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
Sent from my iPad
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