August 4, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! It's great to hear from you! Yesterday was pretty busy for us too. Running around getting things planned for activities we had in mind for p-day and such. You definitely have my prayers with you and the rest of the family.  

The week was fairly similar as last week for us. We have been contacting several people to try and clear up the area book and haven't seen too much success from that with finding new people to teach. The area book has been winding down to a very small teaching pool. In fact, it's the smallest teaching pool I've ever had to work with in any area. It's tough but our ward and branch councils have started to help us more with finding and getting some more service around here. 

We are doing some service for this one widow in the ward with helping stock a wood shed for her. So that will be a relief from the noose called a tie.😆😂 We did visit several people this week and were able to hit a few of the goals we set up for the week which was a great turn of events. Also; I found out that if I could get permission from Pres. Marston, I can Skype in to watch Stockton open his mission call! If I can get permission for that, let me know when he opens his letter. 

So that's all I've got for you guys this week. Hope you all have a good time and my all our prayers be with Grandpa and all our family. 

Love

Elder Smith

July 27, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! It's great to hear from you guys!  It's awesome to hear Stockton finally got his mission items practically taken care of till he gets his call. Way to go Stockton! What got Parkers' knee all jacked up? That kind of stuff usually happens in sports or something like that. Hope you get better soon Parker! I hope you're still keeping busy and having fun Brigham!

This week was pretty good for us here. We've been crazy busy with getting our area book cleared up and learning the area better. Elder Shapiro has been here for only 3 weeks before I got here so we are just working as hard as we can. Elder Shapiro is a very hard worker and is always wanting to visit people to stay busy. He's a great missionary and loves being out here. All throughout the week we have been going up and down our area contacting potential investigators only to find out they aren't interested any more. It's tough work, but we are doing what is needed to actually see where the area is at right now. 

We had a Pioneer Day Celebration in the stake and we had several less actives and a few investigators show up to that for all the fun that was had there. Double covering wards is very different and long. Yesterday we spent 8 hours at church before we got out of there. It's crazy but a good crazy. 

Well that's all I've got for you this week. Hope you all have a wonderful time and my the Lord bless you in all things. 

Love

Elder Smith

July 22, 2015 Email

The Zone

Hey!! It's good to hear from you guys this week! Great job getting those papers In Stockton! Let me know where you go with a video. So I've had something really interesting happen this week. We had transfers and my last companion is home now. To my surprise though, I got transferred as well. How that happens and why, I don't know.😐😕 

I am now serving in Colfax in the Auburn area. We are covering a home ward and a YSA ward here. I didn't go zone leader here but this is one of the few zones that doesn't have the zone leaders covering the YSA. It's weird and interesting. It definitely makes our schedule way busy throughout the week. If any letters or mail was shipped to my last address, let me know before Monday so I can pick it up on my way down to the mission office. My new companion is Elder Shaprio and has been out a little less then I have. He is a great missionary and loves working hard. It will be a good transfer I feel. 

Well that's all I've got for you this week! Have fun, enjoy life, and love the Lord!

Love

Elder Smith

July 13, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! It's good to hear from you this week! Keep working on the papers Stockton! You're almost there. It is pretty cool that RM came back to the area. I still need to decide if I will come back to California after getting things going back home. 

For my birthday; we had interviews with the Mission President, did some service for an investigator, and had dinner with one of the best families in the ward. We actually celebrated the birthday of the wife of that family yesterday with the big 30 at her parents house which is a very big expensive house. Life in Granite Bay for ya! The rest of the week was full of trying to catch up on the work as best we can with our sickness delay. We didn't get into see many people this week but had an opportunity to go on splits with a member to see some potential investigators and some less actives we haven't been able to see recently. Didn't have much luck there but did get something of a referral out of it. That did t seem to work out either but tried where we could. One of the families we got a referral for a few weeks ago was at home when we tried yesterday. They are a good family with family in the church and have been interested in learning more about the church. We talked a little bit but shortly had to leave after as they were leaving for something they planned. 

So that's my week for you guys. I hope you all keep trekking on and wish you the best e Lord could give you. 

Love

Elder Smith

July 7, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! Sorry I didn't write yesterday. We spent a majority of he day moving into our new apartment and didn't get to the church building to email. It is a nice place and is fairly well kept aside from ants being the problem here. We are getting it taken care of so they should be gone shortly. 

I got to stay in for the 4th of July fireworks unfortunately. There was a show with ground-air fireworks put up by a church for some publicity and stuff like that. I have a video of it that I will try sending to you guys later on in the week. 

Way to go Stockton!! Your making a big change in your life and it is great to hear you are willing to answer the call the Lord has for you. Where ever you go, who ever you see, you will bless those around you in ways you couldn't even imagine. 

This week was another one where my companion has been sicker than a dog and I am starting to show signs of the same thing I had earlier. We have just been resting and trying to prevent as much of an outbreak as possible since it's causing problems in another zone. We still do all that we can to help where at all possible but try to avoid contact with people so we can stop this cold. Other than all that we are just trying still to recover from this sickness going around. 

That's all I've got for you guys this week. I hope you all enjoy the week and will talk to you next week! 

Love

Elder Smith

June 29, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! It's great to hear from you guys! You all are staying busy and enjoying time with the rest of the family. Wish I were there to do the same. It's cool though, I get the chance to help others where I can. This week was a bit of a struggle for us here. My companion and I have both been sick with sore throats and major bad coughing for the past week. We weren't able to get out and do much work for the first couple of days because it was so bad. 😷 

The later part of the week seemed to be easier but we didn't want to get others sick as well. The last companion of my current one has the same thing and caused an epidemic up in his new area. That is what we are trying to avoid as much as possible. I have been feeling better thankfully but Elder White has been coughing just the same. He got some medicine for it today so that should start to help. We got to do some service this past week with some investigators and it was definitely nice to get out of the shirt and tie aside the fact that I got some major sun burn from it.😣 It was good though. 

The last couple of days the city of Rocklin had some firework shows that were sponsored by a church out here. They had two shows at nights and booths all and other such items of entertainment during the day. I got video of the last firework show last night and will try and send it to you some time this week. Aside from all that there really hasn't been too much going on. 

That's all I've got for you guys his week. I love you and wish you a great week ahead!

Love

Elder Smith

June 23, 2015 Email

Hey Fam!! Sorry I haven't written recently. Last week we had a meeting on Tuesday so our mission president moved our p-day over to Wednesday and it all just got crazy. Our last few weeks have been interesting. Shortly after I had moved into a members home we had to move because some family was staying over here for a while. So we live with some other elders in an apartment complex. 

The meeting we had last week was with a member of the 70 and we had a good discussion on missionary work. The rest of the week was pretty good and we had some good success with finding a new family from a referral we got a few weeks ago. We haven't been able to sit down with them but everything we stop by we get another visit set up with them. It's difficult to catch them both though because of their work schedules so we're just trying to find a time where it works for them and us. The rest of the week we have been trying to see people with the amount of time that we have during the day. Since we live outside our area we are trying to do as much as we can so we don't burn through miles on our car. It's difficult but we're managing it pretty well. 

Well that's all I've got for you this time. I hope you all continue to have a great time and that you enjoy the reunion. Say hi to everyone for me. 

Love

Elder Smith