Monday, June 6, 2011

Email from 6/6/11

Hello Family,

No near-death experiences this week, thankfully!

Any of us would have loved to shoot the 2nd groundhog, but the missionary handbook says we shouldn't handle firearms. Your cruise sounds like a blast - especially the ancient Nephite and Lamanite references found among the ruins. That sounds like a ton of fun to learn about. I'll bet your class was spellbound. Do I know Elise or AJ's spouses? That is exciting news to hear! The guy from Arizona's name is Timothy. We haven't taught him this week because he was gone on a camping trip. Elder Quarnberg went home on Saturday for medical reasons. He may be able to return and finish the last 3 or 4 months of his mission, depending on how his treatment goes.

Brother Schroth from North Olmsted was baptized on Saturday! Since we had already driven up to Cleveland that day to take Elder Quarnberg to the airport, we just stuck around and worked with some of the elders in that area for most of the day until the baptism. He was baptized by his son. The line-up of people who spoke at (and attended) his baptism was something like "who's who in the Cleveland Stake". Seeing him baptized was an amazingly fulfilling experience for me, and I can't imagine what it must have been like for him, Sister Schroth, his son and his son's wife, his home-teacher of many years, (the stake president), and many others from the ward and stake who have known and befriended Bro. Schroth and waited almost 40 years for this event. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing.

We had a moderately slow week - we've found a couple of people who we taught once or twice and then they've lost interest, but nobody really solid that is new. However, there have been a couple of members of the ward who've had missionary experiences in the past week or two with neighbors, friends, or other acquaintances. While these interactions didn't result in invitations to be taught, they laid the foundation for interest in the restored gospel and hopefully will soon result in these individuals actively investigating.

Too bad about the bunny.

Are you running a marathon sometime soon, Dad? How long do you have to work off all those 2nd main courses or 2nd desserts?

Thanks for checking on the school stuff.

LoveYMNB,
Elder Matthew "Matty" Smith