Dear Ya'll
Last Thursday we visited a few less actives and then got a text from one of our investigators about doing service for her in the next couple of days. It should be a good time doing service for her because as far as teaching the lessons to her she has been a bit stubborn and after service she usually is more open to what we teach. On Friday we ended up doing service for her, planting a little garden on the side of her house. She planted peppers that she wants to make salsa out of, so Im glad that its going to take a while to grow because I don't know If I would be able to handle so much heat :-)) Saturday, we went to Brother Huttons house, to dig a ditch, to tie the sewer line into a shed, he has in the back of his house. I was thinking that it was going to take a day to dig but thankfully the soil here is much easier to dig compared to what it is like back west. No rocks, or hard clay, just lots of brown squishy soil. So, we got everything finished in about an hour. Sunday was a pretty crazy day. It has been getting much warmer so riding to the church has been unpleasant to say the least. But, at church, we were surprised to have one of our investigators come that we had been doing the garden for and also Anthony received the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained to the office of a Priest! He is going to start working on getting his patriarchal blessing soon and hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can go to the temple with him to do some baptisms. Umm, we had a visitor at church from Russia which was exciting :) and then a few hours later we were told that someone had just moved into our area who had been born in Russia So, just a lot of Russia the past few days it seems. Sunday night we got a text from Randy Sessum (less active) telling us he was in the hospital and would like a blessing. He is worried that he might have cancer, so we are praying that he doesn't.  It made me realize that there are other reasons we see these people and it might not be for what we think. Im sure that this trial he is facing right now will put some increased direction and focus to his life.
This week in my studies of Preach My Gospel I learned about the importance of Covenants and that as a missionary I need to focus on leading people to make and keep covenants. Whether that be members appreciating the sacrament and their baptism covenants or investigators entering the waters of baptism and beginning that new journey. I am so glad that I have been able to make covenants with my Heavenly Father and that I have the promise that as long as I do what I'm promised he will grant me Eternal life with him! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week because I have!
Love Elder Smith