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| Treats from Home -- Love it!!! |
Hey everyone,
How is everything going? Hope all is well! Thank you all so much for the letters. I love hearing from you and how it is out in paradise. Thank you Brother Weed and Aunt Caroline, loved the letters from you. I also got my first letter from a girl outside of the family--that was really really nice, Thank You! So tomorrow I will have one month down in the mission field. It has gone by super fast. So this week we have done the usual: studying, teaching, learning, etc... However, I did have a few spiritual experiences this week. In my prayers I have been asking God for a few things. And some of them have been answered so far. Friday, we were watching a documentary on Thomas S. Monsen. The most random thought popped into my head and said, "He is a prophet of God for our day." The spirit that was with that was amazing! Saturday I was reading Jesus the Christ and about his suffering and crucifixion. There were some powerful words that I read about which, along with the spirit, manifested that He did suffer for each one of our sins and that it is only through Him that we can return to our Father in Heaven. I was pondering the Atonement and had an amazing question. It was, "How many drops of blood did he shed for me?" These words make me never want to sin again. They are so powerful. This past Sunday was my first Fast Sunday in the mission field. Can I just say it was awesome! It was my first real opportunity to bear my testimony in the Chinese language. Surprisingly it is not as hard as it seems. All the testimonies were wonderful! During mission conference we sang this SICK version of "Called to Serve". If we do it again I'll be sure to film/record it for all to see and hear. Monday was kind of a downer. My teacher, Brother Prier, has been wanting us to SYL (Speak Your Language) as much as we can. He asked us how well we did from 1-5 in gym, during meal times, and at our dorm. Average for me was about a 1.5. I felt like I let him down. I set some goals and am working to improve that. Mom you had some questions for me. Music--yesterday was my first opportunity to play the piano. It has been a while and so I couldn't remember some of the songs. It would be nice to have some sheet music :) Favorite meal here--for breakfast I usually have 2 bagels with strawberry cream cheese and 3 chocolate milks OR a bowl of ceral and a bagel. It is so delicious! For lunch/dinner my favorite meal has been chicken cordon bleu. YUM
Thank you again everyone for all the letters. It was so good to hear from you all. DAD--Expect a birthday package in about a week. I know it is a little late but something is taking forever to get ordered. Landon- I absolutely loved your letter! I could not stop laughing about it. Hope you are having a super duper fun time playing your video games. Spencer-send me a pic of you and those prom chicks :) Julia-hope you have fun in Costa Rica! If you see Anthony be sure to get a picture and send it to me. Mom-thank you for the package with the socks and shirt and food. Oh, and I remembered the password to the voicemail on Julia's phone. . .Mom you also wanted to know my teacher's names. My teachers are Brother Prier and Brother Barton. They are super chill, especially Brother Barton. I don't know if I told you this, but my branch presidency here was the exact same presidency for my friend Tyson Green. They have told me he was a wonderful a missionary. I have also seen and talked with one of his teachers, Brother Taylor, who is super cool as well. So Sister Mueller asked me to say hi to the Evans twins. I went up to one of them and asked if he knew the Muellers. I'm thinking he thought I said a different name like Miller or something and so he wasn't sure. He said his brother would know and that he would ask him. I told them "The Mueller's say hi", so hopefully they figured it out.
Wo zhidao Yesu Jidu shi zhenshi de. Wo zhidao wei women de zui Ta shuzhi. Wo zhidao, jiezhe Yesu Jidu de shu zui, women keyi jieshou kuanshu. Ruguo women huigai, women gen women de jiating huode yongheng. Feng Yesu Jidu de ming, Amen.
--Elder Smith
