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