Hey Y'all!
This week was pretty awesome and really crazy. A good chunk of it had to do with two families we met this week! the way we met them was after leaving B's (which already was late . . . 935) we were walking around to the front of the house. (he lives in the back of a shotgun house which he is kind of the caretaker for the two main parts of the house are rented to people visiting new orleans) so we were almost to the front and we hear some squeals saying elders elders! we get to the front and see three young women and two adult women unpacking an suv. They tell us we have to share a spritual thought with them and then one of the moms leans over and tells us they were scared that some bad stuff had happened in their half of the building (namely voodoo) so we went in their home and talked for a bit and shared our testimonies with them and prayed for them before we left. They were really grateful and we left probably an hour later (so now its 1035) we get home talk to the other Elders for a bit about what happened and crashed. Well they gave us some money to go out to eat so the next day we are at the restaurant because we are meeting them there. one of the waitresses comes over and asks us if we are missionaries and asks if one of us is from Wyoming. she talked to us about living in Jackson for a couple years and really loved it. then a few minutes later another waitress asks if we have a Jesus pass along card because she used to keep one in her car. we didn't but promised to give her one before she got off work. well it turns out she used to live in Baton Rouge and met with the missionaries before because her friend was a Rotolo. (back in slaughter the ward next to ours that was in our district called pride was where the rotolos lived the father is now in the stake presidency) so that was all crazy and not something that happens when we eat somewhere usually people just try to avoid us haha. so after we get done eating we walk to the back room where the team was (ok i forgot to mention they were in New Orleans for a volleyball competition) and only the girls we met the night before were members so about 10 other girls were there and their parents and coaches we just introduced ourselves and kind of talked about what we did and then left. the next day Stacy calls us in the morning (she is the mom in the picture) and asks us to give one of the assistant coaches a blessing because he skipped his dialysis. He was in lots of pain and wasn't sure if he was going to be able to make it home. So we gave him a blessing and he pretty much balled the whole time. he was a big tongan or samoan guy and afterwards just immediately got his energy back. He made it home safe and everything went good. well as we were leaving the convention center a few members who were there stopped us and asked us what we were up to haha they were kind of giggling (they were also Islanders so they always are laughing super loud and joking) (haha they asked if we were public contacting haha at the volleyball tournament . . . two young men at a building with a bunch of young women) a little awkward. well they gave us some money for dinner as well. then saturday stacey asks if we can give them the sacrament before they leave because their flight leaves during church so we bike to their apartment at 6:45 in the morning to do the sacrament and pray that they will be peaceful flying home. We find out the the mom has anxiety (not Stacey) the other mom and she was the one flying home then and her daughter was also leaving early by herself so she was super nervous. so anywho it was just crazy how it all worked out and definitely wasn't a coincidence that we met and that everything that happened happened.

PS Stacy also grew up in Garden City (bear lake) so I talked to her a lot about the road from Evanston to Logan and getting smoothies and stuff.

PPS also they talked to B a lot which I'm sure helped him since we are getting him moving along back to being active.

also we got D moved out to the east and thats a relief her niece A is going to be baptized in two weeks. So all in all a good busy week full of little miracles!
Love Elder Smith