Hey Guys!
This week was a good week but hard. We are trying to
figure out this area and how to tackle it. It’s a head case because
knocking doesn't work and there is nobody out. We decided to try and work
more with the members and less actives, and that will hopefully bring people
into the gospel and also reactive members. I think I am getting some gray
hair from stress, but it’s all good. I love this area, and it’s enjoyable
out here. I am rocking a nasty watch tan right now. It’s been
getting hotter lately out in the desert. We also had a nasty dust storm
this week. It was super dark most of the day with sand just blowing
everywhere. You would get out of the car and just get pelted by sand, and
it would get into your mouth so you would be chewing on some great Chaparral
sand for a minute. It was an adventure. I also saw a marijuana
plant growing, so that was great. This week was just a lot of rebuilding
and problem solving. It’s been a good time in the desert and also it has
been fun to watch conference and everything this week.
Ya - pretty much all our investigators dropped us so we were
in the rebuilding stages this week. We were praying for someone this
week. We found someone, and that was a
cool experience. Yesterday we went to finish knocking a trailer park we
started, and it was a good time. We kept on running into white people,
and it was kind of hard. I was kind of just down in a slump. We
came to our last 2 doors, and we decided to go knock the one on the right
first. We went up and knocked. No one was answering. This
younger guy came out of his shop that was down the street and started walking our
way. I felt like we should go and talk to him. We left the other
trailer, and he turned into where we were knocking. I was praying and
just trying to figure out how to talk to this guy. His dog that was by
him came bounding over and greeted us. We then got talking to him and
asked him his dog’s name. He told us, and
he told us that he named it after one of his friends that died. He seemed
interested in what we taught, and we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. He asked if we could come back
Thursday. He then turned around and walked into the last trailer on the
street that we were going to knock. It was a really cool experience and a
miracle. We went through all this knocking and on the last trailer was
the person we needed to talk too. We felt so rewarded after we talked to
him because not many people walk around out here. It was a
blessing.
Also this week we went over to a less active member’s house. He is an ex-gang member. He has been cleaning up his life and is going
to school to get a teaching degree. He stopped doing drugs and everything
except weed because it calms him for some reason. Every time we go over
there it smells like weed. It’s terrible. We were sitting talking
to him, and he said to us, "Can you spot the different plant over
there?" We looked at this area where he has all these plants growing
and, sure enough, he had a marijuana plant growing. He asked, “Can you smell it?” He was
super proud of it. I was just like, holly crap we have a less active
growing weed. So we are figuring out how to attack this situation.
We want to do it lovingly, but at the same time make sure he gets the point,
because we don't want to have him growing that in his house. So that was
an adventure to see some weed growing. I never thought I would see
that. Your eyes get opened on you mission, that’s for sure. Most of
our investigators hid from us this week. It was a bad week for
investigators, but we managed to find work with less actives all the time.
Conference was good this week, like you guys said. I
enjoyed it, and it gives me a boost. I had a cool experience on Saturday
at the start of it. I have been praying to know that the church is true
just to try and strength my testimony. At the very start of the Saturday
Session they were showing shots of downtown, and they started sing How Firm
a Foundation. I was filled with the Spirit and I knew inside that
this church is true. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the church
has been restored once again. Elder Holland then gave a wonderful talk
about standing up for our beliefs no matter what happens to you. I loved that
one a lot because sometimes we are alone in our decisions to stand up for our
faith. There are times when someone
calls us a terrible name behind our backs, but our church is true, and we need
to defend it. I also like President Uchtdorf’s talk as well. The
prophet always does a nice job, and the priesthood session was bomb
diggty. We watched it on a TV in the church. It was a fun
time. That was my week for you, and I am trying to do my best job with
being a District Leader. I just hope I can be like the Savior and love
and help people grow closer to God and the gospel. I hope I do an okay
job and President Miller can see that. I know the God is going to help me
with it.
It sounds like everyone is in
one piece. Thanks for all you letters and everything you do for me.
I love you guys so much and just know you’re always in my prayers. Have a
wonderful week, and I love ya! Go Giants!!
Love,
-Elder Smith
"I got robbed by a little old lady on a motorized scooter!"
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