Because of Him

Dear Family,

It's so good to hear that spring is there finally. The winter we had there was crazy bad with both temperature and snow. It's been sunny here for a while. I wouldn't mind it at all, but my body is still changing to fit the climate change. It gets way hot over here and can be brutal when riding a bike in our mission clothes. Thankfully they got rid of the suit season thing before I came out, heat would probably put me in a coma from heat stroke. :) I did get that package and it was cool what you did. The quotes are Elder Ewell's favorite part about getting packages from you guys. He thinks they're so cool and creative.

It's cool that Stockton is heading out on his honor band trip soon. I really enjoyed my honor band experience over in Washington state. Let me know if he's going to any historical sites and the songs that he is playing this year. Parker and Brigham seem to be enjoying track. I always enjoyed the long distance running and had fun in the 800 meter race. Hopefully Parker's wrist is healing well, soft tissue usually takes a while to heal fully. If Brigham is still in Lego League, keep going and I hope it's a good experience for you. Dad seems to be
moving around a lot with all the City Brew's being put up. It's good that he's keeping busy though. The schedules we have here can be rough and long, but I seem to manage. Hopefully Mom isn't getting stressed out up there. There seems to be a lot with track, band, work, the Eagle Project, and no doubt the Cub Scout Day Camp prep. You guys better be helping her out with the house and the anything else she needs you to do. I don't want to hear about any complaining when I get home.

We had a pretty busy week with tech meetings for new missionaries and all that. We got a new set of missionaries to come in this last week and we had 12 new Sisters and 3 new Elders come in. We have 2 of the new missionaries in our zone and they came in when President Weston was teaching the zone about obedience. Aside from the tech meetings, we had interviews to take care of during the evenings. We've been meeting with investigators still, just not as often as we would like. We did have a cool experience though this Saturday. We meet with a family we haven't been to for a while and they had their kids there. The kids met with missionaries before and have their own copies of the Book of Mormon. They've all been reading in it and have all been learning from their studies. We invited the family to attend church and they said they would. Unfortunately, they canceled on us at the last minute and had some other plans for Easter. We'll get them next time though.

Easter was good for us. The church program didn't consist of any primary or youth involvement so I found that a little odd. Several investigators and part member families showed up and we were so stoked to see them there. We then went home teaching with the member we live with and taught a lesson in firmly set anchors. The article is about how having a firmly set anchor in the Rock of God can help us stand strong against the waves of turmoil and the winds of temptation. After home teaching, we went over to dinner with a less-active family and had some steak there. We shared a new video that's out called #BecauseofHim. The video helps people to better understand the meaning behind Easter and why we celebrate it. After meeting with them, we went off to a meeting with the mission president. He talked on obedience and how we need to be more exact in our callings here. It was a very spiritual meeting that hopefully encouraged everyone in the
zone to be more like the missionaries we are assigned to be. I encourage all those who are considering on serving a mission to do so with no second guessing. It will bless your lives and it will be a blessing to your families and your investigators.

Never stop sharing the Gospel with those around you. You might be afraid, you might think they don't want it. But you can do it and you can teach them, even if it's just to plant a seed. Do your best and never think any less of yourselves.

Love

Elder Smith