Changes in the mission

 

Hello my family (:

Well Mom you are definitely right about Lehi UT being my home forever and also how it is a dream. It's crazy how I'm coming up on 18 months. I've been out a long time. Even though I don't really feel it and so I will continue to press forward and work extra hard for the 6 months that I have left to serve the Lord in this great work.

I'm so happy that you have great experiences in church! A lot of people stop going to church because they stop having spiritual experiences but we always need them. I'm pretty sure that every person can remember the spiritual experiences that they have had in their life. Whether it be a testimony given, heard, service given or received, a conference talk, reading the scriptures, or just a simple prayer.  But the thing is... The members of the church aren't perfect. The gospel of Jesus Christ that is found in our church IS PERFECT. I also know that whoever has felt it at one time in their life, will always remember that.

Send me pics of Chris' new boat! How fun! Hope you all have a wonderful time (:

Renzo and Krisner got baptized on Saturday!Krisner was baptized by his dad and so it was very special! I was able to confirm Renzo yesterday and it was so great to be able to see his life changed by the gospel. He came in a shirt and tie and he always loves listening to the messages given. 

Well last week I reported a lot of baptismal dates and we are so happy for the people that we have found in this area. But stuff has changed in the mission. We are no longer going to baptize kids under the age of 18 unless one of their parents are members because a lot of the wards here just don't retain the recent converts and so they go inactive. So that is a huge bummer because Christopher can't get baptized and Andree can't get baptized either. So our only baptismal date is Daniel who will get baptized on the 12th of September. He even chose his own date. He is 13 years old but as I have explained his parents are members.

So right now we are searching less active members. We have rescued about 8 less actives here in this ward. In our mission, a rescue is like a baptism. A rescue is to help the less actives come back to church. Once they have attended church 3 times for all 3 hours, once they have also received the mission lessons, a calling in the church, and an interview by the bishop.  They are rescued and considered active once again. So now we are trying to search more of them and also search the families that have members of the family who aren't members so that we can help them all be members and eventually help them to the temple.

We have a meeting tomorrow from 10 to 5 with the president and all the zone leaders and so I'm excited to hear more about the changes that there are in the mission.

I had an amazing experience this past week. I interviewed a man who wanted to be baptized in an area called Monsefu. I was able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord I feel like because I was able to share with him the Atonement and many scriptures. He started to cry and he explained to me how grateful he was for the atonement. He was able to get baptized Saturday and so it was a great experience for me and for him especially.

I love you. He loves you

Elder Smith