Hello Family!!
This week was really good but kind of a blur. It feels like a long time but a short time at the same time...time. A lot happened and I have a short time and will do my best. :) First an update on Javid! He is getting baptized next week!!! I am so excited!! He came to church yesterday despite being sick again and was just beaming. He is so excited and was all smiles when we met with him. It is so good to see people with that desire to make a covenant with God. He is going to be a really great member of the church. Yay Baptism!
As for the rest of our teaching pool, it is pretty empty. We are teaching two part member families but its slow going. One needs to be less busy and the other needs more of a pull from his wife and from the ward. We are working on finding solutions to their concerns but it isn't an easy fix...sigh. It's fun but is stressful.
In other stressful news, at the Leadership Training last week I was asked LAST minute to participate in the musical number. It went really well and was relatively stress free: not too many missionaries, not too much time to worry about it, two other Elders singing. Easy. So when the call came two days later for me to sing in Zone Conference on Wednesday, there was a lot more stress: three time the missionaries, two weeks to worry about it, and just me singing. I am more than a little nervous. No matter how many times I sing in front of people I still get SUPER nervous. You would think with all my practice it would get easier...alas it has not. So we will see how that goes. And to add to the fun, the Sisters Missionaries serving in the ward with me think it is funny to volunteer me for singing things. So I am singing in Sacrament meeting on the 8th and in the musical fireside that night before the Christmas Devotional and at a wedding. That's right. A wedding. There is a member of the ward getting married and she thought it would be a great idea to have the missionaries sing "Love at Home" at her wedding. There will be a large number of non-members there and she thinks it'll be a great missionary opportunity. So I got "voluntold" that I would be singing. Yay. So yeah. Lots of stress. :)
On Tuesday I went to Barrie on an exchange with Elder Thompson. We had a great time and worked super hard. I had a sweet experience contacting. I walked up to a lady who was walking her dog and started a conversation. She was really friendly and seemed open. I was going to lead in with a classic "Families can be together forever" but I felt the Spirit whisper "What are you here to talk about. Our unique message to the world is a prophet on the earth. Testify of prophets." It was clear and direct and super strong. So I did. She loved it and was really excited to meet and talk about it. We set an appointment and I haven't followed up to know how it went. But was really cool to see how the Spirit guided me and it was just what that person wanted to hear. Neat.
On Thursday we had American Thanksgiving with a great family from Oregon. They have four ADORABLE kids all under 8. FUN!! It was a great night and super fun to be with a family for Thanksgiving. Hooray America!!
As my "spiritual thought" I would like to share an experience that I had with fasting yesterday. For the past few months, I haven't had anything really pressing to fast for. I fasted for my investigators and for general things but nothing specific. Not surprisingly I have had some mediocre fasting experiences. This week I had a concern on my mind all week. I really "wrestled" with it and could not think of a solution. So you can imagine how happy I was that it fell on a Fast Sunday. Answer=Extremely. So I fasted and prayed. I studied it out in my mind. All day people would say things that really had nothing to do with my concern but answered my questions perfectly. I ended the day with solutions and a plan to use them. It was incredible. I felt so guided and directed and learned how much God cared about me. Though my concern was small and really insignificant, my Father in Heaven helped me to figure things out. It is so great to know that He cares for me and loves me and is willing to help. What a great blessing to have. We are so lucky! So, if you have a difficult problem or concern: Take it to God. He can and will help you. All you need to do is listen. Truth.
I love you all and I hope that everything goes well.
Love,
Elder E. Smith
