Week 61

Hello everyone!! This week has been pretty long. On Tuesday we had zone conference, and the night before the AP's asked me to play the piano and asked us to put together a musical number for that next day. So that was a bit stressful since I had never taken a look at the music for some of the songs that our mission sings together.

As for the rest of the week, we didn't have a whole lot of progress with our investigators, because we don't have much of a teaching pool anymore. However, we've been putting together a bunch of 8-9's (practice lessons with members), so we've still gotten to teach a little bit this week. We've been doing a lot of tracting though, and this Saturday Elder Jensen and I gave out 8 or 9 copies of the Book of Mormon. It was probably the most I've given out in a few weeks. It was pretty cool. But that's mostly all for this week. Love you all!!
-Elder Smith

Just some things we found while knocking this week

My pepper plant is still somehow growing in winter!!

Zone Conference

Week 60 - Transfers!!

This week has been kind of crazy. We had transfers on Wednesday, and then the rest of the week felt like it was almost a month long. It was a crazy mix of emotions for me mostly because I was trying to figure out how to work with a new companion, I was the only one who knew everything about the area (which was the first time that's happened to me), and we were losing a lot of people in our teaching pool. So I was a bit stressed out and I didn't really know many other people to go by, so we've been doing a lot of knocking.

One thing I really like about my new companion, Elder Canon Jensen, is how diligent and obedient he is. Despite losing work in some areas, we've seen a little bit more progress in other areas. He's really helped to push things forward instead of just letting them happen. So that's been pretty good. He's from Orem, Utah too.

This week, Mike messaged us and told us he didn't want us to come by anymore since he's felt pressured, but he wanted us to message him on Saturday to remind him about church since he still wants to come. We haven't had much opportunity to talk to Alena this week, and Donna told us on Friday that she had developed her own opinion of the Book of Mormon as she just flipped through it so she didn't want to meet with us. So overall it was kind of disappointing and discouraging for me. However, we've started getting more 8-9's (that's where we just have practice lessons in members homes for 20 minutes). That's mostly all for this week. Love you all!!

-Elder Smith

Week 59

This week was pretty good. We met with Alena at the beginning of the week and reviewed the baptismal questions so she could see what she needed to do to be ready. That was super helpful since we weren't sure what to do to help her progress towards baptism. She's going to be working towards building her testimony and trying out the word of wisdom. So hopefully things will get moving with her again soon.

Also this week we went by Mike's mom to see if she's gotten in contact with Mike at all and if we would be able to visit him somehow. To our surprise, Mike answered the door saying he got kicked out of treatment for passing notes to girls haha. So we'll be meeting with him again soon.

This Saturday we got our transfer calls. Elder Borsky is going to be leaving and going to Bremerton, and I'll be staying and getting Elder Jensen. I'm super excited to be working with him this next transfer.

I think those are the main things for this week. Love you all!!
-Elder Smith

MLC

 The Wolfley's invited us all over to their beautiful home for dinner.  They live right across the street from the church. Alena is the sister pictured here in front. Sister Cindy Robinson took this picture and sent it to mom.

Week 58

Hey everyone!! This week has been pretty great. We've been working through a few different lists of members that our Bishop gave us. We've found a few families that we'll be working with in the future. But for the most part it's been a grind to work through those lists and to try and find people and where they live.

On Thursday we had a blast with Halloween. It was also Elder Scott's birthday so he bought us pizza and that night we watched The Other Side of Heaven 2 with the zone. It was an awesome day. Then on Friday night our ward had a Halloween party, but it was a little disappointing since not a lot of people showed up and it was mostly the Trunk or Treat. Also none of the people we had been inviting throughout the week came. But we still had a good time.

Sorry it was a shorter email this week. There wasn't much to talk about, but we've been having a good time serving the Lord and sharing the gospel. Love you all!!

-Elder Smith