November 9, 2010

So i have been out almost 2 months now i have been in the field for a month now. it has gone by so fast at times!

This week we taught 17 lessons which is amazing. the lady who was about to get baptized backed down but we are still teaching her and trying to get another date set with her she just has alot of family issues going on. and wants her family to be invloved. its good though. Then we have been teaching a family and they are so ready to be baptized we set a date for the 27th and they asked if they could move it up cause the want to start now and stuff its fun to see the change in them the mom grew up jewish and loves our faith and she said its like the Jews are missing out on the best thing ever. Yesterday we committed them to live the word of wisdom cause the drink coffe and they are like done we have 12 days to be clean we will do it. They take our commitments and just do them right away. they are having us over for dinner tomorrow. and then we have another dinner after that. im getting fat cause of all this food we eat. like ive gained easily pounds and i cant workout in the morning cause of my foot and i have to the stretches for that. so yeah. but i got my shot friday it didnt hurt but now it hurts worse than ever it feels like i have broken it again or just had surgery. The dr wanted me to go get therapy but i cant here cause i dont have time and then he said surgery is always a good option cause its a quick fix and healinh process or i can just live with the shots and it will take 6 months to a year to heal with no treatment or surgery. so i have been really praying on what i should do. cause i want to be here so bad and were having amazing success here and the ward is amazing and i dont ever want to leave this area but sometimes i think i need to get treatment cause i cant run or bike very well cause of it and i have to walk slow so i feel like i cant give it my alll and that i can give more if my foot was just healed. so i will try to figure something out. so yeah anyways...people are like lineing up to feed us thanksgiving dinner its awesome Sis Stucki our investigator wants to feed us thanksgiving so we will have like 5 dinners. there is one lady Sis Smith who is like our mom out here she has us over once a week for dinner and takes care of us its awesome..

We went on spilts this week cause we had 2 apts at the same time and i took a 17 yr old out Connor and our apt fell through so we just went tracting and stuff i felt way bad he didnt get to teach, but yesterday during testimony meeting he got up and shared how he wants to go on a mission now cause he went out with me and stuff and it was really special to me to hear him say that just to know i influenced someones like to go on a mission the greatest thing a young man can. it makes my whole mission worth it!

Sunday i was able to stand in on a guy receving the Melcezdik preisthood he has been less active for like 15 years and now came back and he is amazing we teach them twice a week and they feed us lunch and everything they treat us so good and they have such strong spirts its an amazing experince.

the ward here is giving us referals all the time. at nights we basiacally are running lesson to lesson we are keeping really busy and its fun i love it here and love being a missionary. everyone here keeps telling us that we are the best missionaries they have had in this area for long a time and they have had alot of missionaries in this area so its fun to hear that all this work is payin off and blessing peoples lives.

Well i will send letters today hope all is well and im doing amazing!!! love you all and take care! miss you.

Love

Elder Smith

November 2, 2010

HELLLLLLOOOO!!!

So this week was amazing!! it flew by so fast! i think i am finally losing myself in the work! The people were teaching are doing great the area is just ready to hear the good word! So last wednesday we had a zone confrence in San Clemente which was beautful and Edler Zwick of the Seventy came with his wife. he is such an amazing guy. we got to meet him and talk with him he shared some amazing things this week like how to build our foundations and stuff like that. he said exactly what i needed to hear. He talked about how important it is to serve a mission and do everything you can do make it the most. i have alot of good stuff i will prob write in a letter home about it. But he talked and taught us for like 4 hours and it was the strongest spirit i have ever felt. he changed my mission. then we had a testimonty meeting with him and some of us got to share ours with him so i took the chance and did it it was a good experince.

So this week has been so good i havent had any hard morning and just been working hard and having a good attitude about all the work  out of the 7 days i maybe had one bad day but thats it. so all is good! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY haha its fun. i was looking back and ive been almost out 2 months now and i think to myself about the hard times were i thought i was misserable and stuff i think about it and i was happy i was the happiest i ever been i am so happy so to be here and dont want to leave this mission. it has changed my life so much and i have learned so much.

As Elder Zwick said "challnges are a good thing it means the lord is ready for you to grow, so ask for challenges so that you can grow so you can be with him in the last day."

So i have been doing really good! my foot has been a problem though im calling Sister Cook today to try and get that shot and see what i can do im doign everytthing i can but i think i need treatment and stuff. so yeah ill let you know when that happens.

 

So we have been teaching the Mciver family and they are loving it in fact we set a baptismal Date for them on the 27th and it was funny at the trunk or treat saturday he went up to the Bishop and told him that he is going to be baptized at the end of the month. So we have 3 bapstims this month if the other lady Gina keeps her date of next week she has been having doubts and stuff its hard but i think she will come through. Then we started to teach a 9 yrold girl Emma talk about hard. its hard to explain gods plan for us to a 9 yr old haha. but her mom is in active and wants her daughter to have the chance to be baptized so by the end of december we could have 4 bapstims that is really rare to see soits amazing to see all this work that is being done.

The ward here is amazing we had a fun trunk or treat saturday and they fed us like crazy! and ready for this the big news haha i weighed myslef the other day and i have ganied 15 pounds haha amazingness i was pretty shocked but it was funny.

we rode like 30 miles plus on our bikes since saturday my legs kill but its fun. It was 85 degress yesterday its so amazing here i love it.

Thanks for all the packeges i got them all and teh sweeters fir perfect thanks so much! and thanks for all the letters and everything.

I went on an exchange with the Zone Leaders they live up in a place called Cotta de Caza which ia gatted community and everryhouse is at least 20 mill if not more its amazing it was a good experince i learned alot from Elder Mazenra hes a good guy.  hope all is well at home and we get to play dodgeball today for district activty so that will be fun! im doing good and hope all is well at home love you all soo much take care and PLEASE KEEP WRITING!!!!

Love Elder Smith

October 26, 2010

Hey this week has been amazing and rough at the same time. This week i learned how low Satan will go to get us. Its really sad how low he has to go to break us down. Hes working on me, tries everything i can feel it. He just attacks with thoughts of home like family stuff. Thursday i was on an exchange with elder Price and he helped me out he has been struggiling to, he was my mtc comp so it was funny 2 new elders out in a area not really knowing what were doing but it was so fun. He gave me a blessing to comfort me and we just talked it was good to be with someone that understands. its the mornings that are rough cause its early and im tierd and we dont do much we wake up at 6 exersice i just work on my foot. then we eat and study till 10 but once i get going i get better but in the morning i just wanna go home and im basically miserable but once i get going and start teaching people i get better and have a desire to be here its just hard at times, cause i just miss being with you guys and doing family stuff. i try to make the members my family and talk with them the ward is incredible here they help us out so much! and feed us all the time and sometimes even lunch. i eat anything now like i dont have any foods i dont like anymore i guess its just part of being a missionary. but sometimes i still wanna come home but i know i will regret it and stuff i wont come home.All your letters and packages make it so much better i like run to mailbox when we get home to see if anything came so thank you SOOO much for the packeges i got all 3 of them with everything. i know you guys have spent alot of time and money on them so really thank you for them it means alot and thats a nother reason i wont come is you guys have invested so much on me. so thank you!!! i got my insoles they work pretty good there really nice ones. so thanks for everything you guys send and say.

 

So we have alot of investigators we have that lady who is getting ready to be baptized but satan is working on her shes not sure about baptism in our church but she knows she has toget baptized somewhere. she came to church sunday which is huge. so we teach her like 3 times a week. Then we have an single mom who is like bible scholor and just has these huge questions but she  is starting to read the Book of Mormon. Then we were tracting and a older guy let us in and we just started to teach him yesterday and are going back again. Then theres  family were teaching and we had an FHE with them last night with a member family and it went really good they are progressing so good its fun to see the change in them.

 

I bet have knocked 200 plus doors and fianlly 1 let us in saturday it was the first time i have been let in haha. we get alot of doors slammed on us and angry people. but when you meet that one that will talk it makes it all worth it. we ran into a guy on the street and hes like im Atheist dont bother and we just started talking about life and he was way nice and hes like heres this for you and gave us like a pep talk and i was having a crappy day that day and it really brighten my day and after we got invited to a bbq by a nonmember family the dad is a marine and just hard headed hates the world but loves my comp and i and i guess he usally just scares the missionaries away but for some reason loves us even his wife was like i dont know what is going on he is never like this so we had a fun bbq with them.

I have been studying Hope and its pretty amazing hope is defined as putting are abiding trust in the lord. so think about it and see what happens when you put your whole trust in the lord and see what he can do for you. i have been trying this to help me get through this and its hard to put full hope and trust in him but it takes steps

Alma 7;23

Alma 34;41

DC88:3

 

All is well and im doing good just some days are rough but you guys are why i am here it was good to hear mal had her baby congrats that is cool she looked so cute and has grandmas name thats amazing! thanks for all you do for me it means so much and i promise i am doing good and just trying to get through this it takes time and patince. i love you all so much and miss you so much thanks again for the packeges it means so much!

 oh and btw we have zone confrence tomorrow and Elder Zwick from the seventy is coming to meet us and talk to us it should be amazing!

thanks again and love you so much!

Elder Smith