Two hymns in one post. I know I'm his Mom, but I'm amazed at what he's able to put together on the fly like this. "Help Me Teach With Inspiration" and "More Holiness Give Me." The lyrics for the two hymns are below.
Help Me Teach With Inspiration
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Week Forty-Five: 7/21/2014 to 7/27/2014--Craziness!!
Hello Everyone,
Him playing the Erhu(I don't know what it is in English).
So I don't know if you all heard, but there was an airplane that crashed in Penghu(where I live) during the Typhoon we had this last Wednesday. It was pretty scary. I had a nightmare the night after it happened about being chased by this lightning tornado. It was pretty scary. I was real tired the next day. I'm alright, though(in my dream and in real life). The crash was super far away from where I live, but there were quite a few people who died. Most of them were from Penghu, but there were some soldiers from Taiwan as well as two French people. They're in a better place, but the people they left are struggling. We weren't able to help much(the government has pretty much got it taken care of), but we've been praying and we'll be looking for opportunities to give comfort and service during the next week. We know the senior executive at the government building so you know, we've got connections;) We'll see what we can do.
As far as missionary work goes, Alian(the Vietnamese lady) is doing great. She wants to be baptized real bad, but she also has a family full of people who want her to be Buddhist real bad. So there's some conflict there, but she's determined not to let that get her down. She also wants to be able to take her kids with her to church later and that'll be harder if her family disapproves. It's hard teaching about how the gospel blesses families in a place where so often it doesn't seem that way at first. The traditional religions are pretty deeply rooted in the lifestyle here.
That's about all I have to report. I'm looking forward to an awesome week! Elder Washburn and I have really picked it up the past couple days and we're feeling really good and ready to find souls who need the comfort that this Gospel brings. The only downside is that when you're working hard and you're happy all the time, the time seems to go at 10 times normal speed. It's not a very nice trade-off:(. I'm almost at my year-mark and it feels like nothing! I'm going to try not to blink or else it'll be over before I know it.
Love y'all!
-Elder Smith
P.S.I still want to know what celebrity Elder Washburn looks like. It's driving me crazy.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Week Forty-Seven: 7/14/2014 to 7/20/2014--A Great Week on the Island of Pescadores!
Hello family, friends, etc.
Well, this week was more successful in terms of how many people we taught and their reactions to the message, but it was also a week where I learned a lot about myself and had lots of good introspective experiences. Also, it's super hot which provides us with great views from the top of our apartment like this:
but it also means staying outside for too long is pretty rough. It's not as terrible as some people made it sound, but then again, I'm not really to the hottest part of the summer yet. That comes next month. Yaaayy...A Typhoon is coming this week supposedly so that will hopefully cool things down a bit. For those of you wondering why I'm excited about a Typhoon coming, let me tell you that it's really hard for the Typhoons in Penghu to be that rough because they have to go over the mountains in Taiwan and all the land on the other side before they get to us. So by the time they get here, they're more like a rainstorm with slightly higher speed winds. So they are really something to welcome.:)
We met a few new people this week. One of them in particular seems like he has a lot of potential. He's a really good-hearted humble college student who works at the airport moving around luggage. I like him a lot.
I also had some good realizations about life as I said above. As I was having these thoughts, I came across a talk by President Uchtdorf that he gave in the October 2012 General Conference. It's called "Of Regrets and Resolutions". If you'd like to read it, go here: https://www.lds.org/general-
It really hit me how important every minute really is. If we're always anxiously waiting for our future, giving no thought for our present, then when our future finally comes, we'll realize how much we wished we would have enjoyed and done better things with our past. It's unfortunate, but that's how most people are, including me. Sometimes it's important to just settle down for a few minutes and appreciate what you have, and make some resolutions so that when you do finally reach the future you can be pleased with what you've accomplished, rather than regret what you haven't accomplished. President Uchtdorf conclude with some wise words of counsel.
"It is my testimony that many
I love that concept and I know that it's true!
Love you all.
Farewell until next week:)
-Elder Smith
P.S. Elder Washburn looks EXACTLY like a celebrity, but I can't think of who it is. Whoever can figure it out gets a hand-written letter from me on Taiwanese parchment using my nicest penmanship. Let the games begin!
I already said Bernie from Sesame Street, so that one's off the table.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Week Forty-Six: 7/7/2014 to 7/13/2014--The Beginning of the End
Family, Friends, Neighbors,
It's been quite a good week! The work is starting to pick up a bit. We found a lady with a husband and 2 kids that we hope we can start teaching. We also met a kid who's half Vietnamese. His Mom owns a Vietnamese restaurant right by the church(super good by the way; great pho, great banh mih). Anyways, I have hope for a bright transfer! I'm hoping to see a baptism before I leave.
 |
| I made some abstract art out of my carton of guava juice. |
We had interviews with President this week. I always love those. It's nice out here because he doesn't have a schedule to keep to so they usually end up running pretty long. I got a good solid 20 minutes of talking with one of the wisest people I know. I got a lot of good things to work on and the best thing was that he didn't even tell me anything. We just discussed how I was doing and my feelings about what was happening and I kind of just came to conclusions on my own about the changes I need to make in order to become a better man and a better missionary. It was greatness.
 |
| Also I had some delicious banana chocolate "bing" which was basically shaved frozen cream with bananas and chocolate sauce on top. yummm. |
In other news, a lot of Mormon message videos have really sweet music like this one: http://www.mormonchannel.
Have a great week, everyone!!
-Elder Smith
P.S. I don't remember what song I recorded so...surprise!!
Here is is: "Our Savior's Love."
Week Forty-Five: 6/30/2014 to 7/6/2014--I'm Staying! And, in Other News...
Dear Everyone,
This week has been pretty good. I was super nervous wondering if I was going to move or not, but then I didn't and that does a world of good. I don't have to pack or clean or do any of that stuff. Plus, now I know FOR SURE I'm moving in 6 weeks so I can prepare myself and the area. I'm expecting miracles this transfer:) |
| Me eating some sort of thing that lives in a shell in the Ocean |
We met with Colin this week and that was a really great meeting. We talked with him about life and all that, then we shared with him about revelation and how we come to a knowledge of the truth. He's still feeling...not doubtful, but he's just not feeling super sure about everything, especially baptism. He liked what we shared a lot though. A lot of what we shared came from this video, which is SWEET by the way: http://www.mormonchannel.org/
 |
| A llama/dear I made with passion fruit jelly in my passion fruit gelatin for your enjoyment. |
Lastly, it's getting SO HOT! I know I complained last week, but seriously. It was 91ish degrees F one day, but if you factor in the humidity, that's pretty dang hot. But I'm not complaining;). Love you all! I hope you have a great week.
-Elder Smith
P.S. I never sent this letter last week, but luckily it was saved in my drafts so yaaay:) now you all get 2 in one day!!
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Week Forty-Four: 6/23/2014 to 6/29/2014--Good-bye, my friends...
Hello Everyone!
President and Sister Blickenstaff visited this weekend for our Branch Conference. That was pretty odd since we hardly see anyone from our mission, especially President. He sat in on a lesson with Rod and Sister Blickenstaff sat in on 2. One was with Andrew and the other was with one of our RCs. That was scary but not as scary as you'd think. It's really cool because they are both pretty fluid in Chinese so they understand just about everything in lessons and they can say just about whatever they want. They gave us some really great feedback and we learned a lot!
Other than that, not much happened this week. We're hoping this week will be more eventful. There's also a possibility I'll move next Monday. Ahhh! That would be really weird seeing other missionaries again. I hope it's not, but it might be my time...
So yeah, we said good bye to some friends. Specifically Warren and Sherry. And soon we will say good bye to Andrew. That's the not-so-fun part about living on an island/college-town/military base central. So basically, everyone leaves during the summer if they're a college student or in the military. Nbd. We'll still be able to manage. We'll just have to work extra hard this week to find new people. Pray for us!
 |
Good Bye Sherry! Also the girl on the far left is Chelsea. She's super awesome.
|
It's getting hotter. It basically feels like I'm walking around in a life-sized rice cooker. It's not all the way warmed up yet, but it's getting pretty steamy. Blech. Thank goodness our apartment has AC.
 |
| Gigantisandwich at this place called "Shark Bites Toast" |
I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!
-Elder Smith
P.S. I'm a David Archuleta[return missionary status] fan. Check out his homecoming interview. That's how my English is going to be when I get home. Prepare yourselves: https://www.lds.
Week Forty-Three: 6/16/2014 to 6/22/2014--My Turn to Be Sick (Yay)
大家好!
This week has been a slow one as well. We didn't have Zone Conference, but I did have to stay indoors for the better part of 3 days. It was super lame. I had a pretty high fever and I just felt dizzy whenever I stood up. Now I'm ok. Just a little cough. We didn't get a ton of stuff done:( |
| also no song because my voice is terrible right now :( , but here's a picture of me being sick, etc..
Happy first full week of summer!
|
What did happen, however, was that our good friend Andrew came to church for the first time and he loved it. I don't know if I told you about him, so if this is all repeat, please forgive me, for I know not what I do. I met Andrew my last week with Elder Ward. We were walking over on the only busy street in all of Preston(the name Elder Washburn gave Magong when he came here because it's so small and you see everyone you know on what seems like a daily basis) right after he'd finished running a half-marathon(he's also a badminton coach). We talked with him for a little bit and then Elder Ward shared with him Ether12:27 which he thought was really sweet. When we because friends with him on facebook later, we saw that he'd posted it on his facebook page. Anyway, he came to church and he's kind of quiet so he didn't say much, but he just kind of soaked it all in. After church he stayed for a really long time and chatted with everyone before he left. We woke up this morning to a text from him saying how great he thought church was and how excited he was to continue learning the gospel. The only downside is that he retires from his military service at the end of July, so we won't be able to teach him for very long before he goes back to his home in Tainan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)