Week 10

AREA: Northwest Zone, Tucson (Catalina, AZ)

COMPANION: Elder Young

Sunday 10/18: Today's morning was pretty normal for a sunday. Woke up,
did studies, ate breakfast... etc. Then went to ward council. Ward
council was pretty good for the most part. We then went home for some
lunch quick. Today was Tyson's Otuafis homecoming talk. The power
behind the things he said blew me away. I heard that before the
mission Tyson was a bit of a rebel... getting into trouble and such.
He changed a lot in order to go on a mission and changed even more on
his mission in Mexico. He is now a changed man, he is obedient and is
filled with the spirit. His talk really inspired me to stay focused on
my mission. After church we had more meetings and then went to Tyson's
welcome home party. It was crazy awesome how many people showed up to
their house... about 100 people my guess.

Monday 10/19: Pday... nothing extremely special happened today... We
did team sports again at the stake center, I got to work on some
emailing... and I got a pair of basketball shoes ordered today since
my Nike Free's were completely falling apart after playing basketball
in them 5 times. I can still use them to run I just didnt worsen the
damage.

Tuesday 10/20: Busy day today... We did our normal thing in the
morning but after that we went through a big list of less actives in
our ward that Brother Butler gave to us to go through to see if they
would like home teachers. Alot of the places we went too were no
longer being lived in or they werent interested. There was one person
we stopped at who was home and invited us in for a second. We talked
alittle about the church and then we went on our way because he was
"tired". But he said we could stop by again to share a message with
him which is awesome.

Wednesday 10/21: Me and Elder Young had a busy day today... We had a
bunch of lessons for us. 4 lessons and 1 of those was a member present
lesson. Funny thing is that we werent actually at the lesson because
the investigator wants to be taught by sister missionaries... so we
get to take the credit for it haha Today at the gas station I gave out
a Book of Mormon! A younger guy was filling up his truck with gas and
I started to talk to him alittle, before he left I felt prompted to
ask if he would like a Book of Mormon & he accepted the book! which
was awesome. Hopefully he will contact me soon:) We also got pulled
over today which was super fun haha I wasnt driving thank goodness but
he was going 50 in a 35 construction zone. Luckly he didnt even get a
ticket haha crazy.

Thursday 10/22: Today we did our normal morning routine. Since Tyson
has been back the Otuafis have been alot better at reading scriptures
every morning which is awesome! Then we had ASL class which kinda
seems like a waste of time... but you learn alittle which is good.
After ASL we helped sister Hull move into her house. Then we went over
to Doris's to grab my sun glasses and ended up teaching her a lesson.
She is a recent convert who is kinda struggling with some things but
we are trying to answer whatever questions she has.

Friday 10/23:This morning we went on a 2 mile run which felt good and
then we went to the food bank. That was alittle messed up since we got
there and waited for the truck for 2 hours and then had to leave
before we really got to help a ton. After that we visited some people
to invite them to the Halloween party and then went to dinner and
volleyball which turns into basketball and I got to use my new
basketball shoes!

Saturday 10/24: Today was an amazing day!! This morning was the Make a
Difference service project where we did some work on this community
park which was fun. While there doing service I saw my first rattle
snake up close. I got to pick it up with a rake and move it to another
area so that it wouldnt bite anyone before the fire department came
and picked it up. After service we went home and did studies and then
carved pumpkins to decorate our truck for the trunk or treat. We then
went out with Sister Bartel and went through a less active sisters. We
got to talk and teach a lesson to one of the people and it seems like
she isnt coming to church because of physical problems with her back
and all. Really sad... We then went back home and got everything ready
for the trunk or treat. The trunk or treat was great!! we had a bunch
of non members there and investigators and really made some progress.

I want everyone to know that anything is possible... This week I have
been reading this new book and I LOVE IT!! Its called Member
Missionary Work and Finding the Elect of God. I love this book and it
explains things in ways that I could never have thought of. Anything
is possible with the Lord on your side. It compares the love of a
parent and their child with Heavenly Father and His children. Its
starts off with asking a father about why he doesnt want his children
to play in the street. The father explains "because I love them and I
care for their well being" and then he asks what would you do if your
children ignored what you told them to do and played in the street and
ended up getting hurt? and the father replied. " I would feel
terrible". Just like a father on earth, Heavenly Father is sad when we
do something wrong. He loves us and I know you love him. We as
Heavenly Father's children should not want to hurt Him. No we are not
perfect... But we can do anything we put our minds to and more if we
have the Lord on our side. I know this to be true. I love my Heavenly
Father and I want to be the best I can be. Yes I mess up but thats why
we have the Atonement to help us. We have the right to repent of our
sins so we can return to Heavenly Father again. Ive seen the Atonement
play a role in my life big time and I am so thankful for it.

Be the best of your ability.

Love,

Elder Smith

Trunk or treat with Hank, Elder Wall, Young, and Jacobs.

My pumpkin carving.

The flowers I send to Savannah every week. What they look like before they get smashed and dried up in the envelope, at least.

Week 9

AREA: Northwest Zone, Tucson (Catalina, AZ)

COMPANION: Elder Young

My week:

Monday 12th: Pday again... Crazy to think how long I have already been
out on the mission. I have made it through my first transfer... Crazy
right?? I am still with Elder Young for the next 6 weeks... But I'm
sure they will go by really quick if I keep working hard. Today for
pday we did what we always do... Sports. Since it was columbus day and
its such a big holiday that all the government buildings close we
didnt email at the Library today. The rest of my day was pretty
normal... Dinner was at a park with a bunch of members cool but
nothing really unordinary.

Tuesday 13th:  Today we woke up and did our regular routine, after
that we went through a list of people who were less active to see if
they would be interested in coming back to church. Alot of the people
didnt end up being home but for the people who were home they were
pretty nice. One person hadn't been to church for awhile because they
were in England for 2 months and then hurt themselves on a hike but
her and her husband came to church after we stopped by so that was
great! Tonight was dinner with the Barnes family! They are so awesome!
we do alot of service for them and Rick always tells us cool stories.
After Dinner we went to the church to play basketball which was a
blast.

Wednesday 14th: Woke up and did our normal routine. We had district
meeting today which was great... not! haha we did get to meet all the
new greenies so I am officially not the youngest missionary anymore
haha But sadly since its a sister missionary she still goes home
before I do haha. Today we had a lesson with Dax scheduled for 3:00
but it canceled because he had something that happened. After all that
stuff we had dinner with the Madsen's. We had breakfast for dinner and
it was yummy. After dinner we got to try on all of Brother Madsen's
Mormon Batallion gear which was kinda fun.

Thursday 15th: Today was messed up... haha we had our Asl like usual
and after ASL we went to Ricks for some service. We also brought Elder
Jacobs and Wall to help out. Great time... kinda haha While we were
there we took down a piece of old wood fence and Rick told us to break
it down for him to throw away. Elder Young and Wall thought it would
be fun to punch the wooden fence and try to break the wood. In the
process of doing this Elder Young dislocated his knuckle. I mean after
4 attempts of trying to get it on video he finally got a good one
because he didnt have any facial expression of it hurting like no
other. hahaha really enjoyable to watch but really stupid in my
opinion. Elder Young hurt himself again while taking down a shed in
Ricks backyard. There was a post coming out of the middle of the
little shed so he decided he wanted to break it by throwing a cinder
block at it, the thing then bounced back and hit him right in his bad
knee. That looked painful. After service we did some mission work and
found out our dinner canceled so we ended up going to Olive Garden.
super good.

Friday 16th: Today we had the opportunity to help set up for the
Tucson Temple Groundbreaking. Right when you got there you could
really feel the spirit there. Something about those grounds you could
tell was special. After helping out at the ground breaking we went and
helped Rick again with something quick. Dax canceled again which is
too bad but we will be okay. Tonight we had the craziest dinner
ever... We had an investigator there which was great but the members
would not stop talking... we were there from 5:30-8:00... We told them
we had to leave and they still kept talking... No wonder this guy brad
has dropped us 3 times... :/ Great too invite people but give them a
choice to accept the invitation. Dont just assume they will love to
take the lessons from the missionaries.

Saturday 17th: This morning was great. We went to get a lift at the
Otuafis and Tyson answered the door. He is there son who had just
gotten back from his mission. We had never met him before. He was sooo
awesome, he got all his family up to read scriptures and his mom ended
up making us breakfast! Crazy thing is that we had a move at 8:00 and
we didnt get out of there till about 9:00 haha that messed up our
schedule a bit but the person understood and we got everything at the
move done. After the move we went to Manny's football game. He is the
Otuafi's youngest son who is 11 and we watched him kill this other
team. They had signed up for dinner that night so we went and at
dinner with them which was really fun.

Sunday 18th: I will talk about it next weeks email.

Idk if you remember Michael my old investigator that moved to Tennessee. But I found out about 3 days ago that he was found dead in his room on Wednesday in Tennessee. He had major anxiety and depression disorders and was really having a hard time with life. He committed suicide, the paramedics say he felt no pain when he died. His mom is on the left and his stepdad Hans isnt in the picture but even though he was a jerk he loved Michael. And cared about him and wishes he would have asked for more help. Luckily he had the chance to hear about the gospel and accept it while he was still on the earth... But never was baptized because he was still working on smoking. But I know he will accept the gospel in the spirit world. Please have his family (the kraus's) in your prayers... They really need it right now. 

Everyone reading these emails I hope is getting something out of them other than I'm having a good time. Please learn from my experiences. I know that I am out here for a purpose. I cannot wait to get my first baptism and see the change in someones life. I want everyone to know that this is the one and only true church. Through this religion we can be with our families for eternity, we can be cleansed from sin, and have the power of the priesthood in our lives. If you dont believe the things I am saying. Get on your knees and ask and you will get an answer. I know this because I have done it, I spent my whole life with this gospel right infront of me and never acted on it. I now wish I could have. I wish I could have been more like my little brother Kevin. He knows the gospel to be true and wants people to know. Love you all. Goodnight!

Love Elder Smith 

Michael's family.

Tracting role play.

Tracting role play.

Week 8

AREA: Northwest Zone, Tucson (Catalina, AZ)

COMPANION: Elder Young

Dear friends and family,

My week:

Monday 5th: P-Day was today... We didnt do anything really fun or
special which was kinda lame but it was still great and much needed.
First thing we did today was got a pump at the Otuafis as usual, went
the library where we kinda emailed. I spent most of the time trying to
figure out how to get my pictures from my gopro to my ipad which I
finally figured out which was great! After the library we went to zone
sports... I played alittle rugby but I mostly just talked with some
people and emailed some people on my ipad.

Tuesday 6th: Today we helped out Bea Kraus with some yard work at her
daughters house. Her daughter has some issues in her head and the
owner who she rents from is not very happy with the condition of the
yard. It WAS a total mess but is starting to look better with the hard
work of me and a few elders in our district. After helping her out
this morning we went home and did our studies and all. After finishing
that we tried to stop by Miranda our investigators house to see if she
was home but she was not. While driving around looking for something
to do we got a call from our vehicle coordinator saying we forgot to
turn in our gas receipts at the end of the month so we had to drive
all the way down to the mission office to drop them off. We went to
the Huss's for dinner tonight. They invited our investigator Rachel
Ramm who they are friends with to dinner and we had the opportunity to
teach her a lesson. Went great! We are starting to see progress in her
and she is finding right ways to answer her questions instead of
looking at anti mormon literature, she is looking on church websites
and praying about questions she has.

Wednesday 7th: Zone meeting... It was long, boring, and kinda stupid.
After zone meeting we had an appointment immediatly after it was over
so we missed lunch and got over there as fast as we could. The lesson
went alot better than expect being that she didnt want us to be there.
She is extremely shy and really wanted only the sister missionaries to
be there and teach the lesson. The sisters did come and teach the
lesson but we still had to be there since she was in our area. The
lesson the sisters gave was on the Book of Mormon and I feel like she
really enjoyed the lesson and is really serious about investigating
the church. After the lesson we got some food asap because we were
starving and then went to Bea's to read scriptures. Today Young got a
call saying he had a package at the Mission office that he had to pick
up so we stopped by there on the way to dinner. The package was pretty
awesome. It had a bunch of NBA stuff from his cousin, plus a classic
shaving cream kit, he didnt want that so he gave it to me so that was
awesome.

Thursday 8th: Today was my first exchange with Elder Wall and Jacobs.
I went with Jacobs and we had a pretty good time together. We both had
the opportunity to vent alittle about our comps issues haha Together
we got alot of work done, we did studies, went to asl class, chipotle
for lunch where I ate a burrito that I added up the calaries and it
was 2000 calories... kinda explains how ive gained almost 20lbs my
first transfer... haha Gotta take advantage of all these calories and
start lifting hard core so I can turn some of the fat into muscle.
After our exchange we were supposed to go on another exchange with
Mogne and Paxman but didnt end up doing it because it was too late.
I'm glad that I packed all my stuff up for nothing.

Friday 9th: Weekly planning... Thats mostly what we did all day but
after that we went to the chandlers house to help move some furniture
over to Brother Chandlers mom's house. His mom is not a member and we
ended up eating at her new house and taught her a lesson. Things might
start with her but we will see, she seemed kinda intersted in it.
After dinner we went to the church for volleyball but nobody ended up
showing up except four sets of Elders. We ended up playing a game of 4
on 4 to 100 points and my team actually won which was a big surprise.
There team seemed like they were better than ours but I mean its cool
that we won.

Saturday 10th: Productive day... So on our area book app we have a
huge list of potential investigators that were on the list when we got
there so we decided to try to figure out who these people were. We
tried to drive to all the houses but only made it to about half and
met a lot of the people. None of them were interested in meeting with
us but its the invitation that counts. On the way to one of the
peoples house we were at a stop light and the guy in the car had his
window down so I decided I would as him if he wanted a copy of the
Book of Mormon. I rolled down my window and asked him... He said no
thank you but I asked! It was awesome! We did get into one
investigators house Martha who has been meeting with the missionaries
for year but has not been baptized. When we got to her house we didnt
have alot of time to talk with her because she had to leave soon but
last time we met with her we invited her to read 3 nephi 11 which is
when Christ comes to the America's and we also asked her to pray about
it to know if it was true. She did it! and she said she knew it was
true, and I really felt the spirit when she said that and she wasnt
just saying it to make us happy. Next time we are going over we are
going to try and bring Bill Smith with us who is a recent convert who
used to be an Elder in a Prespaterian church. She is having a hard
time with understanding the proper priesthood authority with baptism
so were hoping his testimony will help influence her to get baptized.
After Martha we had a new member lesson with Kim Pierce. Went well, we
taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was awesome.

Sunday 11th:  Studies, Church, Dinner, and then went to the church to
imput some area book. After all that we went home to bed. But at
church today a member who joined the church about a year and a half
ago told us an amazing thing that he did. Him and his wife were at
Mcdonalds and while he was there he noticed a young man reading a book
and seemed to be enjoying it alot. So after he was done eating him and
his wife were walking to the car when he decided he needed to give him
a Book of Mormon. So he went to his truck where he had just put the
Book of Mormons because he felt a prompting to do so before he left
his house! and went inside and gave him the Book of Mormon and talk to
him about it. The kid said he had seen that book before and really was
wanting to read it but never had the chance. So he gave him his number
and said call if you have any questions... and if you really want I
can set you up with some missionaries! Rick is a perfect example of
what the members of this church should be doing. He KNOWS this is the
true church and he is like Abish in Alma 19:16-17 and wants to make it
known unto the people. He want the world to understand the great joy
and peace the restored Gospel has done for him.

Thank you to everyone is reading my emails I know there long but I
love sharing my experiences with you all. My testimony these past 8
weeks has grown so much I can't even believe its possible. The more I
read and STUDY my scriptures. The greater my knowledge of this
restored is and the stronger my belief in it grows. The Book of Mormon
is the key to all of it. I love the Book of Mormon so much and I am so
thankful that Joseph Smith translated the Golden Plates so we could
have it. Joseph Smith I know did take the challenge in James 1:5... He
asked God and got an answer that there was no true church on the earth
at that time... and there NEEDED to be a restoration.

Love,

Elder Smith

Zone picture

Zone picture

"Stuff from Elder Young's box"

Week 7

AREA: Northwest Zone, Tucson (Catalina, AZ)

COMPANION: Elder Young

Monday: Today was pretty great. We started off with our morning lift
and then met Elder Jacobs and Wall at the library for emailing. After
emailing we went to the stake center for sports. Sports as you know
isn't really my thing so I just sat on the stage and emailed alittle
more. We had dinner at the Rizzley's tonight and they have 3 kids and
they are soo awesome. The message we had for them tonight was based on
prayer and so I decided I would give them all a prayer rock that
savannah made me. We didnt have church this week so I will be giving
them the rocks next Sunday and I can't wait!

Tuesday: This morning we went over to the Barnes for some service
which was great and they have a non-member living with them that is
trying to quit smoking. Sister Barnes brought up how we can give
blessings and she thought why not... So we gave her a blessing which
was awesome. Her name is Aimee and hopefully her and her kids will be
investigating the church soon. Training meeting today... Since I am a
greeny and everything. We have to go to a trainer trainy that was
super long and boring but we actually learned some stuff. The trainer
meeting took up most of the day. We then had dinner with the wright
family which was fun and after dinner talked to a less active guy who
we might have got to come back to church.

Wednesday: More meetings today. But before meetings we had the
opportunity to go over to Traci's house and help her family move. She
is a less active from when she was a teenager and is interested in
coming back to church and wants her family to look into it too. We did
have to pass her family off to another set of missionaries but atleast
we got to plant that seed. After our district meeting we went and got
shut down by some former investigators which was fun. We really need
more investigators... I pray for it everyday.

Thursday: This morning we did some service for Bea's daughter. Just
did some yard work. Elder Jacobs and Wall were able to help out which
made things go by alot faster. After service we just did our normal
missionary stuff and then at the end of the night we had stake
correlation meeting. Right when we get to the meeting Elder Young was
saying he didnt feel very good. Didnt think much of it till we sat
down in the meeting and 5 minutes later he taps my shoulder and says
he needs to go to the bathroom. We get to the bathroom and starts
puking. He pukes very loud. Hes feeling fine now... Dont really know
what that was.

Friday: Today we did service again but at a food bank. When we got to
the food bank we sat and did nothing for about an hour until the truck
got there so we can help distribute the food to the people. After the
service the people were sooo nice and they made us lunch. Since it was
Friday after dinner we went to the church for volleyball like usual.
Usually when we get to volleyball we dont really do much... Nobody
shows up. But people showed up today and that was awesome!! On the way
to dinner today we had a flat tire and I got to change it because
Elder Young didnt know how. That was super fun actually.

Saturday: Conference... We sat and watched conference all day... I
swear no matter what position you are in you will fall asleep. We did
miss out on the first 30 min of the second session of conference
because we had to get our tire fixed. Luckily they put the talks on
the gospel library app so we can read them:) I will definitely be
doing that asap. After conference we had the opportunity to teach a
lesson to one of our investigators. Her name is Rachel Ramm and she is
really interesting. She has been exposed to alittle anti-mormon
literature and it makes teaching her difficult. She does have a little
girl that I gave one of the prayer rocks Savannah made:) she loved it
and it was sooooo cute. Don't know what to do but to tell her to pray.
Priesthood was tonight and was awesome! learned some interesting
things and felt the spirit super strong. After conference we went to
chili's with a bunch of members. It was a good day for the most part.

Sunday: Conference, studies, and then dinner with the Cherringtons
which was fun because after dinner we played a cool card game that I
was horrible at.

My mom this week told me that my siblings said I sound like a bishop
in my emails. Sorry for that because I am a missionary. haha I will
work on that. This week at alot of the members house we gave a message
called the set the date. Its when you say a prayer for a missionary
experience, get a person in mind, and then set a date that you will
invite them to a church activity. It works and with all the holidays
coming up and ward activities happening its a great opportunity to
help out the missionaries. Missionaries need help finding people! The
statistics prove it! I challenge you to be a missionary in your
community so that all of God's children can be exposed to this amazing
gospel. Also it would be really awesome to help out the missionaries
in your ward!

Love you all and I hope to hear from you every week, I might not be
able to respond but I will try my best.

Love,

Elder Smith

"Trying out some new hair styles" HAHAHAHAHA

Ryan looking ugly as freaking crap hahahahahaha.

"Blew a tire on Friday, got it fixed on Saturday, and missed the first 30 min of the session that announced the new apostles"

"Gave Angelina one of the prayer rocks Savannah gave to me. She loved it."