Wow this week sounds like an up and down week back home! That is for sure! Hey it is weeks like those that help us see the blessings of every other week. It helps us feel joy. I mean without feeling the hardships in life, we are never going to be able to feel the joy right? That is the whole purpose that Adam fell right? I mean he fell so we could feel joy. So remember when you are having a tough week that it is always going to get better. And also sometimes when it is so tough that is just Satan trying to bring us down. But we have a choice to be able to rise above the hardships and to push forward. When we do this we exercise faith and then we are able to feel peace and love from our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. This is a topic I have really been studying lately. And the conclusion I keep coming to is the scripture you sent out to me mom. It is a funny coincidence because I read Alma 35-38 this morning for studies so that same Scripture you sent is the scripture that stood out to me the most. First off if we keep the commandments of God then we will prosper. I don't know how many times it says that in the scriptures, but it is true! That doesn't mean it will be easy, but it does mean we will have strength to overcome our obstacles. Then when we do the small and simple things over time they will turn into great things. So that is the basics like reading our Scriptures every single day. By Praying every morning, midday, and night. And when we aren't praying we need to have a prayer in our heart. By going to church everySunday. But that doesn't mean just going through the motions. We need to prepare ourselves spiritually. We need to attend the temple as often as we can. And last but not least we need to be the examples to help others in their hardships and trials. I promise everyone who is reading this that if you do these steps you will become closer to our Savior and our Heavenly Father. Whatever we are going through right now it will be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Repent daily. All of us make mistakes, but through the enabling power of the Atonement we can overcome sin. We can make a choice to become better every single day. And I know if we do this we are promised so many blessings. God is good. He is always there for us. I am thankful for his love and the hope he has given me.
So there is my testimony about hard things. :) haha mom I am sorry you had some bad luck with the doctors receptionist. I am glad you didn't throw any punches! hehe even though I know you would have won! I am glad everything got figured out though. I still can't believe they treated you like that. It is a good thing I am in Louisiana or else I would have been there to punch them! But don't worry out here I have been working on my Christ like attributes so that wouldn't have happened! ;)
I am glad you had a good week of good goal setting. You and dad would be happy to know I have stuck with every one of my goals so far! I have wrote in my journal now 20 days in a row.. Now that is some kind of record for me! haha See I told you the Atonement helps us with anything!! haha. And I set a goal to be able to be more in tune with the Spirit. That goal has been my favorite one to work with.
It sounds like Jacque has been playing some hecka good tennis! That is awesome! Please let me know how she does today. Hey I saw the picture of Stacey! Man that made my day. I love Stacey! How has she been doing? Where were you guys when you saw her? Tell her I say hello. And then that is the coolest thing that Hailey is going on a mission!! She looked so happy and excited!! She is going to be the best missionary! Reno Nevada is lucky to have her that is for sure. Mom I am glad you had a good birthday! I hope it was one to remember. You deserve the best. Drag it out as long as you would like because you are the best! :) I hope you have some fun down in Arizona this week and get some warm weather like we have been having here. Today it is 75 degrees and feels like a Utah summer! It has the nice breeze and no humidity! Amazing! hey and it is good they got some good work done on the house. Send me some pictures if you can. Well I hope you all have a great week! Keep up the good work and keep pushing forward! :)
This week has been one of the best!! After pday last week we went to the Marlatts home. They are the sickest members ever down here! I love them! We taught their daughters about the sacrament. I used a magic trick to demonstrate it. It went good. Then Tuesday we had district meeting which went really good. Then I was able to get my hair fixed. I don't know if I told you, but I got one of the worst haircuts on pday. It was horrible!!! It was so uneven and seriously looked liked garbage. So I had sister Mclendon help a brotha out. She fixed it thank goodness. I will never go to super cuts again, but now I am good. The rest of that day we tracted because every single appointment we had fell through. It was a long day. Then on Wednesday we had Elder Teh from the 70’s come to our mission for Zone Conference. It was an 8 hour meeting full of amazing things. I learned so much. We had a leadership meeting with him first and then we had a huge instruction after that. It was so awesome. He was the one who gave the talk about where your treasure is last spring conference. I wrote a ton of notes which I will share with you all when I get home. I really felt the Spirit testify to me that our Prophet and leaders of the church are true and have been called by God. It all just makes sense that God would call Prophets now too to lead his people. That was a great day. Thenon Thursday we had a lesson with a new family that some members brought to church. The lesson was going great! About 15 minutes in I just had a strong impression to commit them all to be baptized. So I acted and every one of them said yes! It is a family of 4. We are a little nervous about the parents about not having the right reasons, but the 2 kids are the most humble kids ever. They are our main focus, but the only down side to all of this is the parents have not kept any of our commitments on letting us come over and meet with them again. It always just seems like something comes up. Today we are going to just stop by. Then Friday we did something called area book finding. We went through our whole area book and called every person we could. We found some new investigators this way. We met with one lady that day and it was really cool. We ended up giving her a blessing and teaching her about faith. We will see where that one goes. We also have an appointment to meet with someone who was taught back in 2007. Hey every now and again people just need a little time right? Then Saturday and Sunday we had Stake conference. The meetings were really good. Elder Parker from the 70 was there and gave a very inspirational message. We all could feel the Spirit really strongly. Then on Sunday since it was Martin Luther King Day we went and sang at a Baptist church. Man let me just tell you how much I love the reverence in our church. The first song that was playing when we walked in was by Snoop Dog! haha but hey everyone can worship the way they want. So that was an interesting service. And that pretty much concludes my week! It was a great week! Even though we only taught 7 lessons it was still very productive and helped me out a lot. It gave me a new light.
(My Zone for zone conference with Elder The)
Mom I must say I loved the package you sent me. The study journal is the best thing ever!! It has helped me out so much! I have never really been able to write down study notes, but now with this it makes it so much easier. And then the Peter Potential book is probably my favorite book right now. I have shared it with Elder Jones and asked him to do an instruction about the questions they ask in the book at District meeting. I loved it. I hope I have been able to cast my nets away and been able to jump in the water to meet Jesus. Thank you both mom and dad for living your lives in harmony with the Spirit. The letter today dad that you sent helped me out a lot. Elder Jones and I are doing good, but every now and again we butt heads. So thank you for the advice and mom thank you for sending me that scripture. You both answered some questions to my prayers. Thank you both!
Well I am going to end this novel. I hope you all are doing good! Jen and Dave I love you and your family. Ryan and Keelie I love you and your family. Dan and Brit I love you and your family. Tell everyone hello for me. And please if you guys have any questions about Gospel things asked me. I would love to help and it is good study for me! :) I love you guys so much! Have a great week and stay strong in all you do! And remember that it is by small and simple things that great things are brought to pass!
Love Elder Smith
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