I want to start off this weeks letter by saying that God answers prayers! Due to the great Canadian holiday of Canada Day, our P day was moved from its regularly scheduled Monday to Tuesday (today). That's all fine and dandy except we didn't hear about that until Sunday night....As you could imagine, I was more than a little bummed. The work is hard and the days are long and I was very much looking forward to a day to unwind, relax a bit and hear from family and to let you know how I was doing. I knew it was going to be difficult to go an extra day before P day so I prayed for strength and focus so I could still be an effective missionary even though I was very distracted. My prayers were answered. Every experience I had yesterday reaffirmed my purpose as a missionary and taught me a lesson that I needed to know. The best was our dinner appointment with the Crowell family. The husband is a convert who fell away and has since come back and brought his wife, her mom and her mom's foster son into the church. Three baptisms and three souls brought to Christ all because of this man. They are so strong and so excited about the missionary work. He bore us his testimony about the difference missionaries make in the lives of others and how grateful he is for the missionaries that taught him and for my companion for teaching his wife and the others in his family. The Spirit was sooooo strong and it really helped me realize that I can make a difference and that it is all worth it. It was exactly what I needed that day. So yeah. God is good. :) So my area is a little complex. My companion and I are currently living in Midland, Ontario, Canada. It is a gorgeous port town on the banks of the Georgian Bay. We serve the town of Midland and the surrounding area including the towns of Penatanguishene ( its French, everyone just calls it Penatang), Victoria Harbor and Wabashene. Neat names. We also cover another area just west of us called the Stayner area. I don't know it very well because we mainly serve in Midland. BUT, come the end of July/beginning of August we will be moving to the Stayner area to the city of Collingwood and a Senior Couple will move to Midland. So everything is kinda up in the air. We are not even sure when we will be moving for sure. Just as I get to know everyone, grow to love the investigators, and really love the area we'll be moving and I'll start all over. Awesome. :) I love it here. The people are very Canadian. The only thing they love more than smoking is talking. Everyone smokes like a chimney and can talk for hours. It is ridiculous! The members are great and most people are very nice. My first experience in the mission was exciting. We left the mission home and took care of paperwork etc at the office then we headed out to the area. We pulled into town and before I could blink we were pulling up to an investigators home. I hadn't even unpacked or seen where I was living and I was already teaching. I was terrified. The man we taught's name is John and he is very Canadian. He has one good tooth on the top and a scraggly white beard. He talks exactly like you'd expect him to and he has a GIANT wolf/husky hybrid. It was awesome. I said hello then was completely silent the rest of the time. Hahaha. Its tough to be a missionary. It went well and I survived. My companion and I mostly visit members and new converts but we have a few investigators. John, who has been investigating for a year; Peter, he is from Germany and is too smart and analytic to teach hahaha; and Jacquleine who is awesome and has a testimony of the book of Mormon but hasn't told her parents about us yet and is worried they wouldn't approve. So pray for them and hope for a miracle! :) I'm doing great and I'm loving being a missionary. I'd love to hear from anyone really so I know you're still alive. Hahaha. I'm going to attach some picture of stuff sooooo yeah. I love you all and remember to do good things!
Oh. My companion's name is Elder Kenning and he is great! I love him! He is from Bountiful and he is just great. There are pictures of him attached.
Also. I have a new favorite book.Our Search for Happiness. Read it. seriously. it will change your life!
Love, Elder Smith
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