Wk 14 - Dunkin Week!

Companion: Elder Spencer
Area: Marvle Cliff 2

Mongolian BBQ with Tom Bower from Elder Spencer's old area

In the shoe!

 

Ohio state stadium

 

All you can eat Chinese buffet with brother Henricks 

Brother Messer took us to skyline chili 

Hello all! I hope everything is going great! Things are going super great here in the Great OCM! We are staying very busy and the Lord has definitely blessed us! This week we had my first Baptism! Elaina was baptized this week and it was so powerful! I apologize because I don't have much time this week but I will tell you more next!

Two highlights of the week! First off Elaina's baptism of course! Second we had stake conference! Also this is our last Monday P-DAY just fyi.

Elaina's baptism was very spiritual, she gave a very powerful testimony about how she knows the gospel can change you for the better. It helped Herbert a lot to really commit to being baptized! sorry no pictures yet because a member in our ward took some and hasn't gotten them to us yet. 

Favorite part of stake conference. One talk talked about a lady in Texas that was converted to the gospel! how many people were ever so slightly inspired to help with that. It talked about the mission president praying for inspiration on each companionship, talked about the vacation she took and the Mormon she met who was the owner of the ranch she vacationed at, how he was inspired, and how the missionaries were inspired to go see if they could serve her. 

I have to go now but I know the Lord works in mysterious ways. I know this church has been restored and that things really do happen for a reason! 

love you all have a great week.

 

Love Elder Smoot!

Frisbee golf got my name on the board 

District activity

Wk 13 - Herbert & Elaina

Companion: Elder Spencer
Area: Marble Cliff 2

Zone conference

A pic for Matt Stanger 

Cut brother burchett's beard

This week went pretty fast and was pretty much a blur! We were very busy this week and taught a lot of lessons getting Elaina and Herbert prepared for baptism! I've mentioned it before but this specific area has not had a baptism in over a year! It has taken a lot of finding and hard work to get to where we are today having two investigators baptisms planned! It's so awesome to see how the Lord truly does prepare people to hear the gospel.

I'll start by sharing Herbert's whole experience. There was one day when we were riding our bikes down the road on our way to visit someone I believe. I remember feeling somewhat discouraged thinking no one wanted to talk to us but also feeling that maybe someday someone will and that's why we're here. I then saw an African man walking down the side of the road, I felt a strong urge to try and talk to him. Riding behind my companion, (Elder Woodworth at the time) I stopped while he continued while quickly realizing that I stopped. We began to teach this man and talk to him. We then asked if we could come over and share more. He told us he usually would never let anyone come over but he felt like he should give it a try, so he did. He gave us his information, we gave him a pamphlet to read and set up a time to come back. We went back for the first lesson with Elder Spencer and ever since he has continued to grow and build his faith! He has been keeping almost all of his commitments and is very excited to be baptized on the 28th. I know for a fact that the Lord definitely had placed us on the same path because he was ready to hear the Gospel.

Elaina! Elaina was just a straight blessing from heaven that we are very privileged to be apart of. It was 3 or 4 weeks ago on a Sunday we got a call from the Assistants to the president, they said we got some of the best news you could possibly receive right now. Of course I thought it was a car because we didn't have one! But Elder Spencer said, someone that's ready to be baptized! He was a lot closer, which is good! Her sister was baptized about 3 years ago and she has noticed a huge turn around for the better for her. She is very close with her sister. Recently her mother pass away, she wanted to know what helped her sister to be the way she was and she told her basically her religion. And that Sunday she called and asked if she could be baptized that day. Her sister explained sadly it doesn't work that way and the missionaries would come and teach her! So her sister lives in the Aps ward and told them and they got her info over to us! That was the best news we could have possibly every received as missionaries! We were so blessed to be able to meet with her and teach her and learn from her. We felt that she was very ready and we moved her baptism up to this week the 21st! We couldn't be more excited and either could she!

We got to mow Elaina's lawn this week and we also had lessons at the Simmons house! They live about a 50 minute bike ride and we took a bus there for about an hour then biked home! It was wonderful! We had a couple of long bus rides! Haha!

We also had zone conference this week! It was awesome we talked about general conference a lot and got some crazy news. We are moving our p-day to Wednesday! That's gonna be weird but maybe we'll be able to do more things! Guess we'll have to see! 

Anyways the work is wonderful and it's definitely moving! God is good and he always will be!

Love you guys! Hope you have a wonderful week.

Love Elder Smoot! 

Wk 12 - Days are weeks and weeks are days!

Companion: Elder Spencer
Area: Marble Cliff 2

Christian, me, Herbert, elder Spencer! At church

Us and Elaine!

We got photo bombed by a member

This kid in primary really wanted to take pics! Haha 

Rainy Sunday

Hey everybody! This week went by pretty fast but the days feel long! Haha but definitely faster than it was before! This week was pretty eventful and probably one of the most exciting weeks!

Monday we had a pizza emailing party at brother Burchett's with the other elders, then we had our book of Mormon class which went well again! Only brother Burchett and Herbert again but that's alright! Haha then after we had a phone call lesson with Beth! We hope she continues to progress! We also bought bus passes! Oh my goodness those helped so much this week especially with the rain this weekend! It has saved a lot of time! And also we have been able to talk to some cool and potential investigators as well! 

The rest of the week has really been a blur! We have been very busy with lessons! We taught both Elaine and Herbert three lessons and the Laniers two! We had other ones as well but those are the ones that have been progressing!

We are flying through the lessons with both Elaine and Herbert! They are both going to get baptized on the 28th and we couldn't be more excited! The only hiccup we have with Herbert is that he smokes! But he was having 10 a day and is killing his goals. He only had 2 yesterday and that was the second day trying to quit! He's so excited as well! They both came to church this week and watched General Conference! They both loved it and believe that this church is true! It's so wonderful to see!

We ended up getting to go to primary this Sunday too! Haha! Elaine's 5 year old who is one of the sweetest most polite boys ever is also pretty shy! Elaine sat in primary for the first hour with us then Christian(her son) said he was okay if we stayed with him for class so she could go to relief society! It was so fun! Wish I could be back in primary! Haha!

We had a pretty awesome opportunity and we got permission to go fishing with the Laniers on Saturday night! Awe it was such a fun night! He said they usually never catch fish but we were able to get about 5 out of the Scioto river! It was way fun! Their little boy made us roll down the big hill like 5 times and Idk if I've ever felt so sick! Haha! but it was awesome! He's seven and he kept giving us hugs while we were sharing a spiritual message!

James- fishing!

On Sunday night we had dinner at brother Burchett's and all the sudden we saw a swat car fly down the road! Apparently a fugitive locked himself in an apartment and the swat team was waiting for him to come out! We couldn't even walk out the front of our house! They had the road blocked off! It was pretty cool to see that all go down!

Well to finish it up with a spiritual thought! A big lesson we learned this week! We had a wonderful week but we also had a pretty cool experience! Last Monday we were asked to come help a lady move at 10 on Saturday! We said sure thing and we got a ride from brother Grimes. We knocked and her son answered saying that she doesn't get off til 11 so we were like oh okay. Thought it was kinda weird. We couldn't get ahold of her. She finally called us back as we went to lunch to figure things out. She told us she had a truck coming and that she only had one other person to help. We knew that 4 people to move a house wouldn't be all that easy and it would take a lot of time. We needed more help. We kept calling people but no one could come! Brother Grimes had a wonderful idea to pray. Pray for the help that we needed and that we would have time to do everything on a tight schedule! Within the next five minutes our ward mission leader called and said he could come. We got back to the house and luckily she had almost everything ready and it only took a couple trips and was perfect timing! We even got free Chipotle after! It felt like we had the perfect amount of people to help out and we got it done pretty fast! That one little experience strengthened my testimony of prayer just that much more! We need to do all we can in our power and then ask the Lord for help and guidance. The Lord will never forget about anyone and will always be there for you.

I love the simple lessons we can learn throughout each day! I've learned so much in just a short time! I love this work I love the people and this gospel! And I love you guys! 

Thanks for everything have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Smoot! 

Elder Helper and Elder Hopper- 
Elder Hopper is in Mark Austin's ward! He's Vaughn age!
He loves their family! 

Totally forgot to mention it but add this before you send it! Haha

Today we had our district activity! We got to go do an escape room! We had to escape out of a bar before the cops came! We had an hour and got out with 6 minutes left! Those places are pretty clever! Haha then we had pizza at the church after! 

Rolling down the hill!

Wk 11 - General Conference!

Companion: Elder Spencer
Area: Marble Cliff 2

Emailing!

Cutting hair- yes he looks bald but he isn't

General conference! What a weekend! This whole week was wonderful! 

Monday after p day we had our first class! It went really good even though we only had two people! Brother Burchett and Herbert! I feel like we covered a lot and it was very helpful! Hopefully we have more for our class tonight! 

Tuesday we got to teach someone who used to be on date but backed away. His name is James! That went really good and we set up a return appointment with him. We hope to get his family involved as well!

In Wednesday we had a good district meeting and ward coordination!  

On Thursday we did a lot of service. We went from ten to 12 at the clothing Distribution center then after lunch til dinner power washing at Brother Burchett's house and fence! It was very fun! Haha! if you don't think service can be fun, try it some time! 

Then on Thursday we were able to go to the children's hospital and give a child a blessing and also his great grandmother. Then we had a wonderful opportunity to have a lesson with Beth who is struggling with faith right now. We were very fortunate to have President and Sister Stratford come and teach with us at the church. We addressed some of her concerns and hope and pray that she will act on what she has come to know.

 On Friday we got to do some more service with the riverside elders in the Columbus temple! It's so wonderful to see all the work to be done to the Lord's house and to also be a part of it. After we had our weekly planning and after dinner. Brother Messer, always coming through, picked us up and we had a couple amazing lessons. Both of which were on the plan of salvation. The first lesson was with Elaine! She had already read past what we assigned her and she explained that for the first time she hasn't ever been so interested in any book and even without praying she already knew it was true. It was so wonderful to see how excited she is to get baptized on the 28th! As we taught her the lesson it was so cool to see how she was just like,this all makes perfect sense! Which it does! Because the Lord's plan for us is perfect! She has a wonderful son who is 5 and is the sweetest kid ever. I'm so happy for them. The second lesson was with Herbert! Herbert is a stud! We didn't get very far into the lesson before we had to go but we figured it was better to teach for understand entirely than to get through the lessons! Herbert was so excited to learn and is very happy he agreed to meet. We then asked Herbert if he would like to be baptized on the 28th as well, his response was so awesome he said, "oh, I would be so honored!" It was so cool and it's awesome how strong the spirit is!

Saturday! We went to the wards semi-annual Frisbee golf tournament with Herbert. It was so much fun! Perfect weather and a cool course! The top three winners get their name on a plaque in the church! I took third so I made it on the board! I was so happy! Haha then we watched General conference at the Yearsly's. I wish I could talk about all of the talks but one that stood out to me most was on Sunday. Tad R. Callister, about the book of Mormon! The main message I got out of it was something I've been focusing on while teaching people. As we come to know the book is true through reading, studying, praying, fasting we can not forget what we've felt and when we come to know that the Book is true we have to know and realize that it means everything else is true. Christ's church that he had originally established is once again restored. That Joseph Smith is a prophet called of God. That Thomas S. Monson and all of the prophets leading up to him are truly prophets called of God! 

Bro Yearsley

General Conference

I know these things are true, because I know the book of Mormon is true, and I will always stand up for what I know, I may not know it all, but I sure do know enough and that's that the Book of Mormon is true! I love this work and the happiness it brings to my life and to others as well. I'm grateful for this opportunity. I always will be.

Love you guys so much! Hope you have a blessed week! And use the technology we have and re-watch the words of those called of God!

Love you!

Love, Elder Smoot!