Friday, September 25, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Hi Family
It's been a really good week. It was kind of hard though because there have been a lot of goodbyes. I was in Chalmette on exchanges so I was able to see Dreka and Azareeyah. and say good bye to them. We then went on exchanges to Kenner and I got a call from Mary, that was a surprise, she is so funny, I'm really going to miss a lot of the people. I'm excited to be coming home too!
Love Jeff
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Everything has been really good. My companion is Elder Baker who is from Connecticut. We don't have a car so for the last few weeks I'm going to be on a bike. I'm in a branch so that is good. most of the people here are actually from Louisiana so thats a good change too. Elder Jones has a year and a half left on his mission. He goes home in two decembers. We had a day where we went crabbing so that was a ton of fun. We ended up catching over 200 hundred crabs and then we had a crab boil for the branch. It"s crazy how fast the time has been going these past few weeks. We got a surprise on Saturday night, we were asked to speak at church in the morning. My companion was really nervous and didn't prepare anything. In the middle of his talk the branch president stood up and just kind of interviewed him on the pulpit to take up more time (it was just me and my companion speaking). We got fed last night so that was good. It's hard to believe I only have two weeks left, it's going to go by so fast. This week I'm going to be on exchanges so that will make things fast and the last week I'll have to send all my stuff home its going to be really weird. To be honest it hasn't really hit me yet. Grandma looked like she was in a lot of pain I sure hope she is doing better. Please tell all the family hi for me. I'm getting excited to see y'all.
Love Jeff
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Sorry it took so long to let y'all know what happened for transfers, it's been pretty crazy! The baptism went great this weekend. So, in short I got transferred to the West Bank area in New Orleans! Just across the river. I got doubled into the area with Elder Baker. I'm in the same district and everything. We showed up to the apartment on Wednesday night and realized we didn't have power. So, we stayed the night at the spanish elders apartment. We got power the next evening but now it's fridge duty. Just imagine a fridge left in the Louisiana heat for a month and a half! Its pretty nasty. We are going crabbing tomorrow with the New Orleans ward and having a crab boil to celebrate Pioneer day. It should be a ton of fun!
my new address is
500 Wall Blvd Apt. 246
my new address is
500 Wall Blvd Apt. 246
Gretna LA 70056
Love Jeff!
Love Jeff!
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Dear Family
Wish Grandma and Grandpa a happy anniversary! speaking of Grandma and Grandpa I met a guy from Casper a few weeks ago and he said he was going to go see how they were doing. Transfers are next week, so I have at least a week and a half left in New Orleans. I'm really hoping that I get to stay here with Elder Jones for the last few weeks. I don't know if I ever told you but the Book of Mormon that you gave me was given to a 9 year old girl a few weeks ago and now this saturday she is going to be baptized. She has been waiting ever since her aunt was baptized back in May so she is really excited. We are all really excited too. We had exchanges this week and while I was gone Elder Jones and Elder Fifita found a new family in our area. We have been teaching them some more this week and they are really excited about the lessons. They weren't able to make it to church this week because of work but hopefully they will be able to start coming every week soon. Other than that things are going good and its only getting hotter here. This last month and a half is going to be fun! :) thanks for everything!
Love Jeff
Wish Grandma and Grandpa a happy anniversary! speaking of Grandma and Grandpa I met a guy from Casper a few weeks ago and he said he was going to go see how they were doing. Transfers are next week, so I have at least a week and a half left in New Orleans. I'm really hoping that I get to stay here with Elder Jones for the last few weeks. I don't know if I ever told you but the Book of Mormon that you gave me was given to a 9 year old girl a few weeks ago and now this saturday she is going to be baptized. She has been waiting ever since her aunt was baptized back in May so she is really excited. We are all really excited too. We had exchanges this week and while I was gone Elder Jones and Elder Fifita found a new family in our area. We have been teaching them some more this week and they are really excited about the lessons. They weren't able to make it to church this week because of work but hopefully they will be able to start coming every week soon. Other than that things are going good and its only getting hotter here. This last month and a half is going to be fun! :) thanks for everything!
Love Jeff
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Hi Mom,
This week has been pretty good. Elder Jean Louis had to have surgery on Wednesday, so for the week, my companion Elder Jones went with him to the mission home, in Baton Rouge, to get all healed up. I was with Elder Mills which was a really good time. I have been trying to get a hold of B. to see how he is doing but he has been out of comission for some reason. We haven't heard from him for quite some time. He said he was going to visit his family in Northern Louisiana but that was over a week ago. Hopefully his family is doing alright. Well most of all this week we just contacted a lot of less actives that we haven't been able to see since we were in the truck. We have been teaching A. some more and got her baptism date set for the 18th of July. so that will be really good. Our fourth of July was pretty alright, we didn't get invited by any members so we went to a place to get hotdogs and then watched the fireworks in Algiers. the funny thing was that Evanston's fireworks are honestly a lot better. I'm going to be going on an exchange with some Elders in my district so I'll be spending a couple of days in Chalmette. they have a car so that is perfect haha. Mom tell everyone hi and I love them!
Love Jeff
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
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
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
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Dear Family,
It's been a pretty fun week this week so ill let you know what's been going on. First off we were thinking that we were going to spend a good time of our week helping a member move into her new apartment but she got sick this week and so we didn't do anything. Instead we went to her Mom's house everyday and taught her and her niece. It's kind of fun teaching a really young person just because she is so willing to accept everything we teach. We watched the Restoration video with each of them and as we watched the part of the first vision she kept saying, "Its so Beautiful!" that was just super funny, just saying girly things. So, we have just been trying to get her to understand principles like what a prophet is and what the Priesthood is. Then we ask their mother to explain things and I'm surprised at what she remembers. The mother, I think sometime plays like she doesn't get things but deep down she is really focused because she knows how important it all is. The one member that is going to be moving in a few days or maybe weeks, won't be with her niece anymore. Once that all settles we are going to figure out if the neice can be baptized. Her mom is ok with us teaching her and everything but I don't know how supportive she will be for rides and just helping with the little things like prayer and scripture study. That's something we really need to get a plan for. A funny story from this week, would be, when we were going home after teaching the two of them. Elder Jones and I hadn't eaten all day so he decided to buy us some chicken. On the way home he bought a ten piece bucket and once we got it we raced home. It had just been raining, so we didn't want to get everything all soaked. When we got home and open the box we realize that they gave us 3 extra pieces of chicken and an extra biscuit. Elder Jones wa really excited because he had used all his money to buy us lunch. So we started eating all the chicken and biscuits, spent a few minutes resting and then went to see a less active. As soon as we walked in the door he asked us if we ate chicken and then asked if it was from Church's haha, We must have really stunk, if he could even tell what place the chicken came from. so that was pretty funny. Speaking of him we have been able to see him more often and he asked us to remind him to read his scriptures everyday. We have all committed to study the Book of Mormon searching for a particular precept.
Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
So I chose to study looking for gratitude, Elder Jones picked charity, and Benjamin picked peace. Its been great to see just how grateful the Prophets are in the Book of Mormon and to see what they are grateful for. I have learned a lot, and it hasn't even been very long. This week we are excited to see everyone again and to just really enjoy the heating up summer . . . not really (well just the heating up we actually are really excited to see everyone again). Well I love and miss everybody!
Love, Elder Smith
It's been a pretty fun week this week so ill let you know what's been going on. First off we were thinking that we were going to spend a good time of our week helping a member move into her new apartment but she got sick this week and so we didn't do anything. Instead we went to her Mom's house everyday and taught her and her niece. It's kind of fun teaching a really young person just because she is so willing to accept everything we teach. We watched the Restoration video with each of them and as we watched the part of the first vision she kept saying, "Its so Beautiful!" that was just super funny, just saying girly things. So, we have just been trying to get her to understand principles like what a prophet is and what the Priesthood is. Then we ask their mother to explain things and I'm surprised at what she remembers. The mother, I think sometime plays like she doesn't get things but deep down she is really focused because she knows how important it all is. The one member that is going to be moving in a few days or maybe weeks, won't be with her niece anymore. Once that all settles we are going to figure out if the neice can be baptized. Her mom is ok with us teaching her and everything but I don't know how supportive she will be for rides and just helping with the little things like prayer and scripture study. That's something we really need to get a plan for. A funny story from this week, would be, when we were going home after teaching the two of them. Elder Jones and I hadn't eaten all day so he decided to buy us some chicken. On the way home he bought a ten piece bucket and once we got it we raced home. It had just been raining, so we didn't want to get everything all soaked. When we got home and open the box we realize that they gave us 3 extra pieces of chicken and an extra biscuit. Elder Jones wa really excited because he had used all his money to buy us lunch. So we started eating all the chicken and biscuits, spent a few minutes resting and then went to see a less active. As soon as we walked in the door he asked us if we ate chicken and then asked if it was from Church's haha, We must have really stunk, if he could even tell what place the chicken came from. so that was pretty funny. Speaking of him we have been able to see him more often and he asked us to remind him to read his scriptures everyday. We have all committed to study the Book of Mormon searching for a particular precept.
Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
So I chose to study looking for gratitude, Elder Jones picked charity, and Benjamin picked peace. Its been great to see just how grateful the Prophets are in the Book of Mormon and to see what they are grateful for. I have learned a lot, and it hasn't even been very long. This week we are excited to see everyone again and to just really enjoy the heating up summer . . . not really (well just the heating up we actually are really excited to see everyone again). Well I love and miss everybody!
Love, Elder Smith
Thursday, June 11, 2015
It's been a pretty busy week for us. We have been helping the new convert a lot so that took up pretty much all of our time. We spent one day helping her deep clean her new apartment, then two days painting, and another day helping her get moved in. We haven't finished it all so we will be doing that this week. It will be good to have it all done. It looks like the weather here is going to be pretty rainy all week. It looks like it's definitely going to storm today, its pretty dark outside. We've had a lot of rain the last few weeks. There was a lady that fed us last night and she was so nice to us. She fed us a really good dinner and then while we ate, she cooked another meal for us to take home. Then she pretty much grabbed everything out of her fridge to give us! She is going to feed us every Sunday and she always gives us a ton of food. When I meet people like that it makes things not so bad because I know there are just good people out there! The news for this week is that both my companion and I aren't getting transferred, so it will be another 6 weeks in downtown New Orleans. We have some good plans for this new transfer so it should be really good.
Love,
Elder Smith
Love,
Elder Smith
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
The weather has been pretty crazy. We have had some pretty good rainstorms but they generally have not lasted very long, but now it's pretty much just hot and humid. I'm on exchanges right now so it's fun to be in a different area for the day. I dont know what time Kaytlin flies in yet but I'll make sure to ask her next week. I'm working on getting the pictures sent to you of the baptism, it was great and she was really excited. Also we had dinner last night with some members and Benjamin a less active guy we have been teaching. Well that's it for me this week.
Love Jeff
Love Jeff
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Hey Mom
This week was pretty darn good. We got back in contact our investigator and she had her interview with President Hansen so she is cleared to get baptized this week! We were really excited and so is she. She has been bringing her nieces and son around a lot more and to church which has been awesome. Her nieces are 9 and 3 her son is 5. They are a ton of fun. I owe the 9 year old some brownies though so I better get to that before she gets mad. You asked about speaking in church which was a bit funny because I happened to speak in church this Sunday. I was asked to speak about the most important thing I have learned on my mission. So, I spoke about the importance of serving others.
I can't believe Kaytlin only has 3 weeks left. I think she is pretty excited but also is really going to miss the mission field. I think these past few months have been the best time for her on her mission. So this coming week I'll tell you more about the baptism. We'll that's pretty much it for me, things have been good and we are happy and healthy. We can't really ask for too much more except to get rid of the heat and humidity. sadly we won't be able to do anything about that :) well I love and miss you!
Love JEff
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Everything is going pretty well today. We didn't have a baptism, but that's for the best. We just felt like the ward needed to get to know her a bit better and it just didn't seem like the right weekend for it. So it's all planned and scheduled for this Saturday instead! My companion was sick most of the week so we didn't get as much accomplished as we wanted. We finally went to the urgent care yesterday and they gave him some amoxiclav for his viral infection. So, hopefully that will get it all taken care of. He still is kind of sick though. Well I'm honestly really excited about this weekend.
Love Jeff
Love Jeff
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
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