Wk 51 - Staying in Jackson!!!

Companion: Elder Blake
Area: Jackson

Murica cookies!

Filipino #Merica

Pop!

Service with Elder Coon

Another one!

Cow goes Moo!

Caught a fat cat fish!

trading back comps at the gas station

quick stop at the member's shop

Monday night grillin'

last District photo

Whoo! First of got transfer calls and I'm staying in Jackson! Sweet! I was really nervous I was gonna get the boot, even though I just got here, but now I'm very relieved! Thank heavens! Anyways it's been quite a crazy week!!

4th of July!!!! We had a branch breakfast that we went to all morning! It was sweet!! We had a good time! Best part was they had CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES!!! Sadly no peanut butter but I'll just bring my own next time! haha jk After we went and did service in the blazing heat!!! We spread a bunch of poop in the Plymale's hay fields!! It was dying hot but a party as always! haha That night we got invited to a member's to go to a gender reveal party!! It was sweet!! It's a girl in case you were wondering! It was a pretty good day! 

Thursday we had district council!! (district meeting is now called district council) (kinda weird but what ever) (haha) It was really good! The Spirit was so strong and I definitely learned a lot! After we had exchanges! Elder Coon, who I've served around for the last 6 months or longer came down to Jackson with me! He's such a good missionary. I love working with him!! On our way home there was a crazy crazy rain storm that literally everyone pulled over and drove down the road going 5 miles an hour because you couldn't see!  So a 35 minute drive took a little longer than usual!  When we got back to Jackson there was no rain! We did some studies and went out to the Plymale's again because his calves were getting out and he needed help fixing the fence! His better half is in Cali for a while and he's a little older than most farmers so we've been helping him out when we can. This turned out to be the craziest night/ exchange I've ever had. We went out about 4 o'clock and started going around the fence line lowering and untangling and getting things off the fence and we ended up pounding in a bunch of posts and fixing a lot more than he expected! We worked half way through our dinner hour when we were headed out. He has a top cow of the whole heard who he has a lot of plans for and is basically his prized possession and he's about 5 months old right now. But I wasn't seeing him anywhere, so I asked him where he was and he was like you know I was wondering the same thing, can we go check on him? We said yes of course and when we found him he was stuck up to his neck in deep, nasty mud and couldn't get out. So he starts stressing out and was like hey can you guys help? I know you've got to go but we have to get him out. So we again were like of course! haha! He ran over to grab his tractor, and ran over to his neighbors who is an inactive member that helps him out and got a bunch of ropes which took about an hour to get everything ready. We got our there and put the bucket about him and tried to pressure him out and after about 10 minutes he wiggles free! So we went and got stuff to put up a fence over this huge wet muddy area! haha I got to pound in more fence post! We were starving at this point because by the time we got home it was 9!! Made for a crazy night! The member goes, "well elders, that's what you call the ox in mire! haha" So, crazy exchange!

Friday finished up the exchange by going down to oak hill and found a new person who's a cop and a firemen! Pretty cool guy! Got Elder Blake back, had follow up calls the the Zone leaders. Did weekly planning. Not much happened that night! Except we got in with Todd, who's a pretty sweet member! 

Saturday we got to go to lunch at a Mexican buffet with the Maquidangs! They're so dope!  That night they invited us out to their property to share a message and watch them shoot!  Because we can't shoot but they brought a bow we got to shoot a couple of times then we headed out! They brought a member that just graduated and we've been trying to get in with because his dad doesn't agree with us but we want him to stay strong!! It was so good to be around him, he's such a stud! It made for a wonderful night! The neighbors even had huge fire works! 

Sunday, I guess the Mexican was bad because Elder Blake and I had terrible stomachs the whole day until the night! The best part was we both spoke in sacrament! I spoke on James 1:5-6! I felt like it went pretty good! I didn't realize how strong my testimony on prayer was until I gave that talk! It was awesome and I felt the Spirit a lot. 

Monday morning we did some service at the food pantry, we are trying to teach the one who runs it and others that volunteer because they have asked quite a bit of questions as we've gone there. We stopped by a members shop for a sec because they were out of town last week and we wanted to see how the trip was! It was a good visit and we got to share a spiritual thought there it was really awesome! Then grilled for dinner and got in with two investigators!! It was a good night!

Today we went and played some tennis, got transfer calls, went to a Chinese buffet, and now we're emailing! So far so good as far as today goes! Tomorrow we gotta drive about 6 hours round trip to get to transfers and back so that'll be a blast!! hahaha! I'm sad Elder Blake is leaving! He's been a good companion! But it happens! I hope I get another good one!! 

Love ya'll so much! I'm sorry I didn't even know I could write emails this long! I never thought I would to be honest. My plan was just to write about a couple paragraphs but, too late now!! haha! SOO much good things happen that I can't leave part of it out!!  Just wouldn't be fair! 

 

Have a good week! Remember to pray, it makes life so much better to be able to talk to a loving Heavenly Father!

Love Elder Smoot!