Highs and Lows....

25-2-2012

      So this week I received a new companion. His name is Elder Bondan. He is a Brazilian but he is from the southern area of Brazil. He is white and has Swiss blood in him, hence the last name not being a usual Brazilian name. Most of the people think that he is an American because of his white skin and his accent. Down in the south the Brazilians almost have an American accent. They say their "R's" like we Americans do. But he is powerful. I had a lot of fun times with Elder Cancino, that crazy Chilean, but now it’s time to work and get serious. My new companion has more of a serious attitude, doesn't joke around a lot. But he teaches really well.

       We found 12 new investigators in three days working together, and brought 5 of them to church yesterday. But guess what the last talk was about? Baptisms done in the temple. Its pretty deep doctrine for an investigator to handle. It did not go over well at all for our investigators who had only begun to hear our messages. They needed milk before meat. All five of them fell off the face of the earth afterwards. If we could have just explained the Plan of Salvation that Heavenly Father has for us beforehand,  it would have helped a lot. Some people just don't understand that there is so much more for us after this life, and so many blessings that are in store, and that we can be eternal families! But there is work to be done as well that continues on after this life. How grateful I am to be a part of this great plan.

        I have been having some doubts about my assignment as Zone Leader recently. Sometimes I feel like I'm not up to status as a Zone Leader. I just want to baptize and help other people, but I feel like I am so worried about the other missionaries in my zone, trying to help them, worrying about their work, that I can’t focus fully on my work. I was thinking that maybe I will talk to the President and ask for counsel; should I be released as Zone Leader, so that I can work more diligently? But I want your opinions as well.

       The mission is not easy. I always try to be as excited and happy as I can through the emails, but there are many difficulties that I face, EVERY DAY. But then again, not one of us can really know and understand the slightest bit of the Sacrifice that the Lord paid when he atoned for us. We may think that we have an idea, but I am with the Prophets when they say that we cannot nearly comprehend what He did for us. So in short, I am grateful for the difficulties that I face as a missionary working for the salvation of men, because as President Uchtdorf said, I am feeling just a small token of what he did for me.

God Speed!

Elder Smidt X

Heisman...

Well hello everyone!!!!

Today I got to play some good ol' American Football. and it felt soo good!!! I got some good passes in, did some running and it was all good. This will probably be my last P-day with Elder Cancino so I took him and another Companionship, Elder Oakes and another Chilliano to play football too. We just played two-on-two with two hand touch. it was good.

I also had the Grand privilege of Baptizing Mr. Stark. He had some difficulties with the word of wisdom as well as the Law of Chastity, but he was moved.

I learned a little bit how to play the accordion. I was so stoked! I just kept wheezing over a member’s shoulder as he was playing it, he finally got weirded out enough to just let me play around with it.

Tell me what the heck you have been asking the President, it is starting to freak me out.

Coley, how is the work coming along?  I count on you sport!

I miss and love you all! Can’t wait to hang out with you guys again!

God Speed

Elder Smidt X

PICTURES!!!!!

Star Date 2013, on the 11th of February,

Captain to Star log, I am stranded in Brazil with only the whimsical hope of a valentine. 

So this week was REALLY rough, we didn’t have any baptisms in our whole Zone. That won’t look too good on my resume. But I went on a few splits this week with other Elders and on every split that I did, I helped find a new person to be baptized in their area. I also did a split with Elder Oakes and we made a sweet fort and bought pizza and soda. Hurray for youthfulness!! And in the picture I’m wearing "The Mission Ring". Its the biggest, most powerfully awesome ring ever. Inviting someone to be baptized with that ring on, they just can’t deny. 

I really like the work that Coley is doing. Keep it up sis, I love ya!

Most of the pictures are from the Jungle that I took. 

So I’m suuuuper ticked because the coolest shirt that I have EVER owned, my white Nike Duck shirt, got ruined after I went to the jungle. It got all muddy, and I am sooo sad. I just wanted soo badly to look cool, that it cost me my most precious earthly item. 

This week I went to the doctor to get my toe worked on by a Foot Doctor. It was cool and painful, but I had to go because just one day my toe was hurting so bad I could barely walk. Then I took off my shoe to look at my toe, and when I poked it with my finger, some thick, chocolate brown ooze started coming out. So you will see a charge for that, and some small charges for other medical supplies, but I will receive re-imbursements for those things. But the lady said that I should go back one other time to finalize the toe-nail so that another in-grown toe-nail doesn’t happen. But that visit won’t be re-imbursed. It would be about 25 dollars. If you accept, the next week I will go back there. If not, tudo bem, all is well, I don’t need to go back. It’s more of just a pre-caution visit.

Mom, Sister Fortunato said that she will try to respond your questions but she said that this Wednesday the President will answer all the questions that she doesn’t know.

Sorry for the very dry letter. I love and miss you all!

God Speed

Elder Smidt X

Vine swinging, rock sliding, bug smashing, yeah, I went to the Jungle today.

Hello!!

So first of all, my memory with Pops Smidt is simple…

I was able to truly show Pops the true beauty of square watches while on a cruise to Mexico. And I will never forget when we went snorkeling together in that ocean. Some of my best memories in life were spent sitting next to Pops in the truck listening to him sing his classic songs, "Watch Lillian wrestle rassle, a box of Oysterettes" or something along those lines…

Happy Birthday Pops!! And a very happy birthday to Shawn today too!!!

Today we went to the Jungle and I will show pictures next p-day, but I forgot my camera today. It was so cool! I was able to hang out with Elder Oakes again which was really cool. I got really close to him at the MTC. We hiked for what seemed like hours into the Jungle, went under a big water fall, swung on some sweet vines like Tarzan, went into some scary caves, and then an investigator came up to us and I was like, "How did you find me?" and he was just like, "I saw you from the village" and as I looked over his shoulder to see some kids waving at me from their lawns, I realized I wasn’t really all too far away from the village.

During my last interview with the president he hinted along the lines the possibility of me becoming the next Assistant, but after the bill for lunch during the Zone conference, I think I lost his trust and chance of that happening! We went to a restaurante (dont know how to spell it in english) for the Zone Conference. All you can eat pizza and meat, but it wasnt American pizza. Ended up being 1,700 reais, or about 800 dollars for all of the missionaries to eat there. It was kinda pricey and I don’t think the president was too happy with me since he put me in charge of picking the restaurante. Oops!

I cannot wait to get on my bike.

I have been really trying to teach a lot simpler and just trust that the spirit will teach the people the rest, and it was been working wonders. We are finding a lot of new investigators.

I cannot wait to ride my bike.

Alright, I’m sorry about all that stuff about my bike, but it is just so darn pretty. I think I just named it "Jóia" in my mind.(would by said like "Joy-a" in Portuguese, and it means Jewel)

I don’t really have anything else to add. But I love and miss you all so very much. Oh and I will be coming home on November 20th, yes, almost a whole month earlier because of when transfers happen and Christmas the next month etc.... weird. But that means that Tiffy has really got to get crackin on choosing a young Filly for me to date after the mission! I trust in you Tiffy! But just remember that I also have high standards. You can change a girl’s testimony at any moment, but the looks is something permanent.... Yeah, I just said that.


God Speed!

Elder Smidt X