I'M ALMOST IN AMERICA!!!

Greetings from Windsor, Ontario!

Let me just say that this place is sweet. I live on Riverside Drive which is exactly what it says it is. Right next to the river and across the river is AMERICA!!! I am going to attempt to send pictures in this email. I am really excited that I am this close to the US of A. Elder Wendt doesn't really care though. He is not American. He is Swiss-German/Argentinian....His mom is from Argentina, His dad is from Germany and he was raised in Switzerland. Confusing. You pronounce Wendt: Vent which makes this companion number three with a difficult name and the "Smith. That's easy to remember" jokes abound. What fun. He is super sweet and a great missionary. He has been out a year and a half and it is great to work with someone who knows what they are doing. We get along really well and I see great things in the future. (Including a trip to Germany/Switzerland to visit him. Who's in?) :):)

I am excited to be in Windsor. The city itself is pretty great. It kind of has a bad rep because across the river is Detroit: Murder Capital of the United States. But I  like it. It is older and looks exactly like I imagined Detroit to look like. Run down old factories covered in vines, little old houses and American cars everywhere. Its great. Kind of shady in some places but it just makes things fun. :) Windsor is also the warmest place in Canada or something. Apparently they never get snow and the winter is very mild. LAME!!! I came to Canada expecting snow and I feel ripped off. Oh well. There is always next year.

The ward is sweet and they feed us A LOT. If I'm not careful I will come home with a "Canadian Tire." There is a hardware store called Canadian Tire so that's what they call the fat stomach you get when you serve here. :( I'm hoping I can fend it off. Not likely. Sigh. 

As for investigators things are good. I have only met one because everyone is very busy with finals and the Christmas season but the one I have met is so great. His name is Al and he is 70 something and HILARIOUS! He is doing really well should be baptized soon. Sometime in January. He is retired and lives with his two dogs and is just a great guy. He is trying really hard to overcome his difficulties and is really changing his life. I love this part of missionary work. When it goes from being just something nice that we are telling people and turns to people understanding and having a desire to change their life. It is great. I love it. 

That is about it. Good times here in Windsor. We got to be in the Windsor Winter Fest parade with our ward. We passed out 1400 Joy to the World cards along the way!! It was sweet and great to get our name out there. We already have one request for visit viamormon.org and hopefully it is the first of many. Exciting stuff!

I am way excited to be here and to be able to see the growth in people's lives. I really love being a missionary and I am so glad I have two years to do it. I love this work and I love this gospel. There is nothing that brings more happiness than the knowledge we have and that I get to share with people. What a blessing. 

Merry Christmas everyone! Work hard and do good things!

Love, 

Elder E. Smith

P.S. My new address

3701 Riverside Drive East #202 W

Windsor, ON N8Y 4W5

Canada! 

P.P.S. My mission office address

Canada Toronto Mission

197 County Court Blvd Suite 203

Brampton, ON L6W 4P6

Canada

Please use my first name in anything sent there. :):)

P.P.P.S. I got the Christmas package from the aunts and uncles. Thanks so much!! I did not get my family one. I will tomorrow at Zone Conference though.

Luvs!!!

Transfers!

Dearest family!

Its that time again, transfers! Elder Hegemann and I got a call from President Scott last night and I am heading off to Windsor, Ontario to be a District Leader. Elder Hegemann is staying here and training a new missionary. My little boy is all grown up. :) It is a very exciting time and I am very excited to set out on this new adventure. That being said, I am going to miss Richmond Hill East very, very much. This past week I finally decided that I love it here and that I know what I am doing and I had a handle on the situation. True to form, as soon as I was comfortable, God saw fit to help me grow again. What fun. :) My new companion is named Elder Wendt and that is all I know about him. More next week. :)

So the area is really blossoming right now. Mary is doing very, very good and is all set to be baptized on the 23rd of this month. She is truly a blessing and a welcome relief from the constant struggle to find people. What a blessing. I am so glad that Elder H gets to stay and baptize her. What a great experience. We found new investigators this week. Two new investigators and two who will be investigators as soon as we set another appointment with them. Very exciting and great to see the area growing. It is awesome to see hard work pay off and to see this area go from one investigator to four with a lot of potential.

I have a new planner now and I usually look back on that to recap the week but, I don't have my old planner. Oops. Memory it is!

Monday: Regular old P-Day. Nothing sticks out in my memory.

Tuesday: Zone Meeting (not to be confused with Zone Conference which happens sometime this month. YAY!) It was really good and I learned a ton. The rest of the day.....not sure.

Wednesday: HA! I usually forget Wednesdays but not this week. This week we found two new investigators and had a super fantastic day. One was a referral from the Zone Leaders and the other from mormon.org. The Zone Leader referral is a Muslim guy who is looking for truth. Not sure if he will be baptized but he is meeting with us. The mormon.org referral is sweet. His name is Jose and he is from Venezuela. His (member) friend back home thought he would be open to a visit so got his info and requested a visit on mormon.org. Haha. He was not expecting us but let us in anyway. He is sweet and I really think he will be open to baptism. Time will tell. It was a really great day.

Thursday: My 6 month mark. I officially turned "old" and felt all reminisce-y all day. Weekly planning and finding all day to no luck. :( Good day though.

Friday: Exchanges. Really good. Learned a ton and had fun.

Saturday: Taught ESL. Taught another mormon.org referral from India. He and his friend are working on a documentary about native American culture and heard about Lamanites and wanted to learn more. He is really nice and very philosophical. The lesson basically turned into a friendly religious discussion. It was fun.

Sunday: Mary came to church and it was awesome. It was a very long day waiting for calls at night but very fun.

All in all it was a great week and a great 12 weeks in Richmond Hill East. I am going to miss it very much here but I'm sure the next adventure is just as great and I will love it too. Yay missions!! I am so happy to be serving and so grateful for the chance I have to devote these two years of my life to God. This church is true, this is God's work and He is a very real participant in it. The Lord knows each and every one of us and loves us perfectly. Everything that we go through is for our benefit and will shape us into men and women for the eternities. I know that God lives and that His son Jesus Christ lives. They love us and care for us. Put your trust in Them and never forget who you are. Work hard and do good things!!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

Hello!!

Hey. How's it going?

This week has been sweet and awesome and great. I love December and being a missionary and snow and life. Things are just good. :) :) :) We are so blessed to have the gospel and have good families and to be in this world and.....yeah. God is good. :) On to the week review.

Monday: SWEET! We rode the subway downtown and went to the CN Tower. It is the second tallest building in the world and the tallest man-made lookout in the world and I was on it!! I was terrified but it was so worth it. In the tower there is a glass floor and it is super scary. Its like you're floating. Such a neat thing. I want to come back with the family. Who's in?!? It was fun to be with other missionaries and to see Toronto. There were only two sad parts of the trip. One: we ran out of time and couldn't make it to Honest Ed's. Its this sweet store that has $4 ties. $4!!!! We are going next week before we get transferred hopefully. Two: there were Hobbit posters EVERYWHERE. I am so bummed. Everytime I see one my heart just sinks and I have to tell myself "Two years, two years, two years." It'll be there when I get back right? But other that that it was a great day! And then to top it all off we met with a new investigator and she agreed to be baptized! She is super great and we are meeting her again today. Hopefully all goes well.

Tuesday: Good day. We found a sweet new place to tract where they speak english and are nice (ish) and its great. Really good day

Wednesday:Once again. I always forget Wednesdays....poor Wednesday. I'm sure it was fun.

Thursday: We went exploring in our new area and it was great. People in Richmond Hill are really nice. We talked to a lot of sweet people and then one not as sweet. She was a Jehovah's Witness and started to tell us how we are wrong and dumb and it was lame. We got "owned" (Elder Hegemann Lingo) by another lady a few weeks ago and so this one we were a little more prepared for this time. The spirit took over and I "threw down" (EHL)  for a bit and kindly told her our purpose as missionaries and walked away. Elder Hegemann was really mad that he got beat and so we have spent the better portion of this week studying to be able to hold our own in a Bible Bash. His motto is "We don't start fights, but we don't lose them either." Its been fun. :0

Friday: Good and uneventful. Just tracting and contacting. The usual. :)

Saturday: I think I mentioned this before but now we teach English as a Second Language on Saturdays. Its fun but stressful and then to add to all that I was made building manager and am now in charge of it....I have no clue what I am doing but it is really fun and exciting. It reminds me how much I don't know about English. :) We ate something bad and spent the rest of the day close to home and tried to do what we could. Not fun.

Sunday: Generally good day. I love the ward a ton and will be very sad if I leave it.

Great week! I really love being a missionary! I hope you all are reading your scriptures and praying everyday. The Lord expects us to do the little things so we can get through the big things. My testimony of that has grown so much. If we are doing the small things that he asks, then we will receive the big blessings he wants to give us. Keep working hard. Good luck to everyone with Finals and all that. I love you and pray for you daily!

Work hard, Study hard, Pray hard. Have fun and do good things!!!

Love,

Elder E. Smith