An Awesome New Companion!! - 8/25/14

Hey there family!! Man I am just cracking up right now about you dad! Hey you finally get to look like me with a super red nose. Hopefully you are feeling better. I bet that took it out of you for sure! It sounds like this week back home was another great week full of fun and family. That is the best. I am so happy everything with P. is working out so well. Hey you planted that seed so now it is up to her, but it is still our part to keep helping her along her journey! Good luck Friday with those people from Park City. I am sure they are going to love it. Dad that is so awesome you played in the club championship! I wish I could have been there to watch. I don't know if I have ever really watched you compete in a golf tournament besides scrambles and charity tournaments. And tell Dan he will get it next year, only if he can beat me though! Is that something I could play in when I get back? Hopefully so I can rub it in Dans face a little bit. haha just kidding. Well good luck with this next week. I sure do love you all very much! Keep up the great work and the great cooking! :) I do miss that a lot! haha

Alrighty well I am sure you all are very excited to find out the news of who my new companion is. I was too! Well first off it was pretty hard to say goodbye to Elder Mellor. He is the man and a great missionary. I am going to miss him. He went Zone leader up in Alexandria!! He wanted to go to Baton Rouge or Denim Springs. Oh well. He will one day. So this transfer meeting was on Wednesday. We left our apartment at 6:50am to get up to Baton Rouge on time for the training meeting. When we got there it was a huge transfer meeting. So many missionaries came in. I think it was like 26 or something like that. So pretty much 1/3 of our mission is being trained right now. So the training meeting was pretty good. It was a 2 hour meeting though! So after that I was just drained. But then we all go in the chapel and all of the missionaries sit on the sides and then President Hansen started to say who was going to be companions and once they say who is going to be together the companionship meets in the middle and give each other a hug and then sit in the middle. So of course since we are in the New Orleans zone we are always called last. So he goes through the whole mission then finally he calls us. So this was President Hansens exact words. Serving in Houma English it will be Elder Smith and he will be district leader and training Elder Puefua! SO first off I didn't think it was me because I never got a call saying I was going to be District Leader so I thought it was going to be one of the other 6 Elder Smiths haha. But then I realized it was me! So I am now a district leader. But anyway I go to look at my new companion and he is a 5'6 315 pound Samoan!! I was soooo pumped!!! He lifted me up when he gave me a hug haha it was pretty funny! It turns out that he went to school and played football with Elder Andrews. So he was super pumped too! So my 2nd child is freaking awesome just like the first one! So I was super pumped! 

So with being district leader I now have the responsibility of 8 missionaries. On Friday I decided to have our first district meeting. It went great. I gave an instruction about how much our Father in Heaven loves us. It went great. So now I have to do call-ins and do numbers and report to the Zone Leaders. It is pretty fun. I feel very honored to be here in this position. And I want to be the very best I can be. I have been working really hard and the work is still going very well!! 

So I have been working Elder Puefua really hard! We have been biking all over the place. He is an awesome kid for sure!

Well that about wraps up my week! WE did have an incredible lesson with the Asian family. They are really progressing still. The dad and son came to church yesterday and the son had the best time ever! And so did W. He enjoyed it even though he doesn't understand it all. We have really had to change the way we teach them. I am trying to make it as simple as I can. I know the Holy Ghost is helping me out a lot and I am just being the mouthpiece. That is all we have to do ya know? In missionary work you just need to be worthy and willing and then the Lord will do the rest! 

Well Family I love you so very much! Sorry this letter is a little shorter. Not a whole lot to write about. But just know I am doing great!! I am happy and healthy haha! Keep up the good work back home and give everyone a big hug from me! I love you guys!

Big Bear hug right back at ya dad!

-Elder Smith

(Bro Hayes - He thinks he was abducted by aliens)

(My Posterity)

(Spanish Speaking Elders)

Transfers are in! - 8/19/14

Hey they’re everyone! So I know you are excited to find out about transfers. I know I was when we received the call. There are some crazy things happening that is for sure! But before I tell you I want to stall a little bit haha!

First off tell our little Tennis Star congrats!!! That is so awesome! I am so happy for Jacque. She is going to be crazy good I can just feel it. So is little Jane and all the other little nieces and nephews. They are going to be kicking my trash when I get home. I am not going to be able to keep up with them. I wish I could have seen that match. I am super excited to be able to go to all of these tennis matches when I get back. It always was one of my favorite things going to watch the kids play. They have some fight in them. So in the Ward down here there is a girl from Brazil. She has played competitive tennis for awhile and she is trying to make it as a pro. I was talking to her about jac and jane and she says she wishes she would have started that young. She said to tell them good luck and it is so much fun! It sounds like it was a fun trip up there to park city with grams and grumpy. I miss them. Those pictures of gramps asleep was hilarious! Tell them hi for me. Well that is crazy about Hunter! Tell him to get feeling better because he has got to come up boating again with us at lake powell! haha And it sounds like the visit with Polly went great! That sounds like a fun trip she had! Hey you guys planted the seed! What you should do now is get in contact with the missionaries down there. Give them her info and have them call and go over and teach her. That would be awesome! Hey did your friends from park city come down to the temple open house as well? Hopefully that all worked out great! I was praying for you guys! :) Well it sounds like everything back home is going great. Keep up the great work! You all are awesome!

All right now time for transfers. So on Saturday a member took us out to Chili’s after we helped her clean her car... That was horrible by the way.... Anyway, while we were there we received a call from the assistance.  Whenever you get a call from them you are always a little nervous. So Elder Mellor answered it and it was for me. So I was thinking oh crap. What did I do wrong. Then Elder Griffin got on and told me what is going to happen for this transfer. He told me I would be training... So right then I knew Elder Mellor was peacing out and I would be staying. So that is the big news! I am staying in Houma and training! It is my second kid now! Pretty crazy. Then we found out last night that Elder Mellor is going to be Zone Leader! He is pretty nervous about that. He is a great missionary. I am sad he is already leaving. I thought we would be together at least 1 more transfer. I wont lie to you guys, but I was hoping I would get transferred out of Houma. It has just been hard because coming from Gonzales where it was the sickest place to opening up Houma where nothing is going on haha! Oh well! I am starting to love it even though it is a darn biking area! Oh well! I guess I will stay in shape! I will probably be here for at least 3 more months. That is all right! I am excited to train again. It is pretty fun training. I hope he is going to be legit! So that is the big news! Pretty crazy!

Well this week has been a good week. It started off with our Preparation day in Westbank. That was a lot of fun! We played volleyball and basketball. There is a member here in Houma that played college volleyball and he has been teaching us every p-day how to play and spike. He said I should have played volleyball haha! I guess I am all right at it! It is fun. So Ryan we are going to have to play some beach volleyball when I get back! Then we just saw some people. Pretty much the same people we see every week. We did get fed like 3 times. That was pretty good for us.

Then we went to Cut off again and did some tracting down there. Oh I do have a funny story for you though! So mom and dad remember how you sent me some money to go out for my birthday and get some good food? Well on Thursday I decided to take everyone out to Texas roadhouse since the week of my birthday I was sick and wanted to save it. So us 4 went. So if you didn't know this everyone looks and stares at us because we are kind of hard to miss. I mean young guys dressed up in a white shirt and tie with a black name tag. Yeah we are Mormons haha. But anyway so I ended up getting the biggest steak I could get. I got a 20 ounce ribeye. It was incredible! Then at the end Elder Walker asked if they did any type of birthday cake for birthdays. I didn't want him to say anything, but he did. Then our waitress said no we don't do a dessert, but we do have a saddle... I told her no. Then guess what happened next? Here comes the saddle. I was so embarrassed because everyone in the whole restaurant was starring at me. Then on the count of 3 they made me try and lasso something. It was horrible! SO that was fun... 

We did have something cool happen on Sunday at church. Our high councilor for our ward is a convert. He is a black guy named Brother Johnson. He used to be a Baptist preacher. He has graduated from some of the highest seminaries. He actually used to be a black panther too. He is the coolest guy ever! He told his conversion story and how he used to be such a bad guy and all of this stuff. He told us how he would pretty much just take money from people when he would give sermons. But anyway he spoke the whole entire sacrament meeting. He took a break and we sang a hymn and then he got right back up there. He didn't use the microphone. It was the coolest sacrament meeting I have ever been too. He was getting so into it! It was awesome. Then afterwards we talked to him and he told us how when the missionaries knocked on his door he said that they didn't know the bible at all. He would ask them questions and they couldn't answer him. Then he said he noticed how they were living. He said they were living the right way and he felt it. That was the reason he listened. It was pretty cool, so just remember to always be a great example. 

Well that about wraps up my week. Honestly nothing too exciting. A sweet lady that we used to take the sacrament to every week did pass away though. That was sad. But other than that I am doing great! I am sad Elder Mellor is leaving. He is a homie. He has probably been the best companion I have had. He has made me better and strengthened me with the Lord. I am thankful for that. Well I hope you all have a great week! Keep up the great work! And dad keep on getting those birdies! What you wrote to me cracked me up when you said you started off going par, par, bogey, triple! haha you are the best! I love you mom and dad! I love you all! 

Elder Smith

Best Week Yet in Houma! - 8/11/14

Mom you are right. It is crazy that it is already Monday and we are emailing again! This week flew by! Those are always the best weeks because they are soo good. Well it sounds like everything at home is still in order and things are doing great. I am glad you all had a safe fun trip to Vegas. Mom how is your tooth feeling? Hopefully it is better. Hey dad how are your feet doing? Hopefully feeling a lot better too. That is crazy that the Ogden Temple is open now. I remember thinking when I was home how I would be out on my mission for a year before it was opened. Now it is open and it has been over a year. That is crazy to me. Hey tell Jacque good luck in her tournament! You will have to keep me posted. It is funny, but I always find myself talking about my little nieces and nephews and all of their talents to the people I meet down here. People sure do think we have an awesome family!

Hey how is the boat doing? Have you been treating my baby right? haha Hopefully you have put some good use to it. Keep that up! Mom thanks for cleaning my room! I can't wait until that first night home just chillin in my room. That is going to be awesome! Hey and I am glad you were able to get those clothes to Andrew and Jacob! Give them everything. I mean I can't wear them so they might as well be put to good use, plus Andrew is going to be looking soooo fresh in High School! Oh yeah school has started down here already. I can't believe that school is about to start back home again. Just think... By the time school is over I will only have like 2 months left. That is crazy to think about! Well I sure am grateful for you guys. I love my family with all of my heart. You guys are the best and the support I have felt out here has been incredible. Thank you for all of the prayers. I know that when I am having a tough time or day I feel extra strength and I know that some of that strength comes from my Savior and all of the prayers from my wonderful family back home. I love you guys! 

Well my week was GREAT!! Surprisingly haha. It was a great week for multiple reasons. First off we actually got fed this week by the members! Haha It was nice not having to cook every meal. The Munsons family sure did hook us up! We had some of the best food. They are such an awesome family. They are so loving. Brother Munson is the friendliest man I know. Every time I see him he makes me feel like a million bucks and then comes over and gives me a big bear hug just like yours dad! I think that is why I love them so much because they remind me of you all back home. Then another great thing that happened this week is we were able to go to Cutoff again. It is way far down in the bayou. On the hour drive down there we passed by some of the people from Swamp People. The TV show. Surprisingly they don't live in nice houses. They have 2 trailers and instead of the nice house they have sooo many toys. Like trucks and boats. It is pretty cool. I am super excited to show you guys Louisiana one day. We will have a great time! With all of the good food from the south! So when we go down to Cutoff we honestly just tract the whole day. Not too much success from that, but we did get a water out of it! That is always a plus! Then after we had our backs adjusted by the chiropractor and did some service!! I miss service. We don't do as much here, but we are trying to change that. This week we had a lot more. 

Then something pretty cool happened on Friday. So every night we plan for the next day. So we planned Thursday night for Friday and every single thing that we planned went through and we were able to see everyone we wanted to. That has never happened to me before. We usually would have to move to a backup plan or tract. But it was pretty legit! We had 6 lessons that day that were the best lessons ever. A couple with some less active people. A couple with investigators,and a couple with members. Then to top that night off the Munsons fed us and they had the Saints Game on and since we can't tell them to turn it off we were able to catch the first half! haha It was a great night. We actually got fed 2 times that night. It was way fun.

Then On Saturday we had our Zone Training Meeting and guess where it was held at? The Westbank Chapel! So I was able to go back to my old stomping grounds and see all of the places over there. It brought back so many good memories! I had a great time down there. It is weird after you serve somewhere then you go back to that area, it almost makes you a little homesick for those areas because you learn to love the area and the people that live there. That was really fun, but it was a crazy day. That morning our bishop called us at like 8 and had a favor to ask us. He asked if we could go all the way down to Cut Off and clean the chapel down there. It has been closed ever since Katrina because all of the members moved away. So before ZTM we went down there and cleaned. It was pretty much covered with mold... It was kind of gross, but oh well we had a good time. Then from there we headed straight to ZTM in New Orleans which is like an hour and a half drive. Since we were late the ZL's just told us to wear our service clothes to the meeting. So we all showed up in shorts and t-shirts while everyone else was in suits! It was nice haha! Everyone was jealous :)  Then that night we came home and did more service. We helped someone move. After that we threw on our proselyting clothes and headed out on a 30 minute bike ride to W. D. S. house (our investigator) When we got there he had invited his relatives over to hear the message we had. It was legit! They had met with missionaries before in Guam. We showed the restoration DVD. It was a great lesson and then to top it off they surprised us with a specialty dinner from Miramar. It was really weird... Real Asian food is weird haha. It was like sweet milk with a bunch of different weird textured jellos and bread in it. It was hard for Elder Mellor to eat it, but we ended up doing okay! It was so nice of them. They really like us!

Then Sunday was busy as ever! We had PEC in the morning and then church. We had E., and W.’s sisters come A., and N.. Then W.'s son S. It was cool! First time ever I have had 3 investigators come to church! W. couldn't make it because of work. He is a sushi chef and he said he will teach us how to make sushi! That would be legit! But then after church we took the sacrament to 2 elderly ladies in old folks homes then we finished helping with the move. Then had dinner with a member. It was a great day!! And a great week.

I must say though... I was extremely tired last night. Missionary work just takes it out of you. I know this week I gave it my all. Every ounce of energy I had I used. The work was really good and we have been able to stay busy. I am trying to give it my all. It helps when your companion wants to do the same thing as well. Then my studies this week have been great. I have really been trying to get the bible down. I have been studying the Gospels. So Mathew and Mark I finished this week. I have learned so much. The Scriptures are so great. You can really come close to your savior when you read the scriptures. Dave game me a challenge that I am going to do. He asked me if I would read Mathew 5 1-12 and 3 Nephi 12 1-12. Everyday for the rest of my mission. I am going to do it. I like that idea because it is going to help me have more love and charity. So the studying is going great. I am thankful for the time I get to study. 

Well Family I think that is about it for this week. It was a great week here in Houma! Next week is transfer week so I will email home on Tuesday. I am excited to see what happens. Come what may and love it right? AND enjoy the journey. I love you all with all my heart! Have the best week ever! And mom and dad good luck with all of the missionary work. I know the Lord will bless you for opening your mouths. Remember that everyone has their agency and can choose for themselves, but when we open our mouths we are promised that words will fill them. I know that to be true! So don't be afraid! It only takes 5 seconds of courage! I'll be praying for ya! Love you guys!

Elder Smithers! 

It was a really tough, trying, great, and every other emotion kind of week! - 8/4/14

Well once again I am starting off this letter to thank you mom and dad for your letters! You both are the best!! Dad I am glad you were able to get a victory over the computer this week! haha You are the man! haha. You guys always cheer me up in your letters. It is so nice hearing what is going on back home. I love it! Thanks for the updates on everyone. I am glad you guys had a great trip last week! That sounds like a lot of fun. The happy birthday video sure does remind me of how awesome our family is and all of their fun little sayings! Like all of our lake Powel sayings. That is awesome! Man you guys are lucky that the Temple is having its open house right now. That is the best thing ever for missionary work. So many people out here have asked us what is inside of the temple and now with the open house it is such a great tool to answer people's questions. Keep up the good work with inviting others to go. That is sick that P. is coming in from Arizona to go to it with you guys! And also the people you met on the airplane. Mom you are too funny. In your email you say that you don't have much experience and that you are not more help... Hahah that is a funny joke!! You are the most missionary minded person ever! You are always an example to everyone around you. Without you dad and I would be in outer darkness! haha Dad you are the best as well!! You have so much good insight and good ideas! I did receive the email mom sent with your ideas. I have talked with my companion a lot about them. I will talk about that a little later on in my email after I tell you guys some stories haha. So mom you are a lot of help! And you are such a good missionary!! My only advise I would give you about the K. is to get them reading the Book of Mormon. Once you get a testimony of that and the truthfulness of it then everything else falls into place. That would mean that God and Jesus did come down and used Joseph Smith to restore the true church back to the earth. The Book of Mormon is the keystone to everything. That is the first thing I did when I got out here was got a testimony about the Book of Mormon and it did take a while, but now I know it is true and I am able to always doubt my doubts before I doubt my faith.

Well now on to my wonderful week! The weather was nice and hot and humid and rainy as usual haha. We only got rained on 2 times while we were biking. That is a plus of the week! At least it was not 3 times. So something really fun this week was we had our interviews with President Hansen. That was on a Wednesday night. Before my interview I was just talking with his wife sister Hansen. Mom she reminds me a lot of you. Very sweet and loving. Very Genuine. I just asked her how she was liking Louisiana. She likes it, but you can tell she is a little homesick for her family. Then we had a little training with the AP's Elder Griffin and Elder Mecum. Elder Griffin is legit! He is one of the Spanish Elders that I went to the Saints game with and we are way tight. He goes home at the end of this transfer and he is sooo ready haha. We talked a lot about that and it was fun to see him one last time before he leaves. It is weird that a lot of people I know are leaving. But they had us do role plays and teach them. So we taught the restoration. That was good. Then I had my interview with President Hansen. It was good. You can still tell he is very green. He asked me about my family and about my companion. Then I just started asking him questions. We ended up talking about his mission for the whole time pretty much. That was pretty cool! He is a cool guy, just not President Wall. He has banned all sports nights for finding activities which I am sad because that is how we got all our investigators. He has also made it so only 1 companionship can go to a dinner appointment. So now we probably won’t get fed at all for the rest of the transfer haha. Oh well. So that was pretty much my interview with him. He is a great guy and our mission needs him at this time.

Another sweet thing we did is we went to this place called Cut Off. It is way down in the bayou. We did it as a test with the other missionaries. They have about 7 people they see and they go there once a week. It is 50 miles away so what the test was is we were testing out how the finding was down there and how receptive they are to the gospel down there. So our whole day consisted of door knocking and tracting. We didn't get into 1 house the whole day haha. We gave away 3 copies of the book of Mormon and a bunch of pass along cards. So the reason we did that test is because we have 26 new missionaries coming in this transfer so they are looking for new areas to start and open up. The plus of the day is one of the members down there is a chiropractor and he adjusted all of us! It was soooo nice. He said I was really bad. My lower disc is not doing too great, but I haven't really felt pain while being out here. I know that is Heavenly Father helping me out and giving me strength. Then we saw another family and they had just lost their dad. We went over to give the mom and the 2 girls who are 18 and 16 a blessing for strength and for a school blessing. It was really hard for them. We shared a message about the plan of salvation and they started feeling a lot better. Isn't the plan of Salvation just great? Knowing that we will be able to live with our families forever? And we will see each other again? It is awesome. So that was a good day.

So we have some bad news about our investigator E. He was doing soo great and progressing soo well. We had a baptismal interview set up for tonight with the mission president, but we had to cancel. He will not commit to live the law of Chastity. That was an awkward lesson haha. We went over Friday and he fed us steak. It was amazing except the potatoes. He cooked 5 and he put in 2 whole cubes of butter. It was like eating a heart attack! But anyway he asked if we could talk about the law of Chastity and he said he would not live by that standard. So we were not able to find him a ride to church, but he still really wanted to go so after sacrament I grabbed someone and we went and picked him up. Then in Gospel Principles we talked about repentance. It was a great lesson except for 1 thing... E. said he doesn't agree with the homosexuality thing. He said he used to be one.... Luckily he doesn't act on it anymore. Well I have a funny story that literally just happened... It is kind of awkward. As I was writing you this about E. he happened to show up at the library and come over and talk to us! So I exited out really fast haha. Funny stuff, but anyway he will not be getting baptized on August ninth.

Well on a more positive note we had a new investigator come to church! That is the first time I have ever had more than 1 investigator at church at the same time! His name is W. D. S. He is legit! He is from asia from Miramar or however you spell that. We have been seeing him and his family for 3 weeks. It is hard because they don't speak English too well and they don't have a back ground about God or anything. But he and his son came to church and loved it! So we are pumped for that. It is going to be hard to teach him the lessons so it is going to take time. He is a sushi chef so we asked him if he would teach us how to make sushi and he said he would! So that would be legit! So that was a little miracle this week.

Alright now for the good stuff!! You don't have to include this on my blog or send it to the family. I don't want Jane or Jason to see this! And mom don't worry it is all stuff that is going to make the good stories for when I get home! So we got anti-ed again a lot this week. It all happened again on Saturday. So first off I started the day off kind of bad. We were supposed to go to the temple for a wedding and I was soo pumped, but then our ride bailed on us. So I was upset and sad about that. So since those plans fell through we pretty much had no idea what to do just like how everyday is out here opening a new area. It has been tough! But anyway we headed to the library to check on some referrals and where they live. While riding there I noticed the clouds were really dark. So we make it to the library and right when we get inside it starts to down pour. Luckily we were inside so we didn't get wet. So after we did our thing we jumped on our bikes and headed to this less actives house who needed a blessing. (So we thought) As we are riding it is sooooo humid and I just didn't have a great attitude. So we get to this house and it is a nice little area. We are outside of the house checking to make sure it is the right house and a car pulled up. It was an older man and women. They rolled their window down and asked what we needed. At first I thought they were trying to be friendly, but I soon found out that it was the exact opposite. They then went on to say we can't be here. They asked what we were doing so we told them and they said no you can't do that. That is soliciting and that we would have to leave the neighborhood immediately... We went on to say how members of our church lived there and they said no you have to have a permit to do any of that. Then the lady said we are very careful here in our neighborhood and we don't want strange people in here... Alright that was it. I was soooooooooo ticked. Pardon my French haha. Luckily the Holy Ghost helped me bite my tongue and not say anything so we just said alright and got on our bikes and left before they called the cops. The funny part about this story is the neighborhood they live in is one of the sketchiest parts in Houma... So pretty much they just hated us or Jesus or something. Then while we were biking to our next place we had someone yell the b word at us haha. Then followed the bird.. That is how the whole day went! WE had 2 middle fingers, 3 other people yelling other things which I can't write home, and a lady slam the door in our face and say she doesn't have time haha!! Well mom I know you are probably worried sick about me now, but don't!! I was so mad and sad and wondering what I was doing out this mission, but then that night rolled around and I just sat there and reflected on the day and how great it really was. It strengthened my testimony of Jesus Christ. Just imagine what he had to go through. I am glad for this hardship and trial, because I know it is preparing me for something later on. Because we were faithful and kept our heads up and kept working we had one of the best lessons that night with W. and he ended up coming to church this week. So everything happens for a reason. And all of this crazy stuff is just helping me and giving me the best stories ever for when I am home!! haha

Well that is pretty much my week. It was a really tough, trying, great, and every other emotion kind of a week! Mom I love what you said about doubting your doubts before you doubt your faith. I never did doubt my faith in those situations. I just doubted on hope for the people here haha. But oh well. I love it out here and the hardships I have. It is making me a better person. And dad thank you for talking about charity in your letter. It is so true. You have been the best example of that to me ever. I still remember the time when you and I went to Maddox and you left the waitress a 100 dollar tip. Then remember what happened next? That waitress ran outside before we left and was just crying and gave you a hug saying thank you and that that money would fix a flat tire she had had that day or something. You and mom are both so good at that and such great examples with all of the good you do. Thank you for that!

Well I think that wraps up my week. It was a good one! Well have fun down in Vegas this week! Send me some pics! And eat some good food for me! I love you guys! Tell the whole family hi for me!

Love Nick

(Elder Smith had a good day! He illustrated the story of Ammon from

Alma 17 at district meeting. Hopefully you can zoom the pic and read

it! Hilarious! Now he is having dinner at our house and my mom made

Orange jello salad.)