Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Letter from Joshua
Hello beloved mission fans:
Its your ever so unusual elder smart here for a brand new update on this week, first off let me give a special thank you to grandma and grandpa smart for there package, it was definately a help for this crazy week.
Okay so heres the story for this week folks, we're knocking the sticks area, and the first house we come to we skip because... I dunno, it looked forsale and empty at first, so we go down and knock all the other houses before coming back, davidson wanted to take a picture of al of the mountains and stuff so we try and take pictures in the front of the hills infront of this house, we start to go to knock the door when it opens and out steps a guy, we're pretty sure he was gonna call us out, that or at least tell us we didn't need to knock, BUT then he asked if any of us were from Arizona, I confessed with enthusiasm to which he then asked me what was the name of my grandparents? So I told him grandma and grandpa Greene's, since his last name was Green.
Green: no no, the other ones.
Me: glen an-
(as I'm speaking my sentence) the man and I both say, 'Carol'! He swore at one point in the conversation but when I learned he knew Grama and Grampa I was like, Holy Crap! We then went and got some ice cream, it was pretty amazing.
[Another part of that story is that these people are NEVER home, they are always out of town and it was a real miracle that they even ran into one another.]
In other news, looks like the boss has decided to keep me stationary, I'm staying in manchester for a third round.... downside is Is that I will doing it without elder davidson. He has been my best mission friend and quite honestly its not gonna be as much fun without him, I was actually very down since then until then mom threatened to kill me so I perked up.
[Another part of that story: Joshua sent us an email at 10:30 am telling us he wouldn't be on right now but that he would be on at 2:30-3 and he would like everyone to be on their computers at that time because he had some bad news. So, I waited, and waited. Blair called our Stake President to see if he had heard anything. We prayed and discussed that whatever was happening, God had a plan for Joshua and everything would be ok. At 3:15 he finally sent a letter. I was nervous and anxious - after all that stress, his bad news was that Elder Davidson was being transferred!!!! Yes, bad news for him, I hurt for him because this is the first companion he has EVER had that he felt was a true friend. None the less, I wanted to kill him!!!! So I told him I felt like I wanted to get on a plane, fly out there and choke every bit of living breath out of him!!! I told him that he was NEVER to do that to me again!!!!! Apparently I gave birth to a drama queen!!!!! Ahhhhhh!]
Lets see, we got bashed this week, it was kinda a rough one he was very hostile and not very open, he even went as far as to insult my title a elder because he was older than me. I tried to remember he was a child of Heavenly Father. Anyway we got to a point where i wanted to leave, he had kinda given us his belief in a scripture so I gave him three:
Ask and ye shall receive knock it shall be opened unto you.
If any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God.
As for me and my house, we will serve the lord.
Woe be unto the learned for they think they are wise.
BUT our culture night was indeed a hit, our members showed up, unfortunately none of our investigators did.
I give a sober warning to Washingtonians.... I am now expected to be the designated driver!!!! I haven't driven in almost a YEAR!!!!!!! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!! I gotta drive over the tacoma narrow bridge!!!!! are you KIDDING ME! The wind BLOWS cars OFF THE BRIDE!!!!!... anyway, that aside yeah I've been alive and doing better today. what else has happened hmmmmmmmmmmm, we are helping a sister in manette get furniture so that will be fun.
Mother, I am in need of more emergency food stash, I haven't been eating a lot because of fear of losing money. also, how much chest pain should one be in before he calls for medical help? or any other kind of pain for that matter, I get wary of asking for medical help incase its not a big deal and I look like I'm OCDING.
what else has- OH! theres an awesome dog we met named Banti... or something like that. Adorablely lovable dog... yet scary as heck! He liked to put your hand in his mouth when he played, so when we walked up to the front porch and discovered that he had bone fragments all over the porch? I was aware of the situation.
-sigh- I'm gonna miss davidson he was a great pal and its gonna hurt to see him leave.
alright, soooo I need to send some letterssss today.
(p.s. what is mariahs boyfriends name again?)
I'm grateful for the love I have received over the past couple of days. I need to know who I need to write to so gimme a heads up if I haven't written you yet.
thats all about it for me folks, remember:
Woe be unto the learned for they think they are wise.
Love,
Elder J Smart
Monday, January 27, 2014
Letter #35
yellooooooooooo mission fans!
heres elder smart here delivering another week of elderly mayhem.
so.... this week has kinda been a weird one for me.... whilst the work has been slow the oddness of things remains... well odd. SO! to start off this week I may or may not have seen a ghost. (not that I don't believe in them its just that it didn't seem ghostlike to me.) we were driving down the road on the way back from a lesson or something like that and we turn a corner to see this random guy standing on the corner of the road in a grey hoodie and an VERY plasticky face.... once our headlights hit him he froze... even when the guys AHEAD of us their head lights touched him first and he didn't move an inch so he was FREAKISHLY still. he had this white plastic bag and.... anyway if you know my area this place is friggin weird and creepy..... so me and davidson were like, "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!?!?!"
followed by me saying, ".... I'm bring the maul in tonight..." so yeah... unfortunately that wasn't the weird part this week.
I.... I ......................................... I blessed a chicken. okay okay stop laughing I get it, and for those of you who are righteously indignant it IS something we can do..... its just not recommended.... HEY if that lady from legacy can do it then we can too alright! so, it all started when Christian, Fawn's boyfriend brought it up... to which I hesitantly agreed, however I didn't exactly do it right and it felt kinda weird... but I felt like it was if it was important for them then maybe The Lord wanted me to help them. Davidson didn't anoint, I just dripped the oil on its head and started the blessing. HOWEVER when I started I was waiting for the blessing vibe to come up and I felt an experience kinda like this.
me: ummm.... Spirit??
Spirit:................................ What?
ME: 0.0... uh.... uh... can you bless this chicken.... and not kill me later?? To make things worse I told everybody about it... okay that part was actually kinda fun, even president was like, 'just don't do it as a joke okay?' HOWEVER we went over there again and kelly, (the chickens owner) came out of the bathroom at one point saying she had found an egg... to which I found dubious after the original HOLY CRAP set in... then davidson was like, WHY ARE YOU DOUBTING IT, so I figured what the heck I'll believe it... only to find out YESTERDAY that it had been a prank................. I was a little upset about this at first, but now I'm okay and I guess we got a good couple of laughs... I'll tell ya brother shaw was right... the mission makes you lose your flipp'n mind. half of the stuff that went down during Preparation day yesterday.. halfway through everyone jumping around and blowing each other up with their invisible guns laughing and screaming It kinda dawned on me.... we had ALL LOST OUR MINDS!!!! and considering the fact I may have been the only one in there that was actually still kinda sane!!!!!.... for all of those reading all I can say is I KNOW RIGHT?!?!
aside from that I can't seem to remember much aside from OH snap thats right.
(see grandma I didn't say crap! HA!) I WENT BACK TO GIG HARBOR! it was SOOOOO weird all of the memories driving through the same place me and jones used to... I kinda yearned for it again whilst Jones was a hard ball he was a good guy who was trying his hardest. I got more respect for him than many missionaries I've met since.
I noticed I've had a hard time with singing, my voice feels very soft and vibrato which I am not that big a fan of I couldn't seem to belt anything, it was odd.
on top of that, I noticed I couldn't run very fast either. like even KITCHEN could out run me yesterday and he was a pretty big guy.... geeze. OH! and i think I figured out why nobody wants to talk to us. this is a revelation me and davidsion figured out my first couple days here. by societies standards here is the problem. We are young, male, white, american, middleclass, mormon, missionary.... everyone, HATES us. that was our favorite joke for awhile. davidson has been a good guy patient if not a little odd. so as far as I'm doing, I live and breathe, and I check my pulse regularly.
well thats this weeks mayhem.
Love,
Elder J Smart
Letter #34
hallo! mission fans its your ever enthused elder Elder smart!
well, this note might be a bit brighter than the last ones I've given on account that my new place is AWESOME!!!!!!!!
I met with elder davidson (turns out I knew him from rochester) and he drove us back to our new 'apartment' I walked up the steps and I could see this comfy looking chair through the blinds I commented on how fancy Our stuff must be to davidson and sure enough, we open it up and the place is HUGE!!!!!!! we have a BIG family room with furniture that looks nice! a walk in CLOSET where we garage our bikes, a kitchen with a BAR and a NICE bathroom and... I have a HUGE desk (now covered in pictures of my favorite lady) the only downside is the water heat is really short.. and my bed is rather uncomfortable.
I've had a weird couple days... first night there I met a basher... who was pretty low grade, I'm kinda sick and tired of bashers. and people, but aside from that I feel alot better than my last area... aside from missing the people.the ward relation is kinda distant... everyone here works at the shipyard with ALOT of hours... they don't like Our rules either, so theres tension there. second day was kinda weird too, I think I'll call it area lag, my lungs were starting to get kinda sore for a little bit but I feel better now, the second day in I pretty much, knocked, slept and knocked.. and then slept more during whatever time we weren't doing anything. so, this area is okay but the area is kinda stiff.... so that will be fun to work with! they are nice people an all but.. I dunno. aside from that we have a couple people we can work with so that will be fun. I get to finally split wood again!!! something to do to work out! that will be nice.
well that has been my experience so far this week! I hope you all have a very merry christmas. I've been thinking about home a lot and all the stuff we would be doing. I miss you guys lots, fortunately the new place smells a bit like christmas at home, its been very helpful in a lot of ways so I'm doing MUCH better (that should make mom and savannah happy to hear about that) I can't wait to talk to you all (maybe savannah too?)
thank you all for your time and patience!
I gotta go now!
Love,
Elder J Smart
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Letter #33
yes!!! byt the way HELLO FOLKS! its your ever mixed up confusing and ever so... I ran out of big words.... anyway I'm here so be happy dang it!!
so I think I'll start off to say that I THIS STATE IS FRIGG'N COLD!!!!! I've been walking aroud all week and let me tell you... this place is messed up!!! its all green and crap but NOTHING LOOKS SNOWY like at all!!! I remember being single layered in NEGATIVE TEMPERATURES and STILL being warmer than I was out here!!! my face is chapped and my ears are dead. its false advertisement I tell ya!!!
also, I am kinda outta energy, family who has served on missions, what do you do when your just out of it?
I've felt like crap for months, but I still keep trucking, I know how to work when I feel crummy, but for once I just kinda ran outta juice.
also, how do I connect with mission presidents? I've been so used to adults liking me that i'm not accustomed to them not talking to me much so I dunno what to do there.
but, the first story is to answer moms question, yes I have received all packages, I haven't opened the one from christmas eve but I DID open the other ones.
you gotta label those things darn it! I dunno when or what I'm supposed to do with the box so I normally just open it as soon as possible incase theres instructions that need to be fufilled as soon as possible. so write on the box so I can either wait till the end of the day or something XD
if you send it via regular mail it will be at the post office.
now, on to the story, I got the tree and brother Kirby was able to give us I ride, the only person I knew that we could give that tree to was betty, so friday night we drove over and dropped it off to betty, she was very greatful, I think she almost cried ^^ but the best part was we learned that she destroyed the contraband in her daughters home, so NOW we can go over!... bad news is that the people we were hoping would move into their home would, I remember talking to them about it and they said that for some of the things they did in there they would need some one to professionally clean it.
whilst expressing my disapointment they were like "thats okay, we're still looking around and have made alot of calls to apartments and things"
to which It took me a minute to comprehend what they mean't.
"... OH! yeah right... thats what i was thinking about ^^''''"
wow.... my emailing kinda sucks today XP
alright folks, so heres what we got for this week.
this week we have accumulated.
1 1/2 activated less actives.
2 out of the blue investagors.
2 referals that we are incontact with
and ONE PERSON ON DATE!
BAM thats right folks smart did something right for once!
our first visit was kinda rough, I haven't been able to teach in pretty much a month and have spiritually become rusty and just down right stuck BUT the member there is her roommate and she's pretty much accepted everything we said so far.
we asked her if she had read and prayed about the book of mormon and she nodded.
I then asked her what she felt. she was quiet for a minute before saying and nodding that it was true! so BAM! also, I was sitting there thinking when I got a familiar thought, in Gigharbor I had once had a prompting to look over and ask if the mom in a part member family wanted to be baptized, I didn't which was lame. but I did, not as abruptly as I would have wanted but i asked her if baptism was something she was looking into and she said yes! so we put her on date! tomlinsons really stepped up to the plate since my last anxiety attack, fortunately i panic in silence so hes not really aware... anyway thats not the point.
as far as I go... I dunno. i think I'll talk to some one about it.
I'm wondering if maybe some medical stuff might be affecting me.
tomorrow is the christmas party... its supposed to from 9 in the morning till 4..... 0.0 thats one heck of a party.... okay folks be honest, has my writing gotten cheesey? I feel really cheesey... like you could pour me on nachos..... well leasha is on date, I already mentioned that, we're gonna go visit betty more often thanks to the car. OH!!! time for my record in skip bo!
today I won again after a really rough start, but the other day I actually SKUNKED dicjose!! i felt bad, she hates being skunked (which is losing with too many cards basically) but I won so that was cool!
.... I don't like other missionaries, like at all.
I have a good couple favorites, namely Rhodes, steed and hamblin green and jameson...
I wouldn't mind as much but since I've been so low its been frustrating the crap out of me that they're starting to rub off on me. I wanna get away from them.
larson is okay, and lately they have been more tolerable (or I'm becoming more a jerk.) but then they start talking crap about people and I.. its those times where I just wanna leave. I've got too much on my plate as it is what with my own problems the LAST THING I NEED IS TO-... anyway, I won't go there. anyway, today i will be working on letters! I hope all is well back home, i miss Arizona christmases.
thats all I got time for now folks! feel free to write me I gotta get better at catching up on what I got!
Love,
Elder J Smart
so I think I'll start off to say that I THIS STATE IS FRIGG'N COLD!!!!! I've been walking aroud all week and let me tell you... this place is messed up!!! its all green and crap but NOTHING LOOKS SNOWY like at all!!! I remember being single layered in NEGATIVE TEMPERATURES and STILL being warmer than I was out here!!! my face is chapped and my ears are dead. its false advertisement I tell ya!!!
also, I am kinda outta energy, family who has served on missions, what do you do when your just out of it?
I've felt like crap for months, but I still keep trucking, I know how to work when I feel crummy, but for once I just kinda ran outta juice.
also, how do I connect with mission presidents? I've been so used to adults liking me that i'm not accustomed to them not talking to me much so I dunno what to do there.
but, the first story is to answer moms question, yes I have received all packages, I haven't opened the one from christmas eve but I DID open the other ones.
you gotta label those things darn it! I dunno when or what I'm supposed to do with the box so I normally just open it as soon as possible incase theres instructions that need to be fufilled as soon as possible. so write on the box so I can either wait till the end of the day or something XD
if you send it via regular mail it will be at the post office.
now, on to the story, I got the tree and brother Kirby was able to give us I ride, the only person I knew that we could give that tree to was betty, so friday night we drove over and dropped it off to betty, she was very greatful, I think she almost cried ^^ but the best part was we learned that she destroyed the contraband in her daughters home, so NOW we can go over!... bad news is that the people we were hoping would move into their home would, I remember talking to them about it and they said that for some of the things they did in there they would need some one to professionally clean it.
whilst expressing my disapointment they were like "thats okay, we're still looking around and have made alot of calls to apartments and things"
to which It took me a minute to comprehend what they mean't.
"... OH! yeah right... thats what i was thinking about ^^''''"
wow.... my emailing kinda sucks today XP
alright folks, so heres what we got for this week.
this week we have accumulated.
1 1/2 activated less actives.
2 out of the blue investagors.
2 referals that we are incontact with
and ONE PERSON ON DATE!
BAM thats right folks smart did something right for once!
our first visit was kinda rough, I haven't been able to teach in pretty much a month and have spiritually become rusty and just down right stuck BUT the member there is her roommate and she's pretty much accepted everything we said so far.
we asked her if she had read and prayed about the book of mormon and she nodded.
I then asked her what she felt. she was quiet for a minute before saying and nodding that it was true! so BAM! also, I was sitting there thinking when I got a familiar thought, in Gigharbor I had once had a prompting to look over and ask if the mom in a part member family wanted to be baptized, I didn't which was lame. but I did, not as abruptly as I would have wanted but i asked her if baptism was something she was looking into and she said yes! so we put her on date! tomlinsons really stepped up to the plate since my last anxiety attack, fortunately i panic in silence so hes not really aware... anyway thats not the point.
as far as I go... I dunno. i think I'll talk to some one about it.
I'm wondering if maybe some medical stuff might be affecting me.
tomorrow is the christmas party... its supposed to from 9 in the morning till 4..... 0.0 thats one heck of a party.... okay folks be honest, has my writing gotten cheesey? I feel really cheesey... like you could pour me on nachos..... well leasha is on date, I already mentioned that, we're gonna go visit betty more often thanks to the car. OH!!! time for my record in skip bo!
today I won again after a really rough start, but the other day I actually SKUNKED dicjose!! i felt bad, she hates being skunked (which is losing with too many cards basically) but I won so that was cool!
.... I don't like other missionaries, like at all.
I have a good couple favorites, namely Rhodes, steed and hamblin green and jameson...
I wouldn't mind as much but since I've been so low its been frustrating the crap out of me that they're starting to rub off on me. I wanna get away from them.
larson is okay, and lately they have been more tolerable (or I'm becoming more a jerk.) but then they start talking crap about people and I.. its those times where I just wanna leave. I've got too much on my plate as it is what with my own problems the LAST THING I NEED IS TO-... anyway, I won't go there. anyway, today i will be working on letters! I hope all is well back home, i miss Arizona christmases.
thats all I got time for now folks! feel free to write me I gotta get better at catching up on what I got!
Love,
Elder J Smart
Letter #32
this week I've been just down right burnt out - this whole deal with betty... well its kinda messed me up, a WHOLE lot of crap happened this week... so I might as well go in reverse order, last night we ran into a basher who was kinda a Jerk..... I tried so hard to answer things but he wouldn't let me talk and he pretty much tore stuff apart and really... just wasn't nice. if I had been feeling better from the prior experiences of this week I might have taken it better... writing about it makes me feel a little better... anyway, OH! I did get a letter savannah wrote me!! it was so short but I didn't care, I just know that I was SOOO happy. so, I've messed up a crap ton this week... Sunday after church a kid came in asking that we come in and give a blessing to his step brother... his name was Zachary... he had been hit when he hit some black ice and pulled over to the side of the road, the car after him hit it then hit him... I don't know if he's alive or not, but.... when I was finally able to give him the blessing, I couldn't.... I froze up, brother bennion and norby were there and they offered to do it but... I dunno I guess I let pride get in the way. that was a real bummer... I stumbled through it and did my best.
I had another anxiety attack, it wasn't AS bad as the last one I had a couple months ago but its left me a little messed up.
anyway, so up date on betty, its been kinda odd but she hasn't called me in the last couple of days... so we went to mow her lawn last Tuesday, we didn't have the car so we had to walk from the library ALL the way to her house, brother Danielle was meeting us there, well he went there early and was working on her door nobs... she talked to him for FOUR HOURS!!!!! he told us the job SHOULD have taken him an hour and thirty minutes.... on top of that she would continue to call us.. about her situation, she was doing really bad... she broke down at least 2 or three times... each time she called. but as we were mowing she left to go do things because she didn't feel safe leaving her home, brother daniels had ALOT of concerns about the situation (especially with the idea of possibly removing drugs from her home) we assured him we would NOT be touching any of that, but the situation was really sketchy on its own. so we're mowing and suddenly we get a call from brother Kirby who told us he was coming to pick us up due to the situation, it makes a lot more sense after talking to him about it, I'm just kinda worn out about all of it.
THEN we were in the sketchiest place yet during the thanksgiving church social a guy named david was given a heads up and put on date by the sisters... he lives in a homeless shelter... we go in there and... yeah that place was sketchy, we asked david when a good time to talk to him (AWAY FROM ALL THE CRAZY) and we scheduled a time at the church the next day.... one problem, we forgot that we had a scheduled meeting with an APOSTLE!!!!!! elder Anderson came, it was a pretty interesting meeting, he talked to the mission for about an hour, it was funny how comfortable he was with everything, he would just kinda sort things out and talk whenever to the whole of us. we got to shake his hand briefly. he answered a couple things as far as baptisms go, talking about how baptism is a step and how they should have a desire to repent as well as faith before being baptized. he was nice.
well this has been my longest email in AWHILE but I'll here from you all soon! CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
that's all I got now folks
Love,
Elder J Smart
I had another anxiety attack, it wasn't AS bad as the last one I had a couple months ago but its left me a little messed up.
anyway, so up date on betty, its been kinda odd but she hasn't called me in the last couple of days... so we went to mow her lawn last Tuesday, we didn't have the car so we had to walk from the library ALL the way to her house, brother Danielle was meeting us there, well he went there early and was working on her door nobs... she talked to him for FOUR HOURS!!!!! he told us the job SHOULD have taken him an hour and thirty minutes.... on top of that she would continue to call us.. about her situation, she was doing really bad... she broke down at least 2 or three times... each time she called. but as we were mowing she left to go do things because she didn't feel safe leaving her home, brother daniels had ALOT of concerns about the situation (especially with the idea of possibly removing drugs from her home) we assured him we would NOT be touching any of that, but the situation was really sketchy on its own. so we're mowing and suddenly we get a call from brother Kirby who told us he was coming to pick us up due to the situation, it makes a lot more sense after talking to him about it, I'm just kinda worn out about all of it.
THEN we were in the sketchiest place yet during the thanksgiving church social a guy named david was given a heads up and put on date by the sisters... he lives in a homeless shelter... we go in there and... yeah that place was sketchy, we asked david when a good time to talk to him (AWAY FROM ALL THE CRAZY) and we scheduled a time at the church the next day.... one problem, we forgot that we had a scheduled meeting with an APOSTLE!!!!!! elder Anderson came, it was a pretty interesting meeting, he talked to the mission for about an hour, it was funny how comfortable he was with everything, he would just kinda sort things out and talk whenever to the whole of us. we got to shake his hand briefly. he answered a couple things as far as baptisms go, talking about how baptism is a step and how they should have a desire to repent as well as faith before being baptized. he was nice.
well this has been my longest email in AWHILE but I'll here from you all soon! CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
that's all I got now folks
Love,
Elder J Smart
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Letter to the Thunderbird Ward
To the loving people of the Thunderbird Ward:
Howdy!
My dad probably will have a hard time reading this due to my handwirting . . . but that is his problem!
Washington is . . . well, it's wet - go figure! The people here are crazy but I like them.
So for you all who haven't read my blog I'll give you a brief summary of my experiences.
I've:
*met 5-10 instance of psychotic people (yet to really teach any though)
*been defended by a drunk guy
*have seen 3 nude people
*had a break down
*baptized an ex-communist
*been a chili cook-off judge
*been a therapist
*helped plan a wedding
*been stranded at a church
*lost seven comrades to the Federal Way Mission plus some to temptation and another because
of a surgery.
*watched guys change into good men
*had companions turn into supervisors
*seen people change 180 degrees and some people stay the same
*given a companion a breakdown due to him trying to fix my problems
*been a senior companion in Tacoma (Stadium)
I'm sure I have missed lots of things but I can't remember them all right now.
So, I've been meaning to write this letter for awhile but due to being busy and rules I haven't had much of a chance. It has been 9 months - holy cow!
I guess I've wanted to say how much I miss you all. I've seen a lot of wards due to constantly being transferred. I've never stayed in an area for more than 9 weeks, but I think I'm here in Tacoma (Stadium area) for a while. I've seen some great wards with amazing programs and I've seen wards that were pretty distant. It's made me realize (well, technically I already knew) and further appreciate how wonderful the Thunderbird Ward is.
I've received several letters from you all, off hand a special shoutout to the Nilsens, Brother Case, Sister Sneddon that seem to write me frequently. There are several others but again my mind doesn't always work and I am sure I'll remember after I write this letter and it will be late to thank you personally. Just know that your letters give me the strength to continue and help me to feel loved. I think about you all, all the time. I miss seeing your faces, I miss Autry and drinking Jones' soda pop from him. I miss Bro. Nilsen, I bet he is still working as hard as ever! I miss Bishop Jorgensen - I'm sure he is still driving around in his Jag, delivering pies to my family. Sometimes it feels like I will never be back home again, but I know logically I'll be back again. If I didn't personally thank you for letters you've sent, I apologize, I'm trying to remember everyone and my mind is a blank, which is kind of normal for me, ha ha ha.
Being a missionary and doing this work is a challenge of a lifetime. I hope that I will be able to continue to help others during my time here. I hope to introduce them to the blessings of the Gospel.
Love,
Elder J Smart
Howdy!
My dad probably will have a hard time reading this due to my handwirting . . . but that is his problem!
Washington is . . . well, it's wet - go figure! The people here are crazy but I like them.
So for you all who haven't read my blog I'll give you a brief summary of my experiences.
I've:
*met 5-10 instance of psychotic people (yet to really teach any though)
*been defended by a drunk guy
*have seen 3 nude people
*had a break down
*baptized an ex-communist
*been a chili cook-off judge
*been a therapist
*helped plan a wedding
*been stranded at a church
*lost seven comrades to the Federal Way Mission plus some to temptation and another because
of a surgery.
*watched guys change into good men
*had companions turn into supervisors
*seen people change 180 degrees and some people stay the same
*given a companion a breakdown due to him trying to fix my problems
*been a senior companion in Tacoma (Stadium)
I'm sure I have missed lots of things but I can't remember them all right now.
So, I've been meaning to write this letter for awhile but due to being busy and rules I haven't had much of a chance. It has been 9 months - holy cow!
I guess I've wanted to say how much I miss you all. I've seen a lot of wards due to constantly being transferred. I've never stayed in an area for more than 9 weeks, but I think I'm here in Tacoma (Stadium area) for a while. I've seen some great wards with amazing programs and I've seen wards that were pretty distant. It's made me realize (well, technically I already knew) and further appreciate how wonderful the Thunderbird Ward is.
I've received several letters from you all, off hand a special shoutout to the Nilsens, Brother Case, Sister Sneddon that seem to write me frequently. There are several others but again my mind doesn't always work and I am sure I'll remember after I write this letter and it will be late to thank you personally. Just know that your letters give me the strength to continue and help me to feel loved. I think about you all, all the time. I miss seeing your faces, I miss Autry and drinking Jones' soda pop from him. I miss Bro. Nilsen, I bet he is still working as hard as ever! I miss Bishop Jorgensen - I'm sure he is still driving around in his Jag, delivering pies to my family. Sometimes it feels like I will never be back home again, but I know logically I'll be back again. If I didn't personally thank you for letters you've sent, I apologize, I'm trying to remember everyone and my mind is a blank, which is kind of normal for me, ha ha ha.
Being a missionary and doing this work is a challenge of a lifetime. I hope that I will be able to continue to help others during my time here. I hope to introduce them to the blessings of the Gospel.
Love,
Elder J Smart
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Letter #31
Let's start off with the fact we lost a missionary.... elder duchess.... okay I can't actually spell his name its like dudcheslkajvlfj
but it sounds like (DOO-CHES)... transfer before last (when I was in Lakewood) he went home for back surgery and came back the last one.... at the end he stood up and gave his final testimony, it was a shock because I didn't know he was going home... he came out with us... he LOVED being out here.... I told him I wished we coulda traded bodies, so he could be BIG and I could be small (as far as doing the work.)... we were all pretty bummed.
Elder Sabian went home! my mind was actually kinda blown.... only me and Anderson are left.... major (went home) died forever ago and now sabain. its crazy.
he gave his final testimony, and I could tell he had changed, unlike several of the other missionaries who faked like they had been obedient, he was open and gave his testimony of the atonement and gave warning to others not to follow in his mistakes... I was moved, I plan on emailing him pretty soon.
so.... we have a lot of people we are working with, some of their situations are very sketchy, but know that they are being worked with, however ALOT of it has been messing with my anxiety BIG time. so we visited sister dicjose, she absolutely LOVES playing skipbo, she's a friggin card shark! my favorite experience so far with her was we were playing and I played a card that made it so that Tomlinson could play his (which is a bad thing) and she points that out and I being sheepish say "I had to get to 5 SOMEHOW" so we keep playing, then tomlison plays a bunch of cards... or maybe it was sister dicjose... anyway I'm like "naaaaaw -facedesk-" and she looks up at me and says. "well he had to get to eleven SOMEHOW" it took me a moment to realize it, but then I laughed she's a clever ol' gal! she always says that skipbo is a great stress releaver.
so the other day we came by to visit. (she thought we had both switched out, she only really remembered Williams.) But we went over and she said she had a question but she didn't think she could ask it and looked away rather coyly.
.. I then asked her if she wanted to play a game of skipbo to which she lit up and quickly agreed. you shoulda seen her, she's been really lonely and being over there (especially with this whole betty thing) has been a GREAT stress reliever, which is why we went back several days later which made her just as happy)
I've beene struggling really hard with the anxiety and boarderline depression I've been under, BUT for the first time ever I forgot about P-day I'd been so consumed trying to help Betty that I forgot all about it.
it has been the craziest of my life... so remember that referral the A.P.'s gave me? Rosa? ... they gave me another one.
Her name is Betty Sorensen... she is in a very very BAD situation...
she lives in a rough part of town. She fell off a balcony four stories and now is full of 7 pounds of titanium.... that was years ago and her body is STILL messed up... but that's not the bad part... the bad part I have spent trying to help and fix with everything that I have and can as a missionary. At first after hearing her situation we feared she may have been trying to con us or that she was freakishly paranoid.. but she's too smart to be crazy, (her house decorating skills are FREAKISHLY nice) and we had brother torrella come by and he clarified her sanity.... so since then... we have had kinda a spooky experience with her so far... but she needs help, and if me and my companion can help it we will help her, THANKFULLY the ward is trying to help her the best they can, I've had to tell her to NOT do somethings (like let any of these horrible people into her house.) and there is lots of hope because she is reading the book of Mormon... I cannot even begin to tell you what this experience is like....
I love and miss all of you, I hope Christmas will be okay.. and I hope I can help Betty.
OH! I forgot to talk about Tomlinson!!! he's okay, everyone kept telling me he's Australian and that he's funny and energetic, LIES! ALL LIES!!!... okay so YES TECHINCALLY he's from Australia but he's only lived there for six years, he ORIGINALLY Lived in whenamucka Nevada! and... we'll he's been kinda bummed about leaving port townsmen, he is kinda restless too, so far during my time being lead, I've had us knock in the wrong area, got caught double knocking the centrylink guys and have dragged him into a crazy service job. he's alright I'll make sure to get a picture of him sometime. I missed getting a picture of jones, I'll have to find him on facebook - well you all will have to! I don't do facebook... you know that! well that's all I got for now I love and miss you guys.
Love,
Elder J Smart
Letter to Joshua's Dad:
Dad, your a little late, first off, I MADE OUR GOAL OF TEN THIS WEEK!!!!! no.. no I didn't we did ONE MORE THAN THAT!!! we have a good couple of people we work with... actually things have gotten CRAZY!!!!!
we have one investigator whom has taken a WHOLE LOT of her time... her situation is really bad, you'll hear about it a bit in the blog letter, we also have other people who have to be on hold kinda due to their circumstances...
I hope I can help betty out.... there is ALOT of pressure I've had to hold up it kinda feel like on my own sometimes, but Tomlinson is WAAAAY more helpful, my studies are still kinda lame but I'm working as hard as I can to get things going, I get nervous a lot and my anxiety is waaay off the charts... but I'm still pulling through, the ward is helping with her hopefully we will only need to worry about teaching her and getting her friends in the church to help her and support her... wow, this has all been so crazy X.X... I'm actually kinda starting to like Tacoma! its crazy and messed up and dark... .but maybe I'll pull through, I'll be honest though I think home will be WAAAY more comfortable than this..... and hopefully thhings will get better in other areas too.
thanks for the love dad, I gotta write the blog letter now- OH! I also sent a letter to the ward! that will be fun ^^,
hopefully I can try all that WITHOUT a car but I'll see what happens... I actually like your advice waaaay better than what other missionaries give. I'm tired of the whole "watac" baptism obsession, but I'm working on relaxing and trying the best I can.
thanks again, by the way you should call bishop luther - he's a funny guy.
Love you dad
elder J smart.
but it sounds like (DOO-CHES)... transfer before last (when I was in Lakewood) he went home for back surgery and came back the last one.... at the end he stood up and gave his final testimony, it was a shock because I didn't know he was going home... he came out with us... he LOVED being out here.... I told him I wished we coulda traded bodies, so he could be BIG and I could be small (as far as doing the work.)... we were all pretty bummed.
Elder Sabian went home! my mind was actually kinda blown.... only me and Anderson are left.... major (went home) died forever ago and now sabain. its crazy.
he gave his final testimony, and I could tell he had changed, unlike several of the other missionaries who faked like they had been obedient, he was open and gave his testimony of the atonement and gave warning to others not to follow in his mistakes... I was moved, I plan on emailing him pretty soon.
so.... we have a lot of people we are working with, some of their situations are very sketchy, but know that they are being worked with, however ALOT of it has been messing with my anxiety BIG time. so we visited sister dicjose, she absolutely LOVES playing skipbo, she's a friggin card shark! my favorite experience so far with her was we were playing and I played a card that made it so that Tomlinson could play his (which is a bad thing) and she points that out and I being sheepish say "I had to get to 5 SOMEHOW" so we keep playing, then tomlison plays a bunch of cards... or maybe it was sister dicjose... anyway I'm like "naaaaaw -facedesk-" and she looks up at me and says. "well he had to get to eleven SOMEHOW" it took me a moment to realize it, but then I laughed she's a clever ol' gal! she always says that skipbo is a great stress releaver.
so the other day we came by to visit. (she thought we had both switched out, she only really remembered Williams.) But we went over and she said she had a question but she didn't think she could ask it and looked away rather coyly.
.. I then asked her if she wanted to play a game of skipbo to which she lit up and quickly agreed. you shoulda seen her, she's been really lonely and being over there (especially with this whole betty thing) has been a GREAT stress reliever, which is why we went back several days later which made her just as happy)
I've beene struggling really hard with the anxiety and boarderline depression I've been under, BUT for the first time ever I forgot about P-day I'd been so consumed trying to help Betty that I forgot all about it.
it has been the craziest of my life... so remember that referral the A.P.'s gave me? Rosa? ... they gave me another one.
Her name is Betty Sorensen... she is in a very very BAD situation...
she lives in a rough part of town. She fell off a balcony four stories and now is full of 7 pounds of titanium.... that was years ago and her body is STILL messed up... but that's not the bad part... the bad part I have spent trying to help and fix with everything that I have and can as a missionary. At first after hearing her situation we feared she may have been trying to con us or that she was freakishly paranoid.. but she's too smart to be crazy, (her house decorating skills are FREAKISHLY nice) and we had brother torrella come by and he clarified her sanity.... so since then... we have had kinda a spooky experience with her so far... but she needs help, and if me and my companion can help it we will help her, THANKFULLY the ward is trying to help her the best they can, I've had to tell her to NOT do somethings (like let any of these horrible people into her house.) and there is lots of hope because she is reading the book of Mormon... I cannot even begin to tell you what this experience is like....
I love and miss all of you, I hope Christmas will be okay.. and I hope I can help Betty.
OH! I forgot to talk about Tomlinson!!! he's okay, everyone kept telling me he's Australian and that he's funny and energetic, LIES! ALL LIES!!!... okay so YES TECHINCALLY he's from Australia but he's only lived there for six years, he ORIGINALLY Lived in whenamucka Nevada! and... we'll he's been kinda bummed about leaving port townsmen, he is kinda restless too, so far during my time being lead, I've had us knock in the wrong area, got caught double knocking the centrylink guys and have dragged him into a crazy service job. he's alright I'll make sure to get a picture of him sometime. I missed getting a picture of jones, I'll have to find him on facebook - well you all will have to! I don't do facebook... you know that! well that's all I got for now I love and miss you guys.
Love,
Elder J Smart
Letter to Joshua's Dad:
Dad, your a little late, first off, I MADE OUR GOAL OF TEN THIS WEEK!!!!! no.. no I didn't we did ONE MORE THAN THAT!!! we have a good couple of people we work with... actually things have gotten CRAZY!!!!!
we have one investigator whom has taken a WHOLE LOT of her time... her situation is really bad, you'll hear about it a bit in the blog letter, we also have other people who have to be on hold kinda due to their circumstances...
I hope I can help betty out.... there is ALOT of pressure I've had to hold up it kinda feel like on my own sometimes, but Tomlinson is WAAAAY more helpful, my studies are still kinda lame but I'm working as hard as I can to get things going, I get nervous a lot and my anxiety is waaay off the charts... but I'm still pulling through, the ward is helping with her hopefully we will only need to worry about teaching her and getting her friends in the church to help her and support her... wow, this has all been so crazy X.X... I'm actually kinda starting to like Tacoma! its crazy and messed up and dark... .but maybe I'll pull through, I'll be honest though I think home will be WAAAY more comfortable than this..... and hopefully thhings will get better in other areas too.
thanks for the love dad, I gotta write the blog letter now- OH! I also sent a letter to the ward! that will be fun ^^,
hopefully I can try all that WITHOUT a car but I'll see what happens... I actually like your advice waaaay better than what other missionaries give. I'm tired of the whole "watac" baptism obsession, but I'm working on relaxing and trying the best I can.
thanks again, by the way you should call bishop luther - he's a funny guy.
Love you dad
elder J smart.
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