Another good week

Well, it was another good week, it was a little slow, however it was
still quite wonderful! This week I tried focusing on Patience, which
was cool considering the miracle at the end of the week.
This was a really,  really wonderful and miraculous thing. We wer knocking
on a door, when a car a little bit away to us motions to us. She asks
what we are doing, and we say "we are missionaries!"(we may have said
more...but I don't really know) then  She said, follow me around the
corner and we can talk! So we follow her, then start taking with her.
Turns out she loves missionaries, or at least the idea of spreading
the word. We explained who we were.  Then taught her and she understood it all, was
very, very impressed/excited about the 1st Vision. At one point while
we were talking she said "this is fun!" Or something good like that.
It was all so great. She is really excited to read The Book of Mormon.
After the whole thing she explained all of what we said to make sure
she understood. She explained it perfectly. Wow, it was so, so, so
amazing. She will be coming to church next week(which is convenient
because she goes to the church across the street from ours!). Wow, and
this happened while my companion and I were fasting for both us and
our zone to baptize this month. The Lord definitely works miracles in
our lives.
So yeah, that was a really big highlight of the week, other than that
everything is good.
Love
Elder Smith

missonaried month

Well, there are some bit things that have recently
happened...especially since I haven't wrote a bit email for a long
time.

This past month(May) well it was kind of crazy, in the month of May,
my companion and I were Missionaried to at least 5 times, I have been
invited to become, well a lot of different religions, which I don't
think it would be appropriate to name them specifically, however, all
of them are Christianity, which some of the people we talked with,
didn't think that we were Christian, so they wanted to help us out. To
be honest, in the moment, it was frustrating, some of the people most
of them actually were much much smarter than I am, and told me so many
different ideas, and things, that say I am wrong for what I am doing.
That I really need to look at things, and look at the Bible, and
figure out what is going on. The arguments range from, brainwashing,
ancient Hebrew, genetics, Russian, German, and much more. To be
honest, I know very little about the things they brought up, the
questions asked, and other things. It was pretty hard, and tiring, and
annoying.

However, clearly I am still a a missionary for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints! All because of the goodness of our
Heavenly Father, I giving us the wonderful Restored Gospel. We have
all been blessed to be able to be lead to truth through the Holy Ghost
that can testify to us the truth of all things. Man of the people we
met with, that Missionaried to us, always used logic or smarts to
convince us of the truthfulness of their message. However, none of
them relied on the Spirit, no one directed invited me to pray and ask
God, the source of all truth, to be lead and guided. Just as no one
can prove through physical means that Jesus Christ rose from the dead,
that the Bible is true, that Jesus is the Christ. These things can
only be known by spiritual means, through prayer, scripture study and
faith. 1 Corinthians 12:3 says "Wherefore I give you to understand,
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and
that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost."

I am so grateful for a living, loving Heavenly Father that has
provided us a way for each of us to personally know the love that He
has for us, that Jesus is the Christ, and any other truth. That I
through this same power, know that our Heavenly Father lives and loves
each and everyone one of us, that he gave His son Jesus Christ to die
for us that we can become clean from all the mistakes and sin we have
in our life. And that this knowledge has been restored to the earth by
a prophet, the first being Joseph Smith up to the current time. The.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. All of you can
know this as well, or strengthen you testimony of it as we rely on the
gifts Heavenly Father has give us, which are so, so plentiful.

-Elder Smith

P.S. In other news, well it is transfer this week, and....the
unthinkable happened! Two of the mandarin missionaries got
transferred!..well they will tomorrow. It will be weird, Elder
Schellenberg, my MTC companion, and I will be taking over both areas
we are currently in. At Least we think so. To be honest, it is quite
intimidating, however I am trying to have faith, that things will go
well. However, it is definitely going to be hard, and a little lonely
this next little bit. The other elders are expected to
return...however we do not really know, we think they are going to see
if there re other Chinese people elsewhere in Virginia. We shall see.
However, I fully believe the promise in 1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to
pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things
which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no
commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for
them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." As
well the same goes for all of you in your respective callings and
assignments!
Love you all!

A Day in the LIFE of Elder Smith

Tuesday May 17, 2016

Well, it was a really good day, as well, during my prayer, I mostly thought that it was a normal good day, however, I was corrected in that, it was quite the miraculous day, so many blessings. Personal Study was good, I wanted to know why Christ sometimes has the title of Father, and the answer came very clearly, and it was an amazing experience. "..seek and ye shall find.." it is a true scripture. The rest of studies were good, lunch was quite tasty, had some pasta. After that we went out, we first went to Chris Eby's place to learn about Family History Work so that we can help teach it to others. It was good, a little funny though, we were at his apartment, then Elder Snow didn't think we could use members wifi, so we walked down to McDonalds to use that wifi, then Elder Snow texted the Zone Leaders, and found out we could use members wifi. So I bought an ice cream cone, then we headed back to Chris's apartment. Found out that lots and lots of my family history has been done. It was kind of crazy. However, that was good. Then we headed to grounds and surprisingly there wasn't a crazy amount of people however there was a good amount. We met this one girl that we are meeting tomorrow! Then we ran into this Chinese girl she was really nice named XiaoYu, while we were teaching with her, Paul walks up!!! haha it was kind of a crazy miracle! Especially since we needed a pen, he had one! It was pretty cool haha.


Later, we had to give the Sisters an Arabic Book of Mormon. Later we went to Two Guys Tacos, Alex gave it to us for free which was pretty crazy. We both got Loaded Nachos, those were good, actually quite good. A little too salty though. As we she gave us this super big packet of stuff that she wants answers to and discuss next time. I little intimidating…we shall see how it goes…However the nachos we got were quite tasty! Then we left, gave a Book of Mormon to some homeless men that asked for one, kind of got lost walking back to grounds at one point haha. Saw a dead snake on the ground. Talked to a really nice girl named Christina, she said we could talk tomorrow! Went back to grounds, there weren't too many people, haha ran into Paul again! As well apparently he was on the Virginia swim team! The club team, however that is still way cool! Then ran into this one girl, don't remember her name, however she was really really cool, and really nice. Doubted a lot of things that we talked about, however recognized that we have to have a sort of "leap of faith" which was good. She was super cool, knew a little bit about us, met a Mormon in Italy actually, kind of crazy haha. We talked to her for a long time, actually turns out that she is from China, that was pretty cool, she is also Christian. She is leaving very soon though, so we gave her a card, and how to get a Book of Mormon. We ended up talking with her for quite awhile, too long I guess because we actually missed our bus haha.

We got home, planned some stuff, then headed to bed!

-Elder SnakeMan(SeePictureForFurtherDetails)

Day of Miracles

We head out of the apartment, and there is a Chinese looking girl walking up the road. Elder Snow talks to her, she was super nice, and crazy thing, she got baptized last week!(by some other church..but it is still great!) We talked some more, shared the message of the Restoration with her, she really enjoyed it, and wow, she complimented our Chinese so, so, so, so much...wow. She said it was phenomenal (haha that is not phenomenal english hehe) she said we sounded like a Chinese person, haha she was super nice. Her English was fine, but she spoke in Chinese with us which was cool. I was really grateful for the entire experience, it was such a miracle. She is heading to China tomorrow, but she wants to meet and talk more when she gets back in August!! Wow, we walked away from that so ecstatic, and surprised. It was such a miracle. Wow, such a miracle. After that we got on the bus. Heading to UVA, then Elder Snow gives me a really, really worried look...then he tells me he doesn't have Yumin's email....we were frantically trying to figure out what to do, thinking if we should go back and knock all of the apartment buildings to find her, then we get an idea(thanks to the Spirit) to text Gan Wei and ask if his roommate is named Yumin...we text him. Then he responds and it is her! We rejoice in gratitude. What a miracle, we then ask Gan Wei if he can send us her email or something...he has yet to reply, but still a great miracle!

We get to UVa...wow, it was very dead...there were very, very few people there. We walked around a bit trying to decide what to do....we head into a bathroom temporarily(and turns out the water bottle filler upper things work pretty good as a water fountain!...only got a little wet hehe) after that a surprise storm shows up....and I realize I didn't have my umbrella...so we start walking to Clark while it is sprinkling a bit. Then it starts going harder, we get out of the down pour, trying to share Elder Snow's umbrella, hopping from tree to tree. Then eventually hit Clark. Then boom. It started raining crazy hard, there were waves going along the ground, we were standing next to the door by Clark, and occasionally get hit by some rain. It was a lot of rain, really exciting to watch. We stood there and watched if for some time, it even started puddling up on the ground...it was really crazy. After that we headed into Clark to clean up our Area Book a bit. It went good, halfway through the Zone Leaders gave us a text, and turned out to be in the room next to us. It continued to rain a lot.

After that we met with Lindsay, it was really good, kind of crazy that she had a final today. But it was a good lesson with her. She mostly had issues about becoming like God, we shared our point and how it makes sense, also talked about faith and works and grace and stuff. It was similar to most other Protestant Christians, it was good though because she was super nice and other things. It was a good lesson, we think she has some good things to ponder. It was quite the miracle though.

Later meet Amir, really soft spoken, has a belief in God and has relied on Prayer to get through it. We talked with him, it was a really spiritual lesson, Elder Snow and I taught quite well in unity, it was a super good lesson. Which is why I say it was a miracle that God gave to us. He really like the 1st Vision, and some other things. He agreed to work towards June 6th for baptism! As well he really liked the idea of coming to church! It was...wow he is so cool. It was seriously just like Ether 12:6 that was such a miracle. We walked away very much stupefied. It was such a miracle. Then we went to the Bench at Brown college to record out two lesson, we look out into the grass, and there is a really small super cute bunny. We were watching it for a second, get back to recording the lesson. We are BOOM!!!! The tiny bunny sprints at me, turns a foot away then speeds off never to be found again....it was kind of crazy. We decided crazy things sometimes happen on the Bench at Brown college.
-ElderDayofMiracles

Use the power of Fasting

Super cool thing this week! On Sunday two of our
friends(investigators) were able to come to church! We went to the
ward at 9:00 because that is the only one he was able to attend, it
was really good. He is pretty shy so it is a little hard, but said it
was good!(also accidentally went to high priests group haha). Then we
were able to go to church at 12:30 with our regular Ward! Our friend
Mike came, really enjoyed it and learned a lot! He got to know quite a
bit of members and it worked really good for him. It was a great
blessing to have them both come! Also they are pretty much the first
investigators that have come to church while I have been in my
mission! It was super cool and grateful for it.

Also had a really awesome experience with fasting this past weekend.
Then the next day at church, wow so many amazing things happened. So
many of my questions, concerns, were answered. It was really, really
amazing. It really helped me overcome a spiritual plateau I felt I was
on. The power of fasting is so real. If any of you are stuck in any
sort of spiritual rut, need a little extra help in any way, I invite
you to take a day, and fast with a prayer in your heart, and I promise
if you do so with a willing heart you will see miracles in your life.
The power of fasting is real! It is sooooooo great!
Have a great week!
Elder Smith

-Elder WowSuchAWonderfulDaySoMuchToBeGratefulFor

Well, the days are really flying by, it is pretty crazy, halfway through April...wow. Anyways, today was great! Got to wash my white shirts, had an awesome breakfast....well I ate way too much...5 pieces of french toast, 2 pieces of regular toast, and a bagel...went a little crazy I guess haha.So we go to grounds(UVA)...met Tierre, she was going to come with us. She is super cool, also a graduate student which I did not know! Wants to teach Russian to college students. Pretty cool. Jessie ended up coming...only 15 minutes late this time haha. She is still pretty much the same, but some of her questions about Justice and Mercy are better!! Tierre helped out a ton, also I realized whenever she would asked a question, I would look at Elder Snow haha. I didn't answer tons of her questions. 

Anyways, we met with Ian after that, at first he looked a little off so I was worried a bit. but we got talking and things worked out better like they normally do. He also said that he feels like the Book of Mormon is true...which is super awesome...still working on the Prophet Joseph Smith, and other Prophets, but going real well.

 Then we met with Mike!! It was super great as well! He is a funny guy, I know I have said this before, but he is so much so the CHinese version of Skyler Powell, it is super awesome. Anyways, Johnney came quite late, but it went really good again, he is super great, says has felt God in his life before which is awesome, just not 100% which is totally fine. He doesn't really understand the Book of Mormon a whole lot...so we will work on that, definitely need to get better at teaching with the scriptures in every sense. Either way, he is still doing super great. After the lesson we were casually talking, mentioned how missions worked, and said after he was baptized if he wanted to he could serve a mission, and he said he would think about it!!!! AHhhhhhh! It was pretty cool. Nothing set, but cool that is is open to the idea. Also his girlfriend is in England so he is still trying to talk to her about God and religion and stuff. We are hoping that will get figured out. After that...well we were pretty much out of time, we recorded other lessons, then met Scarlett because she wanted to feed us! It was super nice of her, honestly and always super impressed when members feed us. Super cool and nice of them. We went to Roots, it is a salad place, and like most salad places, was really good tasting, just not the most filling, if that makes sense.

 So yeah that was really good, unfortunately we weren't able to eat with her for very long because we had a lesson at 6:00 with Kelly we met yesterday. Wow, it was super super great, it was a really simple teaching of the restoration, nothing really special. However, it was super spiritual and super awesome. She is super awesome, super willing to learn more. Didn't really have any questions of any kind, and she is willing to prepare for baptism May 7th!!!! It was super crazy. Super super awesome. After that we got to our weekly planning, it was good...didn't have tons of time to do a whole lot because of different things. So yeah, that was the day.

 However before I close there was a cool experience when planning my study for the next day. Started reading a conference talk by Elder Christofferson, then was thinking about a lot of things, then led to certain scriptures, and other things, then read in Ephesians 4:11...and then really felt to study about Why the Church(which is the talk I was reading) it was really cool. Always, really cool and amazing seeking out revelation and then being given it. It is really an amazing process that you get a lot as a missionary. One problem is recording that! Grateful for Journals.
-Elder WowSuchAWonderfulDaySoMuchToBeGratefulFor

Loved Conference

Hello all! It was a pretty normal week, but that means it was great!
So, don't really know what to mention. 

Ok, I will mention this really cool guy named John.
We ran into him on grounds, at first he wasn't interested at all, but
we got talking(in Chinese!) and had a good talk with him, then planned
to meet Saturday!

We met on Saturday, and he was super awesome, way more interested this
time. He has a lot of questions, which makes sense. So we tried our
best to answer those, while also not teaching to much, it was a little
struggle. However it all worked, the best part was at the end, he
was willing to try to prayer. Wow, it was a real special prayer,
probably the simplest prayer I have heard. But really heartfelt too.
It is always really special to see someone with no background with God
to say a prayer. It was really cool.

Don't really know what else to mention about this week, however I do
want to say how real the power of prayer is. It can be a two way
communication between us and our Heavenly Father. It is such a
wonderful blessing that I think we take for granted all to often. I
invite all of you to do what you can to make your prayers more
sincere. You can really feel the love our Heavenly Father has for
each and every one of us.
Love you all! Look back over conference and you can feel the same
way you did when we watched conference!
Elder Smith
斯密长老