HELLOS!
Before I get started let me explain the subject line of this
email. It is really hard to explain but I'll do my best. First and
foremost I am SUPER weird. I have been this way my whole life and will be this
way for the rest of the foreseeable future. Secondly, Shirley Temple was
adorable (maybe she still is, I don't know. I don't use the Internet). So
sometimes when things happen that I can't believe or that are really amazing,
surprising etc I imagine Shirley Temple shaking her curly hair and saying "Goodness!"
It has been a long time but I think she say that in one of the movies she is
in. I'm not sure, but I have doing this for a VERY long time and didn't really
notice or realize until this week, probably because it was filled with Shirley
Temple moments. So now you know: I am super weird and this week was great!
Monday we cleaned/reorganized the apartment. It was filthy and
filled with junk and now its a little less filthy and has a little less junk.
Today we are planning to finish the job, right in time for transfers, which, if
you can believe it, are next week! Goodness! ;)
Tuesday was good. We got an oil change and I somehow got the
courage to talk to the attendant about the church and invited him to learn
more. I couldn't believe that I did it but it happened. He said no. We win
some, we lose some. But the important thing is to try so the Lord can trust you
talk to those he has prepared and put in our paths. Who knows? Maybe down the
road Mark the Mr. Lube attendant will get baptized and be the bishop someday.
(Fingers-crossed) The rest of the day was good.
Wednesday, once again, was a slower day. We had our planning
session and coordination meeting and taught a 8 year old who is preparing of
baptism. His mom is a member so mostly its just practice teaching kids for us.
:) I love it. Elder Wendt....not as much. :)
Thursday was finding day. I was supposed to go on exchanges with
the Chatham Elders but they were both sick and it didn't work out. So we
tracted. All day. Oddly enough I enjoyed it...I started the day with a really,
really poor attitude but realized that I could either be miserable or I could
enjoy it. So I enjoyed it. Fear of tracting? Gone. We didn't get into any doors
but we had fun. We played "Tracting Soccer" with chunks of ice as we
went from door to door and just had good conversations about investigators and
past experiences. What fun!
Friday we had District Meeting that I sometimes forget I am in
charge of. :) Silly me. It was great. I really love my district. We had some
really powerful lessons with Al and with Jim (Chinese University of Windsor
student). The Spirit was super strong in both and it was a great learning
experience for me. I have really learned to love investigators and care about
them. Its crazy.
Saturday was great. We had one appointment bomb so we got
sometime to tract. We ended talking for a solid hour with two girls
sitting on their porch. They had a lot of questions and were very open to what
we were saying. Neither of them were interested but it was a great "seed
planting" experience. It also helped me to understand what questions
people have and also the benefits of being bold. then we taught a
couple from Brazil, Tomas and Clelia and they are awesome. That was also a
great lesson. We had dinner with a guy from the Congo and it was
awesome. I got to try Sava leaves and Foofoo. The sava leaves were
chopped up and stewed with big chunks of ham and foofoo is like really thick,
dry cream of wheat. You dip the foofoo in the sava leaves and it is
tasty. They eat it with their hands but I just used a fork and knife.
Haha. I liked it a lot and really want to learn the language. Its this
crazy mix of French and traditional dialects and its sweet. The man's sister
was there and we taught her about the plan of salvation. She was really
intrigued and said she wants to see us again, but didn't give us a specific
time. :( Hopefully God will put her in the path.
Sunday was really good. Tomas came to church and we think
he had a good time. The topics were temples, the atonement and home teaching.
It might have been a little over his head so we'll see. The rest of the day was
good and we taught some great lessons.
The work is going very well in Windsor. We taught 17 lessons
this week, I'm pretty sure thats more than I taught in two transfers in
Markham. I am very excited about the things happening here and the
investigators we are working with. The mission is getting huge amounts of
missionaries in the next few months and a ton of changes are
happening. We getting another set of missionaries in Windsor so we
are planning a lot for that. We are not sure how it is all going to work
out so we are doing our best to prepare the area for the change. We
are going to attempt to tackle the biggest investigator concerns (homosexuality,
living common-law, word of wisdom) this week to be fair to the
missionaries who teach these people next transfer and also find some new ones
to keep the work progressing. There is just so much work to do
and I am loving it. Exciting things are happening in Windsor!
It has been a great week and I am really loving life right now.
The ups and downs of missionary work are frustrating at time but always exactly
what we need to be experiencing. That is also true of life in general.
Everything is part of God's plan and every experience and trial and event has
been prepared to shape us into the men and women God wants us to be. He knows
us so much better than we can understand and loves us more that we can
comprehend. His entire purpose is to help us to live with Him forever and as
long as we put Him first, everything will fall into place. Maybe not the place
we prepared but the place God has prepared. His plan is perfect. His love is
perfect. As we do His will, we can become perfect. This gospel is so true and
so good. I am so grateful to be sharing it with others and to see the changes
in them as they understand their divine potential.
I hope you all are
doing well and wish everyone the best of luck as the new school year starts up.
Go, fight win! Do good things!
Love,
Elder E. Smith
P.S. Tracting Soccer (explained) The rules are the same as
soccer only the ball is a chunk of ice and the goal is the space between your
companion's legs. At the end of the day, whoever has the most points wins.
Sadly the game requires ice (which all melted this weekend) and some form of
soccer skill (of which I have very little) I lost. 20-4. E. Wendt cheats though
because he is European and South American and everyone knows they are better at
"football" than Americans. :( Someday I'll win...
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