My New Companion....

27-8-12

Hello family and friends, 

Well, I got a new companion and he is AWESOME! He and I are already like best friends. He likes all the same stuff that I do except for the Oregon Ducks. That almost broke the companionship, but I decided I would let that one fault slip. The spirit that we have together while teaching is awesome! My first lesson with him we taught a man that we met while knocking on doors, probably 26 years old, wearing only shorts, looked like he didn’t really have anything to do with religion, was playing Xbox when we got in. We sat down and started teaching and the spirit was so strong. After I finished our first prayer, when I looked at him, he was crying; last thing I expected to see with him. But I am now loving it here with my comp, his name is Elder Carnaúba, from São Paulo. He only has three months on the mission total, so I’m finishing up the training with him. He made me so trunky though when he said that the Avengers was his favorite film. The pictures that I have included are of me and Elder Nelson, he is also one of the coolest missionaries on this mission. He and I have gotten so close. We serve in the same Branch, just in different areas, but we see each other a lot. He is the one that bleeds green and yellow, and is the most hilarious person I have ever met.

Thank you so much for the package!! I loved it, but I enjoyed sharing it more with the other missionaries. Some things I kept to myself :) But listen, whereever you bought that little Avengers notebook, please go back there and buy another 10. It is literally perfect! My planner doesn’t fit in my shirt pocket but that little notebook fits perfectly. It’s so nice to have to quickly write down an address or a phone number, and its always just 100% cool looking. If there are batman ones, that would be cool too.

Thank you to Brittany for all the cool photos and the pop rocks candy. Man if you have pop rocks here in Brazil, you're like the cat’s pajamas. Thank you! Also thank you for all the letters that I got. I hope all is going well for Heidi. 

Congrats Bryan!! What’s your new last name again? How much did the wedding dress cost? Who did you choose as your brides maid? But seriously, did someone take a photo of the line? I would like to see how awesome I looked with a photo-shopped mustache that John promised me. By the way, I got John’s letter and thank you very much!

Things are looking a lot more positive now! This calls for a Krispy Kreme Donut.... Dang it.

God Speed!

Elder Smidt X

This guy...

Well this letter will be short. I’m sorry, but I had to write a long email to the president about some things that have been happening. 

What I learned from teaching with the assistants was a lot of things, but the greatest thing I learned was how to teach with more love and to really listen to what the people have to say and then start building on from what they believe. It’s a lot easier to convert someone when you know their background and you start your teaching at that point and then gradually slide into true doctrine, rather than just dumping the whole lot of what we believe on their plate. It’s often too much to handle, and when this is done, they may reject the message. But when you teach with them (saying inspired thoughts then asking them an inspired question, they will start to teach themselves with their own thoughts) it works out way better. 

In this branch, the members are more or less active. The mission leader in the branch doesn’t do anything for us, which a real drag. Help from the ward is one of the greatest blessings (BTW Dad, you should always offer the missionaries help bringing people to church activities or what not, it’s such an awesome blessing; and mom, you should be always offering the missionaries lunch or dinner, you don’t understand how helpful it is to the young men to have a mother in the area that shows them love). But the ward is pretty weak. I had to give a talk a couple weeks ago in sacrament meeting. I went up there with my scriptures, a hymn book, and the spirit and taught for about 10 minutes on Charity. It was actually surprisingly good and I felt way full of the spirit. I’ve already had to teach the gospel principles class several times because there is no teacher, so the missionaries just teach it. But I’ve never prepared a lesson, just went with the spirit and I haven’t had a bad lesson yet. 

Who baptized a 7 year long investigator yesterday? THIS GUY!! (imagine me pointing my thumbs at myself while wearing a tight leather jacket, with ray-bans, and really greasy slicked over hair) 

Well I gotta go, but I love you guys a lot! 

God Speed

Elder Smidt X

"What did you say!? I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish" -Ron Burgundy

13-08-12

For those of you that know what scene I was quoting in the subject line, just imagine that that is about what every conversation is like with my companion. We start out talking normally but half way through the conversation, I get lost. The only difference is my companion doesn’t have a mustache and doesn’t work at a bar.

This week has been really good though. I learned a lot of great things!! The president came to Montes Claros again because another companionship had someone that needed to be interviewed by the president. So he came into town along with his wife, and his two assistants, Elder Aley and Elder Domingos. Two awesome missionaries! I didn’t get to see the president but I had the opportunity to make a division with the assistants. (I just discovered how to put icons and smiley faces in my emails!  hehehehehe)

Anyways, the division was awesome! I learned so much! I wasn’t doing my best but with the help of Elder Aley, I learned how I could do better and really get a CLAMP on things hehehehe. My companion also learned a lot and we have been getting along way better this week. The Assistants told me that my companion has had problems with every one of his other companions, almost to the point of fighting. But I have been trying to direct all of my conversations with him using love.  

I’m feeling good! How’s the family? Take a picture of Tawni before she has the babies, I would like to see how big she got. How are the babies doing? I gotta go but I will look forward to your answers next week!

Really, nothing different has happened this week other than what I’ve already said. So I’ll just end this email as is, and hopefully we can "text" for a little bit.  Im going to download a couple pics in a separate email, so I’ll be sitting here if you are there. 

God Speed 

Elder Smidt X

Fotos!

Oh, Jess, it is so good to see your smiling face!  The kids and I always look forward to seeing pictures of you!  KJ especially looks at them over and over.  He always says, "he's so lucky to get to help all those people."  You are the ultimate example to him.  I cannot Thank you enough for that!  Missing you lots and lots but know that you are in just the right place at just the right time in your life!  Brazil is lucky to have you!

Love your big sis - Tiffy

"Keep on keepin on. Lifes a garden, dig-it" -Joe Dirt

8-8-12

Hello family!

This week has definitely been a learning and growing experience requiring much patience. I’m prideful and my companion is as well; doesn’t make too good of a combination. What’s the solution? One of us has to humble ourselves. The best solution would be for both of us to humble ourselves. But we have gotten a little better this week…still argued a few times but progress was made!

Thank you so much for the emails and all of the letters. I loved hearing from Jayden and Spencer. They sound so old now! Also, I got some great photos from Jason and Coley with a sweet comic, but it made me a little uncomfortable how tan Bronze Baratone was. Thank you for the long letter Tiffy! It made me feel more included in whats been going on. Also thank you Britt for your sweet letter. Nana, don’t EVER feel pressured to write me. Your life is already busy as it is.

Well, by the next time I will be writing you guys I will have 8 months on the mission!! 1/3 of the way done. Time is really starting to fly by which actually kind of makes me a little nervous. My mission president told me that when he spent his first night at home after the mission and woke up the next morning, his WHOLE mission just seemed like a dream, and that was just the next day. That made me a little worried. I don’t want my mission to just seem like a dream. I want my mission to be a historical land-mark in my brain.

Still nothing from John the Great, or Bryan the Brave. I hope John gets to feeling better with all this stomach infection, tail-bone broken, stuff. Also, hope things are working out smoothly for Bryan and Melissa in their planning process for the big wedding day.

Well I reached a new record this past week for lessons taught. We taught 45 lessons! Last week we had a baptism and this week we are looking forward to two more.

Our mission president is starting to change a few things. From now on we will be having p-day on Mondays. We will be doing our weekly planning Sunday night at 7. Also, in the past during the first lesson, we always ended at the Joseph Smith story- how he was called of God as a prophet and God restored the Church of Jesus Christ through him." Then we always just asked the question, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized in His church?" It was always like this, but now with our new president, we also teach about the Book of Mormon real quickly (two minutes) after Joseph Smith and then ask them if they will read and pray to know if the book of Mormon is true. If they accept, then we ask, "knowing that this book is true, will you be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ?" It’s different than what I’m used to, but I will go and I will do.

Lots of missionaries are not accepting the new president. It’s been pretty hard for him and his wife to get the missionaries to accept them. President Parrella (last mission president) was so different and strict. Many of the missionaries are having difficulty adjusting to a new way of doing things or changing from the way things have been done their whole missions. They think the old way is the only way. 

Well, I hope all is going well for you guys. I love you!

Elder Smidt X

Red Zone...

1-08-12

     Well hello family!!! How are you all doing? This week I received letters from Britt, Taylor Wood (a pleasant surprise), Tiff and the kids, and mom and dad, and I love every one of them. As for the emails from John, I haven't been getting anything. My email is jesse.smidt@myldsmail.net. At least I feel a little better now knowing that he has been trying to write me and hasn't been completely ignoring me. :) It made me really happy to see that letter from Sister Lourdes to you mom. She is so awesome. Dad, the Long board looks freaking SWEET!!! You had me at bright green wheels.

    Well, this week has been humbling. I’ve been living without food and without electricity. I spent all my money and nobody paid the electrical bill before the required date. Also, I didn't want to use my own money to buy food because I accidentally led my companion out of the way one day for the wrong address for our lunch appointment. It was at least 7 miles away from the right address. I felt bad that my companion and I would go without lunch for that day because of my mistake. So I bought us lunch with my card.  For that reason, I did not buy food for this week. I'm now starting to really try hard to not use my own card. Also, it’s winter time here in Montes Claros, even though its summer temps. But at night it has been really cooling down. Since the showers are electrically heated, taking cold showers in the mornings has been a blessing. I never knew I could wash my body and get showered so fast.

     Well, we got a new zone leader this week and his name is Elder Nakarato. The reputation that goes with his name is not a pleasant one. Almost everyone in the mission knows who he is, but it’s because of how intense he is.  There will be no slacking off! Many people may not know my name in the mission, but I try to make sure that my name goes out with a good reputation and I want to keep it that way.

Ai ai ai. I'm not going to lie, my new companion is a struggle. This week has probably been the most difficult of the mission, and this transfer will be very difficult as well. Elder Atencio has 5 months in the mission, and is from Argentina. He has the strongest Spanish accent possible, even everybody that we teach cannot understand him. I still have a bit of an American accent, so sometimes it’s difficult teaching others. I don't understand 80% of what he says to me. Also, he seems to have a little bit of an issue with accepting feedback. It is for this reason that I entered into "Red Zone" yesterday.

    You may be thinking, "Elder Smidt, please share your knowledge on the subject 'Red Zone' for us". Well, Red Zone is the most dangerous area in my brain. Im a little embarrassed to share this with you. Only three times I can think of in my life, I have gone into red zone. One time when I got into my first fight with a kid named Corey Odale in the locker room after P.E., another time when I became involved in an argument with my great friend about a girl, and one time at a birthday party when I ripped another guys shirt.  In every instance, being in red zone, is a state of being that once in, is very difficult to get out of. It’s a state of great anger. The reason why it’s called Red Zone, is because when I am in Red Zone, I see nothing but what I am looking at directly. I have no peripheral vision, everything else is red. If I'm looking at someone’s face, I only see the face floating in a sea of Red. Also, I can’t control my actions or thoughts or words when in Red Zone. It is very dangerous. Now that you know what Red Zone is, let me explain how I arrived there yesterday.

    We were teaching a lesson, and we were talking earlier that day of how we needed to teach more simply because the people were becoming lost during the lessons. But every suggestion that I made to my companion, he disregarded it, and continued in the same manner. I also told him that we should have more respect for the people and not mock them for the churches that they attend. The next lesson he made a mockery of the catholic church, seriously offending a family. After that lesson I pulled him to the side-walk and just calmly said, “let’s talk”. I was feeling the blood starting to boil but I tried to keep my composure. I told him as calmly as I could, that in this companionship I am the Senior, and what I suggest, is what we do. As I said this, he starting laughing in my face....... Red Zone. I lost it then and there. Everything became instantly red. I started to feel the vein bulging in my neck, and I let the words just fly. After about 10 minutes of hurtful words and accusing questions, it was his tears that brought me to a halt.

     I don't share this story with you in a way to complain, or to show that I'm brave in the face of those who reject me. I tell you this story to show you how much of an idiot I was at that moment. I felt so incredibly sad at that moment when I saw my companion crying. I had humiliated a Servant of Christ. I could have handled the situation way better than I did. My heart immediately softened. I then proceeded to tell him how sorry I was, and that if he was not willing to forgive, I would understand. Thankfully, we ended up hugging it out. But the guilt that I have still lays in my heart like a cinder block. I brought shame at that moment to the Smidt name.

     Well, I'm sorry that this email has been extremely long, I just thought I would share with you guys a huge growing moment for me that I had this week. I love you all so very much. I encourage you all to practice the Christ-like attribute, Patience. The result that comes from lack of patience is always ugly.

God Speed.

Elder Smidt X