Week 69

AREA: Tucson—Midvale

COMPANION: Elder Blacker 

Friends and Family, 

Monday: It was a pretty good p-day. Did all our regular p-day things

and went to the library. The rest of the day was pretty laid back.

Tuesday: Not too bad of a day. We had food bank and everything as

usual. Had a lesson with Faith, our investigator and it went pretty

well. We mostly spent time establishing expectations. After them we

went over to a councilor in the stake presidents house and he is

awesome! Super cool family. The rest of the night was not very

exciting unfortunately.

Wednesday: Had zone meeting today which was fun. It was all about

practicing before lessons so we are better prepared. They changed the

name from role play to practice so we don't psyche ourselves out. Had

dinner with a senior missionary couple in my complex, it was Salmon

which was super yummy! We did have a lesson with Deon which canceled:/

that sucked. So we went over to brother Collingwood and he told us

that he was going to be the new Ward mission leader. This should be

pretty awesome, he is retired and spends a majority of his time

contacting everyone in the ward directory. We finished up the night

visiting with Gary which went well.

Thursday: Had foodbank which was pretty good... still kinda repetitive

and everything. I actually left a suggestion in the box in the break

room. After I wrote the suggestion I wrote #bringtravisback haha We

all miss travis and wish he were still here. Glad he is finding new

experience and everything. We then had another appointment with Faith

and taught the Restoration. It went very well and she accepted a

baptism date for the 31st of December.

Friday: This morning there was a Fry's grocery store grand opening

across the street from our apartment so we thought it would be a great

opportunity to talk with people. Got up and headed over there and had

some fun. There were so many people there I couldn't believe it.

Apparently the first 250 people through the door got a free $10

giftcard, we weren't even close to being in the group of the first 250

people. We did talk with a few people and found a less active who has

been less active since she was a little girl and she was in her 30s

probably now. We then got ready and everything. Sister Lee came over

to inspect our apartment and we past :) had a lesson with Kim which

went well, visited with some potentials and actually found them.

Scheduled an appointment with one so we will see if they follow

through. The ward Christmas party was tonight which was a lot of fun

and there was so much amazing food. We ended up bringing almost all of

the leftover desert and tamales home. Exchanged tonight with the

district leader tonight.

Saturday: Really fun day with Elder Hale. Did all of our studies and

everything and it was super fun because we had a pretty intense

conversation about the Plan of Salvation. Love learning new things:)

we had a lesson with the Castleberry's who were previous investigators

that contacted us and asked if we would come teach them again. In the

past they have been known for just wanting to meet with us to take

advantage of the welfare system. Although this time after visiting

them I felt that they were very sincere about meeting with us and

wanting to really find the truth. Right before we left they told us

about their landlord and that they were members. We ended up visiting

with them as well. They are the Provstgaards, its a mom and son. The

son is 28 and the mom is old and has breast cancer so she hasn't been

feeling well enough to come to church. She did have a bunch of awesome

animals! Not just your typical pets for sure. We went home for dinner

and Elder Hale bought pizza for us. After eating we stopped by a less

actives that lives in our complex but they were not home so we knocked

on their neighbors and talked with him for about 45 minutes. Super

cool guy who is very open about learning about different churches.

Cleared up some confusion about mormons with certain things and talked

about the Book of Mormon. Awesome day! Ended the day with exchanging

back.

Sunday: This morning we had to drive all the way back to the district

leaders house because we forgot to give them back the keys to their

car which they needed. After that we drove over to brother Freeman's

so we could go on splits. Elder Blacker and Matt (bishops son) went to

Sells for church and I went with the Freeman's to midvale ward. The

Provstgaards came to church which was awesome! The Castleberry's were

supposed to but there was some challenges with transportation. After

church I made breakfast for dinner and then went to bishops house as

usual.

I would like to bear a simple testimony that I know that the Book of

Mormon is the word of God, I know Joseph Smith is a true prophet of

God, I know that the gospel blesses families and helps us to become

stronger, I know that if we apply the gospel the best we can and keep

being humble enough to do what God wants us to do and not what we want

to do, we will never go astray. I love this gospel and the happiness

that it has brought into my life as I have applied it.

Love you all!! Have a great week:) stay strong and choose the right!:)

Love,

Elder Smith

One of the Emu's that that less active has. They have so much more animals than this though. 

Elder Blacker getting a haircut, he is so tall she had to stand on a stool.

This is stupid.......       The dog's name is Stupid.

Week 68

AREA: Tucson—Midvale
COMPANION: Elder Blacker 

Friends and Family,

I forgot my journal so I will give you a run through the best I can :)

This week was pretty normal other than we did a lot of service I feel like. 

Starting out with Monday... It was pretty good, we were able to get all of our things done by about 9 so we had a lot of time to chill. 

Tuesday was pretty good, we went to the foodbank as usual and then we went and tried to visit some people before dinner. Had dinner with the freemans and after dinner brother freeman cam e out and visited some referrals with us. Super successful night which was great:) we found a new investigator named Deon. He was a potential that had not been contacted in over a year. Super happy to see us and is looking for direction.

Wednesday was your typical wednesday in the mission. Had district meeting but after district meeting instead of just eating lunch, we decided to play a little prank on the district leader haha. Not sure if anyone knew this but it is very easy to take the tailgate off the back of a Nissan Frontier haha. Yup, we took off the tailgate and hid it from them. Told them that someone stole it haha they were super confused for a sec but we told them eventually. After that we visited with a sister who is almost 91 years old:) super cute. We then went over to Gary's for a quick message.

Thursday was the first day of the light the world activity so we spent all day in service clothes. Helped patch brother freeman's roof which was fun. Never done that before and it took a lot longer than I thought it would for sure. 

Friday we actually had to finish up patching the roof so after doing that though we did some weekly planning and then visited with a recently reactivated member named Kim. She told us how she was going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead which was soo exciting:) 

Saturday we went and helped clean the church with central ward and then had breakfast at Roys. Had some issues with my ipad so I took care of those and then went home to finish up on some planning before we had to go and sing at the adult session of stake conference. That was a lot and got a lot out of it. 

Sunday was stake conference and once again was awesome! very good speakers that talked about the importance of keeping the Sabbath day Holy. More specifically talked about making sacrament meeting as reverent and sacred as we can. 

Something I really enjoyed about the conference that I would like to share with you is that the importance of keeping the Sabbath day will never change. We need to always strive to keep the Sabbath Day Holy not only by doing it but by preparing ourselves and doing it with faith. It is impossible to be saved by our works... nothing we do will "save us" This does not mean we can just sit on our butt and do nothing though. No, we shouldnt just be a body sitting at church because that is just works... youre doing it just because. If you do it with faith you will gain a testimony of church attendance and will become a better person because of it. What we become as we exercise our faith in Jesus Christ by doing things, and continueing them till the end determines what happens. I love you all! have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Smith

Week 67

AREA: Tucson—Midvale
COMPANION: Elder Blacker 
 
Family and Friends,

Monday: Pretty good pday for the most part. We actually went to sports
this morning which is a first in probably 8 months. Still not the
greatest thing in the world though... haha After sports we went and
got our haircut at a members that lives down in Sahuarita. Super nice
Sister who has 4 little boys, one of them is a foster child. Our
dinner canceled so we ended up just not really eating and hanging out.
Pretty good pday.
Tuesday: Pretty fun day... Not sure if I mentioned this already but
since I'm still super close to the food-bank, I volunteer there
still... same one that I have been going to for the past 7.5 month. So
we went there and it was super busy, the line to get food was out the
door. After food-bank we ate lunch and then headed to our lesson with
Sister Williams which turned into a lesson with sister Williams and
Sister Lucas. They are both talkers and love to talk... so do I so we
did a lot of that and then shared a message about trials and how they
refine us into better people. Sister Williams has cancer sadly:/ we
may be teaching her daughter though which is exciting:) she is 9 years
old. After dinner with the Crawford's we had a lesson with the
Bagley's. Taught about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy which went well I
feel like. Brother Bagley is not a member so technically he is our
investigator but he has also raised 3 mormons and his wife is Mormon.
Wednesday: Pretty busy day. This morning we had district meeting as
usual. Since it is so far away we give the other elders that are close
to us a ride down to where we have District meeting. After our
meetings we had lunch and and then had a lesson with an older sister
in the ward who can't get to church anymore for medical reasons.
Sister Cole had a friend over who was not a member and we had pretty
good conversation about the church. We then had an appointment with a
less active sister which went well, she is definitely into studying
her scriptures which is good. After our lesson with her we had dinner.
Member bought us pizza and we picked it up at pizza hut which was
cool.
Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! This morning we spent a majority of the
day doing studies as usual before we were then picked up by Bishop
Rees's son Matt. He brought us over to Mercury's (our investigator) to
bring us all over to his place for Thanksgiving "lunch." Had a very
great meal over there and so thankful for them inviting us and
Mercury. Great times over there with the Rees family as usual and ate
some amazing food. After their place we went and got dropped off to
then go to Roy's for our "second" thanksgiving. Didnt end up eating
though which was actually a big relief. I was soooo full already from
the first one. Spent time over there and then headed home for the
night. When we got home we were so anxious about Christmas coming up
that we decorated before we went to bed. Missionaries from before left
a bunch of Christmas stuff in the closet so we set it up:)🎅🏼🎄
Friday: Typical friday... weekly planning and all. This morning though
it sucked because we accidentally left our phone at Roys the night
before so we went over for that and then he offered to feed us
breakfast. Gone done with that and finally made it home. Started
weekly planning before we had to go to dinner.
Saturday: Helped clean the church this morning which was good. Was
told over a half dozen time that I was apparently cleaning too well...
They have professional cleaners come once and awhile to clean up what
we miss. According to the yellowness of the paper towel... the toilet
hadn't been deep cleaned in a while. Thank you mom for teaching me how
to clean well:) After cleaning we had a great conversation with a
investigator who lives in another ward but attends ours because his
daughter does about some challenges he is having. Hopefully we were
able to give him some motivation to continue to work hard so he can be
baptized. Went and visited some less actives and then had dinner with
Henry as usual. We then had a lesson with Gary and it went really
well. He really wants help coming back to church and overcoming the
trials that he goes through on a daily basis.
Sunday: Today was pretty good. This morning we went on splits so Elder
Blacker could go to church at our ward and I could go to church in
Sells. Road with Brother & Sister Collingwood down to church. Before
we went to church Sister Collingwood was very nice and cooked
breakfast:) Church in Sells was alright. Not very many people showed
up which kinda sucked. May have gotten a new investigator though:)
There were some kids that came that live with one of the members. The
kids were 6,8, and 11. After the Sacrament we split and I offered to
teach a lesson to the kids. We taught the Restoration and it was
great:) Talked about baptism and the 11 year old Michael seemed to
really like the idea of working towards that. After church we drove
back home, changed, went to dinner, then the Rees's, and then to
Tyna's. Pretty good time at those places:)

This upcoming month the church is putting on a worldwide challenge to
anyone who wants to build their faith in Jesus Christ. Its a new and
creative way that we can show our appreciation for what Christ did for
us and celebrate his birth. Jesus Christ while he was on the earth set
the perfect example for us and we should look up to him the best we
can. We have been blessed with a life on earth and a name given to us.
What we do with this name is our choice... We should always strive to
live worthy of constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. I would like
to re extend this challenge that has been given to us all and try our
best to follow the 25 day challenge. I promise you will not regret it
and you will gain a stronger faith in Christ.
www.mormong.org--- #LIGHTtheWORLD
Go to the website to watch the video:)