Smythe, Jackson PT

I don't have a lot of time. Life is going well here. We were in Bentonville yesterday for a meeting. My zone leader companion, Elder Esera, who isn't even my companion, is from Samoa. He is awesome and has such an inspiring story. Got to be with our wonderful APs, Elder Fife and Campbell for a day, which was fun. We had a new family come to church on Sunday, and they absolutely loved it. This week was obviously focused a lot on gratitude. I couldn't be more full of gratitude. I am so thankful for my mission and my decision to serve a mission. I am so blessed to have met the people I've met and seen the things that God can do for them. Jesus Christ is the Savior, and he does and will change lives. I love life as a missionary and wouldn't change it for the world. We had an hour and a half drive last night, and around 9 o'clock, we had to use the bathroom, so we pulled over in the middle of nowhere. For one of the very few times in my mission, there was a silent mo...

This week was filled with two of the coolest miracles of my entire mission. I said goodbye to Elder McAvoy last Friday and got my new companion, Elder Hess. He is great and played soccer at Woods Cross, which is cool. Our friend Jessie was baptized, which was awesome, but here's one of the stories: We had been praying and fasting to find someone that we could prepare to be baptized before Elder McAvoy went home. When Karla said to us that she was unsure, we were pretty bummed out. Carlos then told us he wanted to be baptized on the Thursday night before transfers. When we walked in to do his interview on the Wednesday before, his girlfriend was there. She had come back from Mexico earlier that day, and she had moved back in with them. We invited them to get married and baptized the next day, and they said they would pray and sleep on it, and then make the decision at 8:30 the following morning. 8:30 am came, and they told us that they were ready to be baptized and married. We had t...

Hello again! This week went by quickly. We saw a lot of awesome miracles and tender mercies. I got to go on one last exchange with Elder Boyle before he goes home. So cool. Thirteen of our friends were able to be at church for the last Sunday of the transfer. God delivered. That being said, transfers will be this Friday, and I will be receiving Elder Hess. I don't have a lot of time, so I will keep this one short. We found this young couple a few weeks ago. They have been to church every week since, but they weren't married. Well, they accepted a baptismal date for November 25th around three weeks ago. The girlfriend moved back to Mexico, and they broke up, leaving Carlos here alone. We had a lesson with him last Saturday night. At the end of the lesson, we invited him to pray about when he feels like he needs to be baptized. The three of us knelt down together, and he said a heartfelt prayer. He decided that he wanted to move his baptismal date up. He is going to be baptized t...

Hello everyone! This week was one of the harder ones, but the miracles that we saw were ones that I will remember for the rest of my life. I'll share a few of them... Karla technically has a baptismal date for this Sunday, and she has been to church consistently for 2 months now. She expressed to us her concerns, and she has a few doubts. It is a pretty stressful time with her, but hopefully, we can right the ship tomorrow evening. Last Sunday, this family of 3 walked into church. They are all members and are from Venezuela. Two months ago, they left Venezuela to travel to Columbia, then Nicaragua, then Guatemala, and all the way through Mexico. They got here 2 weeks ago, and the first thing they did was find the church. We went over on Sunday night, and they shared their testimonies with us on how Heavenly Father has blessed them and continually delivered. They left again for Orlando this morning. I had an exchange with Elder Stewart yesterday. A year ago at this time, I was in my...

Such a good week. It went by so fast. I got to see the Pogues last week, which was so fun. I also got to eat with the McNeal family this week, so it was comforting to get a little taste of home. Our fearless AP Elder Campbell came down for exchanges with me, and it was great to be together again. While I was with him on Saturday, we visited this new family that we had briefly met. When we went over the second time, we talked to Manuel, Daniela, and their three little kids. They have an 8-month-old girl, and then 3- and 4-year-old boys. They have both never been to a church before in their whole entire lives. We briefly taught them about who Jesus Christ was and why His sacrifice means everything to us. It was an inspirational moment when this whole family walked into church. At the end, they told me, "This is our church. We will be here." Karla, our friend who had the little baby 2 weeks ago, has continued to come to church with her newborn girl. The prepared will always do w...