Joseph Smith Asked the Same Thing!

A local store/bakery regularly delivers 

their extras to the church in Smyrna.

The elders are so willing to take care of it.

Hola,

I can't believe that this transfer is almost over! Time has just gone by so fast! I’m hoping I'll get to stay in Smyrna, because the work is just getting rolling here! But, as Moroni said, it mattereth not withersoever I go, so long as it is the will of the Lord.

My new ponderize scripture is Alma 5:49, "And now I say unto you that this is the order after which I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again." Ponderizing is super cool! It works! I can already testify after a week that it makes a difference.

This week was interesting. We didn't teach much, and we had many plans fall through, but we are working so hard! It started last Monday night. I was kind of feeling fed up, because I just felt like we weren't doing all that we could, and that we needed to be more obedient and plan better. My volcano of greenie fire erupted in the form of a 20 minute venting session. Entonces (and so), we resolved to do better.

On Monday night, we were asked to drive out to the hospital in Murfreesboro to give a blessing to a man named Y. I was kind of freaking out, because I don't know how to do blessings in Spanish, but, Y spoke English (whew). After the blessing, we nearly got lost in Murfreesboro. But, we found our way back to Smyrna, and visited O. He is so golden! He is just so interested and has so many questions. We were talking to him about the restoration, and he started asking all the right questions, like, "So after Christ, which church had the truth?" And we were like, "Joseph Smith asked the same thing!" Plus, I feel like O was just one of those people that I was supposed to find. For some reason, I can understand about 95 percent of what he says, even though he is the fastest native speaker that Elder A has ever heard. That to me is so cool, because I can't really understand many other people. We have a lesson with O tonight, and I'm so pumped!

We weren't able to meet with H this week, but we finally got word about what to do for him! So, a member that is a doctor has to visit with him and confirm that he physically can't be baptized. After that, we need to get consent from the First Presidency to do a live proxy baptism. So, it would be like doing temple baptisms, but he would be there. How weird is that! Also, we met with R this week. She is interesting. She believes most of the stuff, and is progressing, but she still is struggling to understand the why she needs to be baptized again by proper authority. We will continue to work on that.

The other highlight of the week was meeting R (a different one). He was our referral from some Hermanas in Massachusetts, and he is pretty cool. We taught him the Restoration, and he was super open to everything, including the Book of Mormon. And he wants to come to church! He is awesome.

We are continuing to work hard here, on Saturday we find out if we are being transferred. Hope y’all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Mitchell