The Move! - 6/29/15

(Travel and Release Papers)

Hey family! How are you all doing today? Man another week is down...
Only 3 more times writing home.. Now that is pretty crazy if you ask
me! Thanks mom for the pictures of the family and of my friends. That
is just so crazy how big the girls are now and how grown up they are
looking. I am excited to see you all in a couple of weeks! It is going
to be great! I am happy to hear you were able to go to Elder Andrews
homecoming talk this week. He is such a good kid. He helped me a lot
out here. A great friend. And man I can't believe Mason is home! That
just blows my mind all my good buddies are coming home. Jake has now
been home for awhile and then next week Kiefer comes home. Then the
next week Bridger. pretty soon it is going to be me. :) I'm not too
excited if you can tell.. Only 25 more days 3 hours and a couple of
minutes haha! It is going to be great. Mom and dad I am sorry the
house project is driving you guys insane. Just keep being positive and
think of how amazing it is going to be when it is completed and done.
You are going to love it! :)

Well now a little bit about my week. This week was SO much better. My
companion and I got along a lot better. We both are making sacrifices
to make this companionship work. We are working hard and trying our
best to further the work. I want to leave this area better than I
found it and as well as the mission better. It has been hard though.
Especially while nearing the end. I know I can do it though and I
don't want any regrets. So far I don't have any and I am very blessed
for that. Have I made mistakes? Yes, but because of the Atonement I
have been able to rise above them and learn from them. The Lord has
helped me overcome so many different trials and hardships. I am so
thankful for Him and his sacrifice for me.

So this week we were able to do some service for some people. That is
the best feeling ever to me. We helped the McFaddens move some wood
and some things around the house. They just had twins so they have
their hands pretty full. Then we were able to go help out the Becnels.
Then he made us Crepes... Oh my goodness... They were the real deal
from France. It reminded me so much of yours mom! I loved it and I
can't wait to have peach crepes when I get back!

This week we had 3 meetings. 1 was church. then we had Specialized
training with President Hansen. It was really good. I learned a lot.
Then District meeting which was one of the best i've had while being
out here. We talked about sacrifices and things we would give up to
the Lord to show him our love. I picked a few things I could give up
for these last 3 weeks. I have already felt the love from the Savior
for doing so. I am very thankful. Then as you already know we moved
apartments. So all of Wednesday after district meeting we had to pack
up. So our apartment was already pretty clean because I like to keep
things clean, but man there was a ton of junk! We just threw away a
ton of stuff. Finally at 12 that night we finished. It was a deep
clean because they closed down that apartment. Then the next day in
the morning the office Elders came down in the huge mission van with a
big trailer. So we loaded everything up and took it on over to the new
place... Oh my goodness it was disgusting... Missionaries hadn't been
living there for 2 transfers and the missionaries that left, left it
pretty nasty. I mean there were dishes in the sink that had gotten all
nasty. So we just threw everything away and cleaned like crazy. Then
finally by 10 that night we got it all cleaned up and nice again. It
is an alright place. I miss our last one a little bit. That was a nice
one! Then Friday morning my day was cheered up when I heard a knock on
the door. It was FedEx delivering your package you sent. Thank you
mom. That Beef Jerky is the best thing ever! I already have ate almost
all of it. So thank you and that is my correct address. Thanks! :)

We had some really good lessons this week about the Atonement. The
Atonement covers everything. It is the center of this Gospel. Then
also with the Becnels we showed the mormon message "You Never Know".
It was such a great lesson. They honestly are the best. She made us
lasagna. then yesterday at church she came up to me with a little grin
on her face and handed me a little white paper bag. She said she made
something this morning for a customer and had some left overs. So I
opened the bag and it was Madeleines!! My favorite French Pastry. She
made my day. They are about to start up a restaurant up in Washington.
Mom and dad we have to go. They are the best ever! I don't think you
realize how talented these people are. They trained with the best.
They are having a magazine article done on them right now from France.
I truly do love them and I am excited for you guys to meet them. Also
I told them we might be going to france and italy and they have a list
of the best places to eat. Some of the places you have to book 6
months to a year in advance. We should do it! :)

We had a good week on finding new people to teach. We had 2 people
show up to church yesterday that would like to learn more. So we are
going to go over there tonight and teach them. It should be really
good. Then we had a good lesson with one of our investigators J. He is
reading the Book of Mormon.  He is going to pray about it and I hope
he will get his answer. I know he will as long as he sincerely is
wanting to know and has the real intent part meaning he will act on
the answer he receives. The promise in Moroni is so true. Anyone can
know if this Gospel is true. It might take time, but your prayer will
be answered. I know mine has and it is the best feeling in the world.

Well family I love you guys so much. Thank you for your love and
support. I know this Gospel is true. I know i am not perfect, but
because of the Atonement I can work towards perfection. It doesn't
matter who we are or where we have been, we can change because of
Jesus Christ. I love you all and can't wait to see you in 3 weeks!
Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

Very Busy Week! - 6/23/15

Hey family how are you all doing? It sounds like it was a huge week
back home full of excitement! Happy Fathers Day Dad. And welcome to
the family little Ainsley. It is crazy there are now 10 grandchildren.
I love it haha! I am glad you all are doing great and are safe and
sound. I hope you all have another great week. I love you all so much!

This week for me was pretty interesting and very busy! First off on
Monday after we emailed I was able to go down and meet up with the
Boss's. Man that was so good to see them. I absolutely loved it! They
are some great people. And they did deliver your letters to me. Thank
you so much for the great letters and the extra spending money. That
really helped out! They had an awesome family who lives in one of my
former areas. They live up right next to Gonzales. It was fun getting
to meet them and talk to them a little bit. Then the rest of that day
was really good. I took elder Davis down to all of the fun sights. He
loved it. He is from Minnesota from the city so he felt like he was at
home. So that was a good day.

Then the rest of the week really consisted of trying to see all our
investigators. We had a good week with that. We found 2 new
investigators. They were both referrals we had received. One of the
guys names is S. We went over there this week to find him painting his
kitchen. So it was a bad time to try and talk to him so we offered to
come over and help him the following day. He said sure. He was
surprising his wife by redueing the kitchen while she was gone for a
week and he needed all the help he could get. So we went over there
and helped him out with that and it was great. He is an awesome guy!
Very friendly and very funny! We are going to try and go over this
week again and see how it goes.

Then we also were able to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I was
able to go with one of my favorite people out here. Elder Jean Louis.
He is from Haiti. His first day in the mission I was able to meet him
and we became really good friends. We have served around each other
off and on while serving out here. It was a much needed exchange and
we had a ton of fun just talking about the mission and all the cool
things that has happened. We had a great day with missionary work as
well. We found 1 new investigator and were able to see a lot of our
investigators. It was awesome!

On Friday we went over to the Becnals again. It was great as usual!
they made some amazing food and showed me a picture of baby Ainsley.
She is so cute. I bet Ryan and Keelie are so happy. But it was really
cool at the Becnals. We had a great lesson with them and we were
really able to help them out. Or the Spirit was really able to help
them out. They are the best members down here to us. It is like
walking into my home back home. They are so loving and thoughtful. I
am glad you were able to talk to her a little bit. She is from Mexico
so her accent probably made it a little harder to understand for ya
mom. She is so awesome! She has really conviced me of healthy eating.
We are going to have to try some things when I get home. It will be a
lot of fun!

So some really good news for me is that my legs aren't hurting anymore
when I run! I went and got some new shoes and have been rolling them
every night. I will finally be able to start getting on my good
routine again. We have been eating really healthy and i am just trying
to finish strong because it is boating season!! haha.

Sunday was a very spiritual day for me. I really thought about our
family and how much I love you all. I have been blessed with such a
great family. I have the 3 best brothers and the 3 best sisters and on
top of that the 2 best parents! And now the best 10 nieces and
nephews. I am so excited to see you all in a couple of weeks. But
until then I will do my best to finish what I have started.

Well this week should bring in some new excitement. I hope it will be
as good as last week! My comp and I get along pretty well. He is just
different.Well I am sorry this letter is a little shorter, but I feel
like I have wrote everything home 30 times already. It is just the
same ol stuff each week, but it is great and I love it! Well I love
you all so much! Have a great week and I will talk to you next week!
See ya!

Love Elder Smith

Saying Goodbye To My Favorite Missionaries! 6/15/15

Hey family!! Man this week has been an interesting week! That is for sure. It sounds like you all had a great week. Elder Mellor is a stud. Sounds like he did a great job. He is a good friend. Oh and Elder Hale is a great friend of mine. He was a spanish elder down here. I'll send a picture home of what he looks like and youll recognize him. He is going to be in Hawaii the same time we are in Hawaii so i told him I would look him up and go hang out with him while we are there. Then next week is Elder Andrews homecoming so you guys should try and make that if you can. Should be pretty good! 

Well this week has been pretty crazy! A ton has happened. We had transfers on Wednesday. That was a pretty tough day I won't lie! It was tough saying goodbye to all of my good friends. Even though it is only for 6 weeks haha. But the meeting was so good! there were around 25 missionaries going home. It was a crazy meeting. Then we found out who our new companions are too. My new companion is Elder Davis! He is a great kid. He has been out for 5 months. He came into the mission when I was up in Pineville. We lived in the same apartment and got along really well. We became pretty good friends too. He is from Minnesota. We have gotten along pretty good so far. He will be a good last companion for me. We work well with each other. This week it seemed like everyone we tried to set up an appointment with cancelled. It was tough to find things to do. This week is going to be much better I can just feel it! 

We did have a great lesson with one of our investigators who is 16. His name is Z. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the reason we have it. It was a great lesson. He realized a lot about us and learned a lot. We left him with the commitment to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I think we are really going to be able to work with him and his brother a lot before I go home. I get along with them really well. They really like us. They are some of the kids that go to the bible study we have every Friday night. Speaking of bible study we had an awesome thing at it this week. So the guy that is the youth pastor is actually a less-active member of our church. He was baptized before Katrina, but after he just fell away. We talked to him after the bible study and were able to get to know him better and see his stance on the church. His only hang up is the Book of Mormon. He doesn't believe the people that were here in the Americas were the people in the Book of Mormon. He just believes in the Bible which is great! but now we need to help him realize the Book of Mormon is necessary. He really likes us and trusts us. I was actually able to work out with him this week too. He used to be a body builder. So I have really been able to connect with him since I am trying to get into good shape before I come home. So we will see where it goes. 

Yesterday was one of my favorite Sundays of my mission. It was Stake Conference. I have attended all of the New Orleans Stake Conferences while being out here. I've served in NOLA my whole mission pretty much haha. It was so great! I loved being able to see all of my friends and the people I have been able to work with. I even saw Wun Dan Seng there! He was in the back with his Son. I ran up to him and gave him a big hug. I was so happy to see him there. He is doing so great and is going to the temple to do baptisms this wednesday and then in October he is going through for his endowments. I told him I want to come back and go through the temple with him. I also saw my 2 best little friends from Houma! Kennedy and Ruby. They remind me of Jacque and Jaycee. They even look like them. It was so funny. They both came running up to me at the end of church and wanted to do our secret handshakes we made up. I was luck I remembered them haha. That whole day I just reflected back on my mission and how much I love these people. It has been the best mission ever! 

Hey mom I don't know if Sister Becnel texted you over a picture of me eating some incredible dessert, but they are looking at going to disneyland. I told them to text you or give you a call. They are the people that are professional Pastry Chefs. They feed us a lot. They fed us 2 times this week and it was incredible! They are great people!

Well that about sums up my week. It was tough, but yesterday made it all worth it. I am happy and excited for this last transfer. I am trying my best to finish strong. I won't lie though I am getting very excited to see you all again! I love you all so much. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Have a great week! Love you guys! 

Elder Smith

ps mom and dad are you guys going to be home this week? I am sending home a package today and I want to make sure you guys get it. I can overnight it our 2 day ship it. Just let me know. :)

pss the boss's we are meeting up with them today in New Orleans this afternoon. I'm going to take Davis down to the city. I am also going to go and get my new shoes. I wore a whole in my other running shoes haha. I love you guys!

(Elder Andrews)

(Elder Wise) 

(Elder Anderson)

(Elder Mellor)

(Elder Hale) 

Another Great Week For Elder Smith! - 6/1/15

Hey mom and dad! It sounds like your vacation to Florida was awesome!
I am glad you got some good weather. It has been raining like crazy
this week. We have had some flash flood warnings and lockdowns due to
the weather. It is getting pretty crazy! Oh and today is officially
the first day of Hurricane season for LA. But I am glad the girls did
so great in Florida. It sounds like everyone has their eyes on them
and is looking forward to the future. I know I am! Your hotel looked
amazing! I am excited to stay there one day. And man the house is
looking good! I love it! The fireplaces look soo good. You sure have
done a great job with that mom and dad. I am excited to see it all
finished. Great job on the missionary work you guys. Keep it up! You
feel so much better after doing missionary work.

Well I am going to get right to it today. I have to be out of here
pretty quick today.  We have got some fun plans! :) This week was by
far our busiest week together here in Harahan. We had some great
lessons with our investigators. And we even found a new investigator!
It has been a while for this area with finding new people to teach.
The way we found him is we went over to a former investigators house.
Romero told me that he is always drunk or high. I'm kind of used to
that now haha. But when we went over it was completely opposite! He
has been sober for a month. He started an AA group and is doing great.
He also invited over one of his friends to listen to our message. They
both have made huge changes in their lives. They want us to start
teaching them both the lessons. It was really cool because you can see
how they actually care and how they were able to pay attention. So
that was really cool!

This week we also had 4 member present lessons. The most this area has
ever had i think haha. We had a member invite us over for dinner and
they actually invited someone over for us to teach. That is the first
time that has happened while I have been in NOLA. It was a great
lesson. The only problem is that he is moving this week so we probably
wont get to teach him again. But it is okay because we were able to
plant the seed and that is all that matters. We had a lot of great
member visits this week as well. We got to know some of the different
people in the Ward. Elder Romero had one of the funniest visits ever
with the M. family.. elder Romero and I just couldn't stop laughing.
Everything we did just made us laugh. It was a great visit! Then a
member took us out to a great Mediterranean restaurant. It was soo
good! It might be a place we go when we all come back as a family. It
is a little whole in the wall place. I think Jen and Dave would love
it!

I have been loving the D&C reading challenge like all of you. It has
been so great being able to learn about the early development about
the church and how God still works the same today. I also love it
because it is starting to hit me with how close I am to the finish. It
makes me want to work harder everyday and give it my all. I am
thankful that to this point on my mission I have no regrets and now I
want to finish strong and continue to have no regrets. I love my
mission and it has been the best 2 years for me. I have grown a
testimony and learned how to love the people. I could go home right
now and be soo happy because I know with out a doubt the Book of
Mormon is true. Therefore everything else is true. It is just that
simple and easy!

I was very sad to hear Elder Perry passed away this week. He was a
great man and a great apostle. I loved his talks and I am going to go
back and start reading some of his previous talks. I am thankful we
have living Apostles today who continue the work forward. I know they
love us and will never lead us astray.

Well family I know this letter is alittle shorter than normal, but I
can't really think of anything else to say that I haven't said in the
past. Just know I am doing great! I am happy and healthy. The work is
moving forward. It is going to move forward with or without us so we
might as well be apart of it and help. I am so excited to see you all
in 52 days, but I mean who is counting?? Definatly not me... haha just
kidding. Time is marching on. Well I love you all so much! Keep up the
great work. you all are in my thoughts and prayers. Keep reading and
keep praying! I love you all!

Love Elder Smith