43 Service Hours And A Miracle! - 2/24/14

Hey there my awesome family? How are y'all? Sounds like mom and dad you are enjoying some sun. Yup this time of year is the best that's for sure, but that great weather is about to end. It is about to get really hot down here in the South. Do you know what that means? Sweat, sweat, sweat. haha. And a lot of bugs and mosquitoes. Oh well. at least it is warmer than good ol Utah! So i am glad Florida went so great. I loved the pictures and that video of Jane worked great! man she is getting good.  And Jacque is looking awesome!  Blasting the ball!  And Jane blew me out of the water. She is getting so much better. The coach she was with seemed awesome. Had a sweet voice. The other girls looked so cute with their frozen dresses. All I have heard about that movie is it is so good. And that is funny about the little kids starting to hit. I could just picture little Boston popping Ryan. That is what he gets for teaching those boys to fight! I miss those little ones. They are all starting to grow up and change. It is crazy. 

That is awesome about the Florida stakes getting a temple. The work is moving forward that is for sure. The church must be true if all of us 18-22 year olds haven't messed it up yet. We were talking about that the other day with a member. It is true and awesome how Heavenly Father puts so much trust in the youth of this world. Not just with missions, but with the Sacrament as well. It is really cool. 

Dad don't you worry about me being sad or homesick about the car show. I am only sad that you didn't get to go!! I don't care about that stuff right now. All I know is I "call" driving the new G-Wagon home from the airport when I get home! haha. We have seen a couple really nice cars in Downtown. Like a brand new Maserati. It is awesome. 

Man I can't believe Bryson has left. Yeah mom I am glad we are here instead of back at that position. I was looking back through some of the letters you sent me when I first was off and I found the picture of all of us in the huddle and us hugging and that brought back some very bitter sweet moments. The cool thing about a mission though is it teaches you how to say goodbye. I mean leaving your family and then when you are out here and you get transferred and you have to say goodbye to the people you have grown to love. It is tough, but it is such a good learning experience. I have heard from Bryson and he said he was loving it! So that was really good. He is going to be a great missionary. And I will remember to keep Bridger in my prayers. I will write him up today and see how he is doing. 

I am glad everything else is going so well back home. Get Away is busy as ever. That is good to hear. I mean it better be with how much y'all travel!! :) haha I don't blame you. The beach sounds super nice. Soak up some sun for me. 

Well now for my week. It was another INCREDIBLE week full of service and teaching and miracles. To start off we had 43hrs of service this week. That is a new record. We had an awesome thing happen this week. So we got a call on Tuesday from a man and he said he found a backpack and in it was a book of Mormon with our number in it. This bag had like $300 worth of money in it. And the name on the bottle was R. So we thought it could be our investigator. He is named R. and he is in a wheel chair and doesnt have the best health. He is also very hard of hearing so that makes our lessons very difficult! But anyway we told him we could come pick it up from him and give it to R. This man lived on the other side of the river just up Canal Street (which is the main street of downtown). So we called and received permission to cross the river and get this bag. We met up with the Downtown elders to go over and talk to this guys about the gospel. It went great. We talked for a little bit and asked if we could do anything for him and help him out at all. He seemed really interested in the Gospel so who knows we may have planted a really good seed. The Elders over there are teaching him. So we pack up and start on our trek back home to R. to give him this bag. Well we get there and we are so excited because we wanted to surprise him. We gave it to him and it turns out it was not even his.... So now we are stuck with this backpack with no number or anything. So we are going to turn it into the Sheriffs. Then after that we taught R. the plan of Salvation. It was a great lesson even though we don't think he could hear half of it. We seriously are yelling at him. It is too funny, but we committed him to read and pray to know if it is true. He then asked if he could come to church again and he did. It was great! We had a lesson with him at the church before church started because we got there so early. We asked if he prayed and if he read and he did. He said he still has not received the witness he wants. So we are working for March 15th for his Baptism. He is willing to work for that and he is really excited. Now this week we are going to go over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and also the Word of Wisdom. My teaching skills are getting better and better. It has been so good training because it has forced me to take the lead and to teach a lot. I love it. 

Elder J. and I have been getting along really well. We are best buds! I think we will stay with each other for another Transfer. At least I am hoping.  Maybe till he gets his visa.  That means I would be here in Algiers for 2-3 more transfers. I will have served almost half of my mission here. Which I am fine with, but I do want to have at least 3-4 areas. That would be really cool. 

So last letter I told y'all about sister M. and how we gave her to the sisters, but we would still go over and walk her dogs and give her Spiritual thoughts. It has been going really well. Better than what I thought. I am very happy about that. 

We still are painting 2 houses and looking for more service opportunities to help and plant seeds. It has been so great though I love it. Last night we went over to a members house for dinner and she made homemade king cake. It is a cake they make during Mardi Gras. (Which has already started pretty much). They have had a bunch of parades and different things. We are hoping we get to go to one. That would be awesome! A clean one don't worry! haha. They throw out beads for people and just celebrate. It is really fun. 

Well that is about it for this week. I can't really think of anything else major that happened. I am loving life and loving the mission! I feel like I am becoming more and more converted to the Lord and to this work everyday. My testimony is growing so much. I love the people down here. I am thankful for my area and how it has been hard, because it has taught me how to deal with disappointments and also how to find joy in the small and simple things. Well I love y'all so much and I hope y'all have a great week! Keep up the great work and remember these are the days never to be forgotten. I love y'all!!

Love Elder Smith

This Week Has Been A Huge Testimony Builder For Me! - 2/17/14

Hey y'all! How is everyone doing this week? Happy Anniversary mom and dad!! Man.. another week down already. It is crazy to think just last week we were talking by email and then nearly 7 months ago we were talking face to face. Time sure does fly when you are having fun! Well mom it doesn't sound like you are having too much fun this week..I am sorry about that. Being sick isn't to much fun. Hopefully the rest of the family hasn't gotten it. Dad you better wear a mask or something haha. So y'all are going to Florida again hey? So you flew over me a couple days ago. That is pretty cool. You'll have to take some pictures and videos of the girls playing tennis. Oh FYI all the pictures you sent went through! So you can send multiple pictures all you want. Oh and Happy Valentines day! I received your package mom and dad and also Grandmas and Jills! Thank you very much. I love the dog. And dad thank you for your journal entries. It is funny to think that like 100 years ago you were in my same spot! haha just kidding you're not that old. :) Oh and thank you for those books on your new car. That thing is so sweet! Can't wait to wash it and go for a little cruise. Thanks again for everything you guys send out to me. I love it. It makes my day.                                                                                
 
Man I can't believe Bryson is leaving this week. I am so excited for him. He is going to be a great missionary. He really is like my brother from another mother. He wrote me telling me how the boat show had just passed and it brought back some good times. Well how is the rest of the family doing? Hopefully everyone is doing great.                                                            

Well This past week was amazing! First off I finally was able to go out and GOLF!! Lets just say I was pretty rusty! The clubs I used were from like the 70's and the putter was homemade. It was not on line to say the least. So I got up to the ball on the first tee with my 1970's big burtha driver and I swung and guess where it went? Yep you got it.... Straight down the left rough only about 50 yards. I swung out of my shoes and almost missed it!! haha. I took a mulligan for sure. Then my next one I crushed. Unfortunatly I crushed it right into the Mississippi river... haha. Then I was able to start playing. We only played nine. By the end I was driving the ball over 300. My wedges were on fire. I was sticking them tight. But then I would pull out the putter and blast the ball past the hole or it would hit off of the club and go straight right. It was a blast. We had so many laughs. We were able to count it as service hours because a member and his son invited us to come out and give them pointers and a lesson. By the end of the day they both were hitting it a lot better. Instead of topping the ball and hitting it 10 yards they were topping the ball and hitting it 12 yards!! Huge improvement huh! haha just kidding. So that was on Saturday then the Friday before we were invited by Brother Neil to go to the World War 2 Museum. So we called and got permission and went with him. It was so much fun. Then after he fed us some good food. Dad I think you would really enjoy that place. It is pretty cool.

Alright so this week started out super cold and then today it is now about 75. It feels great. We worked out this morning after studies for 2 hours and then ran to the Library. It feels so good out side. I have been hitting the weights hard. Still trying to eat healthy, but it is hard. All the members feed us really good things, but those good things have 6 cubes of butter in them and tons and tons of sugar! Oh well. So on Monday we helped a new member move into his house. He is a really cool rich guy from Texas. He took us out after. Then on Tuesday we had meetings all day until about 5. It was a long boring day. Then on Wednesday we had the Phillips for dinner. It was such a great fun night. He is Cajen. I want his accent. It is a deep southern accent. I have been working on it, but lets face it.. I am just a little white boy from Ogden Utah. Then On thrusday we had Interviews with our President. Man I love that guy. I was able to talk to him about some of the concerns I have and also about Sister M. I have been praying so hard about her and what would be best for her. The impression I keep getting is since she is a single sister Elder J and I are not able to enter into her house unless we have another Male present. So it is really hard to teach her. Everytime we have taught her it has been on her front porch, but it has been too cold to do that lately. So I have felt really impressed to let the Sister Missionaries start teaching her and then we will still stop by and walk her dogs and do service and give her spiritual thoughts. It has been one of the hardest things ever, because I love her to death and I want to teach her, but I feel like this would be the best thing for her. So I asked President Wall about it and what I have been feeling and he told me to get Sister M and the sister missionaries together and Pray and Ask what would be the best thing for sister m. So we are going to do that this week.

Another really cool thing that happened after interviews I had an impression to stop by a members house who had been in the hospital a few weeks ago. So we stopped by and she told us how she has not been feeling well and she has really been wanting a Priesthood blessing, but she didn't want to bother us because she knew how busy we were. So when we showed up she was just in tears. She asked if I could give her the Blessing and It was one of the most Spirit felt blessings I have ever given. I don't even remember what I said, but I remember the feeling I had. It was such an amazing experience.

Then another miracle that happened was we have been trying to see this man named R. He was an investigator when I first got here and we have seen him off and on for my whole time here then for about 3 months we were not able to see him because he wouldn't answer his door. He is really hard of hearing and in a wheel chair. So he has his tv up really loud to hear it and we don't think he could hear us knocking so I had come up with an idea to leave a note on his door asking him if he could hear us when we knock and if he wanted us to keep coming by. And I told him to leave a note on the door and we would check back the next day. So on Wednesday we went back to check and to our surprise there was a note. I was so excited so I rushed up to his door, but the note was not for us. It was for someone else... I was bummed so we knocked and there was no answer. So after interviews on Thursday and after the blessing we were riding home to go get lunch and I felt again that we should try and knock on his door again. I decided to listen to this prompting the first time so we went and to our surprise he answered the door!! He let us in and we had an incredible lesson with him on the Restoration. He told us how he felt so bad we kept missing him. Then during the lesson it went unbelievable. The Spirit was so strong. He asked if he could come to church this Past Sunday and We extended the invitation to be baptized.. And guess what... He said YES!!! He is so interested and he wants to learn more and more and be baptized. We are going to work for March 8th. We picked him up for church on Sunday and he loved it and felt the Spirit really strongly. We are so pumped. I am so pumped. It  just goes to show how you never give up and you listen to the promptings of the Spirit. So keep him in your prayers that everything works out great. We are going to teach him all of the discussions these up coming weeks. He has to attend church 3 times before he can be baptized. I am praying everything will work out just great.

My week has been great! We are starting up playing basketball every tuesday night with anyone who wants to come. It was cool. This past week we had 3 investigators come from the westbank. We are wanting to grow it a ton so we can show people we are just normal people who love to have fun.

Also on Sunday the first councelor of the branch presidency invited us over for lunch with his family and the Paey family. They are two of the coolest families down here. They are younger and they are just so chill. They Really make the day go by easier. They joke with us and it is honestly like I am hanging out with Ryan, Daniel and Dave. We just talk and tell jokes and have so much fun together. I am excited to be that way with the missionaries when I get home.

Well this week has been a huge testimony builder for me. I know without a doubt in my mind that this gospel is true. I love it, I live it. I want others to feel this same way and The Lord has helped me a lot this week with that. Elder J is like a brother to me. We get along so well. He is a great kid. Well mom and Dad Thank you for your emails. I am so happy I am able to make you proud. That is all I want, but just know I am not doing this mission for you. I am doing it for me because I love it. It is so flippin hard, but it is sooooo worth it. And It shouldn't be easy. Why should it be easy for us when it wasn't for the Savior. Salvation is not a cheap experience. I love it out here though.  So whenever life gets us down we just need to remember that. Well I am doing great!! I am not having a P-day today because I feel like Saturday was kind of our P-Day. So we are going to go out and work. Work Work Work. That is the success to missionary work. Well I love y'all so much! I keep y'all in my prayers everyday. I love you guys and I hope you have a great trip! Return with honor and Enjoy the journey! Love ya!
 
Love your son
Elder Nick Smith

PS. That is so awesome about Hailey!!! You will have to call her and tell her congrats from me! I feel bad I have been so busy lately that I haven't wrote her for like a month and a half. I sent a letter out on Saturday so it should get there tomorrow.

PSS. Tell the girls to go kick some chicken!!

PSSS. I love yall!!

PSSSS Mom get feeling better!!

PSSSSS Dad make mom some soup! haha And thank you for your letter! I love you and miss yall!!
  

A bike...a Puddle = Trouble! - 2/10/14

Hey y’all! How is my amazing family doing? Sounds like you are all doing great. That is what I like to hear! Sound’s like it is nice and chilly still. Well this week it finally started to get a little warmer. It is about 70 today and it feels amazing!! I am glad I am here for this time of the year because back home I always disliked January-April. It was always so cold! haha.

Well that is just crazy about little Dreydan. That truly is a miracle. That just goes to show how much Heavenly Father loves us. As I read that it made me think about how things happen even when we are doing the right things. Like you and Dad were on your way to the temple. Think if you had decided not to go that day then you would not have been able to put his name in the temple. It just goes to show how Heavenly Father works through us to help improve our faith and our relationship with him. I know that when we go to the temple we are blessed. It is kind of cool too because I was able to go to the temple last Saturday and I put everyone’s names in. I am glad everything was okay and that he is happy and well. And it is also cool how Heavenly Father watches over your family while you are serving him. That has been one of the biggest things I have worried about while I have been out here. I pray every day for y’alls safety and that we will be able to see each other again. He has helped me so much and comforted me through this journey.

I am glad you guys were able to go to Bryson’s farewell. He has been the best friend to me and like my brother. We have been writing and right now we would be going to the boat show and getting so excited to go out boating. We told each other no matter what we are doing we are going to go boating when we get back. I am so excited for that! He is the man. He is going to be such a great missionary! I wish he was coming to Louisiana though! That would be crazy. Hopefully you can send me over his farewell video. I want to see it. And that is awesome about all of the kids who have received their calls. I sure am glad I left when I did. I am very glad we were able to start this journey in the summer and not now. It is crazy how fast time has been flying though. I can't believe I hit 7 months this month. It has just flown by. I have really enjoyed training. Especially this early in the mission. I like being older than my companion. And that I have already experienced what he is going through.  It just makes it feel like time goes by even a little faster because I have been through everything he is now going through. He has been doing so well though. He is staying positive. One thing we have been trying to do is to do one fun thing every day. So what we have started to do is during our lunch break we go outside and throw the football for a little bit. It reminds me of doing that with Dan and Ryan. It is so much fun. I showed him the game where we throw the ball behind our backs and catch it and do that again. It is so much fun. We get along so well. We have been working our Butts off. Pardon my French... It has been really hard this week with the cold weather.

Oh yeah.... I have some bad news... This week was the first time in 6 months that I crashed on my bike..... So we were coming home from seeing a referral, investigator, and member. It was 8:45pm and it was a 20 minute bike ride home. It was freezing outside and had been raining. So there were puddles everywhere. We were riding on this road called Tullis. It is a long road with no sidewalks so we were riding on the road. Then I noticed there were 2 huge puddles in front of me and a car behind me so I couldn't cut out into the road so I decided to go up on the grass. I was flyin too. Then when the car passed I tried to cut back into the road and dodge the second puddle. That’s when I hit mud about a foot before the curb. My tire sunk in and then I hit the curb and it slung shot me off my bike right into the middle of the road. I was blessed that there were no cars coming and that I was wearing my helmet. So I wrecked up my knee and my hands pretty good. And the worst part about it was I landed right in the puddle... It was like 30 degrees outside with humidity so that was just the cherry on top... It was the coldest bike ride home by far. Luckily I didn't get hurt or break anything. So I jumped right up, said I am an idiot, and then got right back on my bike and started going again! haha. That is kind of like life. When we get knocked down we have 2 choices. 1. Stay down and quit and stop pushing forward. Or you can do what I did and get up laugh it off even though it hurt like crazy, jump back on that bike and get going again. It was pretty sweet! I felt so dumb though because my companion was in front of me like a mile and he looked back and was wondering what I was doing. I didn't tell him until we got home. I have been trying to let him take the lead so he can get the area down. He is doing really well.

This week we were able to teach sister M. again and it went great. We walked her dogs 3 times and just talked with her. She was sick on Saturday though so that wasn't too much fun. We have plans to have a family home evening tonight with her and the sister missionaries are going to come with us. We are going to teach her the Plan of Salvation. So wish us luck! :) Mom I really loved that desire quote you sent me. It is so true. I am going to send that to my mission president for my email today so thanks for helping me out! :) We went out with Brother N. this week and saw some people. We are trying to get the members involved as much as we can. Then this week we are going to the World War 2 museum with him. We are going to do that for our P-Day. I am very excited.

This week I have been trying to eat really healthy and exercise every day. I am great at exercising, but eating healthy I am not too great at. I just don't know what to cook. I have made some great things though. One thing I am most proud of is a spinach salad with shredded chicken and grapes with a strawberry vinegar dressing! It is amazing!! So maybe y’all could help me out with ideas and recipes to eat more healthy? I am wanting to come home just ripped out of my mind so when we go boating I can look as good as Bryson! haha. It has been good. It helps relieve me of all the stress that we encounter. Oh and the other thing I have really been thinking about lately is golf. I have still not been able to go out because it has been too cold, but I am trying to go out really soon. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do when I get back and that is one thing I am really wanting to do.

Well I had a great week. We stayed really busy and mom I really have been thinking about that quote you sent me a few weeks back. "Be the kind of missionary that your parents think you are" That is such a great way to be! I am striving my very best to be the Best missionary and son I can be! Thanks for everything you have done for me. You and dad have been the best parents a kid could ask for. Missionaries out here sometimes don't have the support of their family. That would be the hardest thing ever. So thank you!

Well my testimony of the Scriptures this week has really grown. I was reading the first few chapters in Alma yesterday and they hit me so hard. Today I read the chapter my missionary scripture is in. Alma Chapter 7:23-24. I love 24. We will always be abounding in good works when we are doing what is right. I also found a great quote that I love. "If you are not making someone else’s  life better then you are wasting yours." I just hope we all can have charity towards other and help everyone out. I love the people down here and I love my family at home. Thank you guys for all you do. Have an amazing week and I can’t wait for next week!
 
Love, Elder Smith (Nick)

Big Chill in the Big Easy......2/03/14

Hey there Family! How is the good ol Utah weather? It does sound super cold. At least you were able to soak up some of the sun in Hawaii! That is a lot of fun! Mom you are over stressin!! Don't worry about me! haha I am great out here. I wasn't homesick at all when y'all were in Hawaii! Don't even worry. I am glad you guys made it back safe and sound. That really sounds like a fun trip. I enjoyed all the pictures you sent me. Thanks for those! And yes I got the package you sent!! It got here on Saturday and sat on our porch until Tuesday. So that was a prayer answered! haha And that sounds great about the pineapples!! I am excited to eat some of that amazing fruit again. Those chocolates and cookies and the letters were the best! They made my day. Thank you guys very much!!

That's awesome people from the ward are asking about me. We really have the best ward out there. Everyone was so loving and kind. The branch down here is good, but nothing compared to our amazing ward back home! And mom stop letting that organ stress you out, you are the best Organ player ever! I mean I think you are the only person in the world that plays and sings at the same time! That is some pretty good multitasking! haha I love you momma!

Alright now for my week... So Monday it was really cold and it was raining pretty good. We played basketball for 2 hours then volleyball for the last hour with the sisters. It was a really fun P-Day then we got the call about the upcoming storm.... They told us we were to be on Lock-down for Tuesday and Wednesday. So no driving and no biking. They told us to stay in as much as possible. So on Tuesday mid day it started to rain and icicles were forming on the trees and ice was starting to form on the roads. The whole city then was on shutdown. No one went to work. The freeways were shut down. So we decided after our studies to go to the church and play basketball. So we went over there and played for like 5 hours. We had an investigator meet us there and play with us. It was a lot of fun. Then that night and the next day we played the game Risk. It is a board game and we connected 2 of them together and all of us played! It was a lot of fun, but also very boring. All we wanted to do on Wednesday was go out. So that was pretty crazy. Oh yeah and when we were going to the church on Tuesday it started to snow and hail on us. So I have now seen snow this year!! First time in like 10 years right before Katrina. It didn't stick to the ground, but then that night it got really cold and froze the roads over. It is just funny how if this were to happen in Utah it would be no big deal, but down here they shut down school and everything.

Then on Thursday we were able to go out and see people again. We also did our weekly planning. We had received 3 referrals so we tried to contact them this week, but no answer. That was a day where everything we tried fell through... Even our back up plans fell through. So that night when we were done we were out by Algiers point so I took Elder J. out to the Point to get some awesome pictures, but on our way there something really weird happened.. We pulled up to a stop light and there was a lady walking on the sidewalk so I said hello. I saw in her hand some beer. Then she said hi. And I was about to say something else and she cut me off and said "I'm going to... so y'all ride along now."....... And then sure enough she went potty right there on the side of the road!... Luckily we were riding away at that point, but it was just so random.. Lets just face it... Louisiana is a very weird place!! haha

Alright so this week I had been really praying for Sister M. and something I could do to help her out and be able to get into her home and teach her. Then I thought.. she has 3 dogs.... We could go and walk them! So I called her and we walked her dogs on Friday and afterwards we were able to sit down with her and have a lesson. We decided we are not going to give her little spiritual thoughts anymore, but we are going to start all the lessons. We had the Restoration lesson and it was the most amazing lesson ever!! We were able to help her understand more and help answer her questions. It was so amazing and I know she felt the Spirit. We left her with a challenge to Pray and read alma 32. It is a chapter all about Faith. Then that night we went over to Brother N. and he fed us and we talked and just had a great night. It was a great day!! We were able to give out so many pass along cards. We were planting seeds all day!!

Then on Saturday we went to the Temple.. I have never felt the Spirit so strongly in my life.. Right when I walked in the front door it was like all my worries were taken off of me.. The session was amazing.  Hey Elder J. said there is a new Temple movie? Is that true? He said there are 2? You will have to check that out. Then after we came home and called sister M. and asked if we could come walk her dogs again. She said yes and we went over and walked her dogs with her and just chatted. Then after we taught her another lesson and answered more of her questions. That day I decided we should share a Scripture about Charity because she is one of the most charitable people I know. It really brought the Spirit and we were able to resolve some concerns. She doesn't know when she will be ready to come back, but I know she will. So those were 2 really good days with Sister M. Then that night we went and helped move in a Spanish member. It was a good day.

Then Sunday we taught the 12-14 year old class. It was fun! Then Sister W. fed us Jumbo that night and it was a great night. So our week started out slow, but finished soo strong! I loved it. Now today we are super busy again. We are going over to Brother N. tonight again to help him so we are having a shorter P-Day. That is okay though. We pretty much had 3 this past week.

Mom and dad Thank you for the advice you always give me. It really helps me out. I am trying my best to be the best missionary, best trainer, and best kid I can be. I have seen the blessings already so much from serving a mission. My testimony is so much stronger and my knowledge is increasing so much. I think it is probably the best feeling in the world when you can feel The Lord working through you. Half the time after lessons I don't remember what I am saying. I love having the Spirit with me. It has taken me a while to completely understand what the Spirit feels like, but I know when I am doing my best, that is when I feel it the most. I love this work and I love my calling!! I love y'all so much and I pray and think about you guys everyday. I put all your names in the Temple. Mom I love you! Dad I love you! Family I love you! Have an amazing week and I am already excited to hear from y'all next week!! Peace Out!! :)

Love Elder Smith