This Too Shall Pass

Hello family!

You cannot appreciate the highs until you have endured the low. Last week we were riding a wave of success and things were better than they have ever been. This week was really hard. But true to form, God takes care of His missionaries. For every disappointment there is a miracle right around the corner. When we are obedient, God will do the rest. Never doubt, never fear, our Lord and Savior is ever near. 

This week, Cedric dropped us. We were planning his baptism for yesterday and he was really, really excited for it. We had the last few commandments to teach and he was ready. All was well until we taught tithing. He doesn't want to pay it and doesn't think he ever will. He didn't come to church and he doesn't want to meet with us anymore. It is heart-breaking. I don't think I have ever desired more for someones salvation than I have for his. It is so hard to watch people you love choose not to be happy and to receive salvation. Sigh. Life goes on. 

Deji bombed our appointment and has slipped into limbo unless we miraculously find him. Also sad.

But lots of happy happened this week! For the past long time we have been trying to get a sports night started to fellowship investigators and less actives and it has finally happened. The past few weeks we have played basketball once a week and it is great. Its too bad though because all these months not playing have driven what little skill I had into hiding. I felt pretty useless the first time and slightly less so the second. I can still shoot decently but my court sense is nowhere to be found. I feel like a chicken with no head. Enough of that! On to missionary work!

On Tuesday we were in Kitchener for a Speciallty training pretty much all day. We stayed Monday night in London (two hour drive) with the Zone Leaders and then drove the last hour and a half to Kitchener Tuesday. On the drive to London the Assisstants called me and asked me to do a last minute musical number...I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a big mission meeting without me singing in it. I'm okay with it because I need to share my talents but I can never just relax through a meeting. It went really well. Elder Baconawa, the Elder who did it with me, is sweet and had this amazing arrangement of "I Like to Look for Rainbows" that we performed. It started by him improvising while I read Mosiah 18: 10-11 and then we sang the song together and just made up our own parts. It went really well and the Spirit was super, super strong. It was a great meeting and I learned a ton. It was a really great experience. 

Wednesday was equal parts disappointing and happy. We got bombed and cancelled three times but during that time we found a new investigator and a super promising potential. The new investigator is Michael. He is from Ghana and us taking some classes from UofWindsor. He already believes the Book of Mormon is true and is praying about baptism. He wants to take it slow and is doing his research but he is real cool. The potential is Logan. He is from China and is super busy with school but really wants to learn when he finishes this semester. So in May we'll call him up and then baptize him. :) 

Thursday was when Cedric bombed us but it was also when we played basketball. It was actually really nice to be able to forget and just play for a while. I really needed to get my mind off of it to get the right perspective. It was a good day I guess.   

Friday was Distric meeting it went pretty well. I feel like I have got the hang of things finally and I know what I can and should do. Then I went on exchanges with Leamington and had a great time. I had a "realize how far I've come" moment while tracting. I placed a Book of Mormon and set up a few return appointments and was just feeling really good. I just felt like I knew what I was doing. I then thought back to exchanges with my district leader in Markham. We were tracting and every house he knocked on would talk to us and some even set up appointments and he made it look easy while every house I knocked on went poorly. On my exchange this week I saw those roles reversed. I got to see how the Lord had changed me. It was great.

Saturday and Sunday were okay. We only had one investigator at church. Shawna brought her brother Albert and we got to teach him after. He is super sweet and is a great kid. He probably won't get baptized for a while becuase his mom is a little opposed. Pray that her heart will be softened and that he will be able to be baptized. The rest of the day was spent riding the bus and trying to talk to people. The bus crowd is a tough crowd. :)

I am doing well and I'm lovin' this missionary thing. I am surprised by how fast it is going and I am hoping I'll be able to enjoy every last second. I know that this church is true and that we as members have secured our salvation as we strive to live faithful to the coventants we have made. I am so grateful for this chance that I have to serve the Lord for two years. I love you all and hope you have a stellar week! Work hard! See miracles! Do good things!

Love,

Elder Smith

I can't think of anything clever

Hello!

This week was supa sweet! I really don't know where to begin. The work is moving forward very well here in Windsor and especially here in our area. We are definitely rocking the buses. We have found a bunch of new people because we are walking around and talking with people pretty much all the time. Blessings sometimes come in weird bus shaped packages. :) This week and the week before have been super fun and I am really feeling great about the work here in Canada.

Elder Binford and I have decided that there are only three days in a missionary week: Sunday, Preparation Day and "Weekday." Weekday is all the other days rolled into one, because it all feels like one day anyway. So this past "weekday" was awesome.

We met with Cedric a few times this week and he is doing great...We may have to move his baptism because we haven't taught him everything yet. He also had a falling out with his fellowshipper and asked us not to bring her anymore. We will need to teach forgiveness for sure. He is the nicest guy ever but apparently he really doesn't like when people speak poorly of China. So that was super fun. He is coming to church every week and is really enjoying it. Such a great guy. We just can't teach him fast enough.

Something else exciting is Deji! I don't know if I talked about him last week. The South Elders found him last Sunday and taught him the Restoration and he loved it and agreed to be baptized. He doesn't have a phone so they just agreed to meet at the same place on Saturday at 1:00 and we'd be there to teach him because he lives in our area. So we went at 1:00 and sat there for twenty minutes, basically just praying he would show up. At about 1:25 we were ready to give up and were literally standing up to leave and he walked in the door! We met with him, taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it! He had been reading the Book of Mormon and he told us that he knows that it is true and still wants to be baptized. He came to church yesterday and enjoyed it. He slept through Elder's Quorum but liked the rest of it. We are meeting him again on Wednesday but we have no way to contact him if he doesn't show up...Exciting.

On Saturday I felt more led by the Spirit than I have ever in my life. We were in the right place at the right time on numerous occasions and I felt like an instrument in the hands of God. It was sweet to see God's work move forward as I placed myself in His hands. I love being a missionary.

In church on Sunday I had one of the most spiritual experiences in my life. I truly felt God speaking to me through the Holy Ghost and my testimony of the Savior grew . Then on Sunday night I finally finished reading Jesus the Christ. I felt so close to Him and I could feel my understanding increased. I took some time to reflect on where I was before I had started and after and how it had helped me be a better person/missionary. I can see and feel an incredible change in myself from the Elder Smith I was before. I think it helps that I started reading in my second transfer and a lot more has happened than just reading a book. :) I really can see how the Lord has changed me and shaped me into the person He needs me to be. I have gained a huge testimony of God's perfect plan for us in these past 9 ish months. I know that He knows so much better than we do and that he has prepared a way for us to succeed. God is so good. 

Thats all I have to say about that....Do good things!!

Love,

Elder Smith

Glad Tidings of Great Joy

All who have ears let him hear,

When we were told that no one outside of family was to send us emails, I'll be honest it was a real trial to be obedient. But we did it because obedience brings blessings and it did. The happenings of this day have brought me great joy.

Notice

To: General Authorities, Area Seventies, and Mission Presidents

From: Missionary Department

Subject: Adjusted Missionary Email Policy

Missionaries are to write to their families each week and are also authorized to communicate by email with friends, priesthood leaders, and new converts. Mission presidents should allow sufficient time on preparation day for missionaries to write emails and letters. While in the mission field, missionaries should receive authorization from the mission president before entering into communication, including via email, with converts and others of the opposite gender within the mission boundaries (see Missionary Handbook, 36–37).

 :D

You can imagine the excitement with which we received the above notice. Literal shouts of joy rang out when we saw it. There are a lot of very excited missionaries.

So now we can email whomever we want! Yes.

Anyway. Back to real life.

It has been a very good week. Lots of work to do and people to see. I feel so incredibly blessed to be serving in Windsor. It is such a blessed land. My testimony, especially that the Lord is preparing people for us, has been strengthened so much here. Probably my favorite area. Probably because I have served here the longest. :)

Tuesday was fun. Lots of bus riding and getting doors slammed in our face. I love it. I feel like I almost rejoice in opposition. It just makes me laugh. We met with Al and he is doing awesome since his baptism. What a good guy.:)

Wednesday was long. We had a training meeting in London (Ontario not England. :)) that was super great but took almost all day. Got back, had dinner and then taught a lesson with Mark and Linda. They are still planning on marriage...we'll see. Pray that they will get married. 

Thursday was more of the same. Buses and crazy Windsor people. I love it. We found two new investigators. Alana and Ashley, catholic high school students. Hahaha. I'm convinces they just think Elder Binford is cute but we'll see. :) They are pretty cool and are willing to learn. 

Friday was more of more of the same. Haha. All the days are the same. Ride the bus downtown. Talk with people. Walk to U of W. Talk with people. Maybe teach someone. Its great. I love being a missionary for sure. 

Saturday we taught Jim (Chinese UofW student from like January) and it was sweet. He really wants to learn he is just really busy. We were on exchanges with the new Windsor South Elders which was fun. I was with Elder Tsai. He is from Taiwan/BC. Great missionary. We had fun and he was there to speak Mandarin with our investigators which was nice. I am working on my chinese. Mostly I just know slang for "sweet" or "good looking" hahaha. I'll get it. 

Sunday was sweet. Al got confirmed and is doing very well. He just fits in with the ward now and is so happy. We got him a big quad with his name embossed and he was very excited. Cedric brought a friend to church and we met with her after and she wants to come again and learn more. It was a great day at church. Afterwards we dropped by some less active families downtown and talked with the always amusing downtown crowd. Sunday afternoons are especially entertaining. I love Windsor. Then while we were riding the bus home we got a text from South that they had just met with a guy from Ghana at UofW that wants to be baptized and he lives in our area! We keep trading investigators and numbers because we are working so close to each other. The work is really moving forward here. Yay.

I am absolutely in love with missionary work. I am so happy I have plenty of time left and I don't want to miss a second of it. I love this gospel and this church. 

Keep on keeping on everyone and do good things!!

Love,

Elder Smith  

Buses and Baptism

Dearest, dearest Family,

This week was so great. Well, mostly yesterday morning was great. The rest was not as great. But all the not as great is completely swallowed up in the wonderful baptism we had yesterday. It was seriously one of the greatest days of my life. But let me start with the rest of the week.

Tuesday we drove to London and picked up the new Elders for the Windsor South area. They are sweet and I am looking forward to working with them this transfer. So my district just got way bigger. We added two companionships to the three already so now I am in charge of five companionships and its crazy. There are zones that have six companionships so five in a district is a tad bit overwhelming. So now I am over the Windsor South, Windsor North, Chatham, Sarnia, and Leamington Areas. It is a lot of work and responsibility but it is very fun. The Elders and Sisters that I supervise are super great and a lot of fun. It is going to be a super super great transfer. Anyway...we drove them to their new apartment and got them settled. They then drove us back to our apartment so we could give them supplies and records etc and also lunch because they had nothing. The Zone Leaders then came and brought us to Al's for his baptismal interview, which he passed, and then dropped us off at a Shoppers (Canadian Walgreens) to buy our bus tickets...and thus it begins. We were greeted by hail and bitter cold winds. It was a good day. No one wanted to see us or talk to us and the weather was the same. Sigh.

Wednesday was better. Still cold but less exhausting. Which is weird because we walked like 8 km's. Haha. I'm down five pounds already. :) We had to juggle transfer tickets that only last two hours so it was stressful. "Let us be Men." Oh and Mark and Linda, the Christmas miracle investigator, might be getting married pretty soon. Maybe.

Thursday was less cold. We taught Al and set "our" investigator Devon with a baptismal date only to find out that he lives in the south area...I'm sensing a theme here. You'll see. 

Friday we got our bus passes. That made our job way easier. We can just hop on and off as we please now. We taught Cedric and he is still doing great! He is so sweet and is getting excited for his baptism. I love that guy. :) 

Saturday was rough. No one would talk to us all day and our appointments fell through. The night was better. We talked to more people and they were nicer and it was great. I needed that.  

Sunday was amazing. We had planned and worked hard for weeks for some potentials to come to church and five showed up yesterday! All of them are in the South Elders' area....That was hard. But who cares because Al got baptized!! The service went so well, the Spirit was there and the water was warm. It couldn't have gone better. He was beaming the whole day and when I pulled him up out of the water, I could literally see a difference on his face. The burden of sin was off his shoulders and he was free at last. I feel like this baptism has changed his life and mine. It was incredible. Man its good to be a missionary.

Well all the other Elders are done so I need to finish. I love you all and hope you are doing well. Do good things!! 

Love,

Elder Smith

No News is Not Always Good News...

Hello wonderful family!

Good news! I didn't mugged this week. I also didn't witness a mugging which is good too! I also didn't get transferred which is also good! I also get to stay with Elder Binford which is super good! We also get a new companionship in Windsor which is very good! They get our car which isTHEY GET OUR CAR?!!!??! Are you kidding me? That is...less good. Oh well. So as of Tuesday afternoon we no longer have a car. Its bus passes and bikes from here on out....and I thought not getting a call last night was good news. Ha. But the work moves forward! We just need to be more effective planners and just think of all the people we will get to talk with now! They can't use the bus to get away from us. This will be fun. :) I hope.

So before I forget I should tell you about the miracle last week. This one happened on Monday night when we  met with Al Russell. We have been working with him for four ish months and it has been an absolute miracle from the start. We had an amazing lesson with him about repentance and changing who we are to be more like Christ. This man has overcome a figurative mountain of challenges on his path to baptism and as of Monday night he has conquered them all. He is a completely changed man and he is more than excited for his baptism this Sunday. :) God is so very good. Miracle. 

This week was crazy. Appointments cancelled all over the place and more rejection. Sigh. Such is the life of a missionary. The week was thus rather uneventful until Sunday. Al came to church and is still very excited to be baptized and everything should go well with that. He has invited 30 of his friends to come so it should be very well attended. I am baptizing him and giving the talk on the Holy Ghost after. He was very happy to hear that I was staying. :) Cedric came to church and had a great time. He loved meeting all the "nice, happy friends" and was able to feel and recognize the Spirit in the Sunday school lesson. Even better is that he is looking for a job and there are a few members in the ward who are now on the hunt too and even have some promising leads. We have been praying that he will find a job because that is what he is praying for. It is so cool to see prayers answered. He also accepted a baptismal date for next month and is super ready to work toward it. He is super sweet. We had another miracle that day. Halfway through sacrament meeting, a member walked in with two women who, she explained, were coming for the first time. They are from Kyrgyzstan? and one of them, Rebecca, only speaks Russian and was going to church there. She wasn't baptized but really likes the church and wants to continue to learn more. The other woman is Leila who is her relative of some sort who lives in Windsor and also wants to learn! Crazy! We talked with them and they are interested and they even stayed for all three hours. The sad part is that we didn't get their number and we have no way to contact them...so they aren't investigators because we haven't met with them and for all we know we may never see them again...frustrating. God will provide.  

Well I am out of time. It was a great week and I still love being a missionary. I should have some fun stories from bus adventures next week so be on the look out. :) Have a great week and remember who you are! Do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

Muggings and Miracles

Dear Family,

Things are FANTASTIC here in Windsor!! It was a long week but extremely worth it. Due to the 5-week transfer we are once again on the threshold of transfer day. :( I do not want to leave Windsor. Which probably means I will. Sigh. Good things are happening here and I wish very much to be a part of them. D&C 4:3 (kind of) "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God (in one area) ye are called to (another);" Such is life. No sense fretting about something that hasn't even happened yet, right? Right. This week has definitely strengthened my testimony of obedience and God answering prayers. It is incredible. I love being a missionary. So much.

Monday was good. We had dinner with Al and then had a good lesson with him and overall it was just a regular, old preparation day.

Tuesday is where things get exciting. We had district meeting in Leamington and then we started an exchange with the Leamington elders. It was such a fun exchange. I got to be with Elder Gummow. He was in my MTC district and so it was fun to be with someone who has been out the same amount of time as me. It was super neat to see how much we had grown and matured since we left in June. We taught good lessons and just had a grand time of things. Tuesday night we got a call from the Chatham Elders saying that their investigator Lisa agreed to be baptized on Thursday. MIRACLE!! She has been investigating for a long time so when she commited they jumped on it. Because I am the District leader, I needed to interview her and we didn't have much time. I spent a good hour on the phone trying to juggle schedules and to get everything together so that Lisa could be baptized. Stress. I finally got things worked out and if everything went perfectly it would have worked. Ha.

Wednesday was CRAZY. Elder Gummow and I spent the morning talking to people downtown and tracting. It went okay. Nothing stunning. I spent it wishing I could take all this time we had and add it to the evening. No such luck :) So at 4:30 ish we met at a carpool lot along the highway and I got in the car with one of the Chatham elders and Elder Binford took the other back to Windsor to teach our two lessons back there and the Leamington Elders went back to their area. Step one went well. Almost. Somehow in the switch both phones went to Windsor and we were left without a cell phone going to Chatham. Ugh. Long story short we ended up missing our last lesson of the night because we couldn't communicate...I would have died if I was born in a time without cell phones. Truth. Everything else went alright but I was really stressed and frustrated and mad for the first time in a long time. I don't like being mad. But, Lisa got baptized so its all good.

Thursday was good. Nothing special.

Friday was really slow. We had planning and pretty much nothing else. These days stink. I started feeling sick and so the whole day was just a drag. I got over it though. All is well.

Saturday was slow too. We spent a good hour and a half walking around in the snow. It was fun but we didn't get much done. We need to conserve our kilometers so that we stay within our limit for this month so if we can walk, we walk.

Sunday was awesome. We had a great time at church took ten minutes for lunch then got right to teaching. Three lessons in a row in four hours, all with Chinese investigators. First was Cedric. He is awesome. When he was picking his English name, by the time he got to the C's he was tired to he just picked Cedric and moved on. Haha. He asked really good questions and even recorded the lesson so that he could go back and listen later. Pressure. It went very well and he is really excited to learn more. Then was David. He was really close to baptism a month ago but he found a Chinese Church that he likes better. He is getting baptized there...I don't like dropping investigators. He is really nice and we'll see him once a month maybe but for now he is no longer interested. Sigh. Then we met with Devon and he is also great. He asked PERFECT questions for the plan of salvation and we are teaching him that next week. Then we had dinner with a member which was really fun then headed out to go talk to people downtown. This is where mom should stop reading. :) We didn't get mugged but we saw it happen. We were walking down the street and saw a man steal a woman's purse. I stopped the guy and asked him if that was his and, obviously, it wasn't. Miracles of miracles a police officer drove past right then and we flagged him down and they took care of it. We spent the rest of the night in the back of cruisers giving our statements. It was crazy. I love Windsor.

You are going to have to wait for next week to hear the real miracle because we are getting kicked out so that they can use the family history center for...family history. Tell you then!!

Work hard, Study hard, Pray hard! do good things!

Love,

Elder E. Smith

NEW PANTS!

Hello family!!

You know it was a relatively slow week when the most exciting news I have is the news pants I bought. I got two pairs of nice dress pants and a black sweater for.....$57!! I am so happy. They fit and they look nice and now I have more than two pairs that I can wear. Hooray!! Also, before I forget, Next week our preparation day will be on Tuesday instead of Monday. Just a heads up. Back to the letter.

I'm not exactly sure what to write about today. I am just not in a writing mood at all. Highlights it is. 

Monday:NEW PANTS!

Tuesday:Nothing

Wednesday:Zone Training in London. Super fun and I got like 10 letters. I am really behind on writing so it will be a while before I respond but I got them. Also picked up two new investigators. Good day.

Thursday: Weekly planning then exchanges in Chatham. I love the Elders serving there and it was fun but also hard. Being the District Leader means correcting disobedience which is hard when you love them. But its because we love we correct. I learned some very valuable lessons that day. 

Friday: Still on exchanges then a lesson with an investigator that reminded me why we need the Spirit so much in missionary work. Without that guidance we would have been lost and our investigator too. This gospel is so true and it shows when I see it work miracles in the lives of my friends and when it anwsers every question we might have. I love it.

Saturday: Slow. Got some good bonding time though.

Sunday: Super great/disappointing. Shawna was confirmed which, due to my history, is a relief and very happy. She is very excited to be a member of the ward and is doing great. Alas only Al was at church so we missed hitting standards. No one we invited came and so it was sad. Plus we didn't set the alarm and woke up late. The whole day was miserable and it just added to my testimony of exact obedience. Man it stunk. Never sleep in. Word to the wise.

So thats all. Sorry this letter is rather lame. One last thing though. Randomly this week I rememeber back to my childhood when Dad would read us the latter-day voices section of the Ensign and quiz us about the gospel topics in them. I realized how much that built my testimony. Hearing the experiences of other people and listening so that we could find out how they apply to our lives. It made me so happy to know that I had such loving parents who helped me to learn at a young age the blessings of the gospel. I am very grateful for their example and the way I was raised. The end.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Do good things!!

Love,

Elder E. Smith