Week 93: It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Hello everyone!! I figured that since I missed emailing last week I should probably send a final one this week. It's a bit surreal to be at the end of my mission; it doesn't even feel real. At this point though, I've already shed my tears and have gotten through the sadness of finishing up the last of my missionary service, so the title of this email is fairly accurate: I'm feeling pretty fine.

Last Monday I was unable to email anyone at all because as a zone we went and hiked Mt. Rainier. It was one of the most amazing hikes I've ever been on! It was so pretty! We left at 8 in the morning and didn't get back until 5, and then we had to go and buy groceries with the remaining hour that we had left. But it was totally worth the sunburn that I got.

Since then we've continued to work with a lady named Betty. I'm not sure if I've talked about her before, but she's a single mom of two young kids. She's been amazing to work with because she's very open and wants to learn and develop her relationship with God. This Saturday we were able to give her a church tour with fellowship from the ward, and she loved the tour despite being distracted by her two little kids running around and banging on all the pianos they could find. She actually lives outside of our area, but she's moving again so we're going to keep teaching her until we can find out which missionaries to refer her to.

On Tuesday we had exchanges and so I wasn't in my own area at all that day, but I had a had time with Elder Kirkland and Elder Hodge. On Friday we had a free car wash that we were doing just to do some service and try to reach out to people in a positive way. We had made a post for it on our Facebook page, and it got over 4,000 views! It was awesome! So we had a good amount of cars that we were washing.

This Saturday we got our transfer calls, and my companion Elder Jensen is going to be training a greenie here, so he's pretty stoked about that. For me they decided to allow me to make the big transfer home. So that's where I'll be this Thursday... home. So good luck to all those still out in missions and for those who are back home, I'll see you soon. Love you all!

-Elder Smith

Week 92: Should I really still be sending these?

Hello everyone! It feels like last P-day was just yesterday, but here we are!

This week was fairly eventful. President and Sister Leishman went home, we moved to a bigger apartment, we met President and Sister Metts, we had the 4th of July to celebrate... it was a busy week.

Despite the craziness of living out of boxes for half the week, we had some good success with the area. We made some more appointments with people over the phone and we started teaching a couple more people. Mostly we're still trying to build up our area and our teaching pool so we have people to work with, but it's been pretty good. I've never really had to start an area from the ground up, so it's been cool to see things get started and how my companion and I find more joy in the smaller things that happen.

Also we got a call from some missionaries in the Oregon Eugene mission. They've been teaching a friend of their mom's who happens to live in our area and we got to drop off a Book of Mormon to her, and depending on how she progresses they'll hand her off to us to help with fellowship from the ward locally. So it's been super cool to see this happen to us.

Hope you all have a good week! Love you all!
-Elder Smith

Eating sushi at Trapper's Sushi

The district on the 4th of July

The zone with President and Sister Metts

Week ?? - it goes by too fast

Hello everyone! Sorry I didn't send an email this last week. Unfortunately this week passed by all too fast.

On Tuesday we had zone conference, except this time we got together with half of the mission at Camp Nisqually which is a church camp in the middle of the woods down near Lacey. While there we did a good amount of service and played lots of games to get to know each other. Then at the very end we had sort of a testimony meeting thing. All of the departing missionaries (including me) had to give their final testimony. It was also a goodbye to President and Sister Leishman. They are leaving for home today, and we're getting President and Sister Metts today. So it was really good to get a chance to be with President and Sister Leishman one last time before they left. Then this Sunday President had a group final interview with all of us departing missionaries. He just gave the advice he gives to everyone who goes home, but he did it in a group since he didn't have much time and President Metts was going to give us our real final interviews. So I'm pretty grateful to have been able to get great advice from two amazing mission presidents instead of just one.

Another thing that's been pretty great is that we finally got to teach our first nonmember lesson this weekend! Since we doubled in it's been a little tough to get started and everyone keeps rescheduling on us. But we were able to teach this guy named Eric. He's super awesome! It was a little tough since his beliefs make it difficult to teach, but he's super open. By the end of that lesson we felt amazing. We were able to teach with the Spirit so that we were able to notice a small change in him by the end of it. So we'll be meeting with him again this weekend. Also he is really good friends with a member who's a returned missionary, and he helped us out so much with relating to him and helping him understand things.

Despite the difficulties of starting all over again in a new area, we're actually doing pretty well, and we've been seeing lots of success in the zone as well. That's it for this week. Love you!

-Elder Smith

Losing our frisbee in Bradley Lake

Camp Nisqually with President and Sister Leishman

Cool view of Mt. Rainier

Week 89

Hello everyone! This week has been kind of crazy!

Transfers happened on Wednesday, but my companion's flight wasn't until Thursday, so I just had to hang out with some other missionaries for the day until I was able to pick up my companion, Elder Caleb Jensen. He's from Bountiful, Utah and served in the Brazil Porto Alegre North mission for 7 months. Since then, things have been pretty fun, but also challenging. It's been hard to go to a new area without anyone there who knows what's going on, so we've just been trying to figure it all out. This next week should go by a bit smoother though since we were able to call some people and schedule some lessons. 

Hope everyone is doing well! Love you!

-Elder Smith

Week 88

Hello everyone!! This week was kind of crazy. A lot happened.

To start, on Monday night we were able to baptize Sheri Kurzynski, and she shared her conversion story with everyone who joined the zoom meeting/call/thing. It was incredible! She told us that when she was in middle school one of her friends gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, but she never did anything with it. She held onto it for years and never got rid of it. Nearly 40 years later she moves again and as she's moving it comes up again. She decided to start reading it, and as she did she told us that she felt an urging in her spirit to know more about it. So she turned to a friend of hers who was able to teach her and helped her to start living the gospel. And that's when she referred herself to us. We didn't have to do a whole lot other than help her to reach her goal of being baptized June 1st. It was amazing.

On Wednesday we picked up our newly reassigned missionaries, Elder Christensen and Elder Berthold. They have been so amazing, and we've had so much fun together these past few days. Unfortunately, we got transfer calls on Saturday and we're going to be split up. Elder Christensen is going to another ward in the stake, and I'll be going down to the Bradley Lake ward in South Hill. I'll be getting another reassigned missionary named Elder Jensen. It'll definitely be interesting to get doubled in and white wash the area. I'm not really sure what to expect, but it's my last transfer so I'm going to do what I can to make it the best . But that's it for this week! I love you all, and I hope you are all doing great!
-Elder Smith

Pictures:
- The zone together for lunch and church
- The companionship for a single week
- The baptism

Week 87

Hello everyone!! This week was pretty good. It really flew by! We mostly just had a standard week without any major things happening, so we mostly were just making calls to members and investigators and making posts for the Facebook page (Which you should all check out by the way).

We did a good amount of service this week. We got to mow someone's lawn, trim another person's hedge, and split wood for someone else. It was really nice to be able to get outside in the sunshine to do some yard work instead of being cooped up inside the apartment.

This week we were able to continue to work with Sheri. We taught her a few more lessons, gave her a virtual church tour, and introduced her to more members of the ward. And tonight she's going to be baptized!! Everything has just gone so smoothly with her. We hardly had to worry about anything! So there'll be pictures next week.

Also we got a call on Saturday from the AP's saying that we'll be getting two reassigned missionaries on Wednesday night. They've both been out for about 6 months. One served in Ghana, and the other in Australia. We're looking forward to meeting them and welcoming them back to the mission! That's all for this week. I hope you all have a great week and stay safe with all the riots going on!

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

The lengths we go to make Facebook posts.

Week 86 - Mission Tour

Hello everyone!! This week has been really great! Somehow we've been pretty busy while still being in quarantine.

Starting on Tuesday we drove an hour down to South Hill to record Elder Johnson and another sister from the mission performing The Prayer for the Why I Believe that happened Sunday night. So we were there for 6 hours just getting audio recordings and video footage. It was pretty fun.

On Wednesday the first counselor in our mission presidency, President Winn, and his wife came to Silverdale to meet with the zone. And basically it was a cool little devotional pump up thingy where he used a little bit of an object lesson with basketball and it was about not being a quitter. So it was really great to get that pump up to keep pushing forward from within the walls of our apartments.

Thursday we drove up to Port Angeles to drop off the mail that Winns gave us for the missionaries up there, and then we also got haircuts from a sister up there who cuts hair. So that took a really long time and was really fun. It was nice to be able to see PA again.

On Friday we had a mission tour with the first counselor of the area presidency, Elder Whiting. It was a big meeting with the entire mission over the zoom app. That was probably the highlight of the week. There was a lot that he talked to us about and inspired us to do. He also gave us some assignments to memorize scriptures for each of the lesson points for each lesson, write a page on an alternate introduction to the Book of Mormon and talk about what it means to us. The last thing that he asked us to do was to do a very deep dive on one Christlike attribute while we are here in quarantine, and the attribute that I've felt impressed to work on is that of charity and love. So if anyone has any ideas on how to develop that attribute from my current situation, it would be much appreciated.

Saturday was really great. We got to have interviews with President Leishman, and I also got to mow the lawn which is something I haven't done in a very long time.

Sunday night we had the Why I Believe devotional that was really amazing. You'll all have to watch it if you didn't get a chance to. You can find it on the Facebook page that we have.

And throughout all this craziness with being so busy we had a pretty amazing miracle. Two weeks ago we got a referral to a lady named Sheri. She actually referred herself which doesn't ever really happen all that often. So this week she reached out to us again to set up an appointment with us. Then right after that happened we got a text from a Utah number. It was Sheri's member friend. He told us that he had already been teaching her the basics of the missionary lessons, that she has been living the word of wisdom for the past 2 weeks, she's been reading the Book of Mormon, and she's even started to do food storage!! It was incredible! And then on top of that he tells us that they set a goal for her to be baptized at the end of the month. It was a miracle. That's the only way to describe it. So through the week we were able to teach her a few times, introduce fellowship, and do a virtual church service with her. It's been amazing. So we're pretty excited to continue working with her for this week.

So that's the big updates from this week. Love you all!
-Elder Smith

The zone with the Winns

Week 85

Hello everyone!!

This week was really good. We had another virtual zone conference where the trainings were just pre recorded and sent to us via Facebook. We also made a few different videos for our Facebook page Come Unto Christ in Silverdale so those will probably be posted throughout the week. On Sunday we had a Facebook Live video, and so we're hoping that it will help out the page since it's been on the decline a bit lately. This next Sunday we will be having a Why I Believe devotional that will be live on all 15 of the mission's Facebook pages. So hopefully that will help things as well.

We were able to teach the Depretto family a little this week, and Rachel has been out of town the entire week. We didn't have a lot of success with reaching out to people this week. Hopefully this week will be better. Hope you all are doing well! Love you!

-Elder Smith

Pictures:
-The different ways in which we teach lessons over the phone
-Recording stuff for Facebook
-Exchanges with P12KBI (Poulsbo 1st and 2nd, Kingston, Bainbridge Island)

Day 54 of Quarantine

Hello everyone!! This has been a pretty eventful week, at least for quarantine, and so that makes it a good week!

To start off, we got in contact with our investigator, Rachel, this week. It was kind of crazy, because she missed our first appointment on Tuesday, but then on Wednesday evening we thought to give her a text to see how she was doing. And because of that little bit of inspiration at that moment, we were able to provide her with comfort since she had been having a pretty awful day. By the end of our conversation, she was talking about wanting to get baptized, so we had a lesson set up for Thursday. We were planning on answering some more of her questions, and putting her on date for baptism. Unfortunately, she never answered her phone when we called, and for the next few days she never texted us back when we would send her messages. We were a little frustrated. Then last night we thought to text her Happy Mother's Day. And she replied! But she also didn't know who was texting. After a little bit we found out that she got a new phone so she didn't have our contact info and that she was in Idaho now with family. Hopefully we'll be able to keep teaching her over the phone this week.

Also this week we decided to go through all the people in Area Book again, and on about the fourth call we talked with a guy named Anthony. We had a pretty good conversation with him about the Book of Mormon and where it came from. His biggest concern was that it wasn't in the Bible, so we'll be trying to call him again this week to resolve that concern.

That same day we were supposed to have our carpets cleaned, so we had moved literally everything off the carpets and vacuumed so that it could be cleaned. So we spent that day at the church which was pretty fun. Unfortunately the carpet cleaner guy's truck that had just been repaired the day before broke down and so he didn't get to clean very much of the carpet. So it was a bit of a disaster for him since he was doing the job so he could pay his next housing payment. Plus he lived north of Seattle which is on the opposite side of the Sound from us. So he should be coming back sometime to finish the job though. So all our furniture is in the kitchen for now.

That's most of the exciting stuff that happened this week. I hope you're all doing okay whether you're in quarantine or not. Love you all!
-Elder Smith

Elder Johnson and I doing our emailing.

Day 594 - May the Fourth be with you

Hello again! With transfers, this week has dragged on to be super long. On Wednesday we got to transfers and exchanged luggage into cars and left super quick. It was awesome how fast it was! So now I'm here in Silverdale with Elder Johnson, and things have been pretty good up here.

Yesterday on Sunday we were able to give a recent convert the Aaronic Priesthood and help him administer the sacrament to his family for the first time. It was a pretty cool experience, and by the sound of it he's had an amazing journey to get to this point. So now we'll be teaching him the recent convert lessons as well as teaching his two sons so they can get baptized as well.

We're working with a few other solid people, but I don't know a whole lot about them just yet. I should know a little bit more by next week though. Love you all! Hope you have a great week!

-Elder Smith

Week 82 - Transfer Calls

Hey everyone!

Looking back, this week seems to be the same as all the rest. They've all been blended together and I struggle to remember if events that have happened were during this last week or during some week prior. However, one thing I do remember and that is that we got our transfer calls this Saturday! Elder Kirkland will be staying and getting a new Zone Leader, Elder Parker is going him (RIP), and I'll be heading up north to Silverdale with Elder Johnson! I'll be covering both the Silverdale 1st and the Brownsville wards. I'm pretty excited to be going up there and getting a change of scenery. Also transfers are going to be working a little differently this time. Usually they have all the missionaries meet at a centralized stake center and then switch with your new companion. This time if your new area is on the way, they want us to be dropped off there instead, and the remaining missionaries come to the same building, but it's going to be at a much later time than usual. Also there's specific parking at the stake center, probably so we don't look like too big a crowd. But that's all for this week. I'll be sad to leave Lacey and all the people I got to meet here, but I'm excited for what's ahead! Love you all!

-Elder Smith

Week 81

Hello everyone!

We're still alive and well here in the Pacific Northwest. Last P-day seems like it was 2 weeks ago and yet the week passed swiftly. We were able to teach Pam again this week and helped her understand the Creation and the Fall of Adam and Eve. It's been awesome to see her progress and begin to pray more sincerely. Things are still moving quite slow with her, but it's slow and steady.

We're also teaching a guy named Adam who has quite a bit more religious experience than Pam and our conversations with him (over the phone of course) are really in depth and he understands a lot about the scriptures. So right now we've left him a commitment to read and pray and we'll continue to work through some of the lessons with him.

Also this Saturday we get transfer calls and I'm mostly likely going to be transferred to my last area...RIP. Anyways, one thing that I've been grateful for since being quarantined is the amount of time we now have to get some extra studies in there. That's probably one of my favorite things that I've learned on my mission is how to learn from and study the scriptures. Also each week we now are taking an institute class and this last week the topic was on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One of the things that I loved that our teacher really emphasized is how Jesus loved us so much that he didn't just want to hear about our pains and sufferings from some second hand account, but He wanted to feel everything we feel so He can empathize with us (Alma 7:11-12). But that mostly sums up the week love you all!
-Elder Smith

Getting food dropped off by some Samoan investigators
(there were ribs, corn bread muffins, rice, baked beans, Sam's Cola)

Week ....something

Hey everyone!

Today's been pretty busy, so I don't have a whole lot of time to email. The days have all been sort of blending together, but we were able to have interviews with our mission president this week which were good. Also we're continuing to work with Pam and help her understand the scriptures. It's awesome because she really has a desire to learn and understand. We've also been getting masks to wear when we have to go out in public so here's a picture of the ones my mom made for us.