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!!
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