Big News!

Dear Family and Friends,

As stated in my last letter, transfers are this week. I can't believe it. It really feels like it was just yesterday I was emailing about Elder Dite and stressing about taking over the area. Wow. Times flies when you are feeling the Spirit. So yeah the big news.........

THE NHL IS ON LOCK OUT!!!!! THE HOCKEY SEASON IS ON ICE!!! WHAT ARE WE TO DO?!?!?!? Yes you read correctly. We will be without a hockey season unless something happens fast. The Branch was buzzing yesterday it was crazy. Man. Canadians and their hockey. Oh and I'm getting transfered.

Its true. Sad but true. I have really grown to love this area and I feel like I have poured my heart and soul out here. It will be hard to leave. All joking aside, I am terrified. I am being sent to open a new area and train a new missionary. One brand new area + One brand new missionary = One stressed out Elder Smith. If I didn't trust the Lord and His plan before...I will now. Heavenly Father must trust me a whole lot to put me in this situation. After one, very long, sincere, tear-filled prayer and a very sleepless night, I think I have come to terms with the fact that this is real life. I just have to trust that this is what needs to happen. Easier said than done. So yeah. I will be serving in the new Richmond Hill East area. I don't know where it is exactly, what its like, where I'll live, what I'll eat, what I'll do... All I know for sure is that it is in Ontario and is kinda close to Toronto. We'll see.

The work in the Stayner/Midland area is great! I'm sad to leave. We have found three new investigators this week and all of them are pretty solid. Elder Dite is staying here and training his own new missionary. They are going to do so great. Baptisms left and right. ;) John went to church in Midland for all three hours again. This is really great because he usually doesn't attend if we aren't there. I was shocked when he told us. Shocked. Hopefully I will see his name in the email with the list of baptisms soon. :) Everything else is pretty same old, same old. We experienced more opposition this week than I have in my whole mission (all three months;)) We had a couple "I don't give a craps" (with much stronger words) two or three *&^%$ one very vulgar "Get away from me" and a guy on a bike riding as fast as he could at us yelling something we couldn't understand. He was drunk and its a good thing Elder Dite was there because I was going to push him off the bike as he rode past. I'm working on Christ-like love. Its a process. :) 

We were encouraged to share our testimony with our family and loved ones yesterday in sacrament meeting so I'll do that.

I know that the gospel is true. I know that by following these simple things, we come closer to our heavenly Father and we experience more joy. As we are obidient to God's commandements, we are blessed with strength and help through even the most difficult of times. I know that the scriptures are the word of God. We can turn to them in tough times and they will lift us up. The principles taught in the Book of Mormon will help us in our everyday lives and will make the most insurmountable of trials seem small. I know that all things are possible with God and that all we need to do is ask and live worthy of His blessings. We live in a difficult time. The world is in turmoil and the adversary is growing stronger everyday. But we have no need to fear because God is with us and we know who we are. We know the plan and there is nothing that can stop it. As we hold to the rod and keep a firm foundation, we have no need to fear. All things are possible through the grace and love of God and our Savior. I know this to be true. 

I love you all very much and I hope all goes well. Say your prayers, read your scriptures and drive safe! Do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

Pro nejlepsi rodinu (For the best family

Hello!

What a week. It went by so fast that I am having a hard time remembering what happened....

Marguerite was confirmed yesterday. She asked me to perform the ordinance and it was nerve-racking. She was so excited and is doing great. She is such a blessing in our lives. John is doing awesome. He is down to one cigarette a day still but came to all three hours of church. He is the best. We have actually become really good friends. He helped us make copies and sat with us in class. Fun fun. No change yet with Jaqueline. Or with any of our investigators for that matter. I know its not for a lack of effort on our part but things aren't happening as quickly as they were the first few weeks. We have a couple of exciting referrals this coming week. Two Non-members with member significant others have agreed to meet with us and we have one mormon.org request for visit. It should be awesome. We are always looking for people to teach and so we are very excited. The only problem is all three are in Midland. That means more driving back and forth. It used to not be a big deal but we have a kilometer limit this month that should make things interesting. But, I can't complain. 

Today is Elder Dite's birthday. He is now 24. I'm teasing him for being an old man and I told him I'll push him around in a wheelchair. Haha. He is so great. I love him and I will be very sad if we get split up. Which reminds me. I can't believe I'm saying this again but transfers are next week! It does not feel like it should be happening again. I feel like it was yesterday I was getting lost on my way back from Brampton. But yeah. Next week we'll get that news. I want to stay here and stay with Elder Dite but I probably will not get my wish. Elder Dite has a feeling he will be leaving but we'll see how that all works out. Its crazy how fast time goes. 

I am feeling really good. I'm getting better at waking up on time and being focused all day. I have grown a lot this week. I have noticed that my capcity to love has increased. We have been meeting with a Less Active Family the past two ish weeks and I am blow away by how much I love them already. We have met with them three times and I just love them so much. Its not that they are super nice or open or friendly (quite the opposite really) but as I have prayed for them and tried to serve them and lift them, I have grown to love them very much. Its weird to me that I can love people I hardly know. It is so great to be able to feel just a fraction of Christ's love for others. I have been studying Jesus the Christ by Elder Talmage and it is awesome. Everytime I read it, I learn something new and I get to know the Savior more. I made a goal a few weeks ago to gain more faith in Christ and I read somewhere that as we get to know Him we will gain faith. So I prayed for a way to get to know Him and there on my desk I see Jesus the Christ and The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ  and I had a "DUH!" moment. Here are two books that help us do this and one you hand to people everyday telling them that it will help them get to know Jesus Christ and to gain faith in Him. So I have been studying those more and striving to know my Savior better. It has really helped me. I know that as we get to know Christ, our faith in Him grows and our desire to follow Him grows. We are blessed as we follow Jesus Christ.

Sorry this letter is short and lame ish. I usually have time to think about what I want to say all week and then I know what to talk about but this week went by so fast I didn't plan anything. Sorry. I love you all very much and I pray for you every night! Work hard and do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

Czech Phrase of the Week: "I have a shard in my head." Elder Dite got a headache for his birthday. I told him I would "pull it out" for him and he said "No. I'll just pray." What faith!

Canada Fact: Marquee signs for business are often black with white or neon colored letters instead of white with black letters. 

Hi

My dearest Family and Friends,

I do not know where the time is going. These past weeks have FLOWN by! I feel like I was emailing you all yesterday. Wow.

This week was great!.....I'm struggling to remember why....So much has happened and I'm not sure exactly what has happened since the last time I wrote. OH! DUH! Nicole has accepted the invitation to be baptized! She is super super great and I'm not just saying that. She has a solid testimony already and knows that everything is true. As difficult as quitting smoking etc will be for her, she knows that it is what she needs to do. I'm so excited! John is also doing wonderful. He is down to one cigarette per day and is pretty committed to being baptized on the 30th. This is like his seventh baptismal date but we feel really good about it and so does he. Pray super super hard for him. The progress for him in the last few weeks has been absolutely astounding. I love being a missionary. :)  Marguerite is still doing great. We taught her yesterday as prep for Sunday and receiving the Holy Ghost and we had planned to give her a few chapters to study. When we got there she said she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be studying so she just found some chapters in the index and had studied those. The ones she studied were THE EXACT SAME as the ones we had planned for her. We had to scramble to find some others for her and the lesson after that went well. She is amazing. Jacqueline still hasn't told her parents. School is starting soon for her and we won't be able to meet with her very often at all :( I'm worried. All we can can do now is pray and hope for the best. We are still doing a ton of tracting and OYM-ing. (OYM means open your mouth and just talk with everyone.) It is hard to do but I am slowly growing to enjoy it. Weird how that works out, eh? We met some interesting people yesterday. Our friend Kevin was talking with a man at a gas station on Sunday and he was interested so he told us to go over and talk with him. His name is Bernie and he is sweet. He is an older man from Scotland (I think) and has the remnants of an accent (because he has been in Canada so long) and boy can he talk. He just goes and goes and goes, throwing out scripture reference after reference and he talks to everyone who comes into the station. He was a Protestant and then a Catholic and now he's a Born-Again and he tells everyone his story and follows up every point with "It's pretty simple." Every. Point. It's hilarious. So Elder Dite and I have been saying it all day and laughing. We would love to teach him but I don't know if we'll ever be able to get a word in. :) We met another guy who says that if we (meaning people in general) have the truth, we should be crawling over broken glass to tell people. We told him that we had the truth and would love to share it with him and he said he was interested. We are going to contact him this week and talk with him. Both of the guys we met were extremely passionate about God and making sure everybody knew that he existed. They would be great missionaries.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was great. It was my first and I was very excited. I love being with other missionaries. It reminds me that this is all real and that my companion and I aren't the only ones. It was great but featured a little too much me for my liking. President Scott asked us all to prepare a talk and then called on us at random (by the Spirit) to speak. Of course I got called up and spoke. It was good, I guess. I was just very happy I prepared. I spoke about being exactly obedient and how it is important to be constantly striving to be better and to never lower our guard and how all 2000 of the stripling warriors were exactly obedient and all 2000 survived. Just like them, if we put in our effort and do our best, we will be blessed. I was also asked to do a musical number with four other Elders and that was fun. It was actually "I Need Thee Every Hour" which is the Hymn we sang as a family in sacrament meeting right before I left. *single tear* Memories. :) Then I was asked to give the closing prayer. It was great but next time I hope I don't get called on as much.

I am doing much better this past week and a half. It really is incredible how easy things are when we forget ourselves and just go to work. I am continually astounded by the happiness I feel when I finish a day and I haven't been thinking about myself and how I feel the whole time. I'm so grateful for that counsel. I can promise you that when we forget ourselves and take care of others, we will be taken care of. I was worried that if I forgot myself and focused on the work I would love my family less or lose the relationships or the memories but as I have truly tried to put my mission first, the memories grow fonder and the relationships grow stronger. I don't think I have missed my family and friends and Utah more than I have this week but I don't think I have loved them this much either. I have been almost overwhelmed with love the past week. I'm not sure that makes sense but just know that I love you all VERY VERY much. More than I thought possible. :) Emotions are weird. Anyways....I have a strong testimony that the Lord blesses his missionaries. He will not ask us to do anything that will be bad or will hurt us. He will bless all of us as we are obedient to His guidance and counsel. When we are converted and we put our trust in Him, He will heal us. Nothing is impossible with God and Jesus Christ on our side. I know without a doubt that it is true. I love you all very much and I hope that all goes well. Keep on keeping on and never forget who you are. Do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

P.S. Hymns are great. Three of my favorite: 114 Come Unto Him, 115 Come Ye Disconsolate, 337 O Home Beloved. Not necessarily the tunes but the lyrics are great.

Czech Phrase of the Week: Neboť viz, toto je dílo mé a sláva má – uskutečniti nesmrtelnost a věčný život člověka. I'm working on it. :)

Canada Fact: They use the Old English spelling here. Favourite, Colour, Flavour, Centre, etc. Also checking is chequing.

Luvs!

Swimming Pools and Answered Prayers

Hi!

What a wonderful and great thing it is to be a missionary! Challenging and discouraging at times (everyday) but INFINITELY worth it. I am doing so well today and the past few days I am actually surprised. I feel good. What a great thing! I made a trip through "the valley of the shadow of death" last week with feelings of homesickness, rejection, disappointment, exhaustion and all that fun stuff but I am here to say that prayer works. "When sore trials came upon you, Did you think to pray?" Surprisingly, I did not. I just kinda wallowed. But as soon as I started praying, I felt better. My prayers for help were answered in the best district meeting EVER. We talked about the importance of removing distractions when we teach and how that can be more than turning off the TV or putting away a cell phone. Just as important is removing the distractions of disobedience and selfish thoughts and desires. Our district leader compared it to a tree. We need to prune the distraction and sin branches so that the good branches can grow. That was exactly what I needed to do. So I quit worrying about what I wanted and how I was feeling and let the good branches grow. No matter how hot and sweaty, no matter how wet and windy, no matter how mean the people get, it still isn't about me. Things have improved since I started to think this way. Granted, I am not perfect and I still have times when I want to quit but they are less and less now. I had an interesting thought yesterday when someone asked us how we felt getting rejected all the time. Elder Dite replied that Jesus got rejected over and over and He never gave up. So I pointed to my name on my name-tag and said, "This name might give up when things get hard, but this name never will" pointing to Jesus Christ. I taught myself a good lesson there. That I couldn't do this alone. It is because it isn't just my name on the tag that I can do what I do everyday. And thats true for every missionary. And every member. When we are baptized we take upon ourselves the name of Christ and so we have Him on our side every step of the way. What a great promise. :)

The work moves on. John is doing well but needs the desire to quit smoking. He is close and I think it might happen soon but nothing yet. Jacqueline still hasn't told her parents. Keep praying for them! Our investigators in Stayner are doing well. Samantha (tracted into her last week) has been terribly ill for a few days so we hope to meet her tomorrow. Nicole just got a job and is busy with that so we haven't been able to meet with her much. Usually I would be worried about jobs and being busy because they usually drop us after but she realizes that this job is a blessing from God and a sign that we are there for a reason. Score! She is great! We are still tracting all the time and having a fair bit of success. We've been teaching a lot more which is great and getting to know the area. There are a TON of retirees in the CW and they are nice but uninterested. They tell us no but will talk with us for a while so we have a couple old friends :) One of my favorites is Orville. He lives a few blocks away and we walk past his house all the time. He used to work at the docks and lift weights all the time so he has that used to be buff but now he's old thing going on and its awesome. He always forgets that he knows us for the first few seconds and is all mean, then remembers who we are and talks to us like friends again. So awesome. :) I absolutely love this area and the people here. They may be grumpy Canadians but they are my grumpy Canadians. 

Saving the best for last: Marguerite was baptized yesterday!!!!! It was amazing. She was giddy with excitement all through church and just thrilled to join the branch. We had an adventure trying to get the font filled. When we went to check on things before church everything worked fine but when we tried to start filling, no water came out. Nothing. The water was just shut off. We couldn't figure it out and tried and tried and still no water. I said a prayer that we would figure it out and hoped that the water would start but instead the Elders Quorum President just suggested we use his pool. Haha. Simple fix to the problem. My prayer was answered but not in the way I expected at all. So we had the talks and such at the church then drove just down the street and had the baptism in a swimming pool. It was awesome and a very memorable experience for sure. 

My testimony of prayer has been strengthened so much this past week. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to kneel and speak to my Father in heaven whenever I want. To have that incredible power on our side, helping us, is an unbelievable blessing. I had another prayer answered last night. It was 8:40 and we didn't know what to do. We had an appointment bomb and we couldn't tract because its too late so I prayed that we could find someone to talk to. On our way home there were two people out on the street that we talked to. They were probably the friendliest uninterested people I have met. It was incredible to receive such an obvious and quick answer to a prayer. I love prayer. Take advantage of this great tool we have and pray for help. I know that God answers prayers. I love you all and I hope school is going well for everyone who started! Work hard, Study hard, Pray hard. :) Do good things! 

Love, 

Elder E. Smith

P.S. Pictures!! Old pictures of my new apartment. Elder Kenning's "Birthday Cake" Our zoo trip complete with a 'Merica moment. And Elder Dite. Enjoy. 

P.P.S. I am so grateful for the love and support from everyone despite my shortcomings. I truly can feel the prayers of support and the love I get from the folks back home. ;)

Czech Phrase of the Week: "Back to Czech Republic...." This is more of just an Elder Dite thing. He is awesome and I love hearing stories etc from his homeland. He is great

Canada Fact: I can't believe I didn't say this one earlier. Bathrooms are "washrooms" Most signs say that or restroom and people look at you funny when you ask where the bathroom is. Haha. Canadians

Salutations

Hello All!

What a week! We have been working our buns off in our little part of Ontario. It must be pretty funny to listen to me try to explain English phrases to Elder Dite. I tried to explain, "Lets make like a baker truck and haul buns" and it didn't go well. I just got a blank stare. I love Elder Dite. He is so much fun. :) We are getting along swimmingly and I am so grateful for him. He really wanted donuts today so we went to Timmy's on the way over and bought a dozen and have now eaten all but two....ugh. I told him it was the best bad idea he had ever had. It was only $7 so I couldn't say no. :) Anyway....this week has been great. We are still doing a TON of tracting and just talking to everyone we can find. It is not easy but neither is life, amiright? We actually experienced some real success this week! We were walking back to the apartment and there was a woman out reading on her porch so we went and talked with her. Her name is Nicole and is really nice and was interested in what we had to say. Elder Dite told her that the message we wanted to share changed his life and she said "Oh good. My life could use some changing." !!!!!! We gave her a Book of Mormon and made a return appointment and when we met her again she had actually read!!!! That doesn't happen every day! We had a great discussion about the gospel and how it blesses families and we talked about the things she read and she shared that reading it had brought back the hope she hadn't had since she was a kid. She was applying the story of Lehi and his family to herself and had a lot of questions about where we came from, where are we going etc. It was awesome. We met again and talked about the plan of salvation and she really liked it. She wants to learn more. It is so cool to watch someone discover the blessings of the gospel and how it can help us. Keep her in your prayers!

Our little miracle is doing well. Marguerite has accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 26th of August! She is great and doing well. She is SUPER short and is really excited about being a member and is already planning trip to Salt Lake for the temple next year. It really was such an unexpected blessing to be able to teach her. God is good. :)

John is still doing well. We have a soft set baptismal date and he is working toward that. He is cutting back on cigarettes and is almost off coffee! He is making leaps and bounds of progress and we can see the changes already. He is also a super good baker. He always has little treats to take home and they are DELICIOUS. He made these butterscotch/sweet roll hybrid things and they were amazing. Oh the joys of missionary work. :)

Jacqueline needs a lot of prayers. She is still struggling to tell her mom and dad and that is really all we're waiting for. If anyone has advice or words of counsel for this kind of situation, it would be much appreciated. Just keep her in your prayers and hope for the best.

The members in both areas are really great. Between the two branches we had a meal every night last week. You're probably thinking what I thought, "Awesome. That is so lucky!" Yeah its awesome the first two nights but on the third when they tell you to keep eating and say "You can't be full" it gets tough. What a problem to have though eh? Too much food. We fasted this weekend and felt much better :) It was an all around good week. I am very tired but I'm pushing on. 

I encourage you all to study the scriptures everyday. There are very few problems, stresses, fears, troubles that can not be solved, quieted, calmed and helped by the word of God. As missionaries we study every morning. (Usually two hours but for new missionaries its three and for those of us with foreign companions its four hours!) and the difference between a good day and a bad day is how well we used our study time. When we read the words of God everyday, the Spirit is invited to be with us more frequently. There is always something to be learned from the scriptures. I was reading an article in the Ensign and it talked about three steps to keep our interest and "wonder" in the gospel alive. #1-There is always more to learn. You can never ever be done learning from the scriptures. Every time you pick up those books is an opportunity to learn and grow. #2-Learn by the Spirit. Invite the Spirit to be your teacher. We can learn things on our own but when the Spirit teaches us the truths in the scriptures, we remember them better. Always be seeking to learn from the Spirit. #3-Have the desire and put in the effort. You aren't going to sit down and have an amazing spiritual experience if you casually flip through the pages and expect to learn something. Study. Feast on the words. If you only have five minutes a day, make it the best five minutes of the day. Pick a topic and read all the scriptures in the Topical Guide. You must put forth effort to receive the blessings. I know that we were given the scriptures to help us in our lives. We can take the simple stories and learn from them and become better people. It is a simple way to improve our lives everyday. I love you all very much! Keep on keeping on and Do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

P.S. Still no word on Dallin's call?! Poor guy. Let me know asap.

P.S.S. Good luck to everyone starting school today and in the coming weeks! What a fun time of year. Make it the best year EVER.

Czech Phrase of the Week: "Hunger is the best cook" This was said last week when we were running out of food before P-Day. I think I've heard it before but its cooler in Czech.

Canada Fact: The majority of houses have two doors. One in the front and one on the side usually by the driveway. Both are usable and that makes tracting tough because we're never sure which one to use. We have knocked on many a "front door" only to be told we're using the wrong door.....I don't understand. Oh well. Canadians.   

Luvs!

Ahoj! (Hello in Czech)

Ahoj!

I want to start off today's letter talking about what Jesus taught. He taught us all to be as a little child. I had always thought that He meant, literally, little kids. Humble, teachable, meek, submissive etc etc. But what I didn't know that is that "child" in English is "dite" in Czech. We could all be a little more like Elder Dite. Hahaha. Maybe that is a little overkill but seriously. He is amazing. We have a word for missionaries like him: celestial. He is obedient, hard-working, kind, loving and is completely devoted to the work. I am so SO lucky to be his companion. If I get home from my mission a fraction as spiritual, loving, and good as he is, I will be overjoyed. What a blessing!

The weather here is inconsistent and the humidity is becoming bearable. The first few weeks were pretty cool and nice followed by two weeks of extreme heat then it was just warm all the time and then the past week it has rained a TON! We're talking tons. On one day it didn't stop raining from when we got up to when we went to bed. It slowed to a trickle for about two hours while we were tracting (miracle!) but then went right back to it. I'm glad I have an umbrella. Poor E. Dite forgot his in his last area and so he borrowed one from a nice family we tracted into. Nice people. Not interested. :( Such is life. We have a little window unit in our apartment that we call "The Monster" for a couple reasons. One: It sounds like its growling. Two: It works hard and does its job. We have it in the only window it will fit in, which is in the living room area and it cools the whole apartment. I am so grateful for that little guy.

This week has been filled to the rafters with hard, hard work. We are out  tracting about two hours minimum a day and walking and talking to everyone we can find. It is incredibly mentally and physically taxing. On Friday night we were out tracting in the CW (Collingwood :) And Wasaga Beach is the WB) and pretty much every person we talked to was grumpy and very uninterested. Door after door, we were rejected and told to go away. I don't know about you but for me being constantly rejected isn't really a fun thing to spend time doing. It was late and getting dark and people were getting meaner and meaner and I was done. I had had it. So I said a little prayer and said, "I'm doing my best. I'm trying my hardest. I need your help to do the rest." I got a small feeling of peace but nothing overwhelming and we just kept knocking on doors. As it came to the time when we needed to head back, we had the choice to either knock on one more door or head back to the apartment. I have read enough accounts of missionaries finding the best investigators at the last house to know that we needed to knock on that last door. So we did and the lady that answered was super nice and invited us back to teach her on Sunday. I was so grateful! I really needed just one person to be a little nice to me and we got it at the last house. We taught her yesterday and it went well. She is very nice but not super interested which is a little disappointing. She committed to read a chapter, pray and we are going back on Wednesday to see how it went. So yeah. We have been tracting a ton and have taught one other lesson to a lady we met while she was walking her dog. She mostly wanted to tell us why we were wrong but it was still nice to practice teaching a little bit. Hopefully we will find more people to teach as the weeks go on. 

The work in Midland moves steadily onward. John is still hung up on the Restoration but he is praying more sincerely now and we are preparing him to be prepared to prepare for baptism. Haha. Basically we are helping him to pick his own date and to find out for himself how and when he should do things. Slow progress but progress nonetheless. Jacqueline has been busy with work etc and we haven't been able to talk with her very regularly. We are meeting with her tomorrow and hopefully she will gain the courage to tell her parents. She could really use some prayers of faith. Denise and Alysha are doing awesome. Still not confirmed but hopefully soon! Pray for them and their situation. We also have a new investigator! Her name is Marguerite and I don't know much about her. Apparently she had some close friends back in Kitchner that were members and talked with her and she is very interested in coming to church and becoming a member. She has been coming the past few weeks but wasn't interested in talking with the missionaries. In church yesterday she asked a member how she could get baptized and they explained that she needed to talk to the missionaries, answer some questions and then she could be baptized. She told this member that she wanted to do that. So we got a call this morning tell us to call her. We did and we are teaching her tomorrow! Such a blessing! I am so excited to teach and to help her learn the gospel. She seems really nice and it should be great.

Things are going very well. I am so grateful to be on a mission and to be working in the Lord's vineyard for these two years. I am learning everyday and I am growing so much. I have realized how lucky I was to grow up in the church and to be raised with the gospel in my life. Every time I testify about how much the gospel blesses families, I tear up just a little bit. I can't imagine life without parents that love me and care for me and siblings who set such great examples for me. I am so glad that we were able to grow together and that we can be together forever. I can't wait. It is such a blessing to have families that are strong in the gospel. I know that families are the most important social unit in the eternities. I know that it is in our families that we find the most love, support, and happiness. Embrace them. Turn to them in times of trial. Help them when they need you. Serve them. Love them. President Hinckley taught that he that saves his life, loses it. He that loses his life in the service of others, saves it. I know that this to be true. I love you all and I am so happy to hear that all is well and that you are standing fast in the faith. Keep on keepin on! I love you! Do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith.

P.S. I don't have a billion "P.S."s this time. Just that I love you and have a new weekly addition to the letter. Introducing......

Czech Phrase of the Week!: "I am going to sleep like kitty"  As we were walking into the apartment one night, E. Dite put his hand on my shoulder and asked if I was going to "sleep like kitty tonight" Hahaha. I told him yes. I love this one and I am learning how to say it in Czech!

Canada Fact: Clear beverages are not allowed to contain caffeine. So that means Mountain Dew (which is basically synonymous with caffeine) is, by law, caffeine free. Weird, eh?

Oh! I have some apologies to make. First off, I need to apologize to whoever I am apologizing to. I forgot who you are. So....yeah..I'm sorry. So to whoever you are: I'm sorry. I broke our promise....(dramatic pause).......I gave myself a haircut.......I know I promised you I wouldn't but $15 buys a lot of food and I like food. Elder Kenning was doing it and it was so easy and I just.........did it. I promise it looks good. Look on the bright side, I don't think I'll ever have to pay for a haircut again. That's good, right? I'll use the money I save to buy you ice cream sometime, okay? I hope you can forgive me.

Luvs!

News, news, news

Hello!

Today's subject: News! First, the only real world news I get is what I hear from members and the tabloids at the grocery store. It is sad but true. (Too bad about Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise. I wonder who will get Suri ;) Ha) Also the Olympics! I am so sad that I am missing them! They sound awesome. Its rather funny because that has become a common excuse for not being interested. "Sorry. No time. I'm watching the Olympics. Did you hear that we won gold in the Women's Trampoline?" to which I reply, "No. Is that a sport?" Hahaha. So yeah. Canada is definitely a winter country. I'm still proud to be an American :) 'MERICA! Which, in other news, is not where my companion is from.

That's right folks! I have a new companion! Elder Kenning has been transferred and is now Zone Leader in Brampton. I'm sad to see him go but as always, God knows best. He will do GREAT in Brampton. What a great missionary. :) My new companion is from......*drum roll*.......The Czech Republic! He is AWESOME! His name is Elder Ondrej Dite (Andrew, I am not totally sure how to pronounce Dite. Dee-(somewhere between a t and a ch)-ay. Its awesome.) and he is spiritually on fire. Seriously. He is an incredible missionary and I've already learned a ton and it has barely been a day. There is a bit of a language barrier which only makes him cooler and just makes for more interesting conversation. He has been out two transfers, so we are both pretty young in mission age. He is 23 and tall and rarely stops smiling. I'll send a picture when I find a cord that will work for my camera. (the one I was using went to Brampton with E. Kenning :/)

Transfer day was NUTS. We were up at 5:30 to get ready and drive down to Brampton by 8 am. We got there did the switching and talked with a bunch of other missionaries. 28 missionaries left this transfer so there were a lot of goodbyes and pictures and it was neat to see them all before they left. I don't know a ton of other missionaries but I did see a couple of the ones I came in with and it was great to swap first transfer stories etc and just have the common bond. What a great group of missionaries. Because E. Dite is from Czech Rep. he can't drive. So I am now the driver! Which is equal parts exciting and stressful. My first experience behind the wheel after two months was a little disheartening but I'm over it. There wasn't an accident, we just spent a very long time being lost. Haha. I haven't driven a car in two months, I've been in the city of Brampton a total of about eight hours, I am dead tired and I am supposed to drive to the mission office on hastily given directions. It was awesome. We finally found our way and then got even more lost on the way back to our apartment. We ended up driving about an hour more than we needed to but eventually made it home. I think I may need to invest in a GPS. I do not like being lost. So yeah. Transfers went well and I'm still alive. It's harder now because I am "in charge" of the area simply because I have been here longer. Stressful stuff! But it will be for my benefit and the benefit of the area. God's plan is the best plan.

News about the work: John is doing soooooo good. He is working on praying with real intent and said he would be baptized if he wasn't hung up on the Restoration and the need for it. He is such a great guy and is so close! He needs lots of prayers. Jacqueline is still doing well. She hasn't told her parents yet and that is all we're waiting for. She really needs help and prayers too! The work in Stayner is slow but good. We are still doing a ton of finding with no results yet. There are prepared people out there, we just haven't found them. Tracting and talking to people is getting easier but is still one of the most difficult things we do as missionaries. But, we must have adversity to appreciate the blessings amiright?

Other News: I went on exchanges on Friday with Elder Hyatt in Orillia. It was so great! He is an amazing missionary. He is 27(!) and left EVERYTHING behind to come on a mission. He sold his apartment, cars, furniture, quit his jobs, left his girlfriend and went on a mission. What an inspiration. He taught me a lot about sacrifice and obedience and the nitty gritty of mission work, like paperwork etc. It was a great time in Orillia. I had an interesting experience there that is less than appropriate to share in a public sphere so......yeah. Ask me when I get home ;)

It was a great week! I am tired (surprise surprise) but loving life. More and more each day I realize everything that God does for us. He has his hand in every part of missionary work and every part of our lives. He guides us, helps us, blesses us and sometimes we don't recognize it. My theme scripture of late has been 1 Nephi 3:7. God will provide the way for us accomplish the things that he has commanded. That applies to everything. Serving a mission, keeping the commandments, obtaining an education. Everything. If we put forth the effort, we will accomplish anything we set our hearts, mights and minds to. That means sincere prayer, diligent study, and sacrificing our will for God's will. I know that as we do these things and set aside our will and what we want, God will bless us with the things we need. As we continue to seek to have his will written on our hearts and to do the things He has asked us to do, His will will become our will and we will want for us what He wants for us. That is when we become truly happy and effective instruments in His hands. The way is not always easy, it is a daily struggle and it takes daily decisions to do His will, but the blessings far outweigh the sacrifices. I love you all very much and I hope you are all doing well. Remember to pray and always look for ways to serve. Keep the faith. Remember that you are a child of God. Do good things!

Love,

Elder Smith

P.S. Congrats Vineyard 6th Ward! I am glad I am kind of a part of it! Who is the Bishop? What is Dad's calling? What do the girls/Skyler think? Who are the other missionaries?

P.P.S. I am so bummed I missed the Puckett Family Reunion! It sounds like it was a blast! I am eagerly awaiting my Got PEP? T-shirt.

P.P.P.S. Tell Ryan good luck for me! And let me know ASAP where Dallin is going. They are both going to be AWESOME missionaries.

P.P.P.P.S. I would love to write Ryan and other missionaries. I would appreciate a list of addresses in the next letter. The Stephens, Scott, Caleb. I'll let you know if I think of anyone else. But yeah that would be great!

P^5.S. Megan: I am receiving/have received your letters. As far as I can tell I am not missing any except maybe a post card. Also, I sent my letter this morning due to the transfer madness. So it'll be a day late. Sorry :)

P^6.S. I would love to see pictures of mission central and the garage shelf and the back yard as it gets done. I would also love hard copies of a couple family pictures etc to show people.

Canada Fact of the Week: Someone who is borderline the greatest mind in human history invented a Canadian staple called Poutine. It. Is. Delicious. Also super fattening and probably the worst thing for you ever. Funny how those often go hand in hand. :) Poutine consists of fries, cheese curd, and gravy. Oh my goodness. It is the best. The cheese curd gets all melty and the gravy just covers everything in warm deliciousness and it is.....beyond words. I have a problem. Don't judge me.

Keep reading the Ensign and the scriptures! There is personal revelation waiting for you. All you have to do is read.

..................That's it. These things just get longer and longer don't they?

Luvs!