Time Sure Flies!!

It is weird how it happens. I've heard, and said several times, that days go by slow, but weeks go by fast! It is too true. Another month is going to be behind me the next time I write.

The work out here is going really good. We have been getting less-active families to come to church. It is great to see progression in the mission. We hope to have bcd's this week. If we are able to get a baptism, I know the work will progress even faster! It seems though, that whenever someone is really close to baptism, everything goes wrong and we have to cancel or reschedule! I hope that it won't happen this time.

I also had a cool experience this week. Saturday morning, I was studying and I really wanted to give our families a lesson on the importance of church attendance. I knelt and prayed, and I was going to open the scriptures to look something up when I felt that opening the Ensign next to me was what I should do.(November 2011) I scanned the titles in the beginning and was looking for one dealing with church, when one in the beginning stood out for no reason. It was personal revelation and testimonies. Nothing about church in the title, so I kept scanning, but no other title had church, so I tried it. In the talk, further towards the end, it talked about the necessity for church attendance to strengthen your testimony. It was perfect, I shared the prepared lesson for two families; one was a part member. I felt I needed to challenge the part member family to attend church, and they agreed, and I also asked Dani, who was the non-member, to come also, and he said he'll try. The whole family ended up coming, and even Dani, and he doesn't ever come to our church. Their family was really excited to have him there. And after Gospel Principles class I talked to the wife of the family and she asked if I saw Dani, and I said yes, and then she asked if my lesson was inspired. She said that it was perfect for their whole family, and that there were experiences in the talk that dealt with every one of them. I told her that I believe it was! It was a really special experience. We now hope that Dani decides to investigate, he hasn't really been interested before.

I'm glad everybody hasn't forgotten about me. That would just be depressing...haha. I saw a blue Durango out here, and it looked exactly like our car, but without the Jazz ball. It was really weird seeing it. What is also hard is not having someone to quote Psyche with. My comp hasn't seen it, he didn't watch any of the tv shows we watched, but it isn't something unbearable! It has been cold and rainy for most of the week now. Late last night it was pouring hard! But it put me back to sleep fast, it lightened up this morning.

That is awesome that you and dad are the new teachers for temple prep. I hope Suzanne isn't too sad that she doesn't teach it anymore. When and where do you guys teach it?

Luckily nobody makes moonshine anymore, they just smuggle it in from other places and sell them! :) I've heard that this county is a dry county, but I see beer everywhere. I wonder if it's dry of really hard liquors. There are drugs everywhere, and I've gotten used to the horrible smell of cigarettes, I still dislike it though.

About my violin, I do want to pick it up again when I get back, but if you guys want to sell it I'm ok with it. I do want to take singing lessons when I get back. I've started singing more because I can't listen to my favorite songs anymore. There isn't anything against singing! :)

Love you guys and I can't wait to hear from you next week!

Elder Smith

Yep, They Came!

Thank you for the box! I loved it. The card was really funny, it reminded me of the NBA bigheads! So Coree is making her return? I know it will be great for her, you might not want to tell her you have Dish, cause she will be the one most likely glued! But what I think is when she gets back, you should have the missionaries in your area come teach her. It will be good for them, and great for her! Missionaries do less-active work and I know Coree counts. Plus it will be good for the missionaries to have some anchor family in your ward. You definitely should talk about it to the bishop and get his consent first.

It's really good that dad is busy, he is a hard working man, and I am proud of him! :) How is his ACN business going? Is he making good money off of it? Tell dad that it is mainly the Christian church down here, but I have seen an Islam family when I had exchanges. I hope the Bonifay missionaries went back to see them again.

Some interesting things have happened the past two weeks. There was a huge drug bust, some Mexican drug cartel was living in Chipley, and they used the house as a transfer point for a ton of drugs and money, about 600,000 dollars and hundreds of pounds of bad things...:) It was interesting. Our ward is picking up activity. We are getting really acquainted with all the members and less actives, and we are continuing to work with our investigators. We hope to get two baptismal dates this week.

We also had a mission conference yesterday, so that's why I'm emailing today! Elder Clark of the Seventy spoke about many great things. He is a very straight forward man, and a very good speaker. He spoke to us in a discussion manner, it was really good. Mainly about things we need to work on in the mission. I wrote down a lot, but a main message of his was the conversion process and how our main purpose is to help everyone, members and nonmembers. There even happened to be a Methodist preacher who offered to help serve our lunch, and he asked him if he had anything to say to us when he brought the lunch crew to the front to thank them. It was a neat experience. I also got to see my old companion and talk with him. I also got the approval to email ex-elder Danner. I hope that I will be able to get his address soon.

Another big thing is that I'm finally driving. Elder Blanchard was able to designate me before the long drive to Tallahassee, so he didn't have to! I am thankful for it though, it woke me up! I also have one more month before I am not a trainee anymore! I hope that President will keep me here, so that the work will keep progressing! We also started a mini MTC class for the priests and laurels in our ward, I think it is really benefitting them! They are some of the strongest kids I have ever seen in the Church. Brother Anderson, Elder Blanchard and I taught, and we also had much input from the leaders, so it went really well! At first we were just supposed to take ten minutes, but I had the importance of the Spirit, and power and authority of our call, so there was no way. I ended up taking thirty minutes, and so did Blake Anderson with his, so that left Elder Blanchard with five minutes before people had to leave! It was definitely a very fun and spiritual meeting.

That will be awesome if you could say hi to the Howells for me! They are definitely my favorite family! Outside of ours, of course! :) And tell me how they are doing, I am interested. And this part is crucial, ask their Ashton how his rugby team is doing! He promised me he was going to start one up! :)

I love you guys and I pray that all continues to go well! And if you will be so kind, SEND FRY SAUCE!! Florida is a dry state for fry sauce, and I am craving it! :) In exchange I will try to send more pictures.

Elder Smith!

Yep, Weird!

I do know what you mean, trials are hard, until you overcome them, then you don't notice them as trials anymore. Last week, we had exchanges, I was with another elder the whole day. I definitely considered it a trial. Before that day, I was nervous to go tracting. I was afraid of saying the wrong things and losing a possible investigator. As I tracted with Elder Booth, he took on a personality of a preacher, a Baptist preacher. It bugged me so much, but I told myself that I needed to get over it. He said so many weird things, and didn't listen to the people. I talked to him about it, and he didn't take my advice, or even consider it, I guess since he has more experience... but because of that, I was eager to knock on the door (because he had a weird system of knocking, first knock softly then ring the doorbell after they don't answer) and talk the whole time. Now I am not nervous to go tracting, and I am even more thankful for the companion the president gave me. But because of this trial, my past trial of tracting, isn't a trial anymore! So yes, I do know what you are talking about! :)

 

About that letter..... (he sent a couple of letters to a girl who didn't consider him a boyfriend) yeah, I realized my mistakes. I got her letter the same morning I sent that one off. I really do regret it, but I didn't know how she reacted to the letters I was sending. My apology letter should be there today or tomorrow! It started in the MTC, where all my district had their girls they were writing to, and I was thinking, "Hey, I kinda had one before I left..." and it really took off from there. These aren't excuses though, I take all the blame for them, but I am one to jump to conclusions quick, and I am working on it. I just really hoped that the letter got there today instead of Saturday, because then she wouldn't have two days to think I'm a creep.... But at least I won't see her for two years, hopefully my creepiness dies off then! haha. And FYI, the pictures I gave her I thought were pretty clever! You should be proud that your son can take such sweet pictures! :)

 

About your many little questions...Great! We have two new investigators, another is really close to a baptism date, the one who had one recently didn't want to take the lessons anymore though.

Of course I learned more about the gospel! :) I realize how much the Lord trusts and depends on us because his whole plan depends on our decisions and our free agency, even in the pre-existence! I never realized that before.

 

The weather is really cold, it was really nice, until February's freezing winds came in. It is supposed to get hotter this week, and rain more. It's a lot better than Utah's though! I haven't seen any alligators, and there are tons of bugs! I told you about working on the lot with a member, and there are many cockroaches and big 'ol ants running around, and everywhere you go there are anthill mounds that we always kick. I have been bitten by fleas, and it isn't nice. We went under a member's house to find a dead animal, unsuccessfully, and I was bitten by fleas, my comp avoided them miraculously. That was two weeks ago, and they just barely healed, they were itching for weeks. We aren't around everglades, and glad for it, it would smell horrible. I've taken more pictures, but now I wish I had a better camera, because there are many awesome pictures that I can't take with this one, but it's ok!

 

One last thing, I want to know the name of that book that gpa smith wrote about our ancestors, and who are the Smith's parents, from Pennsylvania, because we might be related to some people down here... and were our family pioneers? In other words, did they make the trek? I know the Heiners sailed across the ocean. And thanks Dad for the encouraging note!

 

Thank you for the treats! I haven't received them yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

Love you guys and talk to you next week!

I Agree!

I'm not sure if the crosses are from the kkk, because there is a church that for their symbol has three crosses, so it might be devotion to their church. I'm going to stick with the kkk story though, it makes it a cooler picture! I'm glad that you received the pictures, and I'm glad you told me about Mckenzie's success in bball, that's pretty impressive! My companion won state in basketball his senior year, and it was in a new school as well, so they put up a banner for their first year in a newly built school. I still haven't played him in a pickup game yet, so I don't know how good he is...

About marriage....:) there is an article in January's Ensign, maybe February's, about marriage, and God's plan for it. It said that they should get married no matter the circumstances... it's pretty interesting. I'm not to this point yet so I don't know what to think of it. But basically it talks about putting faith in the Lord and getting married even if things aren't solid yet. There is one thing I do know though, that progression comes only through trial. But at the same time I don't want them getting married, because I want to be there for it! (He is talking about Jameson and Ashton, who at this point don't have any girlfriends) I also found that Chipley is the perfect place for all your marriage needs. There are members for all aspects, there is a jeweler who makes really great rings, his daughter also makes amazing cakes--high quality wedding cakes-- and then there's a donated wedding dress in a small store as well! So if you want a cheap wedding, here is the place!

It's great to hear that Jameson and Ashton are progressing in their lives. That's interesting to know about the business that Jamie and Dad made. I have something else on my mind though. I want to be a landscaper, they make good money, and it would be fun! I know it's going to be hard work, and I need to find somebody to help with the business part of it, or go to school for it. I'm tossing piloting out the window, because you need lots of money for that. We do weekly service for a member, we go to his lot and help him take out roots and clean it up. A great part about cleaning up down here is that we are allowed to burn everything! So no long trips to a dump, we just need to be careful about keeping the fire under control.

I got Dad's emails. Thank you Dad! I appreciate the advice and also good luck on your business! I'll need a rich family in order to guarantee my landscaping business a success!:) And also say hi to the ward for me. You'll need to announce it in a talk, or testimony, no other way will do!

Also, President George is the first counselor in our stake. He is a very nice man, you should keep in touch with him. His wife also is a VERY good cook! I'm telling you this so that you know that you didn't have to suck up to him for me :), but I do appreciate it!

I love you guys, and I will allow you to send candy to me again! :) and I only gained 7 pounds by the way, I'm trying to do my situps and pushups every morning to keep it down!

Elder Smith