Week 5!!!
Date
September 3, 2016
Area
Missionary Training Center
Companion
Elder Perrins
Week 5!!!
Dear Family,
This week has been a good week. Thank you all for the package that you sent me. It is been awesome to receive them and the notes inside. I thank you again for the love and support you give me in South Carolina. I hope all is going well there and I hope that you all are having a lot of success in everything you are doing.
Sunday was a great day. I heard one of the best talks in Sacrament meeting. It was really good because of the story President Lords shared. It was a story about an investigator who had a child. The investigator had something happen to them and died. He and his companion went over the next day to visit the child. She told them that she knew God needed her mother more than she did. After that I felt the Love of God for that girl so strongly. It was overwhelming.. It was so powerful and gave me a desire to give that to others. Today I also realized the role of each principle in the Gospel. Faith is the belief we can become like Christ. Repentance is our willingness to become like Christ. Baptism is our commitment to become like Christ. The Holy Ghost is the help we need to become like Christ. It was an awesome thought that ran through my head. Later we had a role play lesson where Elder Evans and I were companions and we taught Elder Sudweeks. We asked to have the Spirit and it was given. It seemed as though every word we spoke was filled with love and the Spirit. The Spirit worked through me today. I was able to listen to know what to say. I still can improve on it because I know there were promptings I wasn't able to hear. Afterwards, Elder Sudweeks was almost in tears. We felt the spirit so strongly as we taught. It wasn't anything we said. It was the power of the Holy Ghost that testified to his heart those things were true.
Tuesday. We had a member of the seventy come speak to us. He spoke about the importance of talking to everyone. He also talked about how many people can come unto Christ by just converting one person.
Wednesday. Not bad but not too eventful. We had our second lesson for TRC fall through this week. It was a little disappointing but it will be ok. Later we taught one of our teachers the first lesson of the gospel. The first part of the lesson we struggled because we would only talk about the Apostasy. We gave way too much information for it. Then I prayed that I would be provided a time to talk with the Spirit. There was a pause and I talked about Joseph Smith in simple terms and simple truths. Then I recited the first vision. I applied the experiences of the story of Joseph Smith to his life and how God will answer his prayers. The spirit was definitely in that room.
Later Hermano Corbin, my teacher, pulled me aside and taught me how to study the scriptures. He said to look for the why. The spirit talks in plain and simple truths. When we go on tangents or add unnecessary details then it distracts from the Spirit. He said to get down to the core reason. It was such great advice.
Thursday. I can't believe I have made it to September! It is unbelievable. Thursday I saw my cousin Madeline Cook in line for the wraps. It was nice to talk to her. I told her I would bring my camera to dinner so that I could get a picture with her. Earlier today we had a TRC meeting where we had to give a lesson to someone over Skype. It was the weirdest experience. Our person is currently living in Buenos Aires but had grown up in Brazil. We started to get to know her but I couldn't understand her. I was lost. I spoke to her fine but I could not understand her for 3 BIG reasons. The first being that we had a bad connection and could not get the full audio, and if we did, it was static mingled with her voice. The second, I didn't figure out until my teacher told us. He told us afterwards that she was speaking in Portuguese for a big portion of the lesson with some Spanish words. The third my teacher also told us was she was speaking in Metaphors a lot as well. That was just overkill. We were doomed from the start. I just had to laugh about it afterwards because there was nothing we could have done.
I have started to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. It has been fantastic! I understand a lot of it! I am already on Chapter 7 of 1 Nephi! Later our teacher told us, as a practice, to help him and show him love like he was an investigator. He said his problem was trusting in himself that Christ can work through him to enable him to balance his life. I prayed to know what to say. I found a scripture, Mosiah 2:31. I told him more of the love of Heavenly Father and his example to us. I felt the spirit strong. I believed he did as well. It was a special moment. I felt the love God had for him.
Friday. I taught a fake investigator. It was a member from our district that was acting. When we were talking I struggled to find the right things to say. I had a thought run through my head that I need to share Mosiah 24: 10-14. I did. It touched him and hit home. I struggled with what to say next. It was definitely not my best lesson I have taught. Besides that I was able to get to Chapter 15 in 1 Nephi in Spanish. That has been really cool. I have to reference my English BoM a lot but I feel that I am improving!
Today. We went to the temple today. It was great as always. The scripture that I flipped to was 1 Nephi 1:20. It was about seeing the tender mercies in our lives. I think that if I can do this than I will be able to share more love and feel the love of my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ in my life. It is something that I need to ponder more.
Scriptures that touched me this week: John 15:13, Romans 7, Mosiah 24:10-14, 3 Nephi 11:7-14, Omni 1:26, Mosiah 2, and Helaman 5:12
I am scheduled to fly out on Monday on the 12th. I fly into Dallas, Then Miami then Guayaquil. I have to be at the travel office by 3:50 Monday morning and my flight is at 8:00. I will take a picture of my flight plan later and send it to you.
Some things that I need are: a deodorant stick, a pair of dress pants (one that I have shrunk in the dryer and is too small)(if you can a blue pair would be nice but if not it is ok), letters from y'all, and I think that is it. Thanks again!
Your Favorite Elder,
Elder Smith
This week has been a good week. Thank you all for the package that you sent me. It is been awesome to receive them and the notes inside. I thank you again for the love and support you give me in South Carolina. I hope all is going well there and I hope that you all are having a lot of success in everything you are doing.
Sunday was a great day. I heard one of the best talks in Sacrament meeting. It was really good because of the story President Lords shared. It was a story about an investigator who had a child. The investigator had something happen to them and died. He and his companion went over the next day to visit the child. She told them that she knew God needed her mother more than she did. After that I felt the Love of God for that girl so strongly. It was overwhelming.. It was so powerful and gave me a desire to give that to others. Today I also realized the role of each principle in the Gospel. Faith is the belief we can become like Christ. Repentance is our willingness to become like Christ. Baptism is our commitment to become like Christ. The Holy Ghost is the help we need to become like Christ. It was an awesome thought that ran through my head. Later we had a role play lesson where Elder Evans and I were companions and we taught Elder Sudweeks. We asked to have the Spirit and it was given. It seemed as though every word we spoke was filled with love and the Spirit. The Spirit worked through me today. I was able to listen to know what to say. I still can improve on it because I know there were promptings I wasn't able to hear. Afterwards, Elder Sudweeks was almost in tears. We felt the spirit so strongly as we taught. It wasn't anything we said. It was the power of the Holy Ghost that testified to his heart those things were true.
Tuesday. We had a member of the seventy come speak to us. He spoke about the importance of talking to everyone. He also talked about how many people can come unto Christ by just converting one person.
Wednesday. Not bad but not too eventful. We had our second lesson for TRC fall through this week. It was a little disappointing but it will be ok. Later we taught one of our teachers the first lesson of the gospel. The first part of the lesson we struggled because we would only talk about the Apostasy. We gave way too much information for it. Then I prayed that I would be provided a time to talk with the Spirit. There was a pause and I talked about Joseph Smith in simple terms and simple truths. Then I recited the first vision. I applied the experiences of the story of Joseph Smith to his life and how God will answer his prayers. The spirit was definitely in that room.
Later Hermano Corbin, my teacher, pulled me aside and taught me how to study the scriptures. He said to look for the why. The spirit talks in plain and simple truths. When we go on tangents or add unnecessary details then it distracts from the Spirit. He said to get down to the core reason. It was such great advice.
Thursday. I can't believe I have made it to September! It is unbelievable. Thursday I saw my cousin Madeline Cook in line for the wraps. It was nice to talk to her. I told her I would bring my camera to dinner so that I could get a picture with her. Earlier today we had a TRC meeting where we had to give a lesson to someone over Skype. It was the weirdest experience. Our person is currently living in Buenos Aires but had grown up in Brazil. We started to get to know her but I couldn't understand her. I was lost. I spoke to her fine but I could not understand her for 3 BIG reasons. The first being that we had a bad connection and could not get the full audio, and if we did, it was static mingled with her voice. The second, I didn't figure out until my teacher told us. He told us afterwards that she was speaking in Portuguese for a big portion of the lesson with some Spanish words. The third my teacher also told us was she was speaking in Metaphors a lot as well. That was just overkill. We were doomed from the start. I just had to laugh about it afterwards because there was nothing we could have done.
I have started to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. It has been fantastic! I understand a lot of it! I am already on Chapter 7 of 1 Nephi! Later our teacher told us, as a practice, to help him and show him love like he was an investigator. He said his problem was trusting in himself that Christ can work through him to enable him to balance his life. I prayed to know what to say. I found a scripture, Mosiah 2:31. I told him more of the love of Heavenly Father and his example to us. I felt the spirit strong. I believed he did as well. It was a special moment. I felt the love God had for him.
Friday. I taught a fake investigator. It was a member from our district that was acting. When we were talking I struggled to find the right things to say. I had a thought run through my head that I need to share Mosiah 24: 10-14. I did. It touched him and hit home. I struggled with what to say next. It was definitely not my best lesson I have taught. Besides that I was able to get to Chapter 15 in 1 Nephi in Spanish. That has been really cool. I have to reference my English BoM a lot but I feel that I am improving!
Today. We went to the temple today. It was great as always. The scripture that I flipped to was 1 Nephi 1:20. It was about seeing the tender mercies in our lives. I think that if I can do this than I will be able to share more love and feel the love of my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ in my life. It is something that I need to ponder more.
Scriptures that touched me this week: John 15:13, Romans 7, Mosiah 24:10-14, 3 Nephi 11:7-14, Omni 1:26, Mosiah 2, and Helaman 5:12
I am scheduled to fly out on Monday on the 12th. I fly into Dallas, Then Miami then Guayaquil. I have to be at the travel office by 3:50 Monday morning and my flight is at 8:00. I will take a picture of my flight plan later and send it to you.
Some things that I need are: a deodorant stick, a pair of dress pants (one that I have shrunk in the dryer and is too small)(if you can a blue pair would be nice but if not it is ok), letters from y'all, and I think that is it. Thanks again!
Your Favorite Elder,
Elder Smith
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