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.