February 11, 2019 Email

Hey guys!  I hope you are having a great Monday!

This week was jam packed for me.  We had a temple trip Wednesday, zone conference Thursday and after that one of the traveling APs came out with us, interviews with President Wheeler Friday, exchanges with the zone leaders Saturday and President Russell M. Nelson Sunday.  I'll just go in the order of those.

Gilbert Arizona Temple

This past week I have really been struggling with getting spiritual promptings and it has really been making me mad.  I am out here doing everything that's asked of me and not getting the help I need so Elder Smith told me to go into the temple with the question of how I can receive spiritual promptings, and so I did.  As I was sitting in the celestial room, I said a prayer and asked.  After I got done I looked around and noticed that even when the sun is shining through the windows and everything is bright there are still the lights in the temple that are on.  I thought that was strange and then the thought came into my head:  "there is always light".  One of my favorite names for the Savior is the Light of the World.*  It didn't answer my question but it was what I needed to hear. *[John 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world:  he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.]

Celestial Room

First zone conference was pretty good.  President Wheeler talked a lot about how important the message we share is and the importance of tying our message back to the Atonement.  We did a lot of trainings and role plays.  (I hate role plays, they're dumb.)  We did a lot of them on how to do member missionary work and bridging anything to the gospel.  After that Elder Taylor came out with us and I got to see what a pro missionary does.  He goes home next transfer which is a bummer.  He's an awesome missionary and just an awesome guy.

In interviews with President Wheeler we talked about how we are losing about 80 missionaries around the November time frame and how us newbies need to be ready to lead the mission with the new mission president.  He has a lot of trust in me that I will be a good leader when the time is right.  We also talked about me not having spiritual promptings and he told me that the spirit speaks differently to everyone and some more stuff about that and it helped.  It's going to be a bummer to see President and Sister Wheeler go.  They are awesome.

I always learn a lot from exchanges with the zone leaders.  I went with Elder Hatch and he is a work horse.  I learned more about working hard and being obedient and diligent.

Going to see President Nelson was a great opportunity.  He, his wife, Elder Oaks and his wife all spoke.  President Nelson talked a lot about gathering scattered Israel and doing missionary work and how we are the Lord's covenant people when we are baptized.  He is a man of God and there is no denying that.  Out of all the talks though I probably liked Elder Oaks the most.  He talked about having faith and how to stay on the covenant path.

Other than that nothing has really happened.  We haven't had much success finding but that's the  usual so nothing new on that.  I really appreciate the "greenie" package that you guys sent.  I just imagine mom looking at all those things and mentioning all of what she is going to do with them and dad just shaking his head while mom is laughing.  I hope school is going well for Briggs.  Hopefully Mitch and Stockton are still grinding at their jobs and having good attitudes about them.  I hope and pray that mom and dad are less stressed with work and that they can get done all the work that is placed on their shoulders.  I love you guys and miss you everyday.

Love,

Elder Smith

February 4, 2019 Email

Hey guys.  Good to hear that everything worked out with Gordon's funeral.  He was an amazing man and blessed the lives of so many people.

Yesterday was rough for finding because people would either get mad if we knocked on their door or just not talk to us at all because they were too focused on the super bowl.  It was still a good night of work though.  Everyone we talked to said the super bowl was pretty boring.

We go to the temple quarterly.  We are going later in the month, so I'm looking forward to that.

Nothing too nuts has happened this week.  Got a new companion, Elder Smith.  I can't tell you how many times we have heard Elder Smith squared.  He's an awesome missionary.  I'm going to learn a lot from him.  We talk to every single person we see and it's great.  Haven't had tons of success but eventually we'll find people that are ready.  We have to go through hundreds of "no"s to find the ones that say "yes".  I've got a good feeling about this transfer.

I'm learning to have a better attitude about the work.  It's just really slow.  I fell like I'm not being guided by the spirit as much as I should be.  That just means that I'm doing something that I need to work on.  I haven't really had a spiritual experience this week, but I know that I'll start to get them more often when I fix what I'm doing wrong.  I fell like I've been out forever and I just want time to start flying by.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week and keep doing what you're doing.  Love you guys and miss you everyday.

Love,

Elder Smith

January 28, 2019 Email

Hey guys.  That's good that everyone is doing well.  That's great to hear Brigham was able to perform his piece in front of the school.  That's good to hear that work is going well for everyone.  That is some really sad news about Gordon, I'm going to miss him a lot.  At least he will still be able to tell his great stories with those in heaven.  He is going to be dearly missed by tons of people.  Thank  you for continuing to support Meadow at her games.  She told me you guys met her parents.  Hopefully that went well.  That's cool you and dad got to go out snowshoeing.  Who could have guess that you would have over packed, ha ha!  And yes, it is so awesome that I get to Skype in and be in on the lessons with Meadow.  I just wish I was a better teacher.

Nothing too crazy or exciting has happened this week.  The most exciting day was probably when I went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders.  His name is Elder Anderson and he is from Dillon, Montana.  He's probably been my closest friend in the mission so far.  We went out and talked to everyone.  Going on exchanges with him and Elder Orr really show me what kind of missionaries they are and what kind of missionary I want to be.  We always work super hard on exchanges and it helps me build confidence in myself and my teaching.  We got transfer calls last night.  Elder Berrett is out and sadly, so is Elder Anderson.  Hopefully, I can get a new trainer who is pretty solid.  The only downside is that I still don't really know the people and I have to lead out on everything this transfer.

A spiritual experience that I had this week was a couple of days ago.  We had just got done helping this inactive lady move some stuff to her house and I was mad because we wasted so much time there because her and Elder Berrett have a really good connection.  After that I was in a bad mood because we wasted so much time and I said that we should go visit this other inactive family.  It was just a thought and I didn't think much of it.  When we got to the house we walked up and knocked and they answered and let us in.  Not even a minute inside the mother asked for a priesthood blessing.  All my contention went away because I knew that I had to focus on the faith and power of the priesthood instead of anger.  We gave her a blessing and it was a great experience.  She was so grateful that we stopped by.

Well, you guys are doing great and I miss and love you everyday.  I pray for you guys everyday.  I hope that you all have a great rest of the week.  Love you all.

Love,

Elder Smith

January 21, 2019 Email

It's so weird not having snow.  This weather is stupid.

I was supposed to lead out this week but Elder Berrett didn't really let me.  He's been really getting on my nerves lately, but it's whatever.  Transfers are coming up and I'm pretty sure he's being shipped off to somewhere else because he's been here for 6 months.  The only downside to him leaving is that I still don't really know anyone.  Nothing too crazy happened here this week.  The days are pretty much just mixing together and it's kind of boring.  It's just the same stuff everyday.  Our finding is trash.  We haven't really found anyone new to teach but we are working with some less actives and getting them back.  It's almost as good as a baptism, the only difference is that they aren't stats or new members.  But yeah, nothing too interesting has happened.

President Nelson is coming to the Cardinals stadium to speak on February 10th and it is supposed to be the largest gathering of saints in the history of ever.  And we are going.  It's terrible seats, but it's still the prophet of God, so any seat is good for me.

A spiritual experience that I had was a couple weeks ago when I was reading my patriarchal blessing.*  I got about half way through and I was so overcome with the Spirit that I couldn't finish the rest because I would have been in tears.  I need to go over that more.  It is a God-given road map that will guide me for the rest of my life if I am faithful to it.  And that goes for everyone who has received their blessing.

My favorite scripture right now is 1 Nephi 3:7.  We are thrown trials left and right and the adversary is coming at us all the time.  But, the Lord will always provide a way.  I've really thought about how he is the Light of the world.  Light is the absence of darkness and thus the absence of evil.

I love you guys and miss you every day.  I will continue to pray for you and with the best for you.

Love,

Elder Smith

*Every worthy, baptized member is entitled to and should receive a patriarchal blessing, which provides inspired direction from the Lord.  Patriarch blessings include a declaration of a person's lineage in the house of Israel and contain personal counsel from the Lord.  As a person studies his or her patriarchal blessing and follows the counsel it contains, it will provide guidance, comfort, and protection.

January 14, 2019 Email

Hey guys,

This week has been interesting.  My companion and I were riding on a sidewalk path through a park and we both went down on a patch of mud.  My and my bike are all good, but my companion is less.  He broke his wrist and this morning we went and he got a full arm cast on it.  He keeps telling people the story more dramatic every time he says what happened.  It's been a good growth from a regular story to an elaborate story.  He uses it as a conversation piece all the time.  We got a car though, so that's a perk.  It's a 2018 Nissan Rogue.  They treat us pretty well here.  Tell Mitch that tiwi is stupid and I got an aggressive driving the second day of having it.  Apparently, they want us to drive safe in their cars.

We had a baptism on Friday.  It was pretty good.  It was a little girl (11) that is part of a part-member recent convert family.  She wanted to get baptized a while back, but we had to make sure she got all the lessons before she got baptized.  There are a couple more kids in that family that we are working on.

Our finding is pretty dang low.  We haven't found a new person to teach since I've gotten here.  We have to do 90 minutes of finding a day and we were promised some pretty big things if we do that.  I'm at the point where I'm doing the work because I have to.  I don't have a love for it yet and I probably won't for a while but it'll come.  My trainer is making me experience a lot this week, I will experience failure so that I can grow.  I'm going to crash and burn this this week, but it'll be good for me.

Anyways, love you guys and miss you everyday.  Keep up the hard work.

Love,

Elder Smith

January 7, 2019 Email

The Come Follow Me program^ doesn't really affect us as missionaries.  We talk about it at dinners with members, but that's about it.  At nights it gets pretty chilly but being from Montana, I can stand it.  Not being as cold as everyone else is the only thing I can rep.  We have a dinner appointment every night.  Sometimes we have 2 a night.  All the food is good so that just means I get fatter.  I've gained like 10ish pounds since I've been here, but hopefully it's mostly muscle.  We have a gym in our apartment complex, so we work out for an hour every morning except Monday and Wednesday because that's when we have zone sports.

So we had a baptism this week.  It was a guy that they have been teaching for 5 months and he finally committed.  The font didn't fill up fast or at the right temp because of the water heater, so we had to boil water and throw it in to help it get there.  We did that for about an hour.  It was a miracle that he was baptized and that the font worked out.

The other day we had a really good lesson with this one lady.  We were going over to do a Book of Mormon read but when we opened the door she was bawling.  Her friend had committed homicide and then suicide so we talked to her about the spirit world, kingdoms of glory, and Jesus Christ.*  After we had talked to her for a while she left twice to get stuff.  The first time she walked out I bowed my head and prayed that we would be able to help her.  The second time the Spirit told me to give her a blessing.  So, when she left I turned to Elder Berrett and I said that we need to give her a blessing.  She is an inactive member.  We gave her a blessing and she couldn't thank us enough.  We were there for 2 hours talking with her about all the trials she has gone through.  Her husband also is inactive and he dropped the f bomb the first time we were there, but we had dinner and did service for them a couple of days ago and he appreciated us so much.  After we left their house, the wife called us and said that we were in Queen Creek for a reason.  After we left the husband wanted to read the Book of Mormon and wanted to go to church the next day.  They both showed up at church on Sunday and stayed for the 2 hours.  Hopefully, we can do a lot of good with them and their family.

We also have a baptism lined up for Friday which is way cool.  I also gave my first blessing yesterday to an old woman.  It wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but it was okay.  She said it helped and that's all that matters.  Although it sounds like everything is hunky dory, it is rough here.  I suck at talking to people.  I try and it's like I don't know anything.  I'm struggling with just talking to people and it sucks so much.  I'm not feeling like a good missionary.  Hopefully this stuff comes over time.  I'm going to be a greenie for the next 23 months.  Hopefully time starts to fly by fast.  I feel like I've been here forever.  Anyways, it's all been good-ish.

Love,

Elder Smith

^The Come Follow Me program is a new curriculum used church-wide to help members in their personal/family/congregational worship to live, learn, and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

*Long before the Creation of this earth, our Heavenly Father provided a plan that made it possible for us, His children, to become like Him.  This plan is called the plan of salvation.  Understanding this plan give us greater purpose in life.

Before this mortal life we lived with God and His spirit children, without physical bodies.  We chose the Father's plan, which included the Creation of this earth and provided us the opportunity to come here to gain a body, make choices, develop faith, and accept responsibility for our actions.  This allows us to progress beyond what was possible in the spirit world when we live with God.

Sin and death are alos part of mortality.  The Father send His Son, Jesus Christ to provide a way to overcome sin and death.  This He did through an act called the Atonement.  Through Christs atoning sacrifice, we can repent of our sins and someday live with God and with our families forever.

December 31, 2018 Email

It's so weird not having snow here.  It's just two different "temperatured" summers.  This weather is stupid.  It was really good to see you guys on Christmas.  It made me pretty homesick, but after a while it was alright.  So, I'm in the Montelana 2nd, Queen Creek, and Desert Wells wards.  They are in the Queen Creek Arizona Central Stake.  That's great that with all the craziness of the holidays you guys were able to find peace in Christ.

The work has been so slow here.  I went on exchanges with the zone leaders and we did 3 lessons and talked to a bunch of people.  That wasn't in our area, and it was the must success and teaching I've done.  We have to do 90 minutes of tracting, and it sucks.  I hate going up and knocking on people's doors.  It's just uncomfortable.  Then again, everything on a mission is uncomfortable.  For Christmas we watched Trazan.  And that was alright.  The members help us a lot.  We've got over $170 in gift cards from members.  They are awesome.  Not as good as Red Lodge, but still pretty good.  Finding is way down.  Our area usually has 150 people being found or being taught, this week was like 40.  We are going to need some miracles to get the ball rolling again.

Love you guys and it was amazing to see you guys for the holidays.  Hope Mom and Mitch get over that sickness quick, that blows.  Hope you guys have a great new years and set goals to enlighten your minds and your bodies.  Best of luck to everyone with work and school, etc.

Love,

Elder Smith