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