Wk 83 - Dog selfies!

Companion: Elder Paul
Area: Newark

I've sent a picture of this sign, but now it's in my area!!!!!!
We're gonna go knock it sometime!

Elder Lowery is with the glasses. Elder Shumway is the one without.
and Elder Allison is the one form Jackson

Howdy howdy!

Talk about starting the week of with a BANG!!!!! Wow! Monday night was pretty insane. Elder Paul and I had absolutely no other obligations for the first time and were able to just go out and work together! Never mind the absolute downfall of rain! Who cares? I know we didn't. We prayed, picked a street, and went for it. Our zone had a challenge out to find someone new to teach that had a dog and to get a selfie with the dog to prove it! (It's a fun thing we just started to keep the work fun) So we were determined! We stopped by a potential and she had a dog! She invited us back after talking to her for a bit at the door, but there wasn't an opportunity to take a selfie with her dog. So we started talking to everyone and knocking every house in hopes that they'd have a dog! We talked to a few people who were super nice and ended finding another person named Kim! She had two dogs but we didn't get a selfie so we just had to keep going. Mind you, at this point we were soaked! At one point Elder Paul had asked me what house the Spirit was telling us to go to, we both looked up and looked at the same house, I thought it was just because they actually had a porch light until Elder Paul pointed at it too! So after knocking one last house we ran over there and knocked! A nice lady named Jessie opened up the door holding a dog!!! So we were pumped, we talked to her for a bit and her husband came over a couple minutes into and we had one of the best first contacts ever! She worked at a nursing home and had seen missionaries visiting a member there before and her husband Jordan had always wanted to read the Book of Mormon! So we instantly clicked with them because they were in their twenties! They have one son that's a couple months old and they're awesome! They even let us take a selfie with their dog! It was sweet! After finding four we figured we should go stop by some members, the first member we stopped by wasn't home but he lived with a non member who ended up being interested! It was awesome! We ended up finding five in that night!

Tuesday morning we met with some JWs, that was very interesting. They were very confusing on what they were trying to explain to us but they aren't really willing to do anything so we'll see how long we meet with them. Later in the day we met with Randy who's a recent convert. The whole house was sick and he could hardly stay awake during the lesson. But he's such a stud! That night we had ward coordination which was awesome and also met with our bishop! This ward is awesome! They were very effective meetings! 

Wednesday, we drove an hour north to Mount Vernon! I love driving through the country! It was awesome! District council was great! After district council we started an exchange with those Elders! Elder Lowery followed me down form the North Zone so I got to go with him again! It was awesome! It was a great day! We got to take recycling to a place for a member and we even got a whole dollar and thirty nine cents!! It was awesome!! That night after an awesome dinner at the Halls, we stopped by a guy named Rupert and had a good talk with him then had another great lesson with Ray, who is on date and got him set up to come to church every week!! 

Thursday we found out we were done for with miles and that we were going to have to be very thrifty! So that was kind of a bummer!! But we had a good day any ways! We went back to finish the lesson we started on Tuesday with Randy. It was way cool and we talked a little bit about him getting the priesthood on Sunday! 

Friday we had a ton of stuff to get done!! We had to go to Zanesville to move some sisters into a different apartment that we were moving Elders out of!! So that was a way good start of the day!! Got to spend some more time with Elder Allison even!! They bought us Chipotle and at the same time we got a text about the communication change and it kinda blew our minds! But it was exciting. We got back and had to do a ton of stuff with weekly planning and all of that. That night we met with Colton who is an 11 year old recent convert! His grandparents are members and this kid is a stud! He also got the priesthood on Sunday which is exciting! It was a very busy day! 

Saturday was sweet. We had a lesson with a lady named Lisa! She was a Bible referral. We shared the restoration with her and she got the chills! She knew it was the Spirit and she knew it was true! It was sweet! We had dinner with the Argyles that night. They had some good deep doctrine questions which was fun to talk about!! 

Sunday was awesome! Church was way good! We got to participate in Randy getting the Priesthood which was dope! Then had dinner with one of my new favorite members in this ward, the Powells! Their house is sweet!!! It was a good time! Then we got to go with the Halls to a missionary fireside in Columbus! I got to see a lot of Elders that I've previously worked with which was a blast! 

Today has been great so far! We went shopping around and got to talk to my parents!! That was wild! Then went disc golfing and got to play ball after!! I love Elder Paul! He is a stud! 

I love the church, it is TRUE! Love you all! Talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Smoot

Surprise text of the week!

Wk 82 - Newark "Nurk"

Companion: Elder Paul
Area: Newark

Got this text:
I'm having diner with these two elders! My son was Elder Paul's companion-
It was so fun to meet them. Both are fantastic warriors in the Lord's Army

IHOP!

IHOP again!

Haunted Jail!

Out shoveling!

Halo Helmet dude!

Dope Halo Helmet!

On Thursday I got transferred and the first thing we did was unpack and go to a funeral!

 Friday! Friday was awesome! We had a ton of stuff to do and we got a bunch done! In the morning we went and got maintenance done and met a sweet guy named Zach who was the manager at the car shop. We set everything up to be reported over Google sheets and it's awesome! We had calls with each of the District Leaders to get to know them and introduce the reporting tools. It was super busy, tiring, and of course we had to take a break and get some Raising Canes! Its always good! We got to go to IHOP for dinner with one of Elder Paul's recent Converts which was fun! A cool story that happened was when we were walking in, I saw this ring that was pretty dang nice, just laying on the side walk so I picked it up and brought it in and gave it to our waitress. Like five minutes after, another waitress came walking out bawling to thank me for finding her ring! It was such a cool moment but also awkward because I didn't know how to respond! I guess it ended up being her engagement ring which was cool! It was sweet, even Elder Paul's recent convert teared up! After dinner we went and stopped by the Schofields who are now probably one of my favorite families in Newark for sure! They're sweet! They had 7 tiny little puppies! It was awesome! Their name is the Schofields! After that we stopped by a guy named Logan who has this sweet halo helmet! It was pretty cool and I'm excited to work with him as well!

 Saturday was also a very good day! In the morning we got to finish up some records and reporting tools in Google sheets which took longer than expected but it turned out very good and we are excited to use it! After we went and read a chapter out of the book of Mormon with a guy named Joseph who is a recent convert! He's a pretty cool guy and I think we're gonna be able to go to the temple with him this transfer! It's gonna be sweet! Then we met a guy named Ron who is also a pretty recent convert, it was pretty funny I had an idea that I got from primary about giving him a prayer rock so we excused ourselves for a few minutes and went and found a prayer rock! He was actually pretty excited! Saturday night I met Rupert who is an older gentleman. He was pretty funny, I guess he's leaving it up to us to find him a wife! The last thing we did was visit the Rines. They are the ones who I attended the funeral for. They're going through a hard time with the loss of the grandmother but it was a really good visit! I love that family already!

Sunday, we got to go to church! This ward is legit! This is the first ward that I've ever seen that has the new missionaries stand up to introduce them!! I couldn't believe it! I also was asked to stand in on a confirmation for someone I didn't know! Super awkward but the Spirit was strong! I met a lot of sweet people! It's good to be back in the country to say the least!! People actually wore boots to church! But the rest of the day Sunday we got hit hard with snow which was fun! We had dinner with the Glasers and afterwards we shoveled their drive! It was a good time! We ended up stopping by a referral who let us right in and we ended having a very interesting time to say the least! But it was a good day!!

Today was pretty sweet!! We basically went shopping, drove to pawn shops, the mall, and a haunted jail, ate Chipotle and that was about it! But it's been a great week and I'm really excited to be here in Newark with Elder Paul! There is yet to be a dull moment!

Love you all, hope you have a wonderful week!

Oh and fun fact, every one calls Newark "Nurk"!!

Love Elder Smoot

Wk 81 - Goodbye Dublin, Hello Newark!

Companion: Elder Collier
Area: Dublin

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Will you be my Valentine?

Howdy howdy,

To start it all of on Monday night, we went to taco bell and did some Facebook finding and contacted some people! It was pretty funny when one of the young men walked in. We're pretty close to him and he's going through a lot but it was hilarious because he was with a girl! He was pretty embarrassed and didn't even want to talk to us so we went and talked to him! It was pretty funny. After that we had a member text and ask if we wanted a pizza to take home so of course we ran over there and got ourselves a free pizza! After that we had a pretty cool lesson over the phone with one of Elder Collier's recent converts who's going through a very hard time. But it was awesome. He opened up and the Spirit was very strong! Great night.

Tuesday, we got to go on exchanges with the Worthington Elders, Elder Thomas and Elder Davis! It was an awesome day! We started driving over there when the housing coordinator called us and told us to come over to the Mission home with another set of elders to set up more bunk beds! So that was pretty convenient and we all got to go help for a couple hours and we got Canes for it! It was awesome! I was with Elder Thomas for the rest of the day here in Dublin. He's one of the happiest most Spiritual guys I've ever met. He's so awesome and very genuine! He's from Saratoga Springs! The night was awesome! We had a sweet dinner at the Kron's and after we went and picked Sam up, who it's Mitch's little brother, he just as much of a stud! We took him to see the Didiers and it was awesome! The Mom really opened up! It was a very spirit filled lesson! The day was awesome!

On Wednesday, the weather did not want to cooperate and decided it wanted to be about negative 20 or 30 degrees! It was crazy!! But on the bright side we got a lot of Facebook finding done because we couldn't go out unless we had a reason and we couldn't be outside for more than fifteen minutes! 

All day Thursday we had a phenomenal zone conference!! It was way good!! Right up front, in the beginning they shared a quote that I loved!!! "If you have a bad thought about yourself, tell it to go to hell because that's exactly where it came from!" said by the one and only, Brigham Young. I love it because of how true it is! God will never tell us there's anything bad or wrong with us. Another thing they talked about with that is how satan lives in the past, we can not dwell on it. In the training we gave with the Sister training leaders, after congratulating them on being by far the highest baptizing zone in the Stake, we felt a need to talk about diligence! I used an old parable that my father taught me about fires. But I related it to missionary work and how the more logs we use and keep in the fire, the brighter it will be. But as soon as we remove one log, or stop using one of the tools God has given us, the log will die very quickly and the fire won't be as bright. I also shared a story about fishing in the winter in the snow and freezing cold, and how that's a day I'll remember forever because I pushed through all the opposition and it ended up being a wonderful day!! We also got to have an hour meeting at the end with our stake president, President Welch, and Brother Feldschau. They are very determined to get the Stake to be the best missionaries and it's wonderful! Zone conference was amazing to say the least. 

On Friday we just did the usual for the most part with planning and all the reports we have to keep up to date! It was a party because it was Elder Colliers Birthday!! I ended up texting the Thomas's and they had us come for dinner and a party!! It was a blast! We got to play a card game that was like monopoly with a twist! It was way fun! They had a taco bar, which is Elder Colliers favorite! And they also had his favorite dessert!! It was a blast! 

Saturday we stayed busy just working the area! It was a pretty good day! Sadly nothing to significant came form it! But it was a good day!! 

Sunday was really good! We had a great testimony meeting and I even shared my testimony!! But we had the bishop's daughter share her testimony. She has been bringing a close friend to church the past few weeks and she bore her testimony on opening your mouth even with her friend there! It was awesome!! So we went to the youth class and her friend had some way good insights! It was sweet! So Monday our Bishop ended up texting us and asked about the process of meeting with a youth! So, sadly I'm leaving but it sounds like they will be able to meet with her soon! She's so ready for baptism! Sunday after church we went to the Thomas's for steak! It was incredible as always! That night we went out with Sam to the Didier's and watched the Restoration movie with them and they accepted a baptismal date for the 20th of April!! It's super exciting!! Sunday was awesome!!

Monday was weird because it wasn't pday! It was basically a regular day just out working and it was actually very warm! It's so much better when the sun's out! Monday night we went to the Mission home to pick up two missionaries to spend the night with us. They were with us until noon on Tuesday, so Tuesday morning we took them out to work!! When we dropped them off we got to get Elder Barnson to be in a trio with us for the day. We went out and worked until we had a stake Coordination with President Welch and Brother Feldschau. It was awesome! I actually enjoyed a meeting! But during the meeting the assistants walked in with Elder Bishop who they had asked if we could have with us for the night and take him to the airport in the morning. So it was a good night but three am came awfully early!! So now today, Wednesday, I have been up since three am. We got so much done so quickly! Took him to the airport, got back at about 5:50, then went and picked up Elder Wright form the mission home so he could be  with us until Friday, which was at 6. Then at 6:30 we went to seminary and taught the class and shared some experiences and did some role plays with them! It was legit! After that we got back and started pday! I packed a bit then we went and played basketball for few hours and now I'm here! This week's been awesome! I'm sad to leave Dublin and a stud of a companion, Elder Collier, but I'm stoked for what the Lord has in store for me and my new companion, Elder Paul in Newark! 

Love you all! Have a great week! Talk to you Monday!! 

Love Elder Smoot 

PS- I love when I get surprise texts from awesome members who take such good care of the missionaries!:

Here are two well-fed missionaries from the Ohio Columbus Mission!
Thank you for loaning your precious boys to us for two years.
Both Elder Smoot and Elder Thomas have wonder, pleasant spirits.

Another one I got today: 

Good morning! I had to let you know how great your sons are doing here

as missionaries and thank you for your mothering! They texted me at 5:15

this morning asking if they could come to seminary. We had a session of 

"school of the prophets," with them replacing Orson Hyde as teacher. 

They had to drop off a departing elder at the airport earlier so they were 

already up...so was I since I teach early morning seminary. They shared 

their personal experiences with the decision to come serve a mission, then

taught the class of 14 juniors and seniors how to share testimony of various

principles of the gospel at school, in every day conversation. They then taught

how to practice through role playing. It was a great morning! Your sons have 

been such positive influence in my own children as we've had them in our

home often. We all love them! They have grown so much in so many ways; 

it's just such a witness that this is the work of God! Sadly, Elder Smoot is 

being transferred this week, but we know there are lives to be blessed 

as he finishes out his work here in "the Ohio."

Wk 80 - Sicker than a dog!

Companion: Elder Collier
Area: Dublin

District Activity!

Howdy howdy,

Well, needless to say the weeks been great! As always! We started the week off hot with Elder Collier having a fever on Monday! I felt so bad because he was in a lot of pain from his fever then on top of that he felt bad because we had to stay in all of preparation day! I really wasn't mad or upset at all but man I was bored out of my mind!! I got a lot of things done though. But Monday I was pretty impressed by Elder Collier and how much he slept. I would say he slept at least 18 hours that day! He even went to bed on time and slept the whole night!

Tuesday we got up and got going on the day. Elder Collier was feeling fine and we had to go first thing to get the necessary groceries because we couldn't the day before! We went out side, the day was great, then our car didn't start! So we got it jumped and left it running for about an hour then went to Walmart, ran in for five minutes, came running back out and what do you know, it doesn't start again! So we got it jumped again! We then decided it was time to call the vehicle coordinator Elder Hardman and we got to take it into the shop! Left it there for about an hour so we walked to lunch and came back. The nice thing was we got a new battery! Now our car starts every time! But the bummer was that Elder Collier's fever hit him again during lunch and we had to run home. We were in for the rest of the day again! I felt bad for him! Still amazed at how much he slept! Haha! I'm also amazed at how bored I can get when there's literally nothing to do! But all is well!

Wednesday, we had district council in the morning and we got to video call into Mansfield's district Council which was pretty good! Always love feeling the Spirit! After district council we did a lot of Facebook finding and had a bunch of conversations at the same time! Such a blessing! Afterwards we got to go walk Biscuit, the mission dog! She's the best! We had a member meal and we even brought her along for their kid to play with her. He was in heaven and we got breakfast for dinner. Their names are the McDowns! They are dope! He served in Tanner's mission in Brazil, which is pretty cool! But anyways we ended up getting to go to young men's and spent the night at the mission home! It was so fun! I always love getting to spend the night there!

On Thursday we got to go on exchanges here in Dublin with the Marysville Elders! I was with Elder Barnson for the day and it was awesome! We ended up finding four people!!! Two of them were form a few hours on Facebook and the other two were from being out and about! We met this Chinese man named Pain. He's 25 and is pretty cool. He has gone to a different church but grew up in China and doesn't know if God's real. But when we explained the Book of Mormon he loved it and wanted his own! He invited us back! He also originally invited us right in and gave us boiling hot water to drink! It wasn't very good and I found out I'm not a fan and plain old hot water! We also found a former that night! It was pretty sweet and he said he'd be at church but sadly, he never came. But it was a way cool day! Elder Barnson is a stud! And for the second night in a row we got to stay at the mission home again! It was awesome! 

Friday morning we froze our bums off! We got to move the Allison's from Jackson into their new apartment in Powell because they got transferred into the office! That morning, poor Elder Collier was again feeling like crap. This time it was his digestive system to say the least so we gave him a blessing and lucky him he got to stay in the truck the whole time! But it's alright I just wanted him to feel better! But we got them all moved in and they took us out the New China Express, which is probably my favorite Chinese place out here! The rest of Friday we stayed in again but this time it was at the mission home and at least I could play ping-pong by myself. I was pretty bored again but my body isn't wired to nap anymore! That night President and Sister Stratford were coming home so they told us to stay so she could doctor him up! So we stayed and they fed us breakfast the next day which was way good! Then we went on with our day!

 

Saturday after breakfast at the Mission home we went and got a Chinese Book of Mormon for Pain and brought it to him! He was very grateful and he took one for his friend too! But the rest of the day I had a headache probably because I hadn't seen the sun in so long! But it was all good because we got some stuff done! It was a good day.

Sunday was way cool! We went to ward council then to our sacrament meeting. Had one person there. Then we got to leave and go with Daylon to the OSU young single adult ward! It was awesome! We wanted him to see that he's not the only young guy in the church. I thought the talks were perfect for him and so was the lesson. He's going through kind of a hard time right now but at least he's headed in the right direction. Im excited to see what the Lord has in store for him! 

Today was awesome! We had a great district Council. We played a game where everyone brought random food from their house and three groups had to each make either an appetizer, main course, or a dessert! They all turned out really surprisingly well actually! After that we got to watch the Best Two Years, which was always good! 

Well, although the days were kind of long, the week flew by! This week we got zone conference so I'm pretty stoked! But I love you all! Hope ya'll have a great week!

Love Elder Smoot 

Wk 79 - Sister Smoot's Coming Home!

Companion: Elder Collier
Area: Dublin

Howdy Howdy! Well first off to explain the caption! I hit my 18 month mark so I finish my sister mission! Haha! But this week has been pretty solid!! To finish off p-day last week we had a great night! We went and helped Daylon rewire his fuse box! Since it was freezing cold we called the Stratfords and asked if we could use their garage! We had a good talk with him and got it fixed! That was a good night! Monday night we also started our exchanges with the Assistants. Elder Hepler came back to Dublin for a freezing cold, great day! We worked our tails off and some how didn't even get frost bite! Highlight of the day was walking into a gas station with 6'9" Elder Hepler and this guy said some choice words and told him he was very tall. While I went to the bathroom Elder Hepler talked to him and set an appointment up! The guy was pretty cool! Wednesday! Another exchange but in Delaware with Elder Oettli, he's a stud from salt lake valley and a big Jazz fan! It was an awesome day! We went street contacting and legit talked to every one and had a lot of good convos and gave out some literature and found a sweet lady named Debbie and she is way solid! We have a lesson with her on Wed. And she is already reading the Book of Mormon! Super sweet person, super blessed to have met her. God put us there right when she was coming home from work and we both knew we needed to talk to her so we did and it was well worth it. Always remember no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone. We also got to meet with one of the coolest people ,his name is James! He had a huge bull dog named Henry! We got to walk him and that dog is a tank!! He's way over weight and is addicted to human food! Hahaha I loved meeting him! Thursday, when we got back from exchanges we got to go to lunch with someone we're teaching named Gary! We had a way good talk or lesson I guess, but we covered a lot of stuff because we had a lot of questions! He said that he doesn't know what it is but some thing is pulling him to this church! Hahahaha! The good Ol Spirit! Later that night we went to Holly and met her mom! They committed to come to church! We were stoked! Friday, we had all of our planning and what not to get done! Follow up calls, and we got to walk a young man in the ward to work! We had a good talk with him about missions! It was a good time! That night everything canceled so we decided to do Facebook! That was fun! Always getting creative on Facebook! Saturday morning we got to play basketball again! It was awesome! We loved it! The day was supposed to be a horrible snow storm but it just rained. We got to teach a part member family named the Wilburns. Their 9 year old wants to get baptized so we're going to be working with him now! It should be fun! Sunday was crazy! It snowed all night and all the Ohio people freaked out and the town basically closed down! Church was canceled so we were stuck in our apartments! We got to do a Skype call with the Delaware district to do Sunday school which was cool and it was good! We went to the Nagys for a while and talked to them. Then went over to the Thomas's for a departing missionaries event. It was a good time! Today was good but we left the apartment once before my companion got a bad fever, so we've done nothing! Still been a good day though! Well I love you all! Hope you have a great week! Love Elder Smoot

Wk 78 - This week has been wild!!

Companion: Elder Collier
Area: Dublin

Elder Day and I

elder Collier and I on Saturday with the snow.

The piano I signed when I was in Mansfield!!

Elder Lowery and I

Me doing something random I guess

Picture from the Kron's

Howdy howdy!!
Well this week has been wild!! I don't even know where to begin! I feel like just yesterday I was writing my weekly! This week was a really busy week. We had exchanges on Tuesday and Wednesday, interviews on Thursday with President Stratford. On Monday night we got to go for a country drive clear up to Galion Ohio or clearfork ward. We got to go on exchanges there for a day and it was awesome!! I was with Elder Coon again!! Always a good day with him! We went and gave a lady in a retirement center a Bible and had a strong feeling to ask her if she would like a blessing of healing. She was super grateful. Since we stayed a little longer we also got to talk to her boy friend and they both were interested and became new investigators! What a miracle. We also got to spend some time on OSU Mansfield but nothing really came from it... haha But we did get to meet one of their recent Converts from the Saturday before, who is 18 and his whole family who are nonmembers. His name is Dominique and he basically is a missionary and is getting ready to go on a mission as soon as he can! The Clearfork Elders taught us how to use Facebook more effectively because that is how they found a family that got baptized this weekend. When Elder Collier and I applied what we learned from them we immediately experienced miracles. One of which was meeting a lady named Angela over Facebook. She lives in the Newark, Ohio area. We were able to talk to her and we found out she was in the hospital. So we sent the Elders in Newark over there to visit her. They were able to comfort her and they taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was so thankful for the visit and she even said that it was the start of a new beginning for her. It was amazing! Our exchange with Mansfield Elders was great as well. I got to spend the day with Elder Lowery. We got to teach a man named Charles who I was teaching when I was there. He ended up getting baptized and confirmed that Sunday before! It was so good to see him and how his heart has changed!! We also got to see a lot of members and people that I love and consider family! The day was great. Elder Lowery is such a great missionary. The next day we got up and needed to drive down to Delaware, Ohio for a district council and for interviews with President and to conduct a baptismal interview. When we were ready to leave we started our car and it wouldn't start! So that resulted in us going on a wild search to find someone who had jumper cables!! We even went to the fire station and they didn't have any!! Pretty sad!! haha But brother Nuendorf came through and let us borrow some!! We were pretty late to district Council but it was really good!! Interviews right after were way good too! I love talking to President and Sister Stratford! They uplift me and make me feel way better about myself every time!! On Saturday we got lots and lots of snow. Finally! It is the first snowfall since November. It was fun to play in the snow a little bit. We got to play basketball in the morning and Elder Collier was not feel well at all so he didn't play and I forced him to sleep after wards. And even though it was freezing cold we were able to meet a new friend named Gary. He invited us over to his house the next day. So yesterday we were able to teach him and his wife. It was a wonderful experience and I already love both of them a lot. This week I've been taught again that satan is very real. He does so much to try and tear us down when all we try to do is good. There's been a lot of adversity this week from the car not working to Elder Collier being sicker than a dog to stupid things that happen else where. But my favorite part about this week is that there has been wayyyy too much good to think twice about those frustrating times. I've learned a lot from this past week but I will leave you with my testimony that there is opposition in all things. I know that the adversary is trying really hard but we just keep laughing it off and working though it because I know that there will be more blessings because of it!! I love Jesus Christ and all that he is done. I love His gospel and being able to be on a mission at this time. It's crazy and unreal to me that this week I will have been on my mission for 18 months. I've loved every moment and I am grateful for them.

I love you all and I share that with you in the special name of Jesus Christ Amen!

Wk 77 - 2019!!!

Companion: Elder Collier
Area: Dublin

Visit and dinner with Rich Jaynes!

Exchanges with Elder Johnson

Transfer board! 

thought I'd get a Pic with Elder Olsen and I together! 

Only pics I got! Elder Otteli being silly!

Little Skousen stealing my tablet! 

Elder Rawson right after exchanges!

Howdy howdy!

Well here it is, 2019!! Havent talked to any of you since last year! That's crazy! Haha It has been a great start to a big year! Well to start on new years eve it was great! He had a good night finishing off with pday!

Tuesday Elder Olsen finished up packing and we went out and found most of the day which was a good time! We had one lesson fall through but they had a pretty valid excuse because of being in the hospital all through the holidays! Felt pretty bad for her but we got to reschedule.

 Wednesday morning we had to wake up at 5 to take Elder Olsen to the Mission home and say good bye! That sucked, he's a great missionary and great example. At 9 we went back to the Mission home for Mission Leader Council which was pretty amazing. It was such a spiritual experience. One of the best things that came from it was that we have district activity back! It was sweet! That night was pretty dang awesome! We took Daylon to a lesson at the Dieders house. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and a couple of the commandments, we talked a lot about baptism and the importance of it, because they're on date we talked about what it means to them. They had a very good response and they just want to know it's true before they get baptized which is awesome! I respect that a lot. Daylon bore testimony on prayer, it was pretty awesome! At the end we got to give Mary a blessing because she's been pretty sick as of late. They seemed to really appreciate that. After the lesson we got to talk to Daylon for a bit. He during the lesson he told us he wasn't coming to church but he was going to the catholic. It kinda scared us at first but apperantly he just wants to see the difference and if it feels different because he's never really been to another church. So we told him to go to a different time and if he did we'd go with! Haha He liked that idea.... Haha so he ended up canceling on Sunday but we might go with next week but I'm pretty nervous! Haha It was a good way to end the night! 

Thursday we had exchanges with the Delaware Elder here in Dublin. That was so a party. I was with Elder Rawson, he's been out for three months and he's a stud! In the morning we planned in an area and felt like we should be doing service but didn't have any planned in... In the middle of personal Study our bishop texted saying to call him, so we called and there was a single sister member in the ward who's basement flooded in the area we planned in so we changed and ran over to help her out! There was about two inches and the sub pump all of sudden started working which helped but we had to move a bunch of stuff and vacuum up all the water we could! It was pretty fun though with all four of us! The rest of the day was sweet! We found two people and one was a huge miracle. It was a lady named Holly. She was walking a puppy around and was very frightened when we said hi but she slowly opened up and said she was actually looking for a church for her and her niece! She is now reading the Book of Mormon and tried to come to church but had a legit excuse not to come but hopefully next Sunday! That was a huge miracle! Great night!

Friday was actually a really productive day! Follow up calls went longer than expected but they were all just really solid! Weekly planning went good too. It was an awesome day and was weird how productive it was... Haha we also had ward coordination. That's was good but kinda hard sometimes when you just get corrected and how you do missionary by someone who apparently knows all. Haha Great intention though, I guess its the thought that counts.

Saturday we had exchanges with the Polaris Elders. I was here in Dublin with the one the only my homie Elder Johnson from Idaho! This guys a stud!! He rode bulls before the mission, played baseball and football. Needless to say we get along almost too good. Haha We got to ball up in the morning and even teach a man that we play with for a while! It was so cool! We also taught Melissa that night the plan of salvation and it was sweet. Don't know if I've ever been able to have so much unity just from one exchange! It was sweet.

Sunday! We had ward council which was good. Two hour church was awesome! We also had a sweet dinner with the Selphs. They gave us some way good enchiladas! After dinner we had three people to find in order to hit the standards of excellence and for the first couple of hours it sucked. Haha Rejection after rejection, but eventually we were blessed and met some awesome people! We had to go to two different neighborhoods! Hah But we found them! Then we went to the Nagys and talked with them for a bit! It was pretty fun.

Today we had our first district activity for a while in Delaware! It was sweet. We played volleyball basketball and chair soccer! It was awesome! That was a pretty fun time! We also didn't get water so I had to shower twice at the assistants today! Haha it was pretty weird but it worked out! Alright well love y'all! Hope you had a great week. 

Love Elder Smoot