Week #37- A Tool in the Lord's Hand

Monday, May 6, 2013

Hey! 

We have had a good week. All the families and the people I talked about last week are still going strong, and we were blessed enough to find some more people to get to know and teach. It's super awesome to see the friends and families here change and to see their desire to follow God grow. It is a blessing to be a part of that process and to be a tool in the Lord's hand. On the mission you really do make more life-long friends that you love, and you just want the best for them. That is how I feel about the people that I am coming to know; I just want the best for them and for them to be happy. It's through the Gospel and our obedience that we can gain that happiness. I know that is true, and I am so thankful that I can be that tool in the Lord's hand in sharing it. I don't have much time left. Sorry. I plan on using Skype on Sunday. I will call first to make sure you have it set up, and if not we can just talk on the phone. I will be calling at around 5 here, so I think at 6 in Idaho. I cant wait. Sorry the E-mail is short this week. I will do better next week.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love Elder Smith    

Week #36- Great Investigators and Trusting in God

Monday, April 29, 2013

Hey!

I'm glad to hear that you all had a good week and that you are staying busy. I have had an awesome week. The Lord has blessed me so much. This week we found a ton of new investigators and almost everyone of them is reading. It's so nice when they keep their commitments. We are working with a part member family, and she committed to prepare to be baptized on June 2. Her husband is preparing to get the priesthood on June 2 too. They are an awesome family and they are taking the steps they need to be ready for those dates. They have been a little sick in there house, and we were able to use our priesthood and bless her and her daughter. It was a great testimony to me on how powerful the priesthood is. She told us she immediately felt better and her headache went away. She also has seen the importance of having a priesthood holder in her house and that it will be a great blessing to her family. Hopefully, this experience will be some extra motivation for them and us. We also are teaching this one guy who really wants a second chance. He has a strong desire to be baptized. He actually brought it up in our first lesson with him. He asked us how baptism works, if he would be able to be baptized, and when. 

We have been very busy this week and really blessed. That's one of the greatest things about a mission--that you get to be a part of all these blessings daily, and you get to see the change in people. We are not going to stop here. We are going to keep going and working hard. Something I have thought a lot about is in 1 Nephi 3:7. It's made me think a lot about how if we put our trust in God, God will put His trust in us. If we trust God He will trust us with His other sons and daughters to teach, and I feel like it's the same thing with member work. If we pray and trust in God that He will give us an opportunity to share the gospel, He will trust us with someone to share it with. We just need to open our mouths and do our part of action. I know that this is true because I have seen this principle my entire mission. I always want to live in a way where He doesn't lose His trust in me or in other words I don't lose my trust in Him. This is something I think I'm going to study a little bit more in my free time. Well, I got to go. I hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Smith

Week #35- Temple Trip and Good Investigators

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Hey!

Sorry the email is a little late. Our P-day was on a Wednesday this week because that was the only day we could make it to the temple. I love going to the temple. I wish I could go more. Since we don't have a temple in our mission, we can only go every six months. This was my first time, and I only have two more times left. I missed out on one of them because I was in the MTC, so I will only have three temple trips to the L.A. temple. It's a massive temple and it's very beautiful. I really liked going and wish I could go more. Everything is great here. I never got hurt, sick or anything. Hermana Becera called and asked if I went to the doctor. I don't know what happened with that info but nothing has happened to me. This has been a good week and a good transfer full of miracles. On Sunday I got to go to the baptism. It was amazing! Fousto looked so happy, and he knows he made the right decision. The baptismal service started a little rough, but it turned out to be really nice! He is now preparing to go to the temple in a year. He is really trying to get his life on track and get married to his wife in the temple. He is on his way. The people we are teaching are awesome and all have a desire to change. Our teaching pool isn't huge yet, but the people we are teaching are reading and praying and taking those first steps into finding if the church is true. There is a part-member family that we are teaching. The husband is a less active member and his wife isn't a member. It's just awesome to see them grow in his support towards her and her finding an answer. Another lady we are teaching has a strong desire to lose all her guilt and be clean. We also picked up a family, and they all want to turn to God more. It's such a blessing to see all of these poeple grow and gain that desire to follow our Savior. On Tuesday we stopped to take a rest on our bikes, and a lady came running outside to us asking if we had a Mormon Bible she could read. After a little bit of talking and her tearing up, we set up an appointment with her family for Thursday. I hope everything goes well, and we can have that lesson. It's the first time on my mission someone has teared up on a street contact. I hope that is a good thing. Well, got to go. Tell Blake to keep working out, Derek to keep his head down, and remind Olivia that she said she would do a back hand spring when I get home. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder Smith

Week #34- New Companion and Biking Uphill

Monday, April 15, 2013

Hey!

It's been a good week. Elder Favero left for Spain, and I was given a new companion. His name is Elder Christensen. He is a great missionary. I'm in the same area, and things are starting to really pick up. Since we are opening up a new area, the work started a little slow, but it's starting to pick up little by little. Yesterday, the sister missionaries had a baptism, and their investigator asked me if I would speak on baptism and the holy ghost at the baptism. I hope I did ok. The baptism went really well. I was really happy for the sister missionaries. Next Sunday there is a baptism for someone I taught in Pomona. I hope I can go. He invited me, but it's a long ways a way, and I have to get a member to drive me down. I hope I can find one. I was so happy when I heard the news; he is awesome. He is the dad to the family that is planning on coming to Salmon when I get home. I am hoping I can go. I am really looking forward to this week. We have a lot planned, and we have a lot of potentials to stop by. We are really trying hard to talk to everyone. We are in a car share, and it is our week with the car. I am so happy. We have a pretty big area and it is all hills. I even had to change out my brake pads because we have been using them so much. It will be a nice break from biking up hills all day. Well, got to go. I hope you have a good week, and I hope Derek does well in his golf tourney.

 

Love Elder Smith

Week #33- Conference and My New Area

Monday, April 8, 2013

Hey!

This week was crazy. I felt kind of bad for my companion. Since he is brand new, they have a lot of meetings. So he and I were stuck in meetings for most of the week, and then you add Conference, we did a lot of sitting, listening and writing. It's ok. We loved every bit of it and Conference was amazing! We go to the stake center to listen so between sessions we didn't get to go work in our areas because its a 30 minute drive and with traffic way longer. Between sessions we pretty much just ate with other missionaries that were in the same boat as we were in. One of the good things, and the only sad part of the week, is Elder Favero received his visa and he leaves for Spain on Wednesday. They said it was a miracle he got it so fast. They thought he would be here for three months. He is going to do awesome in Spain. I don't know what I am going to do or who is going to be my new companion. We will find out on Wednesday I guess. The area I am in is the closest to down town Los Angeles you can get in our mission. We have Dodgers Stadium and China town in my area. It's pretty dirty and there are homeless people everywhere. It's really sad. They are always coming and asking for money. I really like my area. There is a lot of work that can be done so it's really exciting! Conference was definitely the highlight of the week. I had a lot of questions answered. It's amazing how the Spirit answers those questions for you. If you can send them, we can listen to the talks in the car or in the apartment on CD. Our area is still going to have a car. I guess it's only a few elect areas in our mission that are going to do the bus thing. We are doing a car share. One week I have the car and the next I don't. We share with another companionship. Well, I got to go. I hope you all have great week.

 

Love Elder Smith    

Week #32- Called to Be a Trainer

Monday, April 1, 2013

Hey!

It's been a good and crazy week. This was the last week of the transfer, and I got called. I got called to train a visa waiter and open up a new area in Fletcher. I couldn't believe it when they asked me to train. You don't usually train this early. I hope I do a good job, and that I can be a good trainer. I don't know anything about the person I'm training or his name. I pick him up tomorrow. My new area is in China town and the Echo Park area. Echo park is where the Dodgers Stadium is. We are going to have a lot of work to do because we don't have anyone to teach that I know of down there. I know some members, and we have some formers down there but as for investigators I don't know. We need to find some. I need to learn the area and find the best biking routes possible so we can be more effective. I've only been in that area like twice. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to learn and grow as a person and missionary. It's going to be a lot of fun! Good thing the Lord is always helping me as well as my new companion. It will make it go a lot easier.  Another good thing that happened this week is we got another baptismal date. Leonel is 20 and his parents are members and he has finally committed to a date for the 12th of May. He is super excited and he has told us that he would like to also prepare for a mission so hopefully that adds some more motivation for him to be baptized. The sad part is that I will still be going to his ward but wont be able to teach him. It doesn't matter who teaches him though as long as he gets baptized. Another thing that is awesome is that a person I taught in Pomona is getting baptized in a couple weeks, and I will have the opportunity to go to his baptism. I am so happy for him! It's been a weird week with lots of exciting things, but it's also sad that I only got to be with Elder Williams for one transfer. I really enjoyed being with him, and I learned a lot from him. He is a great missionary. For the funny story of the week, Elder Williams and I were walking in the dark and I stepped in dog poop. I didn't notice and then stepped in the car. The poop got all over the pedal and the car smelt all week. I don't know what they fed that dog. Even after we cleaned it still smelt. We cleaned it that night. It's really not that funny but we had a good laugh about it. It doesn't smell so bad now--thank goodness! That stinks for Derek about how he had to spend his spring break with a hurt mouth. If it makes him feel better, when I got my wisdom teeth out my mouth didn't really even hurt. Blake is allergic to cows? How is that possible? Tell Brayden that's awesome! Can you get his E-mail? He is going to be an awesome missionary. Well, I got to go and I hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Smith   

Week #31- Bus Pass Pilot

Monday, March 25, 2013

Hey!

It's been another interesting week. We have been staying really busy and are finding a lot of potentials to teach. We are trying to talk to everyone. This week is already full of appointments with people to teach, and we should be getting a couple more baptismal dates this week. The bummer of the week is that our investigator that was preparing to be baptized this week got anti-ed and won't talk to us or open her door. I wish she would let us talk to her about it. Hopefully, something will happen with her and she will want to listen again. She is a really good lady that is just a little confused. On the plus side, we have a big list of appointments this week with potentials, and we have a few other people that are really progressing towards baptism. We only have one more week of this transfer. I can't believe how fast it has gone. Two years isn't that long. President Becerra made an announcement at our mission conference this week, and I guess we are going to be a pilot mission. That's where they try something with a mission before they do it with all the other missions. They are taking away the cars and giving everyone a bus pass. The only people that will have cars are zone leaders. It means we are going to be among the people. I think it will be really good. It's also nice because people will be able to ask, "I'm lost. Can you help me?" I can't wait to tell someone that asks me that question at a bus stop, "Of course we can help you." It will be fun and effective. The work is moving and there is constant change. Well, got to go. Hope you all have a good week!

Love Elder Smith