Crazy Weather - 4/20/15

Hello Family! Mom and dad I am glad you both were able to make it
through this week with watching the girls! I knew you would. It does
sound like you both were very busy. Sounds like a ton of fun with the
little princesses. I love those little girls! It sounds like
everything else has been going well for you all. I am glad. Tell
everyone hello for me back home. And mom and dad you both be safe on
your adventure for the next two weeks!  Be safe and have a ton of fun!

Well this week has been a really good week! It started off tuesday
with my doctors appointment. So they did an EEG on me so it is where
they hook up a ton of wires to my head and then I had to sit still for
25 minutes in the dark while it just scanned my head. Then I met with
the doctor and told him everything. He said he would let me know in a
few days if he saw anything in the EEG, but I haven't heard anything
yet. I think I will call them today. He prescribed me some pain
medicine for when it does happen, but I haven't taken any because I
haven't had a bad pain in a little bit. So I will keep you posted.
They also want to give me a CT scan just to see if anything is in
there. I don't think they will find anything in there. It feels pretty
empty if you ask me haha. :)

Then on Wednesday we went up to Leesville to go on exchanges up there.
I brought back to our area Elder Barker. He had served here about a
year ago. He goes home in 2 weeks so there was a lot of  talking about
home in that exchange! :) it was alright though because I worked his
butt off. I love exchanges because we get so much done!! If it werent
for those exchanges we would only teach about 7-9 lessons a week where
as with exchanges we teach about 18-20. So those 2 days I am working
our butts off seeing people. It is so great. So then we ended our
exchange on Friday.

Friday we went to a baseball game to support 2 of our members. Z. and
C. They are still in high school and their team is ranked 1st in the
state right now. it reminded me so much of going to bonnevilles games.
I love it! But while we were there we were able to talk to their
family and get a lot closer to them. Some of them are alittle less
active so we are working to help them get back to church. In fact a
few of them came this sunday! So it doesn't matter where we are we can
still do missionary work. These 2 boys have been one of my main
focuses while here since they are about to choose whether or not they
are going to go on a mission or not. The older one is not sure because
he has a girlfriend, but the younger one wants to. So I figure that if
we spend time with them and show them that missions are fun and worth
it then they will want to go. I think helping someone get out on a
mission is almost as important as baptizing someone. Because if they
go they are going to touch so many lives and help so many people. So
that was a great night.

Then Saturday we did some service and saw our investigators. We have 2
progressing investigators! One is R. He is an older man I tracted into
about a month ago. He is already done with 2 Nephi. We brought our
Ward mission Leader over to his house last night for a lesson and we
committed him to come to church. He finally committed. he is a man of
his word too! Then our other investigator is a member referral named
F. We have already taught her the first 3 lessons. She attended
conference and has not made it to church yet. She is so humble and
teachable. We committed her to live the word of wisdom and she is
keeping it. She wasn't able to come to church this week due to having
to go to the ER the night before due to being extremely sick.. So next
week we are expecting them to be at church. She has a baptismal date
as well for the 2nd. We will see how it goes!

That is pretty much my week right there. It was a good week. We were
busy. We got some good work done. We did have some crazy flooding and
a lot of Tornado watches this week. It was some pretty crazy weather,
but we are safe and sound and the weather today looks great!

Well I know this letter is alittle shorter, but not much went on this
week. I am doing great! Just staying alive. I am happy and healthy
that is all that matters. My testimony is growing everyday. This week
we were able to give about 10 blessings. A lot of people called us
needing them and I am thankful for the opportunity to do that. Oh and
one for thing is there was a Baptism for a member in our ward. His
daughter was baptized. Everytime I witness a baptism I feel the
Spirit. I know it is the first big step we make to become closer to
God.

Well Family I love you! Be safe and be happy! Don't forget to pray and
read your scriptures every singe day! I love you all! :)

Love Elder Smith

Meet The Mormons! - 4/13/15

Hey family! Sounds like another great week back home! It seems like
just yesterday we were emailing and now it is here again! The house
sure is looking good. I am excited to see it. Jacs great job in your
tennis! That is so cool you were able to play on a court that the pros
play on. It wont be too long until you are always playing on those
courts! ;) Keep up the good work. Mom it sounds like you have been
travelin like crazy as usual. Tell Jason good job in his AAU
tournament. I am excited to see him play his senior year! Sounds like
Jane is doing awesome. She is in for a treat with her mission. Dad I
am glad you have been able to hang out in AZ for a week or so. You
always do such a great job on keeping those houses looking great. I am
excited to see them when I get home. Well everyone else I hope you all
are doing great! I love you all so much!

This week has been another busy week as usual. I will just give you a
brief overview of this week. Monday was P-day. Tuesday was District
meeting then after we went out and saw some people. We found a new
investigator this day. Wednesday we drove up to Natchitoches to go to
their district meeting and have an exchange. I stayed up there.
Thursday we drove home early in the morning to a Zone Conference where
President Hansen came up and taught us some things. We had to give an
instruction/ do a role play of the restoration and Book of Mormon.
Then that night we had to go on an emergency exchange with Oakdale so
I went there for the rest of that night. Friday it was a normal day of
missionary work then that night we had Meet the Mormons movie night at
the church. Saturday we had to do our weekly planning and then we went
to a baptism. Then Sunday we had church and then another meeting with
all of our missionaries in the zone with all the ward mission leaders
with our stake president down here in Alexandria at the stake center.
So we had to coordinate that whole meeting. Then that night we went
out and had a member present a lesson with an investigator. Then we
came home and did call-ins with all the district leaders and reported
to the AP's. So as you can see this week was crazy busy.. And the
weird thing is I wasn't stressed out really so that is a huge blessing
in itself. Life of a Zone Leader is pretty crazy, but very rewarding
and fun. I love the missionaries here in this zone. We have the best
zone. I hate to see them struggle.

So this week my letter is going to be a little shorter. I just want to
tell you a few little stories that happened to me this week. First one
is on Tuesday we went over to this less-actives house. She is very old
and doesn't have the best health so that is part of the reason she
doesn't come to church. Well she is a very friendly lady. When we got
there one of her sons was there who I hadn't met. So we started
talking and we found out he was an awesome guy! Well while we were
there they asked us if we were hungry. I hate saying yes, but we said
a little bit. So they were like alright we are going to order you some
pizza. So they order us 2 extra large pizzas and we drove with him to
go get them since we can't be in a house with just a single sister.
While we were there we stayed in the car and he went in to grab them.
When he came back out he was talking about a girl in there that had
just a great spirit about her and a light in her eye. She was just
super friendly and super happy. He told us we should go back after we
had the lesson with him and his mom and talk to her about the gospel.
So we finished the lesson with them. He is excited to be back close to
the church so we are going to work with him. So afterward we go back
and walk in and have no idea what to say so we just go up and start
talking to her. We told her that the guy who had come in to buy the 2
large pizzas said she had a light about her. So we ended up talking to
her and she is very interested. We got her info and invited her to the
Meet the Mormons night. It was awesome! So member missionary work
Works!!!

The next story is when I was up in Natchitoches. We were at their
apartment after District Meeting and there was a guy who randomly
walked behind their house and went down and sat on the dock. There is
a huge canal behind their place. It is way cool! So I grabbed one of
the elders that were there and said alright lets go talk to him. I
also had in my hand a golf club and some chocolate eggs. So we went
down on the dock and started talking to this guy and invited him if he
wanted to hit some of these eggs into the water from the dock. It was
way fun! He didn't want to though so instead we just went over and
started talking to him. Turns out he had been struggling a lot with
some health things and just feeling alone. We ended up teaching him
the whole restoration and he wants to learn more. He said he felt Gods
love for him because he thinks God sent us to go and talk to him at
that moment. I know that was true. See it is cool little stories like
this that I love being a missionary. Just being able to see the Lord
work through us to help his children. Is this guy ever going to come
to church and be baptized? I don't know, but the thing that matters
most is he felt Gods love. And our job as missionaries and as members
of this church is to help others come closer to Christ. That can be
something as simple as showing them a mormon message. I know it is the
small things we all do by being examples that the Lord is going to be
able to hasten his work. He works through us to answer peoples
prayers. That is why it is so important that we always always always
live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is that Gospel? It is having
Faith in Jesus Christ, Repenting, Going to church every single week
and renew our covenants with God through the Sacrament, Following the
Holy Ghost and enduring to the End meaning repeating the steps I have
just listed. The Gospel is so simple. I know we all can do this. And
when we do this I know we are blessed and we are promised that no
matter what comes our way we will be able to overcome it. That is
because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

If I have only been able to learn one thing on my mission thus far it
is that the Atonement is real. I know that we can be forgiven of our
sins and our mistakes. I know that our weaknesses can become strengths
through the enabling side of the Atonement. Peace is found when we use
the Atonement. No matter how far we may feel. No matter what we have
done.  All can be made right because of what our Savior Jesus Christ
has done. This gift is free to all who wants to use it. He has already
died and atoned for us. Now it is up to us to use it so my advise is
USE IT!! How do we use it? Get down on your knees and pray, then get
up on your feet and serve others. I know without a doubt in my heart
that the Atonement is real.

Well family I love you all so much! this letter was a little different
from my other ones, but I want you all to know how important this
Gospel is. We have to prepare for the eternities.

I am doing great! I am excited for this next week. I have a doctors
appointment tomorrow so I will let you know how it goes. I love you
all so much! I know this church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is
true. I love you all again! Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

I Loved Conference! - 3/6/15

Happy Easter Family! I hope you all had a very nice day yesterday and a great weekend with Conference. It is a great time to reflect on the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for him and for everything he has done for all of humanity. The Atonement is the most important event that has ever happened. It is only through Him we will be able to make it back to our Heavenly Father and to be able to live with our Families forever. I loved this conference because a lot of it was about the Atonement. The thing that stood out to me is no matter how far or how lost we may be from the straight and narrow path it is never too late to change and make our way back. So I hope all of us can strike while the iron is hot and make some changes in our lives to become more in harmony with the Holy Spirit. Meaning have a change within us while we felt the impressions of the Holy Ghost. I know I have a lot of things to work on and I know it is only through the Atonement and the help of Jesus Christ to make those changes. I would encourage all of you to listen to the Council our Leaders and Gods spokesmen and women have given us this weekend. I loved Conference!!

Well it sounds like Arizona was a hit as usual for easter. I was thinking about you all so much this past weekend and how I miss you all and am so excited to see you all again! I am glad the easter egg hunt went well with no injuries or anything like that. I loved the pictures you sent me mom. Thanks for them. All of the little kids looked so cute. Tell Jacs great job on her amazing tennis match! That sounds like quite the experience. She is learning so much and now whenever she is in that same situation she will be able to think back and remember that moment and kick it in gear and continue to tear it up! Great job! :) Sounds like everyone else is doing great. Tell everyone hello for me and that I love them all so much! You all be safe this week wherever you are.

Well my week was pretty crazy just like usual. We had a big meeting in Baton Rouge for all of the leadership of the mission. The missionary Department from SLC came in to teach us some new things and there are going to be a lot of changes to the mission. As in the way we teach people and the way we plan. I love the new ideas and have tried to implement them as we are out teaching and finding. Well that meeting was from 9-4 then we had to drive back through Natchez Mississippi to start an exchange with the District Leader over there. So that was a solid 3 hour drive. It was pretty crazy on the drive up there... We were at 300 ft above sea level and our ears were poppin haha. That is the highest I have been while here in Louisiana. :) So we started exchanges thursday and they went until Saturday Morning before conference. 

While on exchanges we had a great lesson with a referral a member gave us. We implemented the new teaching method which is a brief overview of a lesson and then we let them read the rest of it when we leave. Her name was F.  Well the lesson went amazing!! We committed her to be baptized for the 25th of this month. She prayed with us at the end of the lesson and she knew that it was true. She is awesome! We have met with her 2 times and she came to the Sunday Morning Session with us. We are going to work hard with her and try and get her ready for being baptized in 3 weeks. It is crazy, but the Lord blesses us in the most mysterious ways and ways we would never expect. We have barely had enough time to be in our own area this week due to all of the planning and traveling we have had to do, yet he still blesses us and helps us keep the work going forward. I am very thankful for that. Especially because I know We can't do it alone. 

We had another lesson with a new investigator we tracted into last week. We invited a member to come along with us and it was one of the best lessons I have had. He committed to watch conference and pray to know if the church is true. We gave him a copy of the book of Mormon and then 1 day later we came back to check on him and he had already read all of the testimonies and the first 8 chapters. He is legit! So the work is going really well for us even though we only taught 9 lessons this past week. I am thankful for that! 

Then Conference was so incredible... All of the questions I brought and wrote down for conference were answered as well as a lot of questions to my prayers. The biggest questions I have been having lately is for schooling and what I want to do with my life. The answers I got were go to Weber State. I mean Elder Packer even said it in his talk! haha Then go to school and go into medicene and get my pre-med stuff done. Then on the side of that get a business degree. The impressions that came to me is I need to become a Orthopedic Surgeon and then open up my own practice so that is where the business classes will come into play. That is what I need to start studying for now and I feel that is what the Lord would have me do. Then maybe down the road if He tells me to do something different then I will do something different.

I was very thankful for all of the talks this conference and for all of my questions answered. Some of my favorite talks were Elder Eyrings about the Law of the Fast. I guess it was more so a little kick to the face saying I need to pay my fast offerings, but I really liked how he said that Revelation will come only when we do a complete fast. I loved that.

Okay so I don't know about all of you, but to me I think almost every talk had to do with the family or getting married.. I think they are all just trying to trunk out every missionary haha! :) Just kidding. I learned a lot about what I need to do when I do get married some day. Don't worry mom I will wait a little bit, but when I find the right one I am going to pop the question! ;) So with that I loved the talks elder Packer gave and sister Burton, Elder Perry, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Sitati. They all talked a lot about marriage. Then I loved the talk on hope from Elder Clayton. The airplane story he told was such a great example of the principle of hope. I always look at the Atonement as my source of Hope. 

I loved Elder Wilfor Andersens talk about the keep practicing and the indian doctor. He talked a lot about how we need to stay in tune with the Spirit. Then Elder Geral Causse was a great talk about are we taking things for granted now? And how we need to anchor our faith in the simple things of the Gospel. Then of course I loved Elder Hollands talk as well as Elder Uchtdorf. I mean what a way to end that session off right? :) But my most favorite talk from the whole conference was Elder Kevin Pearson about Enduring to the End. I guess it is something that is standing out to me right now with my mission coming to a close. I just have to keep enduring and everything will work out just the way it is supposed to. I really liked also how he said look at Lehi's dream and apply it to me. He gave us 6 things.

1. Don't forget to Pray

2. Come unto Christ and be perfected in him.

3. Press forward with Faith. 

4. Book of Mormon is the key to progress. (Everyday Everyday Everyday READ IT!)

5. Don't be distracted or deceived.

6. Stay by the tree.

If we loose the Spirit we are lost. So if we do these things we will not lose the spirit and we will stay by the tree of life which is eternal life. I loved this!

So that was my favorite talk from conference. We watched it at our Stake center and there were only us 6 missionaries there for the saturday sessions and then some members came for the Sunday session. Dad I missed going to Priesthood with you. I am excited to go to it with you this fall. We only had a few men show up. And yes mom we were able to watch all of the sessions of conference. It was Great! :) But it did make me miss you all a little bit, but that is alright. I will just think of Elder Pearsons talk he gave! 

Well Family I love you all so very much. Thanks for everything you do for me. I miss you all so much and I hope you have a great week! Keep up the great work! I love you!!

Love Elder Smith

Burned Brownies! - 3/30/15

Good Morning Family! :) It is a wonderful day today here in Louisiana.
The sun is out and shining and its pretty humid as usual. It sounds
like a nice day down there in Arizona as well. Dad have you been out
golfing yet? I almost went today again, but decided not to and instead
do a breakfast with the district. It sounds like the week was great
for all of you. Mom and dad I am glad you both were able to get out of
town for a little bit and get out of the wrecking zone. The house
looks pretty torn up. Just think.. Life is kind of like how our yard
is looking right now. All torn up and looks like it is going to be
impossible, but as we learn from the scriptures if we do the small and
simple things and day by day continue to improve and put our house
back together then it is going to end up being perfect. Just like us.
We are going to have struggles and hardships that look impossible and
instead of giving up we push forward taking it step by step and then
we will take a step back and look at the final picture and see what an
amazing creation Heavenly Father has created. That is what God does
with us! There is my analogy of the week for ya! :)

That is so crazy that Jane is now a missionary!! What is her email?
I'd like to send her a congrats email. She is going to be such a great
missionary. It sounds like her setting apart was very spiritual. She
is very lucky as well as all of the Andersen family. So many blessings
are coming their way. She is going to learn so much and enjoy it and
help so many people. And man that is crazy there are now 2
missionaries in the family! It sounds like the rest of the family is
doing great. I am happy for that! It is always a huge blessing each
week finding out how you all are doing back home. I love you all a ton
and think about you every day. Keep up the great work and keep finding
those people ready for the Gospel.

This week has been such a busy week. It consisted of 3 exchanges, Ward
conference, and a lot of lessons and finding. So to start the week off
we had an exchange with the Alexandria Elders. I took elder Castro (He
is one of my district leaders right now) to Pineville. Lets just say
that was probably one of the best exchanges I have had! We first
helped with a move. Then did some finding so tracting and contacting.
Then we went and played some baseball with some kids. Then we went to
Joe and Tori Stocks house for dinner and that is always the best
because they are awesome. I videod his golf swing and gave him some
tips. Then we had an awesome lesson with them. We are reteaching the
lessons to them since they both want to freshen up on the Gospel. I
have learned a lot of awesome object lessons that I am excited to
share with all of you when I get home for Family Home Evenings. Then
after them we went and supported 2 young men we have been working with
on helping them make the decision to go on a mission. We went to their
baseball game. It was so much fun! It reminded me so much of high
school. We are getting really close with them and I think we will be
able to help them make the decision to go on a mission. I really hope
so anyway. Well that was that day.

On Wednesday I went with Elder Davis (Castro's companion.) He is still
a greeny. It was such a fun exchange as well! They are in a biking
area so I biked and man I am so blessed to be in a car area! We really
focused on teaching more with the Spirit and asking inspired
questions. So while we were on our exchange we found out that our
investigator J. had a mini heart attack... And that he was in the
Hospital. So we went over and gave him a blessing. It was really cool
because he told us "Wow, I didn't think yall would come. I now know
you really care." We were like DUH! I love that guy and I want him to
continue to progress. But since he has had that we haven't been able
to teach him except for when we were able to drop off some brownies to
him. Then the rest of that day was fun. Karl took us out to lunch and
that is when he texted you mom. I am doing good! I haven't been able
to get into the doctor still.. They had a problem with our insurance.
They said it doesn't work outside of utah so now I am going to go to a
different doctor and just use mission medical. My Headaches or sharp
pains in my head haven't been as bad this week. I still get them every
now and again.

Alright so the funny/embarrassing story of the week is while we were
making our first batch of brownies I turned the timer on for 30
minutes like the box said, but I guess I just kind of skimmed past how
high to turn the oven on to so I think I did it a little to hot.. The
brownies when the timer came off were smoking!! It was solid black..
Man our apartment stunk so badly. I have a picture.. I'll send it home
to you. It was pretty funny!

Then Thursday Elder Brimhall and I were back together then that night
we drove all the way up to Many Louisiana (Hour and a half drive) and
started our exchange with them. I brought back Elder Sabey with me. We
spent the night in Natchitoches with Elder Smith and Barney. It was a
really good time then in the morning while driving home Elder Sabey
and I stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Man that place is good!
Then when we got home there were two big packages sitting there. Thank
you so much mom and dad for the easter package! Elder Brimhall says
thank you as well! You spoiled us! I have been snacking on all the
candy and healthy treats like crazy! I think since being here I have
gained some weight because of how much we get fed and all of the
driving and how busy we are. I am about to change that! We are
starting to run everyday again. Well anyway back to the exchange.
Elder Sabey and I absolutely killed it together! We taught 8 lessons
within 6 hours and had 7 contacts and 1 new investigator. We did all
of this before a function we had at the church at 6. So the function
was pretty crazy!! It was a wild game night. Meaning everyone bring
the most craziest food they can find. So we ate some crazy food. We
had squirrel, possum, rabbit, garfish, deer, and some weird beef
stuff. It was not that good... haha I like american food better! But
it was a lot of fun!

Then Friday we switched back and elder Brimhall and I got to work. We
met with our Relief society president and went over our whole roster
to get some names to start seeing and working with. It was great. Then
Sunday we had ward conference. Our stake president is so awesome here.
We met with him after church just us and the Sister Training leaders.
It was a good meeting. We told him some things that could help us and
he gave us some things to do to  help the zone and the stake. Then we
had a lunch appointment with an investigator and then dinner that
night with the Sanders! Some of my favorite people. This week was so
busy it was insane. It just flew by. This next week is going to be
great as well!

This week I really focused in my studies about Joseph Smith and the
first vision. I really wanted to grow my testimony more with that. As
well as humility. I felt my testimony grow with both of those topics.
I know Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that God called him to do what
he did. I know if it weren't for him we wouldn't be able to do all the
things we do in the church. I am thankful for the example he was. Well
everyone I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much!
Keep up the good work and don't forget to read your scriptures and
pray EVERY day! Love you!

Love Elder Smith


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