Photos sent from Elder Johanson's mom, Claudia.

Elder Smith 10 22 15

Elder Martinez, Elder Smith and Elder Paul

Elder Smith greets his new companions Elder Martinez and Elder Paul from the Mission President's FB page

Canada Toronto Mission

11 hrs · Edited · 

We welcomed 14 new missionaries to the mission on Monday! Such great and prepared young people. Two of them have been members of the church for less than 2 years! Wow! (Please forgive the photo--I don't know how to edit it in the format that I have it in....) But zoom in and you'll see our new missionaries and their companions. The are off the build the kingdom and we love them already!

A Wind from the East

Oi Tudo Bem!

    Well it hasn't been that long since I have written you and we didn't do much out of the ordinary this week.  Elder Johanson and I taught a couple of our usual investigators that we are working with and we are blessed to see all of them trying to progress.  The Nevez family is working now on getting a baptismal date and then we will be blessed to see three of them enter the Church.  Our New investigator that we taught this week is also super cool.  We taught him the message of the restoration and he just ate it up.  He said he loved the story and was looking forward to reading the Book of Mormon that we gave him.  Things are starting to turn around and I am progressing myself as I take advice from my Mission president and start trying to grow into the person that Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

   The only other real news I have is that it is transfers and everything is changing.  Hence the title.  Tomorrow I go to Brampton at 715 to meet my two new companions.  Second transfer, 5 different companions, Awesome!  Anyways I will be training this transfer with my other companion Elder Paul.  Elder Paul is from Haiti however he learned Portuguese when he lived in Brazil for 5 years as a professional soccer player.  He speaks French, Creole, Spanish, Portuguese, and learned English here on the Mission.  Our new companion I don't know anything about.  Rumor is he is Brazilian though.  All in all it sounds like next transfer is going to be awesome.

    As for the rest of the Email I have some questions to answer.  First I don't think we are doing anything too special for Elder Johanson today.  Maybe a museum or dinner but I don't think we have anything special planned.  The first week for Elder Madrigal was definitely different.  This week was just strange with the quadpan and then we had snow on Saturday which was a first for him.  It was over all a lot of fun and we all really liked getting to know him.  He and Elder Jesus are going to go open a new Portuguese area in Kitchener tomorrow so that should be interesting.  Biggest success Either Hugo or the Nevez family.  Biggest struggle ESL party. Health a little cold but just because things are cooling off here still pretty good. Now as for what the Apartment looks like.  It is a one Bed one Bath with a Kitchen and multipurpose room.  I will take pictures after we are done cleaning and packing today.  we have a couch, an arm chair, a somewhat basic Kitchen,  two desks, a table, two bookshelves, three beds, a dresser, a night stand, three closets, and a bench press.  It is pretty cluttered.  Now as for what we do for Halloween.  We have to be inside at 6 however our ward is trying to have a multicultural night that they want us to bring investigators to so we have to talk to the mission president about it.

   That is about all for now just living the dream out here and working hard every day.  Love you all back at home.  And feel free to ask me questions. I love being able to hear from you and to think about answers to these.

Abraço,

Elder Sam Smith

New Companion... Quadpanionship from the Mission President's FB page

Canada Toronto Mission

October 14 at 8:47pm · 

A new Portuguese speaking Elder arrived on Monday! He's Elder Madrigal from Santa Rosa, California. Here he is with his companions--from left to right Elders Smith, Johanson, Madrigal, and de Jesus. Welcome, Elder, so grateful you're here!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! and Elder Madrigal

Oi familia!

    Well it has been an interesting thanksgiving and an interesting week and I don't really know where to start.  This week has been a lot of walking to and fro and we taught quite a few different people and had quite a successful week.  This week we had the opportunity to go to the Red Cross with one of our investigators and to help her start getting involved there.  It was a super neat experience and one that i really enjoyed.  She was super involved while we were there and worked harder than either of us missionaries which was a little embarrassing.  However the chance to offer service helped her a lot in her life.  She had been pretty depressed and subdued and was sick of just being couped up all day.  For her to be able to go and serve helped brighten her life and our lesson with her family later that day was much better because of this.  

   This week we also had a super awesome Saturday because after ESL and our meetings us, The Zone Leaders, Christie South, and Toronto Chinese all went and got super good all you can eat Korean Barbecue on Bloor and Yonge.  It was super good and we were all super stuffed however it was totally worth it.  We also had a super cool lesson with G that day and we helped him learn how to study the scriptures to find an answer to his problems.  

    Thanksgiving here in Canada was very different to what I am used to.   We were fed by one of our investigators and we had chicken and cod fish for thanksgiving dinner as opposed to the classic Turkey.  It was a great meal and very filling however it was a very disappointing lesson with her.  She has been investigating for years and she spent most of the lesson going on about how she loved our church but doesn't have a testimony about whether we are the true church and doesn't think that anyone's life is blessed more by joining ours than just being a good person.  I know though that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been a huge blessing in my life and that I have been blessed by living it.  I know that Heavenly Father Loves each one of us and as we serve him that he will bless us.  Also that the greatest blessing we can ever receive is the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the ability it has to wash us clean of our sins and to lift us up and help us overcome our challenges.  

    Now the news you have all been waiting for...  We got a new Elder today.  His name is Elder Thomas Madrigal and he is from Santa Rosa, California.  He is a recent convert of 14 months and he is the first member of the Church in his family.  He is super cool and has an awesome testimony as well as a huge desire to learn more and more.  He is going to be a great missionary and I can't wait to work more with him in the future.Yes he is also Portuguese speaking, and we are now a Quadpanionship

Love to all you back home!

Abraço,

Elder Sam Smith

Elder Johanson and Elder Smith

The only picture I have of Elder Madrigal so far...

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Little Korea Big Spirit. That Korean Food was amazing...

Oi Família!

    Another Week down and what a Great one it was.  I loved going to conference this weekend and something about it actually made the work out here a little bit easier.  We weren't able to get very many of our Investigators or members to come to conference with us but I have seen blessings in those that did.  I know that conference has blessed my life this week and I am so excited to go over it for the next couple of days and weeks as I digest each talk slowly.  Also as I ponderize my scriptures.  This week is Isaiah 1:18 one of my personal favorites and one that I feel can have great worth to those I teach.  I feel so blessed this week as I look back and see the hand of the Lord in my life.  I know that it has been hard still and that while we are still struggling it might take more time to come out of the reeds but I can definitely do this.  This week I was finally able to use my French!!!!!!!!  We had a french speaking student at ESL (note from mom: they have ESL classes three times a week ) and I was able to contact a french speaker on the way to dinner this week at the local shwarma shop.  I was also able to have some of the greatest lessons and spiritual experiences in Portuguese this week.

    We were teaching our investigator B this week and prepping him for conference since he was going to try to come.  We showed him a talk by Elder Godoy, and afterwards he just broke down and finally let us in so we could help him.  I was able to simply bear testimony of the strenghtening power of the atonement and the love of God and as I did so I received such an outpouring of the Spirit.  I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us and wants to help us to suceed in everything we do.  I know this to be true and I know that we will be blessed as we take steps in faith trying to turn our lives back to him.  I found countless examples of this in the talks in conference and invite all of you to take time to truly digest the words of the prophets.  They have changed me and they have changed those I have taught this week and I promise that if you let them they will change you into the person your father in heaven wants you to be.  

     I love you all back home and I know you all want the best for me.  I will make you proud!

Abraço, 

Elder Sam Smith

Sick Korean Food with the Missionaries from Christie North.

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Oi, Tudo Bem Família!

    Well this week was probably best described as a roller coaster again as well.  Maybe that is just the norm for missionary life.  Any ways this week was our slowest one yet as we didn't have the opportunity to teach almost anybody this week.  We did have a few good lessons this week namely with Manuel, the de Cruz family, and Gledes.  Also we had the opportunity to go on exchanges this week with Elder Vang one of the Zone leaders and spend a day in YSA work.  Also maybe the defining occurrence of the week was an eventful trip to the doctors office on Thursday.  All in all this was another tough week however we are trying to persevere and think of ways we could turn it all around.

    However I think you all want to here about the week and for me to answer some questions.  The Canadian healthcare system from my experience was pretty similar to back home.  Really boring and really slow.  I guess that is how it is universally and Canada is no exception.  We walked into the clinic and sat there for over 3 hours waiting for a doctor to be ready to see me.  It was pretty boring and I was at least able to talk about the gospel with the nurse and the doctor so maybe it wasn't a total waste of time.  

    As far as investigators at church we had one this week.  Bruno is a pretty solid investigator who has come to church almost every week for almost 3 months now but still refuses to be baptized.  I have never been able to teach him because he is very busy but he at least makes sure that he has time to come to church every week.  Also I am making lots of friends with the other Elders, Sisters, and Members I have met.  I was blessed to be able to meet Elder Flake the first week I was here.  I was told to look out for him by Uncle Ted because he heard that he was the son of one of the people he worked with.  Recently I have been able to make friends with the other missionaries in the Christie Ward as well and all of them are really nice people and make serving a lot of fun.  

     I get to cook a lot here.  We don't get fed very often maybe once or twice a week so that means lots of opportunities for me to practice cooking.  Mainly we eat ground beef five billion different ways however last week we ended up trying to buy more healthy and were able to save quite a bit of money which was nice.  As for keeping the apartment clean... we aren't awful at it but suffice to say we are spending some time today to clean it up.  

      As for Exchanges we have them 6 times a month so I get to regularly spend time with the other members of our district and the zone leaders.  Also according to Elder de Jesus and Elder Johanson my language skills are coming along very well.  I still have a lot to learn however it will come in time.

      Now for the fun questions!  I want to be a Mathematician when I grow up. (Because lets face it I may be 18 but I am far from grown up).  My favorite Star Wars Character would probably have to be Obi Wan Kenobi.  He is a great Jedi and a fabulous teacher.  Not to mention a selfless person and very good at living the jedi code.  And my favorite candy is still probably skittles hands down.

       Anyways Hopefully that Answers all of your questions.  I don't have any cool spiritual stories from my lessons this week but I do want to share a scripture. D&C 6:34-36

34 Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock,they cannot prevail.

 35 Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I havecommanded you.

 36 Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.

This scripture has blessed my life more this week than any other time I have read it.  I just want you guys to read it back home and remember that through Christ and our own willingness to serve him we can over come. 

Much Love,

Elder Sam Smith