Hello Family,
No, we didn't get a new replacement for our 3rd companion - it's just me and Elder Yukish now.
I'm really excited that Peyton has her first temple recommend! It will be amazing for her to be able to go and do baptisms for the dead in the temple! My temple recommend expires next month and I'll have to get a temporary one from President Sorensen.
Good job not throwing up at your marathon, Dad.
I'm glad that doctoring the horses was less injurious this year, and that Cody has mastered the racing start and flip turn.
What's been going on with us: we're mostly tracting right now. We haven't been able to find any new investigators that have gone anywhere really, but we were able to set a baptismal date with one of our investigators, Timothy (the one from Arizona). He's committed to baptism on July 16th. He has a lot of changes he needs to make in his life to prepare for that point, including giving up smoking and alcoholism, but he understands the requirements and seems willing to change. We're also teaching a part-member family (kind of: the parents used to be members but had their names removed after being offended. Their eleven-year-old son was never baptized), but they seem to be gradually losing interest. The father still has a pretty good testimony, but the mother doesn't really anymore. It seems like she doesn't really want to feel the spirit, though, so she doesn't.
We do a pretty good mix of biking and driving. It's probably about evenly split between the days that we bike and the days that we drive.
We have a pretty good ward, with a lot of very supportive members. It seems like there's plenty of members trying to share the gospel, but not having too much success. There have been a couple members who have talked about the gospel with others and are working themselves up to referring their friends, but none that have really come through yet. There seem to be a lot of members who are willing to come with us to teaching appointments, and we take them out with us a lot, but we aren't really utilizing the full potential there because of lack of investigators to teach. We take active members with us pretty often to teach less active members as well.
I'll probably be here the rest of my mission, yes. That was the plan when I came here, at least. Transfers is next week, so we'll know for sure then. (Because of transfers, I probably won't be able to email until Tuesday). I expect that I will stay in this area for my last transfer and Elder Yukish will be transferred, giving me a new companion.
It's great working with Elder Yukish - he's very easy to get along with and a lot of fun to be around. I really appreciate that he knows how to have fun being a missionary and still work hard all day. He's a good teacher and is able to connect to people on a personal level very well.
Sorry for 'starving' you of information on the work! It just seems like you wouldn't really want to hear about the people we are teaching who never show up for their appointments, or who don't keep any of the commitments we leave, or who aren't making any progress towards being baptized or reactivated. (or course, if people fall into those categories, we generally don't teach them for very long anyways.)
Sorry about the lack of pictures, too. My camera broke, and I've never gotten around to getting a new one. (I guess it's not totally broke, it just has 'issues' - sometimes the buttons don't work, sometimes it runs out of batteries the same day you put new ones in, sometimes it won't focus, etc.) I don't think I even unpacked it when I moved from Sandusky to N. Olmsted.
LoveYMNB, Elder Matthew Smith
Sunday, June 19, 2011
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
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
Tornados and shootings ... a dinner to die for...
Dear Siblings,
I'll bet Mom will love this email...
Junk food and frozen dinners, huh? Sounds pretty much like a missionary diet. (except for the times when the members invite us to dinner, which is generally delicious, and sometimes even ... to die for...
So guess what? There was a tornado that touched down in our area this week! It was awesome! The sky was all inky-green-black, the rain, thunder, and lightning came down in torrents, the tornado warning sirens went off and everything! It was intense! I didn't see the tornado, though, which is probably a good thing. I thought I was going to die, though. A member was driving us home from a teaching appointment to our apartment during the terrible tempests that day. We got soaked to the bone running the 20 feet from the house we were in to his car. The windshield wipers were nowhere near keeping up with the deluge of water coming down from the ominous obscurity of the clouds. The visibility was terrible. As we were driving, the windows started to fog up. I asked if his defroster was on and he assured me that it was. It most assuredly wasn't, so I turned it on for him when he wasn't looking. By that time, he was using his hand to wipe portholes in the windshield (which quickly fogged up again) to see as we raced down the road. As I did my best to peer through the mostly opaque windshield, a parked car zoomed by us, inches from the side of our car, that I hadn't been able to see until moments before we passed it. Later, as we were stopped at an intersection, I looked out the passenger window and saw a double yellow line - we were on the wrong side of the road. I think he must have been driving by Faith and not by sight or something, because we got home safely.
We also witnessed two shootings this week! It was a double homicide (or, more appropriately, a double pesticide). We were at dinner with a member family, eating around their dining room table, which had windows and a glass door to their backyard. As we ate, on of the teenage children cried out, "There he is, Dad!", pointing to someone walking through their backyard, heading for the vegetable patch. The father jumped up from the table and ran upstairs, quickly returning with a .22 rifle. He opened the glass door just a crack, took careful and steady aim, and fired, hitting the target in the middle of his body. The culprit fell to the ground, writhing. The father then walked outside and shot him again from point blank range, finishing the deed. The victim was a big, fat groundhog that had been plagueing the family all fall and winter long, digging holes in the yard and under their deck, and being a general nuisance. They had been waiting for an opportune moment like this for some time. You can doubtless imagine how excited they were when another groundhog was sighted and shot only minutes later. What was really funny about it was that, after the first one was killed, the mother of the family we were eating with was protesting how gross it was and how it wasn't appropriate to be shooting animals while the missionaries were over for dinner, but when the second groundhog came out of hiding, she was the first one to say, "Quick! Go get some more ammo!".
The shooting was on Sunday afternoon, so when Sunday night came around and it was time to call the zone leaders to tell them about our statistics that week, I dressed up the story something like this:
"Hi Elder Bills, we may have to be quick with our numbers tonight - I'm waiting for President to call me back - he said he'd probably call at about 9:30 once he gets off the phone with the police. We actually witnessed a shooting in our area today, but I can't really talk about it right now...
He took it hook, line, and sinker. I told him the grisly truth eventually, though.
So, did anything exciting happen back home this week?
What's going on in San Rafael? Rafting? Your swim meet sounds exciting - I'm prettyy impressed that you can swim a 200 free. What did you do for memorial day?
So now that you have no more math homework or calculus flashcards, what comes next in your life, Delaney? Just start studying for next year? Yes, we try to take the youth out with us as much as we can. We regularly go on splits with the priests, but we can't really take young women teaching with us. Sister missionaries take the mia maids out with them all the time, though.
We've started teaching a couple new people, including a guy who moved from Arizona and had investigated the church a little bit there and gone to church a few times. Nobody came to church this week, though. You know that if Peyton gets a bunny for her birthday, it is going to be the butt of all the "target" and "lets go rabbit hunting" jokes instead of marshmallow, right?
LYMNB!
Elder Matthew Smith
I'll bet Mom will love this email...
Junk food and frozen dinners, huh? Sounds pretty much like a missionary diet. (except for the times when the members invite us to dinner, which is generally delicious, and sometimes even ... to die for...
So guess what? There was a tornado that touched down in our area this week! It was awesome! The sky was all inky-green-black, the rain, thunder, and lightning came down in torrents, the tornado warning sirens went off and everything! It was intense! I didn't see the tornado, though, which is probably a good thing. I thought I was going to die, though. A member was driving us home from a teaching appointment to our apartment during the terrible tempests that day. We got soaked to the bone running the 20 feet from the house we were in to his car. The windshield wipers were nowhere near keeping up with the deluge of water coming down from the ominous obscurity of the clouds. The visibility was terrible. As we were driving, the windows started to fog up. I asked if his defroster was on and he assured me that it was. It most assuredly wasn't, so I turned it on for him when he wasn't looking. By that time, he was using his hand to wipe portholes in the windshield (which quickly fogged up again) to see as we raced down the road. As I did my best to peer through the mostly opaque windshield, a parked car zoomed by us, inches from the side of our car, that I hadn't been able to see until moments before we passed it. Later, as we were stopped at an intersection, I looked out the passenger window and saw a double yellow line - we were on the wrong side of the road. I think he must have been driving by Faith and not by sight or something, because we got home safely.
We also witnessed two shootings this week! It was a double homicide (or, more appropriately, a double pesticide). We were at dinner with a member family, eating around their dining room table, which had windows and a glass door to their backyard. As we ate, on of the teenage children cried out, "There he is, Dad!", pointing to someone walking through their backyard, heading for the vegetable patch. The father jumped up from the table and ran upstairs, quickly returning with a .22 rifle. He opened the glass door just a crack, took careful and steady aim, and fired, hitting the target in the middle of his body. The culprit fell to the ground, writhing. The father then walked outside and shot him again from point blank range, finishing the deed. The victim was a big, fat groundhog that had been plagueing the family all fall and winter long, digging holes in the yard and under their deck, and being a general nuisance. They had been waiting for an opportune moment like this for some time. You can doubtless imagine how excited they were when another groundhog was sighted and shot only minutes later. What was really funny about it was that, after the first one was killed, the mother of the family we were eating with was protesting how gross it was and how it wasn't appropriate to be shooting animals while the missionaries were over for dinner, but when the second groundhog came out of hiding, she was the first one to say, "Quick! Go get some more ammo!".
The shooting was on Sunday afternoon, so when Sunday night came around and it was time to call the zone leaders to tell them about our statistics that week, I dressed up the story something like this:
"Hi Elder Bills, we may have to be quick with our numbers tonight - I'm waiting for President to call me back - he said he'd probably call at about 9:30 once he gets off the phone with the police. We actually witnessed a shooting in our area today, but I can't really talk about it right now...
He took it hook, line, and sinker. I told him the grisly truth eventually, though.
So, did anything exciting happen back home this week?
What's going on in San Rafael? Rafting? Your swim meet sounds exciting - I'm prettyy impressed that you can swim a 200 free. What did you do for memorial day?
So now that you have no more math homework or calculus flashcards, what comes next in your life, Delaney? Just start studying for next year? Yes, we try to take the youth out with us as much as we can. We regularly go on splits with the priests, but we can't really take young women teaching with us. Sister missionaries take the mia maids out with them all the time, though.
We've started teaching a couple new people, including a guy who moved from Arizona and had investigated the church a little bit there and gone to church a few times. Nobody came to church this week, though. You know that if Peyton gets a bunny for her birthday, it is going to be the butt of all the "target" and "lets go rabbit hunting" jokes instead of marshmallow, right?
LYMNB!
Elder Matthew Smith
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Email from 5/23/2011
Hola familia:
Way to go on everyone's performances! We joined the church choir this week and we'll be performing "come, ye children of the Lord" on Sunday. My companions and I have also decided that we need to have a special musical number prepared for baptisms, zone conferences, etc., so we'll probably work on that too.
Sorry about the horses. I vote against Lady, if that matters at all.
We've been working really hard and tracting up a storm.
We didn't get much success from tracting this week, but we did get a media referral for a book of mormon that we got to teach the other day. He's pretty cool and we had a good lesson with him. We'll be going back this week to teach him again.
I also had a good experience on Friday when I went on exchanges with the fairlawn elders (the other companionship in our ward) - we got to teach a member referral for the first time. It was really cool how she has been prepared and is searching right now. She was very excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and she came to church yesterday and loved it. Her member friend, Sis. Shaw, got baptized about 3 years ago and is very excited about sharing the gospel.
Yes most of our time is spent in a pretty ghetto environment now. We have a car, but we mostly bike so as to conserve our limited miles. The two investigators we challenged last week haven't really progressed this week. We taught them once early in the week, but they stood us up on Saturday.
LYMNB,
Elder Matthew Smith
Way to go on everyone's performances! We joined the church choir this week and we'll be performing "come, ye children of the Lord" on Sunday. My companions and I have also decided that we need to have a special musical number prepared for baptisms, zone conferences, etc., so we'll probably work on that too.
Sorry about the horses. I vote against Lady, if that matters at all.
We've been working really hard and tracting up a storm.
We didn't get much success from tracting this week, but we did get a media referral for a book of mormon that we got to teach the other day. He's pretty cool and we had a good lesson with him. We'll be going back this week to teach him again.
I also had a good experience on Friday when I went on exchanges with the fairlawn elders (the other companionship in our ward) - we got to teach a member referral for the first time. It was really cool how she has been prepared and is searching right now. She was very excited to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and she came to church yesterday and loved it. Her member friend, Sis. Shaw, got baptized about 3 years ago and is very excited about sharing the gospel.
Yes most of our time is spent in a pretty ghetto environment now. We have a car, but we mostly bike so as to conserve our limited miles. The two investigators we challenged last week haven't really progressed this week. We taught them once early in the week, but they stood us up on Saturday.
LYMNB,
Elder Matthew Smith
Monday, May 16, 2011
Email from 5/16/11
Hi Family,
How's Akron?
Akron is pretty cool. It's an interesting change going from a wealthy suburban area back to the ghetto. Back in North Olmsted, nobody would talk to us, but if they did, they were usually pretty solid. Here everyone is willing to talk to us, but we don't get as far with them.
We've been wondering how you're liking your new area, companions, responsibilities, etc.
I love them.
How is the work going there?
It's a little slow right now when it comes to investigators. The only investigators we are teaching are a couple people we found street contacting in the last couple of days. We have a lot going on in the way of working with less-active members of the church, though, and the Elders have been seeing some good success lately of bringing people back.
Did you inherit any golden investigators?
No. We inherited zero investigators, but we've set a couple baptismal dates with new investigators in the past couple of days.
What are your companion's names and where are they from?
Elder Andrew Quarnberg - Harrisville UT
Elder Jordan Yukish - Gilbert AZ (mostly grew up in Washington state, though)
Siblings?
Elder Quarnberg - 2 older sisters
Elder Yukish - 5 Brothers, 2 Sisters. He is 2nd oldest.
Hunters?
Elder Quarnberg - No
Elder Yukish - Yes
Other important info?
Elder Quarnberg - very very intelligent, a little bit quiet, he's a very experienced missionary (been out 6 weeks less than me). He got transferred into this area with me this week.
Elder Yukish - Totally filled with love for this ward and this area. He's been serving in this area for 6 out of the 9 months he's been on his mission.
Bomdiggity's sounds like a great idea for a restaurant name. Wow.
Yesterday we had a stake or area or region conference. I'm not exactly sure what it was. We had an opening hymn and prayer, some stake business, and then most of the meeting was taken up by watching a live broadcast from Salt Lake City. They said it was being broadcast to 168 stakes and 1 district in the eastern United States. Bishop Edgely of the presiding bishopric, Sister Esplin of the Primary general presidency, Elder Ballard of the 12, and President Eyring spoke. It was really cool. Elder Ballard spoke all about missionary work and the need to share the gospel. President Eyring spoke about being 'wise optimists' and looking forward with an eye of faith to the fulfilment of seemingly impossible promises the Lord has made. One of the things from his remarks that really touched me was him sharing a vision he has that I've often pondered on myself. He said that the effects of Preach My Gospel on missionary work are only beginning to be seen, and that returned missionaries from the Preach My Gospel era will be the fulfilment of President Ezra Taft Benson's vision "Every Member a Missionary".
He also shared an experience he once had with a wise optimist, an experience with which I was able to relate pretty well. He was in a mission office one day talking to one of the assistants who was soon to be released. President Eyring asked where he was going, and, when the elder told him what area he was soon being transferred to, President Eyring asked how the work was going there. The elder replied, "It's the deadest area in the mission - until I get there!"
I'm glad you had so much fun at the pasta factory, Mom. I remember going to work there a couple years ago. I thought it was really cool. Maybe I should just ditch the whole college idea and work on an assembly line at a macaroni and cheese factory instead...
I'm glad Cody has perfect flip turns sometimes. That's some progress. It took me a while to figure out what you meant by "We went to a swim team party (DRAT)". What an unfortunate name for a swim team. I thought you meant (DARNIT) or something like that at first.
Yep, I saw the email about the physical. I'm thinking maybe I should just get one after I get home.
On that topic, have you submitted the WUE application to UAA? Have my transcripts definitely arrived from UVU? Am I definitely applied for both the AAS and BS degrees at UAA? Also, to what extent do you think I will need student loans? I need to either "accept", "partially accept", or "decline" the available student loans on the UAA UVLINK website.
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
How's Akron?
Akron is pretty cool. It's an interesting change going from a wealthy suburban area back to the ghetto. Back in North Olmsted, nobody would talk to us, but if they did, they were usually pretty solid. Here everyone is willing to talk to us, but we don't get as far with them.
We've been wondering how you're liking your new area, companions, responsibilities, etc.
I love them.
How is the work going there?
It's a little slow right now when it comes to investigators. The only investigators we are teaching are a couple people we found street contacting in the last couple of days. We have a lot going on in the way of working with less-active members of the church, though, and the Elders have been seeing some good success lately of bringing people back.
Did you inherit any golden investigators?
No. We inherited zero investigators, but we've set a couple baptismal dates with new investigators in the past couple of days.
What are your companion's names and where are they from?
Elder Andrew Quarnberg - Harrisville UT
Elder Jordan Yukish - Gilbert AZ (mostly grew up in Washington state, though)
Siblings?
Elder Quarnberg - 2 older sisters
Elder Yukish - 5 Brothers, 2 Sisters. He is 2nd oldest.
Hunters?
Elder Quarnberg - No
Elder Yukish - Yes
Other important info?
Elder Quarnberg - very very intelligent, a little bit quiet, he's a very experienced missionary (been out 6 weeks less than me). He got transferred into this area with me this week.
Elder Yukish - Totally filled with love for this ward and this area. He's been serving in this area for 6 out of the 9 months he's been on his mission.
Bomdiggity's sounds like a great idea for a restaurant name. Wow.
Yesterday we had a stake or area or region conference. I'm not exactly sure what it was. We had an opening hymn and prayer, some stake business, and then most of the meeting was taken up by watching a live broadcast from Salt Lake City. They said it was being broadcast to 168 stakes and 1 district in the eastern United States. Bishop Edgely of the presiding bishopric, Sister Esplin of the Primary general presidency, Elder Ballard of the 12, and President Eyring spoke. It was really cool. Elder Ballard spoke all about missionary work and the need to share the gospel. President Eyring spoke about being 'wise optimists' and looking forward with an eye of faith to the fulfilment of seemingly impossible promises the Lord has made. One of the things from his remarks that really touched me was him sharing a vision he has that I've often pondered on myself. He said that the effects of Preach My Gospel on missionary work are only beginning to be seen, and that returned missionaries from the Preach My Gospel era will be the fulfilment of President Ezra Taft Benson's vision "Every Member a Missionary".
He also shared an experience he once had with a wise optimist, an experience with which I was able to relate pretty well. He was in a mission office one day talking to one of the assistants who was soon to be released. President Eyring asked where he was going, and, when the elder told him what area he was soon being transferred to, President Eyring asked how the work was going there. The elder replied, "It's the deadest area in the mission - until I get there!"
I'm glad you had so much fun at the pasta factory, Mom. I remember going to work there a couple years ago. I thought it was really cool. Maybe I should just ditch the whole college idea and work on an assembly line at a macaroni and cheese factory instead...
I'm glad Cody has perfect flip turns sometimes. That's some progress. It took me a while to figure out what you meant by "We went to a swim team party (DRAT)". What an unfortunate name for a swim team. I thought you meant (DARNIT) or something like that at first.
Yep, I saw the email about the physical. I'm thinking maybe I should just get one after I get home.
On that topic, have you submitted the WUE application to UAA? Have my transcripts definitely arrived from UVU? Am I definitely applied for both the AAS and BS degrees at UAA? Also, to what extent do you think I will need student loans? I need to either "accept", "partially accept", or "decline" the available student loans on the UAA UVLINK website.
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
Monday, May 2, 2011
Email 5/2/11
Hello Family,
Well, I've been feeling a little sorry for myself because of how cold and rainy this april has been, but it sounds like yours has been even more mediocre. It was funny - yesterday as we were driving we passed a church with a marquee sign that simply stated the summation of everyone's feelings: "There better be a LOT of May flowers!"
The cruise sounds like a lot of fun. I'd be interested to hear how the game show worked - good thing mom didn't lose: that would have been a bummer!
The calculus bowl sounds like a pretty fun activity. Delaney must have loved it! Well done on scoring and preparing for the big test! When are the AP tests, by the way?
That's really cool to hear about Mekeli & Hunter! Thanks for the update.
We got a new companion Yesterday: Elder Tracy is going to replace me as an assistant. He came out the transfer after me and has been serving in the Lakewood area for the past two transfers. (Lakewood is the other ward that shares the building with N. Olmsted ward). The Lakewood elders live in the same apartment complex as we do, so it wasn't much of a move.
Our investigators are doing great! We anticipate setting a baptismal date with Bro. Schroth on Wednesday when we teach him next, and the two children from the part member family will almost certainly be baptized on July 3rd. They've already invited all the family and everything. The parents are pretty much fully active at this point, and were just set apart for new callings yesterday. They were all at church yesterday. Bro. Schroth was, too, of course.
I will be in the office and have opportunities to check email tomorrow and Thursday. I could potentially call on Tuesday or Friday at 6:00 since we don't have appointments yet, but a P-day would be best. Unfortunately, we don't have a P-day next week because of new arrivals and transfers and everything. Two weeks from today would probably work well, unless that's too far away. What do I need to ask or talk about with the counselor?
loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
Well, I've been feeling a little sorry for myself because of how cold and rainy this april has been, but it sounds like yours has been even more mediocre. It was funny - yesterday as we were driving we passed a church with a marquee sign that simply stated the summation of everyone's feelings: "There better be a LOT of May flowers!"
The cruise sounds like a lot of fun. I'd be interested to hear how the game show worked - good thing mom didn't lose: that would have been a bummer!
The calculus bowl sounds like a pretty fun activity. Delaney must have loved it! Well done on scoring and preparing for the big test! When are the AP tests, by the way?
That's really cool to hear about Mekeli & Hunter! Thanks for the update.
We got a new companion Yesterday: Elder Tracy is going to replace me as an assistant. He came out the transfer after me and has been serving in the Lakewood area for the past two transfers. (Lakewood is the other ward that shares the building with N. Olmsted ward). The Lakewood elders live in the same apartment complex as we do, so it wasn't much of a move.
Our investigators are doing great! We anticipate setting a baptismal date with Bro. Schroth on Wednesday when we teach him next, and the two children from the part member family will almost certainly be baptized on July 3rd. They've already invited all the family and everything. The parents are pretty much fully active at this point, and were just set apart for new callings yesterday. They were all at church yesterday. Bro. Schroth was, too, of course.
I will be in the office and have opportunities to check email tomorrow and Thursday. I could potentially call on Tuesday or Friday at 6:00 since we don't have appointments yet, but a P-day would be best. Unfortunately, we don't have a P-day next week because of new arrivals and transfers and everything. Two weeks from today would probably work well, unless that's too far away. What do I need to ask or talk about with the counselor?
loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Happy Easter
Happy Easter!
btw, the mailman just came into the office while we were sitting in staff meeting this morning and brought in your letter. I'll take care of it today.
Cool story: I was on exchanges with the Findlay zone leaders in their area this week and we taught a super solid guy - he's known a couple of LDS families throughout his life and always been very impressed by the ways they lived up to their high standards and stuck together as families. He's had questions, but never been invited to learn more (until this week he was invited to meet with us by his friend who got home from his mission a couple weeks ago). It was an amazing lesson - the Spirit was super strong and he wanted to learn. A couple quotations from that lesson:
"So, I'm not sure if you have to be born a member of the church, or can I join?"
"I'll be in this area until August - is that long enough to become a member"
(after teaching the apostasy): Yeah, I've definitely seen that in a lot of my churches I've gone to - everybody's got a different interpretation!
(after sharing Joseph Smith's experience): Whoa - Hold on - I don't want be rude and interrupt or anything, but I just have to say that that makes SO much sense! Where did the prophets go?
We invited him to be baptized on May 28th, and he accepted readily. He went to Kirtland the next day and had a great experience. The night after, he stayed up all night reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know the truth. He now knows. He is excited for baptism and would like to serve a mission as well.
Arches sounds exciting! what was the weather and temperature like? Way to go doing the 9 mile hike! that's impressive - how long did it take?
We had plenty of nonmembers at church yesterday, but no investigators (the Schroths were out of town). We're working on trying to get some of those nonmembers to become investigators, though. Easter is a great day for getting people to church. Sunday was probably the shortest and unorthodox sacrament meeting I've ever attended, though. It only lasted about 40 minutes and some of the pretty standard components of a sacrament meeting were missing - like the closing hymn, etc. (Due to a series of unfortunate and confusing events.)
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
I emailed and said: We're all wondering what events happened to make sacrament meeting so interesting!
Matt replied:
no "amen" in the sacrament prayer
no closing hymn
no "in the name of Jesus Christ" in closing prayer
the bishopric left the stand when the choir got up to sing. The cantata was much shorter than expected. There was one speaker afterwards, and it didn't take too much time. After he got down, everyone kind of just looked around at eachother. The bishop had left the chapel to take care of one of his kids. So, the 1st counselor just pointed at the person assigned to give the closing prayer, and up he went. After that we all pretty much sat there in the chapel, because the other ward wasn't out of their sunday school classes yet
btw, the mailman just came into the office while we were sitting in staff meeting this morning and brought in your letter. I'll take care of it today.
Cool story: I was on exchanges with the Findlay zone leaders in their area this week and we taught a super solid guy - he's known a couple of LDS families throughout his life and always been very impressed by the ways they lived up to their high standards and stuck together as families. He's had questions, but never been invited to learn more (until this week he was invited to meet with us by his friend who got home from his mission a couple weeks ago). It was an amazing lesson - the Spirit was super strong and he wanted to learn. A couple quotations from that lesson:
"So, I'm not sure if you have to be born a member of the church, or can I join?"
"I'll be in this area until August - is that long enough to become a member"
(after teaching the apostasy): Yeah, I've definitely seen that in a lot of my churches I've gone to - everybody's got a different interpretation!
(after sharing Joseph Smith's experience): Whoa - Hold on - I don't want be rude and interrupt or anything, but I just have to say that that makes SO much sense! Where did the prophets go?
We invited him to be baptized on May 28th, and he accepted readily. He went to Kirtland the next day and had a great experience. The night after, he stayed up all night reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know the truth. He now knows. He is excited for baptism and would like to serve a mission as well.
Arches sounds exciting! what was the weather and temperature like? Way to go doing the 9 mile hike! that's impressive - how long did it take?
We had plenty of nonmembers at church yesterday, but no investigators (the Schroths were out of town). We're working on trying to get some of those nonmembers to become investigators, though. Easter is a great day for getting people to church. Sunday was probably the shortest and unorthodox sacrament meeting I've ever attended, though. It only lasted about 40 minutes and some of the pretty standard components of a sacrament meeting were missing - like the closing hymn, etc. (Due to a series of unfortunate and confusing events.)
Loveymnb,
Elder Matthew Smith
I emailed and said: We're all wondering what events happened to make sacrament meeting so interesting!
Matt replied:
no "amen" in the sacrament prayer
no closing hymn
no "in the name of Jesus Christ" in closing prayer
the bishopric left the stand when the choir got up to sing. The cantata was much shorter than expected. There was one speaker afterwards, and it didn't take too much time. After he got down, everyone kind of just looked around at eachother. The bishop had left the chapel to take care of one of his kids. So, the 1st counselor just pointed at the person assigned to give the closing prayer, and up he went. After that we all pretty much sat there in the chapel, because the other ward wasn't out of their sunday school classes yet
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