January 11, 2016 Email

Hey Fam! It's great to hear you all are doing well!

The week here was interesting to say the least. One of the first lessons we had was a Hmong lady that didn't speak any English so I was sitting there wondering what the heck is being taught. I told my companion when we first started going out visiting that he better be teaching the correct principles, cause I sure as heck can't correct
you on this one. Haha! It's good working with these people though.  They are very accepting of the gospel and are humble enough to want to make these changes in there life. 

A sample of the language Mitchell's companion is speaking--yikes!!!!

We also cover an English Ward here too so that's a bit of relief from not knowing what is being said. The week went kinda slow but we had some good work done here. We do something here on Wednesdays called a Hmong class. Here, Elder Fitzgerald teaches people how to speak Hmong so they can better help in the ward and their progression. Sunday was interesting because we set up for Elder Fitzgerald to have a translator mic to help the older Hmong members understand sacrament meeting. In total these next five weeks are going to be very interesting. 

I also got today a letter from President Marston informing me of all that will be happening prior to the departure. So you can probably imagine the amount of trunkiness I am experiencing right now.

Trunky:  A slang term used among Mormon missionaries, describing a missionary who is excited about returning home as "trunky" as he has already packed his trunk

Well that's all I got for you this week. I hope to hear from you guys next week that will be informing you of all that will be happening.

Love

Elder Mitchell Smith

January 6, 2016 Email

Hey Fam! Sorry I haven't emailed recently, some crazy stuff has just happened. We had transfers again and we thought that my companion was leaving. Turns out, I was the one that left. I thought I would finish in Andersen but ended up moving to Chico. The situation with that is there is a Hmong Elder down here who didn't have a companion for six weeks since he training a new one in a month and a half. So President Marston decided to have me come down and spend the transfer with him since he figured I wouldn't mind, which I don't.

Sculpture in Chico- - -Give a "big hand" to Elder Smith!!!!

Here we will be doing both Hmong and English work since there isn't a whole lot of Hmong's in the area. It's going to be a good time since I know the Elder I'm working with, Elder Fitzgerald. He has been out for almost a year and he has been doing well in the work. It's kinda funny too cause I will be the second missionary in a row that he will be sending home. His last companion he sent home was his trainer. He's pretty cool, so this last transfer will be good.

It's weird to think that I only have six weeks left on my mission and I'm home. That's crazy!! I know that it's been two years, but man has it flown by. I can't wait to see you guys start getting back in the swing of things. It's gonna be weird cause I won't have anything to talk about but the mission for quite a while. Hahaha!

Well anyway, that's all I've got for you guys this week. Hope you all have a great week and I wish you the best.

Elder Mitchell Smith

January 8, 2016 Email

Once again, not really an email.  Just some photos from his last zone.  Mitchell is getting transferred and will spend the last 6 weeks of his mission in Chico, CA.

Normal

Notice he is trying to distance himself, ha ha!!!

December 28, 2015 Email

This isn't really an email, per se-lol!!!  We Skyped with Mitch for about 90 minutes on Christmas.  We were trying to get both Mitch and Stockton on at the same time, but it didn't really work out.  because I didn't know Mitchell's new address until the Monday before Christmas, he didn't get his package on time.

But, he did get it eventually, and these are the photos that he sent with the caption "LOVE THE TIES!"

He apparently is out of contact and is wearing his glasses.  He was in good spirits and looking forward to finishing his mission in the next couple of months.

December 14, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! Hope all is going well for ya!

This week we ended up having several great miracles happen for us. We have an ASL investigator who has met with missionaries for quite a while but never got baptized. We met with him earlier this week and had a lesson with him and committed him to baptism. He accepted and will be getting baptized on the 6th of January. We are stoked because my companion, Elder Funk, will be baptizing him and he will be doing it in sign. That's so cool! Then on the 10th I will be confirming him as a member of the church. I won't be able to do it in sign, but it's an experience that will be remembered forever. Not too many missionaries get to have a chance to work with someone that's ASL so I'm thankful to be here for it. 

Another miracle we had happened Sunday. We were greeting people at the door the former Ward Mission Leaders wife came over and let us know of a little girl who wants to
be baptized. We went over to where her and her father were and talked with them about what they want to do. The father is a less-active member and heard his daughter wanted to get baptized so he will be returning to activity while we meet with her. So within the time I have left, we have a potential of baptizing two people before I leave.  That is a miracle in its self.

The rest of the week was kinda the same. We met with one investigator who has been struggling with a couple different things in regard to commitment in the invitations we leave with him. We have another appointment with him and his girlfriend on Wednesday so we will see how that goes. Sunday brought some crazy rain and wind in the morning.  When I went to get ready for church, I looked out the window and saw something like a typhoon right outside. Wind gusts were probably around 20 mph with very heavy rainfall. I was hoping it would be like
that for most of the day, but it ended up stopping just before we left for church.

So, that's all for this week. Hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you soon.

Love

Elder Mitchell Smith

December 7, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! Hope all is going well for you guys back home! The time here has been good and tough at the same time. We have very few investigators to work with in the area and we have contacted almost all our potential investigators as well with no success. One good thing about the area is that there's usually a good opportunity for
service most mornings and throughout the day. One service activity we did involved herding sheep and moving a horse so that was something I hadn't done on the mission till that point. The members love being able to feed us and are engaged in missionary work pretty well. This week we had a couple of lessons and ended up doing a lot of running around. One day we ended up driving 102 miles trying to contact people.

Well that's all I've got for this week. Hope you all are having a great time and hope to hear from you soon.

Love

Elder Mitchell Smith

November 30, 2015 Email

Hey Fam! Sorry for not emailing earlier in the week. Things have been crazy here in the new area. Transfers happened and I went up north into Anderson area to finish the mission. I'm serving in the Cottonwood Ward and am greenie breaking a new missionary, Elder Funk.  The ward members here are awesome and love helping out in the work as much as they can. The area work wise is something of the same thing as my last area but is still going good. Not too many investigators but plenty of less-active members.

Thanksgiving was a great time here. In the morning we went and did some service putting up a fence. We all had a helping in it and it was great to get back to some good fencing. After that, we went and had thanksgiving dinner with the former Ward mission leader and his family. They actually ended up having all the missionaries in the zone show up there. Several missionaries have served in this Ward before and they loved being there for dinner. We had a great thanks giving and I hope you all did too.

Love, 
Elder Smith