Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Hmpf! The sound of mixed emotions


Hello Family!
I really don't know how to feel right now. I am experiencing all sorts of crazy emotions all at once and I not sure how to handle it. First and foremost is the news of Grandma Smith's ailing health. I am really sad. I love her and the family that she worked so hard to raise. I respect her very much and will be forever grateful for her example of stalwart faith, her depth of testimony, and her love of others. I, and many others, owe a large part of who we are to this great woman. I am also very happy that families are forever and that she will get to be with Grandpa again. What a blessing this knowledge is. Love you Grandma!
Second is the great news about Megan's mission call. I am so proud of her decision to serve and I know that she will do so great serving the Lord. Watch out Brazil! :)
Third is the fantastic week that we just had. I don't even know where to start. Maybe just with Monday. :)
Monday was filled with packing, saying goodbye to investigators and the district and then making the four hour trip to Brampton, Bleh. We survived.
Tuesday was great. The new missionaries were welcomed to Canada with a heaping helping of snow and -13 C weather. Fun! I sat around for four hours waiting for the training meeting to start and just talked with other missionaries. I finally saw Elder Koceja (My MTC companion), we hadn't seen each other since we got to the mission. It was a happy reunion and he was actually companions with Elder Dite so it was a double reunion. I love those two missionaries very much. The training meeting went well. I felt very veteran training for my second time and giving advice to those who were training for the first time or opening new areas. I still feel like a rookie most days so it was kinda nice to feel like I knew what I was doing. I was far less nervous this time around and enjoyed the day a lot more. I got my new companion and he is super awesome. His name is Elder Binford and he is from Fresno California and this guy is incredible. He served a mini mission for two weeks in Fresno and so he is literally pre-trained. He is a stellar missionary and we are having a blast.
I am running out of time so I am just going to summarize the last few days. We have been working very hard and miracles are happening. We tracted a lot and did some street contacting and we have found a lot of potentials. On Thursday we tracted a street and got two number and two invitations to come back! We visited the first of those yesterday and he was actually there and let us teach him. He is super busy but he invited us to come back in a month when his schedule slows down. And if that wasn't exciting enough we were invited to visit a less active member out of the blue and he wanted us to come and teach his friends about the church. So yesterday we found three new investigators. Crazy. Now the best news of the letter....Shauna is getting baptized next week!! I am not sure how much I have talked about her in the past so I'll give you the run-down. She met a member randomly on the bus and they became friends. In one of her classes she needed to write a paper about a religion and so she asked her friend what his was. He invited her to talk to the missionaries and the rest is history I guess. When I got to Windsor she had finished her paper and was still half investigating but we were busy and didn't get a chance to meet with her. Well we talked to her two weeks ago and taught her about baptism. She agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. You can count on the Book of Mormon. ;) She prayed to know if she should get baptized and then flipped to Mosiah 18: 8-11.  The scripture asks, "what have ye against be baptized?" and she concluded that she had nothing against it and informed us on Wednesday that she would like to be baptized. !! So she is getting baptized she has been taught almost everything. We are going over modern-day prophets and then she is totally ready. Miracles happen.
It was a great week. We hit standards and had a great time doing it. I am truly loving the work and being a missionary. I love you all and my heart goes out to those suffering at this time. Work hard, Study hard, Pray hard!
Love,
Elder E. Smith

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