Hello Family, Happy Easter
We've had a pretty fair week. We tracted a lot last week and this week we got to start teaching a couple of the people we found, including a couple that moved from California about a year ago and used to live right next door to a bishop there. They were really friendly in inviting us in, and excited to tell us about all the members of the church they knew back in California. We also got a referral from a less-active young woman in the ward who we've started to teach. It was pretty cool, the young woman, who hasn't been to church in years, invited her friend to come to sacrament meeting if she wasn't working on Sunday. The ward seems to be pretty excited about missionary work in general. The ward mission leader asked during the opening exercises of priesthood if anyone had a missionary experience they could share and three people wanted to talk about their experiences. After that, the bishop spoke from the pulpit on an experience he'd recentlyi had with sharing the gospel.
My birthday was great! Thank you everybody for the cards, packages, and letters! Yes, Mom, people knew it was my birthday. They actually announced it at a ward activity we attended on Friday. So how into golfing is Dad getting? He seems to be pretty serious about it now. Is he any good? Elder Hunt played on SUU's college golf team before his mission.
Good job beating some little girls, Cody. I knew you could do it. Tuck your chin to your chest when you dive in and your goggles won't fall off. Or just make them tighter.
We had a stake easter cantata yesterday, with all the ward choirs from the stake singing, as well as the stake choir and a couple solos, duets, and quartets. It was really beautiful. It was funny - we were eating at the Nelsons' house the day before and brother Nelson said he was singing a solo in our choir's song. He only had two words: "Crucify Him!". He said he wondered who picked him for that part.
Mothers' Day - the second most important holiday of the year! I'm excited, too.
Things are going pretty well with our investigators. Bro. Schroth is pretty much set on getting baptized now. He's even talked about how he wants to fly out a couple previous bishops from out west to see his baptism. He still hasn't decided on a specific date, but that seems to pretty much just be details now. We've got a couple new investigators in the beginning stages of investigation, so we'll see how they work out.
LYMNB,
Elder Matthew Smith
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Email from 4/11/11
Hello Family!
So, how good is Delaney at the violin, anyways? It sounds like she's pretty much a master violinist - I'm pretty excited to hear her play after all the hype she gets. Apparently she's a master scholar, too. Way to go on the 34! Peyton also plays the violin, right? (Note: Delaney received a "Maestro Award" for Outstanding Soloist at her Orchestra Festival in Seattle last weekend, and got a 34 on her ACT test)
Congratulations to Cody on surviving week two of swim practice - sorry you get beat by little girls all the time, though. That's always tough on your pride. I remember when little girls could beat me at swimming, too - it was frustrating. Don't worry - after a couple more weeks the little girls won't be able to beat you any more. Keep working on the six pack - I expect it to be rock solid by the time I get home.
With regards to the Hanny family, it was just the husband and wife that went through the temple a couple weeks ago. The children are in the UK, but they are active members of the church as well. Bro. Hanny recently made a trip back to England and had the sacrament passed to him by his grandson!
I haven't followed up too much about Robbie, Esther, and Yazmeyne since their confirmations, but I know Robbie spoke in Sacrament meeting a couple weeks ago.
Yes we did attend the commemoration of the temple dedication. It was amazing and inspiring - the holders of all the keys that were restored in the temple were present and spoke. It was really cool that the Community of Christ allowed the picture to be taken in the temple - that's a really rare occurence.
I think there are 159 young missionaries in the mission right now. It's hard to keep track - we just sent two more elders home this weeek and we're getting a Sister from Temple Square to serve in our mission for two transfers this week. The numbers are always changing.
Yes, I have seen the John Tanner story video - it's really touching and powerful.
The work is coming along pretty well - we've stopped teaching a couple of our invesigators, but the ones we are still teaching are pretty solid. We've had a lot of finding opportunities this week, and we anticipate starting to teach a couple of new investigators in the coming few days. Our next baptism isn't scheduled until June 24th, but we are hoping that Bro. Schroth will be ready pretty soon as well. We are having some success reactivating people as well, but we worry about how much effort we have to put into some of the families that we are teachng to help keep them active and wonder if they will keep coming if the focus is taken off of them.
No, I will not likely remain an AP for the rest of my mission. I anticipate that I will be released at the end of this transfer. So probably in 3 weeks or so we will be in a triple-up with the next assistant, who will be Elder Hunt's companion.
I tried to think of some cool "small things" experiences from this week, like you asked for. I thought back on what a great week this was, but nothing particular seemed very impressive. I kind of realized that the things that are really cool and impressive and powerful for me, probably wouldn't sound that interesting in an email. The type of things that happened this week are like "we were teaching and testifying to an investigator, and the Spirit bore witness of the truth!" - it doesn't sound that cool, but it is amazing to be there in the moment. I don't know if that made sense at all. Sorry if it didn't.
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
So, how good is Delaney at the violin, anyways? It sounds like she's pretty much a master violinist - I'm pretty excited to hear her play after all the hype she gets. Apparently she's a master scholar, too. Way to go on the 34! Peyton also plays the violin, right? (Note: Delaney received a "Maestro Award" for Outstanding Soloist at her Orchestra Festival in Seattle last weekend, and got a 34 on her ACT test)
Congratulations to Cody on surviving week two of swim practice - sorry you get beat by little girls all the time, though. That's always tough on your pride. I remember when little girls could beat me at swimming, too - it was frustrating. Don't worry - after a couple more weeks the little girls won't be able to beat you any more. Keep working on the six pack - I expect it to be rock solid by the time I get home.
With regards to the Hanny family, it was just the husband and wife that went through the temple a couple weeks ago. The children are in the UK, but they are active members of the church as well. Bro. Hanny recently made a trip back to England and had the sacrament passed to him by his grandson!
I haven't followed up too much about Robbie, Esther, and Yazmeyne since their confirmations, but I know Robbie spoke in Sacrament meeting a couple weeks ago.
Yes we did attend the commemoration of the temple dedication. It was amazing and inspiring - the holders of all the keys that were restored in the temple were present and spoke. It was really cool that the Community of Christ allowed the picture to be taken in the temple - that's a really rare occurence.
I think there are 159 young missionaries in the mission right now. It's hard to keep track - we just sent two more elders home this weeek and we're getting a Sister from Temple Square to serve in our mission for two transfers this week. The numbers are always changing.
Yes, I have seen the John Tanner story video - it's really touching and powerful.
The work is coming along pretty well - we've stopped teaching a couple of our invesigators, but the ones we are still teaching are pretty solid. We've had a lot of finding opportunities this week, and we anticipate starting to teach a couple of new investigators in the coming few days. Our next baptism isn't scheduled until June 24th, but we are hoping that Bro. Schroth will be ready pretty soon as well. We are having some success reactivating people as well, but we worry about how much effort we have to put into some of the families that we are teachng to help keep them active and wonder if they will keep coming if the focus is taken off of them.
No, I will not likely remain an AP for the rest of my mission. I anticipate that I will be released at the end of this transfer. So probably in 3 weeks or so we will be in a triple-up with the next assistant, who will be Elder Hunt's companion.
I tried to think of some cool "small things" experiences from this week, like you asked for. I thought back on what a great week this was, but nothing particular seemed very impressive. I kind of realized that the things that are really cool and impressive and powerful for me, probably wouldn't sound that interesting in an email. The type of things that happened this week are like "we were teaching and testifying to an investigator, and the Spirit bore witness of the truth!" - it doesn't sound that cool, but it is amazing to be there in the moment. I don't know if that made sense at all. Sorry if it didn't.
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
Monday, April 4, 2011
Happy Conference
Dear Family,
What an amazing conference, eh? I especially liked the talk by Elder Maynes (I think) of the 70 who read the poem about sheep and lambs..."when the sheep are lost, what a terrible cost the lambs will have to pay.". It made me very grateful to have some good sheep for parents. There are plenty of families who I work with or have worked with to whom I wish I could get the message across how much they need the church and gospel in their lives not only for themselves, but for their children. In the most humble way I can (this sounds prideful), I just want to yell at them, "Don't you want your children to grow up and be like me and Elder Hunt!?!? They need the gospel!"
So President Sorensen's picture was on the church news website - last Sunday was the 175th anniversary of the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, and there was a commemoration service where the holders of all the keys that were restored there spoke - President Sorensen, the temple president, and the stake president of Kirtland. The Community of Christ even let them take a picture inside of the temple!
Don't worry - the Kirtland Temple will never be a chore! I never go but what I learn something new and feel the Spirit testify of the sacred events that happened there. It's amazing to read the revelations right there where they were recieved in Joseph Smith's office on the temple's 3rd floor, or to read about the keys being restored while sitting only 10 yards from where the angels and the Savior stood. Maybe driving to and from the temple could be considered a chore, though.
So at transfers this week, somehow things got mixed up between us, the ZLs, the DL, and the missionaries, and one elder who wasn't supposed to be transferred showed up at transfer meeting, while his companion who was supposed to be transferred stayed back in his area. Imagine our perplexity. To make matters worse, it was all the way out in Wauseon - almost as far from Kirtland as you can get and still be in our mission. It made for a long day of driving to get everybody to where they were supposed to be - we were in the car from 1:00pm to 11:30pm driving people to their proper areas who had been part of the mix-up. At 11:30 we had everyone to their new areas (except for us - we stayed with the Canton elders for the night and drove back home in the morning.)
Good job taking care of business back home! Sounds like a hectic week for you as well. Way to go Cody for surviving the first week of swimming!
I think I would probably rather fly home than be picked up if that's alright. The work is going pretty well.
Do you remember me writing about the Hanny family back in July or August when I was in Perry? We were helping them become active in the church again. I got a letter from them this week to let me know that they had just been sealed together for time and all eternity in the Columbus temple! Interestingly, they were replying to a letter that I sent just after I was transferred, but that got lost in the mail and was delivered just a couple weeks ago.
We watched conference at the church building. Bro. Schroth came to the priesthood session, and we were very pleased to see a couple less-active members coming out to watch it also. Most people just watched the other sessions at home, though. Bro. Lewallen watched conference from home as well.
Wow, I Totally forgot that it's my birthday this month - thanks for the reminder! There's not much that I want or need - maybe some good-lookin' ties and some candy, I guess.
Love YMNB,
Elder Matthew Smith
What an amazing conference, eh? I especially liked the talk by Elder Maynes (I think) of the 70 who read the poem about sheep and lambs..."when the sheep are lost, what a terrible cost the lambs will have to pay.". It made me very grateful to have some good sheep for parents. There are plenty of families who I work with or have worked with to whom I wish I could get the message across how much they need the church and gospel in their lives not only for themselves, but for their children. In the most humble way I can (this sounds prideful), I just want to yell at them, "Don't you want your children to grow up and be like me and Elder Hunt!?!? They need the gospel!"
So President Sorensen's picture was on the church news website - last Sunday was the 175th anniversary of the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, and there was a commemoration service where the holders of all the keys that were restored there spoke - President Sorensen, the temple president, and the stake president of Kirtland. The Community of Christ even let them take a picture inside of the temple!
Don't worry - the Kirtland Temple will never be a chore! I never go but what I learn something new and feel the Spirit testify of the sacred events that happened there. It's amazing to read the revelations right there where they were recieved in Joseph Smith's office on the temple's 3rd floor, or to read about the keys being restored while sitting only 10 yards from where the angels and the Savior stood. Maybe driving to and from the temple could be considered a chore, though.
So at transfers this week, somehow things got mixed up between us, the ZLs, the DL, and the missionaries, and one elder who wasn't supposed to be transferred showed up at transfer meeting, while his companion who was supposed to be transferred stayed back in his area. Imagine our perplexity. To make matters worse, it was all the way out in Wauseon - almost as far from Kirtland as you can get and still be in our mission. It made for a long day of driving to get everybody to where they were supposed to be - we were in the car from 1:00pm to 11:30pm driving people to their proper areas who had been part of the mix-up. At 11:30 we had everyone to their new areas (except for us - we stayed with the Canton elders for the night and drove back home in the morning.)
Good job taking care of business back home! Sounds like a hectic week for you as well. Way to go Cody for surviving the first week of swimming!
I think I would probably rather fly home than be picked up if that's alright. The work is going pretty well.
Do you remember me writing about the Hanny family back in July or August when I was in Perry? We were helping them become active in the church again. I got a letter from them this week to let me know that they had just been sealed together for time and all eternity in the Columbus temple! Interestingly, they were replying to a letter that I sent just after I was transferred, but that got lost in the mail and was delivered just a couple weeks ago.
We watched conference at the church building. Bro. Schroth came to the priesthood session, and we were very pleased to see a couple less-active members coming out to watch it also. Most people just watched the other sessions at home, though. Bro. Lewallen watched conference from home as well.
Wow, I Totally forgot that it's my birthday this month - thanks for the reminder! There's not much that I want or need - maybe some good-lookin' ties and some candy, I guess.
Love YMNB,
Elder Matthew Smith
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Email from your loving child
Hello Family,
It sounds like Mom and Delaney had a pretty hectic couple of days!
We've got a fun couple days coming up too; last night was the part where Elder Hunt and I take a big breath and don't come up for air until Thursday. The new missionaries come in today and the old missionaries go home on Thursday and the whole time in between will be a whirlwind of shepherding people around between meetings, transfers, orientations, the kirtland temple and visitors' center, the mission home, and the airport. In addition to that we have a bunch of clerical stuff to be done in preparation for transfer meeting. We also need to collate the mission's statistics and send them out to SLC, the missionary leaders, and the local priesthood leaders to whom they pertain. I have no idea when we are going to finish everything that we're supposed to do, but I'm sure it will work out somehow.
Sorry I have not been diligent in telling stories about all the little 'tender mercies' of missionary work. I'll try to do better about that in the future. Interesting 'small thing' - Sister Lee (super cool recent convert) from the ward is our meal coordinator - she's in charge of the meal calendar and making sure that we are well fed. (And she is VERY good at that job!) When there are holes on the dinner calendar, she calls people and asks if they can feed us on those days. When we are trying to get into the home of a less-active or part-member family and are having trouble getting an appointment, we just call Sis. Lee - she has a 'hit-list' of people whose homes we want to get into, and she calls them first about feeding us. No sister can resist the motherly instinct when they hear about two poor, hungry young boys with nowhere to go for dinner! Alma 43:30: And he also knowing that it was the only desire of the Nephites to preserve their lands, and their liberty, and their church, therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem.... Alma 18:23: ...and thus he was caught with guile.
To my younger brother: Cody, what would your mother think of such nightmarish spelling and punctuation? Good luck swimming, though. Just work hard. End of writing to Cody.
Way to go Delaney on a 34 ACT! Why is the writing part not included?
Yes. In light of getting the physical, I probably will want to attend UAA.
Well, I have got to get going in about five minutes ago, so I will have to conclude. Sorry this is a pretty weaksauce email.
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
It sounds like Mom and Delaney had a pretty hectic couple of days!
We've got a fun couple days coming up too; last night was the part where Elder Hunt and I take a big breath and don't come up for air until Thursday. The new missionaries come in today and the old missionaries go home on Thursday and the whole time in between will be a whirlwind of shepherding people around between meetings, transfers, orientations, the kirtland temple and visitors' center, the mission home, and the airport. In addition to that we have a bunch of clerical stuff to be done in preparation for transfer meeting. We also need to collate the mission's statistics and send them out to SLC, the missionary leaders, and the local priesthood leaders to whom they pertain. I have no idea when we are going to finish everything that we're supposed to do, but I'm sure it will work out somehow.
Sorry I have not been diligent in telling stories about all the little 'tender mercies' of missionary work. I'll try to do better about that in the future. Interesting 'small thing' - Sister Lee (super cool recent convert) from the ward is our meal coordinator - she's in charge of the meal calendar and making sure that we are well fed. (And she is VERY good at that job!) When there are holes on the dinner calendar, she calls people and asks if they can feed us on those days. When we are trying to get into the home of a less-active or part-member family and are having trouble getting an appointment, we just call Sis. Lee - she has a 'hit-list' of people whose homes we want to get into, and she calls them first about feeding us. No sister can resist the motherly instinct when they hear about two poor, hungry young boys with nowhere to go for dinner! Alma 43:30: And he also knowing that it was the only desire of the Nephites to preserve their lands, and their liberty, and their church, therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem.... Alma 18:23: ...and thus he was caught with guile.
To my younger brother: Cody, what would your mother think of such nightmarish spelling and punctuation? Good luck swimming, though. Just work hard. End of writing to Cody.
Way to go Delaney on a 34 ACT! Why is the writing part not included?
Yes. In light of getting the physical, I probably will want to attend UAA.
Well, I have got to get going in about five minutes ago, so I will have to conclude. Sorry this is a pretty weaksauce email.
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
Monday, March 28, 2011
Email from 3/21/11
Hello Family!
Yep, Esther and Yazmeyne's baptism was an amazing experience - it's always nice to see the fruits of your efforts and not just the buds!
Great! I'd love to hear from Chris. It's no problem for you to have given him my email.
Well done everyone on your musical, athletic, academic, and community service accomplishments!
It sounds like the backyard landscaping project was probably a lot of fun. Maybe I should just go into construction when I get home so I can drive some of those cool machines!
I got a 2nd class FAA physical last P-day. No problems - all good to go.
Too bad about the bear tags.
Our investigators are pretty much at 'status quo ante' from last week, except that Bro. Lewallen's baptism will be postponed. I'm doing really well, eating well, even gaining weight (believe it or not). North Olmsted is a great place to be a missionary right now!
Next week is transfers week, so emails might not come on monday, but maybe they will. Not sure yet, sorry.
LoveYMNB!
Elder Matthew Smith
Yep, Esther and Yazmeyne's baptism was an amazing experience - it's always nice to see the fruits of your efforts and not just the buds!
Great! I'd love to hear from Chris. It's no problem for you to have given him my email.
Well done everyone on your musical, athletic, academic, and community service accomplishments!
It sounds like the backyard landscaping project was probably a lot of fun. Maybe I should just go into construction when I get home so I can drive some of those cool machines!
I got a 2nd class FAA physical last P-day. No problems - all good to go.
Too bad about the bear tags.
Our investigators are pretty much at 'status quo ante' from last week, except that Bro. Lewallen's baptism will be postponed. I'm doing really well, eating well, even gaining weight (believe it or not). North Olmsted is a great place to be a missionary right now!
Next week is transfers week, so emails might not come on monday, but maybe they will. Not sure yet, sorry.
LoveYMNB!
Elder Matthew Smith
Monday, March 14, 2011
Happy Spring
Hello Family!
Happy Spring - I love Spring (except for the part where we 'spring forward'). We keep on thinking that springtime is here to stay with 50 degree weather, but then it turns around and snows a few days later. We keep on saying "maybe this is the last time". Maybe this time it really is...
As it turns out, Esther and Yazmeyne were both baptized on Friday by Robbie and confirmed yesterday. Their baptismal service was great and they were all super surprised when I showed up! Perks of being an assistant...
No, Elder Fronk was transferred 4 weeks ago - Elder Talbot and his greenie Elder Marshall were the missionaries who sealed the deal with Robbie, Esther, and Yazmeyne.
I'm really excited that Chris came home. That is a really cool story about the man whose daughter was in the MTC with him, too. Is he living at home until the fall semester, or what is he doing? Can you get me his address?
Our area is doing well - Bro. Lewallen is set to be baptized on the 26th of March. He's been taught everything except a few of the commandments, he's felt the spirit and recognized spiritual growth and conversion, and is doing alltogether very well. We had to get special permission from Pres. Sorensen and the stake president to baptize him in our ward since he actually lives outside our boundaries, but it was approved because he is getting married to a member of the ward and will move in with her once they are married.
Bro. Schroth is also progressing. It's hard to imagine him not progressing considering that he's good friends with the stake president and his wife, the 1st couselor in the mission presidency and his wife, and most of the rest of the ward. He also knows President and Sister Sorensen pretty well, and of course, Sis. Schroth is an active and faithful member. He's got a lot of good examples around him of people who simply exude light. We have a lesson with him and the stake president today.
We've got another part-member family, the Tusbergs, whose 8 and 9 year old children will probably get baptized next month. It's great to go there and teach the children and have the (recently reactivated) parents joining in teaching the gospel to their children.
Thanks a lot for being such a supportive and encouraging family. I don't know where I'd be without great gospel examples like all of you in my life! I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ really does bless, lift, ennoble, and strengthen families and individuals. Truly there could be no more honorable title than to be called a Disciple of Jesus Christ.
LoveYMNB,
Elder Matthew Smith
Happy Spring - I love Spring (except for the part where we 'spring forward'). We keep on thinking that springtime is here to stay with 50 degree weather, but then it turns around and snows a few days later. We keep on saying "maybe this is the last time". Maybe this time it really is...
As it turns out, Esther and Yazmeyne were both baptized on Friday by Robbie and confirmed yesterday. Their baptismal service was great and they were all super surprised when I showed up! Perks of being an assistant...
No, Elder Fronk was transferred 4 weeks ago - Elder Talbot and his greenie Elder Marshall were the missionaries who sealed the deal with Robbie, Esther, and Yazmeyne.
I'm really excited that Chris came home. That is a really cool story about the man whose daughter was in the MTC with him, too. Is he living at home until the fall semester, or what is he doing? Can you get me his address?
Our area is doing well - Bro. Lewallen is set to be baptized on the 26th of March. He's been taught everything except a few of the commandments, he's felt the spirit and recognized spiritual growth and conversion, and is doing alltogether very well. We had to get special permission from Pres. Sorensen and the stake president to baptize him in our ward since he actually lives outside our boundaries, but it was approved because he is getting married to a member of the ward and will move in with her once they are married.
Bro. Schroth is also progressing. It's hard to imagine him not progressing considering that he's good friends with the stake president and his wife, the 1st couselor in the mission presidency and his wife, and most of the rest of the ward. He also knows President and Sister Sorensen pretty well, and of course, Sis. Schroth is an active and faithful member. He's got a lot of good examples around him of people who simply exude light. We have a lesson with him and the stake president today.
We've got another part-member family, the Tusbergs, whose 8 and 9 year old children will probably get baptized next month. It's great to go there and teach the children and have the (recently reactivated) parents joining in teaching the gospel to their children.
Thanks a lot for being such a supportive and encouraging family. I don't know where I'd be without great gospel examples like all of you in my life! I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ really does bless, lift, ennoble, and strengthen families and individuals. Truly there could be no more honorable title than to be called a Disciple of Jesus Christ.
LoveYMNB,
Elder Matthew Smith
Monday, March 7, 2011
This week was much less crappy
Hello Family!
Sorry to not have given you all the crappy details about our flooding. Per your questions:
-No, I don't need you to send my anything. We both threw away all our shoes, but President & Sister Sorensen bought us new shoes and gave us old ones, so we're good there. I didn't lose anything else significant. Every single one of Elder Hunt's ties were ruined, but somebody sent an email out to the ward and he got a ton of ties from people yesterday at church.
-The flooding was caused by torrential rain and warm temperatures that melted the snow on the ground and overwhelmed rivers, streams, and sewage treatment plants alike.
-The town you were probably watching on the news that got heavily flooded is Findlay, Ohio. The elders down there have been doing a whole lot of service this week. Church was cancelled down there this week also. When I first came out on my mission I would often hear legends from the oldest missionaries of the "Findlay Flood" of 2007. I guess it was even worse then than it was this week and half of the mission was sent to Findlay to help with the relief effort and as a result the hearts of the whole city were softened towards the church. Findlay has pretty consistently led the mission in baptisms ever since.
-We are always at the office late on Sunday nights - we take the mission's numbers from the zone leaders and stuff and it takes a while. Since I have been an assistant it has gotten a lot better, though. In the past the assistants have pretty consistently been unable to get home and get to bed on Sunday nights until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. Several weeks after I was called as an assistant, we changed the way we do a couple things and now we usually get home at the comparatively early hour of 11:30 or 12:00ish.
Good job everybody on being great athletes, temple cleaners, connoisseurs of fine art, and archaeologists (finding the plates).
How long have the horses been at the equestrian center now? When are they coming back? Why didn't we do this magical drainage thing a couple years ago? That's nice of Steve Bott to do it for us. Is he a member?
I'm pretty excited about you getting the Haimen boy out to scouts and activities. Hopefully he will keep progressing and start coming to church soon. Have you seen the lds.org video about youth missionary work? You should check it out: https://lds.org/youth/video/inviting-all-to-come-unto-christ-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng
Our investigator at church this week:
Bro. Schroth: has been married to an active and faithful member for about 35 years. Comes to church every week and if you didn't know better you'd think he was a member. His heart has been softened recently by some life experiences, and we are now actively teaching him. He has committed to baptism (this is tremendously significant - a lot of people have been waiting for this for a long time). It is a little bit intimidating to be teaching him becuase we really don't want to mess things up! The stake president and his wife are his fellowshippers and close friends, as well as members of the bishopric and mission presidency, and many members of the ward are friends with him. Of course, this is an opportunity that Sis. Schroth and half of the stake have been waiting for for a long time! We figure that nothing could possibly go wrong, though, becuase we've got 35 years of prayers and fasting to draw from.
Other baptisms coming up:
Harrison Tusberg: the 9 year old child of a recently reactivated family. He should be baptized shortly - probably in April - it's mostly just a matter of when the family can fly out to see him get baptized. His 8-yr old brother is also being baptized, but that is under the Bishop's keys.
Bro. Lewallen: The boyfriend (possibly soon to be fiancee?) of a member in our ward. He's been progressing and learning well, including keeping the commitment of the Word of Wisdom. He's got a baptismal date for the 26th of this month, but it's a little bit shaky.
Thanks for the weather forecast.
LoveYMNB, Elder Matthew Smith
And in a follow-up email:
Oh I forgot to tell you - Robbie (from Sandusky) got baptized Saturday and confirmed Yesterday! He and Esther got married last week. Yazmeyne's baptism is this Saturday and Esther's is hopefully soon (pending continued word of wisdom struggles). I called and talked to them and it was great!
Sorry to not have given you all the crappy details about our flooding. Per your questions:
-No, I don't need you to send my anything. We both threw away all our shoes, but President & Sister Sorensen bought us new shoes and gave us old ones, so we're good there. I didn't lose anything else significant. Every single one of Elder Hunt's ties were ruined, but somebody sent an email out to the ward and he got a ton of ties from people yesterday at church.
-The flooding was caused by torrential rain and warm temperatures that melted the snow on the ground and overwhelmed rivers, streams, and sewage treatment plants alike.
-The town you were probably watching on the news that got heavily flooded is Findlay, Ohio. The elders down there have been doing a whole lot of service this week. Church was cancelled down there this week also. When I first came out on my mission I would often hear legends from the oldest missionaries of the "Findlay Flood" of 2007. I guess it was even worse then than it was this week and half of the mission was sent to Findlay to help with the relief effort and as a result the hearts of the whole city were softened towards the church. Findlay has pretty consistently led the mission in baptisms ever since.
-We are always at the office late on Sunday nights - we take the mission's numbers from the zone leaders and stuff and it takes a while. Since I have been an assistant it has gotten a lot better, though. In the past the assistants have pretty consistently been unable to get home and get to bed on Sunday nights until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. Several weeks after I was called as an assistant, we changed the way we do a couple things and now we usually get home at the comparatively early hour of 11:30 or 12:00ish.
Good job everybody on being great athletes, temple cleaners, connoisseurs of fine art, and archaeologists (finding the plates).
How long have the horses been at the equestrian center now? When are they coming back? Why didn't we do this magical drainage thing a couple years ago? That's nice of Steve Bott to do it for us. Is he a member?
I'm pretty excited about you getting the Haimen boy out to scouts and activities. Hopefully he will keep progressing and start coming to church soon. Have you seen the lds.org video about youth missionary work? You should check it out: https://lds.org/youth/video/inviting-all-to-come-unto-christ-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng
Our investigator at church this week:
Bro. Schroth: has been married to an active and faithful member for about 35 years. Comes to church every week and if you didn't know better you'd think he was a member. His heart has been softened recently by some life experiences, and we are now actively teaching him. He has committed to baptism (this is tremendously significant - a lot of people have been waiting for this for a long time). It is a little bit intimidating to be teaching him becuase we really don't want to mess things up! The stake president and his wife are his fellowshippers and close friends, as well as members of the bishopric and mission presidency, and many members of the ward are friends with him. Of course, this is an opportunity that Sis. Schroth and half of the stake have been waiting for for a long time! We figure that nothing could possibly go wrong, though, becuase we've got 35 years of prayers and fasting to draw from.
Other baptisms coming up:
Harrison Tusberg: the 9 year old child of a recently reactivated family. He should be baptized shortly - probably in April - it's mostly just a matter of when the family can fly out to see him get baptized. His 8-yr old brother is also being baptized, but that is under the Bishop's keys.
Bro. Lewallen: The boyfriend (possibly soon to be fiancee?) of a member in our ward. He's been progressing and learning well, including keeping the commitment of the Word of Wisdom. He's got a baptismal date for the 26th of this month, but it's a little bit shaky.
Thanks for the weather forecast.
LoveYMNB, Elder Matthew Smith
And in a follow-up email:
Oh I forgot to tell you - Robbie (from Sandusky) got baptized Saturday and confirmed Yesterday! He and Esther got married last week. Yazmeyne's baptism is this Saturday and Esther's is hopefully soon (pending continued word of wisdom struggles). I called and talked to them and it was great!
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