Week 76

AREA: Tucson—Midvale

COMPANION: Elder Bradfield

Monday: Today wasn't too exciting. This morning all we did was did our
normal pday things before staying home all day to watch Elder Blacker
pack his things. I'm going to miss serving with him, he is a really
good missionary, and has a lot of good intentions. Had dinner at the
Olive's home and they were awesome! As usual. They made us Japanese
food which was amazing! We then went over to the Dedmans home which
was a lot of fun. We had a very good conversation about the Plan of
Salvation till we had to take off for the night.

Tuesday: Transfer day! Woke up earlier than usual so we could head out
to the transfer site. It was nice to see some old friends. Elder
Kapele went home which was crazy because it feels like not too long
ago he hit is 18 month mark. Saw a bunch of other missionaries and got
to talk a little before having to head home so Elder Bradfield could
unpack. First day went pretty well with Elder Bradfield, their are
some things I will definitely have to get used to. He has a speech
impediment which causes him to stutter pretty bad most of the time.
Had a great lesson with Robert and then with Crystal. Roberts lesson
went well, we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then weigh Crystal
which went great too. Found out Crystal had some pretty bad issues
with the Word of Wisdom and  so we brought John, an addiction survivor
I know from my first area. Brother Fawcett came as well and at the end
of the lesson we gave her a blessing. She is such a strong person and
the amount of growth she has made since we just met her is
spectacular:)

Wednesday: Super crazy!! This morning we had the worldwide mission
broadcast and had a very good review of last years broadcast. That
part was repetitive being that I had recently watched the broadcast
during my studies. The exciting part was that the General Authorities
of the church have decided to change our schedule and key indicators.
We now have a lot more agency when it comes to what we do during the
day. We decide when we do things as long as we wake up at 6:30,
workout (6:30-7:00), Plan (7:00-7:30), get ready (7:30-8:30), personal
studies (8:30-9:30) and companionship whenever is convenient and is
only 30 minutes now! Super awesome and I really love it. Only thing
that I'm not a huge fan of is that they shortened our lunch time to 30
minutes instead of an hour. It will be all good though. After the
conference we had a lesson with a less active named Edgardo, then
Faith, and then the Bagley's. All of which went really well. Had a
great gospel conversation with Faiths mom's fiancé who is Southern
Baptist and has a lot of bad information about the LDS Church. Had a
modest conversation about what we believe and it went very well.

Thursday: Super busy day today. Found out this morning that we have a
booth reserved at a fair on the Indian reservation this weekend that
we now have to prepare for. Super last minute so we rushed up to the
mission office to grab material for that, had lunch with sister
Broadbent which was awesome!! Missed her so much and it was great to
be able to catch up, and then went over to brother Collingwood's to go
out and visit less actives with him. Some of the people were home and
we had very nice conversations with them and others weren't
home/didn't want us being there. Got yelled at by some guy for being
on his property which was pretty stupid being that all we were doing
was turning around. Crystal went to the Addiction recovery meeting and
said she LOVED IT! She also said that she feels that she now has hope
that she can really beat this addiction, which she hasn't ever felt
before. Ended the night at Hermana & Elder Jones apartment making
plans for the booth in Sells.

Friday: Nothing too exciting happened today. Got distracted a few
times trying to start weekly planning and didnt end up getting a whole
lot real important stuff done. Had dinner with some awesome members,
went home, planned some, and went to bed.

Saturday: This morning was so exhausting. Had a booth set up at a
rodeo down in Sells and had to get there early before the fair to see
the parade. After the parade we rushed over to the fair and set up the
rest of our booth. There was some pretty good success here and there.
A lot of the Natives seemed to be really interested in doing family
history. Invited a few people to church so were crossing our fingers
that someone comes:) There was one guy had a difficult time not
getting defensive with... said he didnt  know much about the mormons,
until he explained stuff that he "knows" about mormons. Started from
questions about multiple wives to false accusations about Joseph
Smith. None of which he could stump me on haha it was a very good
discussion, not a bible bash. Just a discussion about different
faiths. The rest of the evening we spent driving home and at Gary's.

Sunday: This morning was hard. We had ward council this morning so we
had to wake up earlier again to get ready for that. Super tired from
the day before already. That went well, had a great day at church,
Crystal came and looked to be doing great which was great to see.
After that we talked with a few of the new missionaries in the Central
ward till we needed to leave. Got home, did studies, ate lunch, left
for dinner, visited Sister Lucas (recent convert), set plans with what
she wants us to do to help her out, and then spent the evening at
bishops. Had to do calls this evening which was interesting. End of
month numbers really suck though. I am anxious to see what calls will
be like with the new Key Indicator change.

This week I would like to talk about righteous goals. recently I was
reading in 1 Nephi where Nephi and his brothers were told to go back
to Jerusalem to get the brass plates(records) from Laban. I love the
example that Nephi made through his diligent faith in receiving the
plates. Throughout our lives we may think that things we are told to
do or expected of us are "impossible," just how it may have seemed
impossible for Nephi to get the plates. Nephi knew that if he put his
trust in the Lord that he would provide a way to receive the brass
plates, and he did. Just like that example, if we have a goal in mind
that we may feel is impossible to achieve or something expected of us
that you feel you "can't" do. Put your faith in the Lord and trust
that he will show you a way to succeed. I invite you all to do as
Nephi did, exercise your faith and make goals that you know your
Father in Heaven would be proud of and ask for His help.

I love you all! Have a great week! Thank you for all you do!

Love,

Elder Smith