Wk 95 - Happy Mothers Day Mommas!

Companion: Elder Oettli
Area: Newark

Howdy howdy,

This was another wonderful week! I could swear just yesterday I was writing last week's weekly letter! I guess that's just how it goes when you're busier than all get out!

Last Monday we had some time to do some Facebook finding then we went out to the Schofields and got to have family night! The best part was playing wiffle ball with the kids!

Tuesday was pretty wild. We had a wonderful MLC! Super spiritual and up lifting. We got home that evening around five, ate a quick dinner went out early because we were stoked to find when we got a text asking for a blessing. Which was a good thing! So we did that before we headed to coordination. After coordination we had a lesson with Shirley! It went so good! We're stoked for her! We have her baptismal interview tonight! She's gonna get baptized this Saturday! 

Wednesday we had district council down in Cambridge! Elder Green, my trainee, is the district leader over there so it's awesome to see what a stud he is again. I even got to go on exchanges with him that day as well. We had a bomb day! We found three people together! It was awesome! It was good to catch up with him!

Thursday we finished up with our exchange in Cambridge! We helped the Grey's get packed up as they finished their mission. It was sad to see them go! They're amazing people! We had a good long drive back, and went over to Joseph's for a good lesson! The rest of the day consisted of finding, playing basketball, then getting a pretty badly sprained ankle to finish the night. That was rough. Aside from the bruising, it's feeling a lot better! Well I guess that didn't finish the night off cause we had a zone call to announce the zone focuses which went awesome! 

Friday we had some good 'ol fashioned bingo in the morning with a bunch of follow up calls and weekly planning. It was actually nice to be in the apartment for a while because of my ankle. We went around doing a survey that night, which is how we've been doing most of our finding, and we found one new guy! That was a pretty cool night! 

Saturday was unreal. I got to go on an exchange with Elder Porter. He's a stud from Springville and it's nice because we have a couple of mutual friends so we had a lot to talk about. Besides six lessons we found four people and got free root beer floats from a members soda shop! We had an amazing day but at the end, my ankle was swollen like a balloon!! And purple like a nurple! It was awesome!

Sunday was a sweet! We had a good mother's day. Had three people at church. One guy that came showed up out of no where! He's been taught online and is from Washington but is going to be here for a while! So we get to meet with him on Wednesday! It was nice to talk to the family and wish my wonderful mother and women in my life a happy mothers day! We finished the night with a lesson with Mama and another family night at the Schofield's! 

Today we cleaned, shopped, and we played 9 holes of golf! What a week! We have a super busy night tonight and an even busier week!

Love you all lots! Hope you have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Smoot! 

Wk 94 - Two Elders in Nurk!!

Companion: Elder Oettli
Area: Newark

I cut elder Oettli's hair so I had to get a good Pic!
Haha I think Talia would be proud.

Matt showing his sweet fpv drone!

Elder Neddo had a mark from hitting Wall!!

Howdy howdy!

Hey ya'll, this week was awesome! Even though it was only since last Wednesday that I got to write a letter! Well we have had a wonderful week that started with good news. We got another set of elders here in Newark and it's been a blast! 

Thursday was transfer day and that was a pretty long day. We left our apartment around 8 am to get to transfers on time. We had to go to help people with transfers because it's at our stake center. It's always good to see a bunch of missionaries you know and love. We did some weekly planning out in the sun because it finally wasn't raining! We waited until about 4:30 for the elders to get down south from the northern zones. We ended up getting back to our apartment around 6 pm! We welcomed Elders Neddo and Norris! That evening we got to go play basketball with the ward and a non member! The highlight of the night was when Elder Neddo was chasing the ball and went head first, full speed, right into a hard carpet wall!!! I felt awful but everyone was laughing because his head looked like it disappeared! There was a huge mark left on the wall after the fact but it was a good night!

Friday was a great day as well. All four of us played bingo with Lelah at the assisted living place, then we had a good lesson with Joseph! Afterwards we ended up doing weekly planning with the other elders to help them adjust to the area and talk to them about the teaching pool. In the evening we introduced them to a few of the solid and favorite members in the ward that love the missionaries. We took them to see Mama and Missi and Randy. We taught them the plan of salvation and Mama LOVED it!! She's so solid and is excited to get baptized on the 18th! We also tried to prank them by pretending the Williams were some crazy non member people but brother Williams broke up laughing!! It was pretty funny, but we sure love those guys! We also sang happy birthday to Meagan and gave her her favorite shake. 

Saturday morning we headed over to the Sesser's because Meagan said we could come back because Travis would be home! So Elder Oettli and I went over and found out they were progressing way more than we both thought! It was a pleasant surprise. The rest of the afternoon we had to buckle down and do a bunch of administrative stuff with follow up calls and Google sheets. We stayed busy and productive the whole time and now we are set for the transfer with our zone focus!! We realized right before dinner we had left our keys in the Sesser's home so we didn't have a car! They were out and about and didn't get home until late so we used the blessing of having elders and went on exchanges to introduce to a couple people that we were teaching. I went with Elder Neddo to visit Logan and we did some finding on the way. They "nerded"(in Elder Neddos words) out and talked about video games and I was super lost. But it was a good time! We made some spiritual smokes for Mama and brought those to her that evening and read 2 Nephi 31 with them because it teaches the doctrine of Jesus Christ plainy and simply.

Sunday morning after retrieving our keys we had a great time at church. Everyone was flipping out that we have two sets of elders and that I was still here! It was pretty funny. Ninety percent of the ward was pretty happy but all of the single sisters weren't too enthused. But it was definitely the Lord's will because Newark is about to explode!! After church we went out finding and we literally found five in that one day!! God is good! We had some sweet lessons and one of the guys even gave us a shout out on facebook! That night we went to the Hall's and watched the ysa fire side which was super good and stressed me out at first but then I came to more peace that I didn't know I needed! The funny part was that it was on marriage! I'll leave it at that. 

Today was sweet! We chilled at home for a while then decided to stop being lazy and go to the store. After that we went disc golfing and now we're playing ball at church! What a good time! 

Well, we have a super busy week planned and I'm pretty excited for it! I sure love you all! Have a great week! 

Love Elder Smoot! 

Wk 93 - Transfer Week Already!?

Companion: Elder Oettli
Area: Newark

picking up Elder Rasmussen-
got to see some of my favorite Elders!

Did some service

Took a Pic at Herbert's old apartment in marble cliff!

We got Colton!

At the airport...

Elder Oettli and I are coming home too! :)

 Howdy howdy! 

I'm not sure what I would have done if we weren't busier than all get out this week! We had to go to Columbus a few times! I was in Columbus for both Tuesday and Wednesday! Tuesday I got to go on exchanges with the one and only, Elder Collier!! Saturday I got to go the the Spanish area with Elder Valdez which was sweet! When Thursday came around we had a special assignment from President that we had to go right back to Columbus for. 

So after last Monday, way back a week and a half ago- We stopped by a couple of people that we had planned on! We decided to bike over to Matt's house to see how he was doing! While we were biking over there we talked to everyone we saw and ended up finding a new person to teach! It was awesome!! 

Tuesday was incredible! We got to go to OSU and I got to go on an exchange with Elder Collier! It was so nice to be his companion again! He's a stud and I love him a lot! We literally probably walked like 10 miles or more! It was constant walking the whole day! We talked to a ton of people and we found a couple of new people for them to teach. We got to teach a young man who was claiming to be an atheist. By the end of the lesson he changed his mind to being Agnostic and promised us that he would read the whole Book of Mormon! The Spirit was very strong and it was cool to see his heart soften even just a little bit!! But the highlight of the day was eating empanadas for two bucks a piece! It was a party! 

Wednesday was pretty legit as well! I went foreign for the day! We had a district council in the morning with the language district! Then I had a cool opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Valdez speaking spanish! Let me tell ya, it's pretty hard to just sit there and not say anything because you know nothing! The fun part was that I got to read the Book of Mormon in a lesson and they were very impressed with my reading ability even though I didn't know what I was doing. But the Spirit was still strong!! 

Thursday morning we had some madness start up! In the morning we did a quick blitz with the Westerville Elders. We went out and found two new people who were super solid! Elder Bond who is brand new, is a stud! He truly cares and wants to be the best he can be! We drove back to Newark after that to trade back companions and we got some crazy news. Elder Oetlli and I found out we were getting a third companion named Elder Rasmussen for a few days before he headed home!! So we drove all the way back to Columbus to pick him up! 

The next four days flew by!! We got to do some service at the Lindau's! We had a sweet miracle after a wedding we went to. We ended up running into a member who's husband just passed away, and she invited us over and we gave her a blessing and it was very spiritual! Highlight of the week was putting Mama (or Shirley) on date!! It was so Spiritual and she is so ready! 

God is good! I love you all! Have a good week! 

Love Elder Smoot!! 

Wk 92 - Hey Yall, yins, you all, all you people!

Companion: Elder Oettli
Area: Newark

Birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Ward Easter party 

Little golfin' on P-day

Howdy howdy!

What a week, what a week! Highlights were definitely my birthday and Easter! By the way, thanks for all the birthday wishes!! Sure love you all!

To finish off last Monday. We got to go and teach Ray! He's a homie! He's one of the nicest guys in the world!

Tuesday we had exchanges that went pretty well! I got to go with Elder Lee! He came out with Elder Oetlli and I! And half of the other mission! Haha But we had a pretty loaded day! We started off doing service for Sister Jones! It was sweet! We had a great spiritual discussion and came up with a plan to help three of her friends! And we had a sweet fire going! The rest of the day we had coordination, a lesson at Missi's house and a good visit with Matt! It's been real good!

Wednesday we had a split exchange! I got to go to Mt Vernon for the day with Elder Lowry! Gosh I love that guy! We got to go out to the Amish Members that were on TV! It was awesome! I got to go into their shop and everything! They're literally some of the best people in the world! They blast the tabcats as back ground music for all to hear! What saints! We also met like three new people to teach in like 10 minutes so it was awesome! We gave a sweet lady a blessing in the hospital who is super close to getting baptized! That'll be awesome! To finish the night we had a bom class and drove back to Newark!

Thursday morning we had some good service! We helped the Russell's rip a couple of bushes out and pick up a bunch of sticks! Let me tell you, pulling a bush out with out a truck is not worth it! But the rest of the day we just went out and hit the pavement!

Friday was bingo planning and a bunch of calls! Good times! Friday's are always loaded! That night we got to go to Ray's again. He's down a little bit more with smoking but he's gonna make it some day! We also had a super good lesson with the Williams and their inactive daughter and her nonmember husband. It's Colton's parents. They used to be very against the church but are slowly opening up! It's awesome!

Saturday was my bday! It was lit. We had 4 different people feed us cake and ice cream!! Holy, smokes it was crazy! We had the ward Easter party! We had another surprise party at Missi's! They're so good to me! They gave me presents and all! We went to the Schofield's after and had a good chat. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner with Dominic! It was a party! We talked to a lot of people too! Being in public presents opportunities!

Sunday we had a good day at church! It was a great Easter service! After that we went from members house to members house! A couple of them had some non members and they wanted us to charge lessons so we did. The best one was when we did the pushups lesson and the guys mom who isn't a member started to cry because the spirit was soo strong! Easter is awesome! I love Jesus! 

Love you all! Hope you have a good week! 

Love Elder Smoot! 

'These sweet elders burned branches and sticks around my yard!
Thank you for sending us such wonderful young men!
Here they are with our two week old kittens!'

Wk 91 - The Beam is Up!

Companion: Elder Oettli
Area: Newark

Howdy howdy!

Well here we are another week down! Crazy how fast it's gone! I now have 99 days left! I can't believe it! But we just take it one day at a time! Well on that note, this week has been really good! Saturday night was the first night since last Sunday that it was just Elder Oettli and I in the apartment! Monday we had the Johnstown elders come and start an exchange. That night ended up being the brawl of the century between Elder Lee and Elder Henshaw! Haha! It was a good fair match!

Tuesday morning was pretty awesome! We had a flood of miracles with talking to one person after another. Sadly we had a couple of appointments fall through but it provided a way to talk to all of the people outside! I got to know Elder Henshaw pretty well while we were out during the day. He's a great missionary and it was fun day! That night after I picked up Elder Oettli we went over to the New Albany Elders to do a surprise exchange! It was pretty funny because we were locked out of their apartment for at least half an hour because both of them had their own showers and were taking a shower! It was pretty funny to surprise them!

To carry onto Wednesday we had a great short exchange! I went with Elder Smith from St. George! We had a pretty good time together. We taught a guy named William who was from Ghana! He was pretty cool but he definitely had some interesting points! But the Spirit was there and we had plenty of opportunities to bare testimony! We finished of the exchange with some good ol chick fil a!

Thursday I got to go with Elder Green! My trainee! He's such a stud and he definitely has grown in the last fifteen months! Sure love that guy! We got to do some finding and service together! We were out at the Powells and we ended up lifting a thousand pound beam to support the roof! It was a project and a half! 

Friday was a great day! We had zone conference which was a very spiritual experience! Sadly they took away knives so we can't have them any more... That's a bummer but it's all good! That night we had the Mt Vernon Elders stay the night so we could head down to a Coshocton clean up in the morning! 

Saturday morning we headed down to the Coshocton clean up and cleaned about a mile of trash along the train tracks! I flipped Elder McInnes in the middle of the tracks for a video on a drone which was sweet! Then we headed to a gardening service project in Newark with some of the ward members which was fun! We picked up a bunch of rocks and I even got to till the garden! The rest of the day we had lessons until we went to the Powells for a minute to meet their son! Saturday was a good day! 

Sunday we had a solid day at church! I sure loved it! Shirley came again! It was awesome! We even had a good linger longer after church and got to meet the Weight's son from college! 

Today we just walked around and enjoyed to stores because it was freezing outside! But I sure love you all! Hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Smoot!  

Wk 90 - 4 of 4 General Conference

Companion: Elder Oettli
Area: Newark

Hammocking!

Cambridge District!

We did a role play and I was supposed to be
bottle feeding my baby so I used Elder Oettli! 

Elder Lowry and Elder Jones- being themselves

Elder Hepler- being him

teaching the kiddos- and
they tackled Elder Oettli!

Howdy howdy!

Well this week was awesome!! I'm pretty sure we found someone just about every day!! It is insane how busy we are but thats what it's all about right? I wouldn't have it any other way! We had three exchanges in a row! 

Monday night was pretty sweet! We ended up finding one guy named Kevin who was pretty open and invited us right back then we had a solid lesson with five kids!! Two are recently baptized members and the other three want to be baptized! It was pretty crazy teaching that many kids but it actually turned out really well and the spirit was very strong, except when Brother Williams popped his wound vac off of his stomach on accident which caused some great stress in the home!! It was a solid way to finish a great day! 

Monday night we started our exchange with the assistants! Elder Hepler and I went on yet another exchange! We might as well be companions! But it was a super good day! It was very busy with lesson after lesson but we still managed to find a few new people to teach! Oh how I love miracles! Probably the best part of the day was meeting an elderly women named Pinky! She had bright pink hair and everything was pink for her decor! We also got chewed out by a guy who claimed we believed in the wrong thing. He was holding a sign on the corner of a busy road that said "Jesus died for you" so we stopped to take a picture with him. But sadly he wouldn't let us, so we bore testimony and let him carry on! It was another great exchange with Elder Hepler.

Wednesday was another great day! We headed down to Zanesville for their district council which was way good and we went on exchanges with the Cambridge elders right after! My trainee Elder Green is in Cambridge so that was fun to see him! But I ended up going with his companion Elder McInnes! He's such a stud! I got to talk to him a lot because we did a lot of work out in the country so a lot of driving! But it was super good to get to know him! We talked to some pretty awesome people! Cambridge is awesome! Although there was one lady that flipped out at us because we knocked on her door at eight o'clock when it was still bright out! People these days! Gotta love em! 

Thursday we had another exchange with the Mt Vernon Elders! I got to go with Elder Jones which was a blast from the past because I haven't served around him since we were in the same district in the mtc! He's a stud though! It was good to get out and  be in the very fortunate warm weather we had!! We got some panda express which makes every day good! Then we finished the night playing basketball with some non members and some returning members which was awesome! 

Friday we finished up exchanges in the morning with some bingo! We got to do service with Lelah and the rest of the wonderful people in assisted living! It's always a party! After that we stayed busy planning and making calls! After that we met two more new people to teach! It was a blessing! We had another great lesson with all of the kiddos! It was a good time and they pay attention! We also make them teach the lesson back to us! It's awesome! Then we stopped by Randy's that evening and had a good lesson with him! Friday was another solid yet busy day! 

Saturday and Sunday were the bomb and easily the best days of the week! Saturday we got to watch General Conference out at the Powells! We got to help them demolish some arches that were on the front porch so they can build a new one! That was a lot of fun! 

Sunday we got to watch it with the Halls! General Conference as a whole was amazing! It definitely added to my testimony that there is a living prophet on the earth today! What a blessing! I love God, He's way too good to us! 

Well I love ya'll and hope you have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Smoot! 

Wk 89- No More Meals!

Companion: Elder Oetlli
Area: Newark

Our apartment!

Hammocking!

Lelah's Church Boys!

Howdy howdy!

Well to finish off last Monday it was pretty awesome! We went and picked up Randy to take a couple of people the sacrament! It was his first opportunity to bless and pass it so it was a cool experience! We stopped by Lelah and also Cyndi! It was pretty funny but I felt a little weird about it because one of them gave us a shot glass when we asked for a small cup... Haha! But it was a good night and we finished it off by talking to Randy's Aunt Shirley!

Tuesday we got picked up first thing that morning and headed straight to Mission Leader Council! We left at about 8 am and didn't get back until around 5 or so because traffic was crazy. We had a pretty good meeting! We counseled about a bunch of things but we came to the conclusion that we needed to sacrifice some things! We ended up deciding to end member meals. Instead we just have the lesson with no food! At first I honestly wasn't too happy about it but the Spirit definitely softened my heart and helped me to know that it's the next step! We also were asked to put a stop to district activities! But it's whatever! I can do it with ease with the time I have left! But the rest of Tuesday was good, we went back and had dinner, then we ran to ward coordination! We ended up announcing the no more dinner thing and it took a bit but it went way better than we expected! Gosh I love this ward! 

Wednesday for the first half of the day we got to train Elder Ashcraft how to be a district leader! Probably the best part was doing a role play where he was supposed to correct me. So we went in the gym and I was waiting time playing basketball with a lose tie and no tag! So I bet him if he wins then I'll go and work but if I win I get to keep playing. So he played me thinking he'd beat me and I wrecked him! So when we evaluated we made sure he never would bet because it's against the church! I was pretty funny! But he's a stud and we got his first district council planned out then we got to get back to work! We knocked a pretty elect/well off neighborhood and talked to some good people! We had a pretty good dinner with the Sessers which was fun. They aren't members yet but we had a pretty good lesson on tithing!  It was a great day and a good day to be with Elder Ashcraft! He's a stud! 

Thursday was a day full of meetings! We attended four district councils in a row and had interviews. That was a good long full day! It was awesome because in every district council we talked about what more we could sacrifice to show the Lord were grateful! It was very motivating! That night we had the Mt Vernon Elders come for a mini exchange and they helped us hit all of our appointments with basketball and an appointment with the Weights who are members. 

Friday morning we got to play bingo again!! It's been so awesome! The elderly people there are starting to love us! We're getting to know their name and according to Jessie they always talk about Lelah's church boys! Its pretty awesome! Then we always have a lot of stuff to get done and we're packed the rest of the day! That night we had dinner with the Jordan's which went super good! They're awesome and are opening up more and more! I sure love those guys! 

Saturday was grind time! Back with Elder Oetlli hitting the pavement hard! It was an exhausting day! We talked to a bunch of people and we were out in the rain all day! We had a good dinner appointment as one of our lasts with the Browers! It was sweet! 

Sunday we had a great service! Shirley, or mama, came to church!! It was her first time and we were stoked! It was good to see her there! But the rest of Sunday was good. We visited Ron in the hospital and had our last dinner appointment! We then ran out to re interview one of Johnstown's people for baptism who had a concern. I got to interview him again and it was awesome! He showed true repentance to me. It was a good thing! We finished the night off at the Schofield's and shared a good message with them! The good 'ol flower and penny! 

Today was fun! We went and played a few games of bowling and little did I know my arm was very out of shape for it! haha But it was still a blast! We'll I sure love you guys and wish you the best! Have a great general conference week! I'm stoked!

Love Elder Smoot!