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.