98 Degrees:(..............

Here, it's the exact opposite. We have hit ninety eight the past couple of weeks. It's like hitting a wall of hot air as we walk outside. I'm so glad for air conditioned cars!! We have been saving up our miles, and finding rides from members, and it has been working out great! I'm so glad the members are awesome here! Hurricane season is upon us early this year. We barely saw the president' s message about a hurricane hitting the east side of our mission, and the warning to prepare. We are most likely going to get hit with heavy rainfall, and that's most likely it.

Right now, the most trouble I'm having is just talking to people who I don't know. I have to talk to strangers mom, the president said so.....:) I am studying and practicing and I'll let you know how it turns out! I have been learning the gospel very well now, thanks to my companion. I thought I had a solid knowledge of the gospel, I now realize that I still had a long ways to go!

That is a hilarious story of Dwight! (He rammed his head into Preston Ward at full speed!) I can't wait to see him when I get home. I think I'm going to tackle HIM! It's going to be one big collision. With the goatee, I'm putting all my money on Dad, he has the most experience, and plus his isn't nasty! But I'll pray for my brothers, they'll need it! Jameson should try rogaine on his face! :) I would like to see pictures of that!

Last Saturday, we had a cook off with a part-member family. They are totally awesome, and super nice. The only reason for their not taking lessons is the daughter doesn't want to. We have been gaining trust with them in hopes to help them with their lives. Their oldest daughter is the member. But we all made them our own family recipes. They made this AMAZING spaghetti, they were bragging about it for a month now, and they were ALL right! The dad made it, and I about cried it was so good! Elder Tialino made panipopo, which is rolls cooked in this coconut milk mix, that was really good. And of course I made your famous pizza recipe! The spinach alfredo, which was delicious! I took plenty of pictures so you don't have to worry. It was a good 'ol time, but the best was the spiritual message afterwards. We bore testimony of the work, and of families and they felt the spirit. The mother expressed her feelings of us, and the sacrifice we had to make, of our time, money, and family to be there with them. We are going to visit them more often and share more spiritual messages, in hopes that they will accept the lessons again.

Thanks y'all so much for the emails and the support! It definitely lifts me up hearing about all y'all.

Love you guys so much!

P.S. How's Eden doing? Or even better, tell her that she is supposed to write me! :) That is all.....haha

Hello, it should be Heaveno.................

It's all good about the skype situation. I know that I will see y'all again, and still be able to talk to y'all. That's awesome that they got to go to LA! It seems that that business is more than just a side job. It'll be exciting to see what it turns into in the future!

And your welcome for the letter! It was Sister Jensen's idea, she's awesome. I'm glad you like it, I have no idea what it looks like, but I did write the letter! :)

Ashton is a stud, one of the main things about our church is work. No dillydally when it comes to salvation. Ashton did the right thing when he was faced with that choice. (Ashton and another girl cleaned the whole church because no one else showed up!!) The church is where we worship, and makes it more comfortable for us. Just because he did that, God knows he can trust him, and now he will be faced with greater things, and grow even more! It's funny how that works, God just moves you from one hard thing to the next! But He knows what's best for us! So tell him not to shy away from what the Lord needs him to do, the more the Lord needs him, the more he will improve.

Everything continues to go great here. The family that was going to get baptized hit a few bumps. They are still willing and excited, but we needed to postpone it. The work continues to press forward! I had the opportunity to see how much my work, and Elder T's, affected our area. We heard about a message that a young man sent. In it it said, not using exact words, "I know I've done wrong. I followed the wrong crowd and have sinned. Now I have made a change. I have been praying again and the missionaries have been coming over. I can now feel the spirit in my life again!"

Isn't that awesome! It really uplifted me. We have been working with that family to get them active again, and I didn't realize how much they improved 'til now. I know that there are other people here that we have been working with as well that have the same testimony, that I can't see, but if I continue to work hard, the good from my efforts will be made manifest!

Yesterday we found three new sincere investigators, and a girl, who's interested in the gospel but is unable to take lessons, happened to be at a member's house just before we left. We had a great lesson with her, and it was awesome to finally talk to her after hearing so much about her. God is really blessing us, but we need to continue to work hard and continue to strive for celestial obedience!

It's good to hear that Kris and Terry got back safe! I bet they have amazing stories to tell! Elder T has a friend that was called to Africa, some place near them I believe, did they know any poly's or white missionaries there?

Y'all are awesome! Can't wait to hear from y'all again, Love you!!!

So Do Y'all!!!

It's alright that I didn't have that much time, and sorry that I wasted some of the time I had eating in front of y'all. But it was great, I loved seeing all y'all, and especially Casey's BIG TEETH! It's great to see that everyone's happy. I wish that I had given everyone individual time to talk, but I didn't think too far ahead to plan that! Well, I guess they'll all have to write me! :)

I'm not sure why our bishop has a gator farm, but I'll find out soon! It might just be a pond that he throws meat in... anyway he's a great guy, and I'm glad to be under him! About people marrying ten years older, it's not common, but I have seen it more than once, so don't think that that's how everybody's mindset is down here. Sis Sewell was standing behind the computer with a knife and asked, what did you say? It was funny, but I was scared... haha.

Well, I'm going to be more out there and get more pictures and do more things, last week was weird... but we are always going to strive to do better! Don't worry, I'll start chasing some animals so I'll get bit, maybe a rattlesnake... now THAT will be a good story! :) I'm kidding, but I need to be careful, cause they are starting to come out.

Hope you enjoyed the party yesterday, and I hope all is well with the extended fam! Tell everyone I love them!

PS. Did you get something from the mission office? Just wondering...

And Dad, thanks so much for that email, it really helped, and I love that quote, is that his real name? Zig Ziglar?

kckshh.........over...........

Hey y'all!
It's always good to hear from you guys. Yeah, I should be a good example for them! Jkjk. Everything is still going great. The baptism for the family is next week, and they are still doing great! We are also going to see another family that hopefully turns into more investigators. It's raining hot rain, on a 84 degree day..... yeah I know.... but I love it here! We have been singing, but I still need to get over my nervousness, but it's fun. I have only had to direct the music once, at the last baptism, but I have been able to avoid doing it....:) When they need me, then I'll step up. I am staying here for another transfer, we found out yesterday, I was worried cause I thought I was going to leave, and miss the baptism next week.

That's awesome that Carson is getting married! Now he won't kill himself doing something exotic! Actually, I take that back knowing Olivia, now he won't die alone! :) jk, that's kinda dark. It's very interesting to think that when I get back, the bachelors I once knew are going to have a wife hangin' around them...weird! Tell them I wish them the best, and that now they'll reach exaltation!

About the Jazz, I give up on them. I'm all about the Heat! Go Lebron! Naw jk, I don't know anymore, I'll have to find a cool team when I get back. Unless the Jazz get somebody good. Maybe we'll get Jimmer back! Anything can happen :)

The last letter you sent me, and I'm using my memory because I haven't looked at them recently, was Jameson and Brook flying kites. I'm pretty sure. But if I get two of the same, then I'll be fine, I'll just give it to Elder Tialino. The skateboarder, jk, he can't do much, I'm just a great photographer!

Now, how can you be partial to Jackie's dance partner last year when that was me?? You should be fully toward her partner last year! :) But I'll give Ryley props, he's a good guy. I hope she continues to do great, it's weird thinking that she only has less than three weeks left! I challenge her to get a cooler graduation picture than me, I don't think it's possible but she can try! :) (He texted me to get a picture of him on the jumbo tron and when he got to the spot where they took the picture, he pointed straight at it and winked and somehow I snapped it fast enough to get the picture!!) I'm glad she did well.

Well, about this Sunday, I will plan it out after I talk to more members. I'm thinking people are going to fight for having us at their house to skype. But I'm allowed to call you Saturday night, after six most likely. I'll talk to y'all then!

See y'all on the flip side!

Love Elder Smith

Pictures From Florida

Chipley, Florida Pinewood Derby

Parker found Sleepy Hollow!!!

Parker's Newest Companion, Elder Tialano

Hello Again!

The baptism went super good! Nothing went wrong and it was very spiritual. Probably the worst thing that happened was a boring talk, but that's it. Elder T and I sang the baptism song and it went super well. He was nervous, but afterwards felt great. It's great to see him get baptized, a couple of months ago, I didn't think that I would've been able to see it happen. The Lord is definitely blessing our area! We set 4 BCD's this past week, and the family who we set them for came to the baptism. Everything is working out great. Now I know that something difficult is going to happen soon, something always does! I took many pictures, I'll send them when I send the next card, most likely in two weeks, when transfers happen. The Pres said he is switching companions in a lot of areas so I think that ours will be changed as well. I just hope that I'm not the one leaving, because we set the BCDs for a week after transfers.

That is funny that the swat team came in for bottle bombs, it makes the situation seem so much more serious than it actually was. I know that the bottle bombs are dangerous too, but it just seems funny. That would be scary not knowing what's going on, but I'm glad everyone is safe! I also heard that Bountiful received lots of money for remodeling or something. That's awesome that you are having all these adventures! Utah state doesn't sound too bad, but I'll worry about it later on! :)

So, about Ashton, does he have a fiance, or Carson, and who is it? That's exciting that somebody is getting married! And Ashton is a wuss, jk, he's a smart man for wimping out! :) (Ashton went with his friend and his friend's fiance while they skydived.....Ashton didn't skydive, thank goodness:) Naw, I know it's super expensive to do that stuff. He's awesome for waiting for Carson, I think it will be fun to see them coming down too!

I believe Jameson is cheating for Brook, but that's all I'll say! :) (I told Parker that Jameson goes out to let Brook shave his face and neck every other day at SLCC so that she can count those shaves in her quota to graduate!!) I bet everyone is getting haircuts from her too right? If you find a friend that has talents, you make sure they use them! It says so in the scriptures. :) By the way, Elder Tialino and I gave a talk with our ward mission leader yesterday, it was great. My talk was about the importance of the scriptures that's why it reminded me of it. We also gave a little talk in Primary, and we learned we need to teach Seminary on Wed, and Thur, at seven in the morning! Lots are happening!

Hearing Coree's new profession, (security dispatcher at the new City Creek Mall) it reminds me of somebody in our ward. He works for the post office, and at the family dollar, and sometimes doesn't get home 'til 5 in the morning. What's amazing is that he's ALWAYS at church! He is very impressive. So Coree can't use that excuse! :) Sorry Coree!!

Love you all!

Elder Smith

ps, tell dad thanks for the email, that I will study those verses, and that I'm not a big fan of spaghetti....:)

Heylo

I haven't sent the pictures yet, we have been busy. But I will do it as soon as I get back. We are doing great over here! We have made progress, a member even told us that it's great to see the results of our hard work! It really made me feel good! :) We have been working with a family towards baptism, and we will set their bcd's soon. But this Saturday we are having a baptism, my first! He has been taught for about a year and now has finally decided to have it, he is excited, and nervous, and so am I! I pray all goes well! We are continuing to work mainly on contacting less-actives and referrals, and it is very interesting. We contacted a less-active family who didn't talk that much with us. He said that he wasn't interested, then when we revealed that we knew him, he said to never come back. It was depressing to know that they were baptized into the church but used their free agency to separate themselves from the gospel. What was good though was we ran into their teenage son who was way more nice, and we talked briefly, but we knew that he wasn't against the church. We said we'll see him around the skate park. We have been around there a lot recently, contacting people.

That is awesome that Aunt Kris and Uncle Terry are coming back soon! I most likely won't see them again for a while because they will be on another mission before I get back! They are so awesome, I know that they will have amazing stories to share! Elder Blanchard's friend went to Johannesburg South Africa for his mission. Is that anywhere near theirs?

Thanks for the update on Jameson and Ashton! Like I said many times, Brook is awesome! I definitely think they make a great pair, just knowing her from school, and seeing that picture. Tell all of them I said hi back! It's always good to hear hi from your family and friends! :) The pictures you sent look exactly like him! Oh my gosh, Ashton could be him if he just worked out more! :D I'll just tell everyone that he is my brother, and I'll see what they say! There are some big baseball fans out here, so I'm pretty sure they'll know who it is.

Something cool that my companion made up, from his interactions with some gangsters in Fort Walton, is this saying:

From The Mind

From The Muscle

For The Man

Florida Tallahassee Mission!

A man had a hat that said FTM on it, so my companion asked what it meant, because it stood for our mission. He said, From The Muscle. He said it meant the heart, that everything they did was from the heart. It represented family and life itself, without the heart we wouldn't live. My companion took it and made this saying, it fits perfectly, because it's how God communicates to us, from the heart, and we give all of our heart, might, mind, and strength to obeying him. We plan on making a shirt for it. It's going to be awesome! So if Jameson sees any FTM hats make sure he buys a sweet one for me!

I'm glad Grandma and Grandpa are doing well, and MAN do I miss free peanut m&m's! Down here, we've met some pretty awesome members who are old, we call the coolest ones grandma and mama. For example, Mama Watson, and Grandma Kriser. They are two of the coolest people in the ward! There are many other cool grandmas and mamas in the ward too. None are better than you though! :)

A funny experience that happened, we met up with a less-active family in our ward and they were very nice. We got talking about guitars, because they asked if Elder Tialino played. He said a little bit, so they started bringing out the instruments! They told us that they were trying to learn to play them, and also the fiddle. I asked if they had one, and they did! They pulled it out and gave it to me, but it wasn't tuned and I tried to tune it but I couldn't do it quite well. But I really regret not practicing before I came out here, but when I get back, I'll try again. I do remember how to play songs, but I just need a refresher! I know you are thinking... I told him so!.... and I know you did. But Elder T got good pictures of me and the fam, but sadly I didn't think of pictures. I will the next time!

I love y'all so much, keep doing well! And some lady said that something big happened at Bountiful, but everyone I ask hasn't heard anything. Do you know anything about it? (The bomb at Bountiful High:)

Until next time!

Elder Smith