Weird Weather Here Too!!

The weather has been super strange here too! They said their winter wasn't cold like it usually is, and now summer is already here. It was ninety degrees all weekend, so we took the car mostly! They said it has never been this hot so soon. All the mosquito's are out already. And there are freak'n big ones!!! Supposedly the winter wasn't cold enough to kill last year's, so now they are back, bigger than ever, and with the new million that hatched this year! I have to watch where I itch in fear of hitting a bite and making it itch again! I have been told that Avon skin lotion helps the mosquitos stay away better than DEET does, I'm going to buy some today. It has been a crazy week!

In way of missionary work, we recently met a lady who isn't a member who is so ready for baptism. She already knows everything is true, but when we were about to commit here to baptism, her friend walks in and steals the show. She talked so much, and about nothing too! We didn't want to be rude, so we just committed her to read and pray. We are both excited to go back and see her soon. Funny thing, just when everyone we are teaching nears baptism, Elder B gets transferred! He leaves in two weeks, to Fort Walten beach to be a Zone Leader there. I will have a new companion. I don't know if I'm training, or if he is experienced, but it will be interesting!

That is awesome that Jameson is dating Brooklyn! She is awesome, I can testify to that! :) She was a super good friend, I don't know why I didn't chill with her more... It is weird to think that Jameson is dating her, like worlds are colliding! That's great though, I hope something works out for them. I have been praying for Jameson and Ashton to get married, even though I do want to be there for them. Don't tell them that, I don't want them to get scared! :) I hope you read this soon, so you can ask Brook to visit Chipley for me! If she heads to Panama City then she is only an hour away, you know my address, and I am not home during the day, only at 12, and 9 :) That will be awesome if she does, but ok if she doesn't.

I know how hard it is to say you are leaving your past job. I had to do it for Firehouse, even though they were closing anyways. Prayer always helps! I know you will be fine though. If this is the hardest thing you have to do right now, then the Lord is really blessing you right now! :) By the way how is Coree doing?

Yesterday, we had the Mini MTC, it was a blast! We taught how to study effectively, and it was great. After we taught them, we helped them prepare to teach. I was helping a group of 3 and tried to help them learn the Restoration in ten minutes. It was hard, but they were really good. The funniest part was the teaching! Brother Auckema, who is the second counselor for the bishopric, was the investigator, and he made it hard for them! He pretended to be a Baptist preacher first, and that was difficult for them. Then, next group he left and came back with a new shirt and a baseball cap that was a little too small for his head. He pretended to be a kid who found the B of M in the dumpster. It was so funny! They started the lesson by asking, can we start with a prayer, and he asked, "What is prayer?" Haha, I laughed so hard! They spent ten minutes on describing what prayer is and why they fold their arms. He pretended like he didn't know anything! It was so much harder for the next group to teach than the first. It took a long time too! Their lesson took thirty minutes, and then didn't even get past who is God. I had so much fun last night.

I'm glad everything is still going well over there! And that the Lord is continuing to bless you guys! I did get the box of candy, and Fry Sauce! Thank you so much! I shared with people that I received it, but Elder B says that it is only mayonnaise and ketchup, he shows no respect for it... But thanks again! By the way, I gained twenty pounds since being out here.... but I'm not fat, don't worry, I hope it's because it's all going to muscle! :)

I love all of you, and hope you will be able to survive the weird weather!

PS. Dad really loves his Ipad doesn't he? :)

I Agree!!

That's so weird that so many things are happening at once. I would've never thought that Amie would pass on so soon. My companion has had many deaths back home, he is up to seven. I didn't think that I would be starting a death count too... but he is fine, and I will be too. What's going to happen with the rest of her family? Dad is a stud, it must be hard for him to lose a younger sibling, even if she was so much trouble. I hope that the death count stops there though, I would love to see Grandma and Grandpa when I get back!

Everything is going great down here! We had a baptism in our district and are going to have another one for this next week I believe. Our district is the most successful in our stake, it's great to see the other missionaries doing so great. Me and Elder B are trying hard to get a baptism date with an investigator, but he is super hard to catch at home. He doesn't have a set job and has to drive a lot to find work. He is super close to setting a date, and has said that he wants to be baptized no later than Easter. You are definitely blessed to have a great job! You and Dad both. How are the Bros doing with school and life? Has Coree moved in yet?

This past week, Elder B had to give an interview to the kid who was getting baptized, since he is district leader now. We had to drive to the church, and luckily there was a pinewood derby the same night. Luckily for us, we had dinner at a member's house who happened to have a car that he couldn't race. So we were able to join the derby! I got lots of pictures of it, and of the Chipley and Bonifay wards. The majority there was from Chipley. It was an anything goes race. If it fit on the track, you could race it! There were all kinds of cars, some had lights, others had remote controlled fans on them. The funniest one was the truck in the picture. The man made the truck hollow, through about halfway up the cabin, and poured metal in it. It weighed about 18 ounces! Ours had weights all along the bottom, and even metal chips on the outside, it weighed only 8 ounces. We took fourth, so our names weren't announced in the top three. It was so much fun! The young women were there making and distributing cupcakes, so they gave us several!

I have learned to trust who the Lord appoints to set up Sunday talks and such. So I think that Jameson didn't have time on purpose... but that is just a theory of mine. :) But this is why I trust them. We had a dinner appointment with members who had to give yesterday's talks. They told us that they knew what they were going to talk about before they were even asked and given a talk. Inspiration right? Well, yesterday I was also asked to give the closing prayer in sacrament meeting. I told him that I have never given a prayer in sacrament meeting before or afterwards. So the second counselor said that that was inspiration too! haha He is great! I'm definitely going to miss this ward when I leave, either in the next few weeks, or after one or two transfers.

When we were at an investigator's house, we got a call from a missionary in Albany, Georgia, it was Elder Helgeson. He said they made contact with Vicky Kielsmeier's friend. They said they had dinner with him and that he has a testimony, but he has a lot of things to work on in his life. I'm not sure if he is baptized or not, but that's what I got from the phone call. I am still horrible at talking to people on the phone, so that's why I didn't get as much information as I could have. If you could relay this information, I would be grateful!

I love all of you, and I hope that Jameson will stay safe! :)

P.S. I am doing my push ups and sit ups regularly! I hope to have a six pack when I get home :)

Hug!

Just Writing Back

 The storm hit hard Saturday. We couldn't do anything, we still tried though. It rained hard for fifteen hours at least. We had a river in our backyard, and the ducks, or frogs, we haven't decided yet, were making a ton of noise. We called them howling ducks, they were really loud. We heard about the major storm in Alabama, a whole town was destroyed by a tornado, but no tornadoes hit here. The lightning and thunder were awesome, I sat in a chair behind our glass door and watched for a couple hours. We stayed inside the whole morning and studied and played checkers. Elder Blanchard didn't like it because he's horrible at checkers! :) We weren't called to help in any service cleanup, we only have the southern most part of Alabama, so the work was reserved for their elders most likely.

 

It's weird hearing about Coree's biological father dying, because we never talk about him. Who's all going to the funeral? I hope that Coree gets the message to change, too. We had a lesson yesterday with a woman who wants to give up smoking. We taught her about the principles of the gospel and what she can do to stop. We went through the bullet points in the Preach My Gospel about what you can do to stop addictions. She wrote down things she could do when she had the urge to smoke, and she said she was going to try hard. The first step to change is to have the desire to stop. We gave her a blessing and told her that she could call us anytime if she ever felt like giving in. I hope that she'll be able to do it. The main problem is that her brother smokes and they live together with their family. If Coree ever wants to, use the PMG, Jameson can teach her, he is good at that!

 

I can't believe that Casey is finally wearing church clothes! That is awesome, but the next step is trying to get him to pray without running around, unless he already changed that too. I really hope that it wasn't because of me that he refused to wear church clothes. But knowing him.... and me.... that's probably what did it! I just hope Casey is strong enough in the church to stay strong when Coree is back. I have faith that he will though.

 

That's awesome that the Jazz beat the Heat! I'm so proud of them! :) That will be awesome if they get far into the championships, which most likely won't happen though... I hope grandpa and grandma are doing ok! I always talk about them down here. I really hope they are both alive and healthy when I get back. I do miss their cross-cut sandwiches with the pickle, m&m's, and root beer. It was so good! We do get fed every day down here. We only have two days that aren't taken up. We even had somebody call to see if a day was taken, called the person who took it and had them reschedule for us! Basically they are fighting to feed us. :)

 

 I have also learned to like cats. Whenever we are at the church, in Bonifay, there are two kittens that come out to us. We pick them up and pet them and it's awesome. We have some recent converts who got a cat from a lady who found her on the road. It is a beautiful cat too, is white with bright blue eyes. They named him Amos Moses, which means Man of the Cloth. The husband is a graduate of BBI, a school for people who want to learn about the Bible and religion. Most of the Bible bashers come from there.

 

 It's funny how Sister Freeman is excited to receive my letters too! :) I'll have to send her a letter with Jackie's, haha. Yeah, I'm just writing to her as a friend. She did tell me she is sad that I'm not her partner, because of my skill! :) But no matter.

 

 It's great to hear from you guys and keep strong in the gospel! Make sure if they still live in your house, that you have family scripture study and prayer. Also ask inspired questions, that makes it less boring! :)

I love you all so much!

  Elder Smith