Letter #8

HELLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mission fans!!!

its your ever exaggeratable, dual decade old - Elder Smart!

SO, momma wants me to write things in a certain format, so as to maintain the crazies

How I'm feel'n.   WIGGITY! 

I went on a exchange with my district leader elder platero, he was really funny.  We had loads of fun... and some weird momments too.  I got hugged alot and beat up on by a crazy family during that time.

 Jones and I have our good and bad moments 

whew, this week has been crazy, like not busy crazy, but like cooped up in your head have no idea what your doing crazy.  I have been very out of it.  Tired, often kinda worn out.  As far as the Lord goes, momma it isn't the Lord's fault as far as him taking care of me, I'm alive and doing alright, I'm just worn out I guess I don't know how to balance stuff out quite yet. (I sent him a letter saying that at first I thought The Lord wasn't taking care of him till I realized The Lord was putting him with the companions he needed to have so he could grow.)

A lot of home stuff is slipping into my mind because of being  relatively worn out.  P-days are a bit harder cuz I don't enjoy what alot of other people enjoy.

One minute I feel like a good elder and talk and help an all that, but then I worry that I'll forget how to do things I'll need when I get back, then I get that all settled, but then I feel all distracted soooo I am rather conflicted.

I loved the birthday presents and cards from everyone.  I loved getting the smoked kippers though I haven't eaten them yet but I will!    I  think I have a box waiting for me at the post office.  I miss you guys quite a bit... there have been times since I've been out here where I felt like I wasn't quite ready for this, I wanna stay home and be your little boy just for a little bit longer, but then I fear I would just end up as a nobody. -shrug-    I got a letter from Savannah an it made me feel really good an I felt really sure about us.

(yeah I know I know I'm not suppose to think about those things, but it makes me feel good) but she seems really down so I guess I'll have to go back to praying for her every night.

things have been a bit slow... well alot slower.  I try, but me and Jones have a hard time talking, we had a disagreement about a lady and he got huffy again and we didn't even do our weekly planning, I wrote down our goals and who to focus on but thats it.   There are times where I feel like a bad missionary, I am great at talking to the mission families but not so much spiritually... I kinda feel like I lost my drive a bit, not that I give up but the energy isn't there.

My back is also really tense apparently,  Jones gave it a massage and popped it kinda like you do (except a bit to hard once so now I  worry about that.)  He also says I'm the most unbalanced person he's ever met, meaning like my physical and internal balance are out of tune... like emotionally I guess.  So because I am emotionally out of balance I get body pains etc etc... didn't really explain it well.

So honestly I have been worn out, mentally I haven't been all there and I'm starting to space out.  Jones has asked a couple times if I'm okay but honestly I just don't know some times. I fear I may be losing my grip a bit.   HOWEVER a letter I got from mom at least made me feel a little better. 

okay folks heres the RANT!

I don't think I will ever under stand Washingtonian logic. See, they have TWO dumpsters that are the exact same color at out complex, how the heck do I figure which is which!?! on top of that, we're walking around and then I see TWELVE dumpsters lined up in a row on the side of the street and they're all the same color.  Back home we only had 2 trash cans, one for trash, one for recyclable... you wanna know how I know that?  Because they're DIFFERENT COLORS!!!! for the love of bacon!!! at least put a STICKER on the side!

But NO, lets instead tape a piece of PAPER on it!!! its WASHINGTON! IT RAINS EVERY FLIPP'N DAY and you expect a piece of paper to stay COHERENT on it?!/!?!

GEEEZE!

ehm.... anyway, next subject ^^

I had like the BEST birtday ever on my mission!!!!!   So, friday night we ate at the Scotts an I got a cake and candles AND they sang.  (sure it was a lemon cake and it was originally for her dad, but what the heck)  and I got like five members that came up to me on sunday and wished me happy birthday BUT the real deal didn't start until I went to the Daniels..... we walked in and were lead to the table where everything was set up... on the counter there were two platefuls of flank steak... but that wasn't even the half of it!  The table was FULL by the time they were done placing all of the food items.  Baked potatos, shrimp salad, steak, and ALASKAN CRAB it was HUGE!!! I had a claw and a leg!!!!  It was such a beastly meal... you could have written an ol nordic war song outta it, it was so intense!!!  and THEN they brought a cake!  They had everything! lemon sauce for the crab, the little crab crackers and.. and..... I think I just passed out from remembering it all!  It was great! I was soooo happy!   It was awesome!!!!

 

SO! I forgot something for my birthday list!

this goes to savannah so she can send it to orange, darcie arleady has my request.  ask Orange if she can draw a medley of our characters for my birthday! anyway I'll send my 'hold onto till I get back' list via snail mail. 

hmmmm how have I seen the spirit.... well here in gig harbor its a little all over the place -  the members are GREAT and very very friendly so at least I have a patient area.  I'm still in one piece so ya I got that going for me as far as the Spirit goes.

I've been thinking about some of the stuff me and Platero were talking about as far as conversation skills.  There's this ted and ting thing where ting is the guy who talks alot and tries to be the main of the conversation etc etc... I often wonder if thats why no one liked me in highs chool or at least didn't want anything to do with me.  but hey, thats just a thought -shrug- whooo knows.

anyway, things I need to remember:

pray for Savannah, and pray for dad.   I was wondering when you would start looking for a new J.R. dad its been awhile,  its hard finding smart guys you can trust.

well, so far we have quite the teaching pool... unfortunately not from all of our walking. I swear this place is MESSED UP with hills!!!!  Tracting can turn into a 4 hour nature hike!!!!! its crazy!

I'm in the book of helman, and I honestly don't enjoy it.  I was reading and was thinking about Moroniha, the son of moroni... this guy had to put up with ALOT of crap!  Sure, Moroni did a lot of cool things, but he only had to deal with war and the king-men twice!  His son had to deal with SO much more crap!

politics, abomination a weak moral structure in the society and parts of government it was a stick'n mess!!!!

I think we had a knock'n (I'm assuming it's tracting) that ended up with like two bad eggs in one street.  One was an OLD old guy who was about to marry a mormon but printed out twenty questions (like the cheap shot questions) and then told us if we would just throw out the book of mormon we would be fine christians...   Jones was talking to him and was kinda defensive, he's a strong elder but age has turned him less patient so he promptly told the guy that he (the old guy) basically didn't want to know if the church was true and promptly walked away.... I stayed and was polite for the image of the church.

and the old guy apologized for hurting 'jones feelings' but I told him that if anything, this has just made us stronger, said goodbye and left....  Then we knocked into an old atheist guy who recommended we study the christian history.  Why do smart people always think we're dumb? anyway, time is ticking!

Orange I wanna hear from yoooou darcie toooo!  and my family!

Special thank you's to the Sampson's who knew what I wanted and delivered with a surprise of measuring cups! malto-meal was WAY more successful this round! aha!  

I loved all my birthday presents especially the 2 cases of toilet paper from my Mom and all the party favors were lots of fun.

alright! well thats all folks see ya next week PEACE OFF- HUP!

Letter #7

HELLO mission fans!!!!

BLAAAAAH its hard to write stuff lately.

ya'll will have to pardon my blahness this week has had PLENTY of nothing to do but get used to living in Gig Harbor.

SO, as you all are probably totally aware I am no longer in Lacey! Which I kinda miss but thats just cause its was more rainy and more townish I guess.  Gig Harbor is  RIGHT next to the inlet!  It's AWESOME!!! our backdoor LITERALLY opens up to a greenish hill that looks out over the water!  Its amaaaaaaazing.

Elder Jones is my new companion and he's nice.  He is from Utah.   We kinda had a misunderstanding our second day in and we were kinda quiet towards each other till the next day.  

We did a service project!!!!  It was fun we had the job of pulling out the Toms Broom, which let me tell ya for a weed that stuff is freakishly THICK!   The first ones were kinda just like stalks but as we went further down the highway they suddenly turned into small thickets with thorny vines.  We symbiotically teamed up with them to form a defense, however they stood little chance against my wrath!   That and we had what I call the EXCAVATOR or the X for short.  It clamps down on the base of the plant and makes it easier to pull out.  I used it grudgingly, preferring my conquest of annihilation to be more personal so I only used it for the really stubborn ones. 

The night before Jones hadn't spoken to me.   We had been riding our bikes and I was rather annoyed with him because he seemed to be OCD about riding and I told him that there were other ways of doing it than JUST being on bike (we have a car) but he liked to stop in places that we could have driven to THEN ridden our bikes.  I get really anxious going down freeways and such.    But what I said translated to him as,  I didn't want to tract. I wanted to see people and he thought I was being arrogant thinking I knew better ways to talk to people when in reality I just wanted to walk sometimes instead of bike 24/7, so we didn't talk much till the project.  Then he got quiet again and we went visiting members, asking me to pick people. I thought he was throwing a fit when really he was just wanting to see what I had in mind, so we were kinda stand-offish and miffed at each other.   Then we parked it and discussed it out and finally discovered the real problem!  Communiation!

I don't mind biking, but I don't like it to be an ALL day thing.  I'm still learning.

I have no problem tracting or anything like that though.  Jones is called 'white handbook jones' cuz he works FREAKISHLY hard... in some ways he is also a dork and also great guy.   He has his awkward moments and he can be a bit arrogant sometimes.  I think he's got a couple chips on his shoulder as far as other elders go.  He's been moved around a lot.

OH!!!! anyone know who Dell Schanze is??? I met his SISTER!!!

Yesterday was a pill!   Gig Harbor is nothing but HILLS near our apartment! On top of that Jones sometimes scares me as a driver.  

We so far have a nice pool of investigators.... however our predecessors gave us little to no information about ANYONE, they had a list of potentials.... but no addressees!   They did leave a TON of food.... none of which could be used as a meal EXCEPT for chicken breasts which is good.  I tried making malto-meal but we have no measuring cups so I think I want some of those for my birthday (never thought I'd say that!)

So the Ward is FREAKISHLY awesome!  They are very very very welcoming and were more than happy to say hi and shake my hand.  THEN at the end of Sacrament meeting they called us up to bare our testimonies and I didn't really hear him.   Jones was all like, (mouth wide open) and I looked at him, then up at the podium and was like, 'OH they must mean us!'  So we went up and I said a couple things that made them laugh.  My normal joke is 'My name is Elder Smart... don't let the name fool ya.' .... which unfortunately is getting really old.

and I talk a little too much.

BUT aside from that things are excelling, we met some of our investigators which was cool, they all seem really nice and I get along with them.  Jones is quiet and has difficulty talking, so I am the energy.  He's got 4 months left and he's still a dork, but a good dork.  Well thats All I gots to say this week!

I will be sending my birthday list to mom who will send it to whomever wants it.

I have been rather irritated with me lately, the mission does things to you.  It kinda tries to force you to forget everything, and I have been struggling a lot with finding the balance between who I am and the mission syndrome.

 I teared up a little right before we left Lacey and I tried to hold it in and succeeded but it hurt REALLY bad, like real pain in the form of a knot in my stomach.   I have apparently forgotten how to relax and lately my nostrils have been faintly stuffy which is a drag.

At one point I thought I lost my mission card but Jones found it.  We kinda speak different languages sometimes.  I was funny during our first district lunch.... but I don't know if people will like me.   I might just lay back and doodle or nap or whatever ha ha ha.

As for the question, "Am I getting better at riding a bike?"   YES, actually, do I like it? NO!   But it  is easier now that we made a couple adjustments to it... still hate hills and jones is faster.... for such a short little guy he walks FREAKISHLY fast!  The dude leaves me everywhere almost.  He knocks on the door before I even get there its kinda annoying.

Love,

Elder Smart

Letter #6

HELLO Mission Fans!  This is your ever exhausted, worn out and ever so chipper  ELDER SMART.

Let's sum up this week:

Spent time with Sabin for a big chunk of it which is ups and downs in its self . He is working on changing his ways, but he is a man of habit soooo fortunately major will be his ZL in Lakewood... or lakehood as they call it.

Had an EARLY park day and lemme tell ya, that was absolute MURDER!!!!!

Major was cool about it, he taught me how to actually USE the frigg'n Bike  whilst Anderson would just tell me 'if its hard shift down'  and 'whats there to learn its a bike!' 

In any case that day we visited a rather interesting Asian guy named vuong... or vern...which ever.  He taught us a lot of stuff about meditation.   When we asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon he said 'oh yes I have read your bible 4 times!' he then ushered us in so he could print somethings out and show them to us.... he had ALOT of really cool stuff in his house. He had  a ONE STRING guitar thing!!!!... I can't use that 'master of the one string' joke... cuz there actually is one... its a harmonic devise or something.  He said he couldn't play it or the violin anymore because he had a brain aneurism.... which he fought the pain away with MEDITATION????   He then did some things that major called 'muscle checks' or something, where he had me put my hand on my forehead (like a facepalm) and then tried to push my arm down.... he was a really tiny bald dude so that wasn't very hard... even though my wrists were killing me from biking.  Then he had me switch and put the back of my hand on my forehead (not like a facepalm) and then... with both of his hands and trying really hard, actually got my arms to go down... it was cool XD he also talked about ALOT of the other stuff that I used to do in BRAIN TRAINING!!!!!  I miss that ALOT cuz so far stress management is NOT my strong suit.  I 

had dinner with the Perazzes and let me tell ya, this man is COOL. He was knighted by the Queen of England for his bravery when fighting in a war that the CANADIANS were in.... CANADIANS!?!?!?! in war?? that's almost like an oxymoron!!

Let me tell ya... Yelm (a town in WA) is a death trap, that's where I was exchanged for the day, we literally had NO ONE to talk to or go... or see, except for members, which lemme tell ya was a drag.  We did  visit Clifsmith (which kinda sounds like Christmas when ya think about it) talking with him gave me a new sympathy for Sabin.   Sabin used to talk to him a lot when elders would come visit and try and cheer him up a bit cuz his companions were gits.

I was able to listen to the gqarden again!... its Ironic cuz everyones favorite song is the landlords part and the morning BEFORE the exchange everyone was talking about mission ghost stories, which of course gave us the hebejibbies ESPECIALLY with my OCD/ADD mix driving me NUTS as it is!

(gotta switch computers.)

Friday was nice but it annoyed me how much fun all the old guys have together.   I guess my only real gripe is that I don't feel as excepted here as much as I did is Scottsdale... and even then that was a bit cool at times.  I try hard but I swear Washingtonians do NOT get ARIZONA humor.   This week has been rather hard on me (yeah yeah more doom and gloom) But I think my worst days were in Yelm and on Saturday when we got our transfers.

blah this is all a mess!

okay, lemme try this again I'll answer some questions

I've eaten ALOT this week and its been a bit expensive which I have not liked.

I try to be careful with it because I only get so much and I don't want you guys to suffer financially, so I buy big things like a bunch of hamburger patties or a bag of chicken breast.

(I learned making ritz chicken is harder than I thought) I still kinda feel left out in my group so I am still kinda bummed about that, 

and of course I worry about my imagination but not as much now.  Still figuring things out and keep to the faith even when it feels impossible too.

OH! I'm getting transferred! To a place called Gigharbor, its supposedly a really nice ritzy place!  Honestly as long as I'm working and busy I'm happy.

I was in the bathroom when I got my call (of course) I had to hurry up but when I got out Elder Price the A.P. asked me how I was liking Lacey and I told him its nice etc etc.  So, he said that was cool and asked which I liked better the boonies the slums or crazy people places?   I told him where ever the lord feels I'm needed.  It really doesn't matter to me where as long as I'm working.  My new companion will be  Elder Jones a.k.a white hand book jones!

It was weird, after yelm I got kinda a mellow bitter vibe that made me feel kinda like when Dad is not in a good mood,  but I've kinda worked back my happier perkiness.

I met a guy named Ron Givins and he has sixty days to live, he's really cool but... REALLY hard to talk to.  He reads the bible CONSTANTLY but still wonders why he's got lung cancer.... its hard to teach him because A: HOW THE HECK DO YOU DO THAT??? Teach a guy who you don't wanna offend with simple stereotypical answers like 'oh have faith, it will be okay etc etc' BUT you want him to know its all gonna be good, that life WILL work out and that the lord will take care of him? he was so concerned about his family because his X is crazy and is all over the streets doing bad stuff.   Its a shame I won't see him before I go.

Love,

Elder Smart

PS: love you mom! bye!!!

Letter #5

HEY mission fans!

alrighty, well, first off a special thanks to my momma for writing me this week! its always wonderful to hear from you all.  Well, lets see if I can remember what happened this week and synopificate (this is a Joshua-ism.  Joshua-isms are words he makes up to fit into his conversations and sometimes they are really weird, okay most times they are really weird) it.

Monday.... P-day, played fiasco bought 2 gallons of milk as well as as lettuce, patties and tomatos and buns.  Had a lot of fun/boredom at the same time (I always make the best sense) aside from that not much, this week was a smidge more trunky than I would like to admit.

TUESDAY: we traded off major for the day with Johnson who was elder andersons boy and our current district leader. he is incredibly funny, but alas, I am still socially awkward and have seem to have lost what ever touch of comedy I somewhat sorta had so it was a rather lonely week - a rather common deal for me, which is why I enjoy mail! so keep that in mind!

this was also when I got paired with sabin pretty much the entire blankity blank'n day. since it was a ZL DL transfer so yippee, I did a lot of the talking which brings us to our JERK OF THE WEEK!   -the hiss and boo sign-

this week we had a jerk, well two of them - the first laughed at us and said he wasn't interested especially if there wasn't any booz involved - oookay then.

The NEXT one opened the door, his phone in his hand and looked at us just as amused as the last but instead tried to use a joke.

JOTW:  whats the difference between a moron and a Mormon?

Me&sabin: .... (didn't say a thing?)

JOTW:  an M......     I'm busy on the phone guys maybe another time. - and  closes door-

We of course turn to leave... and then I chuckle.  I said, "that was the best he could come up with??"  Then Sabin came up with a come back (we are so tough) Whats the difference between a moron and a Mormon? two to three feet.... get it? the guy was like three feet away? ha ha ha - It made us laugh anyway.

alright, so WEDNSDAY 

..... um... snap what did we do.... we got major back and it went pretty normal, but Anderson and major went to a DIFFERENT District meeting so it was me and sabin again.... sooo ya.  however things did go pretty well because he apologized for being a jerk!  I also talked to president and he said sister weaver would call me to set up an appointment... you only see a councilor three times and if he feels you need more than that they ship you home.... anyway! ^^ this week has been rough on all of us in a way.  Major had an identity crisis, Anderson and Sabin have been grumpy at each other an I still barely fit in   But we ate at carls junior for district lunch so yea!  No mail that day.

thursdaaaaay

Not a whole lot happened that day, I think we mostly did contacting and such.

OH! we talked to Hugh, Hugh is a black dude that lives with Jamie, (I think I mentioned this in a letter to savannah or to mom) but they live together soley for the sake of money purposes, there is no relationship... at least that's what they have told us.  Its funny we're giving the lesson and hugh is very active -  he talked spiritually and practically went along with everything!   He practically said something that major says almost EVERYTIME - he believes in getting his OWN premonitions via study and prayer....he even said at the end, "if God wants me to be a mormon, then heck I'll be a mormon"  I love that guy, especially since he calls  me the body guard!  (story in previous letter.)

Friday.

Major and Anderson where gone till 4!!!!! They had a big ZL council deal going on and it was just the two of us.... he wasn't very helpful for a big ol' part of it.  We finished the white hand-book, which I was kinda hoping we coulda done that as a companionship, then spent most of the day setting up appointments and etc.  We visited Michelle and Seth, well Michelle actually but we have 2 michelles so its hard to differentiate via mail... oh wow I have terrible spelling.  anway when we came to michelles home it was a bit wildish and it reminded me of home.  Michelle is so freakishly close to baptism!!!!  We visited with her and tried to figure out when the on the meal calendar she would feed us. (turned out it was tomorrow but we forgot to tell her) she is REALLY good at reading people... I said the closing prayer before we left and when I was done she said that stuff sometimes just came to her and  she hoped that I wouldn't be upset when she said I shouldn't be so hard on myself, that I am such a happy guy, she said she knew I had been struggling internally.. but that I don't show it.  I swear I almost felt like crying, but I didn't, but I felt really good too.

Saturday

watched the sessions of conference which were really fun, I can't really remember ALL that was said but I know that I watched and was very receptive.  president monson just gets funnier everytime I see him! president uchtdorf is my favorite,  as always.  Michelle came to last session on  sunday.

 we didn't remind  her that dinner was that day so she made ham instead of the briquet  BUT she did make twice baked potatoes!  Her husband was really cool too he's part of the 'cavalry'.  anywho, Major and he talked about plays for awhile but as we were getting  ready to leave she told her spouse and children to go so she could speak to us.  She basically said she felt something more than she did anywhere else and that she had sat in the chapel and cried and that the lord had told her that if she wanted to feel this way she should go here and just as we were expecting her to say she wanted to get baptized.  she apologized for not praying with us and she had felt bad when we came to visit yesterday then she turned and looked at me, and put a hand on my shoulder, she had felt that she had needed to give me that 'touch' basically that something I needed to feel better and more at home here. It meant a lot to me, she's really a sweet and funny lady.

GAH! time she is a burning! QUICK mini-notes.

orange, mail me as soon as you get to your new base.

Darcie, thank you for your patience I hope to hear form you soon ^^

Savannah hang in there <3

Jessah moo I miss you!

Aaron, buck up dude you look like a moper and for the love of cheese MAIL me ya mook!

somebody gimme hayden address so I can mail him too!

Love,

Elder Smart

4th Letter from Joshua

HELLO mission fans! its your ever favorite elder of intelligence elder smart, reporting another week or mission-madness! today we'll start with the hater section - que in the boo's and hisses-

Today we had a rather arrogant fellow (kinda reminded me of Mr. Morrision) who told me that I and my companion (yes darcie I wrote it like that) are living our parents religion, and the reason that we do baptisms for the dead is for the sake of... something about a mind set.... in anycase I (of course) was frustrated and emotionally wrestling with myself (naturally.) over the matter, elder Anderson, being the hardened six monthing farmer man that he is (despite being younger then me in real life...) gave me info and reassured me. 

yes mother you are spared having to help me with that... for now.   I did enjoy the packages and will decorate those eggs when I find time, I gotta buy more milk first.  So, I am really good at saving my funds, I don't like buying expensive things... even though I most certainly can  I'm paranoid about not having enough cash for food for the month so I kinda limit myself.

did I tell you about Hugh?  We met him last week and had a blast talking to him.

so far he has come twice to church and we know its a miracle because second time he came the lesson was EXALTATION.... and he still wanted to talk to us and keep going.  He said he felt enlightened.  When we first met him all four of us were at jamies house. (Hugh is her room-mate, but not in a romantic fashion... so we'll see how that works out.) and hugh has kinda labeled me as 'the body guard' because...  I was standing back a bit and my arms were crossed so our first visit he calls me the goon - anyway, after the lesson I got teased cuz I fell asleep during the lesson (surprised?) he was like, "look at the body guard sleep'n over there."  of course I smiled... and felt rather flattered to be considered the body guard 

OH HEY! guess what! I've lost like 8 pounds! -squeee- ehm... ignore that.....

but yeah! I'm not as much a fatty no mores!    OH OH OH heres something cool!   For easter sunday we went back to our roots and had a PASS OVER DINNER!.... with REAL Jews!!!!... you know... not the artificial kind.... but yeah it was cool!   its so the rituals they do aren't so much religious as it is to remind past generations to not let the same mistakes happen that happened to their ancestors and to teach them the importance of traditions etc etc.

we were actually INVITED ... BY the jewish people!   I'm feeling all gentile here. We had matsa balls..... which is like a dumpling soaked in chicken broth... but it was edible.   Then we had briscute as well as some other stuff like veggies honey carrots etc.   I learned what a geti-gavilde-.... GA-VIL-DA fish.    its a real fish... but its also... like haggus... only with fish??   something like that.

hmmm what else happened.........  messed up my ankle so I was limping around 99% of the week, knocked a couple hundre- oh yeah... I think I went on bike this week.  Me no megusta bikes. 

OH! also, we had a zone conference which was fine cuz I wasn't doing anything wrong!

I HAVE been having a hard time sleeping - I wake up an feel like crap.

BUT more importantly after the conference sister weaver wanted to talk to me since we never schedualed a time and we only talked for like five minutes but it made me feel good.   She said she and weaver were proud and that I was doing an awesome job, which made me feel really good even though I was really worn out through the week.

... that might have been last week as well.... 

AARON!!!! You better get that butt of yours at mutual!

it won't kill you to be around the other younger kids, do you think I came out here purely for the sake of pleasure? newp, I did it because its what the lord asked, even if he makes it rougher for me. so you go and try and do your best when your over there alright?

Mariah.... I has no idea WHY mom would send me a pic of your mouth flap @.@

GAH! I'm running out of time!

I misses you all bunches!

that's all folks, till next time! peace off!! HUP

-falls over.-

OH!!!!! I forgot! we had a baptism too! we had Anthony Prichard, he was the kid whose mom had an epileptic attack and lost her memory and pretty much went back to a 6 year olds knowledge.

man, this week has been up down. twixt biking anxiety to freaking out that I may never imagine a good plot again . . . to wondering if I'm even a good elder or not.  

A good letter is nice to get.  So even a short something is better'n noth'n an if I get lots of them it annoys Sabin!!!!   but I shouldn't be too harsh, he's had... issues but he is trying hard to change. these are the times that make things worth it.

OH! and we've run into ALOT of really nice people this week.

a tongan/hawwian family had us come in and just sit and chat (we chatted with the husband.) it was nice . we also ran into a whole lot of other nice people.

 

well, I miss you all, hey, I only got one more April  left.  Keep pray'n for me, heaven knows I need it. if I could just talk to you guys all P-day I would love that!

All the guys talk about there lives and... I'm kinda glad I was alone, people seem so shallow and too complex which is why I'm grateful for savannah because for us its pretty open shut, we're honest with each other.

Love,

Elder Smart