iPad thing. We are going to be getting iPads in January!! We also are going to be becoming a Technology mission. This means we are going to start working through FaceBook to contact people and share the Gospel. This is going to be super nice during the dead hours of the day from like 1-4. It is going to be really cool!
> So with my Groceries... Man this is a tough one! haha Some times we get the van to go get groceries, but when we do not have the van then we have to ride our bikes. It is about 2 miles to the Walmart. That may not seem far away, but on a bike with groceries everywhere then it really is a long ways away! I bring a bag and try and stuff as much of the things I can in it.
> I love my bike! It is so nice out here. 29ers is the way to go for sure! I cruise! I have not had any bike troubles these past couple of weeks so that is really good.
> Do I cook much? Yes I cook almost every lunch and dinner about 4 times a week. I cook quesidillas. I have a lot of oat meal. I bought one of the huge things from Sam's club. Instead of getting regular milk I now get Silk Milk. It last a lot longer and stays good for a lot longer. I eat mac and cheese and pb&js too. I don't eat too badly. We eat out quite a bit too. I am trying to eat healthy, but it is super expensive to.
> Well that is about it! Hey I hope you don't mind, but I went and bought me some protein. I have been working out hard and staying in shape. This has been super nice! Also I am wondering if I can get some sweat shirts and some brown shoes and a brown belt. It is getting colder here and I am going to be needing those for sure! Is that okay? If so can you put some more money on my card just in case? Thanks sooo much mom and Dad! I love you both so much. I hope you have the best day ever! I will do the same! Well until next week! Peace out!! :)
> Love you guys!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
"I have a new companion and he looks just like Eric Porter!" - 11/04/13
Hey there my wonderful family! How is everyone doing? I hope y'all had a great Halloween! I loved the video you sent me of the family party. I missed that a lot this year! You all looked very scary and grandpa I hope you did not break your ankle with how tall those shoes were! haha I am glad the party was a success and all was well! 800 kids again this year huh? Man, that's a lot! My Halloween was pretty boring to be honest! haha We were on lock down after 4 so we went to the church and played basketball. But that was lots of fun!
My week was really good. Alright so I know all of you are just dying to hear about transfers! Well Wednesday rolls around and we get picked up from our place at 7am to drive all the way up to Baton Rouge. We got there and we had an hour meeting and then we were all brought into the Chapel and separated on both sides of the room. Then President got up and started talking to us and then he started to name off the companions. He started with my zone first. The New Orleans Zone. First to go was Elder S.. He got moved to Downtown. Just right across the river. So he will be working in downtown probably for the rest of his mission. He was really happy and excited. Then next President Called Algiers (where I am at) Then he said... " Serving in Algiers with Elder Smith is going to be......... Elder W.!" So I stand up and look around for him to see who he is. I look over and he looks just like Eric Porter from our ward! haha He is 6'1 and a really cool kid. I really like him. We have a lot of the same interests. He played Basketball, Baseball, and football. He is going to be playing basketball for a school when he gets home. He is a Baller! He is really chill. I think we are going to work really well with each other. I told him that I am wanting to work really hard this transfer and he agreed. So there you go! Now you have it. Elder W. is my new companion. He is from Heber Arizona which is like 2 hours away from Scottsdale. Really cool! So my week has been GREAT! I am happy for a change. I think it is going to work out really well! Mom all of your prayers have been answered! haha Thanks for praying for me!
My new companion!
Alright so some cool things that happened this week. First off we had 21 hours of service this week so another week full of service! We built a fence for sister B. and we mowed a couple lawns like usual. Sister M. is doing really well. She did not attend church this week though.. That was really hard. We have not had an opportunity to talk to her about baptism for a couple weeks.. We are really wanting to this week. I just really want to make sure that the Spirit is there with us when we ask her again. Because last time it was soo strong. So that is what I am working on really hard this week. I have devoted all of my studies on helping me to be able to have the opportunity to give her the Baptismal question. That is my goal for this week. We are going to go over there this week with someone from the high council to talk with her about her concerns. It is all going to work out. I can see how Heavenly Father has helped her out so much this past couple of months.
So a couple of months ago when I first got here I set a goal to be the friendliest missionary I could be and to talk to everyone. I have thought to myself of the challenge that dad gave me when I was starting high school. His challenge was "talk to everyone and befriend everyone". Especially the person that is all alone. I have really taken this challenge and put it to heart. I wont lie though it has been pretty hard because some of the people down here are pretty different! haha So yesterday I noticed that all of my work is starting to pay off. When I first got here people would kind of say hi and then get on there way, but now I notice people are starting to open up with me and to really have a good conversation with me. The members and less active people that we see really seem to like me. It is true when president Wall said we are the bringers of HOPE. So that has been something cool I have reflected on this past week.
This week has been a tough week for teaching. We had some things fall through and a couple of the people we are working with didn't come through with their commitments. That really just breaks my heart. It is hard when all of our lives we have known the truth and then when you talk to someone and they use their agency to choose the other way you just kind of want to ring there necks! haha. Don't worry though I wont! :) One thing I have been trying to do to help me out is think of one thing everyday that I am thankful for and one thing that helps make me happy. Everyday I think of my My AWESOME AMAZING FAMILY. You guys really are the best and so supportive of me! You guys always give me the extra push that I need to make it through the day! Thank you for that! Well I can't believe it is already November! Just think... Soon it is going to be Christmas and we are going to be able to talk! I am so excited for that day!!
Well I am sorry this letter is kind of all over the place. Not a whole lot happened this week. It was pretty slow with transfers and getting everything unpacked for my new companion. I was talking to Elder A. this morning about our missions. It is funny because on some missions people talk a lot about all of the really cool things that happened like baptisms and all of that stuff, but then with us we find so much joy in the little things just like when an investigator comes to church. Or when we give a lot of service! It is what I have come to love though! A mission is not about the big things. It is about the little things that add up to be big. I love my mission. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I have come to find out who I really am and how I am a son of God. I love being the person who gives hope to people. I always want to be that person. I love my older brother, Jesus Christ and how he died for me. He knew I was not going to be perfect so he decided to help me and all of us out. I make mistakes everyday, but because of him I can be made clean again and keep on pushen on. I am so greatful for this Gospel. It does change peoples lives. I testify of that. It brings in the knowledge and hope we need in this life. If you take a step back and look at the big picture this life really is only but a small moment. We need to make sure we live it to the best of our abilities and to live the commandments. And as we do that we will be blessed and be able to return and live with our Heavenly Father again. I may not be teaching a 100 lessons a week, but that is okay. I have realized that the most important converts in this church is ourselves. I love this work! I love the Challenge it is! I love how humbling it is! I love how much I am growing!
Well I hope all is well back home! I pray for each and everyone of you everyday. I miss you all very much! I love hearing all of the stories of what is going on back home. Well I hope this letter got my point across. I am doing great out here. I am glad this past week is over though! It was TOO long for me haha! Well I hope you all have a great week this week. Mom and dad I hope you are doing great! Jen and Dave I hope all is well and I hope the little girls are doing great! I love hearing the updates on all of them! Tell them I love them very much and miss them a lot! Ryan and Dan I love you guys! Keep up the good work and tell your families hi for me! And that I love them too!! You all are amazing! Well I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!
Love Elder Smith!
My week was really good. Alright so I know all of you are just dying to hear about transfers! Well Wednesday rolls around and we get picked up from our place at 7am to drive all the way up to Baton Rouge. We got there and we had an hour meeting and then we were all brought into the Chapel and separated on both sides of the room. Then President got up and started talking to us and then he started to name off the companions. He started with my zone first. The New Orleans Zone. First to go was Elder S.. He got moved to Downtown. Just right across the river. So he will be working in downtown probably for the rest of his mission. He was really happy and excited. Then next President Called Algiers (where I am at) Then he said... " Serving in Algiers with Elder Smith is going to be......... Elder W.!" So I stand up and look around for him to see who he is. I look over and he looks just like Eric Porter from our ward! haha He is 6'1 and a really cool kid. I really like him. We have a lot of the same interests. He played Basketball, Baseball, and football. He is going to be playing basketball for a school when he gets home. He is a Baller! He is really chill. I think we are going to work really well with each other. I told him that I am wanting to work really hard this transfer and he agreed. So there you go! Now you have it. Elder W. is my new companion. He is from Heber Arizona which is like 2 hours away from Scottsdale. Really cool! So my week has been GREAT! I am happy for a change. I think it is going to work out really well! Mom all of your prayers have been answered! haha Thanks for praying for me!
Alright so some cool things that happened this week. First off we had 21 hours of service this week so another week full of service! We built a fence for sister B. and we mowed a couple lawns like usual. Sister M. is doing really well. She did not attend church this week though.. That was really hard. We have not had an opportunity to talk to her about baptism for a couple weeks.. We are really wanting to this week. I just really want to make sure that the Spirit is there with us when we ask her again. Because last time it was soo strong. So that is what I am working on really hard this week. I have devoted all of my studies on helping me to be able to have the opportunity to give her the Baptismal question. That is my goal for this week. We are going to go over there this week with someone from the high council to talk with her about her concerns. It is all going to work out. I can see how Heavenly Father has helped her out so much this past couple of months.
So a couple of months ago when I first got here I set a goal to be the friendliest missionary I could be and to talk to everyone. I have thought to myself of the challenge that dad gave me when I was starting high school. His challenge was "talk to everyone and befriend everyone". Especially the person that is all alone. I have really taken this challenge and put it to heart. I wont lie though it has been pretty hard because some of the people down here are pretty different! haha So yesterday I noticed that all of my work is starting to pay off. When I first got here people would kind of say hi and then get on there way, but now I notice people are starting to open up with me and to really have a good conversation with me. The members and less active people that we see really seem to like me. It is true when president Wall said we are the bringers of HOPE. So that has been something cool I have reflected on this past week.
This week has been a tough week for teaching. We had some things fall through and a couple of the people we are working with didn't come through with their commitments. That really just breaks my heart. It is hard when all of our lives we have known the truth and then when you talk to someone and they use their agency to choose the other way you just kind of want to ring there necks! haha. Don't worry though I wont! :) One thing I have been trying to do to help me out is think of one thing everyday that I am thankful for and one thing that helps make me happy. Everyday I think of my My AWESOME AMAZING FAMILY. You guys really are the best and so supportive of me! You guys always give me the extra push that I need to make it through the day! Thank you for that! Well I can't believe it is already November! Just think... Soon it is going to be Christmas and we are going to be able to talk! I am so excited for that day!!
Well I am sorry this letter is kind of all over the place. Not a whole lot happened this week. It was pretty slow with transfers and getting everything unpacked for my new companion. I was talking to Elder A. this morning about our missions. It is funny because on some missions people talk a lot about all of the really cool things that happened like baptisms and all of that stuff, but then with us we find so much joy in the little things just like when an investigator comes to church. Or when we give a lot of service! It is what I have come to love though! A mission is not about the big things. It is about the little things that add up to be big. I love my mission. It has been the hardest thing I have ever done. I have come to find out who I really am and how I am a son of God. I love being the person who gives hope to people. I always want to be that person. I love my older brother, Jesus Christ and how he died for me. He knew I was not going to be perfect so he decided to help me and all of us out. I make mistakes everyday, but because of him I can be made clean again and keep on pushen on. I am so greatful for this Gospel. It does change peoples lives. I testify of that. It brings in the knowledge and hope we need in this life. If you take a step back and look at the big picture this life really is only but a small moment. We need to make sure we live it to the best of our abilities and to live the commandments. And as we do that we will be blessed and be able to return and live with our Heavenly Father again. I may not be teaching a 100 lessons a week, but that is okay. I have realized that the most important converts in this church is ourselves. I love this work! I love the Challenge it is! I love how humbling it is! I love how much I am growing!
Well I hope all is well back home! I pray for each and everyone of you everyday. I miss you all very much! I love hearing all of the stories of what is going on back home. Well I hope this letter got my point across. I am doing great out here. I am glad this past week is over though! It was TOO long for me haha! Well I hope you all have a great week this week. Mom and dad I hope you are doing great! Jen and Dave I hope all is well and I hope the little girls are doing great! I love hearing the updates on all of them! Tell them I love them very much and miss them a lot! Ryan and Dan I love you guys! Keep up the good work and tell your families hi for me! And that I love them too!! You all are amazing! Well I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!
Love Elder Smith!
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