Smythe, Jackson PT

This week absolutely flew by. Having a birthday on the mission was a little different, but I loved it and I am happy I am no longer 18 years old. This week we put our friend Alejandro on a date for baptism for February 25. He came to church, along with four of our other friends which was amazing to see.  Aside from all of that, there is one thing that is almost always constant while serving a mission. It happens to missionaries, but it happens to the people investigating the church just as much. Almost all of our investigators who are close to making the big decision, the one that will change their life, are constantly being battered by issues. Satan does his best to attack us right before we do the biggest and the best things in life. Brian, our other friend on date, had his cousin pass away in a serious car accident a week ago. The English guy that we put on date has had strep throat for three weeks and hasn't been able to get to church... You can pretty much say the same for eve...

Hey everyone! We got transfer calls last night and I shocked the entire mission and somehow will be staying in Branson for another 6 weeks. I certainly have mixed feelings about it but hopefully we can continue to have people progress towards baptism. We also had 5 people come to church:) Anyways two of my favorite moments in my life happened this week.. When I first got to Branson I was teaching a guy named Alex. He wasn't really progressing, so we passed him off to the Sisters. A few weeks later, he was put on date for baptism. Last Wednesday, he called me and said he had a question for me. When he asked me to be the person to baptize him, I have never felt so loved, yet inadequate at the same time. This was the biggest decision he has had to make, and he wanted me to be the one to perform it with him. Helping him prepare for it the next few days, and then eventually getting into the water with him is something I will never forget. Being able to baptize Alex, and feel the im...

This last week in Branson was for sure one of the more difficult ones. A lot of our friends had things come up, and issues arise. We were able to have two of them at church, which is always amazing. This morning we actually went and played soccer with Brayan which felt so good. He is really excited for his baptism and is continuing to progress daily. I also met someone who was born and raised in Detroit, and a Steelers fan:) There wasn't much this week that was really important, but I did, of course, have the opportunity to watch and study Elder and Sister Holland's devotional. I loved the central message of both of them. Simplicity, and hope. It is all that people need. Branson is a full tourist town. In the summer, the population rises dramatically, in the winter, it falls. Because of this, every year from December to March, people are laid off from their jobs. They have hoped that their savings will be enough to make it three months before work comes again.    Everyone seem...

Hi everyone I hope you had another good week. I've learned that the hardest times, turn into the best. I haven't watched Elder Holland's devotional yet, but I'm sure it was amazing and I am excited to watch tonight. I have two stories for you so I'll try to condense them..   On Wednesday we went to a lesson that fell through, but the English Elders were in the area so we drove by to see them, and they asked us to join in on their lesson. We taught a really powerful lesson about the atonement and about repentance to a man who has clearly done some things he has some serious regret for. He believed he was done. This was it. He had written himself off, and he thought God had too. He started to have a panic attack and have a little PTSD and I immediately interrupted and offered him a blessing. He told us he didn't feel comfortable with us touching him and he worried he might do something, but I told him it would be okay. We offered him a powerful blessing and he jus...

Hey everyone! I hope you all had the best week! Definitely one of the harder ones (Spanish is hard and I saw another team of mine blow it, which made the title of this) but it was also one of my favorites so I'll take it.  One day this week we were by some of the English Elders' people and we offered to stop by. By the time we turned around we saw their investigator 300+ yards away turning a corner so we hurried and went flying through dirt roads to chase them down and cut them off, setting up an appointment. Hopefully I don't get my driving privileges taken:) 3 years prepared me for that moment.  We met a family a few weeks ago and we taught them a really awesome lesson, but had kind of struggled to get in contact for a few weeks. We went over one night after zone conference, and they all let us in. One of the moms that was there was new, and we found out she recently went through a divorce. Basically, we taught them one of the most spiritual lessons, if not the most, that...