Elder Ryan Smith's Mission Blog: Week 54

AREA: Central Tucson
COMPANION: Elder Esplin

Friends and Family,
Monday: Pretty normal pday other than the fact that Elder Cox and I
burned. He burned a tie for 6 months and I burned a shirt:) super fun.
After burning Roy brought us all to U-swirl.
Tuesday: Fantastic day:) had Foodbank this morning and after food
banks had a lot of great lessons with people. Elder Esplin invited
Oscar our investigator to be baptized on the 24th of September and he
said he will work for it which is super exciting. Had a lesson with
some recent converts as well. We were supposed to meet with Michael
today, the refugee from Africa but turns out he was in Texas because
he's a truck driver. His wife was home though and the sister we
brought with us talked with her for about 20 min in French. She
doesn't know English at all... But we asked if she would like a copy
of the Book of Mormon in French and she accepted it.
Wednesday: From 9:00-4:45 today we had zone conference... What a blast
that was... Even though it was super long I got a lot out of it and
look forward to applying the things I learned. After the conference we
had a few lessons and even found a new investigator named Robert. Not
sure if he is super interested right now but we will see how things
go.
Thursday: Had a great time at the foodbank boxing up food. Really
enjoyed the conversation that Travis and I had after. Talked about the
gospel, which I feel like is our usual conversation now a days haha.
Love talking with him about the gospel. Hopefully he doesn't feel like
I'm trying to pressure him into the church or anything. I really care
about him a lot and every time I'm with him I just feel almost
inspired to talk about the gospel with him. The spirit is super strong
every time I do talk about it with him. I have never been so close to
a non-member as I have him, he's such a cool dude.
After food banks we met with some less actives and had some good
discussions. We have been doing a 24hr follow up call to a member in
the ward that is an alcoholic. Gave him a call tonight and he didn't
answer so we went over to his place and he answered the door drunk...
:/ super sad to see how a substance has just taken over someone's
life. Still going to try and be patient and loving.
Friday: Had lunch with the Broadbents today, who were the members I
lived with in my first area. Great time catching up :) love them so
much:) After lunch we picked up our "mini missionary" which is someone
close by who has his call or is waiting for his call and goes out with
some missionaries for a few days to prepare for the real thing. Had
fun weekly planning with Wesley. Taught a lesson to a recent convert
and her mom who is not a member. Lesson went really well, found out
after we met with them Billie, the mom threw out all her coffee and
tobacco.
Saturday: Wasnt a very good day... All of our appointments canceled
today. Would have been an awesome day if they hadn't but it's all
good. Not everyday is going to go as planned. Roy bought some new fish
for his tank:) I love fish:) they're so relaxing.
Sunday: Pretty good Sunday. Billie came to church which was cool. Tyna
had alittle bit of a fit about how life sucks but we figured that out
some. Tried to visit some of the potential investigators that we have
and ended up scheduling an appointment with them for later. Look
forward to that:)
I would like to talk about the importance of making goals and
planning. Something I have really gained a testimony in since I have
been out is those things. At the conference we had a training on these
things. Before this training I knew that goals were important but
didn't understand how truely important they are. In the Book of Mormon
in
Enos 1:12 which says
"And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all
diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to
thy desires, because of thy faith."
Now what God is telling us is not "I will grant unto thee according to
thy selfish desires". He will not give us things that we don't want.
If it be Gods will he will grant unto thee according to thy desires
because of the faith we have exercised by making that goal(desire) and
doing all that we can to accomplish those things in faith.
I have seen how setting righteous goals have blessed my life and the
lives of those around me. I would love to invite you if you haven't
already sit down and write down goals that you would like to
accomplish and pray about those goals. Asking for the strength to
accomplish them. I promise you the Lord will bless you because of your
desires and help you through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Love you all! Hope you had a great week! Have another great one:) Love
you so much! Thanks for everything!
Love,
Elder Smith