COMPANION: Elder Rasmussen
Everyone,
So sorry that I have not sent out an email for two weeks. It's has been a busy two weeks, I will try my best to continue to send one out to everyone so you have an update one what's going on here in the AZ Tucson Mission.
Christmas week summary: Went pretty well, our investigators are progressing, some more than others but they are making their way towards baptism. Christmas Eve was pretty awesome, we had two dinners, one was with the Marcys where I won a Panera bread gift card and the family gave me and elder Ames a Christmas present. It was a nerf blow dart thing, a nice flashlight, and an Arizona tshirt. Christmas we woke up and saw a meridian flare I think is what it's called in the sky. Brother Broadbent loves astronomy and we went and saw them in the sky. They're satellites going over us and the sun reflects off their solar panels and so you can see them light up in the sky then fade away. After we opened presents we got to FaceTime home which was really fun. Nice to see everyone's faces. After doing all that we cleaned up some of the stuff from Christmas, played some board games, and then had dinner at the Tates which was crazy but really fun. They don't have a normal Christmas dinner there, what they do is dress up like shepherds, put blankets down on the floor of their living room, and eat the food the shepherds would have eaten while on the floor. That night I ate a lot of cheese, crackers, and berries.
New Years week summary: This week was a pretty fun week... I taught some people, bought a guitar, got a hair cut, taught some more lessons that went well. Nothing really amazing! Aimee is having a difficult time trying to quit smoking but is still cutting back a lot compared to what she used to smoke. She really wants to get baptized but she wants to make sure she is done with her old habits before she does because she doesn't want to get baptized and then go back to her old life. That's the update with Aimee since I left... We also did quiet a bit of service at Rics, trying to get the Windows done. New Year's Eve was probably one of the most exciting New Years Eve's of my life... Haha jk I slept through midnight... Haha woke up and went to work as usual. Had a lesson with the Barton's a less active family and tried to set some goals. They want to work towards getting sealed in the temple which is awesome and I hope they make it there. They have been married for 41 years and want to get sealed. Also taught Doris about Baptisms for the dead and I think she actually understood almost all of what we tried to teach her about it. Went on transfers with my MTC comp. Elder Jackson which was fun to see how much better we work together since we got out of the MTC. Found out where I'm getting transferred which was fun. I'm here now but it was Sierra Vista Stake. Benson, AZ... That's pretty much it... I'm living in a dump.
Monday: Literally spend all day packing... I have a lot of crap already and I've been out 4 months. But it will be okay... A lot of the stuff is stuff I just need for the mission that I can throw out when I leave to go home. After almost finishing up my backing I went to zone sports for alittle where my guitar got hit by a dodge ball while it was on the stage and got tipped over and broke one of the tuning pegs but it was all good. I got it fixed for free and then I went home for dinner with the Broadbent's:) they made me steak:) That was awesome!
Tuesday: Transfers... Today we woke up extremely early to get to the transfer site which was supper fun! Not:/ I still had alittle last minute packing that I had to do and was up till about 12:00 packing... Woke up at 5:30 and I wanted to die. We got to the transfer site and said my goodbyes to Elder Ames. Got into the transfer van and we drove to Benson where I met my new companion. Elder Rasmussen is quiet but cool haha Excited to learn from him, he's been out for 17 months. After we met at the transfer site we went to the trailer where I took one look and was like "I WANNA GO HOME!" Jk haha but it was kinda shocking at first. Went inside and was like okay... I'm cleaning this place before I even unpack. So I cleaned like crazy for probably an hour and then started to bring my stuff in slowly. I filled 3-4 garbage bags with random crap that was in the place that Rasmussen said I could toss. Then we went shopping and stuff, went to dinner, and then came back where I cleaned some more and went to bed. I've noticed that when my anxiety acts up I clean... Haha
Wednesday: Today felt like a really long day to me... We stayed busy all day but it still felt like it dragged on a lot. District meeting was today and Elder Rasmussen is the district leader which is kinda cool. Went and visited some of our investigators Jane & Ron. They're originally from Virginia and they talk like it which is kinda was entertaining. Jane is pretty solid and I could actually see her getting baptized soon. She has a hard time transitioning to a different religion after being a baptist for 70 years. After them we had dinner then stopped by the high priest group leaders house and he showed us some of his cool toys he had. Sand rail, ski boat(why he has one in AZ idk??), quads, and razor. He can haul it all around with his huge 5th wheel toy trailer that is about a billion times nicer than ours haha. He gave us a list of names to try and find and then we went home.
Thursday: Today seemed long too... We spend a lot of time driving places in this area because it's huge and we cover two wards. We get to the people's house were trying to visit and they're not home. We only get 2000 a month and things like that keep up we're going to run out fast haha. It snowed today which was super cool:) wasn't expecting that in Arizona. The flakes were huge too and they stuck to the ground for about a day. About the time it was starting to snow we met Darlene who is a recently reactivated member and we just hung out and talked and she told her life story which is pretty crazy...
So sorry that I have not sent out an email for two weeks. It's has been a busy two weeks, I will try my best to continue to send one out to everyone so you have an update one what's going on here in the AZ Tucson Mission.
Christmas week summary: Went pretty well, our investigators are progressing, some more than others but they are making their way towards baptism. Christmas Eve was pretty awesome, we had two dinners, one was with the Marcys where I won a Panera bread gift card and the family gave me and elder Ames a Christmas present. It was a nerf blow dart thing, a nice flashlight, and an Arizona tshirt. Christmas we woke up and saw a meridian flare I think is what it's called in the sky. Brother Broadbent loves astronomy and we went and saw them in the sky. They're satellites going over us and the sun reflects off their solar panels and so you can see them light up in the sky then fade away. After we opened presents we got to FaceTime home which was really fun. Nice to see everyone's faces. After doing all that we cleaned up some of the stuff from Christmas, played some board games, and then had dinner at the Tates which was crazy but really fun. They don't have a normal Christmas dinner there, what they do is dress up like shepherds, put blankets down on the floor of their living room, and eat the food the shepherds would have eaten while on the floor. That night I ate a lot of cheese, crackers, and berries.
New Years week summary: This week was a pretty fun week... I taught some people, bought a guitar, got a hair cut, taught some more lessons that went well. Nothing really amazing! Aimee is having a difficult time trying to quit smoking but is still cutting back a lot compared to what she used to smoke. She really wants to get baptized but she wants to make sure she is done with her old habits before she does because she doesn't want to get baptized and then go back to her old life. That's the update with Aimee since I left... We also did quiet a bit of service at Rics, trying to get the Windows done. New Year's Eve was probably one of the most exciting New Years Eve's of my life... Haha jk I slept through midnight... Haha woke up and went to work as usual. Had a lesson with the Barton's a less active family and tried to set some goals. They want to work towards getting sealed in the temple which is awesome and I hope they make it there. They have been married for 41 years and want to get sealed. Also taught Doris about Baptisms for the dead and I think she actually understood almost all of what we tried to teach her about it. Went on transfers with my MTC comp. Elder Jackson which was fun to see how much better we work together since we got out of the MTC. Found out where I'm getting transferred which was fun. I'm here now but it was Sierra Vista Stake. Benson, AZ... That's pretty much it... I'm living in a dump.
Monday: Literally spend all day packing... I have a lot of crap already and I've been out 4 months. But it will be okay... A lot of the stuff is stuff I just need for the mission that I can throw out when I leave to go home. After almost finishing up my backing I went to zone sports for alittle where my guitar got hit by a dodge ball while it was on the stage and got tipped over and broke one of the tuning pegs but it was all good. I got it fixed for free and then I went home for dinner with the Broadbent's:) they made me steak:) That was awesome!
Tuesday: Transfers... Today we woke up extremely early to get to the transfer site which was supper fun! Not:/ I still had alittle last minute packing that I had to do and was up till about 12:00 packing... Woke up at 5:30 and I wanted to die. We got to the transfer site and said my goodbyes to Elder Ames. Got into the transfer van and we drove to Benson where I met my new companion. Elder Rasmussen is quiet but cool haha Excited to learn from him, he's been out for 17 months. After we met at the transfer site we went to the trailer where I took one look and was like "I WANNA GO HOME!" Jk haha but it was kinda shocking at first. Went inside and was like okay... I'm cleaning this place before I even unpack. So I cleaned like crazy for probably an hour and then started to bring my stuff in slowly. I filled 3-4 garbage bags with random crap that was in the place that Rasmussen said I could toss. Then we went shopping and stuff, went to dinner, and then came back where I cleaned some more and went to bed. I've noticed that when my anxiety acts up I clean... Haha
Wednesday: Today felt like a really long day to me... We stayed busy all day but it still felt like it dragged on a lot. District meeting was today and Elder Rasmussen is the district leader which is kinda cool. Went and visited some of our investigators Jane & Ron. They're originally from Virginia and they talk like it which is kinda was entertaining. Jane is pretty solid and I could actually see her getting baptized soon. She has a hard time transitioning to a different religion after being a baptist for 70 years. After them we had dinner then stopped by the high priest group leaders house and he showed us some of his cool toys he had. Sand rail, ski boat(why he has one in AZ idk??), quads, and razor. He can haul it all around with his huge 5th wheel toy trailer that is about a billion times nicer than ours haha. He gave us a list of names to try and find and then we went home.
Thursday: Today seemed long too... We spend a lot of time driving places in this area because it's huge and we cover two wards. We get to the people's house were trying to visit and they're not home. We only get 2000 a month and things like that keep up we're going to run out fast haha. It snowed today which was super cool:) wasn't expecting that in Arizona. The flakes were huge too and they stuck to the ground for about a day. About the time it was starting to snow we met Darlene who is a recently reactivated member and we just hung out and talked and she told her life story which is pretty crazy...
Friday: Today was lame as usual... Weekly planning is kinda a pain in the butt and I'm sure that it will be till the end of the mission. I love the results of doing weekly planning, I just hate doing it. After planning we attempted to see some people then went to dinner. Dinner was in a nice RV which was kinda cool. Pretty sure I'm close to killing the rat in our trailer which is good.
Saturday: today was alright... The finding methods are kinda different
compared to what they were like I'm my last area. We went around and read with some less active/recently activated members. Our has a very high member population but a lot of them are not active. Benson is known as the place where members trying to hide from the church go. It's kinda sad but it gives a lot of opportunities to teach less actives.
Sunday: Today was kinda different than a normal Sunday... It wasn't stake conference but was at the same time. A General Authority was in town for some meeting with Elder Oaks and they asked him to come and speak to our stake. So we heard from Elder Garrett W. Gong from the First quorum of the 70 and he gave an awesome talk. After church we went and visited some people. We visited a mentally handicap member Jose and read scriptures which was fun:) Jose is cool. We also read some scriptures with Dori and talked to her about how her Patriarchal blessing went. It was a pretty cool to hear experience with it.
I just really wanted to bear my testimony of the truth of this Gospel. This Gospel is so amazing even though sometimes some of the things were commanded to do can be difficult... Not once have I ever regretted or felt bad about making the right choice. Joseph Smith did translate the Book of Mormon. It is the Word of God and I know the only way you can know that is by Reading from it and praying about it. If the Book of Mormon is true then this is all true... This is Christ's church restored to the earth and I love how perfect it is. In Moroni 10:3-5 it says
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
I know if take Moroni's promise and read and pray about The Book of Mormon we will get an answer and we may know the truth of all things. I love you all so much!! God bless you all!
Love,
Elder Smith
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| Me jamming out on Ric's Gibson Les Paul Custom $3500guitar |
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| Saying my goodbyes to Ric, Robin, Remie the dog, Killian, and William |
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| Me and my MTC comp. Elder Jackson after 4 1/2 months of being in "the field" |
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