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!
No comments:
Post a Comment