Elder Ryan Smith's Mission Blog: Week 25

AREA: Benson, AZ
COMPANION: Elder Rasmussen

Monday: Just your typical p-day... It did snow today which was pretty
cool but it was not an enjoyable snow... It was extremely windy and
cold. This morning we had to go get our car fixed because it was
leaking oil. We later found out some idiot didn't put the oil filter
on all the way and it almost fell off the car. They had to put in 4
quarts of oil after fixing the filter. We then did some emailing and
spent the rest of day chilling. Didn't have any appointments tonight
so we went home and hung out with Aaron. Aaron doesn't have a phone or
anything just a 1st gen. iPad that is super slow and old. Elder
Rasmussen had an iPad mini 1 back home that nobody was using so he
decided to give it to him. Never have I seen a smile so big on his
face. It was really awesome to see that.

Tuesday: This morning we read with Aaron as usual and we were reading
D&C 131:6 which said "It is impossible for a man to be saved in
ignorance". This really I feel spoke to him and we discussed it for
awhile. After that we went over to Bro. Barney's for some more
service. Then we went to a less actives and talked about how she wants
towards working to the temple. Had a great discussion their, had
dinner, and then had an appointment at Kristina's. That was great for
the most part and then Kristina cut my hair:)

Wednesday: Today was district meeting as usual, then we went and went
through potential investigator lists and stopped by Dianne's. She's
technically a part member family since she is living with her daughter
and son in law who are members. While there we had a discussion on The
Book of Mormon and invited her to read the introduction. We scheduled
a return date which is exciting:) New investigator. Then we went to
Jonathan's and through around a football until Ras kicked it into a
cactus... Stupid cactus... Haha gave a lesson on The Book of Mormon
which I feel went well for the most part. Still isn't super interested
but we're still having fun and he's opening up more and more each time
we meet with him. We finished up the day at the Curothers house where
we had a great time.

Thursday: Today started out really good but then went down hill... All
of our morning appointments canceled so we had to go look for stuff
to do. Just went around checking on people. We tried to stop by
Harold's to see how he was doing because he was sick and he wasn't
home so read with Jose. After reading with Jose we went to a less
actives which was super spiritual. The Boyce family has had some
pretty difficult trials in their life which led to inactivity so we
showed him the Mormon Message "Mountains to Climb" it is one of my
favorite Mormon messages and makes me want to cry every time. We
talked about the video a little and how it talks about how we can make
it through any trial we going through, through the help of Jesus
Christ. His daughter Jessica was crying and he kinda was awkward but
still responsive knowing what we were saying was true.

Friday: Weekly planning day... This morning we did have to drive over
to McDonald's to meet up with some other missionaries to drop
something off. Came back did studies and then weekly planning. That
lasted practically all day but we're already for our upcoming week. We
then went to dinner, tried to stop at a members to read but she wasn't
home, and then went home for the night and talked to Aaron some.
Something stupid happened with our phone today, we tried calling and
texting people but it wouldn't let us for some reason so we called
AT&T and someone suspended our phone line. It was so stupid...

Saturday:Today we did a lot of service. Went over to Bro. Barney's and
at around 10:30 and stayed there till about 3, we spent the day
helping him pour cement for his new garage. After service we stopped
by the house to change then went over to dinner hoping they knew we
were coming. Since they didn't know which time they needed to start
making dinner(because our phone wasn't working) we showed up then they
started making dinner. After dinner we went over to the Merrils and
had a great time talking to them. They're a part member family we are
going to be starting to teach. Should be a lot of fun:)

Sunday: Getting used to having church so long is going to be
difficult... People complain about church being 3 hours long, try
going for 6. Other than the constant sitting in church... It was good.
Testimony meetings were good and I went up and bore my testimony in
Benson Ward. After church we went too dinner which was super far from
where everyone lives, stayed there for a little too long getting to
know them and then went to the Kitelingers to give Sister Kitelinger a
blessing of comfort.

This week I would like to talk about the power of the Atonement of
Jesus Christ. The Atonement it something we use in our daily lives
every time we say sorry... I don't know about you but I feel like I
say sorry a million times a day. Through the atonement we don't just
have the ability to be forgiven of our sins but to be comforted during
our trials. While Christ was on the earth he suffered for all our sins
and afflictions. He knows and experienced every pain and suffering you
have felt. Down to the stubbing of your toe. Through sincere prayer,
priesthood blessings, fasting, and many other things the atonement of
Jesus Christ can comfort us in more ways than one. I've seen how the
atonement has blessed my life in so many ways. I would not be here
today if I didn't use the atonement in my life during the trials I've
been through. Love you all! Thanks for all the prayers:)

Love,

Elder Smith