Week 24

AREA: Benson, AZ
COMPANION: Elder Rasmussen

Dear Friends and Family,
Monday: P-Day was pretty good for the most part. For pday we did
normal p-day stuff which was pretty good. We are so far away from our
zone and we thought we had an early dinner so we didn't drive down to
Sierra Vista. Turns out after it was too late our dinner canceled on
us so the member gave us $20 so we had lunch and dinner with it. Taco
Bell and McDonald's... It was fantastic. Then we did our usual Monday
thing of going over to the Curothers house which was fun.
Tuesday: Today was full of service for Brother Barney. It was really
fun until I thought I broke my finger. We were adjusting the blades on
a fork lift and accidentally smashed my finger in between the tractor
and the fork lift blade. It didn't hurt that bad but was kinda a shock
at first, luckily I was wearing gloves otherwise it would be a lot
worse. It swelled up pretty bad but I could still move it. Got it
checked out by a member who's a paramedic who said its fine... Just
put some ice on it. Already back to normal for the most part. After
all that we had a lesson with Harold on the Word of Wisdom which went
very well other than Jose was going crazier than usual... I mean he's
in a mental institute but he wasn't acting like himself. The lesson
went great, he accepted to live the Word of Wisdom and work to quit
smoking. We did have a lesson planned with Kristina but when we got
there Richard wasnt home so we couldnt go in, we rescheduled so it was
all good.
Wednesday: District meeting was pretty good today, we discussed the
broadcast last week and learned a little more that I missed. After
district meeting we went to Bob Longs, a member in our wards house
where we sat and listened to him ramble on for two hours... Wish I
could say what it was about... But he talked the whole time. Our
lesson with Kristina had to get rescheduled again but it's all good.
Dinner was fun though and the member might be getting us some custom
wood pens. He makes the wood features on them.
Thursday: Today was a pretty good day:) This morning we had interviews
with mission president and he said I have to go home. Jk. Haha
interviews went great... Nothing exciting happened. After interviews
we went to Brother Barney's again so we could help him with the
building he is building for his car shop. After we helped him with
that we had an appointment with a recent converts/recently
reactivated/ PMF's house the Kitelingers, which is always fun. Went to
the Dovers to dinner, we cleaned out their chimney before we ate so
that was fun:) After dinner we went to the Da La Cruz house for a
lesson. They're a recent convert/ recently reactivated family.
Friday: Today was weekly planning which is what we did most of the
day... That was fun as usual... Not. After planning we tried to go
visit some people, then had dinner. After dinner we had our lesson
with Kristina which went well. It was on keeping the sabbath day Holy
which they were already doing great at so it wasn't a too difficult of
a lesson. Something cool Kristina told us though is that she had two
amazing missionary moments! One was a family that just moved to Benson
who is looking for a church to go too, and another was her sister. So
happy when she told us about that:)
Saturday: Today we started out with our daily routine but then went to
service at the Barny's again. He has been needing a lot this week
because he has to have all this stuff done by the 17th of this month
and there is still a lot to be done. After service we went to
Tombstone on a district blitz. The problem with going to a tourist
town on a Saturday to go knock doors is that nobody is home... Because
they're all working. So we only talked to about 3 people and only one
showed some interest and invited the sisters who's area it was to come
back and share a message. After doing that we went to dinner  then
went to try and visit some people then went home for the night.
Sunday: This morning we had church which was pretty good. After
sacrament meeting for Benson ward we had Ward council in Butterfield
Ward which was a two hour special Ward council were we talked about
every single member in the Ward to find them home teachers. After our
meeting went home for lunch then went back to church for gospel
doctrine and the 5th Sunday meeting which was really good... It was on
technology and how we should use them in church. After church we went
to go check on Tim our investigator and ended up not realizing we were
breaking the sabbath day when we got there started helping him work on
his car... Haha Didn't even think about it till after we were done.
After that we had dinner, and then went to Dori's house and had an
amazing lesson on Temples. She is a recently reactivated member and we
told her about some of the ordinances we can do in the temple and it
really got her excited and gave her a desire to get sealed to her
husband who passed away from cancer in 2011. Super awesome lesson that
we didn't expect, we went over to read scriptures. We then went home
and Elder Rasmussen had end of the month calls to do... Super fun for
him.
I want to bear my testimony of the importance of loving one another.
President Monson says, "Love is the very essence of the gospel, and
Jesus Christ is our Exemplar." As a missionary if I didn't atleast
attempt to love everyone I taught things would not work out at all.
This is something I struggle with sometimes... Whenever I teach
someone I try to speak to them... I don't just teach a lesson. I've
seen how by teaching people not lessons has touched the people I'm
teaching and know that if we all love one another we will all be
happier. We're all brothers and sisters, no matter what people have
done to us we need to try our best to love them. I want to invite you
to all "love one another as He as loved you." Just like in the primary
song.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
Love,
Elder Smith