an adequate amount of incompetence #47

नमस्कार लोक! welcome back to the semi-half-monthly email of ya boi, uh, elda kob. (if anyone else read that to the rhythm of the vine pls lmk)

oh boy i sure do hope i have enough time for this one

This week's summary! (for my TLDR folks)

☆  red robin

☆ zls say retarded to aps, aparently

☆ powdered donuts and chick fil a sauce? my comp thinks it's okay. i think it may breach the terms of the geneva convention

☆ almost converted a mayor

☆ watched a 3 minute long video of some kids punching a phone

☆ had a conversation with a 3 year old about spanish, rainbows, unicorns, and killing spiders with elsa shoes

☆ kids are crazy - one remembered a lesson from a month ago, and the exact words too. just crazy

☆ heard movin out by billy joel at the bowling alley

Stories

- our ap's broke our zl's car..... they were not happy about it hahahahahaha - they called the car retarded tho, not the ap's. i just happened to be in the same room. i DIED.

- elder bales is off the rails. heh. that rhymed. but seriously, powdered donuts in chick fil a sauce? if that doesn't breach the terms of the geneva convention, then idk what does.

- i just love kiddos. the CUTEST little girl had a whole convo with us after church about spanish, rainbows, unicorns, and then told us she killed a spider with her elsa shoe in the garage. i had to have elder bales kill a spider that snuck up on me in the bathroom, so a 3 year old is officially much braver than me.

- i love billy joel. that's it. blessings.

- i have an adequate amount of incompetence. not enough to have to ask my comp what every word means, but enough to have to ask my comp what that word was because i forgot it. please take joy in my stupidity™️, it is all i want

Teaching Updates

 - picked up red robin! self referral, we dropped off a Book of Mormon, and she accepted it readily. so cool. then she got covid the next day so we couldn't visit her. haven't since >:(

- literally Br&S, and Berry's roomate, (so basically berry), have covid. nothing new on them :(

- hiya's are dope. their dog is about to die. pray for oliver he's a GOOD BOY

- Kho and Con are doing great! still so responsive to our commitments, never seen that out of teenagers before. i love em!

- got another self referral, although he did NOT send his in and hung up on us as soon as he told us that. hehe

- fly fisherman..... he's a struggle. he has such a great desire, but no commitment. has ghosted us since friday, but our convo literally right before that was him saying he wanted to bring his mom to a lesson so we could teach her too. no chance he just dropped. i hope he's okay...

- started talking to a guy on fb, come to find he's literally a mayor and so many people love him. he wasn't interested, but we had a great convo. never be afraid to open your mouths friends!

Spotlight

- my flamily. love u all

- JERICHO!!!! MERRY HECCIN GROUNDHOGS DAY IN 2 DAYS. I LOVE YOU. I HOPE IT'S THE BEST HECCIN B-DAY EVER. for real tho, J has always been there for me. i couldn't send him a long text today telling him how much i appreciate him, so here it is. i love you man. you've ALWAYS been there for me. not to say others haven't, but man. you always make me feel better. i love you so much buddy, there's no place i would have rather been the last (almost ;)) 20 years of your life than your ride or die, right at your side. you are amazing. love you so much man, i hope you have a fantastic birthday.

My challenges for you

- please just be kind. please please please. the mission page i help run has gotten all sorts of... just not good stuff recently. makes me quite mad actually  i do wish people in this world would just focus on good, uplifting stuff. why can't we all just love each other always?? why can't you scroll past a post from any religion and think "hey, that's cool. they're trying to help. they are spreading love and doing good. great!" and then comment an all caps 'AMEN' or sum like virtually everyone else on facebook. if only the world was filled with all caps AMEN's. to go back to seriousness tho, challenge is to love this week. just... show kindness at every corner. every split in the road. every stop sign, every checkout aisle, every place where your feet land, choose to show love. i beg you, please. one act of love can overshadow any act of darkness. please. Love.

Every minute, every moment...there was Jesus.

- i was thinking about pain, sadness, and grief. do we cause these? are they from our own choices? does the devil make them arise?

doesn't matter. Christ suffered for them all. he really did. whatever caused your pain, He still suffered for it. so never blame. never try to draw it out longer than it's gone.

"He suffered, and that's all that matters."

i hate how this sentence sounds so mean, but it is SO true.

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,

Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.

I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,

That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me

Enough to die for me!

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

                                   

i stand all amazed made me tear up a little at church this week. i love hymns, i love music. it truly is amazing tho, how much Christ has done for us all.

~ lova Elder KOBY Smith