12 Your Time

Sorry, I made a mistake. I will be on 12 your time. Hopefully that'll work fine. No Pre call this time, pres canceled it....dumb missionaries. Hopefully y'all will see this! Thanks for all the presents, I did eat all the candy already, but no presents have been opened.

December 17, 2012

 Y'all look similar... but not the same, Dad's nose is too big.... :) haha. Y'all look great, and It's good to hear everything is going wonderful! I did get the box, and I loved the Christmas card you made, it looks professional! Casey is getting tall! I got the package, and I haven't opened the presents, I'm waiting for Christmas. I sent y'all a package and I know that some siblings will want to borrow some of those things and that is fine, but y'all can have everything, but the pants and t-shirts, and maybe a couple of ties. I specifically gave the silver and white dotted one to Casey, because it is small and cool. The SIM card is in there also, I know y'all will enjoy those pictures... :). I am currently working on my Christmas card, we are trying to have it professionally done for free, so we'll see what happens.

 We heard about the shooting, and the horribleness of it. You probably heard also about the teacher that hid her class and saved their lives, while she was killed. You know at these times people really question if there is a God, and why he would let that happen. I do know that God has a plan for all those people, and that even though tragedy strikes, he is in control. But in the last days, the bad will get worse, and the good will become greater. As you can see from everyone going out on missions, He is gathering Israel in great abundance. We have 300 baptisms so far this year, which doesn't seem that great, but it would put us 56 people shy of a baptism a day. When all these missionaries start coming out, our force will double and most likely that number will double, if not triple. There is a prophecy that in the south, there will be thousands of people joining the church. It will come true this next year. So much is happening it's crazy.

 We had our half mission Christmas devotional, and it was great. Pres Jensen let us watch Brave, which is a hilarious movie. I think they shortened it because it seemed a little choppy... There were many talents, good and bad, but we enjoyed them all. One of the best parts about it, was that Elder Danner, who went home in the MTC, came out, and we talked a while. I was super excited to see him. It was weird when he tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned and saw him. It took me about five seconds to recognize him, I'm pretty sure he saw my mental process show on my face.... But all of our MTC district was there, so we got a picture together, it was great. 

 Christmas day, at 11 AM, we will skype, or I will be on, hopefully y'all will.

 Love you LOTS and I'm praying for Dad's team to win, even though I don't know who they are. And I still feel bad that I lost Dad's basketball secrets book.... Talk to y'all next week!

December 10, 2012

That is pretty sweet that Dad has a basketball team that is winning! It seems that he always had bad players and I always gave him a hard time because he is my Dad. He is doing right by studying the Jazz's Strategy, it's one of the best, especially if it is Coach Stalone's. It's great to see that his dream is coming true, maybe he'll be a high school coach someday!

 The weather here is pretty nice, some days are freezing and some are dreary, but it's mostly good. We were planning on taking pictures today, but it's going to rain... :( Everyone is excited for Christmas. We still need to prepare our Christmas lesson that we are going to share with people. I'll have to take pictures of our decorations and stuff we've collected. We did service for a member, cleaning out his shed, and he gave us some pretty cool stuff, I think it's valuable.

 This week seemed to go extra fast, and we've exceeded most of our goals! We were actually surprised. It seemed as if God prepared our way everywhere we went so that everything happened perfectly. Almost every place they let us in and we were able to teach a lesson and leave with a prayer, it was great! We have an investigator that is really strange, but is a real good guy. He had to show us something cool he picked up after we had a lesson. He took us outside and around to his truck to look in the back. There he had a dead bobcat, and it was as stiff as a board because of rigamortis. It was nighttime so I couldn't see the bottom most part of it but it looked in perfect shape. I asked him how it died, because it didn't look as if anything happened to it, except for the fact it wasn't moving. He moved a bucket that covered the lowered legs, which were ripped bare because of a car hitting it. It was disgusting. I have no idea why he would want to pick it up. What's even funnier is that he isn't a hick. He goes to college and looks like a normal student. He just has this thing where he loves picking up things he thinks are cool. Sadly, we went back and found the cat still in there, and it smelled horrible.... He said he really needed to get rid of it....

 

 For Christmas we are going to skype, don't know where yet, but we will find out. We do know where we are eating dinner at, and I'm super excited. I'll let you know more when it gets closer and when we schedule it.

 

 Love you and talk to you next week!

November 26, 2012

Good job Casey!! Way to represent the Smith family name! (Casey's team won the Thanksgiving weekend tournament in St. George for his age group!) I wish I was there to watch it, I miss sports super bad. The turkey bowl was pretty sweet. The Troy sisters and elders were there also. It wasn't well organized so it wasn't as fun as it could have been, but I still enjoyed it. I was sore for five days afterwards, goes to show how weak my body is now.... On the way back also we were able to help a kid going to Dothan from Troy who's car died. We pushed his car to the side of the road and gave him a ride to Ozark, where he got another one to Dothan. It was funny because our car was already filled to the brim, yet we were able to make just a little more room for him. Bro Phipps, who was driving, said to him, "You're in a car surrounded by Mormon, and the Mormon missionaries!" Hopefully that experience will lead him to accepting the Gospel. Thanksgiving was real fun, ate at the Darley's home, with all their kids, grand kids, and great grand kids! They had some terrific food.

We recently moved into our new apartment in Ozark. They asked us to find a new one a while back, but just recently one opened up that was perfect for us. It does smell like smoke, and the tile floors need a good scrubbing, but we'll take care of it. I am so thankful for the awesome people in our ward that helped us. Only one family showed, but it's alright. It was supposed to be a young men activity, but none showed. It took several trips until finally all was placed inside our place for us to organize later. That night we got a "welcome to the neighborhood" from some boys who doorbell ditched us at one o'clock in the morning! It was pretty lame.

We didn't do much for my birthday. Just got some little Caesars and went back to work. This week was pretty hectic with the moving and all. I can't wait to start working again this week, because we won't have anything to slow us down, we can just focus on the people!

There is only a couple of weeks till I hit my Year mark! Almost half way done. I'm going to send y'all a package, which will include the XL G's if you would replace them with larges that would be great. There are things I'm sending back also that I might want when I get home. It might be a couple weeks until you get it.

My new address is,

Apartment 138 Patterson drive,

If y'all sent a package or letter or anything it's alright, the old place is only down the street and we'll check it every morning.

Continue to stay active! Don't let judgements of other people affect your spirituality, and don't judge unrighteously. That is the Number 1 reason for Less Actives down here.

I love all you guys very much!! I'm constantly praying for y'all.

Elder Smith

P.S. I'm getting permission from Pres before I start on the scholarships

November 19, 2012

Thank you so much for the package! Also the song, even though I haven't listened to it yet, we are in the library and I didn't bring my headphones. But I did enjoy all the gifts y'all sent, and that card is hilarious! That's the second cake I've cooked in two weeks, another Elder had a birthday also. I haven't used the silly string yet, but I think I'll use it on my companion when he falls asleep! He needs a rude awakening sometimes....:) I was wondering why you put like ten packing peanuts in there, was it because they are peanuts?? It's going to be weird saying I'm twenty now, it seems the year went by so slow! But it was a fast, slow year! It will be good to get out of those teenage years! Now I can refer to those teenagers as...."TEENAGERS".... It will be so much fun!... for a little while :)

Our area is still slow, it's hard to work in this companionship, but we'll get through it. I feel as if work is going like we're stuck behind a Sunday driver. It's frustrating sometimes. We are working with one superb investigator. She didn't used to be this solid, so I feel really lucky that I got here when she became real serious about the lessons. In fact, we are teaching her today. We had an investigator drop us because of the pressure of her church and family. It shocked us, but I know she'll be baptized. The mission roller coaster is crazy. You have your high points and your low, and sometimes you go up and down several times a day. The comforting feeling of the Spirit, and the convenience of prayer is super helpful. I'm glad we have a way to talk to God and receive comfort from him. It felt like losing a close friend, but not as serious. Just that feeling like I did something wrong by failing to act in the right way. But it will all be ok, she just isn't ready yet.

So I got to talk to another fellow Viking for a while. Elder Musgrave rode with us to Zone training meeting. He is a funny guy, he lives in Bountiful. I know his sister, but for the life of me can't remember her face. I was thinking since you know tons of people that you know some Musgraves.

For Thanksgiving we are eating at a HUGE family's house, and the family is big, not the house. It should be really good! I also found that the stake is playing in a turkey bowl, touch football, in the Troy university's stadium! That is going to be awesome! I am unsure what we are going to do afterwards, our mission president wants us to be out proselyting, so we will figure something to do. I got an awesome letter from Grandma Fry, and I can't believe she got an iPad! But it is real good to hear they are well, and feeling good. I can see how much y'all are alike through that letter. It's funny!

Ashton and Jameson, and Coree, have until a couple months to enjoy singleness before they have to schedule the weddings! I do want to be there!

Well thanks again, Love y'all and hope all goes well with Thanksgiving!

............ I found a pair of headphones and listened to the Talking Tom....it is hilarious!! Hahaha, who sang the first part? That is so funny! I'm thinking it was Ashton, but I could very well be wrong. That really made my day!

 

November 12, 2012

Heyo, all is well, we are finally getting some rain after about a month. That is pretty awesome that y'all are getting lots of snow. That power line is a dangerous thing, I think they should replace the whole thing, isn't that the third time it blew? Weather has been hot and cold, hot and cold. It's real weird, and freezing cold, not cool. The big thing everyone was going to down here was the Peanut Festival. It is HUGE. Every living soul in the South knows about it, except maybe the tourists... We were unable to go because it was out of our area. Our ward had an elephant ear booth, it's what the food is called. I heard they are pretty good!

We have super nice ward members, in fact we are in a member's home right now emailing! I am also sitting next to a HAM radio and a shotgun, most likely loaded, with about 15 extra shells on the strap! I love the South. We went to a member's home and rode a gyroscope, I got sweet picts of that, and fed some of his giant amor carp. It's pretty fun out here, but we have been having some success. Our two investigators are really progressing. They both have BCD's set and both are doing well. One is going to be baptized after Christmas and another on the first, but might be changed. This girl who might be baptised is going through a rough time with her family. She lives by herself, and goes to the Pentecostal church. Her family told her that if she joins that she will be disowned... What she told us really impressed me. She wasn't worried about what we believed, but why her family was so against it. I know that she has felt the Holy Ghost, she has even told us her super spiritual experiences. The only solution that I see where everything will work out is if we meet her parents with some members they know and talk with them. She is going to be a strong member and that's why she is going through this many trials. She told us of a dream she had once, where she was taken to a high mountain and was shown all the evil works that Satan was showing forth, and she was told she needs to warn the people of the evil. I know she is going to be one heck of a missionary!

We are almost done fixing up the ghetto home we live in, and it's looking pretty nice. There isn't much else that is new. We did hear a little about the Obama situation. We just barely heard that 20 states are signing petitions to detach from the union, I guess the South is rising again! haha... The members have a good attitude, we had a lesson recently about a scripture. "Be still and know that I am God." It's too true, all these things happen for a reason, God is in control, so there is nothing to worry about. We are both a little excited for the coming of Jesus Christ. My companion said talking about the election, hey, it's four more years closer to the second coming! He's funny.

I will probably be going to UVU, but I'm still a little uncertain. But if I decide to change, I will just have to work harder to get more money right? :)

Thanks for the Email, and I'm sorry to hear about Jameson's car, it seems that he is the only one who is getting things stolen from! It's because he's such a great person that he needs more trials! Speaking of backpacks, I am really grateful for the one he gave me, it works perfectly!

LOVE you all and I will talk to y'all next time!

November 5, 2012

Yes, I did get the stamps, the small sheet, I don't know if that's the "book" you are talking about. And when I asked for a harmonica, don't send it, we just got an email from president that we can only play instruments on pdays at the end of the day. I won't have enough time to play it. I already sent the pictures, hopefully they will get there soon.

 Thanks for the encouraging emails. It helps a lot to receive them. We have been improving, and everything is going well. We have a baptism set, and it's on my B-day, but I think we are going to change it because her friend's family won't be there to see it. This girl has a really cool story, we taught her two lessons and the Spirit was there strongly. She knows it's true and received her answer really fast. The problem she faces now is her parents. She is 19, but the emotional stress will be difficult. She is strong, and God has much planned for her. We know she will come out on top.

 Now that you told me about the museum (Fort Rucker museum that we visited when he was 4 years old), I want to see it. It is always weird to go to places I went before when I was younger. Now I can see their actual size! That is weird that I ended up here. Well, everything happens for a reason!

 I have made the decision on the schools, and scholarships and such. I would like to go to BYU or UVU. I have really been considering becoming a pilot and joining the military. I'm unsure about if I want to be moving around so much though. I have thought about doing repair work, fixing machines, and odds and ends. I do like finding out problems in things and making them work again, but I don't know about mechanical work. I do want to try to get into BYU first, then UVU second. I'll do anything I need to, to be able to get a scholarship so don't be afraid to send me anything.

 Well, nothing much else going on. We had a fun trunk or treat party and made pumpkins. Elder Helmandollar took about ten minutes on his, compared to my 40 minutes on mine, and guess who got more compliments? Him, haha. No worries though, I like mine, it looks like the Cheshire cat, (if that's how you spell it.) Today, we are going bowling on the base. Last time I scored 120, that's my highest. So I still got a good spin! My arm was sore for days after though, shows how weak I am! I lost a couple pounds, surprised? Me too! I've been watching my weight! :)

 I think my comp has German descent, or something. I'll have to find out further. This week will be crazy! I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about next Monday. Let's pray hard and prepare for either outcome. I'm kind of excited!

 

 Thanks again for the support and love that you all give me, and I'm going to try much harder this week, I'll see what I can stir up in this field! Continue to be safe and do well! Also Dad.... have you been able to hit that note in the song, The Curse? I recently found a cd and remembered you trying to get it while preparing for the morning!

 LoVE y'all lots!                Elder Smith