Week #45- God's Love

Monday, July 1, 2013

Hey!

We have had a pretty crazy week. We have had a lot of different things happen that have made me think a lot. This week a lady in our ward's best friend got hit by a car right in front of her. It was really sad that she had to witness that. The person that was driving didn't stop and just kept driving. It's a sad situation, but she is doing good, and we were able to give her a blessing. She talked about the plan of salvation a lot, and she knows that she is going to see her friend again one day. We are so blessed as members to know that God has a plan for us and to know that we will be able to see those closest to us again after this life. Just having a knowledge of this plan brought peace to this member's soul, and I know that it brings peace to all of our souls. I am so thankful for the peace and comfort that this plan gives to me, and I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father's love. I have been able to see and feel his love more in this time of my life than ever before, and I have a testimony that we have a loving Heavenly Father that cares for us and wants the best for us. I wish I could have recognized how much he loves us a long time ago.  

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17)

I know that God loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us so that this plan would work. I know that the plan of salvation is set up perfectly for our benefit, and I know that everything starts with God's love.

Love Elder Smith

Week #44- Leave Our Comfort Zones

Monday, June 24, 2013

Hey!

How is everything going? How is everyone enjoying their summer? I cannot believe how hot it is here. I am getting used to it, but I am a little worried about when the temperature hits in the 100's and I am biking. That is too hot! I am definitely an Idaho Boy. Besides the weather getting super hot super fast, everything here is great! I found out this weekend I will be staying another six weeks in Fletcher. I am super excited for that. I love this ward and I love the people we are teaching. After this six weeks I will have spent six months of my mission in one area. I love it when you spend a long time in one area. I don't ever remember missionaries staying that long at home. Were you able to watch the broadcast? It was super good. I loved how they talked about missionaries and members working together in missionary work. After the broadcast President talked to us all about how we need to get out of our comfort zone and go into the deep waters because that's where we will catch the fish. This is something I have thought about my whole mission-about how I need to get out of my comfort zone. I know the comfort zone is in the shallow waters, and I know that I can't spend my time thinking about going into the deep end. I just need to dive and trust that the Lord will give me the strength to keep swimming and not sink! President got this example from Luke chapter 5 if anyone would like to check it out. I know that fear is a big cause of this, and I know as members and as missionaries we need to dive and be not afraid.

Love Elder Smith    

Week #43- True Happiness

Monday, June 17, 2013

Hey!

Well, things are good here and we are staying really busy. The Lord's work is moving every day, and I am blessed to have a little part in it. We were able to give one of the people we baptized the holy ghost this last Sunday, and the other family was out of town so this coming Sunday, she will be blessed to receive the holy ghost. It was so cool to go back to their houses and teach them after their baptisms. They were both glowing, and they were both so happy. This gospel really does bring true happiness. That's a question that I have always been asked, "Why are you so happy?" I know that the reason people always ask us why we are so happy is because we know the plan our Heavenly Father has for us, we know where we are going, and best of all we know what we need to do to return to him. We should be the happiest people in the world. We are super blessed to have this gospel, and I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to share the plan of happiness with everyone I can find.

Love Elder Smith

Week #42- Two Baptisms

Monday, June 10, 2013

Hey!

 

This has been an awesome week, and one I will never forget. We had two baptisms this past weekend, and they went super well. Everything went according to plan which is super good. It's a little stressful because you just want everything to be perfect, but we got through it. A mission isn't easy. You have people throwing stuff at you, people yelling, and you're always tired. But when you are able to see the changes that people make in their lives to come closer to our Heavenly Father, you couldn't feel better. It makes every hard thing worth it. I just feel super blessed that our Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful work and to be able to see two of his kids and two of my sisters be baptized. You can't witness two baptisms and not know this church is true and that this is truly God's work. I am so thankful to have a part in it.

Love Elder Smith 

Week #41- The Key is Love

Monday, June 3, 2013

Hey!

It sounds like it has been busy in the Smith house, and everyone has lots of projects set up for the summer. I like to hear that the missionary work is going well in Salmon. I don't remember there ever being this many convert baptisms in our ward. It's just another testimony builder to me that the Lord is hastening his work. It is tough to see converts get into some of the same bad habits. The best thing we can do as members is to love them back, love them into the gospel, and love them into the culture. I agree that at times it is awkward and hard for them, and the key factor to fixing all of the awkwardness is love. This is something I have really studied a lot on my mission, and something I have been trying to work on. I am still working on it, and I still have a long ways to go before it becomes something natural. I know that as we study in the scriptures the characteristics of Christ, we will learn how to be more loving as members and missionaries. As we do that it will become a desire, and that desire will turn into action. Church isn't a place for the perfect it's a hospital for the sinners. We are not perfect, but I feel like one of the first steps to being perfect is love. Mom and dad keep up the good work. It sounds like the ward is doing awesome at loving our brothers and sisters into the church. It really is key. Our week was awesome, and this next week will even be better. We have two baptisms set up for this weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday. We are excited, and we pray every day that they are going to happen. I only have two minutes so I am going to let you go. I hope you have a good week.

Love Elder Smith

Week #40- Purification Challenge

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Hey Everybody!

How is everything going? We have been staying really busy and we are working hard. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to listen to President Beccera and Sister Beccera in a Zone Conference. It was awesome and I always learn so much from them. As we know, the Lord is hastening his work which means we need to change, be better, and hasten ourselves. We talked a lot about that in the meeting. In order to be better, we talked about how our studies, planning, and inviting need to be better. We are told in Preach My Gospel that we need to invite people to be baptized in the first lesson. I haven't been great at that, but that is going to change. If we don't invite, how can they repent and be baptized? We role-played a lot in the conference on how we can invite better. We also talked about being pure so the Holy Ghost can be with us. They even gave us a purification test and invited us to take it. The test includes us writing a list of things we want to change. An example they used in conference was: I spend too much time thinking about home. If that is a problem, you would write it down. Then you would fast for the strength to stop thinking about home so much. The last step is to take a 40 day fast from doing those things you wrote down. They promised that if we would try, after 40 days we wouldn't think about those things so much, and the Holy Ghost would be with us even more because we were more set on the missionary purpose. I'm starting it and I can't wait to see the difference it makes.

So far this has been a great week. We have found a few families that we have started to teach. Our baptism is still sounding good for next week, and we also have a few more taking the steps towards baptism. This family that we are teaching is awesome. The dad is a less active that has been becoming active. He will be getting the priesthood this week, and then the next week he will be baptizing his wife who we have been teaching. They are awesome and it is so cool to see how they have grown and come closer to our Heavenly Father. It's been a great blessing to serve the Lord.

Love Elder Smith 

Week #39- Learning to Listen

Monday, May 20, 2013

Hey!

It sounds like you are going to have a busy week. I can't believe that school is almost out and Brayden, Paige, and Kylie are graduating. It doesn't feel like school should be out. Time goes by way too fast. When does Jake and Brayden leave for their missions? That means Derek is going to be a senior next year; that is crazy! We have had a good week. Tons of spiritual experiences that I think is impossible to explain in an e-mail. It is amazing the things you are able to feel and see on a mission. I have a strong testimony that our Heavenly Father has his hands in this work. Everything always works out. I know that it's way more than just a coincidence. He helped us with some tough lessons this week that could have turned out really bad, but it ended up turning into one of the best lessons I have ever been a part of. This is one of the first lessons that I've taught that neither of us knew what to teach because the man had so many different needs. For some reason the guy stood up to go get a drink, and I turned to Elder Christensen and said, "What are you thinking?" We both had nothing. We decided to pray real quick and the Elder Holland talk about faith came into our minds. We ended up watching it on youtube and it was a bomb lesson. Our Heavenly Father knows what everyone needs, we just need to be willing to listen. It's harder than it looks, but I am happy to say that I am getting a little better at listening. We ended up setting another baptismal date this week, and the baptism for June 2 still looks like it's going to happen. It's been a really good week. One downside of the week was in our elders quorum. There was a little false doctrine being thrown around in class on Sunday, and they were kind of looking straight at our investigators when doing it. Our investigators were a little afraid and very confused. I was a little upset, but everything was fine. We just needed to explain a few things after class. You always have to be on your toes as a missionary!

Well, got to go. I hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Smith