Week 85

AREA: Tucson—Midvale

COMPANION: Elder Edward

Friends and Family,

Tuesday: Ended up waking up super late at the mission home which was
super nice. I had the whole mission home to myself for practically the
whole day until Sister Passey came home. Spent almost the whole day
studying the scriptures. It was a day much needed. The pain wasn't too
bad for the most part. The only way I could explain it is first week
of track practice... Other than that, I ate fine, and felt fine.

Wednesday: Slept in a little today, not as long as yesterday though.
Had a great breakfast with President Passey before leaving for
District meeting. Thankfully the sisters in the district took over the
training for me because I wasn't sure if I would going or not. After
district meeting we had a great time doing things that I wasn't able
to do on pday. This evening we had a great lesson with Crystal on
callings in the church. She looks forward to receiving a calling soon.

Thursday: Had a doctors appointment this morning with my psyche. That
was in North Tucson and while we were up there I though we should go
to Chipotle so I could use the gift card I had for there. We ordered
our food and when we got to the register... they just said it was
taken care of. We are thinking that one of the workers there gave us
their family deal thing... not sure but I was thankful. Now we get to
plan another trip to Chipotle:) We had a nice visit with sister Cole's
house and then went out for some visits before heading to dinner. Had
a hard time getting the motivation to do things because I was bloated
from after the surgery which made driving uncomfortable.

Friday: weekly planning, Kim's place, and dinner with Henry.

Saturday: Had a great  time watching general conference! I love
watching general conference sooo much. The first session we watched at
the Collingwood's house and the second session we actually watched at
Crystalls parents house! It was super cool! Unfortunately her parents
didn't join in with us or anything but I figured if they weren't
listening they still must have felt the spirit that conference brought
into their home. Priesthood session we were going to watch at home
after cooking dinner but we finished cooking too late before we had to
go to an appointment. Gave a member in the ward a blessing and then
went home and ate ice cream while watching parts of conference.

Sunday- Another great day of watching conference. This time we watched
it at a less active members house named Wanda. She is 90 years old and
is the sweetest old thing you will ever meet. She forgets things
practically the second after you tell her them but she is still pretty
sharp for the most part. We all enjoyed conference very much and after
conference we went and visited a bunch of people in the area. Talked
with a woman with some cute puppies that were 9 weeks old. Had a great
time at the Rees home as well.

During conference, all of the talks seemed to talk about Christlike
attributes and how we can be more Christlike. One of the talks that
struck me the most was President Uchtdorfs talk about the importance
of Christlike love for those around us. We often try to use things
like fear, criticism, anger, and hate to win people to our way of
thinking, when we should be doing the opposite. I feel that personally
I tend to look at the negatives of what people are doing rather than
the positives, so something I have been trying to do recently is when
I have a temptation to criticize someone, give them a complement
instead. Through this excerecise I have seen the happiness in there
faces when they hear a compliment instead of a insult, recognizing I
do truly care for them and don't want to hurt them.

I love my Savior, I know He lived, died, and lived again for all of
us. Have a great week everyone:)

Love,

Elder Smith