JAS

4 days left

2013-07-15T17:13:00.002-06:00

JENSEN'S HOMECOMING WILL BE JULY 28 @ 9AM

570 WEST 1402 SOUTH PROVO

welp, i guess this is it...i don't think this day would have ever come! haha it just kept getting put off and now finally it's here sneaking it's way down into my brain! i honestly wish i could stay here because the area is really starting to grow and flourish with investigators and the members are just so dang awesome!!! i will defenitley be coming back here when i go back and visit iowa. i also know that i need to get on with my life and i am super excited to come back to all the friends who aren't on missions...and who aren't yet married and hang out and play soccer and dance...i miss dancing so much. i have to be honest. i have been wanting to dance for some time now. everyone and their dog knows that i dance...not that i played soccer in college but that i am a national champion. some how they know that. and it has spread like wild fire in the ward here!!!!

anyways this week will be dedicated to packing and taking lots of pictures. they want you to take these next few days and pack. make sure that you get every thing taken care of and stuff like that and it doesn't help that we are both getting shipped out of ankeny. super lame. elder berthold was only here for 6 weeks! he is super bummed too.

i love you all and as i sign off for my final email i just want to say thanks for tuning in on the spirit filled emails from my missionary experiences!!!!

love

Elder Jensen Andrew Smith

i forgot to ask last time...did you do anything to celebrate the 4th of july?

we just went to a families for dinner and then went home. we had to be in by 10 but the fireworks didn't start until ten or ten thirty. lame but oh well.

favorite food this week?

mmmm...prolly huhot!!

any last words of advice to future missionaries?

learn from chapter 3 in Preach My Gospel!!!!!!!!!!!! memorize the order in each lesson and read and study from each lesson and then also go to chapter 6 and study that whole chapter!!!!

What are some of your plans being your last week?

take lots of pictures and pack...haha pretty lame.

11 days left

2013-07-08T13:29:00.003-06:00

Well we have been fairly busy this last week. lots of reevaluating the less active we want to work on getting to church and stuff...we don't have very many investigators who are progressing but we are working on getting more for the next elder to come in and have something to work with when i leave so i don't squeeze the area dry of investigators. we are also trying to use the members a lot more since the work of salvation was broadcast throughout the church. i hope that we can as a family be reading and studying Preach My Gospel and the Scriptures. man so i heard that they are having a temple run on the 24th from the city center temple to the Provo temple. 5 k run. kinda like a fun run. i think that would be super fun to do so if you could look that up for me so i can do it that would be super awesome and anyone who wants to run...this is for ANYONE... not just my familia who wants to join totally should!!!

so i don't have much time left but i only have one more p-day left next monday and then i'll be coming home that thursday! (friday actually) i can't believe that i come home that soon! we are going to the temple tomorrow and will spend all day there and will be sleeping over at the AP's house with elder herrin and then will come home wednesday morning.

i love you all and can't wait!!!!

love

Elder Jens Smith

questions

what are you going to do for pday?

well we just got done playing soccer with some boys and it was awesome!!! i miss it sooooooo much!!! i can't wait!!!

Favorite thing this past week?

this past week...was zone conference. so awesome and i got a girls number from a member in ames that she wanted me to contact when i got home...funny. haha

What did/do you love about your new president?

...they have my name... :) haha no i do like them cause he is very bold and straight to the point and he has just started running with the same pace that president Jergensen was running at with the mission.

How did your last "testimony" meeting with the mission president go?

it went well. just a simple short powerful testimony is what is needed. i will have my "final" interview the thursday night of the 18th.

18 days left

2013-07-01T11:12:00.000-06:00

haha yeah this week was good. lots of visiting members. it takes a while to have everyone on board with what the missionaries are wanting to do. as well as visiting them and having a time work for us to go visit with them and give them a message.

well i do have to say that i have been having dreams about playing soccer and i can tell you that i am so excited to come back a get back into shape. i know i only have 18 days left but i can't let it get to me and frankly it hasn't been a big problem on my mind. prolly cause it hasn't hit me yet that i go home in just a few short weeks. can't believe it. anyway...

i can't believe that brandon will be with the LA Clippers!!! thats sick!!!!

actually i have met mark. he was there with sheryl at my setting apart. i got to meet him then but only briefly cause of the confusion of going on a mission and the mind set i was in at that time. haha i apologize for that and hope i can be some what of a better nephew when i get home. ;) haha but are they staying in our house while i'll be there? cause if so i can always sleep outside while they are there. build my self a cake or somesing. or a fire and sleep on a cot in a tent in the patio. that'd be sweet. :)

well thats about it for me! i love you so much!

love

Elder Smith

questions:

did you get to watch the worldwide missionary conference? last sunday? june 22?

yeah i did. they required all the missionaries in the world or they said that it was really important that we be there. so we watched it and it was awesome!!! the way we are moving right along with the world in using our resources and using them for good in the world unlike the world using them for filth and terrible things but i am happy that the bretheren are able to relate to the youth today because that is truly where our future lies right now. that is why the age for missionaries have been lowered and the hastening/sped up process of the work of salvation. i know what was said there was inspired and was pondered and thought out very carefully.

best thing this week?

best thing this week was probably being able to pray for our mission president and getting the same feeling i got when i usually prayed for our mission president and i know that we will just take off running!!! im so excited for our zone conference tomorrow. i will be giving my going home testimony tomorrow as well.

pday stuff today?

we will be playing soccer again!!!!!! WOOHOO it'll be with some 13 year olds but still it's soccer! they play for the nation wide team the rush. i think we used to play them back home as well.

how is your new president? president jensen? did you kinda smile at that?

haha i did when you commented on it. silly momma. :) haha we haven't met him yet. we will tomorrow.

25 days left

2013-06-24T11:58:00.001-06:00

hey, this week was ok. we had a young lady who is friends with some members in the laurals group and they invited her to learn and so we had a first lesson and it was the most spiritual lesson of my mission. it was amazing! we were all crying and laughing too and it was just awesome!! and then we had the second lesson which she learned about how God loves us and how He has shown that love through the Plan of Salvation! haha it was just as powerful and spiritual! so we fasted for her and her parents yesterday, that her parents will be accepting and that she will have confidence in telling her parents. so we are getting ready to break our fast and eat right before the work of salvation we get a text from one of the girls that invited her saying that she wants to hold off on the lessons for now. she now knows who God is and is very thankful for us in helping her to see that but she doesn't see religion in her life in the future.

can i just say.............AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SATAN IS GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats me venting to you. :`(

Well people still have their agency.

Thats about it for me here!

well i love you so much!!!

love,

Elder Smith

questions:

how is that 14 yo boy? Progressing?

no not anymore. he had to go to school and he lives there. i don't know the details. thats just what he said.

you mentioned in your last letter that you prayed to find someone or have someone find you...don't you always pray for that?

yeah but this time it just seemed like we had been saying it and so we said it with some meaning and he found us.

do you know who your new mission president will be?

yeah his name is President and Sister Jensen. they will be here on friday! crazy!

are you trying to get to the temple one last time?

no i can't since im more than three hours away. i will go with the group that i came out with and the sisters who will be going home and that will be on the 9th of july. so i can just wait. :)

what're you doing for pday today?

well prolly nothing really. we just had a huge rain storm hit us as we were here in the library. it shut down the library for a few mins. kinda scary watching the rain try and break through the windows and get in here.

have you noticed any tender mercies lately? I love those. I have had sooo many but I forget about them. I should write them down.

well a tender mercy could be that young lady and us teaching her and feeling the spirit so strongly. ha but we'll just keep it at that. :) another one is that we were able to send out a mass text saying hey it's the missionaries, could we come by some time and share a message with you. and a lot of people responded! so we have lots of appointments this week.

32 days left

2013-06-17T10:43:00.000-06:00

wow so many crazy things happening!!!! your in hawaii, robbie's going on a mission, christian with some poopies, amanda fordham is having a baby, becca got in an accident. all so fast!!! can't wait to see what happens when i get home!!! haha no its good but yeah i miss soccer so much! and dancing!

well this week has just flown by!!! seems like just yesterday we were getting the car last sunday and now we gave it back yesterday!!! so crazy how fast time flies when you know you have a dead line. anyways...we did a lot better this week! well at least the Lord did. :) so i think it was tuesday that we went out and worked and before we prayed that we can find those who are prepared and that those who are prepared will be able to find us and so we go out to the car and this 14 year old boy runs up to us and starts talking about how he used to be taught by the missionaries and how he liked going to church and listening to what the elders had to say. so that was totally a tender mercy from the Lord. next was that we were totally lied to by this guy. haha so there is a less active girl who is 19 and started working at subway and we found her a couple weeks ago and so we started talking to her and how she came to find the church and stuff...and then we got on the subject of how there are no coincedences in this life and that God has his hand in everyones lives and so she totally believes that but she is just this 19 year old girl who is hooked with this non member guy who has 4 kids and is 32. so we tried to visit her fiance and he totally lied to us. straight up, he said that he was a roommate that was living with these people and i was like in my mind, thats such a lie first because he had to thing about his name that he was going to tell us and second we went back to subway where this less active was working at and asked her to show us a picture of her fiance and it was totally him. haha pretty funny though. :)

well thats about it for me!!! love you so much

love

Elder SMith

questions:

how do you like your companion? do you miss elder blackburn?...do you know where he ended up? what's great about elder berthold?

i love elder berthold! haha it is sooo awesome being with him!! haha i totally know he got put with me to help me stay on track and help me finish strong to the end. :) yeah elder blackburn and elder berthold are on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum. elder blackburn is very quite and shy and elder berthold is very loud and out going and loves to talk so it's great!!! haha super fun. elder blackburn went to fort dodge!!!! :)

anything you'd like from hawaii?

anything you can get me!!!!

38 days left service adventure

2013-06-11T08:01:00.000-06:00

haha we were just helping a non member and a member build a deck and a ramp to the deck cause the non member is getting older so he wanted to make it easier on themselves and we had to dig some huge holes and a funny story that i'll tell on monday .... this little girl had on a mask and walked right into one of the holes!!!! lol soooo super funny! so i was watching her walk and she was looking at us and she kept walking and then lifted her foot and it didn't touch the ground but went right into the hole so her whole body went into the hole which is about 4 feet tall and so i was like OH CRAP!!!!! so i rush to her and i see her laughing and so i pull her out and we start kinda poking fun about her falling into the hole so i got in there so that she would after i did so her parents could take pics of her and remember her falling into a hole. she is 6 years old so that gives you about how tall she is. pretty funny. :) thats the story to the pic.

(Every week they get "mormon.org" time in addition to their emailing time) Elder Smith quickly sent this to me. This is their service helping someone build a ramp/deck for 7 hours. He said he got sunburned .

39 days left

2013-06-10T13:43:00.004-06:00

this week for us was super hectic at the end of it cause we again had mini missionaries and they came the day the new elder came to ankeny. also that day, (thursday) we were able to help a less active guy take care of his yard and do some other service for him and his wife who isn't a member. they have two sons one is 5 and one is 7 i think. the 7 year old has low functioning autism and is such a fun kid. he is very sweet and their 5 year old is just a rambunctious 5 year old. he wanted to show us every movie that he had made on his dads iphone and is was way fun to be there. they made us some burgers and had some chips and just talked about the church and it wasn't really in a threatening way! so awesome we were able to do that. we are going to try to get a lesson with the two of them at the church tomorrow.

so the mini missionaries were way cool! we saw and met them thursday night, got them fridaymorning and took off from there! our meal coordinator was just on fire with setting up meals for every set of elders with their mini missionaries. soooo fun! i wish they did that sort of thing for us in utah. they think that utah is chalk full of converted mormons who know all about missions and things like that but let me tell you i am living experience that it is not always true. :) haha i think ty would like to do that as well. it would be good for him too. the guys that we got were way cool and so they all thought that we were nerds so as we got to know each other and started teaching they finally started warming up to us and realized that it's a wee bit harder than they would have thought it would have been. this was their first time going on a mini mission so it was cool to be their first impression on this called to serve program thing.

so with this scottish boy...he doesn't have a place like at all? like he is homeless? im a bit confused as to why you didn't just say that he should stay there! maybe we could adopt him!!! haha no i don't know the situation but it would be kinda funny. kinda like the blind side but without the pro football part.

i got my trunky papers on friday!!!!! haha thats just my travel itenerary which is sooo super weird.

any ways thats about it for me.

well thats it for me here!!! i love you all and can't wait to hear back from you guys!!!

love

Elder smith

questions:

new companion's name..where from...how long out?

my new comps name is elder Berthold. he is from kaysville Utah and he has been out for about 19 months now. he will get home when elder smith the younger gets home in october. he's a pretty awesome elder!!! really excited for the work. which makes me even more excited about it!

did you go around and say bye to all the members for elder blackburn?

sorta, he wasn't really that attached to a lot of the families but we did say goodbye to some families that he wanted to say goodbye to . wrote some thank you cards for them and we went to their houses and talked to them and took pics and said goodbye.

how long does President Jorgensen have left on his mission?

the Jergensens have i think only a couple weeks now. i think he goes home at the end of june so i'll have only like 2 weeks with the new mission president. kinda weird.

46 days left

2013-06-03T10:35:00.002-06:00

hey momma. this week has been a good one. filled with seeing more and more members. i wish i had done this earlier in my mission cause this is truly the key to building member trust. going to their home showing them that we care about them just as much as we care about the less actives and investigators we visit and then they are more likely to send their friends our way and their friends will be more prepared! again, wish i had done this a long time ago. the way we are teaching from them is the Lord put me here to teach me that for when i come home.

LOL HAHAHAHAHAHAHA i can't believe that Renae (Renae is Judy's daughter...Judy is Brian's cousin who was so good to Jensen in Moline) got called to the Provo mission!!!!! oh man that makes me laugh!!! too funny!!! we totally should have her over when she comes out for dinner!!!

man seems like dad is outta town almost every weekend for soccer!! does Syd do that too? and do you think i can go with dad to some things when i get back? if i am not swamped with soccer? :) haha

and about the missionaries, (I signed up to feed the missionaries here in provo and they never called) that is so super lame...and especially for pizza!!!! haha well maybe there was a miscommunication between them and the people you signed up with unless you signed up with them personally. then there is no excuse! and I'll have a good talking with them when i come back!!!!! you said that we have 2 sets in the ward now!?

man i can't wait to see Ty play rugby!!! was it a club team and so now he is done? or can he play more next season?

super weird to know that Amanda will be with christian for a little while in that mission! crazy!!!

well transfer calls came in and it turns out that elder Blackburn will be transferring outta here!! so I'll have another comp for my last 6 weeks! crazy that i only have that much left!!!

well thats all for me here!! i love you!! talk to you next week!

love

Elder Smith

Questions:

favorite thing this week?

well...prolly that we are able to have seen so many members this week!!! to have a lesson with some members who haven't really ever signed up on the roster.

How has the weather been for you? I've been watching but haven't seen too much if any where you are.

well the weather has been temperamental. we have had the tornado sirens going off but no tornadoes and then i find out that they will go off if there is just winds that are up to 70 miles an hour. so i don't think we will be having anymore tornadoes close to us anytime soon. but who knows...it is iowa.

What service did you do this week? What did you notice that needed to be done?

well elder blackburn went on exchanges with our district leader and found some less actives who needed some service done. he also has a son with autism and elder blackburn has a sister with that as well so they are getting along quite nicely but unfortunately he is getting transferred! :(

Here is Jensen's district

51 days left

2013-05-29T19:27:00.000-06:00

yesterday we went on exchanges with some other elders and they were late for an appointment so i had to cut my time short to email you so we were able to do that today.

hey momma, so im super tired today cause last night our air conditioning went out. haha i complain like this and then think of christian and how he prolly doesn't have air conditioning. maybe he does but i still shouldn't be complaining but we just didn't get a good nights sleep last night! terrible!!! i think i sweated more last night than i would have during the day. so it is said that thursday fridaysaturday are supposed to be tornado as well so be on the look out for that as well. we will let you know how it all goes down.

so ty finally graduated, or is going to graduate!!! WWWOOOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!! if he was going to have a party it would be a huge deal cause here in iowa they make the graduation party like sort of a big thing. and they always hold the parties on sundays.

we are seeing more and more of the members and so hopefully they see we are trying to do the will of the Father and will trust us more and give us some referrals to teach. we have had one tender mercy where one of the former investigators has decided to start learning again so we are going to be teaching her soon.

i wish i had more to report on. hopefully next week will be a better week!

well, i love you so much and can't wait for next week!

love

Elder Smith

questions:

What'd you do for you pday today?

well we went to a members house and played pingpong. threw the baseball around for a little bit. ripsticked, and then had some cheader wortsts.

Best thing that happened this week? and worst?

we have a new investigator. worst is that we aren't teaching

How is Josh progressing?

well...he isn't he we went to visit him and we totally saw him there cause you know how if you look at the peep hole and you see that it's light and then all of a sudden it gets dark and then light again as they move away from the peep hole. haha pretty funny. makes me laugh all the time. :)

A funny story?

hmmm...well we had just got done with some service and we were going to go email and so we got changed and some how elder blackburn had put his tennis shoes back on but they were black and they looked alright so i was going to see how long he would go without noticing them on his feet and so we went out of the house, got in the car, started the car and was just going to start going when he was like wait, my shoes don't feel right and he looked down and realized that he had his tennis shoes on!!!! haha super funny and so we boogied on up to our apartment and changed his shoes and then went back to the car. pretty funny. we both laughed about it.

60 days left

2013-05-20T16:38:00.001-06:00

things are looking up here in ankeny!! we found a potential investigator yesterday while trying to contact another potential. great things happen as you are prepared yourself! his name is josh. he is a really open guy who doesn't really go to church or think he needs to go to church but is more than willing to listen to what we have to say about the book of mormon and the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! so many awesome things are happening! the ward here is really big!! the average attendance here is like 217 and thats 60% of the ward! so super awesome! so we are trying to stack the lessons that we have with members so that we can help them help themselves with being member missionaries! i love teaching everyone! members and investigators! i am learning so much from chapter 10 of PMG! even though i may be a "seasoned veteran" i still can learn how to teach people in a way that would be best for the spirit to come in and take over and testify through our mouths!

wow i can't believe that amanda is leaving already!!! crazy! she seems so young!!! haha she can't be going yet!!!. also there is a sister that just came out who was in my seminary class in high school!!! so weird to see her!!! haha

im happy that ty is graduating seminary

elder blackburn got pretty sick thrusday night. he had a turkey burger that a member gave us the night before and we stuck it in the fridge and so he had that for lunch before district meeting. he had a headache through district meeting and then we took the other elders to their dinner and we went to our dinner and he was doing alright and had a deli samwich that they were feeding us and then i asked him if he was doing alright and usually he looks at me and sticks his thumb up and says: yeah great! but this time he looked at me with a frown that looked like one of the muppets and shook his head and said no i don't feel good. so we hurried the lesson a little bit drove home and as soon as we got home he made a bee line for the bathroom and sat down and started frowing up. kinda sad but kinda gross at the same time.

so yeah when you were writing your email it was raining and also we had tornados in the area. no worries though. im emailing you and so that means that im totally fine. the tornados hit just above us and like to the side of us in ankeny so we got some really bad winds and some hail but nothing major. we went to our ward mission leaders house and waited it out and that was till like 10 pm last night. so all is well here in ankeny.
well i love you so much and can't wait till next week!
love
Elder Smith

questions:

How is that girl? Has she gone to the magical place called utah? I think lots of people think of missionaries sometimes as all knowing, perfect beings. Not that you couldn't be like that...but don't you sometimes wish you could just push a magic button "easy button" that would tell you exactly what to do in a certain situation? I sure do..alot.

the girl is doing good. she is now in utah and is making her way. she bought a cat the day she got there. haha some times yeah i wish i could have the easy button but then we wouldn't learn to grow from those experiences!

You said that you liked this mission leader best of all...what is different about him?

yeah he is way down to earth and he is young but also very involved. just as much as the last one! i don't know we just click and we joke around all the time and we laugh and things like that.

How is your companion? Any new habits he does? Still loving him?

he is doing really good now! he is becoming more confident in his ablilities and is able to make more contributions in lessons and talks so much more! it is awesome!!! umm...no new habbits. and yeah i still love the heck out of this guy!

Last time you said you couldn't wait to play indoor soccer...that surprised us..like more than outdoor? how come?

well no not as much as out door but i miss the fast pace of it and the easyness of the bouncing off the walls and the turf and not having to worry about not having a good pitch to play on. haha i do also want to play outdoor a lot. indoor just came to my mind first!

Wow, right now as I'm writing this to you, it's pouring where you are...Did it rain super bad where you are?

yeah so like i said we had a tornado in the area and so every where it was super rainy and stormy and tornado warnings!

67 days left

2013-05-13T11:23:00.002-06:00

Got to facetime with Jensen last night...but only for a few minutes. Still sent emails...so nice to see him!

i don't have a lot to say but that there is a recent convert who is going through a really hard time. she is 18 and is getting kicked out of her house cause she did somethings that got her in trouble with her parents and so she is calling us and like...calling us trying to find out what she needs to do. she really wants to move to utah. haha somehow utah became this magical land that clears everyones lives and makes everything better. haha but she is short of money and this morning she called and was like...im going to go die cause i don't have anything to do or anywhere to go. ha so after some talking to her and having her think of somethings she can do she finally called back and came up with a solution that she was going to sell her laptop and use that money to travel to utah and start there. and this whole morning i was thinking to myself, im a missionary! i can't really help with that except for comforting her and assuring her that God loves her! but she called back with that solution and i was like thats a really good idea!!!

talking to you mom and dad and ty was really good. i was thinking it would be ok for me to just wait till i come home to see you but i am glad i skyped you last night. thats all i have for now! sorry for the short letter.

well thats it for me here!! love you all and can't wait till next week!!!

Love,

Elder Smith

What'd you do for you pday today?

well we prolly won't do much today. we don't really do anything here for pday except for being in our apartments doing laundry and writing letters. not that my comp restricts me but its the other elders that don't really like to do much.

Is the family you ate with yesterday the same family with the soccer kid?

no that family last night was the bartletts. they are a super nice family. super crazy kids too!! and they have a pingpong table!! haha awesome!!

What are you looking forward to doing when you get home? Or looking forward to eating?

oh man, i can't wait to have some costa vida and also i want to play indoor soooooooooooooooooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!! oh man i can't tell you how excited to play indoor again!!!

74 days left

2013-05-06T10:38:00.000-06:00

(speaking of writing a tyler a snail mail)

yeah thought i would just drop him a line. haha it wasn't much of a letter. just sorta a note that you used to pass in highschool. thought he would be used to that with all the ladies chasing after him! no i don't know but that would be funny. :)

wow sounds like it was a full day for you with soccer! all that soccer would want to make me play! what did you say about me getting back from the mish and then coaching or playing a game there? what was that about? do you remember that? anyways, there is a family here who have 7 kids and one of them is pretty good at soccer. he is on what they call a traveling team. pretty sweet so we are pretty good friends now. :) haha we went over there last night and had pulled pork samwiches and after played some soccer and football! sooooo good!!! oh man the samwiches were so good i had 4 of them!!

we finally went running this morning now that we found out where we can run and let me tell you it felt so nice to run!!! oh man i miss it! and running the stairs in the stadium! soo good!

this week went a lot better! we were able to contact some potential investigators and set up return appts. for them. one is a woman who we contacted because we were actually trying to find another man who lived there and so he didn't anymore and so we invited her to learn and she is like yeah come back next thursday! so we have a lesson with her this thursday at 4:30! then after dinner 6:00 that same night we have a lesson with one of our progressing investigators at 7:30! so thursday is going to be a good day!!! im excited for it! the members here are great! our ward mission leader is way cool!! i like him a lot. he is prolly one of the best i've had!

haha im not counting either!!! i can't other wise i will know and i will just have it in the back of my head so don't you dare remind me!!!! :)

well thats about it for me here!!! i love you all so much and can't wait till next week!!!

love

Elder Smith

questions:

do you have a car there? who drives?

yeah we have a car here but are in a car share again and so elder blackburn drives! he is pretty good.

How come we haven't heard about any flight plans yet for you?

oh yeah haha sorry i forgot to tell you that they can't fly me into the provo airport so they are just going to SLC. hope thats ok with you guys.

So, how has it been with your new companion. What have you noticed that he does differently than other companions?

i can't tell you how much he is changing me! i absolutely love him and am so grateful to be serving with him. he is helping me learn things about my self that i needed to learn or that i haven't learned before. he has lots of little habits he is obsessed with pokemon so i try and relate to him and ask him questions about that and so we have gotten along pretty well. he is really a normal person but with some different qualities that he resorts back to. he would circle the footnotes in the scriptures just because i think it was a little game to him and so it was almost ruining his scriptures so we have worked together on writing out the footnotes in a study journal, that way he knows what he is reading and is actually learning cause when he would circle he wouldn't learn anything. just circling. he is very simple and is not shy. he doesn't understand humor like the rest of us do but it is fun seeing him smile cause now i know what he likes. :) he is very repetitive. like i will say something during our studies and he will use the exact same words and phrases in lessons or talking with other people. all over he is a great person and i am so lucky to be serving with him!

What is your most favoritest thing about your companion?

his smile is his money maker!!! haha i love it!!! no matter what you can't help but smile with him cause it is so contagious! love it!!! and his laugh. it's just a simple little laugh but it makes me laugh too. :)

81 days left

2013-04-29T10:23:00.003-06:00

haha im pretty sure that it is from king of the hill. i think. kahn junior....why hang out with redneck hillbilly? haha funny. (movie line was ...fat white lump)

but this week went good. so momma i found out that renae henderson is going to be going to provo in june and so she said that she could take some of my stuff home with her so be on the look out for that as she comes. its three big things and ty doesn't get any of my shoes!!!!! none!!!!!

so i ended up in ankeny iowa! just a few short mins from ames and from des moines!!! i am with elder blackburn. he as aspergers and so i guess that president wanted me to finish strong by taking this elder out as much as possible cause the last elder who trained him said that this will really stretch me. im sorta afraid of what that means but i'll face it head on. he is from layton utah and has been out for 3 months now. something cool about this now is that elder herrin is my zone leader in ames. haha pretty funny being so close to him. :) im excited about that.

we didn't get very much done during these last three days since it was a lot of walking around and talking with people but we did manage to see a few member families around our house. so that was good.

not much else has happened. i'll answer questions now.

well thats it for me!!! i love you so much!!!

love
Elder Smith

What'd you do for pday?
well we played basketball and some more basketball on wednesday but today i don't know if we'll get to do that. or any pday for that matter. no one really plays basketball. or soccer.

Where's your new city?

i am in the ankeny 1st ward

So...who is your new compaion? where's he's from? how long out etc.?

well his name is elder blackburn, he is from layton ut and he has been out for 3 months.

You said that you helped clean up from the flooding...is that your first flood there? even a little one?

yeah it is my first flood since i have been in the mish. it was only really bad cause there were people who lived right on the river and so the river flooded and was like at least a foot up on the houses. but the person we helped with had prepared and put sand bags up by the door so that the water wouldn't come through that way so it only came in a little at at time through the carpet. so we vacuumed a ton load!

Do you know anyone in Canada? Or past companions? Or anything? You have had someone visit your blog from there...
well no i don't know anyone from canada. but i did have companions...well not companions but elders in my district from the mtc that went to canada. so i dont know.

88 days left

2013-04-22T10:57:00.002-06:00

alrighty, well it is transfer week and it turns out i am getting transferred. im not too happy about it but, what can ya do? .....i don't like it but i will have to deal with it cause, i mean it is God who does this work and who am i to object when i am in His service. so yeah...getting transfered.

well this last week was a doozy cause we got a ton of rain and so the rock river flooded and is now flooding homes and so many people are out of their houses. it is sooooooo incredible the amount of water that has come up from the river. i mean, like people were in their canous...thats not spelled right, and, oh man it was devisating! so we spent a couple days in our house cause of flash floods and things like that but we were able to get a little bit more work done with a little more determination. :) i am so grateful for this work that i am in and i am so glad that i accepted to serve a mission. :)

haha yeah i would rather see earth wind and fire! (speaking of brian's business trip entertainment...flo-rida) right now they have better music and lirics than all the other groups that we have been hearing in stores and things like that. oh man i bet he'll enjoy florida weather though. nice and warm...i miss warm so much. not a big fan of the cold.

well thats about it for me here!!! i love you so much!

love

Elder Smith

questions:

Anyone write you an email that doesn't normally?

mmm, i was able to get katie w. email address. :) we have been emailing. :) also i am snail mailing a girl from spokane washington. she is the sister of a sister missionary out here. her name is sarah t. it's been pretty fun writing her. :) haha

What made you laugh this week?

hahahahaha ok well you had to be there but we were weekly planning and i had some beef jerky from another elder and i was eating it and all of a sudden it gave me the hiccups!! so i was laughing really hard while hiccupping at the same time and so it just made us laugh for a while and then my hiccups went away cause the food went down to my stomach and then we stopped laughing. pretty funny in the moment. :)

do you have a favorite hymn?

my favorite hymn would be........"let zion in her beauty rise" pg. 41. they sang it at the nauvoo pagent and i loved it!!!!

what was your service opportunity this week?

well we were able to put on some waiters and wade through some water to a members house that was flooded and help pump and suck out the water from their house with a shop vac. it was pretty cool to see the power of the river but also sad to see so many houses that were being affected by the flood.

Thank you Judy for sending this photos. LOVE them.

95 days left...double digits!

2013-04-15T20:26:00.002-06:00

well hi there! this week was a little better than last. on saturday we had a soccer game with our little team and it started to snow!!! lame sauce!! so one of our players went home cause it was too cold so we missed her cause she was a good one on the team but we still lost like 5-0. haha it was a good game and we had lots of opportunities but we couldn't capitalize on them. we'll work on that tomorrow!

as for the work it goes slowly...we just can't find anyone intersted in learning more. maybe we are trying too hard to look for some when they are right under our noses so we'll blow our noses every day this week and see what comes of it. :) haha. and there will prolly be some who are right next to us and we don't even know it! we will be getting the car this week! woohoo!!!! i won't be driving but still we will be able to get so much more work done without having to walk every where!

well i love you and miss you! i will talk to you next week!!!

love

Elder Smith

questions:

What shall I sign you up for as far as classes go? I'm pretty sure you're going to have to a placement test when you get back...but I could sign you up for some other stuff.

.. ummm...i have no idea!!! are there lots of choices? if so just pick a few and email me and i'll choose a couple.

"will soon be getting my trunky letter asking me for some pictures of my mission and stuff like that." Is this what every missionary has to do??? send pictures to the mission office? or why do you need to send pictures...do you need me to send you some or are you good?

they have a going home slideshow that they show in the mission home the night before you go home and so they will use the pics for that. i will let you know when i need some pictures.

Favorite food YOU made? this week or ever?

mmm favorite food i made this week was prolly cinnimin vanilla chocolate chip panacakes! we had those i think on monday last week! they were super yummy!

When is the last time you heard from Christian? We've heard from him about 2 times in the last 5 weeks

... mmm i haven't heard from him in a while. i'll email him.

Are you working your tail off? You're not going to get this chance again...finish super strong...don't have any regrets.

.. yeah we are trying to work with what we've got. walking and biking are pretty hard when you live 2 1/2 miles from the bus station. so they car will be nice and we will be working even harder then we have been. we have been doing a lot of tracting or "finding by the spirit" as they now call it. :) haha lots of it.

Have you been sick lately?

nope haven't been sick for a while!! since iowa city!

Do you think you'll keep your companion? stay in that area till you're done? When is the next transfer?

i have no idea! like it could go either way! transfer calls are this saturday so we'll let you know on monday!!!

Who is writing you now? Like ...oh he's coming home soon...I better write him so we can hook up when he gets back...like we've been writing all the whole time he's been gone...Remember I told you that people will write you when you first go out and then right before you come home

... haha haven't gotten anything from anyone for a while! i have been emailing and randy sent me a nice email telling me what im going to be doing the night i get home. :) haha. pretty funny. i'll let you wrestle him for the bold statements he made. :) hahahahahahaha

102 days left

2013-04-08T16:57:00.000-06:00

well this week was a good one again. conference was great as usual and then we got some even cooler news! so there will be a member of the quorum of the 12 that will be in the iowa area having a meeting with all the bishops and stake presidents and branch presidents in the area and so they had requested that while he was in the mission area he wanted to have another mission conference!! so we will be attending that on like may 4 or 5th. so super cool! we have been trying to get some potentials to start teaching because we aren't having the best of luck getting a new investigator so we are working on our planning and setting goals and striving to reach them.

so i got an email today that is asking me what airport i will be flying to on july 19th. so they asked me to find out that info and get it back to them within the next couple days. so yeah i got my three month trunky email and will soon be getting my trunky letter asking me for some pictures of my mission and stuff like that. so where is it that you want me to fly into? oh yeah i forgot to tell you that i finally got my camera charger, charged my battery and then stuck it in my camera to take a picture only to find that my camera screen was broken completely! the lens won't even pop out or open the little doors to let me take a picture!

well thats about it for me here! i love you all and can't wait till next week!

love

Elder Smith

where'd you watch conference...? favorite talk?

mmm we watched the first session of saturdays at the hendersons and then we went to the church for the rest of them. favorite talk prolly were the last three in the priesthood session given by the first presidencey. super good. :)

are you all moved in?

yep we are all moved in and sicheeated. :) the couple are out of town until the 16th so we have the house to ourselves! but we are too scared to mess anything up so you don't have to worry about us having parties with the other missionaries and things like that. haha no im just kidding but yeah it is nice not having to worry about sharing the kitchen right now but when they get home it will be weird.

when do you get to practice with the little guys?

we started practice the week before last on thrus. and we had our first game saturday and we lost 3-1 but it was a great game and we have so much potential!!! i am super stoked for practice tomorrow!

109 days left

2013-04-01T11:36:00.000-06:00

oh man! thats sweet that your going out there to visit him! i don't think we as kids knew him very well. did we? i only remember meeting him once and that was at gramma and grandpa smith's house! i have only heard about the redwood forest and that there are hugh trees there! i think i would like it going there. hmmm i wonder whats wrong with the van. it has had a pretty hard time before but i wonder if they could just solve the prollem and get you back going again! thats what they need to do but they just can't seem to get it fixed. they always leave something undone so that we will have to go back in and spend some monies...lame sauce! well i hope you make it there safe and have a good time there! can't wait for the pictures. i haven't sent any cause i left my camera charger in iowa city and so i have finally gotten it just the other day!

we have been moving all this week so we haven't gotten much else done other than a few hours of tracting in and some dinner appointments. :) haha can't miss those!! na im just kiddin. but yeah after 20 years of missionaries living in that apartment we had to clean it and throw all the furniture away and haul it out of the apartment and get it down there. it was a pain!!! we are now living with the Luthys. they are a nice family that live about 2 1/2 miles from where we just were so it is a bit of a stretch but we'll make do with it. don't have much else to say...sorry for the lame email!

well thats about it for me i love you and can't wait till next week!

love

Elder Smith

questions:

what're you doing for easters?

well we went over to the hendersons for easters and had a great meal with them. green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes and some really good ham!

what did you do this last week?

MOVED! and we also had our first practice with the little 11 year olds! it was super fun!!!!!

favorite pday activity?

mmm prolly playing basketball and vollyball with the youth. its way fun! and they have a couple soccer players so it makes for a good game of indoor soccer!

didn't know you had to move? how come? that is chaotic!

yeah we had to move but they didn't renew our lease on the apartment and i don't know why but we had to move.

Did you like the vintage ties? Tell me about the package, what was your favorite thing? did you hide the eggs? did you feel silly?

haha yeah they were super old!!! i loved the package but it was right as we were getting ready to move! haha so we opened it and got it every where and then had to pack it away again and bring it to our new house. my favorite thing was prolly the fake mushtashes! haha super funny!!! loved them and the muddy buddies! or puppy chow (it was for easter and I called it bunny bait) what ever you want to call them. haha yeah we were at the hendersons all day yesterday and so we didn't get to hide them yesterday but we hid them this morning and it was super funny!!! luckily there wasn't anyone home. the luthys left today for a vacation to visit their kids in arizona and idaho.

116 days left (we are accurate now)

2013-03-25T12:52:00.002-06:00

welp, I'm not going to lie this week was terrible...we were barely able to see anyone. it has been so chaotic with having to get every thing ready to move to our new house and having to clean the whole apartment and then having to work on top of that! also not having a car is killer!!! haha there's my negative...

so this week we have made it a pact to work hard and tract even harder so that we are able to keep the work going in this area when we leave so others will have people to teach and contact. we also had a baptism!!!!!! woohooo!!!!! his name is Simeon n.(big long last name)...haha try to say that. :) pictures are attached. i love this work because it has shown me that it is the same thing in life. in order to receive blessings you need to put in your effort and so is the same with life outside of the mission. in order to receive blessings, (money to support family and other things that will help in life) we have to put in our effort in the work place. i know that the spiritual things that Heavenly Father has given us are because they help us with the daily fight in this temporal life. i know the gospel is true and that the things that the savior taught are true because of the way we feel when we follow his counsel and also the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I'm grateful for you mom and dad for showing me the right path as i growed up... :) and that the experiences that have happened have given us something to learn from. i know that our Father in Heaven and also his son Jesus Christ came down to Joseph smith and restored the power, gospel and authority to this earth.

well thats all i got for now i love you all and miss you

love

Elder Smith

Happen to get my package yet? (I sent it a week ago, last monday)

yep i got it couple days ago and loved everything!!!

Who wrote you this week?

mmmm you did with ty's eagle court of honor.

What made you laugh this week?

we recorded our district leader while we were talking to him on the phone and he made the weirdest noises and he sang the phantom of the opera and made a dinosaur noise. haha so we listened to that over and over again and it made us laugh. :) haha funny.

What're you doing for pday?

well we were supposed to be playing basketball and soccer and bollyboll with some of our youth but they all bailed so we are just having a few elders over to play basketball. it's going to be super lame...

Are you missing Elder A.? What's your favorite thing about Elder Sorensen? Played soccer with him yet?

yeah i miss elder aiasau but elder sorenson is great as well! we get along pretty well and have a lot of the same interests. my favorite thing is that he plays soccer and basketball and is active. :) haha makes me want to do stuff!

124 days left

2013-03-18T09:48:00.004-06:00

well this week has been a good bye week for us. didn't really get much done other than seeing the members who we wanted to see. haha we are getting really good at the bus system. also a lot of members have been giving us rides as well so that has been really a great blessing for us since we don't have a car. haha everyone is always asking why we don't have a car and i just laugh and say...i was playing bumper cars and i didn't win... no im just kidding. i just explain what happened. :) i am getting more used to the members and having to do the ward coordination again was pretty simple. i just took a lot of the same numbers from last month cause they didn't change so it was a breeze this time. i only made a few mistakes this time so were good. :) i am enjoying my time here in moline but now that i have a new comp i don't know if i'll stay for the rest of my mission. there is a really good chance i will leave and a really good chance that i will stay. so president is keeping us on our toes now. haha. there are so many new missionaries coming out!!! we just had 30 come in this last transfer and 4 of them are visa waiters so we are super excited to see what happens this next transfer. we'll prolly get more and more and more each time. haha it's soooo weird seeing ty playing rugby!!! haha i have heard so many stories from elder tekanene and elder aiasau about playing rugby. haha cool beans! does he like it? has he gotten a black eye yet? haha no i don't know but that way cool.

i don't have much else to say so i'll answer questions!

well i love you so much and can't wait to hear from you next week!

love

Elder Smith

how many "more" emails did you get this week than last week? And who from?

haha i got a few more emails from skyler, kristen, madi armstrong, kayla, and pam.

we got some fun pictures from sister henderson about the ward activity...and your photo booth...was that so super fun?

yeah so the ward activity was for the relief sociaty and the men were needed to make everything. so the sisters went around to different stations and had a blast! it was super fun for us as well cause we got to know the members more.

Who is your new companion? Where is he from? How long has he been out? etc. all the normal questions...

my companion is Elder Sorensen. he is from layton UT and is also a soccer player! he played for the layton strikers! cool huh!!? haha he has been out for 7 1/2 months!

How come do you think that you were released from being district leader? Are you happy about it? disappointed?

haha president said that i was released because we didn't have a car and cause the elder in rock island only has this last transfer left in his mission and so he needed some accountability and to help him finish strong. which i am totally fine with that cause i have three tranfers left! so i'm not complaining. i do like having something to keep me going but this will just help me prove that i don't need to have a leadership calling to show that the work can move on with out one.

Are you seeing more and more missionaries out there?

yeah tons!!! we now have i think around 206 missionaries now as to a couple months ago when it was just 185.

Just saw that McKensie Madsen is on a mission...did you know that? I think that she's on a tour mission...like she dresses up and pretends to be an old sister in pioneer days at the "mormon battalion Historic site in san diego" pretty cool huh?

wow that's way cool!!! i knew that you could do those kind of missions but i didn't think i would ever know someone that did it. how long has she been out?

Some more treats...thanks favorite cousin Judy!

2013-03-13T17:49:00.000-06:00

These pictures were taken and narrated by Judy H. Brian's cousin.

The faces are pretty much just them goofing around. As for the song lyric bubbles, well I was trying to make the photo booth a little more fun. A bit humorous to see two Elders use them. Our activity last night was a lot of fun, we had the Priesthood brethren come and help with the food and running the carnival games. So the Elders got recruited as well.

In the group pic, it is: Jensen,(duh), Jesse L, RaNae H., Kaili L, Bethany H. and Elder A.

The one pic with the young lady in it, her name is Krista M., she is a single mother in our ward. The elders work with her a lot. She has just recently started coming back to church the last 6 months or so. I taught her Sunday school class when she was 13. She is now 24, so it is great to see her coming back.

131 days left

2013-03-11T17:34:00.001-06:00

hey momma! this week went by super fast and so has this transfer. and yeah this one was shorter so it does seem to go by faster. i have loved serving with elder aiasau! haha im totally going to his home coming when he comes home. i think it'll be a fun family thing to go to. he is from San fransico. so california, here we come! we have been getting more and more opportunities to teach non members! it has been great! we had exchanges wed. to thurs. and we found one new investigator that is pretty solid. she is really open to learning more and it is all because she is prepared! so we are trying to get in touch with her and set up a lesson and then inviter to baptism! super exciting! anyways...i got released as district leader. which i am ok with. i enjoyed it but it is also nice to not have to worry about other missionaries and their numbers and things like that.

i love you all and can't wait till next week!!!!! oh one more thing that is way cool is we can have friends email us now!!!!!! the mission department has sent us an email saying we are allowed to email friends now so if you could let the word out then i don't have to write snail mail! haha save on postage!! but yeah love you all!!! my email would be jensen.smith@myldsmail.net

love

Elder Smith

So your companion is getting transferred? Wow, that's so soon...you were only with him for like one transfer huh? Do you feel like you know enough of the city to help a newby? Are you sad to be getting a new companion?

yeah it is pretty soon. it is only 5 weeks instead of 6 cause of the world being on the same transfer cycle. yeah i think i have a pretty good grip on the area. i will be really relying on the ward and the Lord to help my companion and i get the work and area down. yeah i am pretty sad to have to let this elder go and get a new one but, a door closing always lets another one open. :)

Do you think that you'll die in this area?

i think........i will. think being the key word here. if i do that'll mean that i'll be with this next companion for 3 transfers.

Has it been hard comforting your companion about his grandma? Has he been ok about it? or has he been kinda sad? How were his family going to watch/play it at the funeral? or just with the family?

no it hasn't been hard and yeah he has been pretty ok with it. he is really tough and has been able to hold it in or he just has a really good sence of the plan of salvation. well they were going to try and get it off youtube and make a dvd or somthing like that and play it at the funeral.

Funniest thing that happened this week?

haha funniest thing that happened this week was...we were at district meeting and sister tobias (the one with the boogy and things like that) was giving a training and we were reading from preach my gospel and she was reading somthing called the successful missionary and she just couldn't get the successful part down and she said this prolly like 3 times trying to correct herself but she was saying the succexful missionary and she tried to make up for it but she just turned bright red and we all laughed with her and so that was pretty funny. it was a good laugh.

What did you do for pday today?

well since it's transfer week we have pday on wednesday so hopefully we have a good one.

Teagan asks...what's your favorite food?

hmmm my favorite food would have to be mongolian grill. like huhot! they should have them in washington! super super yummy!!!!

Owen asks: What's your favorite meeting so far?

my favorite meeting so far would have to be sacrament meeting followed closely with district meeting! :)

Garrett asks: Is there snow there in Iowa?

yes there is! but it is all going away cause of the rain that we are having. so hopefully no more snow! but we will prolly get some rain!

Elders Aiasau and Smith 134 days left

2013-03-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

138 days left

2013-03-04T12:46:00.004-07:00

Wait...your going to Hawaii with out me? When? Why? With who?

I don't usually put anything negetive anymore cause it just brings me down so when i write to you i only say things that are positive.

So...this week has been a good one. very slow. We are starting to pick things back up again as much as we can with the car being gone. haha i some time kick myself for being that distracted and now we have to suffer the repercussions of having to walk and take the bus. we have gotten some bus passes and we are using them now. it says that this metro system is the best in america.

hmmm...well we have been working with a lot of part member families and we are seeing lots of blessings come from that. we are going to start teaching a man who is married to a less active woman. they are starting to come back to church. he seems like he could accept the gospel pretty easlily. im excited. haha i don't really have anything to report on. i'll answer questions.

sorry i don't have pics. i will next week i promise. i love you so much!

love

Elder Smith

Tell us about some of your investigators??

ok so some of our investigators are simeon. he is a man from the congo who traveled to the USA to escape the congo because of the wars and things like that that have been going on there. we have a family who is also from the congo who was baptized not to long ago. he is our most solid potential right now. he has a date for mar. 23. the rest are part member families who we haven't really started teaching the nonmember spouse yet but soon will.

are you hating not driving?

Yes...i hate it. we prolly won't have a car sent out to us for another month or two. :(

Have you had stake conference yet?

yeah we just had it. we had elder oaks speak to us.

Have you eaten dinner with judy and harry henderson?or anybody?

yeah everyone is starting to feed us now. they didn't feed the missionaries at all because of the missionary who was here before. nobody liked him and so they didn't feed them but now that he is gone they are all feeding the missionaries again. haha which could be a bad thing since im with a samoan. i think i have gained 7-8 pounds since i've been with him. we had dinner with the Hendersons the other night and it was awesome! we are working with their sons who are about to put in their mission papers soon. kinda exciting. :)

do you have a favorite family?

haha prolly the Hendersons and the lasleys.

what kind of service have you done lately?

mmm...haven't done much.

what has made you laugh this week?

hahahahahahahahaha one sister last night talked about how she had the runs!!!! super weird. the one that said "boogy in your nose." haha super weird but super funny!!!

who said this...Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is a gift, that is why we call it present."

master ugway from kungfu panda!!! ( I knew he'd get it...stole it from Teagan)

145 days left

2013-02-25T11:32:00.001-07:00

hey momma, this week has been a rough one. lots of stress. as a distict leader i have to have a coordination meeting with the bishop and tell him all the numbers and trying to keep all the numbers is super hard. haha espesially when the bishop and the ward mission leader are men who work with numbers and i....well, i don't. :) haha and then on top of that i got in an accident (don't worry, im fine and so is every one else that was involved) and have to fill out all this paper work for that and then have the money to fax that to our vehicle coordinator as soon as possible all while still finding people to teach and going to dinners with the members. haha i guess i have a taste of what it would be like a little to be an assistant to the president. :) prolly not even. haha but busy week and not busy week. staying home somtimes and filling out paper work and then going out to have an amazing lesson with some of our youth.

so needless to say i have been sitting on pins and needles. i don't have much else to write. :( sorry. and i don't have my camera with me. so no pictures today.

"do or show them a talent in order to eat our dinner. :) haha so i am thinking of telling them about the video on youtube of me dancing at disneyland. hopfully i can pass with that". so...what did you do for your talent? Could you not show them in person some dancing???

haha no hwayyyy!!!! i wouldn't show anyone my real dancing. you just look silly dancing by yourself and as missionaries you're not allowed to dance. so i just had to boogy in my nose. ;) hahahahaha no but i just told them about me dancing at disney land and they watched it and they were like "i will not look at you the same now!" haha in a good way i guess. but anyway yeah.

Best thing that happened to you this week? worst?

best thing that happened to me this week was that we got all the paperwork done and sent/given to the bishop for that ward coordination. haha the thing is is that it will happen every month. so i guess i have to get used to it. haha worst was getting in that accident and not being able to get milk until a few days later. :( haha

well thats it for now. talk to ya next week!

love

Elder Jens Smith

151 days left

2013-02-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

hey. this week's been good. it went by super fast again. i don't know if i like that. i have been thinking about it and how i only have a couple months left and how if i keep thinking about it like i am it's going to be so super slow. but i know that if i immerse myself in the Lords work then it will fly by and i won't even notice the time.

so yeah haha elder aiasao started teaching us the Haka and then he says...ok elder smith, you ready to lead it? and i was like heck no!! so he convinced me to do it any way. haha totally reminded me of dancing and how you are always remembering choreography. man i miss that. :) we are going over to a families house today where we have to do or show them a talent in order to eat our dinner. :) haha so i am thinking of telling them about the video on youtube of me dancing at disneyland. hopfully i can pass with that.

anyway the work is going well. i am back in a ward and is super weird to have old people to teach and eat at their houses. haha not super excited to be in a singles ward when i go back. :) haha maybe it will be different. we are teaching a man from the congo and he is going to be baptized on march 9th. he is doing really well. we are also having a lot of partmembers to work with cause it is a family ward and not a YSA ward/branch. :) haha anyways thats about it for me. heres your answers to your questions.

i love you all and can't wait till next week! oh and yeah i have heard of the poem that steven read. i have it in my binder. it is a great one to look at for the Atonement. also the book called believing Christ.

love

Elder Jens Smith

We were wondering why in doing a haka...why your companion is in the background and you're the leader? You look so tall. You did it sooo good. Want to elaborate a bit more?

yeah so like i said elder aiasao started with it and then later told me that i was leading it. so the young mens pres. is Polynesian and he said that we should teach the haka to the young men and then they could perform it at the stake young men and women talent show in davenport. so we did so and then we had lava lava's made for us and then yes i did get your package and you gave me that red tie which went perfect with the lava lava. i wore red cause i was the leader. so perfect timing!!! and i did wear it on valentines day. :)

Tell me a funny story.

ok so elder aiasao and i were talking to the sisters about taking some investigators to a valentine dance and one sister said " well we all know missionaries aren't allowed to dance" and then elder aiasao says "oh man but i wanted to get my boogy on!" silence and then she says..."well you can just boogy in your nose!" LOLOLOLOLOL it was super funny! i had not laughed that hard in months!!!!! it was so good to laugh like that. we have laughed like that a couple times now. so good. :) and then we were talking and then the topic of dancing came up again and then the sister said, yeah just stick your finger up there and boogey in your nose." :) super funny!

Christian can't hold babies...can you? why or why not?

nope. its in our white handbook and it says to not hold babies for legal reasons and for safety reasons. the book is made mainly for the safety of the missionarys and because of some things that have happened to missionaries in the past that they don't want to have happen in the future. so its pretty smart for that reason.

any package yet?

yep i got your package! i loved it!

How are you feeling? sick lately?

no not sick lately. just super sore. we had an awesome pday yesterday where we went to this pizza store. bought 2 five square foot pizzas, played some hard core basketball and then some vollyball! i am so sore! i have never been this sore before. its prolly cause of me playing every morning in iowa city and then getting transfered and not playing for 2 weeks straight.

Scary stories?

mmmm nope. i don't think i have any scary stories that i have had on the mish.