Dear Family and Friends, '
Monday, we ended up going to dinner with Bro Jennings and we talked about some of the history of the church and the importance of enduring the trials that come our way. Tuesday, we had district meeting and afterwards we went to Cane's, for lunch. Anthony, was at the church, so we invited him to lunch. After that we headed back to the church for the baptismal interview and the rest of the day we went over some things about his baptism and spent the evening at the church in the FHC. Anthony, had been spending a lot of time looking at his family history and was really excited to do the temple work for his family that he has found. I was kind of curious to see if I had any family, that didn't have their temple work done so I went into searching, thinking that I wasn't going to find anyone because all of it seemed to have been already done. Near the end of the night I realized that since 1/4 of the family branch doesn't show up because It didn't have Great Grandpa Smith married to G. Grandma Dickerson. I looked and found the Seltzers in the Dickerson line and realized that Michael Seltzer who served and died in the Revolutionary War, had not had any of his temple work done. I figured, since I noticed it I should do the work, so, I reserved his name and printed off the sheet to take to the temple. Anthony, in the next couple of weeks, should be able to go for his ancestors and now I will be able to do the work from someone in my family, which is something I have never done. It was a really exciting night and the day I get to do the work will be even more exciting. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we hardly did anything, due to Elder Abbott, being sick and a rainy day Thursday. Saturday was obviously a great day and the baptism went great. He mentioned to me that it was a very spiritual experience and that he was just very grateful we had helped him out. At the end of the service, he bore his testimony and when he did, I felt the spirit testify to me that the things he was saying were true and that he also knew they were true. His testimony was simple but the words touched my heart. He said that he knew that God lived and that he loves him, he said he knew the church was the true church and that Thomas S. Monson was the Prophet of God. It was such a profound thing. A young man of 18, after only three weeks of meeting with us, was able to bear his testimony and was able to learn so much! I have been amazed at his progress. Yesterday, we had two lessons with some people we have met recently and they both are sincere about their investigation. The first lesson we had with one man was memorable for one reason. When we showed up to his house he was not there, but within a few moments he showed up. He was excited to see us and during the lesson he mentioned that usually when he goes home he takes a different road that takes him to the Lake and then he would come home a little later. Instead this day he felt like he should ride by his house. When he did, he saw us and we were able to have a lesson with him. To me, that means that God loves this man enough to lead him to learn more and also that God trusts us enough to teach him. It was a very comforting thing to realize and quite honestly it's very humbling. The lesson ended up going well and we re-committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The only thing they need to do now is study the Book of Mormon and pray about it in order to become converted. I've realized it's that simple. We just need to be sincere, have Faith and put the effort into studying and praying. All in all its been a really great week and this coming weekend will be great as well. How great of an opportunity we have to hear from the Prophet of God! I know that God loves each one of us and knows us personally. And I know that we can feel that love in greater abundance when we repent and turn to him in prayer. I love you all and hope you have a great conference weekend!
Love, Elder Smith
Monday, March 31, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Trip to the Temple
Dear Family,
Well I guess I should tell you a little bit about my past week. So,Tuesday we did our regular prep day things except we had a lesson with Anthony and that evening he came to the Family History Center to do some family history work. We ended up being there until 9:15, talking about different things and when we realized the time, Anthony asked us if we could use a ride home. We had ridden our bikes to the church and Anthony drives a little Scion. So, we disassembled our bikes and tried to stuff them in his car as best we could. We ended up driving back to our apartment with his trunk open and I was just praying the whole time that my bike didn't fly out! We made it safely home, and so, did our bikes. Wednesday, I don't really remember, I think we just saw some less actives and tried contacting a few referrals. Thursday we planned for the coming week and then went about doing our regular schedule. Friday ended up being a hectic day. We were planning on going to the temple with the ward since it was a scheduled day and the members that we were going with to Baton Rouge ended up showing up just a few minutes late. We arrived at the temple at exactly 7:00 PM and the session had already started, so we helped the youth doing baptisms. Since the temple is so small and everything has to be done by appointment they don't have temple workers doing baptism work. We did the confirmations and were witnesses at the baptismal font. It was really nice to be able to help in that capacity in the temple and I really hope that I can do it again. Saturday we had service planned at a member in Metairie and we had invited Anthony to help. He gave us a ride and when we got there he ended up knowing how we should go about cleaning up the yard, so we were pretty grateful that we brought him along. About halfway through one of the sister missionaries got an allergic reaction to one of the plants so we rode all the way across the city to Harahan to get some medicine. It was a pretty crazy drive especially since we hard four Elders and an 18 year old investigator in one car. I won't go into the details but mostly I'm just glad that we made it back to the service in one piece (The roads and drivers in Louisiana are the worst in the nation) After the service we went to see a less active, then had a dinner appointment with some members. Sunday went well and the coolest part was one of the primary classes had us come in and share our testimonies and sing some songs wit them like, I Hope They Call Me On a Mission and Army of Helaman. The class was 3 four year old boys, so it was just so much fun and reminded me of my awesome nephews!
Love Elder Smith
Well I guess I should tell you a little bit about my past week. So,Tuesday we did our regular prep day things except we had a lesson with Anthony and that evening he came to the Family History Center to do some family history work. We ended up being there until 9:15, talking about different things and when we realized the time, Anthony asked us if we could use a ride home. We had ridden our bikes to the church and Anthony drives a little Scion. So, we disassembled our bikes and tried to stuff them in his car as best we could. We ended up driving back to our apartment with his trunk open and I was just praying the whole time that my bike didn't fly out! We made it safely home, and so, did our bikes. Wednesday, I don't really remember, I think we just saw some less actives and tried contacting a few referrals. Thursday we planned for the coming week and then went about doing our regular schedule. Friday ended up being a hectic day. We were planning on going to the temple with the ward since it was a scheduled day and the members that we were going with to Baton Rouge ended up showing up just a few minutes late. We arrived at the temple at exactly 7:00 PM and the session had already started, so we helped the youth doing baptisms. Since the temple is so small and everything has to be done by appointment they don't have temple workers doing baptism work. We did the confirmations and were witnesses at the baptismal font. It was really nice to be able to help in that capacity in the temple and I really hope that I can do it again. Saturday we had service planned at a member in Metairie and we had invited Anthony to help. He gave us a ride and when we got there he ended up knowing how we should go about cleaning up the yard, so we were pretty grateful that we brought him along. About halfway through one of the sister missionaries got an allergic reaction to one of the plants so we rode all the way across the city to Harahan to get some medicine. It was a pretty crazy drive especially since we hard four Elders and an 18 year old investigator in one car. I won't go into the details but mostly I'm just glad that we made it back to the service in one piece (The roads and drivers in Louisiana are the worst in the nation) After the service we went to see a less active, then had a dinner appointment with some members. Sunday went well and the coolest part was one of the primary classes had us come in and share our testimonies and sing some songs wit them like, I Hope They Call Me On a Mission and Army of Helaman. The class was 3 four year old boys, so it was just so much fun and reminded me of my awesome nephews!
Love Elder Smith
Monday, March 17, 2014
Dear Family,
Monday was a pretty normal prep day, we went to the church and played some volleyball and ultimate Frisbee. Bro Jennings took us to dinner, like usual, which was great, and for the first time in six months we went to Cane"s. Tuesday we saw Anthony, again, and took Bro Simmons with us. At the lesson we set a baptismal date for the 29th of March! We were pretty excited for that and he just seems ready for this change in his life. He turns 19 in a few months, so we are thinking that there is a possibility that he could go on a mission in a year or so. When we got to his apartment for the lesson we noticed that he had printed out a paper that said Daily Devotional on it and that he had photo-shopped the Mormon channel logo with angel Moroni. Later in the lesson he told us that he had ordered a triple combination, without us even mentioning that they were available. He was also excited for general conference in a few weeks! Gosh he just loves everything that we have taught him and he has shared some really cool miracles with us. That morning his mother was going into surgery on her neck and he gets really anxious for other people when he thinks they are in danger. He usually has to take medication to relieve the anxiety but that morning he told us that he had said a prayer and that his anxiety was taken away! I know that we met Anthony for a purpose and that he is going to be a great example to the rest of his family. Wednesday, we did some service moving some of the Hall's things into storage. Thursday we had another lesson with Anthony and once we were done, with what we had planned, he asked us if we could teach him something else. So, overall I'm just really excited to have the chance to be able to help Anthony start this new life and share with him my testimony of the Restored Gospel. Friday we contacted two media referrals which went alright and are planning to see them again in a few days. Satruday we went to the church again to clean and then rode our bikes to the Drakes to put down a patio for a party they are going to have. It looked pretty interesting when we were done with it and it almost didn't look like 4 missionaries did it all by themselves. :-) On Sunday, we saw Anthony at church, he asked lots of questions and continued to show how eager he is to learn more. Last night we had dinner with the Gerber's which was a really good end to the week! So, we are just getting read to start it all again this week.
Love Elder Smith
Monday was a pretty normal prep day, we went to the church and played some volleyball and ultimate Frisbee. Bro Jennings took us to dinner, like usual, which was great, and for the first time in six months we went to Cane"s. Tuesday we saw Anthony, again, and took Bro Simmons with us. At the lesson we set a baptismal date for the 29th of March! We were pretty excited for that and he just seems ready for this change in his life. He turns 19 in a few months, so we are thinking that there is a possibility that he could go on a mission in a year or so. When we got to his apartment for the lesson we noticed that he had printed out a paper that said Daily Devotional on it and that he had photo-shopped the Mormon channel logo with angel Moroni. Later in the lesson he told us that he had ordered a triple combination, without us even mentioning that they were available. He was also excited for general conference in a few weeks! Gosh he just loves everything that we have taught him and he has shared some really cool miracles with us. That morning his mother was going into surgery on her neck and he gets really anxious for other people when he thinks they are in danger. He usually has to take medication to relieve the anxiety but that morning he told us that he had said a prayer and that his anxiety was taken away! I know that we met Anthony for a purpose and that he is going to be a great example to the rest of his family. Wednesday, we did some service moving some of the Hall's things into storage. Thursday we had another lesson with Anthony and once we were done, with what we had planned, he asked us if we could teach him something else. So, overall I'm just really excited to have the chance to be able to help Anthony start this new life and share with him my testimony of the Restored Gospel. Friday we contacted two media referrals which went alright and are planning to see them again in a few days. Satruday we went to the church again to clean and then rode our bikes to the Drakes to put down a patio for a party they are going to have. It looked pretty interesting when we were done with it and it almost didn't look like 4 missionaries did it all by themselves. :-) On Sunday, we saw Anthony at church, he asked lots of questions and continued to show how eager he is to learn more. Last night we had dinner with the Gerber's which was a really good end to the week! So, we are just getting read to start it all again this week.
Love Elder Smith
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
Small Miracles
Dear Family,
So, Wednesday we had transfers, everything got switched up, and I found out my new companion was Elder Abbott from the MTC. He is from Highland UT. We got groceries that night and he had to email his family so, we did that the rest of the evening. Thursday, we tried to go see a referral. It was pretty cold and rainy so, we rode our bikes all the way down there only to not get an answer at the door nothing unusual. We then planned for the rest of the week and I told him all that I know about Kenner and about the Ward here. We only got to see a few people and mostly just spent the time introducing Elder Abbott to the people that we see.
Friday morning was much different. As we are studying in the morning we get a call from Bishop Brown saying that there is a Muslim guy who wanted to meet him in the next two hours. Bishop couldn't make it because of school so we rode over to the church to meet the man, We introduced ourselves and found out the mans name was B*****. He has been in the US for 20 years and said that he has been on the run from his dad for the past 2 and a half years. His father is a prominent Muslim leader in Pakistan. B***** came to America to confirm that he should follow Islam. He converted to Christianity after studying lots of books. At the time the congregation (non-denomination) put his face all over their flyers so, his father found out he had converted. his father cut off his income and so now B***** is getting evicted from his apartment along with his family and to make the story a little shorter was planning on heading back to Pakistan so his family can be provided for and he would go to Sharia court. He thought the Bishop could give him the advice he needed so was a little frustrated to find two 19 year old's trying to help. We did all we could but obviously it was a pretty serious problem and I just hope that he is safe and that he appreciated what he told him. The whole time I was impressed to just talk to him about prayer and to seek God's will in all of what he was going through. It is something that I will never have to deal with and reminded me how blessed I am to live in this country and to have been raised in the family and place I was. So, that honestly put a pretty solemn mood over the rest of the day and was a pretty heavy day. We had district meeting the rest of the time so afterwards we went to see the usual's and then called it a day.
Saturday was probably one of the best days so far. In the morning we were planning to go see a media referral we received. It was for an apartment and I knew where it was so we got to the complex and then to the right door, we knocked on the door and didn't get an answer so we decided to head home. We got on our bikes and I then thought that we should take the long way home. So, we went off, after a few minutes of riding through a neighborhood, we got to the other end of the street we were on with the apartment complex where there is another complex, almost identical to the other one, just that it was about a mile away. I look at the address and realize that we had been at the wrong complex. So, we swung into the parking lot and looked for the right building. When we knocked on this door and a young man opened it who looked quite surprised to see us but nonetheless let us in. We found out more about him and realized that he was so eager to learn more and was excited and sincere about all the questions and commitments. He accepted to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, to come to church the next day, and to get baptized. It was a Miracle. The simplest thing of being prompted to go a different route home helped us to find this young man who was searching and expecting us. the next day at church he came 30 minutes early we talked for quite a bit and he told us he had read most of 1 Nephi and while at church he saw that there was going to be a fireside that night at 5, for new members and investigators, and asked if he could attend. I've never seen someone so committed to learning and progressing in my entire mission. He was the only one who we invited to show up for the fireside which President Wall (mission president) and President Stock (stake president) were talking, At the end of the meeting he told us that he had really loved it and had many of his questions answered. We have a appointment scheduled for Tuesday and we are just so excited. We also received about 5 other media referrals, which we've only got that many the past six months that I have been in Kenner. So, over all some interesting things have been happening here in Kenner and I just hope that it continues.
Love Elder Smith
So, Wednesday we had transfers, everything got switched up, and I found out my new companion was Elder Abbott from the MTC. He is from Highland UT. We got groceries that night and he had to email his family so, we did that the rest of the evening. Thursday, we tried to go see a referral. It was pretty cold and rainy so, we rode our bikes all the way down there only to not get an answer at the door nothing unusual. We then planned for the rest of the week and I told him all that I know about Kenner and about the Ward here. We only got to see a few people and mostly just spent the time introducing Elder Abbott to the people that we see.
Friday morning was much different. As we are studying in the morning we get a call from Bishop Brown saying that there is a Muslim guy who wanted to meet him in the next two hours. Bishop couldn't make it because of school so we rode over to the church to meet the man, We introduced ourselves and found out the mans name was B*****. He has been in the US for 20 years and said that he has been on the run from his dad for the past 2 and a half years. His father is a prominent Muslim leader in Pakistan. B***** came to America to confirm that he should follow Islam. He converted to Christianity after studying lots of books. At the time the congregation (non-denomination) put his face all over their flyers so, his father found out he had converted. his father cut off his income and so now B***** is getting evicted from his apartment along with his family and to make the story a little shorter was planning on heading back to Pakistan so his family can be provided for and he would go to Sharia court. He thought the Bishop could give him the advice he needed so was a little frustrated to find two 19 year old's trying to help. We did all we could but obviously it was a pretty serious problem and I just hope that he is safe and that he appreciated what he told him. The whole time I was impressed to just talk to him about prayer and to seek God's will in all of what he was going through. It is something that I will never have to deal with and reminded me how blessed I am to live in this country and to have been raised in the family and place I was. So, that honestly put a pretty solemn mood over the rest of the day and was a pretty heavy day. We had district meeting the rest of the time so afterwards we went to see the usual's and then called it a day.
Saturday was probably one of the best days so far. In the morning we were planning to go see a media referral we received. It was for an apartment and I knew where it was so we got to the complex and then to the right door, we knocked on the door and didn't get an answer so we decided to head home. We got on our bikes and I then thought that we should take the long way home. So, we went off, after a few minutes of riding through a neighborhood, we got to the other end of the street we were on with the apartment complex where there is another complex, almost identical to the other one, just that it was about a mile away. I look at the address and realize that we had been at the wrong complex. So, we swung into the parking lot and looked for the right building. When we knocked on this door and a young man opened it who looked quite surprised to see us but nonetheless let us in. We found out more about him and realized that he was so eager to learn more and was excited and sincere about all the questions and commitments. He accepted to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, to come to church the next day, and to get baptized. It was a Miracle. The simplest thing of being prompted to go a different route home helped us to find this young man who was searching and expecting us. the next day at church he came 30 minutes early we talked for quite a bit and he told us he had read most of 1 Nephi and while at church he saw that there was going to be a fireside that night at 5, for new members and investigators, and asked if he could attend. I've never seen someone so committed to learning and progressing in my entire mission. He was the only one who we invited to show up for the fireside which President Wall (mission president) and President Stock (stake president) were talking, At the end of the meeting he told us that he had really loved it and had many of his questions answered. We have a appointment scheduled for Tuesday and we are just so excited. We also received about 5 other media referrals, which we've only got that many the past six months that I have been in Kenner. So, over all some interesting things have been happening here in Kenner and I just hope that it continues.
Love Elder Smith
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Mardi Gras parades and transfers
Dear Family
I have some exciting things to tell you this week because I have been pretty busy. We had exchanges this week with the LaPlace Elders so I spent a day in there with Elder White who was in the MTC with me. We did just about the same things we do in Kenner just with different people and with a car haha. One guy that we saw was named Bro. Watkins who is blind and very talkative. He was a little surprised to find out I wasn't Elder White's regular companion but he seemed to not mind too much. At one point he was talking to us about how he feeds the missionaries every week but that this week he was broke. He told me that had to come back to LaPlace on Thursday the next week so he could feed me and Elder White and make sure that Elder Hansen went back to Kenner. Along with that when he heard what my name was he quickly gave Elder White a funny look and quietly mentioned something about the Prophet Joseph Smith which I honestly get quite a bit but it makes me smile. So, after seeing these people on exchanges I decided that everyone in Louisiana loves to talk! That honestly is one of the tough the things we have to do to make visits effective is get people to just listen to us for a second. Its really funny because some people just get so excited to talk to missionaries. After exchanges, we got back into the regular and waited patiently for Monday to come so that we could hear about transfers. Before Monday came though we had the chance to go to mass with Joshua the young guy we had been teaching. It was quite the event and to say the least made me grateful I don't have to do that every week. It was kind of sad to see the emptiness of the worship especially since it was obvious that a very select few took the service seriously and most people were just going through the motions. Obviously this isn't something that only Catholics do because there are many Mormons who seem to just go through the motions. But with a service the Catholics have which is so routine it would be easy to get stuck going through the motions...Now onto to transfers... I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen because President Wall had told me some hints, but still when Monday came we were excited. So the news is that Elder Porter will be leaving Kenner and I will be taking over the area. I think im going to be surprised of what it entails to take over an area but Im excited still. im a little sad to see Elder Porter leave after becoming good friends with him and serving with him for these first six months. Now to the craziest event of the week.... Mardi Gras. We had planned to go to the first parade that started at 8 in the morning so in order to get there we had to get up super early this morning to make it early enough to both get a good parking spot and spot to wait for the parade since some people camp out over night for their spots. Luckily everything went smoothly in the morning and we managed to get to the first parade which is called Zulu I think my companion can explain best what the whole thing was like. Plus I'm feeling a little lazy so I'm going to plagiarize a bit from him.
Mardi Gras from Elder Porters perspective
The parade begins, and there are massive floats! amazing bands! people flooding the streets! throughout the parade everybody floods the entire streets, there is absolutely no order, just get out of the way of the float as it passes by.
So the second parade was also a very big parade for the city. It was the Rex parade. Where every float is a different Greek God. They all had their individual special beads. This was a white people float so it didn't compare to the black float at all.....Black people know how to throw a party! this parade wasn't as interesting more or less we were simply standing in the mud of the streets, soaking wet and only getting excited for the good stuff. ha The costumes of this parade were also really sweet!
The final parade was the truck parade! i would have loved this one if the weather wasn't so bad! by the time this parade arrived it was down pouring rain we were extremely wet, and very very cold. so we didn't finish this parade. This parade was only diesel Tractor trailer trucks one after another railing on the horn! back to back full of people on the floats ready to throw beads, this parade lasted forever! we wish we could have stayed longer but it was just too cold to stay for all of it.
Some interesting facts about Mardi Gras. Parades have been going for the passed couple of weeks now, today was the big parades and they began at 8:00 this morning with Zulu, and it will end tonight at precisely midnight so the rest of the town can get some sleep and begin their 40 day fasts of lent! For tomorrow is Ash Wednesday for Catholics.
So, ya you get the idea I am not a huge fan of the crowds but since I was there I decided I might as well make the best of it. And now I'm just writing these emails and getting prepped for Transfer meeting tomorrow to meet my new companion.
Love Elder Smith
I have some exciting things to tell you this week because I have been pretty busy. We had exchanges this week with the LaPlace Elders so I spent a day in there with Elder White who was in the MTC with me. We did just about the same things we do in Kenner just with different people and with a car haha. One guy that we saw was named Bro. Watkins who is blind and very talkative. He was a little surprised to find out I wasn't Elder White's regular companion but he seemed to not mind too much. At one point he was talking to us about how he feeds the missionaries every week but that this week he was broke. He told me that had to come back to LaPlace on Thursday the next week so he could feed me and Elder White and make sure that Elder Hansen went back to Kenner. Along with that when he heard what my name was he quickly gave Elder White a funny look and quietly mentioned something about the Prophet Joseph Smith which I honestly get quite a bit but it makes me smile. So, after seeing these people on exchanges I decided that everyone in Louisiana loves to talk! That honestly is one of the tough the things we have to do to make visits effective is get people to just listen to us for a second. Its really funny because some people just get so excited to talk to missionaries. After exchanges, we got back into the regular and waited patiently for Monday to come so that we could hear about transfers. Before Monday came though we had the chance to go to mass with Joshua the young guy we had been teaching. It was quite the event and to say the least made me grateful I don't have to do that every week. It was kind of sad to see the emptiness of the worship especially since it was obvious that a very select few took the service seriously and most people were just going through the motions. Obviously this isn't something that only Catholics do because there are many Mormons who seem to just go through the motions. But with a service the Catholics have which is so routine it would be easy to get stuck going through the motions...Now onto to transfers... I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen because President Wall had told me some hints, but still when Monday came we were excited. So the news is that Elder Porter will be leaving Kenner and I will be taking over the area. I think im going to be surprised of what it entails to take over an area but Im excited still. im a little sad to see Elder Porter leave after becoming good friends with him and serving with him for these first six months. Now to the craziest event of the week.... Mardi Gras. We had planned to go to the first parade that started at 8 in the morning so in order to get there we had to get up super early this morning to make it early enough to both get a good parking spot and spot to wait for the parade since some people camp out over night for their spots. Luckily everything went smoothly in the morning and we managed to get to the first parade which is called Zulu I think my companion can explain best what the whole thing was like. Plus I'm feeling a little lazy so I'm going to plagiarize a bit from him.
Mardi Gras from Elder Porters perspective
The parade begins, and there are massive floats! amazing bands! people flooding the streets! throughout the parade everybody floods the entire streets, there is absolutely no order, just get out of the way of the float as it passes by.
So the second parade was also a very big parade for the city. It was the Rex parade. Where every float is a different Greek God. They all had their individual special beads. This was a white people float so it didn't compare to the black float at all.....Black people know how to throw a party! this parade wasn't as interesting more or less we were simply standing in the mud of the streets, soaking wet and only getting excited for the good stuff. ha The costumes of this parade were also really sweet!
The final parade was the truck parade! i would have loved this one if the weather wasn't so bad! by the time this parade arrived it was down pouring rain we were extremely wet, and very very cold. so we didn't finish this parade. This parade was only diesel Tractor trailer trucks one after another railing on the horn! back to back full of people on the floats ready to throw beads, this parade lasted forever! we wish we could have stayed longer but it was just too cold to stay for all of it.
Some interesting facts about Mardi Gras. Parades have been going for the passed couple of weeks now, today was the big parades and they began at 8:00 this morning with Zulu, and it will end tonight at precisely midnight so the rest of the town can get some sleep and begin their 40 day fasts of lent! For tomorrow is Ash Wednesday for Catholics.
So, ya you get the idea I am not a huge fan of the crowds but since I was there I decided I might as well make the best of it. And now I'm just writing these emails and getting prepped for Transfer meeting tomorrow to meet my new companion.
Love Elder Smith
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)