Week 77

AREA: Tucson—Midvale

COMPANION: Elder Bradfield

Friends and Family,

Monday: This morning started off pretty good and normal. Went to
volleyball and actually played a little which was kinda fun. The
stupid wifi was down at the building so I wasn't able to send out my
emails till later. The rest of the day we spent chilling out and
relaxing the way we do best.

Tuesday: Had a great day! Had foodbank which was a lot of fun as
usual. Went and visited with Sister Cole and we watched the
restoration movie with her. Very powerful movie and would recommend
watching it if you haven't already. After her we tried to visit
someone Elder Bradfield thought may be someone he was related too and
unfortunately they had moved. We did talk with the guy that lived
there though and said we could stop by next week sometime which was
SUPER awesome! Had a great lesson with Robert, Ernie, Emilio, and
Audrina. All of them except Audrina should be getting baptized this
month and we will see how that goes:) We would have visited with
Crystal although she wasn't feeling too good coming off of the drugs
she was on. Hopefully she will regain her energy soon and be back and
at it:)

Wednesday: Gave my first district meeting which I though went well.
There were definitely a few things that I need to work on though.
After district meeting our district had lunch together in the church
building. We just brought our own food and ate up. Went home and then
rushed over to our lesson that ended up not going through. Our backup
was then to visit the Whitlock family. They're an older couple who are
unable to come to church physically. Ended up giving them the
sacrament and then moving on to our next lesson with Faith. Faith made
a huge step in her progression! She told us that she made the choice
that she wanted to get baptized. Her baptismal date is no longer a
"goal" its an actual real thing! She is on a role and we look forward
to seeing how things go from now on. The rest of the evening we had
dinner as usual and then headed over to a members house for the
combined youth bonfire they were having. It was a lot of fun. Robert
was supposed to be able to go but wasn't able to make it
unfortunately.

Thursday: Didn't have anything major happen today. Had foodbank as
usual and went out with Brother Collingwood for about 3 hours
contacting families. That was a lot of fun, I love Brother Collingwood
so much. Never before have I had a ward mission leader as determined
to make a difference in a ward as him. While contacting families in
the ward we contacted a guy who had an awesome hot rod he was working
on for his great grandson. He had been less active for years so we
will see what we can do with him:) After visits we had dinner with
Sister Dilley and then went and visited with Adrian who we hadn't seen
in awhile. Had a really great discussion with him.

Friday: Had a pretty good study session this morning on a bunch of
different things. After studies we started on our weekly planning
before going out to Kim's place. She is doing very good with her knee
replacement! She is already walking around, no longer doing physical
therapy, and she is already about to be scheduled again to get her
other knee replaced. Its only been about 3 weeks. We came home after
that and then got going on planning again before we went to dinner
with Sister Dilley at Costco. Had exchanges tonight:) blessings of
being a district leader...

Saturday: Spent pretty much all day doing service. Started off the day
at the church cleaning it which was a blast of course. We then went
home to then head over to Brother Freeman's to help out with some
leaks on the roof that was causing some water damage on the ceiling in
their bathroom. We ended up tearing up some dusty 30 year old carpet
that was in a bathroom. You could imagine how gross that was. We also
ripped some drywall off the wall which was fun. After his place we got
some lunch and then went to sister Lucas's place. That was really
interesting... we pretty much just went through a hoarders trailer and
sorted out all the tools. Found some really weird stuff in the
process. After their place we went to the lujan's house to go and help
them with some work around their place but by the time we got their
they were already done working. So we talked with them for awhile and
went home to get ready for our lesson with Gary. Lesson with Gary went
well, his therapist dishonorably released him which pretty much means
he is too far gone to help so he is scared that he will either be
going back to prison or going to a mental hospital. Gary is a really
good guy and I feel bad for his situation, it is truly unfortunate. He
does deserve it though.

Sunday: church was good, we had ward council again this morning which
went well. Crystal came to church again and she is doing great! She
looks so much happier since she has been keeping the word of wisdom.
Very proud of her progression in the gospel and look forward to when
she is baptized. After sacrament meeting we went over to brother
Collingwood and had breakfast (surprise breaking fast) after his place
we went to Sells for church. Unfortunately the group was pretty
small... we did have a new sister their though we were finally able to
contact! She is a teacher and didn't know we had the group meeting
their. She is a very strong member! She had kids that served missions
and everything. We then drove home and on the way stopped by the
lujans with brother Collingwood to see what he needs help with. We
will be going back shortly to help them out with building a house and
barbed wire fence. The rest of the evening was pretty relaxed... I
didn't take my ADHD medication because it was fast Sunday so I was
sooo tired and just wanted to pass out.

Today I would like to talk about the importance of church attendance
and how important it is for us to do all we can to attend. Over the
time of being on my mission and trying to help people come to church I
have heard about every excuse in the Book. There are so many, all the
way down to I didn't feel like it to my car broke down. Some of these
reasons may have been very good and understandable. At the same time
after hearing the stories of people that would do all they could to
come to church and made it a top priority. Pushing through those
trials and finding a way to church. Coming to church isn't just a time
to learn about God some more, it's way more than that. It the only day
during the week we have the opportunity to renew our baptismal
covenants. This is such a blessing and we should be taking advantage
of this as long as we can. I love this gospel and the sacrament. I
love how I feel at church and the unity of faith I have with my fellow
brothers and sisters there.

Love you all! Have a great week!😊

Love,

Elder Smith