Week 32

AREA: Benson, AZ
COMPANION: Elder Rasmussen  
 

Friends and family,
This week was not as busy as I would have hoped it would have been. A
lot of people were busy with family or on vacation this week, it's
spring break for the kids.
Monday: Today was a pretty typical pday... We didn't do a whole lot.
Just hung out with Aaron and did normal pday stuff.
Tuesday: Wish we could have seen more people... This morning we did
service for brother Barney. Don't know if we're going to be going over
there too much anymore. He found out that Ras can fix things that are
electronic so he has been going around telling him he would like
things fixed and were kinda tired of it. After service we went over to
see if Stephanie was home. She was home but was busy helping out her
mom. We went over to Darlenes and had a pretty good talk on the
Gospel. Showed her the Christmas video and she loved it. We then had
an appointment with the Sigley's went over there, showed the Easter
video which went well. Kinda realizing that a lot of kids do not know
why we celebrate Easter... Covered that. We had dinner and then our
appointment with Kristina. Talked about the Restoration in more detail
and went over JSH 1:5-20. It was pretty good.
Wednesday: Today again was alright... District meeting was pretty
awesome:) I was involved and gave a training on teaching the atonement
simply while finding. It was a role play training, not a huge fan of
role plays but it was still fun to be involved in the district
meeting. Felt like the district got a lot out of it. After district
meeting we went to Taco Bell for lunch, went home to drop some stuff
off, talked with the Garner's daughter from Wisconsin, had dinner,
went to the Rubaclava's (less active) shared the Easter message, and
then we went home.
Thursday: Today was alright, After studies this morning we drove out
to Wilcox so Elder Rasmussen could give a baptismal interview. The
interview was great and he got baptized on Saturday. We went back to
benson and met with Merideth which was an alright lesson... Just
talked about the addiction recovery program some and the Easter video.
All of our evening appointments canceled which really sucked. We tried
to see some people but nobody was available so we went home.
Friday: Today was a pretty fun day, we helped the garner's this
morning help get ready for their big Easter party. We decorated eggs,
did yard work, and cleaned the chicken coupe which was disgusting.
Chickens are disgusting... After that we did studies, did weekly
planning, we didn't finish but we got most of it done, went to a ward
party, stopped by Kristina's and said hi quick. Then went home for the
night.
Saturday: Today was pretty crazy, the Garner's had their huge Easter
party. There was over 200 people there. I really do not like big
crowds of people I realized because I just wanted to be antisocial and
hide in our trailer the whole time haha. There was a big Easter egg
hunt, egg relay, egg toss, and lots of food. It was a whole lot of
fun:) After the party we did studies, finished weekly planning, had
dinner, then came home for the night.
Sunday: Happy Easter:) This morning we had breakfast over with the
Garner's which was nice. Church was pretty good we had a good turn
out. Kristina was there, Merideth was there, and her boyfriend was
there too which was completely unexpected. The Browns were there too
in Butterfield ward! Great turn out today. Our appointment for after
church canceled so we just went right to dinner and ended up staying
there the rest of the night.
The other night I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah 14.
Probably the best scriptures to have read on Easter. In this part of
the Book of Mormon where Abinidi is preaching to King Noah and
prophesying about Jesus Christ. The love that our savior has for us is
overwhelming too me. He had the power if he wanted to not feel pain
yet he allowed it. In chapter 14:5-6 it says "he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed... He was
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth..."
Everything he did was for us so we could use the Atonement of Jesus
Christ to overcome anything. He was the only one able to atone for all
of our sins and afflictions. Look to our savior for guidance to make
it through trials, because he knows exactly what you're going through.
I love you all! Hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Smith

Easter party

Easter party

Week 31

AREA: Benson, AZ
COMPANION: Elder Rasmussen 
 

Monday: Pretty good pday, we just relaxed all day. Pretty laid back
and it was much needed. Aaron the member we live with is really bored
a lot of the time and for his therapy he needs to do things. Elder
Rasmussen is kinda a nerd so we're going to build a tesla coil with
him. We are taking parts from a old tv and using some of parts from
that to build it.
Tuesday: Awesome day! I felt really good about today, we were able to
see more people than we usually do and I felt like we were really
affective. This morning after studies we got a call from a member to
come over to her (nonmember) neighbor to give her a blessing. When we
got there we ended up giving 3 blessings. One to the grandma, mom and
daughter. We are now going to be teaching the mom Stephanie:) The
blessings were really amazing, I felt I knew exactly what Stephanie
needed to hear and the spirit truly was working through me to help
her. After the blessing she even said "how do you do that?? You said
exactly what I needed to hear and you don't even know me." There are
no words for describing it... It is an amazing feeling though. After
that we went and saw a less active and talked with her for almost 2
hours. She is lonely and doesn't get to talk to many people because
her husbands on business for 1 month at a time. We then went to the
Sigley's house and taught the restoration. It surprised us how well it
actually went. The kids are normally all over the place but were well
behaved and listened most of the time. Super great day! Wednesday: Again an awesome day! Saw our investigator Tim and taught
the restoration again. He seems pretty interested in it and wants to
know more but he is really lazy... After that we went and saw a less
active today named William. He had this dog that kept barking at us.
Once he calmed down he seemed like a pretty nice dog till I went to
reach out to have him smell my hand and bit a huge chunk out of my
arm. That was fun... We then saw Tessa(a less active) after dinner and
had an amazing discussion on the Atonement.
P.s jk about the dog, he did try to come at me but just kept barking;) haha Thursday: Today was okay... Had service at brother Barney's. We talked
a little about how we are going to help a less-active back on his
feet. He was caught the other day with heroin and Barney being the
amazing person he is, is going to do whatever he can to help him off
of it. We are also going to be there for him. We then went to Darlenes
to read scriptures, talked about how to help out this less active
who's on drugs. She used to volunteer with AA for 23 years and has a
lot of good advice on addiction recovery. We then had dinner, and a
lesson with Kristina. Before the lesson she cut my hair which felt
great:) my hair was so long. Friday: Exhausting day... We spent almost the whole morning at
Barney's having an intervention with this less active. That really
didn't do much I feel like it... Pretty much told us he had it under
control and he can quit on his own. Which felt like we were givin the
🐥 <--- bird) We then went home and did weekly planning. Saturday: Long day of service... Woke up and immediately left for
service. Service was super fun, we helped fix some swamp coolers, and
then helped catch some calfs to brand and dehorn. Never have I done
anything like that before haha. Had service at the Garners raking up
grass and getting ready for the big Easter party next Saturday.
Barney's again to what we thought we were going to do wire a building.
We get there and he says I'm having an electician come over to do
that, and so we ended up cleaning a deep fryer that he bought used.
The thing had so much greese on it that when we were scraping the
greese off it broke the blades on the scrappers. The thing wasnt
cleaned for 12 years... Sunday: tiring day... couldnt fall asleep till like midnight the night
before. Church was long as usual...  I thought I would get used to
having 6 hours of church but not really. Every Sunday it gets more
difficult. After church we went to Tonis for a lesson which was
amazing! we taught the restoration and she loved it. She said that
everything we said made complete sense to her. Told us she still
needed to pray about it but loved it. We invited her to be baptized
and she said yes! We're still trying to figure out a exact date but
hopefully it's soon:) After her lesson we rushed over to dinner, had
dinner, then came home to spend time with the Aaron.
This week I would like to talk to you about the power of scripture
study. On the mission we have hours set aside to do studies. This is
not the easiest thing for me. This transfer I set a goal to be more
diligent and affective with my studies. This transfer I have done well
with this and feel like my testimony is stronger than its ever been. I
have been more in tune with the spirit and am more confident with
teaching. Doing scripture studies has blessed me so much and I am at
my happiest. I love the scriptures so much and the blessings they
bring are overwhelming and will change your life if you let them. Read
your scritpures! Even if you dont feel like it.
Love you all so much and thanks for all the prayers!
Love,
Elder Smith

Week 30

AREA: Benson, AZ
COMPANION: Elder Rasmussen 


Friends and Family,
This week was honestly pretty boring and we didn't get to do a whole lot...
        Monday was our pday as usual and we went on exchanges with the zone
leaders after all day Tuesday. Exchanges were pretty good, Elder Ruiz
was pretty good. While we were on the exchange we were able to teach a
lot of people. Their area is pretty busy compared to ours. The
exchange kinda sucked for Elder Rasmussen because Elder Vance had food
poisoning or something so they just stayed home all day while he threw
up. That must have been super fun for Elder Rasmussen and Vance.
        Wednesday was pretty zone meeting so we had to go to that. When we
went outside to head out, our tire was flat so we had to put the spare
on. Got to zone conference and it went over as usual, we didn't get
home until about 4:00 which didn't leave us much time to do anything. Thursday we had to drive to Tucson for doctors appointments, those
went well but once again took up a lot of time... Friday was weekly
planning which took up a lot of time... Saturday was the first day all
week we actually had time to visit people, we went and saw Dori which
was pretty fun. She got a new dog named Beautiful, it's a Husky with
blue eyes. While we were there we talked about temples again and we're
going to try and help her in any way that we can to help make it to
the temple. We also were able to read with Aaron and spend some time
helping him.
        Sunday was pretty interesting... Elder Rasmussen has been having
challenges sleeping lately and had a very challenging time sleeping
last night and only had 2 hours of sleep... We tried going to Benson
Ward church in the morning but he was practically completely out of it
so we decided it would be best to not go. We did go to Butterfield
church which was good, he was still exhausted the whole time but it
was all good. After church we had a lesson with Toni our newer
investigator that has cancer. Things with her are going really good so
far. She read the introduction and was asked her what she thought of
it and her exact response was, "it was kind of those things were
you're just like... Damn, didn't know that." That was a pretty good
response in my opinion haha. We then showed her the new Easter Video
that the church released and talked about the sacrifices that Christ
made for us.
This month is the month of Easter. On Easter we celebrate what Christ
did for us. Because of Him we have everything, without him we would
not be here today. Jesus Christ is our savior and he has blessed us
with an infinite atonement. Without this infinite atonement we would
not be able to return to our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for
what our Heavenly Father has done for us by blessing us all with a
savior. Without him we would be lost but since we do have a savior we
can be cleansed from sin.
This is the link to the church's new Easter Campaign Video:) Enjoy it
and share it:)
https://www.mormon.org/easter?player=bc
Love you all! Thanks for all you do!
Love,
Elder Smith

Sigley/Pierce family baby blessing was for the baby, we confirmed the two 8-year-olds on each end. Jessie and Kyle.

Week 29

AREA: Benson, AZ
COMPANION: Elder Rasmussen

Monday: Today was your typical P-day... We did our normal routine this
week as usual. They had zone sports at the stake center but we didn't
feel like doing that so we went over to Brother Barney's and worked on
fixing a Brocken Golf Cart.
Tuesday: Today we had service at Barney's and instead of going over
just us, we decided to bring Jonathan to help him keep his mind off
his Grandma's death. Even though he almost rolled a golf cart I think
he had a blast. Hopefully we can start really teaching him soon...
After service we had a lesson with Dianne which went really well I
felt like. Instead of just reading from the Book of Mormon we taught
The Restoration. Me and Elder Rasmussen thought it went really well.
We invited her to read The Restoration pamphlet and to pray to know if
what we were teaching. She even said the closing prayer and asked for
guidance in her prayer.
Wednesday: District meeting was today, that was pretty good. We went
over to Bob Longs after District meeting and answered some of the
questions he had. We then took a ride in his 1952 Ford V8 Custom
Overdrive! It was sooo cool and I want one. After our ride we tried to
stop by Marideth's but she wasn't home. We went to dinner and then had
a lesson with the Benson Ward Priests. Best lesson I think we have
ever taught. They're practicing to teach the restoration to a family
in the ward and asked us to teach them the restoration. Lesson went
really well and I felt like I was teaching as a young Priest. Really
been working at teaching the lessons better and I'm really getting
there. I feel a lot more comfortable than I did before.
Thursday: Service at Barney's... When we first got there, there was a
friend of the Barney's there who is known as the Greyhound lady who
gave me a Greyhound tie. After talking with her we helped Brother
Barney get his golf cart started and it finally started! After Service
we went and checked on some referrals we got. Through that we got a
new investigator:) Her name is Toni, she is older. Her son is a recent
convert in Gilbert and referred us to her to give her a blessing. She
is suffering from cancer and wanted a blessing. Offered to start
teaching the discussions and she said YES! Went over to Darlenes after
that and kinda taught the Restoration... She loves to talk.
Friday: Weekly planning today... After weekly planning we helped
Brother Kitelinger our investigator move a refrigerator. After helping
him we talked to him about taking the lessons for real... And sadly he
said no... He appreciates us coming over to give little messages to
his family but religion isn't something he is really interested in.
That kinda sucked... But hey, I'm sure we will start teaching him
eventually... Had a lesson with Kristina tonight that went really
well... Talked about marriage and how important it was. They're living
together... That's why they should get married... But we are not going
to force them all we can do is pray.
Saturday: This morning we started out our day going to sister Baughns
Funeral Service. It was kinda depressing to have all the grandkids go
up and tell stories about her while bawling their eyes out. You
couldn't really even understand what they were saying... A lot of her
grandkids didn't really understand the Plan of Salvation sadly:/ After
the funeral we finally made it to the Sigleys house after like 2
months. They had a baby so it is kinda understandable... While we were
there we were asked to stand in the circle for the baby blessing:) We
then went to Meredith's and talked to her about the addiction recovery
program. We feel like we helped her out pretty well... Hopefully.
Sunday: Typical Sunday in the Benson Ward & Butterfield Ward church.
Spent 6 hours in that... Testimony meeting was pretty good, in
Butterfield Ward me and Elder Rasmussen had the opportunity to
participate in a baby blessing. That was a pretty cool experience. No
investigators at church today which was a bummer. Kristina was really
sick and nobody else made it... After church we took picture of the
Pierce and Sigley family, the one with the baby. Also at church we got
asked to confirm two of their kids :) that will be cool:) they're 8
but we still get to do it:)
 Is the gospel an inconvenience or a blessing?? I remember when I was
growing up thinking that the gospel was an inconvenience... I told
myself I wanted the blessings of the Gospel but I didn't want to work
so hard to have them. How many of us do you think of the commandments
as restrictions that keep us from having fun instead of protecting us.
I'd like to testify to you that I know that I know that this gospel is
not an inconvenience at all and only a blessing. Yes sometimes living
the gospel can be hard... There might not be things you"agree with"
personally. These are minor issues that should not stand in our way of
being happy and returning with our Heavenly Father. James 1:5 say "If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." If any of
you "lack wisdom", ask God... Ask Him if the gospel is an
inconvenience or a blessing and I can promise you he will answer your
prayer. I know this is the true church and I am so proud to be a
member of it. I know this Gospel is a blessing. Even though I might
not always like what Heavenly Father has commandment me to do... I
know I will be blessed through my obedience. I love you all! Thanks
for all the prayers and love you show!
Love,
Elder Smith