The going gets tough

You know that feeling when you walk into the washroom right after someone takes a long hot shower? When its sticky and hot and you can see them water in the air?

Yeah. Try that every time you leave the apartment. It has been wicked hot the past few days. It was 28 and humid at 8 in the morning. The temperature has hovered at 30 for the past two days and the whole week is forecast above that....Woof. And I thought that I had escaped the heat by coming to Canada. Ha.

In addition to being sweltering, this week has been brutal. We work incredibly hard and got....minimal results. I have determined that God has grown to expect much more of us now and is just waiting until we do ALL that we can to bless us. There is so much I can work on and do that I don't know where to start. I don't know if I mentioned but for the past three ish weeks my district and I have been participating in what they call "The Purification Challenge." For this challenge we start with prayer and fasting to determine a list of things we can lay on the "alter of sacrifice" in order to purify ourselves and really devote our efforts and thoughts to the work of the ministry. After the initial fast you then "fast" for 40 days, removing the things on the list from your life. Needless to say, my list was long and there was a lot of fasting to do. The challenge has promised blessing that come from it and we are definitely seeing them. Some are too sacred to share but I can feel a change in my spirit and my soul as I change myself into what God intends me to be. It has been a wonderful blessing and I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord.

As stated above this week was kinda lack luster. We busted our behinds setting up lessons with investigators, new and old alike, only to have them cancel last minute. Often when we are at the door. The most frustrating part is that we will get members to come with us and the person will cancel but when we can't find a member it will go through....grrrr! I just feel bad for essentially wasting these members time. The hardest part of this work sometimes is finding people to come with us so is stinks when they cancel on us. But, its all part of the job. I feel lucky to be serving where I am and to be learning these lessons. I would not trade my mission for anyone else's. I know that this is where I need to be and I relish these learning opportunities.

On that note of Member missionary work, I hope you ALL had the chance to watch the Work of Salvation broadcast last night. If you didn't I plead with you to watch it and to take the message that was shared to heart. This is direct revelation from our Father in Heaven to you. He is asking you and me and everyone else to step up. To sacrifice your time. To put it on the line and share this gospel. Brothers and Sisters this is the gathering of Israel and we have been called to do this work. As I watched last night I could envision the work of God rolling forth. If we would all do our part and share this gospel to all those within our sphere of influence, the building of the Kingdom would not and could not be stopped. The early Saints were asked to sacrifice everything for this gospel and all God is asking for now is a few hours a week and your love for your fellow men. God has placed people in your path for His purpose. Don't let him down.

I am very out of time. The library is super busy today so that is it! Talk to you next week!! Probably on Wednesday due to Canada Day but we'll see. Love you tons!!

Love,

Elder Smith  

The Kingdom of God or Nothing

Salaam Khubid!!

 

Impressed with my Persian skills? You should be. Haha. Jokes. I am super bad at Farsi and only pretend to know it. I convinced some Sisters at Zone Conference that I knew it but that was easy. Too easy. :)

This week was long and humbling. We had Zone Conference this week which is always super inspiring and great but always messes up the schedule. We had to move our weekly planning around and we ended up splitting it into two days. Woof. I hate to say it but I hate weekly planning. Don't get me wrong, I know how important planning is and it really is necessary but I hate sitting inside all day. It makes me feel lazy and its hard to get back to work. I feel best when we can just get outside and work and three days of sitting and planning are not my favorite.

Zone Conference was great and I loved it. We learned a ton and gained inspiration for our investigators. One of my favorite parts of missionary work is role plays because it is a time to receive revelation for investigators needs and how we can help them progress. We did a lot of role plays and I gained so much insight into how my investigators feel and what THEY need to feel and what THEY need to hear not what I think they need. It was wonderful and such a great time. I had the opportunity to share my talents and sing at this Zone Conference. I love getting the chance to use what God has given me. I neglected it before my mission and want to make up for lost time. :)

Side note: I am working on my Christ-like love for people. It is tried and tested heavily every time we come to the library to do emails. I just get sick of getting kicked off the computer so that people can play Farmville and watch Jeopardy Season 7 highlights on YouTube. I realize now more and more that the Internet is a MASSIVE waste of time. So much time just thrown away....so sad. So frustrating...okay. I'm over it. Moving on!

Despite a lack luster effort on our part we saw some sweet miracles this week. On Monday on our way home from an appointment I talked to a guy on the subway named Abey. He was super interested and asked if we had time right then and there to teach him. So we got off the train, walked up the street and sat down in a coffee shop and taught him. He said that he believed we were sent from God and that what we said was true. He accepted a return appointment and a Book of Mormon and we were so excited. He bombed his appointment and has no phone and we have no way to contact him......harrumph. I guess God just knew that we were going to be lazy that week and so he rebuked and chastened us in advance. I feel very much like the Nephites in that I am so quick to forget the many blessings of God and to take them for granted. Pride Cycled.

Tuesday and Wednesday we were a lazy due in part to planning for so long and the rest is just us being complacent. They were bad days.

Thursday was Zone Conference and it was super inspiring and we felt really good after but it took most of the day and all that spiritual fire was doused by the humidity and more weekly planning on Friday.

Friday night we got rebuked hard core by the Spirit and vowed to do better. Saturday was a real test of our strength. We got rejected again and again. The whole day was just bad.

But unfazed by the hail and storm of the adversary we soldiered through to Sunday, were 100% Obedient and got 100% blessed. We were walking down the street heading to drop by an old investigator and some guy waiting to turn at the light just started honking. I am pretty used to this and even better at ignoring it. He persisted and just waited at the light until we looked over. I made eye contact with the driver (waving frantically to get my attention)  and when he knew he had my attention he pointed at me and pointed at the side of the road and then pulled over. Needless to say, Elder MacMillan and I were a little nervous about what was about to go down but we walked over anyway. He got out of his car and asked, "Are you with the Church?!" We said yes and he said something to the affect of, "Oh good. I want to go to church and stay on the path to God. Can we meet sometime and you can teach me more?" We were in shock. Usually we pull teeth to get numbers but this guy handed us his business card and asked when we would be calling. Supa sweet. We are calling him tonight and so I guess you'll hear about it next week. :)

I am about out of time so I will finish with a funny story and some quotes.

Yesterday in Sacrament the 1st Counselor got up to conduct the meeting and he is really...dry. He is kinda awkward and irreverent and just says weird stuff. We love him. Anyway. He gets up, tells a super lame joke about fathers day and gets basically no response, maybe a pity laugh or two and then the congregation goes silent. Right then this adorable little Filipino boy erupts into hysterical laughter. The timing was PERFECT and the entire congregation bursts up too. It was great. I'm giggling just writing it. Now everyone thinks I'm crazy....oh well.

Here are a couple good quotes that have helped Elder MacMillan and I in our quest to be better missionaries.

"If you are called upon to lay down your lives: Die like men. Should you have to walk right into danger and even the jaws of death: Fear no evil. Jesus Christ has died for you." -Joseph Smith

"External service is useless where there is no devotion of heart and life"-Whoever wrote the Bible dictionary

"Elder. Are you even thinking about Jesus right now?" Jared. Our Ward Mission Leader.

I'll save some for next week. :)

I love you all and want you to know that this church is true. Christ died for you and he will always welcome you with open arms when you turn to him.

Remember. The kingdom of God or nothing.

Love,

Elder Smit

Exhausted.

Dearest Family,

Before I left on my mission Melissa gave me some good advice. She said, "If you aren't tired as a missionary, you're doing something wrong."

I'm not saying I am the best missionary ever but I am exhausted. Like really. But I don't think I've ever had as much fun. Weird how that works out eh?

This week was great! Best part about it was the weather. It has been hot and muggy or hot and rainy since I got to Toronto but this week it was pleasantly warm and sunny. Quite enjoyable. In addition we have just had a great week. Finding new people and talking with lots and lots of people, meeting really interesting people, I love Toronto! Here are fun things that happened this week in no particular order.

We were riding in the elevator after tracting a floor of an apartment building when this African family gets on. There were two little girls and they were adorable! One of them came and stood next to me and just stared at me and smiled. I smiled back and she grinned and then looked down at my arm. She stared at it for a second and then started to gently stroke my arm....weird. What makes the story more strange is that her mom just sat there and watched her....Odd. They got off and left like nothing happened and despite our efforts would not accept our invitation to learn more. All the mom did was smile and wave goodbye....Such an interesting experience.

On Monday night we taught Lindsey the Law of Chastity. This lesson is always fun to teach and always has the Spirit but this time was incredible. The whole thing was great. We felt super inspired to share it in a particular way and to bring a particular member and everything went perfectly.The Spirit bore witness extremely powerfully of the truthfulness of the words we were saying and she agreed to live it. Incredible lesson. Definitely a highlight of my mission. Teaching with the Spirit is always a wonderful experience.

On Friday we crashed the Book of Mormon play again and it was so much fun. It is also terrifying. There more than anywhere I feel the Lord's promise that "You shall not be confounded before men." While there we are very much exposed to the outside world and the heckling and rejection gets pretty heavy. But without fail, no matter what they say and how funny they think they are, I am given what to say in this "hostile venue" and I can feel the Spirit testifying through me. One moment in particular this time around caught my attention. I approached a group of older people standing around smoking and waiting to go into the play. I said something sappy and invited them to read the Book of Mormon and then it began. They started to go off on me and tell me how dumb I was and asked me why I would waste my time doing something "silly." Oh boy. What happened next I can only attribute to the Spirit and the guiding influence of our Heavenly Father. When I started speaking, I was given what to say. I bore testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the divinity of our missionary purpose. I don't remember exactly what I said but it was awesome. The most surprising part was the absolutely humbled look on the faces of this group. One man in particular seemed most touched. I gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read and pray about its truth. Who knows if he will but he has the chance now. The whole night had experiences like that and it was sweet.

 We are working with a Less Active member Helena and her two non-member daughters, 10 and 13. The mother is from Sweden and is super nice and the daughters really want to come to church and to get baptized but the ex-husband is....a really bad guy. He just makes life miserable for the mom and won't let the girls go to church and all sorts of great things that make Christ-like love a difficult thing to have. We are hoping for a miracle and will need one. As soon as he stops being a loser, the girls will get baptized and they can move on with their lives but until then....we wait. This family needs a lot of prayers. Lots and lots.

We have been doing a lot of finding this week and it is exhausting without a car. We walk around all day long and get home and crash. Its crazy but super rewarding. We have a bunch of great investigators and one should be getting baptized soon. Her name is Jessica and she is sweet. She grew up with a lot of Mormon friends and liked them and when she was looking for a church she looked us up. She met with missionaries online and has been taught everything and is all set to get baptized she just wants to finish the Book of Mormon first and then she says she'd be ready. We have helped her to set up a reading schedule and she should finish soon and get baptized on the 30th!! Too exciting. We are really blessed to work with her.

I am so blessed to be a missionary and especially to be serving here in the Canada Toronto Mission. I love it hear and could not imagine serving anywhere else. I have learned so so much and I have grown a strong testimony of this church, this gospel and this work that we do. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!

To close I am going to use a poem that I used in my talk in Windsor the day of transfers. The talk went really well and I was even quoted by some of the members in Gospel Doctrine soooooo I'm pretty much a big deal. :) I talked about the Good Samaritan and how we must play the role that God has asked and give our best no matter what or where that calling is. (Extremely fitting seeing as I was transferred the next day.) The poem is by Mead McGuire or something like that. I got it from a talk that I have recorded and can't just google it...:)

 

Not sure of the Title :)

 

"Father, where may I work today?"

And my love flowed warm and free.

Then He pointed out a tiny spot

And said "Tend that for me."

I answered quickly "Oh no! Not that!

Why, no one would ever see

No matter how well my work was done.

Not that little spot for me!"

And the word he spoke, no it was not stern.

He answered me tenderly.

"Ah little one, search that heart of thine.

Are you working for them or for me?

Nazareth was a little spot

And so was Galilee."

 

I hope this poem speaks to your heart like it did to mine. I invite you to ask yourself the question "Are you working for them or for me?" And for us all to do the will of Him who sent us.

Work hard, study hard, pray hard! Do good things!

Love,

Elder Smith

I got a library card!!

Hello all!!

How is everyone? I hope you are all doing extremely well and that you are all doing the greatest of things! This week has been spectacular and I really have no clue where to start.

Last week we got a media referral requesting a missionary visit but when we dropped by last Sunday she wasn't home and we couldn't meet with her. This week we did meet with her and she, her name is Marcia, was really interested and wanted to change her life. Her friend, Kristal,  was interested too so we picked up two new investigators last Tuesday. But things move extremely fast here in Toronto and by Thursday Kristal had asked us not to talk to her anymore and we lost contact with Marcia. She isn't answering her phone or texts or anything. Sigh. Satan.

Also on Tuesday we got a random text from a random number which turned out to be a former investigator that wanted to learn more again. He texted us and asked what God wanted him to do and we set an appointment and met with him. His name is Kevin and he is sweet. He is extremely prepared and very concerned with following the Spirit. He just wants to do God's will. He has cancelled an appointment since and wasn't at church but we still have high hopes for him. Pray for him!

Tuesday night we did something SUPER fun. The Book of Mormon play is showing in Toronto and so every night that it plays twocompanionships from our zone go and hand out copies of the Book of Mormon to people going into the show. Crazy. There were a lot of people and we handed out tons of copies. We got really into it and started yelling carnival style, "Get your Book of Mormon here! Seeing the play? Why not read the book?" A lot of people didn't believe we were real missionaries, thought we were handing out playbills, and took pictures with us. It was awesome. We are hoping to get to go again and to talk to more people. It was so much fun.

The rest of the week was just busy trying to find people and to teach the people we already found. Lots and lots of work to do and so many people who need this gospel....now if we could only get them to realize it. :)

Other highlights: -Lindsey quit smoking and is doing great. She still wants to get baptized but she isn't sure when. She loves the church and the Book of Mormon she just has a lot of anxiety about what other people think. Sigh. Women. ;)

-We went to the craziest store ever to get some things for the Stop Smoking Workshop that we do as missionaries. The store is called Honest Ed's and it is so cool. It sells everything you can think of and for super cheap. Seriously everything. Its huge and crazy and confusing. The catchphrase is "Come in and GET LOST!" I assure you. I got very lost. If anyone ever visits Toronto put Honest Ed's on the list. That is about it for this week.

My spiritual thought this week comes from Elder Chirstofferson's talk from the last General Conference.

"Inasmuch as we follow Christ, we seek to participate in and further His redemptive work. The greatest service we can provide to others in this life, beginning with those of our own family, is to bring them to Christ through faith and repentance so they may experience His Redemption—peace and joy now and immortality and eternal life in the world to come. The work of our missionaries is a magnificent expression of the Lord’s redeeming love. As His authorized messengers, they offer the incomparable blessings of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, opening the way to spiritual rebirth and redemption." 

I want to highlight the phrase "The greatest service we can provide to others in this life, beginning with those of our own family, is to bring them to Christ" Our purpose as children of God, who have the knowledge that we have, is to share that knowledge and to lift others along the way. We are here to helps others. That is our calling as missionaries and as children of God. We have a divine mandate to bring others with us. There are people who we have been called to help, inside our family and out and God is counting on us to help them. Do not let God down. Live true to the knowledge that you have received.

I love you all and I hope all is well. Work hard, have fun and do good things!!

Love,

Elder E. Smith