December 1, 2014 Email

Hey Fam! It's great to hear you're all doing well. It seems you've been getting some cold but interesting weather up there. The weather down here is wet and cold for several days in a row now. Since that first big rain storm we had, it's been like this non-stop. We need the rain though. Shasta Lake, a lake close to us that usually supplies water, is really low so it's required that it rains a lot here. 

The week went by really fast for us. Early in the week we had some meetings that lasted for most of the day. Wednesday was kind of a slow day for us, so we had to do some finding. Thursday was Thanksgiving, so we cleaned the church building for most of the morning. Elder Briggs and I waited until dinner playing battleship since we can't actively proselyte then took off for dinner at a member's house with several family members. Then we went in early and planned for the week and to finish off the night, we played a game of monopoly where I came in second. 

Saturday we went on exchanges and had a great experience with this one less-active member. We read from the Book of Mormon and we had a great time with him. Sunday was a great Sabbath day. Elder Briggs and I sang an arrangement of "Be Still, My Soul" and we had several people come up to us and say they loved it. I also got your package today and I loved it. It was awesome and I love the hat. 

Well I hope you all have a great time this week and I love you all. 

Love

Elder Smith

1. 1. Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
   With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
   Leave to thy God to order and provide;
   In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
   Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
   Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
2. 2. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
   To guide the future as he has the past.
   Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
   All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
   Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
   His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.
3. 3. Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
   When we shall be forever with the Lord,
   When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
   Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
   Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
   All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

You're One in a Minion, Elder Smith

Here is a fun little package we sent to Mitchell around Thanksgiving.

Everything in it had to do with minions, my favorite was the twinkies that were all dressed like "minion-aries".

November 27, 2014 Email

The Atonement*

Hey Fam! Sorry for the letter situation. My iPads been glitching out with some things. It's great that Stockton and Parker got academics in cross country. Hopefully Parker keeps working on his sports, he's pretty good at them. And your right, it is important we build self-reliance in our spiritual lives. Several people will go off of others testimonies and not have one of their own. When we don't have a testimony for ourselves, we slowly start to loose that faith that we need in this life. That's why it's so important to build our own rather than on others.

This week was good for us here. Several times we met with our investigator, Gary, and he has been getting closer to baptism. He didn't show up to church yesterday, but he just needs to be at church one more time and he can get baptized. Some of our less-actives seem to be doing well but haven't shown to church yet. 

We've had several exchanges since Elder Briggs became a district leader. One time when we were on exchanges, me and another elder tried contacting a referral that has needed to be contacted for a while. When we got to the address, the owner of the house was outside and said the person we were looking for left a few weeks before. We started to talk to her and found out she recently had a death in the family. We talked with her on the the Atonement and how God is our loving Heavenly Father. She was open to hear what we had to say to the point of excepting a Book of Mormon. We hope to meet with her again and to start teaching her. 

Elder Briggs might be getting his visa here shortly, but some things have occurred that might change his waiting. Some calls gave us both some things to wonder about and to be aware about. 

Thanksgiving is going to odd this year. The whole zone will be cleaning the stake centers till the afternoon and then, instead of active proselytizing, we are going to go to members homes all through the day and turn in between 5-6. We will be doing our weekly planning while we are in for the remainder of the day. We do have some people who welcomed us to their dinners, so we'll be going to their houses for turkey and all other foods there. Yum!

I wish you all a great Thanksgiving and pray for you all the time. Best of wishes. 

Love,

Elder Smith

*As used in the scriptures, to atone is to suffer the penalty for sins, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing him or her to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ was the only one capable of carrying out the Atonement for all mankind. Because of His Atonement, all people will be resurrected, and those who obey His gospel will receive the gift of eternal life with God.

November 17, 2014 Email

Hey Fam! It's great that you had a great week. It's great that you were able to help the missionaries Mom. It's great to aid In the Lord's work and to see people progress and want to continue to make those steps of faith. Also, way to go on your Honor Band try outs Stockton! You gotta let me know how it goes and what songs your playing. Keep practicing on your basketball skills Parker and always strive for your goals in everything you do. And a big Happy Birthday to you Brigham! It's weird to think how old you're getting cause it means I'm getting old. Haha! 

Since you didn't get my email apparently, we had transfers last week and Elder Briggs and I are staying the same for another transfer. This week went by super fast for us. We had several meetings and people to see all thoughout the week with little time to see them all. Tuesday was Transfer Day and we had to help Elder Zaugg with getting his stuff ready and to load up. Funny thing was that Elder Zaugg and a sister missionary are both going to my last area and are double covering the same wards. They've been following each other all their missions and they find it very weird. Several new missionaries came into the mission and we got to meet them at our zone meeting this last week. We met with several people and have seen great progression with them. We have someone on date who is willing to make his goal and desire of being a member a reality. 

Well, I've gotta get going. So I wish you all the best and hope to hear from you next week. I love you all and have you in my prayers always. 

Love,

Elder Smith

November 4, 2014 Email

Having a little fun at the Oasis Fun Center

Miniature Golf

Laser maze

Go carts

Laser tag

Hey Family! First off, I'd like to say a huge Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you had a great birthday and a great Halloween. Also, big thanks for the package. It was fun and Elder Briggs loves the little sayings and quotes on them. 

This week was kinda slow for us lesson wise. The week started off wih a zone blitz up in another area of the zone we are in. We had the blitz to help out the missionaries there find new investigators and to visit several less-active members there. It was a good experience and was a pretty good experiment for future use in the mission. We then had a rather odd week with the different changes made for the week. On Halloween, we had to set our planning time for the evenings since we were to be in our apartments by 6. This was a mission wide requirement for all missionaries because of incidents in the past involving missionaries or people that dressed like missionaries. So Friday was like a regular day in the afternoon and early evening. Since we got done with planning early, us and the missionaries we live with all got together and played a few intense rounds of Clue while we waited for time to pass. It was actually pretty fun and entertaining for the night. Throughout the week though, we've had a few changes to our schedules. One such change involved moving someone with a huge amount of stuff for such a small home. The move took Elder Briggs and I close to three hours. The other missionaries were there for about six hours. It was crazy moving that family over to their new house. 

We went out to a place called Oasis Fun Center on P-Day yesterday and we didn't get into any internet connections that whole day. It was an awesome day there with a few events set up for us. The people that run the center are members of one of the wards, so we got to do the events without charge. It's kinda like a special deal for missionaries to have fun. We got to choose two out of three events there. There was laser tag, go cart, and mini golf at the center and I chose laser tag and go carts. Both were awesome and fun. I came in second over all in the laser tag round; which is impressive considering I've only laser tagged once before. In go carts I have no idea what place I got. Everyone was getting stuck and jammed into corners and I just lost track of where I was in the race. But I enjoyed it and we all had a blast doing it. After our two events at the fun center, we went to an institute building where a set of senior missionaries let us play some pool table, foosball, ping pong, and air hockey. Everyone had a great time there as well as I. 

Well, sorry I didn't get this email out to you guys earlier. I hope you all have a great week and had a great Halloween. I love you all and have you in my prayers always. 

Love,

Elder Smith

Halloween Package

Here is a photo of what we sent Mitchell for Halloween.  I guess this year he dressed up as a missionary-ha, ha!!!

Mom really gets into putting little messages on each thing and having a scripture to go with it when possible.

October 27, 2014 Email

Joseph Smith (see information below)

Hey family!

This week was interesting. Last Monday, we were at Walmart doing shopping after I had emailed you guys. We just checked out and headed for the doors when some guy came up to us asking if we were Mormon. He started asking us all these different questions about some things he has heard about and studied. At first we thought we might have someone interested in learning more. Then he started talking about some weird stuff.  We asked where he got his information and he told us, the INTERNET. Surprise, surprise. We let him rant a little while then just walked off. Like it was said in conference is month, "The Internet has no truth filter." When we were talking to him, I remembered the promise the angel Moroni gave to Joseph Smith; "...God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people." We stood firm in what we believe and bore our  testimonies and left. When we can't combat with our own knowledge of the gospel, we bear testimony of our spiritual confirmation from God rather than from man. That is something that people can't fight or argue against. I saw it happen and I know the personal testimony is strongest tool and power we can have of the truth. So it's been an interesting start to the week. 

Tuesday, my companion almost got hit by a car. But he's fine and just had a few things to adjust on his bike. We also had a miracle happen with an investigator that day. He says he's been having trouble with finding his answer and feeling the Holy Ghost's promptings. He told us that he had a warm feeling and a strong belief that it was the Holy Ghost with us and as he reads the Book of Mormon. We hope he makes that commitment to baptism and to show his faith. Wednesday was a slow one for us. We just did some service and had some meetings that took up most of our day. The rest of the week was normal, except for Saturday. Recently we've been getting all these rain storms around here this week and had a huge one Saturday. We actually just got out of a great lesson and it looked like it was for the first part of the day, dry. While we were in the lesson, we heard thunder roaring over us and we thought we would be caught in the rain. It wasn't until we got back on our bike that the rain just poured out of the clouds like Cooney Dam at home when it releases water. We only had not even a quarter mile to our next stop and we were completely soaked, it was that bad. We stayed inside until it all died down and had a few other sprinkles throughout the rest of the day. 

Yesterday was the Primary program for our Ward. It was as you expect a Primary program to be, lots of the kids bellowing the songs they know and were full of energy. Oddly enough though, the kids were very reverent and still while they were sitting on the seats up front. It was a good sacrament meeting and full of spirit. 

That's all I've got for ya this week. Hope to hear from ya soon. Love you all and have a great week. 

Love 

Elder Smith

Joseph Smith--As a young boy in 1820, Joseph Smith wanted to know which church was true. As he searched the Bible for help, he read that he should ask of God. Acting on this counsel, Joseph went into the woods near his home and prayed. Suddenly, a light shone above him and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. When Joseph asked which church he should join, the Savior told him to join none of the churches then in existence because they were teaching incorrect doctrines. Through this experience and many others that followed, the Lord chose Joseph to be His prophet and to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church to the earth.