we stan Jesus the Christ #71

Përshëndetje njerëz! welcome back to the semi-half-monthly email of elda smithity! i once again have like,,,,, 10 mins. everything here will be pasted from my journal. i am sorry. try to understand my koby talk plsss hmnrggggggg

this weeks unconsecrated songs are:

daylight - Maroon 5. miss that song.

Good day! - surfaces. also a great song

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

☆ someone in our zone had covid at a whole zone meeting! so.... quarter and tino time 

☆ interviews with Pres and Sis Floyd!

☆ so hot

☆ quarantine

☆ lots of cool teaching updates this week actually

☆ the car people put our door on wrong. i fix.

☆ found bebe snek

☆ spirit n stuff

☆ trials!!

Stories

- very interesting day. started with being told that we had all been exposed to covid during CDC, so we uh, we quarantined. frik.

- virtual DC went hard tho, twas lit. we then wallowed until sister scott called and told us we could be out and about, just have to wear a mask.

- went and helped kathy out, it was so hot. ed is dope tho, i used lots of straps!!!! found some swords. and a DOPE guitar. it's left handed tho??? apparently?? frikin nice guitar tho. i like it a lot. too bad.

- it was very sweaty tho. dipped to go to interviews with President, and he was very behind so like 6 missionaries were there just vibing. twas a good time. the floyds are so lit.

- president floyds interview was awesome, he gave me a fist bump after i told him i didn't plug back in the TIWI. said "good job. hope you had fun! if i had a black box on my car i would've gotten my DP's pulled 2 weeks ago". so funny. he was proud of me for telling him tho, i love and trust that man with all my heart

- did more gravel service for the myers. MAN they got a lot of gravel. love em tho, some of the funnest people. big time. got to use a pressure washer and literally blast a line in the asphalt. just cut through it. got SO dirty tho. like caked bro. caked. it was so fun.

- came home, and took apart our entire car door to fix the handle. after a lot of wondering how the fetch i was gonna do it, cuz it was very tricky to get to, i did it! proud of myself:) love doing stuff like that. the car place put it back together wrong, but leave it up to fix it fredrick(tm) to get er done himself!

- then the other super fun best thing happened. walked outside and found coil!!! he is so small. and so cute. he bit me. but he was cute. i got to play with him for a while, then let him go. big sad

- did a mesa trip! love that drive. tried visiting a bunch of people, couldn't find a bunch of addresses, some no answers, and then one guy, claude huish answered the door! very nice guy, he isn't really that keen on coming back, but he knows it's right. he was, however, very appreciative of us coming around. super nice guy, 92 years old. glad to meet him!

- drove down an unauthorized road by accident. other side was locked. car came up and i just booked it out of there. oops haha

- helped elder stevenson and jim move a lil bit, that's always fun. his little trailer hooked up to his toyota corolla is.... SO funny. i love it

Teaching Updates

 - visited miner, his friend carl was there. he made some.... very sacrilegious jokes and KILLED the Spirit. i felt very guilty afterwards and didn't know why. decided to try to pray about it, and was told to include my comp. so i did, and he got the answer. we decided to stay away from Carl, even tho we love him a lot. he's very crude, but has a heart of gold and is nice to us. still sad

- visited brother patrick, he's a legend. cool guy. the Spirit is speaking to him. i wish people didn't get it trapped in their minds of: "if you be pushy it'll just take longer for me to get back". like no.... Christ said come unto Him and be baptized. That if we loved Him, we would keep His commandments. so do it. jeez bro.

updates for bro shed:

- read some scriptures with Bro Shed. don't quite know if he's there yet. maybe i need more faith?

bro shed, talked about family history work. still don't know where that guy's actually at in his progression

updates for dabecc:

- met with Dabecc! oh man that was sick. got through the whole resto, i'll wanna ask some questions for understanding tho. she loved it tho, LOVED joseph smith. is finna watch the restoration movie, and wants to give us many people's addresses and have her sons join in the meetings. kinds frikin lit. love her

stopped by Dabecc's again. knocked a few times, no answer. started talking to the stevensons in her driveway, did that for a minute. elder stevenson kept playing with tank, sister stevenson called him worse than a child. i love them. after that they left, and as we were in our car, Dabecc walked out. very confusing. said she was in trouble, and had to make a pizza. in her hands, she held a frozen pizza. it was weird tho, she didn't have her energy she always has. it felt very off, and made us sad because she's usually so happy! we gave her girls scouts cookies, which helped a lot, and then she said we could come by anytime and she walked towards rex's with the pizza.... i'm worried about her.

- so hot. it be like 102 all the days this week. stopped by this one fella's house, he was gone. but went and talked to this other guy, he was cool! just outside washing the truck he just got. cool guy!

- made some visits, the s's let us in and share a message so that was cool. met taylor and taylor, and some other people wanted us to come back as well:)

updates for Ant man and fam:

- went up to Palisade and Ant man and fam didn't answer, but their neighbor E was outside! Gus went ham in spanish, and i contributed some comedic relief side character comments when i could. gave him a Book of Mormom and we finna pass him off to the spanish elders now!

- finally got in good contact with Ant man and his fam. set up a lesson for tomorrow night at 8!! finally. we'll see how it goes!

Spotlight

- if i've ever called you a friend.... i miss you. i love you. if we haven't talked in a while, that goes even more. 

- sophia!! sister higgy!! love and miss u dood, can't wait to hear all ur fun adventures in brazil:)))

My challenges for you

- feel the truth, and help others feel the truth!!

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

- grateful for my trials.

Someone asked me once, "what happens if you go home and you lose your faith? you lose what you've gained out here?"

the only thought that came to my mind IMMEDIATELY afterwards was: "Well, then thank goodness for the trials i've had".

what a peculiar thought. i've never quite thought that before. my testimony has grown to the point of where i know trials are good for us, to where i know that they are needed for our progression, our growth, and our lives. 

2nd Nephi 2:11

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, ... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad ... having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

i've read this verse many times. i love talking and thinking about Adam and Eve and how they HAD to choose to leave the garden, to eat the fruit, so they knew what it was like to choose to be separated from God. and to never want to do that again. to live entirely righteously from that point forward.

now how does this tie into me feeling extreme amounts of gratitude towards my trials? i'm not sure, i'm mainly just rambling right now. but what i do know, is that because of my trials, (and lemme tell ya, i've had some of the hardest ones of my entire life on my mission. if not the hardest ones). because of those, i know that i will never leave the church. i know God exists, lives, and is in my daily, minutely, secondly life. my faith has grown exponentially. thank GOODNESS for my trials. i thank God for my trials. or at least, i need to. a lot more. they shape me. grow me. refine me and make me new. so yes, i am extremely grateful for my trials. even though they've been excruciating, painful, even damaging at some points, i know that without them i wouldn't have come as far as i have. they are of God. they will not leave me forsaken. they are here to love me, and support me, and help me. because they are Christ. the trials i have are those He has already suffered for me. and so therefore, He is in every moment of every single one of them. my trials have been Christ's. so, therefore, they will never drag me down further than i let them. in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

goodbye! mucho love you all!!!! 

~ elda smitty