On the Road again and Mormon Super Bowl

Elder Martinez and Elder Smith in tranist

Elder Smith and Martinez at the temple with a member Sept 2016

The Portuguese Elders Smith, Madrigal, Nelson, Martinez, Gomez and Paul

Thanks to these awesome members for hosting the Elders for both days of General Conference and feeding them, and sending me photos! Yay! Photos from Audrey Francesconi!

Saturday General Conference

Sunday General Conference

Building a Bunk Bed Selfie... Monday 10/3

Building a bunk bed, Elder Martinez and Elder Nelson

 

Oi tudo bem Familia!

   Well it has been an interesting week here in the mission field again. This week saw us drive to Brampton and Back twice as well as just a whole bunch of other things that resulted in accomplishing basically nothing that we had planned.  We were pretty busy just running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to accomplish everything that we needed to do.  We had to clean the apartment, find Elder Nelson a bed, give a baptismal interview up in Guelph.  It was a great week though with lots of Spiritual Growth.  I loved conference and was so happy to go to the temple on Friday and to feel the special spirit of the House of the Lord.

   That was probably the best part of the week was this weekend or as the members called it out in Christie the Mormon Super Bowl!  Conference is something that I have grown to love and appreciate so much on my mission and this one didn't disappoint.  I loved the focus the brethren took on the importance of knowing that we are enough and that we can be the instruments in the Lord's hands to help invite people to come unto him.  I really loved the focus also on not being complacent in Zion.  Those are both things I have learned so much about on my mission and was an answer to my prayers.  I really had begun to feel that I knew what I was doing and things were becoming routine however now I know that we must never stop learning and reaching for something more.

  Ok, on to some questions....

1. What is Elder Nelson's first name?

Hayden

2. Where is he from?

Fort Worth Texas

3 How was your busy week? Did you get to all 40 + lessons?

it was busy in other less productive but just as important ways. 

4. How are your investigators?

didn't get to see any last week.  We stopped by but they were either not home or smoking weed and not willing to let us in. 

5. What did your comps do this week that made you laugh?

many things lately we just had a blast building a bed. 

6. Did you find yourselves in any sticky situations?

yes building a bed using construction glues

7. What are your pday plans?

we built a bunk bed

8. What was your favorite message from General conference?

I liked Elder Oaks 

9. What are you looking forward to this week?

Lots of things 

10. What have you learned this week as you help train a new Elder?

that he entered the Mtc the week before I did and already served for 8 months in Brazil.

Loves,

Elder Smith 

Lightning strikes again!

Oi tudo bem familia?

   Well it is another crazy week here in the CTM. One of the busiest for Elder Martinez and I yet.  We had a crazy week meeting with so many cool people and really just a lot of fun things.  It was the last week of the transfer and in typical fashion we planned for the next week and we ended up planing to teach about 48-50 lessons this week and have been coordinating to make it happen. Faith planning that we would beat the streak and last longer than a transfer together as companions.  It means that this week is going to be amazing.  

    Of course then along comes Sunday night for transfer calls and I almost have a heart attack.  Elder Madrigal and Elder Gomez both told us that what was going to happen was that Elder Martinez was going to go Zone leader with Elder Madrigal and Elder Gomez and I were going to be together in Toronto.  It was something neither of us wanted because I didn't want to one and done it in Kitchener again and Elder Martinez really doesn't want to be a zone leader.  So when President called us we both about died.  President only calls for one of two reasons: 1) if you are going into mission leadership or 2) If you are training new missionaries.  Sooooooooo Turns out that Elder Martinez and I are staying together here in Kitchener and Training a new Portuguese Elder.  It is going to be epic!  We are super pumped and we can't wait.  

    Yesterday in church we discussed the talk Fathers by Elder Christofferson and how we learn so much from our children and how they point out our flaws and weaknesses.  Our children make us better by running us through the wringer.  I can testify that Training does the same thing.   I am the man I am today and the servant of Christ that he needs because of the trial and experiences I have had to overcome in training other missionaries and I am so excited to be blessed with the opportunity again.  

Questions?

1. What is the transfer news?

staying and training

2. What was the highlight of your week in service?

Tuesday.  Tuesday we had seven lessons pretty much back to back and we were really just following the spirit.  

3. What are your pday plans?

Clean the apartment, clean the car, clean us, basically prepare everything for the new missionary and then we are working on zone sports and a zone lunch at Smoke's

4. What is the weather like these days up were you are?

rainy and around 60 degrees Fahrenheit 

5. How are your investigators?

doing well we are slowly gaining more and we have made real steps with some of our more solid investigators. 

6. Is the ESL class picking up momentum?

yeah we have about three students now and we have about 4 that have committed to come tomorrow.  

7. Ask Elder Martinez to tell us the funniest thing you did this week...

yeah we are both drawing blanks on this one.  

8. What are you looking forward to this coming week?

well lots of things now. Conference, the new missionary, the lessons, serving the lord, and integration night. 

9. What is your favorite meal to cook?

right now rice and beans

10. What kind of wildlife do you see regularly in Kitchener?

suicidal squirrels.  They just dare you to run them over it is terrifying.  

Well that is everything I hope that god may bless you all this week,

Loves, 

Elder Smith

Miracles and a temple

Ola tudo bem familia!

   Well this has been an amazing week all around here in Kitchener. Elder Martinez and I are loving it here and hit the ground running with the revelations that we received from Elder Arnold. That included mainly this week a lot of organization of our area applying the lists and working on just making sure that we are setting appropriate and realistic goals and being effective, diligent, and accountable in our missionary work. That has been the big task this week, our area has never been organized before and there are a lot of things we really aren't sure about such as area and what we are or are not allowed to do in our area. However we have seen some amazing miracles this past week. We were able to find a new Brazilian couple on Tuesday that just walked into the church for our Free English classes. After that first visit they even came back on Saturday and we were able to teach them more and to invite them to church. We are looking forward to meeting with them more this week and to see them progress. Other than that we were blessed to be able to have gone to the temple with our new convert, C, this week. It was a great experience and the spirit was so strong as we were able to watch her receive the saving ordinances for the deceased. We were blessed to have the opportunity to do her confirmation. It was by far one of the greatest experiences of my mission. We took lots of pictures too so I have those for you.  

  Other than that it has been a pretty miraculous week.  We spent about six hours this week planning since we didn't get to do that last week.  It was good though.  A scripture that had been coming to mind lately is in Doctrine and Covenants 132:8  Behold, mine house is a house of a order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion.  Our house in this case our area was a disaster of confusion and we have done so much planning and organization.  It has been so great ever since that we have been planning finding and teaching better than ever before.  I apologize profusely for the years of disorganization.  Because of our planning we were ready to receive all the blessings that the lord prepared for us this week as mentioned above.  Also we were able to get in contact with one of the returning members we have been trying to meet with since the first day.  The last elders hadn't left any notes about his new address or new phone number and on Saturday he called us and we were able to go and talk to him about the trials of the past month and to see him really come to repentance.  It was a very touching moment.  

   Other than that not much else happened so on to questions

1. How was your temple visit on Saturday?

It was amazing!

2. What did you do this week that made you laugh?

Well lots of things.  It is pretty much constant laughter with elder Martinez. 

3. How are the ESL classes?find any students?

Yeah two more and we have some other promising things coming this week. 

4. What are you looking forward to this coming week?

Well we are looking forward to a very busy week and to working harder than we ever have before. 

5. How are the investigators in your area?

doing well we found two new ones last week and we have planned to meet with the other ones this week to help them progress. 

6. What are your pday plans?

Well we don't have any right now. 

7. How was the moccasin adventure?
fun.  Elder Martinez has one done and I am waiting to start mine.  We only have one needle so we have to take turns

8. What did you do for service this week?

Learned how to do a back flip, ate some steak, and raked some grass. 

9. How did the members help you this week?

We had the members all set up to work with our investigators from English class and we also had a lot of help with things for this week. 

10. Are you holding Portuguese meetings on Sundays in your area?

Nope we have to talk to the bishop about that still. 

Well that is about it this week.  I am loving being out here and I can testify that there are miracles prepared for us all each and every day if we will go look for them.  

Well loves,

Elder Smith

PARA BENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Martinez

Elder Smith and Elder Martinez

Elder Martinez and Elder Smith

After church on Sunday, Sept 11 one of the ward members sent this to me (mom) for my birthday!

And then she made him smile....

Ola Tudo bem Familia?
   To start things rolling today first we must sing happy birthday to my mom.  Everyone clap your hands really loud.  PARABÉNS PRA VOCÊ NESTE DATA QUERIDA MUITAS FELICIDADES MUTIOS ANOS DE VIDA!  Happy Birthday mom love ya!  Well other than that it has been quite the interesting week with Elder Arnold's visit and the changes he has made it has really kept us on our toes. I am excited to implement the things that he has taught us and to see how things are going to work out. I really liked everything that he talked about and it was all things that I was already pondering and that I thought would be coming. I especially liked what he said about how the atonement covers everything and that it is time for us to just start over. Have a blank page and just try again each day.  I thought that that was probably the highlight of the zone conference for me.  Elder Arnold is a great man and very spiritual.  I have never had so much revelation before nor have I felt so drained as I did that day. He changed many things that we do in our mission and explained to us that he had been sent there that day to bring us the Higher law and from here on out only the best was enough.  He spent some time rebuking us and according to elder Martinez he rebuked the leadership into the dust but now we are going to be blessed immensely for our efforts and the changes we make in our missionary work. 

    In other news Elder Martinez and I got in another car accident this week.  It was super scary in the moment but now it is actually kind of funny.  We were sitting in the driveway to our apartment building and we were turning right to get out of it.  we looked both ways and elder Martinez started to pull out into the road.  It was at that point that I yelled and he slammed on the breaks because a drunk man on a bicycle came flying past going the wrong direction and hit the front of our car.  He managed to knock off our license plate and then do a glorious front flip over our hood and land on the ground.  On account of him being drunk he proceeded to stand back up and pick up his bike.  Tell us his name and that he was late to watch the Bluejays game and wobble off on his bike again.  Needless to say the members thought it was hilarious and Elder Martinez and I thought that of all people such things would of course only happen to us.  

Any whom on to questions

1. What was the best thing that happened to you this week?

Best thing that happened this week was probably Dinner with the P

2. Did you have any unexpected blessings this week?

Yeah we were able to finally meet with Brother P.  We went over to have dinner for the second time in the history of ever.

3. How are your investigators and new members?

doing well we are really just working on getting them to keep commitments and to follow through with the things that they know to do.  

4. What are you looking forward to in the coming week?

We are taking one of our new converts to the temple on Saturday. 

5. How have your ESL efforts paid off? Any new students?

Nope they are slowing down actually we have run out of flyers and still no one is coming.  This kind comes not out except by prayer and fasting. 

6. How are your member missionaries?

Doing great we received more training on how work with them better this week and we are going to be implementing that tonight. 

7. What was your moccasin experience like? Send photos, please..

We are doing that today so I will send pictures next week. 

8. How was your mission conference with Elder Arnold this week?

Amazing

9. Did you have an apartment check?  Hope it went well....

No we didn't

10. What are your pday plans?

Moccasins and dinner.  

Well I love you all and I wish you the best.

Loves Elder Smith

Back to School!!!!

Ola tudo bem Familia?   

It has been another great week here in the Kitchener area. Elder Martinez and I are learning more and more each day and we were truly blessed by the Lord this past week. We had a new Brazilian family move into the Stake on Sunday from Halifax. It is like we keep saying the gathering of Israel has commenced and we are seeing the miracles of it. As well as we were able to get in contact with another Brazilian family that just moved here from Sao Paulo and wants us to come over and talk to them about temples and why they are so important. Things are really taking off here and I am so Excited. Probably the best spiritual experience that I saw this week was with our new convert S. He is having a hard time with the Word of Wisdom and fell back into old habits shortly after his baptism. We keep visiting him though and are working with the ward to increase the general feelings of love and happiness that he needs in his life. It was great this week because after we walked in on him drinking and partying with his old friends I had a hard time. I truly just felt devastated that someone I have grown to love so much could do something that he knows he shouldn't. The next day we went over again to find out he had fallen down the stairs at his apartment the night before because he was drunk and he said the sweetest prayer. Since then he has read about half of the book of Alma and has been flying through the Addiction recovery book. His apartment is getting cleaner and he is really coming along well.

    We have also been meeting with A a lot recently in preparation for his baptism on the 17th of this month.  Our big goal is that we need to help him stop smoking this week so that he can be worthy for baptism.  It was so cool we were able to go through the baptismal interview questions with him last week and he passed with flying colors.  He has such a strong testimony and we came in and have been able to see the amazing difference between how he was three months ago to now. Other than that we ourselves went back to school this week.  As part of our English class we put up flyers around town to attract students to the classes and Elder Martinez and I had the great Idea to put them up around the Major universities in Waterloo.  Let us just say that I feel Orientation week is very different in Waterloo than back in Utah.  It was crazy up there, however, the campuses were beautiful and the people were super nice.  No Portuguese but that is okay.    

   Other than that it has been a lot of the same old missionary work. teaching lessons and talking to everyone.  Elder Martinez did his first Baptismal Interview today and afterward we went on the Indian Reservation. We have a member here who said she would teach us how to make moccasins if we got the fabric so now we have 18 square feet of cowhide in the back of our car.  We are pumped.  

Questions...

1. What was the highlight of the past week for you?

probably Sunday. We had two investigators at church and we met with the new Brazilian part member family. 

2. What are you preparing for with your ESL classes?

to get students.  

3. Do you and Elder Martinez have goals for the coming week for yourselves?

yeah we set goals every week to improve and to get better. A major one this week for me is to overcome my pride and to really own the phone.  Elder Martinez is working on Christ like attributes. 

4. What do you look forward to this week?

Elder Arnold of the Seventy is coming to visit on Friday

5. What is your favorite place in your new area?

Probably Kitchener but the Rez is pretty sweet. 

6. Who are you serving with this time in the District/Zone?

Sister Courtney Marie Johnson, Sister Nicole Seegmiller, Elder Matthew Charles Martinez, Elder Jaxon Fillmore, Elder Bryce Smith, Elder Todd Anderson, Elder Daniel Brown are the district and the rest of the zone is Sister Mikayla Monnie, Sister Nelli Vorimo, Elder Joshua McBride, Elder 吳浩賢(Elder Ng), Sister Krista Nicole Moody, Sister Savannah Skinner, Sister 陳佑瑄 (Sister Chen), Sister Hannah Smith, Sister Katie Tyler, Elder Adam James Brand, Elder Judd Earl Ward, Elder Seth Linden Callor, Elder Tyson Layton, Sister Jourdan Nabhan, and Sister Audrey D. Nelson

7. How are your investigators?

doing well 

8. What experience can you share where you were guided or protected by the Lord this week?

Well this week we were protected almost daily by the lord from Elder Martinez driving like a crazy Brazilian.  In all seriousness though we were guided this week as we went from an appointment that fell through we decided to go and to just follow the spirit and knock on some doors in the neighborhood.  Not every door just the ones that we felt we should.  Out of fifteen doors we found one new investigator, two potentials and we found the address of a place we have wanted to do service at and one of the head ladies that works there.  The Lord has blessed us truly. 

9. What are your pday plans?

cleaning and then making moccasins

10. Is the apartment ready for your big inspection?

it isn't too bad but we do have some work to do.  One of the Brazilian members came and dropped off a dresser at our house and his wife made us move all the furniture. now it looks a lot better.

Well that is about it for this week. I hope that the Lord watches over you and happy birthday to Uncle Dave and happy anniversary to Mom and Dad!

Loves

Elder Smith 

Woodstalked!

Thanks to the members that take such good care of Elder Smith, and for this photo of Elder Martinez' birthday lunch at Korean BBQ

OI tudo bem familia!
   Well it has been another great week here in the mission field. A lot of interesting things happened and we were able to see one of out investigators come to church this week as well for his second time. He had a wonderful experience and is growing a lot in his testimony. As well as one of our new converts has made huge leaps forward in working on quitting smoking and working on being worthy again to continue progressing towards his next saving ordinances and going to the temple. It was so moving to just see the spirit really working with the both of them as they are continuing to improve. Other than that it has been a really good week full of different miracles and a very large amount of birthday's here in the Kitchener Stake. We spent a lot of time with birthday related commitments from members, investigators, all kinds of things it was so much fun. Well as for the area we are doing well we were able to re-find two investigators from last time elder Martinez and I were here and pick them back up. We are all in all super excited. 

   This week we also had some great experiences on exchanges.  We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Tuesday through Wednesday.  Our Zone Leaders are currently Elder Smith and Elder Fillmore and they are down in Brantford.  It was a lot of fun.  I stayed with Elder Fillmore in our area and had a blast.  Then later we went down to the Woodstock Area. It was a lot of fun when I was down there with Elder Anderson.  He was a great companion for the day the only problem was that neither of us can drive.  Made it a lot of fun seeing as we had to walk everywhere. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot!

As for this week's questions...

1. What is your favorite restaurant in Kitchener?

I am a big fan of that Korean Barbecue or Eclipse.

2. What do you usually do for lunch?

Usually we eat at home or have an appointment.

3 How is the ESL effort going?

good we got a new student last week.  It was pretty cool. 

4. How have the lessons you learned from President Ballard helped you this week?

Yeah it is pretty great.  We are working on it a lot and I have been thinking about it almost every day. 

5. What are you looking forward to this week?

We are setting up a dinner with the investigators we met again last night for this Tuesday with the other members up in Kitchener. 

6. How are your investigators doing?

They are doing great.  

7. What are your pday plans? I assume still cleaning for the upcoming apartment check but hopefully something fun as well.

Well we are thinking about going hiking but I don't know we haven't really been doing all that much today just relaxing and moving things around the apartment. 

8. Where do you usually do your shopping in the Cambridge/Kitchener area?

Walmart

9. Do you do a lot of cooking in your apartment?

Not really.  maybe two meals a day but I don't know. 

10.What have the members done this week to help the missionaries?

We went and Ate a lot of food and we are also working with one of our new converts to invite her friends to come and meet with us as well. 

Well that is about it this week.  I love you so much

Loves

Elder Smith

Heavenly Messengers!

Photos of the Aurora/Newmarket area apartment

Elder Davis in the Aurora/Newmarket apartment

Transfer day reunion Elder Martinez, Elder Madrigal, Elder Smith

Elder Martinez and Vader, the cat

Elder Smith, Elder Martinez, twinning with Vader the cat

Elder Smith and Vader, the cat

Sign on one of the local churches

Thanks to Rod Destro for feeding these boys and sending this mama photos!

Dinner with the Destro family

Oi tudo bem familia?

   It has been a great week here in the mission field lots of things that are going on and many miracles that we have been able to see.  It was truly wonderful to be back in the blessed Kitchener Portuguese area and to truly see the hand of God in his work.  I have been able to notice a lot this week that things are not the same as we left them and that the area is just continuing to expand and grow.  In the past three months there have been two baptisms in the area and we are planning on another one in the next little bit, as well there has been another member family move in to the area and there will be at least three more that will have moved in by the end of the Year.  The lord is really gathering his Elect and they are flocking here to build up and Edify his Kingdom.

    A great part of that was the visit that we had this week from Elder Ballard and Elder Bennett.  They came and bore witness of Jesus Christ and Instructed on the importance of Counseling and to Open our mouths and proclaim this gospel unto all nations.  It was so cool to be able to meet an apostle and to just hear his testimony.  I learned so much and we have already seen miracles in our area from applying his inspired counsel.  

   As for us the area still has some problems and there are some difficulties still because the Elders before us didn't leave like any records but Elder Martinez and i will figure it out and it is going to be a wonderful transfer.

 On to some questions....

1. Are you back in the same apartment that you lived in last time you were in Kitchener?

Yeah we are however there is a lot more in the way of furnishings now and we are getting some more stuff donated this week so we are fixing it up well.  

2. How was your first week back?

It was a good first week.  The Families are still here and they were excited to see us back.  They have grown a lot in the desire to do missionary work and after the Instructions that  we received this week we are a lot better equipped to help them as well. 

3. Are you still involved in ESL? What are your responsibilities this time around?

I am once again Building Manager and am in charge of saving ESL.  If we don't get more students after this transfer they are going to be cutting the program.  Nothing has changed since last time that we were here and nothing has been accomplished.  So we are going to be hitting it hard now and see some result.

4. Do you have any investigators?

Yeah we have a couple of really solid english ones and we currently only have one Portuguese investigator however Elder Martinez and I are working on that now.  

5. How are the members?

Great and really wanting to be involved in the work.  I am so grateful for that. 

6. Are you attending Spanish or English wards? Or have they started any Portuguese classes at church on Sundays?

We are working towards getting the Portuguese classes started in the next few weeks which will be great as for the wards we attend it is usually a mix of an English ward and the YSA Branch. 

7. What are your plans for pday?

So much cleaning.  We have another General Authority coming to visit in three weeks who is doing apartment inspections and we have an apartment that looks like a small nuclear payload went off in it. 

8. What are you looking forward to this week?

We have some good appointments and one of our new converts is going to be bringing one of her friends to our lesson this week which is super exciting. 

9. What was your favorite moment with Elder Martinez in the past week?

We had a lot they were all pretty good.   We have some fun times with a cat named Vader recently. 

10. What did you learn from the meeting with Elder Ballard that left a lasting impact?

The importance of the simple little things and looking towards the Bretheren.  There are only two powers in this world and if we don't do the little things like read, pray, or go to church or have regular worship then we are giving the devil all the power.  That hit pretty hard.   

It has been a good week and I love you all.

Loves

Elder Smith