Why
Hello there y’all! How's it going back in good old Utah? Mom and Dad thanks for
your awesome letters. You guys say I am a good writer.... Well you should see
y’all!! I have got to step it up I guess. Sounds like a rough day today I mean
having to go down to Arizona to the amazing weather down there and relaxin and
eating the best food in the world... Man rough life right? :) haha just
kidding. Dad go get a hole in one for me! :) Wow Jacque played really well!
That is so sweet she already has coaches wanting her. Next is going to be Jane
and Jaycee! They sure can kick my butt! Well Thanks for the update on all of
the family. I am glad everything is going great!
Well
mom can you believe it is Mother day in 2 weeks??? haha just kidding it's in
1!! I just wanted to give you a little scare. We will be calling from Malosi’s
cousins house. I will be on an iPad. We don't get out of church until 4 our
time so I will probably be calling around 5 or something like that. Are y’all
wanting to Skype again onto the big screen in the basement? I can't remember
any of my passwords or anything like that so have Dan or Ryan make one up for
me. It is going to be a great day that is for sure! I am excited to see
everyone and talk to the newest member of our family, Keelie! New Sista coming
up. Mom I am sure you have got a lot of questions so write them down. I will
write some down as well. And if the little kids could be there I would love to
say hello. Oh something pretty cool happened yesterday. We were over at the
Alo's (Malosis cousins) and they pulled up facetime and I was able to talk to
Malosi for like 5 minutes! It was a lot of fun seeing that kid again. He is the
man! It just got me pumped up for next weekend. So mom is there anything you
would like for mother’s day from good ol Louisiana? Let me know.
Now
for the week. It was a great week! So many fun things happened. First off
something awesome happened on Tuesday. Have y’all ever heard of Glades Knight?
The singer? Well she is LDS and she has a church choir based out of Las Vegas
and they go around the states touring and singing. They are called the Saints
Unified Choir. They came on Tuesday up to Baton Rouge for all of the stakes and
it was a great tool for missionary work. The members were pretty much in charge
of inviting all of their non-member friends. It was a huge turn out!! We ended
up being ushers and helping them out with traffic so we were there for 2
sessions. We got there at 2 in the afternoon and didn't leave until about 12
that night. It was a long day of hard work. Well the program was at the stake
center and the choir came in and everyone was clapping and singing. It was a
really cool experience. So man African Americans came and it was great because
they were able to hear the testimony of some very famous African Americans.
People were shouting AMEN and waving their arms all over the place. It was so
much fun. Our Stake ended up getting over 150 referrals and we got 7 out of
that man in Gonzales. We contacted them all and we have some sweet new
investigators!! So we are keeping our fingers crossed! The goal is to teach
everyone in members’ homes so we can have a good fellowship. It is working out
really well. So now we have like 15 investigators which is the most I have ever
had. In Algiers I had maybe 5 at the most and only 1 was progressing. So the
work is defiantly hastening. SO that was a really cool day.
Elder
Willis and I went on exchanges this week and it was a great time! We had a
bunch of dinner appointments and we went to Outback Steakhouse to celebrate
haha. A lot of fun! The first steak I have had in probably 7 months. The work
here is going really well. I think there will be baptisms in the near future.
It is just a matter of time. We have had a lot of success this past week with
getting less active members to come to church. We had 8 less active members
come to church! It was so great to see them. So yes things are going great here
in Gonzales! It is not all about the baptisms ya know? It is about the small
things that add up to be the big things!
Saturday
we had a meeting at 9 with the Ward council. Elder Willis and I ended our
exchanges on Friday pretty late so my companion forgot to tell me about the
meeting. We were in the middle of our companionship study when we looked in our
planners and he just said "CRAP" It was 9:30 by the time we looked.
So we arrived fashionable late.... It is kind of tough because our Ward mission
leader is a very grumpy guy sometimes and man did we hear it. I was very upset
because I feel like we lost the trust a little bit from the members. Then the
next morning we had another meeting and I knew about it this time so we arrived
15 minutes before and I was in my seat. Then the Ward mission leader just
started to drill me for some things, but I had been praying for some help and
everything he said I had a great answer back to him. After the meeting some
people came up to me and said wow... He was really giving you a hard time. But
oh well I was able to get back on his good side. He said man Elder Smith after
those answers I guess after all I don't need to call the President. So my comp
and I had a nice little talk about letting each other know about appointments.
It is all good though!
So
this morning we got up at 6am and went to the high school track with a recent
convert named G. We ran 2 miles and did 50 tire flips for our cross fit. It was
really fun. Then at 7 one of the coolest guys I know came and picked us up to
go play disc golf up in Baton Rouge!! It was a lot of fun, but man do I suck at
throwing a disc... I shot a 79 on 18... At least I stayed in the 70's right?
haha. He told me some funny remark about how I wasn't playing all that great
and then I was like well let’s get on the "real golf course" and play
and see who’s talking! It was a lot of fun. The Assistants and our zone leaders
came with us to play. We had a good time so we have already done a lot this
morning. It is great! Next we are going to wash the car and then probably go
Gator Huntin!! I am hoping so. Oh yeah and while we were playing disc golf I
threw it into a bush so I went over to grab it out. As I was walking over
to it I noticed a stick moving. Yeah guess what... It wasn't a stick... It was
a FREAKIN SNAKE!! It scared the living day lights out of me. I hate snacks and
boy am I in the country for snakes!! You see sooo many down here it is crazy! I
remember that one time when I was up at the Zaugg’s house hanging out with Lane
and he got his snake and ran after me with it and boy was I just a screamin and
running home! Good times.... Well that is the crazy story for the week.
Now
for a little more spiritual. We went over to this ladies house to give her a
little package from Tuesday night and we went over and she invited us on in.
She was really excited. So we started teaching the Restoration to her. It was
so spiritual. I could tell she felt the Spirit. I know I sure did. She was
asking just all of the right questions and both of us Elders had the right
answers. She said she really enjoyed the choir and she felt something. When we
heard this we both looked at each other and were super pumped! Then guess
what... the Restoration Distraction came... Dad and Dave did y’all ever notice
that? Whenever you teach the Restoration there always is a distraction. It
happens everytime we teach it. Her kids came in and were just really loud and
it just completely went all over the place after that. So we decided to leave
with our Testimonies and a challenge to come to church. It was a really good
lesson. The sad thing is she didn't come to church.... Hopefully next
week.
Well
I am doing great! Sorry this letter is a novel, but it was just such a good
week ya know? I am super happy today too! Well mom and dad I can't wait to talk
to y’all next weekend! Hopefully all the fam can be there! Well I love y’all so
much! Keep up the good work at home and continue to be the great examples you
are. You never know who is watching. I know I always looked up to the example
set by all of y’all. Thanks for that! Well have a great week!! Love y’all
again!
Elder
Smith
PS
Oh yeah we had 18 lessons this week and 30 hours of service! It was Great!!!!!
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