Email diecisiete: First taste of Little Rock

December 12, 2016

Well folks another week has passed down here so lemme tell y'all about my week 

Tuesday the Spanish Zone Leaders, Elder Spencer and Elder Jorgensen drove up from Little Rock to do exchanges. Elder Spencer stayed in nearby Danville to go on exchanges with Elder Santiago, and we were stuck with Elder Jorgensen.

Turns out Elder Jorge forgot to bring their phone and left it in Little Rock. Because he is a Zone Leader and has to call a bunch of people throughout the day, and because we were going to have a Teleconference with the Spanish Zone that night, we decided to drive back to Little Rock and do exchanges there instead of Russellville. I was all for, a change of scenery for a day or two seemed real nice. Lemme tell you a little bit about Elder Jorgensen, he's a really cool guy. He's from Sandy, is also 6'3" and 160 pounds, and also loves skiing, so we got a lot in common. We hit it off pretty well.

On the drive down to Little Rock, we listened to Feed My Sheep by Elder Holland, this was my second time hearing it and let me tell ya, it affected me even more this time. It made me really feel blessed to have a resource like Preach My Gospel. I decided I seriously have to start using it more, with more sincere intent. My goal is to read it cover to cover in the next few months. We also listened to this talk in a podcast series called Mr Mormon. One of the podcasts was a 45 minute long talk on why the Priesthood was restricted from Blacks until 1978.

from our stay at the "hotel"

I really thought it was cool so here's what it says in a nutshell: Many people don't know that when the Church was first organized, the Priesthood was available to men of all races and nationalities. I believe he said it was about the year 1848 when the restrictions were placed on who could receive it, but before that a few black saints had actually received the Priesthood, the restriction was in affect for only 130 years. The author goes on to explain that in the time of the Old Testament, from the time of Moses until Jesus, only descendants of the tribe of Levi could hold the Priesthood. Not even King David or King Solomon could participate in tabernacle ordinances because they were from the tribe of Judah, and thus couldn't hold the Priesthood. Do we know why? No. But we do know that God loves us all equally and his ways and purposes are greater than the understanding of Man. The Priesthood was restricted from people of a certain lineage for 1400 years in the Old Testament, and then again for 130 in these Latter Days, and we do not know why, but God does.

When we arrived in Little Rock, we made ourselves comfortable. The Zone Leaders apartment is SUPER nice, everything is newly refurbished, it felt like staying in a nice hotel.

Then we went and taught one of the coolest couples I've ever met. The wife is from Argentina and has a really cool accent, and the husband is from France and speaks Spanish as a second language, WITH A FRENCH ACCENT. It was seriously so cool. Their two sons speak French, English, and Spanish. The wife is pretty golden, she had read all the way through Lehi's dream. I never thought I'd get to see such incredible diversity here, IN ARKANSAS. So cool. A city of 300 thousand people is a lot different than Russellville. All the traffic seemed pretty crazy in comparison, I felt like I was in California again.

Wednesday as we drove back we listened to Glen Beck's conversion story. Super powerful. He talks about how he

My comp reading a Jehova's
witness study reference book

overcame alcoholism, I don't think I'd realized just how serious a problem and an addiction that can be until I listened to this talk. He then explained how he he was drawn to the Church because it encourages seeking, actively testing God for answers, as if He is telling us "Try Me." I love that about the Gospel. One thing we try to explain to investigators is that we don't expect them to believe us, we expect them to go to God and let him tell them the truth.

Thursday we decided to go handout Light the World pass along cards in a Grocery store. Eventually a store worker came up to us and told us we couldn't pass out cards anymore because people were starting to complain. That hurt my heart a little bit. All we were doing was saying "would you like a Christmas card?" And "Have a lovely day." I was surprised, I could see people getting upset in other parts of the country, but I expected more from you Arkansas. I should have known better, you did vote for Trump after all. I'm losing hope for you America. I love you but you're breaking my heart.

I hope y'all have looked in #LIGHTtheWORLD already, such a great message, I cry every time I watch the video.

Saturday we had about 10 lessons fall through, but we taught two new Investigators with Hermano Roque, so that was a miracle. We are gonna teach S and T the law of Chastity tonight, pray for us! I promised I would only email an hour today so I'll have to stop right there, but love y'all.

The Church is True, Book is blue, emailing one hour should be nothing new. (My bad on that one)

Email dieciséis: Looks like 2017 is gonna be a good year

December 5, 2016

Let me start off by saying this: this week was awesome. And also this: miracles happen. Basically that's all you need to know about this week. 

So for those of you who are already bored, you are not obligated to read any further. For those of you who want details, ask and ye shall receive:

y'all can admire my haircut

Monday through Wednesday we basically got nothing done missionary work wise because we were either doing service, getting haircuts and then getting haircuts again because of a bad first haircut, or trying to finish weekly planning (we never got to do it last Friday because we had so many appointments). We finally got it done Tuesday. Wednesday we hadn't gotten anything done, we had planned to contact people all day in public. We tried to talk to people in Walmart without being creepy, which is very difficult. As a result of 5 hours of finding efforts we had two lessons set for the weekend, one of which actually ended up happening.

Basically here's my problem: I'm okay with talking to people every once in a while, but the principal of talking to everyone is something very hard for me to grasp. Everyone actually means EVERYONE. I've never liked being around a bunch of people or talking with a bunch of people. I've only ever lived in smaller towns, usually I've hung out in small friend groups, the smaller the group the better. Lots of people just bother me. Know I'm told I have to talk to everybody...*sigh*

It's a lot easier for me to talk to Hispanics. I've gotten by by telling myself if I talk to every Hispanic I've done my part. I don't like talking to white people... I don't know why but I just don't comfortable talking with fellow nillas. White people are scary. I'm trying to work on my fear.

We had a dinner Wednesday night with a member, Sister Watts, and she chastised me for only talking to Hispanics. Pray for me folks, I don't know if I can do it. Hispanics are so much friendlier, in general. And speaking Spanish is fun, it's fun to to practice my language ability and strike up a conversation with a stranger.

Thursday we got out and did finding. Then that night we had the lesson with the couple we met at Walmart: A and Z.

I died of laughter when I took this, lol

I died of laughter when  I took this lol We showed them the new Christmas video and talked about it with them, then we had a great conversation with them, and they ended up inviting their friend, Hermana Gallardo over, who is a member of the Branch, so we got a member present lesson. 

We really hit it off and talked for a long time, before we knew it it was past 9:30 so we had to drive home as fast as the computer on the car would let us. Have I not explained those before? Every mission car has a computer that tells you to slow down, buckle seat beat, and drive more safely. I push that computer to it's limit haha. It's good to be driving again jaja.

This weekend we set 4 more baptismal dates, would've had five, but I forgot to extend a specific date with one investigator. So we've got 9 baptismal dates set for New Years Eve. Pray for these nine children of God. Please. The prideful side of me wants to see an investigator enter the waters of baptism by the New Year. I have to remember this is His work and His Glory, not mine.

Friday we had weekly planning again and after that we were BOOKED. We had lessons all day Saturday. Weekdays are the GRIND and the weekends are the PAYOFF . Find all week, commit on weekends. This week we begin the grind all over again, LETS GET IT.

Definitely saw the Lord's hand in the work this week. We didn't commit a single person to baptism these past two weeks, the Spirit committed nine to baptism. Whatever success I encounter here on the mission is His not mine.

Saturday night we had the best lesson ever with S and T. They accepted a baptismal date last week when we brought Hermana Berrera with us. We brought Hermana Berrera again, and two and a half hours later S was telling us she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and the Spirit testified to her that our message was true. Her husband T is pretty golden, so most of our worries were about S because she has had a bunch of doubts. Hermana Berrera bore a strong testimony and my goodness that woman is a Saint. She has had a lot of challenges with her family. But her faith is incredible. She does so much for us and has helped us so much. God bless her. She's like my Mexican Mom.

S AND T CAME TO CHURCH HOLY COW WE FINALLY GOT SPANISH INVESTIGATORS TO COME TO CHURCH WE DID IT WE DID IT WE DID IT. Feels good to finally get that monkey off our back.

Hope y'all have a lovely week, Church is true, Book is Blue, Shannon please email me because I haven't heard from you 

Email Quince: The power of The Fast is real

November 28,2016

Howdy y'all! 

This week we saw the blessings of going to work. 

Fall in Arkansas, it's breathtaking,
especially when there's fog in the morning

Weather update: it rained a lot this week. It's so nice to be back in a rainy and tree-filled state, reminds me of New Jersey. Seasonal update: Fall is gorgeous here in Arkansas. This concludes my update. 

Monday night after we said goodbye to Elder Anaya, we returned to the chapel and finished Pday. We didn't have a car, so around 5:30 we started walking home, and it was already almost pitch black outside. About 1/3 of the way home, Brother Bowler from the English Ward happened to be driving by, so he gave us a ride home. It was a good time, he had a giant log in the back of his tiny sedan, Elder Sotomarino had to sit on it. I love the South lol.

When we got back to the apartment we were waiting for a sister from the Spanish Branch to bring us dinner, so I thought it was an opportune time to visit a less actives who is literally our next door neighbor. Her front door is an inch from our front door. Since we didn't want her to think we were piles for not visiting her last transfer...we told her we were both new to the area. Then she told us about how she served a mission in 🇸🇪 Sweden. I then told her we were the Spanish speaking Elders, and she told us she wants to learn Spanish. She is a professor at Arkansas State University so she is very busy right now with Finals and the Holidays but she told us she wants to meet with us sometime in January. Heck yeah. 

Then we walked to President Hernandez's house in the pouring rain. It was amazing. No one understands why I love rain so much haha. It's because I've lived in the desert for 6 years after twelve years in the Garden state. President Hernandez is a straight up champ. He is so strong in the Gospel, and such a help for us. We talked with him about what our vision was for this transfer, and it got us pretty pumped. 

After that we visited J. Oh J... Every time we visit him it's the same: Have you kept commitments. No. Why do you want to meet with us. I want to stop drinking and change my life. If that's what you want, keep commitments. But it's hard I have work. You were playing FIFA when we came in. But I'm drunk right now. Yeah we know, stop drinking. We are really going to buckle down if we are going to get anywhere with him, or else we will have to drop him. 

Tuesday was tough. We were finding all day with no set appointments. It rained all day and was super cold. But we had three solid lessons. The lowest point was when H and D dropped us. D sent us a text saying they didn't want to meet with us anymore. We were planning on having a lesson with them that night, WITH A MEMBER MIGHT I ADD. Having a member lesson fall through is always a toughie, because member lessons are far and few for us here. I did everything I could to try and ask if we could meet one more time, just to talk, to understand what happened, I LITERALLY BEGGED HER TO LET US MEET ONE LAST TIME. She wasn't having any of it. She straight up said: "There no way to better understand it than that we simply won't be going back to church or doing the meetings anymore. We are going to keep looking until we find the right church." But honey you ain't gonna find the right church anywhere else! Look no further than right here! Agency. Such a bummer sometimes. I got really sad because I started thinking about what I could have done better, then I realized they chose not to accept the Gospel, I didn't choose to not bring it to them. Then we had dinner with President Hernandez. Once again, love that man. 

Wednesday I honestly don't remember what happened. Wait yes I do: our new Greenie arrived in the field. Que lindo. Elder Barnes is Elder Janes new companion. Have I not told y'all about Elder Janes yet? Man love that kid. He's the kind of person where you meet him and you're glad you did. You feel better after you talk to him, he truly radiates Christ-Like love. He's the new District Leader. Elder Barnes is older than everyone in the District except for Elder Sotomarino, but he's the least experienced missionary haha. He's super quiet, but I've made sure to make him feel welcome. 

Wednesday night we had dinner at Sister Watt's house. I ate a TON of spaghetti. Then after dinner we went and taught a less active, and he made us eat Tortas. In Hispanic culture it is very disrespectful to say no when people offer you food, so we had to accept. I thought my stomachs was going to explode. The whole lesson he talked about his trials, such as poverty and drug addiction. He then started telling Elder Sotomarino that I was an example of a spoiled Gringo with lots of money who had it easy because he thought I couldn't understand Spanish. I then spoke up and basically said "You don't know me bro." I said we all have different trials and hardships that others don't know about except God because he knows us perfectly. He had assumed I was from a big city with lots of money, but I told him how I was from a town smaller than Russellville and the financial struggles our family has had in the past and he was super surprised. He ended up apologizing. 

Thursday was Thanksgiving. It's weird to think that over a year ago we were in Tijuana Mexico as a family eating Carne Asada Tacos for Thanksgiving dinner. For lunch we went to Brother Bunton's house to have Thanksgiving lunch. It was delicious. They do Thanksgiving right in the South. The Pecan Pie was to die for, it reminded me of Momma Small's homemade pie. Side note, the mysterious case of Brother Bunton: Brother is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He's a genius, and the sassiest white man you will ever meet. He is a convert to the church. He gets a kick out of telling missionaries how he swore, in his own words, "a blood oath to never let missionaries inside his house", whenever they come to his house. He screamed in one missionary's face years ago that he would never read the Book of Mormon, and now it is his favorite book. He converted because the Holy Spirit spoke to him one day and said: "Listen to the missionaries, they have my seal of approval." 

After thanksgiving lunch, we all shared what we are thankful for. Here's what I shared: Through the course of my life, I have had the privilege of knowing tons of simply awesome people, which is fortunate considering how many morons there are in this world. I have an incredible family, two Christ-like parents, and five older siblings who have all stayed strong in the Gospel and chosen the right. I have amazing people to call my friends. I have a true and loyal best friend in Elder Stallings, I made incredible friends at BYU and in the MTC, and here in the field as well. The person I am most grateful to know is Christ. 

Friday I got permission to take a three hour nap from the mission nurse because I literally could not stay awake during weekly planning. That was nice. Saturday the Spanish zone had a fast and that night we set 5 baptismal dates. Enough said, that is a straight up miracle and testimony of the power of prayer and fasting. Yesterday I fell asleep in Sacrament meeting and everyone made fun of me. 

That about sums it up, Love y'all! Church is true, Book is blue, if you're tired don't complain I guarantee I'm more tired than you.

Email Catorce: TRANSFER. MY SISTER IS HOME?

November 21, 2016

Howdy folks! This week ... in a word ... odd. I will explain later. 

Monday. Pday. Emailing. Shopping, using up the rest of my monthly budget  (sorry folks sometimes I can't control my appetite or desire to not be skinny anymore). Next: Basketball. This last transfer, our District was by far the largest in the Mission. So our basketball is pretty serious on Pdays. Also, apparently we are allowed to play full court in our mission...still not so sure about that...probably should look into that more....Anyways, being by far the tallest missionary, I take no mercy on these poor missionaries. Pretty sure I had a quadruple double last Monday: scored somewhere between 50-100 points, 20-30 assists, 20000 rebounds and at least ten nasty blocks, including an absolutely cruel volleyball spike on a sister missionary's shot, a little uncalled for?...personally I feel it's an excellent analogy for missionary work: DONT BRING THAT WEAK STUFF! Our pickup game also featured a fast break dunk from me, so it's nice to know I can still get up there. 

Tuesday. We had an awesome member present lesson with H and D, our two English speaking progressing investigators. We taught them the steps of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End, and we committed them to be baptized New Year's Eve! Now we just gotta get em married...anyone got tips for teaching the Law of Chastity to two people living together and not making it awkward...that'll be fun haha. Monday night we had prayed as to which area to visit. The word "cloud" randomly popped into my head so we searched cloud on Google Maps. We found Cloud Lane, 12 minutes away, so we decided to visit it at 3 pm on Tuesday. When we got there, this place was OUT IN THE STICKS. We would never have thought to go there. But we knocked on a door, and a Hispanic Lady who told us she had almost been baptized a Mormon in Las Vegas years ago, we are planning on paying a few more visits. This truly is the Lord's work. 

Wednesday. Zone Conference. We had a member drive us down to Conway. Zone Conference was fun, people made it sound way more exciting than it actually was but it's all good. When President Wakolo spoke I bawled the whole time. Mom, I'll tell you why in two years️. Our District also won the Zone competition for best District! That was pretty sweet we won a pumpkin full of candy. Then that night we went to the Missionary Correlation meeting for the English Ward for the first time because we are teaching English people now. 

Thursday we taught a family, the parents are named S and F. They are super awesome but we weren't able to get all the way through the lesson because their kids were so disruptive. But we will be back! 

Friday night we had Branch Correlation meeting and it was super intense because The conversation turned to how our ward mission leader hasn't worked with us very much, to which he spoke up and said he didn't owe us anything because we hadn't done our job as missionaries in keeping him involved. He has a point. Anyways we had no idea he was that upset about it, then he didn't come to church yesterday so we definitely have to try to mend that burned bridge...we were gonna bring him cookies but then we found out he's diabetic... 

Saturday was the day...we found out...transfers.... *gasp* Elder Sotomarino and I will be sticking around here in Russellville, and Elder Anaya is going to Jonesboro Arkansas to join another trio! I learned a lot from him, and he made me laugh my head off countless times this transfer. Fare thee well🏼. THIS MEANS IM DESIGNATED DRIVER NOW BECAUSE SOTO AINT GOT NO LICENSE! Elder Smalley's gonna be back at it behind the wheel people! 

Saturday we has also had a ward Thanksgiving luncheon and it was here that I realized I had forgotten something very important. I started talking with Hermana Gallardo and she was telling me how she has a daughter who will get home soon from her mission in Kansas, and started telling her about my sister on a mission in Spain...until I realized she wasn't in Spain anymore... HERMANA SMALLEY IS HOME WHAT THE HECK WHAT THE HECK She had gotten home two days earlier and I forgot lol! Have fun big sis, don't get married! I forbid it! That was definitely strange to think about, seeing photos and stuff almost made me a bit trunqy if I'm honest. But I'm so happy she's made it back safe :) and she totally killed it too. She's a total champ and I miss her, but I have a pretty good hug waiting for her at the airport in 21 months. The picture of her and Joel hugging...what the heck Mom do you want me to cry?! I feel bad because I told her I would wait for her to get home before I left but obviously I did not keep that promise. In the photos I saw there is snow in Utah. WARNING WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY DOES NOT EXPRESS TRUNQINESS OR A DESIRE TO GO HOME...but I really miss Utah winters. There. I said it. The temperature FINALLY dropped here in Arkansas, we get below freezing in the night now. Though there are still plenty of trees that are bright green. The seasons are weird here...  Yesterday was not a good day missionary work wise because Elder Anaya had to pack and say goodbye to people all day, but H and D came to church!  

I can't remember if I said anything about the Election last email, but I truly was astonished when I heard who won. I can't even comment on this. All I can say is may God forgive us and have mercy. Enough of that, best of luck America! Stay together for me!  I am seriously so pumped to be here with Elder Sotomarino this next transfer! He is the coolest. His teaching skills are incredible and he's a great example. I've been helping him with English and he's been helping me with Spanish. Peruvian Spanish is sooooo much easier to understand than Mexican Spanish. I think at this point the language isn't a concern anymore, so thanks to the Big Guy up there for that. I love being able to have conversations with Native Speakers! People are so surprised that the tall skinny blonde white guy can speak Spanish lol! 

Anyways seriously Elder Sotomarino es lo máximo. Can't wait to go to work with him here and build this little Ramita aquí en Russellville. Lo siento Madre, yo sé que me dijiste que no debo escribir en Español pero Erinn puede ayudarte ahora. We are gonna work hard. Nuff said.  

Church is true. Book is Blue. See y'all in less than two. Erinn don't get married because I have to approve.

Email Trece - IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!

November 14, 2016

Howdy folks! 
This week was pretty darn great. 

Here are some stories I forgot to include but are still pretty awesome: A few weeks ago, there was one night when I was pretty frustrated because we hadn't taught anyone and in my personal prayer I poured my heart out to Heavenly Father and asked him to give me peace and help me in any way. As I said that in my prayer, our cell phone started ringing literally right next to me on the window sill. It was Elder Hooker, my district leader, who is an absolutely awesome guy. We talked for nearly half an hour and I just told him everything that I was worried and stressed about and he said everything that was exactly what I needed to hear. Don't tell me God doesn't answer prayers. 

Monday night we had an awesome lesson with J. We asked him what he hoped would happen from meeting from us and he said he wants to stop drinking and follow God. Before he let us in the doorstep we told him we just what to share a quick message with him. An hour and a half later: "¡Ustedes me dijeron un ratito!" (You guys told me it would just be a little bit!) J is super funny haha. We taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy. 

Then Thursday we met with him again and he hadn't kept his reading commitment to read the first chapter of first Nephi so we read that with him and his wife L. We recommitted them both to another baptismal date that will also fall through because they didn't come to church yesterday. But we're working on it. We are really making sure they stay accountable to our commitment to read. We are really focusing on helping our investigators keep their commitments to read The Book of Mormon because of District meeting Tuesday. 

It makes sense haha. If people aren't reading, they can't receive a witness that it's true. Or that Joseph Smith translated it by the power of God. Or that the priesthood was restored through Joseph Smith. Or that everything thing we teach and believe in is true. It truly is the keystone of our religion. If the Book of Mormon were not true, our entire religion would be false. Because The Book of Mormon is true, our entire religion is true. A knowledge of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon proves that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is guided and directed by Christ himself. 

This is why following Moroni's promise is criticality important. You can't know if a cake is delicious unless you take a bite. We invite everyone to simply take a bite. Just read and pray and ask God if it's true. It's really quite simple. Yet so many people are just too darn stubborn to try it out. Come on peeps! It's not that hard! 

Another excuse I'm getting is that a lot of people here in the South believe the church doesn't matter as long as you believe in God you are saved. You say you believe in the Bible folks, so why don't you live according to what it teaches? I'm done ranting about this because I've said enough already.😑 Wednesday I got a package from Elder Stallings. What a champ. Seriously made my week. Love that kid. For real though. God bless him. 


We have started teaching a few English investigators as well this week. Wednesday night we taught M. She started crying because she is going through a lot of rough stuff right now. She told us in tears "my whole life I've surrounded myself with bad people. I'm tired of bad people in my life. I need good people in my life, so y'all are welcome over anytime." 

Thursday night the impact Elders arrived at our apartment, and stayed with us till Sunday night. Basically the job of the impact Elders is to go and visit companionships and help them fix their problems. Which is nice because we could use some help. Friday we started by cleaning our apartment all day. HALLELUJAH. Not gonna lie, our apartment was getting pretty gross. They went to Walmart and bought a whole bunch of cleaning supplies and we went crazy on our apartment. We cleaned that place like we were expecting the Prophet or something. It's pretty nice to finally have someplace clean to call home. After that we had a companionship inventory, we all stated what we were struggling with. Elder Harper, one of the impact Elders (who is from Riverton, first name is Joey if anyone knows him) told how when he came out, he was planning on going home after 2 weeks in the field just to say he served a mission. But then he was like, maybe I should figure out if this is true. When he did get an answer that the Church is true, he was like: "crap, now I have to stay on my mission..." now he's one of the most powerful Elders in the whole mission 😂

Saturday Elder Sotomarino, Elder Ortiz, and I went finding. We found three new investigators (new investigator means you have taught a lesson and set a return appointment), including a couple named H & D. They are golden. Elder Ortiz sees this super buff guy working on his Dodge truck that has "Chevy Killer" spray painted on the back. We get talking to him and he tells us he has been looking for a church! Heck yeah that's what I like to hear! His girlfriend comes outside and we start teaching them both. Awesome lesson, they are so prepared! They said they want to know if this church is Christ’s church or not.

And they came for the first two hours of church yesterday😱🙏. OUR FIRST INVESTIGATORS TO CHURCH. IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!!! Also crazy story while we were finding Saturday: WE SAW A CAT JUMP HALFWAY UP A TREE AND GRAB A SQUIRREL IN ITS MOUTH MID JUMP AND LAND ON ITS FEET. It was so intense you have no idea. Nature is so savage. The cat ran away and left the squirrel as we walked towards it. The pour squirrel was still alive but half its body was paralyzed so it was just sliding around helplessly. it was really sad 😭. 

So that was tragic. But the rest of my week was pretty good so I'll take it. Church is true. The Book is blue. Read it you goons. Talk to y'all soon. 

Con amor, Elder Smalley
Enviado desde mi iPad

Email Doce - More rusty than Dad's jump shot

November 7, 2016

Hey folks!

To start off, I will say that this was statistically our least productive week yet, but that's okay. We only taught 5 lessons total. But also this week was bike week, and WE ACTUALLY HAD BIKES ... kind of.

We found an old piece of junk bike behind our apartment a few weeks ago that some missionary had left behind, and decided to bring it Brother M's house. Brother M is an interesting fella. Before he shaved about a week ago he resembled a Viking. It was weird to see him after he shaved, he looks totally different. Imagine a big guy who talks like Forrest Gump, and you have a surprisingly accurate description of Brother M.

But what else is interesting: he is a bike guru. This guy knows bikes. You would never suspect it from meeting him, but he is an expert in all things bikes. You never know what hidden talents some folks have, that I have learned here.

The nice thing is his house is a minute walk from our apartment. So we took the bike over, and Brother M made this thing rideable, which is impressive. Steel frame, steel wheels, probably weighs over 50 pounds, brakes are more rusty than Dad's jump shot, but it rides!

So we had bikes! The trouble is, said bike of Elder Sotomarino had tires and tubes from the 1800s, so it got a flat tire. So we got said ancient tube patched for the second time. Brother M pointed out if said tube failed again, we would need a new one. Well, guess what happened Friday night: said tube failed again. Therefore, we had no means of transportation, other than our feet. Hence bike week became walk/beg for rides from members week.

Rewind back to Tuesday: we had District meeting again. Elder Hooker is an awesome District Leader. He is always pointing us back to Preach My Gospel and how we can use it effectively. My goal is to become a Preach My Gospel missionary. My advice to anyone preparing to serve a mission: READ PMG EVERYDAY. My advice to anyone not preparing to serve a mission: READ PMG EVERYDAY. This is counsel I didn't take seriously, so children please hearken to my words, because I seriously regret not thoroughly studying PMG before the mish.


Tuesday night we had a member lesson with our investigator H, who is from Honduras. He has a lot of doubts. He is very skeptical of our message because the Bible doesn't talk about Joseph Smith or Book of Mormon prophets. Or so he thinks, because there are several prophecies in the Bible of Joseph Smith, the restoration, and the Book of Mormon! His issue was that it doesn't mention any of that explicitly or by name. But as y’all know, we seek not to “prove” these things merely by logic, or “by the understanding of man”, but through confirmation from the Spirit of God!

Yes, there is a ton of evidence that the Book of Mormon is a true and accurate record, but I don't really care about that. Anyone can find a way to argue against such things. The real question is: Is it the word of God? To know this, GO TO THE SOURCE. GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ALL KNOWLEDGE. If you seek to prove or disprove these things merely by logic, you will not come to a knowledge of the truth of God and His works.

You come to a knowledge of these truths by doing as The Book of Mormon, and Christ himself direct: ask the source of all knowledge. Read the Book of Mormon and pray to God to know if it is true. It is a simple formula, yet many people don't get it. I know this works because I've done it. This knowledge can't be taken from me. God told me it is, and God doesn't lie. Mic drop

Also I would like to take a moment to appreciate Hermana B, who is a member in the branch. I love this woman. She was just called as a Ward missionary and has a strong testimony, and she cooks AMAZING MEXICAN FOOD. She told me I eat like a Mexican. Maybe its because I can eat jalapeños without crying now haha. They don't seem that spicy any more, so I guess I'm finally building an immunity to spicy food, and I actually enjoy it now! The mission works miracles folks.

Anyways Hermana B is awesome. We call her youngest son diablito (little devil). He's probably 4. He screams and cries and hits his mom every time he doesn't get his way, and his parents just kind of take it. Mom and Dad, thank you for not taking any of my crap when I was little.

Carne Asada Activity with the Branch

Friday President came to Russellville to do interviews. I got a chance to talk to Sister Wakolo for a bit while I was waiting for my turn with President. She's super funny and her faith is incredible. I love President and Sister Wakolo. Words can't do them justice. Personal favorite highlight from interview with Prez: "are there any sister missionaries likely to unlock the heart of Elder Smalley?" Me: Likely? Lol nah Sir, gave the only key to my momma. President: "Good Elder", as he laughs.

Well folks I love it here. I love being a missionary. I'm so grateful to be here, and for the knowledge I have. I'm happy here.

Our goal as a mission is to baptize monthly. When we first got here, it looked like we were going to get a baptism my first week. That fell through. Our baptisms for this past weekend fell through. We may not get a baptism in November either. Maybe not December. Whatever happens, as long as I'm committed to the work, it's okay. Everything will be alright.

In a couple days I'll hit my one month mark in the field. It's been a good month. It's not about the numbers, it's about going out and acting through the Spirit constantly. That's who I want to be. That's what the Lord wants of me.

I love y'all, have a great week.

Ps nobody can pronounce my name in the Spanish Branch so they all call me Elder Smiley. It fits!

Enviado desde mi iPad

Email Once - Room for Improvement

October 31, 2016

Howdy folks,

This week was challenging and fun. To be honest it doesn't feel like I've made much progress from last week. We weren't able to teach very much this week. In fact I remember at least three days this week where we didn't teach a single lesson. It's hard to feel like you've done your part at the end of the day when you haven't taught others what you actually believe in and know to be true during the course of the whole day.

One thing from McKay's letter that really hit me was that the Lord didn't call me here to plant seeds. He has already planted seeds in the heart of His elect. He called me here to harvest. It hasn't felt like I've been doing too much harvesting,  so I need to change something I'm doing wrong. The people who are prepared are here in Russellville, I'm just not finding them.

The Spanish zone leaders came to Russellville on Friday, and Friday night we went on finding splits just knocking doors. Having them visit was really good. We were able to get twice the amount of work done and find a bunch of potential investigators. Then they stayed the night with us. It was fun to just hang out with those Elders, they're pretty cool. Saturday morning, I got to meet one on one with one of our zone
leaders Elder Spencer. It was good, he just asked me everything I was worrying about and I went ahead and spoke everything on my mind and gave him an earful. It was therapeutic to have someone just sit and listen for a bit as selfish as that sounds. He was super cool about it, gave me some awesome advice, then the others got back from teaching a lesson and he and his companion Elder Jorgenson gave us some more advice. They pointed out to us a bunch of things we could improve on, and reminded us of things we were forgetting to do.

For whatever reason it feels like no matter how hard I try or how excited I am, I'm not giving my
best, so I always feel guilty. I guess that's because we suck at planning and it just feels like we're wasting time. Anyways so that's my shpeel about the challenging part, here's the good part:

Saturday was more productive than we have been in a while, we did a bunch of contacting, and taught three lessons: one with a less active, one with a member present, and the third lesson was with a man from El Salvador. At first it seemed like he wanted to Bible bash because he was super intense. But we used the Bible to build up what we were teaching about the restoration. In the middle of the lesson he stops and says "your church’s and my churches beliefs are very similar." He told us his church also believes in modern revelation and has their own prophets. He then brought up the scripture in Ephesians that talks about false prophets and I'm sure he was about to call our prophet a false prophet but just then Elder Anaya cut him off and said "I love that scripture! Especially the part that says by their fruits ye shall know them! This book right here is a fruit of the prophet Joseph Smith!" We then bore our testimony that if he read it he would know it was a good fruit. Good stuff, and a clutch move by Elder Anaya.

Anyways I had more stories but I'm out of time!