Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Dear Family/ Friends,
This was kind of an interesting week. It felt like I was on a roller coaster, going up, then down, then jerked sideways, through a loop. and now its started to slow down again. The first thing I really remember this week was going to do some service for Mary on Tuesday. We mowed her lawn, picked up some trash, and did a lot of gardening. After we were done at Mary's we got a ride with them to the church and spent the rest of the night doing family history. On Wednesday we just did out regular thing, but Thursday is when things started to pick up. We started out with district meeting and then after we went to an assisted living home to do some service. We went around inviting people to the activity room and once everyone got settled we sang a few hymns and had a little bible study with them. It was pretty fun and they all really loved us being there. They asked us if we could come back, so hopefully we can do that again. After that we started our exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Helie came with me to Kenner while Elder Mills went to Metairie. The first thing we did on exchanges was try to go see Anthony. He had a sign on his door that said "LDS members: I no longer want to be a member please don't call or knock on my door, thank you, Anthony Ardillo" So, that was pretty disappointing. We rode our bikes around for a little bit and then finally after about an hour we went to see Mary. We reminded her about the crawfish boil and talked about being born again. The Sisters had a baptism that night so we quickly rode to the church to begin to fill up the font. We got the water going and an hour later checked the temperature and turned off the water. The baptism was planned to be at seven, but our ward mission leader, who was the one doing the baptism, didn't show up until about twenty after, after he came out of the bathroom he walked over to us and with a worried look on his face held his hands out showing us that there was only about a foot and a half of water in the font. We had no idea what happened and at this point it was already 7:30. We turned the water back on and after 15 minutes we just decided to start. So the program began and when we were ready to perform the ordinance we opened the doors to see that the water was again about a foot and a half, Bro Blair just went for it and miraculously it only took him too dunks to get him all the way under. Everyone was pretty impressed. After it was all done we watched the Testaments with a recent convert and her kids. A man from Benin Africa came in and watched some of the movie with us. I showed him my scripture case and asked him if he had kente in Benin. He said no, but we talked about fufu and just Africa in general. He said he really enjoyed the movie and said that he had never seen the life of Christ portrayed that way. He has come to church a few times but the members that were his friends just moved to Florida so we will see what happens. On Friday, the exchanges continued pretty normal. Me and Elder Mills spent Saturday morning at the temple which was a really needed uplifting day and then went to the crawfish boil that night. This morning, we went on a two hour bike ride that was mission wide. It was just for President and Sister Wall before they leave. We all had the same shirts and just rode around as districts. It was pretty fun! So, thats pretty much all that happened this week. I love yall and hope the weather wherever you are isn't as miserable as it is here :)
Love Elder Smith
This was kind of an interesting week. It felt like I was on a roller coaster, going up, then down, then jerked sideways, through a loop. and now its started to slow down again. The first thing I really remember this week was going to do some service for Mary on Tuesday. We mowed her lawn, picked up some trash, and did a lot of gardening. After we were done at Mary's we got a ride with them to the church and spent the rest of the night doing family history. On Wednesday we just did out regular thing, but Thursday is when things started to pick up. We started out with district meeting and then after we went to an assisted living home to do some service. We went around inviting people to the activity room and once everyone got settled we sang a few hymns and had a little bible study with them. It was pretty fun and they all really loved us being there. They asked us if we could come back, so hopefully we can do that again. After that we started our exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Helie came with me to Kenner while Elder Mills went to Metairie. The first thing we did on exchanges was try to go see Anthony. He had a sign on his door that said "LDS members: I no longer want to be a member please don't call or knock on my door, thank you, Anthony Ardillo" So, that was pretty disappointing. We rode our bikes around for a little bit and then finally after about an hour we went to see Mary. We reminded her about the crawfish boil and talked about being born again. The Sisters had a baptism that night so we quickly rode to the church to begin to fill up the font. We got the water going and an hour later checked the temperature and turned off the water. The baptism was planned to be at seven, but our ward mission leader, who was the one doing the baptism, didn't show up until about twenty after, after he came out of the bathroom he walked over to us and with a worried look on his face held his hands out showing us that there was only about a foot and a half of water in the font. We had no idea what happened and at this point it was already 7:30. We turned the water back on and after 15 minutes we just decided to start. So the program began and when we were ready to perform the ordinance we opened the doors to see that the water was again about a foot and a half, Bro Blair just went for it and miraculously it only took him too dunks to get him all the way under. Everyone was pretty impressed. After it was all done we watched the Testaments with a recent convert and her kids. A man from Benin Africa came in and watched some of the movie with us. I showed him my scripture case and asked him if he had kente in Benin. He said no, but we talked about fufu and just Africa in general. He said he really enjoyed the movie and said that he had never seen the life of Christ portrayed that way. He has come to church a few times but the members that were his friends just moved to Florida so we will see what happens. On Friday, the exchanges continued pretty normal. Me and Elder Mills spent Saturday morning at the temple which was a really needed uplifting day and then went to the crawfish boil that night. This morning, we went on a two hour bike ride that was mission wide. It was just for President and Sister Wall before they leave. We all had the same shirts and just rode around as districts. It was pretty fun! So, thats pretty much all that happened this week. I love yall and hope the weather wherever you are isn't as miserable as it is here :)
Love Elder Smith
Monday, June 16, 2014
Story and more
Instead of giving yall an update on the week I figured I break the monotony and write a joke that I heard this week. Forgive me if it's lame.
I've been pretty excited to be able to do so much family research and to be able to find names of people in the family that I can take to the temple. We have a temple trip this weekend, so I was hoping that I could take one of the names to do the endowment but it looks like I won't be able to until Garrett does the baptism and other ordinances. We did some service this week for Mary and apparently we didn't quite do a good enough job. She got pretty upset and had just all sorts of snarky comments. I have seen her be this way with other people (she is the type that no matter what she sends her food back at a restaurant because "something" isn't right. I honestly had a hard time not getting frustrated because the lawn looked just fine. At the end of the time we were there I just had to swallow my pride and act like she was right. Now that I think about it its kind of funny bt in the moment it was pretty easy for me to get all upset. So hopefully I don't have another test of my patience like that again. Other than that things have been going pretty good. We had a lesson last night with three guys that some of the summer members referred to us. Hopefully we can teach them again and keep getting people to teach. I realized last night that it was the first time that a member has ever invited us to teach someone that they knew. So hopefully it keeps up because I know that it's the best way to help people become converted.
The Three Degrees of Hell
So just like in Heaven there are three degrees or levels in Hell. And there was a man who was so wicked and evil that he ended up going there. He dies and his spirit is welcomed to Hell by the Devil. The Devil looks pretty excited and notifies the man that he has three choices of where he can spend the rest of his time. The man looks around and notices that there are three different doors that he can choose from. The man asks Satan if he can first just look and see what each door contains before he goes in. Satan agrees. As the man approaches door number one he already notices a huge increase in the temperature. He grabs the handle and quickly opens the door before his hand gets burnt too bad. In that instant a cloud of sulfurous fumes billow through the opening. This place clearly has the most known qualities of Hell. There are pools of molten rock, great massive bonfires, and an ever present and seemingly increasing level of heat. He also notices that there are not too many people in this door so assumes it isnt a great choice and moves on. (The man also lived in Greenland so never really had a great love for the heat). He promptly shuts the door and takes a few steps to the left to investigate the next door. At first glance he notices a tiny icicle hanging from the doorknob and automatically understand what lies behind it. And just like he figured this door was the exact opposite of the door just previous. He sees even fewer people behind this door and also notices the lack of shelter from the bitter wind, instead of pools of lava there are unavoidable pools of liquid nitrogen that freeze instantly, now this man had lived in the cold before so was not too worried about the effects of these drastic temperatures. He is almost sure that he has made up his mind when he is tapped on the shoulder by the Devil and reminded of the next door. His curiosity gets the best of him and he moves on to see the last door. This time as he approaches the door he notices a loud noise which sounds like a mad storm of bees. The door is opened and this time he sees a massive crowd of people smiling and talking earnestly with everyone around them. They seem pretty happy and the only bad thing about this place is the waist level pool of sewage that everyone is milling around in. (and of course the putrid smell) The man figures he can plug his nose or just breath from his mouth instead and thinks that this door is just the thing for him. Everyone seems pretty happy anyway so it must be a good place. The man turns to Satan and tells him that his choice has been made. A devious smile barely creeps onto the Devil's face as he nods him into the room. The man enters the room and begins a conversation with a portly fellow about the obvious flaw in Satans plan. The portly man just smiles and nods since he notices the red alarm has lit up signifying an announcement. Instantly everyones smile fades into the most horrid visage that one would only expect from Satan himself. The guttural voice of Lucifer sounds over the speakers and says "Alright everyone, breaks over, back on your heads!"
Lesson these people never learned.... Dont follow the crowd
So just like in Heaven there are three degrees or levels in Hell. And there was a man who was so wicked and evil that he ended up going there. He dies and his spirit is welcomed to Hell by the Devil. The Devil looks pretty excited and notifies the man that he has three choices of where he can spend the rest of his time. The man looks around and notices that there are three different doors that he can choose from. The man asks Satan if he can first just look and see what each door contains before he goes in. Satan agrees. As the man approaches door number one he already notices a huge increase in the temperature. He grabs the handle and quickly opens the door before his hand gets burnt too bad. In that instant a cloud of sulfurous fumes billow through the opening. This place clearly has the most known qualities of Hell. There are pools of molten rock, great massive bonfires, and an ever present and seemingly increasing level of heat. He also notices that there are not too many people in this door so assumes it isnt a great choice and moves on. (The man also lived in Greenland so never really had a great love for the heat). He promptly shuts the door and takes a few steps to the left to investigate the next door. At first glance he notices a tiny icicle hanging from the doorknob and automatically understand what lies behind it. And just like he figured this door was the exact opposite of the door just previous. He sees even fewer people behind this door and also notices the lack of shelter from the bitter wind, instead of pools of lava there are unavoidable pools of liquid nitrogen that freeze instantly, now this man had lived in the cold before so was not too worried about the effects of these drastic temperatures. He is almost sure that he has made up his mind when he is tapped on the shoulder by the Devil and reminded of the next door. His curiosity gets the best of him and he moves on to see the last door. This time as he approaches the door he notices a loud noise which sounds like a mad storm of bees. The door is opened and this time he sees a massive crowd of people smiling and talking earnestly with everyone around them. They seem pretty happy and the only bad thing about this place is the waist level pool of sewage that everyone is milling around in. (and of course the putrid smell) The man figures he can plug his nose or just breath from his mouth instead and thinks that this door is just the thing for him. Everyone seems pretty happy anyway so it must be a good place. The man turns to Satan and tells him that his choice has been made. A devious smile barely creeps onto the Devil's face as he nods him into the room. The man enters the room and begins a conversation with a portly fellow about the obvious flaw in Satans plan. The portly man just smiles and nods since he notices the red alarm has lit up signifying an announcement. Instantly everyones smile fades into the most horrid visage that one would only expect from Satan himself. The guttural voice of Lucifer sounds over the speakers and says "Alright everyone, breaks over, back on your heads!"
Lesson these people never learned.... Dont follow the crowd
Love Elder Smith
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Family History Work
Dear Family,
So, this week I saw several miracles. The first has to do with family history. The past few months, starting in March I have been working on trying to find parents to Matthew Smith one of our direct ancestors. I thought that I had found the correct parents quite a while ago so, had spent the rest of my time branching off from there. I came to find out a few weeks ago that I had made a mistake at the very beginning of my search. I was pretty upset. I had spent months researching and updating that part of the tree, adding sources, merging copies, and typing out info. So, I gave up for a few weeks. Until I read the First Presidency message for the month. President Monson says "The Lord expects you and me to perform our family history work well. I think the first thing we must do if we are to perform our work well is to have the Spirit of our Heavenly Father with us. When we live as righteously as we know how to live, He will open the way for the fulfillment of the blessings that so earnestly and diligently we seek.
We are going to make mistakes, but none of us can become an expert in family history work without first being a novice. Therefore, we must plunge into this work, and we must prepare for some uphill climbing. This is not an easy task, but the Lord has placed it upon you, and He has placed it upon me.
As you pursue family history work, you are going to find yourself running into roadblocks, and you are going to say to yourself, “There is nothing else I can do.” When you come to that point, get down on your knees and ask the Lord to open the way, and He will open the way for you. I testify that this is true." If this wasn't a little personal prophetic epistle I don't know what would be. So, I tried it out. I got on my knees and asked for some help because I had run into a roadblock. So, the next day I went to work searching again. For a few days I seemed to be just pouring over the same records that I had gotten so familiar with to no avail. Until just a couple of days ago. One day after leaving the library I looked to my left and saw that the man next to me was using ancestry.com for some research of his own. I asked him a few questions about his research gave him a familysearch.org card and then he told us he knew who we were because some of his children were "Mormons" so we asked if we could come and teach him more.. he refused but as we were about to leave I noticed that he had been logged into ancestry under the "Jefferson Parish Library" I found out that the library that we go to every single day has complete access to ancestry unlike the Family History Centers limited access. The next day I logged into the account and found the correct parents. It was pretty exciting! So, I know that one of the principles President Monson was trying to teach us was that when we hit roadblocks in our lives that we just need to KNEEL down and pray and ask for help. There is something powerful about kneeling prayers. So, I know that God does indeed answer prayers and that when we are given a promise by the Prophet that it will certainly happen as long as we do what he says.
Love, Elder Smith
So, this week I saw several miracles. The first has to do with family history. The past few months, starting in March I have been working on trying to find parents to Matthew Smith one of our direct ancestors. I thought that I had found the correct parents quite a while ago so, had spent the rest of my time branching off from there. I came to find out a few weeks ago that I had made a mistake at the very beginning of my search. I was pretty upset. I had spent months researching and updating that part of the tree, adding sources, merging copies, and typing out info. So, I gave up for a few weeks. Until I read the First Presidency message for the month. President Monson says "The Lord expects you and me to perform our family history work well. I think the first thing we must do if we are to perform our work well is to have the Spirit of our Heavenly Father with us. When we live as righteously as we know how to live, He will open the way for the fulfillment of the blessings that so earnestly and diligently we seek.
We are going to make mistakes, but none of us can become an expert in family history work without first being a novice. Therefore, we must plunge into this work, and we must prepare for some uphill climbing. This is not an easy task, but the Lord has placed it upon you, and He has placed it upon me.
As you pursue family history work, you are going to find yourself running into roadblocks, and you are going to say to yourself, “There is nothing else I can do.” When you come to that point, get down on your knees and ask the Lord to open the way, and He will open the way for you. I testify that this is true." If this wasn't a little personal prophetic epistle I don't know what would be. So, I tried it out. I got on my knees and asked for some help because I had run into a roadblock. So, the next day I went to work searching again. For a few days I seemed to be just pouring over the same records that I had gotten so familiar with to no avail. Until just a couple of days ago. One day after leaving the library I looked to my left and saw that the man next to me was using ancestry.com for some research of his own. I asked him a few questions about his research gave him a familysearch.org card and then he told us he knew who we were because some of his children were "Mormons" so we asked if we could come and teach him more.. he refused but as we were about to leave I noticed that he had been logged into ancestry under the "Jefferson Parish Library" I found out that the library that we go to every single day has complete access to ancestry unlike the Family History Centers limited access. The next day I logged into the account and found the correct parents. It was pretty exciting! So, I know that one of the principles President Monson was trying to teach us was that when we hit roadblocks in our lives that we just need to KNEEL down and pray and ask for help. There is something powerful about kneeling prayers. So, I know that God does indeed answer prayers and that when we are given a promise by the Prophet that it will certainly happen as long as we do what he says.
Love, Elder Smith
Monday, June 2, 2014
E
District leader
I'll be staying in Kenner for another transfer for a grand total of at least 10 months. I was pretty glad about it in the end but I have started to feel like I have been here for an incredibly long time. I'm thinking that I will leave Kenner either at the end of this transfer or the one following. President made me district leader in the area over here and thats really the only news for this week. It was really rainy this week and pretty much has rained non stop since wednesday.We were given another long lecture this week about how horrible of a guy Mitt Romney was and just how silly republicans and how intelligent and powerful the democrats are. I was hoping to only spend like 30 mins at the guys house but I think he ended up talking for like 90 minutes straight. It was pretty exhausting. This past week we have been helping one of our investigators, Mary, with some odd jobs around her house. On Tuesday we worked with another set of Elders in leveling a shed, Thursday we did some yard work for her, and then yesterday we helped level the next corner of her shed and also level a corner of her deck. I have been reading a lot this week and just about have "The Promised Messiah" all finished up. Its been really good I learned a lot about ordinances and their purpose. Yesterday we watched the "Fires of Faith" with one of our members. Dad I think you were talking about it a few years ago... Anyway we watched part 1 and it was really great. It made me really appreciate the Bible more and gave me a few insights into some things about the translation. One thing that occured to me was that God intended the Bible to be read by everyone and not just the religious elite. Therefore it mostly should be easy to understand and it should be taken literally. Such as Jesus literally being the Only Begotten of the Father and other things like that. I mean its supposed to be simple and the only reason some parts of it are so confusing is change in times and errors in translations. The reformation to me is also further proof of the apostasy of the early Christian church so I know that either Joseph was the Prophet of the Restoration or everything is bunk. But I know he was so ya ! haha I hope you have a great week!
Love Elder Smith
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