Hey there my wonderful, amazing, athletic, competitive, travelin family! This week sounds like it was nice and busy for you all. That nice 100 degree weather in Arizona sounds pretty warm that is for sure! I'm glad you all had such a fun time down there. Good job mom and Jill for taking grandma and grandpa in cards! I bet there were some funny stories that came from that trip. Dad did you have any of your famous golf shots? Like swinging right underneath it or the impossible "top Shot". haha. I sure do miss that! That trip is always the best trip. Arizona is a perfect place to go for family trips. Did you guys eat a lava cake from Flemings for me? Well while you guys were eating like kings and queens I was scarfing down some nasty stuff... We have eaten some of the weirdest things ever. How about squirrel? Yeah pretty gross. Oh well. Hey that is awesome you guys started playing pickelball. That is so much fun. We will have to have some good matches! So when you said they are putting in a court? Did you mean in Arizona or at our house in Utah? That would be pretty sweet.
Hey that is awesome you were able to go to Wills farewell! I bet he did a great job. He is a good kid. He will make a great missionary! But man am I glad I am where I am now instead of that position... That is pretty sweet you were able to see a bunch of my friends. Sounds like everyone is still just hanging out. Hey tell Hailey I never did get that letter! haha oh well. So Bryson emailed me this morning and told me about you mom and his mom talking. He was happy! He is afraid after the mission we are just going to go our separate ways! I assured him that is not true because the boat show is the same week he gets home! We will have to go pick out our new boat right?? ;) He is such a stud. I miss that kid. You will have to tell Jeff and Justina, Braden, and Justin hi for me. I miss that family! Oh and you can't forget about their dog Toby. Haha. That is sweet Chases mom gave the missionary moment. I actually get all of his letters. He adds me to his weekly email. He has some crazy stories that is for sure. He is a great missionary. He sent me a picture of a wolf! It was sweet! And man -67 degrees sounds pretty cold... Man it is cool hearing about all of the friends out on missions and those about to go. Missions are so good. They for sure teach you a lot really fast! Well tell everyone hello for me.
Well now for my week. It was WWWWAAAAAYYYYY long!! haha. It just kept dragging on, but the weird thing is now I look back and it absolutely flew by! This week was a tough one for teaching. We probably had 22 lessons fall through. Everyone was so busy this week with school getting out and graduation. So it was a lot of driving around and knocking and no one being home. SOOO frustrating especially when we called them that morning to confirm the appointments. So we only had 9 lessons. I think that is probably the lowest I have had ever. This week will be a lot better on that part though. On the other hand though we have been getting fed so great! This week we have someone feeding us every night and some for lunches. Good thing I have started to run. We have been very dedicated. On Saturday we woke up at 4:45 and went running with 2 members up on a golf course in Baton Rouge. It was a 5 mile run and it was nothin. We have been running every morning just at a track. The shoes I bought have helped so much so thank you very much. This morning we got up at 5 this morning and went Disc Golfing with brother Perilloux. I am getting better! I had a 2 today on a really hard hole which is pretty darn good. But I followed it up with a 5... I have some pictures I will send to you from this morning. We had some good laughs!
Alright starting out last week. On Monday we had our zone P-Day. We went up to Baton Rouge to the Stake Center and played basketball for 4 hours with everyone! We killed it. Elder Willis and some members could not miss. Every now and again I would throw up a 3 and drain it. That was a lot of fun. Then on Wednesday we had our Zone Service day up in Baton Rouge at the African American museum. That was really boring. There were like 30 missionaries there to do a 15 man job. So we just talked to the people. I talked about Mali and how I'd been there. There was a lady that was stunned I had been there. She was from Ghana and had been to Mali before. It was pretty cool. So that was fun. Then Also on Wednesday we had our final interviews with President Wall... He goes home on July 1st and we have interviews every 3 months. It was a really good interview. He gave me some awesome advice and he really gave me a great compliment. He said there are 3 types of missionaries. The disobedient, the good missionaries, and then the missionaries he trusts. He said most of his zone leaders he doesn't even trust, but then he went on and told me how he feels like I am a missionary he can trust. He told me he feels like he could give me any assignment and he would trust me with it. It was a nice complement. I love that guy. He will be missed. I am nervous for the new one that is for sure! We will see how it goes.
On Saturday it was a busy day. First off waking up at 4:45 and going on a 5 mile run then we came back home and did studies for an hour. Then we had ward missionary coordination. Our mission leader really gets on my nerves... I try so hard to love him, but he just really chaps my bottom haha. He treats us like 5 year olds and if you know me that is a huge pet peeve... So after I killed him with kindness he started treating us better. That was good. After that meeting we had District meeting for another 1 1/2 hours. So I was pretty much dead after that. Then the day started getting great! A member invited us over for their sons graduation and there were a bunch of non-members. We talked a lot about what missionaries do because their son is going to the Salt Lake City East mission in July. There was a crazy lady that absolutely loved me. All she wanted to do was give me a hug... It was weird. Then they had a blow up obstacle course and all the kids wanted to race me so here I am in my church clothes running all over the place and dodging obstacles and such. It was a lot of fun. Then after that we went and played basketball for 1 1/2 hours with non-members at the church. We played if we win we get to teach you a lesson and if we lose we will buy lunch. Guess what happened...... Yup you guessed it. We taught them a lesson! It was fun. We are going to do the same again today. Then after that we went to a members house that actually live in the other ward. We went with Elder Willis and his comp. We had steaks for dinner. Those members are probably some of my favorite people ever. The dad is a huge golfer and in their back yard they have a huge pond like the pond in the back of our AZ houses. I asked if I could rip a few drives out there. He was like for sure! It felt sooo good to hit some golf balls. I still somewhat got it! I cracked them! Today we may be going golfing with the Bishop. He offered so we may be able to go! That would be sick!!
(Faster than my bike)
SO that was pretty much our week. We did have a very Spiritual thing happen to us. We went over to brother L. house for dinner on Friday. He just came back to the church 2 years ago. He had big problems with drugs and other things. He has really changed and cleaned his life up about 8 years ago and got married and has a son. His wife is not a member and he really wants her to become a member. So the cool thing about this Story is he has really been struggling with getting his answer. He read the book of Mormon and has taken Moroni's challenge and he has not received his answer he said. He said he has felt the Spirit before. So we talked for about an hour about his questions he has had. He has had like 6 sets of missionaries talk to him about these questions. I had a really strong feeling come over me that we should pray right then and there. So I asked him if he believes he can get his answer. He said yes. So I asked him if any other missionaries had asked him to pray right then and there with them. He said no so I asked him if he would pray and express the desires of his heart to our Heavenly Father. He agreed to do it. So we got down on our knees and he started praying. I don't think I have ever prayed harder for someone to get their answer before. During the prayer he started to cry. After his unbelievabe heart felt prayer he looked up at me and said I feel peace. I looked at him and told him that was the Spirit answering his prayers. He was so happy and so humble. He has really wanted a strong testimony to tell his wife he "Knows" it is true and not that he just believes. It was a really spiritual experience. I love it. Prayer really does work and the Spirit really does direct us what to say to others. All we have to do is listen.
Well that was pretty much my week. I know this letter is a novel, but I am so happy. Mother’s day last week was the best thing ever! I just love my family! You guys are the best! Tell Ryan and Keelie good luck and hit a glass for me at the wedding! Keelie welcome to the best family in the world! I am a little bias if you can't tell! :) Mom and dad have a great week and remember "Worry ends where Faith begins" SO have faith that Heavenly Father will help you guys out this week with everything. Tell all my awesome little nieces and nephews I say what up! Hey have a great week alright?? Until next week! God be with y’all! :) I love you all!
Love Elder Smith
PS Mom did you get my letter I sent to you?? You should have got it the Saturday before mother’s day or the Monday afterward. I hope you did.
PSS Hey I have been craving my blue suit.. I am going to send one of my suits home. Could you send out my blue one? That would be awesome! But hey don't worry about it this week because I know you will be super busy with the wedding! Good luck! I love you!
(Graduation)
(My Apartment)
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