Smythe, Jackson PT

Hey everyone, Loving life in Springfield right now. We have transfers this week, and Elder Holt will be coming up here with me which I am excited about.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to ordain our friend Cisco as a priest, so that he can baptize his wife and his 8 year old daughter this weekend. Sacred moment.  We taught some awesome lessons this week, one of which to our friend Tina. She is 75+ years old, and has been meeting with missionaries for a year. She feels as if it might be too late for her, and that she doesn't have an opportunity to change churches this late in her life. We read the parable of the vineyard from Matthew 20 with her. We explained how the "Eleventh Hour" comes to all of us, because Jesus Christ made it possible.  I am loving my mission. Joy is in Jesus Christ. The 'eleventh hour' is made possible, because of him. Trust in him, and be believing.  Love,  Elder Smythe 

This week was one of the hardest that I have had out here. Faced a lot of rejection and adversity but I am grateful it is over and we can start again.  I had my exchange with Elder Daw, who is from Riverton, Utah. It was one of my favorite days of my entire mission. We taught some amazing lessons to some people who ended up coming to church. It was sad when it ended. Wish it could've been a week long exchange. We had some awesome experiences this week with promptings and acting on them. One of the people we are teaching was having a really hard time with her faith, unbeknownst to us. We felt like we needed to visit them, and caught the family at the perfect time.  We had 5 of our friends come to church this week. It was amazing to see how much peace and hope they felt when they walked into the building.  I have been spending time in the New Testament, "feasting on the words of Christ." As I have done this, I have come to understand who he was so much better. He spent time...

We were blessed with so many special experiences this week. I am loving my mission so much and wouldn't change this for the world.  We taught Daniela and Yaneli again and shared an inspirational message which had Daniela in tears. Yaneli (8 years old) asked if she could say the closing prayer. She needed help, and I whispered all the words to her. I looked up to see tears streaming down her father's face. Spirit flooded the room. Our investigators fed us Easter dinner. I have never felt so inadequate when I saw them putting the table together and setting everything up in their tiny trailer, giving us everything they had. Such a touching moment to be with them. We met an older lady named Martha. She has been alone for some time now, spending a lot of her life in abusive relationships. She kept asking us if our church and our message could heal her. "Can I be healed?" With confidence, I know that Jesus Christ, the Master Healer of the world, rose again the 3rd day. He w...

It's not every day that the city you are serving in has a temple announced... Congratulations to Springfield, Missouri. Conference was absolutely amazing. Even though I waited six months to hear Elder Holland speak, and was crushed when he wasn't there, I am grateful for all of the talks and the spirit that I felt.  We put a family on-date this week, a mom and an 8 year old girl. Watching them come to the church and watch the prophet speak was inspiring. While they were watching, the 8 year old kept asking when she was getting baptized, it was adorable.  Elder Campbell and I had our reunion tour in Branson which was a ton of fun. Got to see some of the fruits of my labor there.   Elder Stanfill gave a talk and he spoke in regards to "an imperfect harvest" and how our offerings will always be inadequate, but that Christ turns all of our imperfections into strength. Christ took the humble offering of 5 loaves of bread, and 2 fish from a young man. Seeing the insurmount...