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.