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| Missionary Christmas Tree so wonderful to be serving our Savior during this season |
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Merry Christmas For Reals!
Well this week was really wonderful being Christmas, but not too wonderful in being able to find people..so this email won't be too long.
Well this week we had a mission wide Christmas conference where we all went up to Richmond to have a big meeting with lots of talks, and musical numbers, it was really great super awesome Spirit to be with all the missionaries there.
And nothing too exciting happened until....CHRISTMAS! Well Christmas was a really great day, being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior as one of his servants is really a great experience, also I was able to talk to my family which is one of the best gifts there is.
And one highlight of the week would definitely be Sunday(which it always is a highlight) but being able to go to church and partake of the Sacrament each week, as well as learn about Christ and his gospel is an amazing thing. Anyways what was cool specifically about Sunday was, this man named Issac(one of the Zone Leaders Potential Investigators) showed up to church on Sunday!(he occasionally comes on his own but isn't too interested in listening to the missionary lessons) but at Church he asked Elder Richter and I if we could meet him later tonight and he wanted to ask some questions and hear our testimonies, so we agreed to meet at the church at 7:00
It came to 7:00 and because we don't have a car the Zone Leaders dropped us off, and they kind of ended up joining in on the lesson with us. And what you should know about Issac is he is very devout in his religon(not sure if I can specify which one because when we record lessons we aren't allowed to, but he is Christian and believes that the gospel was never lost from the earth anyways) he starts by asking me(and Issac is also a really knowledgeable guy about his church and our church and a lot of things and I am not super knowledgeable so I was a little worried about what questions he would ask and what I was going to say and such, but before we went I said a prayer asking that through the Spirit I would be given what to say) and the only thing he asked me was, "when did you really start to live you faith?" and so I thought a little bit, remembered the promises Heavenly Father has given missionaries and then told him about how I came to know the Book of Mormon was true, and it was very easy for the words to come out, and as I was talking the whole time I was thinking of the scripture in Alma 26(might be the wrong reference) about being the instrument in God's hands, and that is how I felt, and it was a great feeling, and definitely strengthened my testimony of trusting in the Lord. It was an amazing thing to be a part of. And throughout the rest of the lesson I felt the same thing whenever I spoke. And Issac right now, kind of wants to convert us to the faith he believes in(he told us that at one point) but I know the Lord right now is preparing his heart, and it will take time, and I don't know how much time, but I really hope someday the Issac will receive this gospel. But that was my cool experience for the week(among others not mentioned)
Well to close off I have a scripture to go a bit along with my experience!
D&C 78:18
"And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours."
Sometimes Heavenly Father is leading us in a direction we don't understand and can't see the way ahead, but I know he knows the way ahead, and what is in store for us, and it will always be a good thing. This gospel and church is true! Always trust in Heavenly Father and the gifts he has given us and we will have joy! =D
Love you all and have a happy New Year!
-Elder Smith
Well this week we had a mission wide Christmas conference where we all went up to Richmond to have a big meeting with lots of talks, and musical numbers, it was really great super awesome Spirit to be with all the missionaries there.
And nothing too exciting happened until....CHRISTMAS! Well Christmas was a really great day, being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior as one of his servants is really a great experience, also I was able to talk to my family which is one of the best gifts there is.
And one highlight of the week would definitely be Sunday(which it always is a highlight) but being able to go to church and partake of the Sacrament each week, as well as learn about Christ and his gospel is an amazing thing. Anyways what was cool specifically about Sunday was, this man named Issac(one of the Zone Leaders Potential Investigators) showed up to church on Sunday!(he occasionally comes on his own but isn't too interested in listening to the missionary lessons) but at Church he asked Elder Richter and I if we could meet him later tonight and he wanted to ask some questions and hear our testimonies, so we agreed to meet at the church at 7:00
It came to 7:00 and because we don't have a car the Zone Leaders dropped us off, and they kind of ended up joining in on the lesson with us. And what you should know about Issac is he is very devout in his religon(not sure if I can specify which one because when we record lessons we aren't allowed to, but he is Christian and believes that the gospel was never lost from the earth anyways) he starts by asking me(and Issac is also a really knowledgeable guy about his church and our church and a lot of things and I am not super knowledgeable so I was a little worried about what questions he would ask and what I was going to say and such, but before we went I said a prayer asking that through the Spirit I would be given what to say) and the only thing he asked me was, "when did you really start to live you faith?" and so I thought a little bit, remembered the promises Heavenly Father has given missionaries and then told him about how I came to know the Book of Mormon was true, and it was very easy for the words to come out, and as I was talking the whole time I was thinking of the scripture in Alma 26(might be the wrong reference) about being the instrument in God's hands, and that is how I felt, and it was a great feeling, and definitely strengthened my testimony of trusting in the Lord. It was an amazing thing to be a part of. And throughout the rest of the lesson I felt the same thing whenever I spoke. And Issac right now, kind of wants to convert us to the faith he believes in(he told us that at one point) but I know the Lord right now is preparing his heart, and it will take time, and I don't know how much time, but I really hope someday the Issac will receive this gospel. But that was my cool experience for the week(among others not mentioned)
Well to close off I have a scripture to go a bit along with my experience!
D&C 78:18
"And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours."
Sometimes Heavenly Father is leading us in a direction we don't understand and can't see the way ahead, but I know he knows the way ahead, and what is in store for us, and it will always be a good thing. This gospel and church is true! Always trust in Heavenly Father and the gifts he has given us and we will have joy! =D
Love you all and have a happy New Year!
-Elder Smith
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Short email this week
Well this week will be quite short sorry to all of you....but it was great! And I have a little video of a Christmas concert the stake here put on, enjoy!(it was a multiple faith, concert thing)
Elder Smith
Monday, December 7, 2015
Photos
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| Piece of Berlin Wall |
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| Elder Smith attempt at making ice cream looks like potatoes but tasted ok |
1st Month in the Field! And 1st Chinese Baptism!!!!
Well it is officially my third month out as well as the first in the field. Pretty exciting. Well this week was really great, for a variety of reasons. Well really mostly just the end of the week was really great.
Friday: We were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this Friday I was with Elder Campbell, and Elder Richter was with Elder Wheeler. We also had Zone meeting that day which was good, and the Binghams brought tons of leftover bread....and the Mandarin house(the 4 Mandarin Elders in this Mission) took home probably too much of the bread...but yeah still pretty exciting because now we have tons of bread!!! Then Elder Campbell and I went to grounds to drop Elder Richter and Elder Wheeler off, and then we went to the downtown mall of Charlottesville to meet up with one of the Zone Leaders investigators. So we wait awhile(and in the meantime some homeless guy comes up to us and says "are you Mormons?"
"Yeah" we say...
"Oh you are Mormons!"
"Yep, we are"
"Well you two sure look nice, especially you(pointing to Elder Campbell)....you(pointing to me) not so much, but both of your shoes are nice!" and then he pretty much left....so I was a little insulted by a homeless man.
After that fun time, we met back up with Elder Richter and Elder Wheeler because we had a lesson with Gloria(Chinese investigator) so that Elder Richter and I could teach her in Chinese, and that was a super great experience, we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and a little out of the BoM and it was really good. Then we had a prayer(and during this we had planned to commit her to Baptism and I kept feeling prompted to do so....) then after the prayer before we left I asked her if I could ask another question. And then I committed her to Baptism...in Chinese....and I messed up....but Elder Richter was able to clarify which was really nice.....and then...she said yes!!!!!! As long as she received that answer that this Gospel is true. Wow, I am really grateful for the Spirit to tell me to do that, as well as helping me to do so, even if I messed up. So that was really great.
Also a little side story during the lesson we turned to Alma 32:21 to talk a bit about faith and it was in her Chinese Book of Mormon and we get there(and before this I had learned how to read this scripture in characters because...well it's a little hard to explain but I learned how to read it) so being the prideful trainee I am, I started reading it....then forget that he Book of Mormon was in simplified characters...and I learned to read that verse in traditional characters....so I wasn't able to read it and had to have her read it....so yeah pride doesn't work folks...definitely felt more humbled after that. And that was mostly that day which was super awesome.
-Oh and later that night I stayed over at Elder Campbell's apartment and he is a pretty outdoorsy person(from Canada) and asked if I wanted to sleep outside...and I was fine with that so we take our mattresses outside to his small balcony thing, and we slept outside!!! But it was also really cold....like at least below freezing so we slept kind of alright...but woke up fairly often...and an hour before we were to wake up we went into the warm house...it was a lot nicer that outside.
Ok now for the Chinese Baptism!! So this isn't our baptism it is Elder Schellenberg and Elder Snow's(the other two Mandarin Elders) and it was for this Chinese boy named Tom Sun, and it was a really cool baptism meeting(they didn't do the baptism in Chinese because Tom wanted it in English) but it was a good meeting, then Elder Snow gets in the Font with Tom and the Spirit was already super strong and we baptizes him and it was really awesome feeling, knowing the decision he had made. Then when Tom gets out of the water, he wipes his eyes puts both arms out wide, and yells "YESSSS!!!!" hahaha it was pretty great.Also after he bore his testimony, and said he was glad that we came to his baptism instead of being home playing computer games....haha yeah he is quite the funny kid. And really cool too. He also said when he goes back to China he will share the Gospel with all his brothers and sisters....and then he said he was an only child. Haha super awesome kid.
Well that was my week, it was quite great, the church is true, this is Christ's Church on the earth, and if you want to get to know Christ, read the Book of Mormon. Learn to love the simpleness of the gospel, and you will discover what it is that Heavenly Father needs you to do.
Love you all and the support you give!!!
-Elder Smith
(Also Bronco Mendenhall[BYU football coach] is coming to UVA!!!)
Friday: We were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this Friday I was with Elder Campbell, and Elder Richter was with Elder Wheeler. We also had Zone meeting that day which was good, and the Binghams brought tons of leftover bread....and the Mandarin house(the 4 Mandarin Elders in this Mission) took home probably too much of the bread...but yeah still pretty exciting because now we have tons of bread!!! Then Elder Campbell and I went to grounds to drop Elder Richter and Elder Wheeler off, and then we went to the downtown mall of Charlottesville to meet up with one of the Zone Leaders investigators. So we wait awhile(and in the meantime some homeless guy comes up to us and says "are you Mormons?"
"Yeah" we say...
"Oh you are Mormons!"
"Yep, we are"
"Well you two sure look nice, especially you(pointing to Elder Campbell)....you(pointing to me) not so much, but both of your shoes are nice!" and then he pretty much left....so I was a little insulted by a homeless man.
And after waiting more their investigator doesn't show up, so we walk up and down the mall a bit to see if we can see him. And we don't but we did see this weird down thing that some guy was hitting that made really cool sounds...and also met this old lady who doesn't like our church(inactive member) but she speaks 7 languages apparently and I could only give her our Chinese card because I didn't have any other ones(and she didn't speak Chinese though) then "talked" to some other guy who was shouting something at us....couldn't really understand him. But he said we was saying "Jesus" in some sort of African language and chastised us for not understanding...but then said he loves us and what we are preaching....so yeah...that was my downtown mall experience...first time too. Definitely different than UVA grounds.
After that fun time, we met back up with Elder Richter and Elder Wheeler because we had a lesson with Gloria(Chinese investigator) so that Elder Richter and I could teach her in Chinese, and that was a super great experience, we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and a little out of the BoM and it was really good. Then we had a prayer(and during this we had planned to commit her to Baptism and I kept feeling prompted to do so....) then after the prayer before we left I asked her if I could ask another question. And then I committed her to Baptism...in Chinese....and I messed up....but Elder Richter was able to clarify which was really nice.....and then...she said yes!!!!!! As long as she received that answer that this Gospel is true. Wow, I am really grateful for the Spirit to tell me to do that, as well as helping me to do so, even if I messed up. So that was really great.
Also a little side story during the lesson we turned to Alma 32:21 to talk a bit about faith and it was in her Chinese Book of Mormon and we get there(and before this I had learned how to read this scripture in characters because...well it's a little hard to explain but I learned how to read it) so being the prideful trainee I am, I started reading it....then forget that he Book of Mormon was in simplified characters...and I learned to read that verse in traditional characters....so I wasn't able to read it and had to have her read it....so yeah pride doesn't work folks...definitely felt more humbled after that. And that was mostly that day which was super awesome.
-Oh and later that night I stayed over at Elder Campbell's apartment and he is a pretty outdoorsy person(from Canada) and asked if I wanted to sleep outside...and I was fine with that so we take our mattresses outside to his small balcony thing, and we slept outside!!! But it was also really cold....like at least below freezing so we slept kind of alright...but woke up fairly often...and an hour before we were to wake up we went into the warm house...it was a lot nicer that outside.
Ok now for the Chinese Baptism!! So this isn't our baptism it is Elder Schellenberg and Elder Snow's(the other two Mandarin Elders) and it was for this Chinese boy named Tom Sun, and it was a really cool baptism meeting(they didn't do the baptism in Chinese because Tom wanted it in English) but it was a good meeting, then Elder Snow gets in the Font with Tom and the Spirit was already super strong and we baptizes him and it was really awesome feeling, knowing the decision he had made. Then when Tom gets out of the water, he wipes his eyes puts both arms out wide, and yells "YESSSS!!!!" hahaha it was pretty great.Also after he bore his testimony, and said he was glad that we came to his baptism instead of being home playing computer games....haha yeah he is quite the funny kid. And really cool too. He also said when he goes back to China he will share the Gospel with all his brothers and sisters....and then he said he was an only child. Haha super awesome kid.
Well that was my week, it was quite great, the church is true, this is Christ's Church on the earth, and if you want to get to know Christ, read the Book of Mormon. Learn to love the simpleness of the gospel, and you will discover what it is that Heavenly Father needs you to do.
Love you all and the support you give!!!
-Elder Smith
(Also Bronco Mendenhall[BYU football coach] is coming to UVA!!!)
Monday, November 30, 2015
Ghost Week at UVA
Well because it was Thanksgiving this week, and I am on UVA campus...pretty much nobody was here this week. But it was still great!
So both Monday there was a normal amount of people on grounds(campus) but still not tons so we were contacting there for a bit. Then at 7:00 Cai Zhanglao(Elder Richter my companion) went with the Zone Leaders(Elder Campbell and Elder Wheeler) to a Chi Alpha(Christian fellowship at UVA) event because one of the Zone leaders investigators was invited them and we were all interested to see what it was like. So we go and it is in a small auditorium and when walk in there is a band at the front playing some soft music, so we wait a little bit. And fairly suddenly the music starts to pick up and then it basically turns into a concert....they band started jamming out and the whole crowd is singing along, and it was really loud....and people were dancing and stuff....yeah it was definitely a different experience...and us four missionaries just stood in the back and weren't really sure what to do....but that went on for a good while, then they welcomed everyone talked about some Chi Alpha business. And then some guy started giving a talk of some sort, I don't really remember what it was about...but we had to leave early. But in all it was definitely a unique experience. Also I got a free candy and a Bible from it!(which has a weird summary on the back...I'll send a picture next week).
Then Tuesday there was even less people on grounds and they were all for the most part headed home so none really wanted to talk to us. Then Wednesday we had interviews with the Mission President in the Afternoon, but in the evening went to grounds....and it was pretty much a ghost town...I think for the 3 hours we were there we maybe saw 6 people. Which made it easy to talk to everyone! But yeah it was very barren...(and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!)
THANKSGIVING!!!! So the morning of Thanksgiving most of the Elders in our Zone went to help out with a community 5k race, and help organize all of that and stuff, which was quite fun actually, I got to use a magic wand and zap all the people that crossed the finish line! Also got a free T-Shirt! And a bunch of free food(mostly cut up bagels[which is the common free food I get...]) so that was good and fun. But after that we returned home, and then because we are in a YSA ward most of the college students headed home for the break, and the ones that stayed aren't really able to feed us a Thanksgiving meal...so...THE CES MISSIONARIES FED US!! So what happened it was kind of a ward activity anyone in the ward that stayed in town was invited to the church where the CES Missionaries(The Binghams) helped prepare a meal for us. So some of the ward members came, as well as the three sets of missionaries in the YSA ward(us, the Zone Leaders, and set of Sisters) and the missionaries also invited some of our investigators....but none of them ended up coming....but it was still a really good meal and I got quite stuffed....well really stuffed actually I almost didn't finish my pie..but I did, and it was very delicious. Also apparently I don't know my Thanksgiving foods very well....because I thought that I saw some beets....but it was cranberry sauce(the can form) so I kind of ate plain cranberry sauce....haha oh well...it was still very good!
Anyways that night we went with the Zone Leaders to grounds....and I think we maybe saw 4 people the 3 hours we were there...and they were older people just walking around on grounds. So we played a little football...it was quite enjoyable despite the fact that it was nightime and we couldn't see the ball....but it was still good!.
And Friday kind of had the same result of hardly any people on grounds...then Saturday we had this thing called return and report where all the Trainers/Trainees go to Richmond with President Wilson and learn some things how to improve, and for two hours we street contacted in downtown Richmond....and wow...I definitely do not like the city, what I learned from Return and Report is that I'm grateful to be in C'Ville(Charlotsville) but it was a good experience still.
And now for some actual inspiring things....So Friday we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and Elder Richter and Elder Campbell met with this Chinese guy name Gan Wei who Elder Richter met awhile ago but haven't really taught him much. But they went to dinner with him, and ended up inviting him to Church! And he said yeah! So then on Sunday at first he isn't responding to his phone....but we find out that he just slept in...so he comes to church with us which is super cool.(and he speaks pretty good english, but we also speak lots of Chinese to him...well Elder Richter does, I mostly just listen). But Church was good, and he seemed to get a along with lots of the members well, and I hope he really enjoyed it. And because it was fast Sunday the YSA ward has this thing called 'Break The Fast" where the ward kind of breaks their fast together. And we took him to that which he enjoyed(he kind of really enjoys eating food, like me!) but it was good. And then we dropped him off. And yeah...1ST CHINESE INVESTIGATOR WHO CAME TO CHURCH WITH US!!!! It's quite exciting.
Anyways that was my week...quite different Thanksgiving than normal, but still really great.
Scripture of the Week 2 Nephi 7:7 Trust in the Lord, and be not ashamed of what you believe. I've found that really knowing what you believe and sharing that or standing up for it is a great way to strengthen your roots in the Gospel.
Thank you all for the love and support!!!
Elder Smith =D
So both Monday there was a normal amount of people on grounds(campus) but still not tons so we were contacting there for a bit. Then at 7:00 Cai Zhanglao(Elder Richter my companion) went with the Zone Leaders(Elder Campbell and Elder Wheeler) to a Chi Alpha(Christian fellowship at UVA) event because one of the Zone leaders investigators was invited them and we were all interested to see what it was like. So we go and it is in a small auditorium and when walk in there is a band at the front playing some soft music, so we wait a little bit. And fairly suddenly the music starts to pick up and then it basically turns into a concert....they band started jamming out and the whole crowd is singing along, and it was really loud....and people were dancing and stuff....yeah it was definitely a different experience...and us four missionaries just stood in the back and weren't really sure what to do....but that went on for a good while, then they welcomed everyone talked about some Chi Alpha business. And then some guy started giving a talk of some sort, I don't really remember what it was about...but we had to leave early. But in all it was definitely a unique experience. Also I got a free candy and a Bible from it!(which has a weird summary on the back...I'll send a picture next week).
Then Tuesday there was even less people on grounds and they were all for the most part headed home so none really wanted to talk to us. Then Wednesday we had interviews with the Mission President in the Afternoon, but in the evening went to grounds....and it was pretty much a ghost town...I think for the 3 hours we were there we maybe saw 6 people. Which made it easy to talk to everyone! But yeah it was very barren...(and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet!)
THANKSGIVING!!!! So the morning of Thanksgiving most of the Elders in our Zone went to help out with a community 5k race, and help organize all of that and stuff, which was quite fun actually, I got to use a magic wand and zap all the people that crossed the finish line! Also got a free T-Shirt! And a bunch of free food(mostly cut up bagels[which is the common free food I get...]) so that was good and fun. But after that we returned home, and then because we are in a YSA ward most of the college students headed home for the break, and the ones that stayed aren't really able to feed us a Thanksgiving meal...so...THE CES MISSIONARIES FED US!! So what happened it was kind of a ward activity anyone in the ward that stayed in town was invited to the church where the CES Missionaries(The Binghams) helped prepare a meal for us. So some of the ward members came, as well as the three sets of missionaries in the YSA ward(us, the Zone Leaders, and set of Sisters) and the missionaries also invited some of our investigators....but none of them ended up coming....but it was still a really good meal and I got quite stuffed....well really stuffed actually I almost didn't finish my pie..but I did, and it was very delicious. Also apparently I don't know my Thanksgiving foods very well....because I thought that I saw some beets....but it was cranberry sauce(the can form) so I kind of ate plain cranberry sauce....haha oh well...it was still very good!
Anyways that night we went with the Zone Leaders to grounds....and I think we maybe saw 4 people the 3 hours we were there...and they were older people just walking around on grounds. So we played a little football...it was quite enjoyable despite the fact that it was nightime and we couldn't see the ball....but it was still good!.
And Friday kind of had the same result of hardly any people on grounds...then Saturday we had this thing called return and report where all the Trainers/Trainees go to Richmond with President Wilson and learn some things how to improve, and for two hours we street contacted in downtown Richmond....and wow...I definitely do not like the city, what I learned from Return and Report is that I'm grateful to be in C'Ville(Charlotsville) but it was a good experience still.
And now for some actual inspiring things....So Friday we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and Elder Richter and Elder Campbell met with this Chinese guy name Gan Wei who Elder Richter met awhile ago but haven't really taught him much. But they went to dinner with him, and ended up inviting him to Church! And he said yeah! So then on Sunday at first he isn't responding to his phone....but we find out that he just slept in...so he comes to church with us which is super cool.(and he speaks pretty good english, but we also speak lots of Chinese to him...well Elder Richter does, I mostly just listen). But Church was good, and he seemed to get a along with lots of the members well, and I hope he really enjoyed it. And because it was fast Sunday the YSA ward has this thing called 'Break The Fast" where the ward kind of breaks their fast together. And we took him to that which he enjoyed(he kind of really enjoys eating food, like me!) but it was good. And then we dropped him off. And yeah...1ST CHINESE INVESTIGATOR WHO CAME TO CHURCH WITH US!!!! It's quite exciting.
Anyways that was my week...quite different Thanksgiving than normal, but still really great.
Scripture of the Week 2 Nephi 7:7 Trust in the Lord, and be not ashamed of what you believe. I've found that really knowing what you believe and sharing that or standing up for it is a great way to strengthen your roots in the Gospel.
Thank you all for the love and support!!!
Elder Smith =D
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