Week 39: Something is finally happening!!!

This week has been a really great week. We've had a list of people who are our most solid people. However, this week we were able to get in contact with some of those people, and there are two people on that list that can potentially get baptized whenever. One of those is Gloriana. She is from Italy, and learned Spanish as a second language, and then learned English from Spanish. And now she's teaching those languages, and she does stuff with them in the military as well. She's been to church several times already, and this week we had a lesson with her on Friday. We met up with her at Barnes and Noble, and while we (Elder Clay and I happened to be on exchanges with our district leader Elder Borsky who was one of my past companions) were talking with her there, she said that her friend, who had referred her to us, told her that she could get a blessing of comfort since she's been having a rough time recovering from a divorce. We decided to move to a park close by to give her that blessing, and as we got over there, there just happened to be one of our church buildings right next to the park. It was an amazing tender mercy. So we went inside the church and gave her a blessing, which she cried through, and then we taught her all of lesson 1. She was crying through that too. It was such a good lesson, and we almost put her on date. Her only hold ups is that she doesn't want to disappoint anyone, like her mother, and she didn't want to leave her church that she's attached to. We're pretty sure that we can work things out with her so we can help her be baptized.

Another one of our more solid people is Maximo. He's been to church 4 or 5 times already, and his sisters have been in town taking him to church. The people in the ward who have talked to him say that he is super solid. All he needs is to be taught the lessons so he can be baptized. Apparently the bishop also asked him if he wants to be baptized, and he said "sure." Unfortunately, he just barely went to Mexico, and we don't know how long he'll be down there for.

As for the rest of this week, we had a couple of other lessons with people that will hopefully be solid in the future. We also had interviews with President Leishman on Wednesday, and he talked to us about different things that might happen with the Hermanas that will be coming in this next transfer. We're a little worried as to what might happen, but we're hoping for the best. That's all for this week.

 Love you!!
- Elder Smith

Week 38: Zion's Camp

This week has been pretty great. On Tuesday we had Zion's Camp, which is basically just zone conference, but we went to a ropes course that the church owns and had some activities there. It was really fun. After a couple of trainings and lunch we went outside and split up into teams. A few of the activities were getting your team up and over a wall, balancing on a log while switching places, trust falls, or getting through a tire without touching the sides. There were a bunch of these activities that required team work and at the end of each of them we talked about how it could relate to the mission or the spiritual aspect. Afterwards there was a testimony meeting around a campfire, and a lot of the departing missionaries got up and bore their testimonies. That was probably the highlight of my week.

As for the other days, our zone leaders put a few activities together for each day of the week and called it Spartan week. Some of the things we did were making pump up videos to get us excited for the work/lift our spirits. Another thing that we did was a 9 to 9, which is basically where we knock from 9 am to 9 pm without any breaks in between. Our zone leaders were all out for that because it used to be a thing that our mission did, but it was super ineffective. My companionship didn't find a single person all day.

At the end of this week on Sunday, we were able to find out where someone with real potential for baptism lives. His name is Maximo, and he's been coming to church with his sisters for a few weeks now, because they've just been visiting. Apparently he is pretty interested, and seems like he wants to be baptized. So we're pretty excited to go over this week and meet with him. But that's all for this week. Love you!!
- Elder Smith

The Tacoma South zone at Zion's Camp.

My district at service on Saturday. We made some temporary stairs in somebody's hill

Week 37: Nothing much other than hunger

This week was pretty great. Not a lot has happened this week other than the grind of trying to put together our Tac-10 (basically our top 10 investigators; right now we don't really have anyone solid and we're trying to find more). We have gotten a lot of referrals from the other missionaries in our area, and we've been going through that a lot, and some of them have actually been interested. We've been able to teach them a little bit and get some return appointments set up, so hopefully things will go well with that.

Last night we had a Why I Believe fireside that was really good. We didn't have any investigators come to that unfortunately, but we had some at church. Not a whole lot is happening just yet, but we're working on getting more people to teach.

Also Elder Bradley's MSF card didn't refill, so he hasn't been able to buy groceries. Also the apartment is way empty, so we're slowly refilling the shelves. This last week, we didn't have a whole lot to eat though, so we were pretty hungry by the end, but it's okay now that we went grocery shopping. Also, we've done some praying for some help, and a few members reached out to us on Sunday offering to feed us and give us food, so that was super awesome. Prayer works, and specific prayer works miracles. I love that even though things may not be progressing, it doesn't mean the Lord isn't watching out for us. I've been able to see Him helping us rebuild this area and get things going again.

Love you all!!
- Elder Smith

Weeks 36 - Baptisms and Transfers!!

These last two weeks have been pretty crazy. Last Monday we had a mission BBQ, so I had to drive out to Tacoma for most of the day, and the library was closed so we couldn't use the computers to email. But yeah. The Saturday before, we got our transfer calls, and now I'm in the Tacoma Spanish ward, Buena Vista. It's been way fun being here. However, I'm still not in a normal companionship yet. Instead of being in a foursome, I'm now in a trio. Elder Bradley and Elder Clay are both my companions here, and we've had a blast. Elder Bradley was my trainer back in Lacey, and now he's going to be finishing out his mission with the two of us. Elder Myles Bradley is from Draper, Utah, and Elder Matthew Clay is from Lindon, Utah. They're both way fun to be with, and they both work really hard.

Last Sunday we had two baptisms. Hazel and Tanner Campbell got baptized, and there were around 85 people there. It was very ward involved, and everything went very smoothly. A lot of people also talked with the father of the Campbell family, and that helped him to be a little more open than he has been in the past.

This last week has been soooooo long it seems. For some reason, transfers just made it take so long. Plus I don't really know the area or the people yet, whereas both of my companions know exactly what's going on. Also, I've had to get used to Spanish again. I still struggle with being able to understand what people are saying to us, so I have a hard time being able to pitch in where necessary, but my speaking skills are slowly coming back. I don't know too much about how things are going on in this area, but it seems like we don't really have too many people that we're teaching right now. The ward is also really really small. It's basically a branch, but the leadership seems to be very helpful if not the members. However, that's mostly all that I can remember for this week.
Love you all!!
- Elder Smith

Pictures:
1-2. Elder Larsen and I at the BBQ
3,4,6. At the baptism
5. Zone lunch
7. Just eating lunch at district council sometime ago
8. The other Elder Smith and I