"The Best Week Of My Life!!!!" - 10/20/14

Hello there my wonderful, amazing, best family in the world! :) How is everyone doing? It sounds like another great week back home in good old Utah. Have you got any snow yet? Mom and dad it sounds like a ton of good missionary work is going on back home! Keep up the good work. I am pretty excited for the Phoenix Temple. All of us as a family are going to have to go to the temples where ever we travel from now on. That would be so awesome! I am glad you made it back safe and sound from Arizona. That is going to be fun going down there again as a family. I love that trip! Well that is exciting about the house! I don't know if I am getting your pictures you are sending of the house. I hope it continues to go great and that the hole they are digging works out. Sounds kind of stressful! That is also exciting about the boy's houses getting close to being finished. It is going to be so awesome all of us being within 5 minutes of each other. Now there are no excuses for us all to have a ton more get togethers! Tell all of my cute nieces and nephews hi for me and that I can't wait to tease them all when I get back! And I hope Jacques foot continues to heal. She is a fighter so I know she will get back right into the swing of things with a new fire and motivation. Our family is just the best! We all are fighters and we don't get knocked down easily. So everyone continue to move forward! I love you all!

So I know you all are dying to hear about my week. So I will drag this letter on all the way to build up some suspense! ;) haha. To start the week off you all know about last Monday and how we were on lockdown due to the weather. Well it turns out there was a tornado watch going on in our area! So that was pretty legit! Anyway on Tuesday we had district meeting and it went great as usual. Our Zone Leaders came and attended. It was a great meeting and we all left with more motivation and a better desire to work harder. After district meeting Elder Murhula, one of our Zone leaders from the Congo, came with me on exchanges. We visited a few people and had a great time! Then that night we had scheduled to go over to W. D. S. house to do the interview with him for his baptism. We got there at 7 and I felt we needed to read a passage from the Book of Mormon talking about what W. would be doing. So we turned to one of my favorite chapters in the book of Mormon and started reading. It was Alma 7. The whole chapter. What we do with W. is we read about 3 verses then while we are reading he highlights words he does not know or things he does not understand. So we thought it would be just a little 15 minute or so lesson... Well it turned out to be an hour. He totally was understanding everything we were saying. It was so awesome because as we were reading he wouldn't understand a lot and ask what certain words meant and to be honest I didn't know what half of them meant or how to explain them. But we both just opened our mouths and the Spirit was there and he totally understood everything. It was a great lesson on the Atonement and about our purpose which is to have faith in Jesus Christ, then we must Repent, and be Baptized. We then will receive the Holy Ghost. After that we must press forward and endure to the end to be saved. One thing we brought up is instead of Endure to the End which sounds negative we changed it and said Endure to the Eternities. Because that is what we are doing. After the amazing lesson Elder Murhula interviewed him while I played with S.. (W.'s son.) The interview was great! I was able to hear a little bit of it because they did it in the kitchen. After the interview Elder Murhula said he is beyond golden! It is so true! So that ended that night. What a great night!

Well then the Next day which is Wednesday we had a Zone Conference in New Orleans. President Hansen and Sister Hansen came down and taught us. The highlight of that meeting for me was we were able to watch MEET THE MORMONS!!! Holy cow is that a great movie or what! I wish I could have watched it 3 more times after we watched it once. It was such a great movie. My favorite quote from the movie was the guy from Napel who said "I am not perfect, but I am perfect at trying". I love that quote. It goes for everything in this life we do. We all will make mistakes and fall short, but we are lucky enough to partake of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for that. After the conference we went to some awesome member’s house. The Marlatts. They fed us some great food and we had a good time. After we had our Coordination meeting with our Ward mission leader. It was a really good day! 

Thursday we went and saw W. at work and taught him a few more principles and helped answer his questions. He was having some concerns about what if he cannot live all of the principle of the Gospel. He was afraid he would be killed if he didn't live everything. We assured him he would not be killed! We let him know how we are all not perfect and we all will fall short of becoming perfect, but we have to be willing to Change. That is the whole concept of Jesus Christ’s atonement. In the Cambodian language atonement means to change. I thought that was pretty cool. So by the end of the lesson W. was super pumped to be baptized! He also then asked if I would baptize him. I was honored he asked me. And of course I told him yes! haha After we went to the Kennedy's home for dinner and to practice teaching the lessons to them. Elder Puefua did the whole lesson by himself. He is the man!! He has changed so much since the beginning. That is one thing our Zone leaders really told me after our exchange is the huge improvement in him. He is a great kid and he really knows how to follow the Spirit. 

Then Friday we saw some less active members and had dinner with a member. It was a good day... Well have I dragged this letter on long enough for ya?? ;) haha

Now for Saturday. This is October 18th. The scheduled day for W. to be baptized. We started the morning off with going out and finding a referral from brother Perilloux in Gonzales and doing some service. I can't think of a better way to start the day off than service! After we took some time to prepare for the baptism. We had the programs made and called people to inform them about W. getting baptized. Then we got to the Church at 6 and W. sends us a text that just says 'hi'. it was pretty funny! Then he told us he was on his way and he got off work early to get ready. He then got to the church and was so happy! He just wanted to go get baptized right then and there! No one was there yet so we told him we had to wait until people showed up so we could do the program. We then took some pictures. Well it was about 7:12 and only 1 person had shown up! The Baptism started at 7:15. I was freaking out! Then people finally showed up. I was a little bumbed though because hardly anyone showed up. There were probably 10 people. But that didn't bother W. He was so excited. Then the program started and we had a talk on Baptism given by Sally Voisin. After,  Elder Puefua talked about the Holy Ghost. He did a great job! Then it was time for the ordinance to happen. W. and I got up and went to the font. The water was nice and warm! :) The baptism was amazing. I haven't felt the Spirit as strongly as I did as when he came out of the water. We only had to do it once too so I didn't mess up! :) haha. After he was so happy. He just said he had so many emotions. That is the Spirit I told him. He then said I know. After he got up and bore his testimony in front of everyone. He was very nervous, but he did such a great job! 

His Testimony was simple and sweet. He told us about how he had ran away from his country because of how bad it was there. He left and lived in a bunch of different countries. He was afraid and didn't know what to do so one day he prayed and asked God for help and what he needed to do. The next day someone from the USA embassy got in contact with him and helped him come to America. He doesn't know how it happened, but he just said God knew. Once he was here he found his sister and then came to Georgia and then ended up in Louisiana. Then again one night he and his sister prayed to God to find out about religion. Then the very next day we knocked on his door. He said right then he knew it was a sign from God. W.'s whole family is against him and that really worried him. He said he didn't know about getting baptized, but then he knew he had to because he needed to follow God. He knows it is the adversary going against him, but he said he is going to be stronger and follow God. He is the man!!

Then Sunday he was confirmed by one of the members of our bishopric. W. had to work that day so he got up extra early to get to work so he could leave and come to sacrament meeting to pay his tithing and also be confirmed a member of this church and receive the Holy Ghost. After Sacrament he received the Priesthood. He is just on top of the world right now! I am so happy for him. I am happy and honored Heavenly Father let me be a part of his conversion. It was so amazing to see his hands work through mine. This Gospel is soo true you guys. It changes lives. No matter how down we are or how bad things can be, Jesus Christ can lift us up. But he will not do it for us. We have to put forth faith and hard work. Everything will be made right one day. I know this to be true! W. is living proof. 

Well family it was a great week! I am looking forward to go out and find other sheep as well! And also help W. along with his progress. Thank you all for your prayers. I have felt the strength from you all. I love you soo much and have a great week alright!! I love you guys!!!

Love Elder Smith

ps Dad that is so awesome you wrote another book! I had no idea!! Please do send me out some of the new one and also maybe like 2 or 3 of the Spanish ones as well if you have any. There are some Spanish people I know that would love it!!

pss I hope our emails work today!!

psss I am soo happy!!! :)

Some Crazy Weather!! - 10/13/14

Hey there family! It sounds like you had a great week down in California and also with the house project! That is really good. Hey when you guys were in Disneyland and you ate at the Cajun place what did you guys get? Did you get any Crawfish or Catfish? Some Gumbo maybe or Jambalaya? I am excited to try different places back home to see the difference and see if they compare at all to the real deal of Louisiana cookin! 

Man that is sad about little Jacques foot. I hope that she isn't too bummed out that she wasn't able to play this past weekend. It is smart though to get her foot all the way better. And hey everything happens for a reason so try and find the positive in the whole situation. :) Everything else seems like it is going well back home. The pickle ball action looks fun! You better play it a lot because the snow is coming! :)

 Speaking of crazy weather. So yesterday for P-Day we went to New Orleans to a big mall that has the Apple Store in it. I really wanted to see the new iPhones. And also I was helping the member who’s laptop had been broken by the missionaries to get it replaced for a good deal.. Well that was a lot of fun and the new phones look so sweet! The 6 Plus is too big for me though. I liked the 6. Technology is getting so crazy! But anyway when we came back the weather started to change and look pretty bad. It looked as if a tornado was about to hit. The skies were really black and dark. Then we were getting texts from the Mission Office and our Zone leaders saying we were going to get some bad weather and to be extra careful. So we made it back and did some grocery shopping. Then finally we made it to the Library, but right when I logged on and started reading the emails we had 4 different texts come in from our President to our zone leaders saying we were now on lockdown because of the weather. Then they told us all to return to our apartments and stay in for the remainder of the night. I was bummed because I wanted to talk to you guys yesterday, but oh well. The weather ended up getting really bad. It was raining like crazy and there were some floods. With this rain if you were to walk outside for just 1 second you would be drenched from head to toe just like if you were to jump into a pool. It was a lot of fun! So that was pretty much our night. Pretty exciting!

Well this week was a pretty slow week for us. We did a lot of finding and not so much teaching, but that is alright because you have to find the people first before you can teach them right? :) So we did a lot of store contacting and some tracting. We received a few referrals as well so that is always a good thing. Since it was a slower week we really had a lot of time to spend with our progressing investigator W. Which is a really good thing. So last week we taught him the Law of Tithing and before I was very nervous about what his thoughts would be. I was thinking that it could make or break him. So we begin teaching and at first he didn't know what tithing meant so we told him it is 10% of what we make and give it back to God. And he said Oh yeah! I remember this and I know all about it. He said that it all made total sense and that he would do it! We were so pumped! The only thing he said is his wife is not going to like it at all. So we are hoping and praying that her heart will soften. Since that lesson went so well and fast we were able to teach him 5 other principles. Then our next lesson we taught him about the Law of Chastity and he was like "that is easy! I am married." So no worries there. Then we were able to go over the baptismal questions and he did really well. So tonight I am going on exchanges with our Zone leaders to go over to his house and give him his interview. Normally I would do the interview as being District Leader, but since I am the one teaching him he has to be interviewed by someone else. Which is a good thing. So that is tonight at 7:15. If he passes then we will get all of the information and make the arrangements for his baptism! I am so excited! All of the hard work and the long bike rides to get to his place are starting to pay off haha. But I also have to remember that everyone has their agency so if something does happen or if he feels as if he is not ready then that is okay. I really feel like he is ready though. He really has changed and has really tried to keep the word of wisdom and stop drinking coffee and tea. He has already given up beer and smoking. He also decided he wanted to fast this past Sunday for strength. He is really nervous that once he is baptized that all of his family will turn against him. He knows that is going to happen, but he said that it is just Satan trying to bring him down. So keep him in your prayers and I hope that everything goes through and he is able to be baptized! So that will be something that y’all can look forward to next Monday! :)

Something else that was pretty cool this week was we had another 8 year old baptism. His name is Adam and it is Melodie Blacks son. The reason it was cool is because we were the ones teaching him  and getting him ready for baptism. Then he asked if I would be a witness for his baptism. That was really cool and I really enjoyed doing that and partaking in a sacred ordinance. Also W. D. S. came with his son both to church and then to the baptism afterwards. He loved it and it really made him excited for next Saturday. Also his son S. is loving church. He has a lot of little friends. During the baptism all the little kids came up and sang while they were changing and he ran up with them to sing. It was funny because he had no idea what the words were so he just stood there. He is my little best friend! He always sits by me in sacrament and we play tic tack toe and different games to keep him a little more entertained since it is hard for a 5 year old to sit quietly for that long. He also loves the magic tricks! It is fun do magic tricks to all of the little kids because they try so hard to figure it out and then at the end I teach them all and they then go home and do it to their parents and friends. Now they all are coming to church with different tricks that they have and are so happy to show them to me. It is fun!

Elder Puefua is doing great! We are getting along so well. We have really started to kick up our exercises in the morning. We get up 30 minutes early to start. He has lost a lot of weight and I am maintaining. We both just feel so much better!

So for my whole mission at the beginning of each month when we get paid I take out 20 bucks just to save. Sometimes more and sometimes less. But I have saved around $700 also from the money people send me. So with that I decided to take some of it out and go buy myself something nice. So I went and bought a Garmin Running Watch. It is a Forerunner 10. It tracks how far I run and my pace. It is soo nice! I love it! I have used it every day. It was $120 so pretty spendy, but I really will use it. And I tried something else with it. I turned it on while riding my bike just to see if it would tell us how far we bike and it does! So now I will have an accurate distance so I can tell you how far we bike! My guess is 20-30 miles a day or so. So hopefully I can come home in really good shape because Jen and Dave are going to help train me for a triathlon and marathon! I am excited! :)

Well I want you all to know that every one of you are in my prayers. I miss you guys so much and love you very much!! I am doing great down here! The work is going pretty well right now. I am excited and am really enjoying it. I am excited for tomorrow because we are going to be able to watch Meet the Mormons at our Zone Conference with the mission president! I think our mission got a copy of it. I hear it is soo good! That is a great missionary tool so hopefully all of you guys can invite some friends to go! :) Well everyone have a great week! Be safe and good luck mom and dad with the house! I'll keep that in my prayers too! :) I love you all so much!!!

Elder Smith

Wonderful General Conference! - 10/6/14

Hey how about that General Conference family? :) Man that was just the best ever! I hope you were able to watch all of it as I was able to. The whole time I was just thinking about mom and dad where you would always sit while we would be watching conference. Mom was probably on the green couch with her pink blanket and dad was either in the green chair in the back or in his bedroom on his thrown! (chair).;) That sounds a whole lot more comfortable than where we were at. We watched all of the sessions (Including Priesthood) at the church. We had some pretty uncomfortable chairs, but hey it is conference so who cares! ;) All of the talks were so good. Right now I am listening to them as I write you. I just listened to President Eyrings talk and yes mom when he told the story about the curfew I could just see you watching and bawling haha! :) There were so many good talks that I can't pick my favorite. I loved Uchtdorfs, all of Monsons, Eryings, Nelsons, Ballards, and then to end it off Elder Bednars! Elder Bednars was the coolest talk. Mostly because when it came on we had some investigators at the church house with us. And right when he said he was going to direct the message to the people who are not members of our church they all sat up and it was just the best! I am excited to share this talk with a ton of people. 

One really cool thing is for Priesthood session all of the men got to the church at 6 to have pizza. Then guess who showed up! W. D. S.! He really enjoyed it. He keeps saying how he wishes he could go to church every week. His sisters went to the Voisins house with all of the girls to do nails and they loved it. They said that the sisters don't have any friends here in America, but now they do. Then after the session we had root beer floats. W. really enjoyed the session. He loved the Prophet. We are going to go over and talk with him more this week about it. This week we are going to be teaching them about Tithing. This one could be a tough one. Last week we taught him about how families can be eternal. We brought with us the sister missionaries and also Sister Voisin. We started teaching and we went over temples and family history work and everything like that. Then out of the blue W.'s sister N. stopped us and said that the night before she was praying to God about her brother that died a few years ago. She was really close with this brother. She said she didn't know what happened to him and she wanted to know if she could ever be with him again. Then the very next day we show up at their door and talk about it. She said she knows that it was God answering her prayers. I was soooo pumped!! It was awesome to see the Lord using us to be his hands and mouth. W. is having difficulties with his wife right now. It is kind of bringing him down, but he knows that it is Satan trying to keep him from doing something so good. So we have been helping him with that. So he is still really progressing really well. It is looking good for the 18th! Keep us and him in your prayers!

Well it sounds like all of you are doing great! Ryan happy birthday man! I hope it was a great day. And also tell little Sophie happy birthday for me and that I love her new outfit. :) She is growing up like crazy..  And man the house looks so different!! It is sooooo crazy! It is looking good and I can't wait for the finished product! Keep on sending out pictures. I love getting them and they are looking so great! I hope you all are doing great back home! Keep staying happy and healthy! Mom and dad I am glad you both are so dedicated right now with the diet and exercise! That is the way to be! Oh my goodness tell Jen and Dave congrats on qualifying for Boston!!!!! That is so exciting! That is a true example of hard work and motivation. When do they go out to Boston to do the race? Hopefully they will be running when I get back and then we all could go as a family to support them! That would be so legit! Hey how is little Jacques foot feeling? I hope it is doing better. I bet it is killing her and Dave that she isn't able to play right now. Well everything happens for a reason. Every trial makes us stronger. 

Well my week wasn't too exciting. Pretty slow with teaching people. We had a ton of meetings. Wednesday we had one, then Friday, and then both Saturday and Sunday were conference. So yeah pretty busy week with meetings, but not so much with teaching. This week is going to be a lot better I can tell. One thing I hope that gets better is is our food! We have had Pizza for the past 4 days again. I feel so sick... Today I am going for a big, long run. Elder Puefua has been really dedicated to working out this week. We have been getting up at 6 to run and do different workouts. He is loosing some weight as well as myself. Hey I did go buy some protein though on the home card. Just so ya know! I bought both of them on my card and he has paid me back. But anyway I am wanting to get in really good shape. I mean right when I get home it is going to be Prime boating season!! So I at least got to look good for that ya know? :) Even though people won't even be able to see me because of how white I am going to be! :) 

Oh yeah another cool thing was in between the Sunday Conference sessions we had a baptism. A members son who had just turned eight was baptized. It was cool because we were the ones to teach him all of the lessons. It is the Munsons Grandson named Cameron. He was so happy! He had a  big o'l smile on his face when he came out of the water. Then right after we confirmed him and gave him the Holy Ghost. He asked if I would stand in on the circle. So that was cool! Then Next Sunday there will be another baptism for a members Son. It is Adam Black. Melodie's son. We have been teaching him as well and he has asked if I would be one of his witnesses for when he gets baptized. I am excited! He is even more excited though! I love kids and their testimonies. They are so simple, but so good. It is pretty cool that even an 8 year old kid can understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It just goes to show how Heavenly Father really loves kids and because of that he has made his Gospel easy enough for them to understand it. Then hopefully the following week we will have another baptism with W. D. S.! :) We have invited him to come to the baptisms so he could see what would be happening. He has just been so busy with work that he hasn't been able to. He is going to be okay though! 

Well family I truly love you all! You all are the best. I am so thankful for all of the love and support you have given to me over the years and especially out here on the mission. Keep doing good and follow the council of the Prophet and the Apostles and everything will work out in your life. Keep being the great missionaries you are and keep on Smilin!!! Love you guys!! 

Love Elder Smith

PS sorry to hear about the cougars dad and Dave. I bet that was a tough one. Don't let it bring you too down! Remember that the church is still true! :) haha

pss I love you mom

psss I love you dad