Man I love this kid. I received a 3-page letter (specifically addressed to me) yesterday - I cried for two hours. Kids really do grow up and tell you things from an adult perspective that knocks your socks off. He was really listening, watching and learning all those years that I thought I was going to pull my hair out!!! Aside from the email below, he wrote another quick note that told me "thanks" for a box I recently sent him that had a card with a dashound dog that is saying "So Hey Mom"......a favorite way that Grant began all of his statements/questions to me. I laughed out-loud in the card store when I saw it. I bought it and mailed it to him with a package of goodies. I told him that I couldn't wait to hear him say "So Hey Mom" again.....
He's doing an important work, and I couldn't be prouder of him!
Today's email from Elder Smith:
Dear Family,
So sorry about what happened this week! I found out that my zone was going to temple after I sent the emails. When we go to the temple our p-day gets moved. Sorry I didn’t have any way to let you guys know. Next week everything should be back to normal again.
So this week has probably been one of the best weeks of my whole mission spiritually. I did a division with our Zone Leader and it was way awesome. We marked a 3 people for baptism. That week we had 21 new investigators! All families! It was amazing. A good week is normally about 11 or 12 new investigators. Also my new companion (Elder R. Santos) is our District Leader. That means I see the zl´s all the time and get to do a ton of divisions and such. Plus he's an awesome missionary. He has 1 year and 6 months, so he has a lot of experience.
Then there was conference which was just plain awesome. I’ve never really been into conference as much as I am now as a missionary. I loved it. I watch the whole thing in Portuguese which was weird but cool. We take 3 buses just to go watch it and had to sleep in the house of the zl's which is another bus. Then the next day (Sunday) we had to get up at 4 to watch the priesthood at 6 am. (It’s Saturday night in the states right?) But the messages were all awesome. It seemed like the major theme I got out of it was we need to use our agency to follow the prophet. It’s amazing how the Lord will inspire multiple speakers to use the same topic so we can understand what he is trying to say to us. Oh by the way, Richard G. Scott and one other Apostle recorded their talks in Portuguese before conference rather than use translators...but their accents were so terrible no one could understand what they were saying. I actually felt pretty bad for them because most of the Brazilians just laughed through their whole talks.
OH!! And the BIG NEWS!!! WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS WEEKEND!!!!! His name is Elton. He's 18 years old. We have been working with him for almost 2 months. We worked with him a ton then he fell off the face of the earth for about 3 weeks. When we found him again early this week we asked him about baptism and he accepted immediately. So this weekend (if all works out well) he should be in the water (as we say on the mission). I think I will be the one to baptism him too. It’s going to be really cool. But to be honest, I think I’m going to cry if I’m the one to do the baptism. Holy cow you have no idea how much I’ve worked for this! Just to have a baptism of someone I actually found and taught after all this time…..... I'm pretty excited.
Oh and thanks so much for the package Mom!! My comp had never heard of that kind of gum (I think bubble something) and he liked it. Oh and Dad had some questions so here are the answers:
My comp is Elder R Santos. He is from the Amazon. He has been a member his whole life. His sister JUST got on her mission and will be going home the same time I will. I tease him about how he has to introduce me to his sister a lot. He’s really cool.
I am fluent. I hate to say this because I know the Lord will smite me for saying this but... I speak really well actually. I’ve had people ask if I have a Brazilian mom. (It's really common for Brazilian RMs to marry Brazilian women.) But I know it’s just because The Lord is using me as a tool to accomplish his work. I know it’s not because I'm smart or great or anything. But yes I am fluent.
As for if I love the people... Loving a Paulista is like loving a New Yorker. I guess it can be done... Mostly I love people who move here from the north. Northern Brazil is the friendliest place in the world.
I have given many talks in church. I’ve also sang in sacrament meeting.
I will never get a car. I walked a ton. About 4 miles every day. But there is a saying here on the mission; “A good missionary doesn’t walk a lot, but uses his head and is helped by the members”. So I’ve started doing this more which means I walk less. I’d rather be a good missionary then in good shape.
Oh and my shoes were gone the first transfer. We bought terrible shoes. I have new ones now that I got for free and they should hold but for a long time. My clothes are all sweat stained but that’s normal. All in all everything is good.
Tell Alex I'm very proud of him for all his hard work! He is seeing the rewards on the playing field! Tell him I said school and church first!
I hope Ryan has gotten better. I know it was just a scare but I hope he is healthy again. Hope he is working hard in everything he is doing! He should be too busy to waste time watching TV!
Tell Matt I want to write him and pass him my address. I wrote him 3 times and never got anything from him.
Is Gen still running the show? Who is her teacher this year again? Tell I love her.
Well that’s all. Let me know how the election goes! Keep me updated!
I love you all very much. Sorry for the grammar errors. I don’t speak English very well anymore.
Love,
Elder Smith
Ok....so updates on other kidlets in my life: Ryan is feeling better finally! A few scares - but I think the end result will be ok. There have been many possible problems relating to his kidneys, but his endocrinologist doctor thinks all might be well. He wants to see Ryan's actual ultrasound scan before he gives an opinion (he just read a written "Impression" by the technician). Initially, the report from another hospital stated that Ryan had a finding that was possibly related to "Renal Disease". I absolutely went crazy with grief and worry. I studied and read as much as I could, and played the waiting game. The doctors here wanted the specialist (his name is Bill) to read the results. I heard from Bill yesterday, and he doesn't believe that the results are related to kidney or renal disease. Phewwwww......I breathed a sigh of relief. No one, at this point, can explain why there were subtle findings in his kidneys or why his face is swelling................but we're working on it. Some type of infection just entered Ryan's body and has caused some havic. Hopefully, the worst is over. He's still on medicine....so hopefully it will just keep getting better. Bill is reviewing all of his blood workups and should have an answer back to me. For now.....my Ryan is back and running wild. When we went jogging the other night, the little show-off lapped me three times! He then had a push-up contest with his father last night..............and BEAT him. Yes, I think my Ryan is back. He plays his cousin in football tomorrow - should be a great game.
Alex started on offense AND defense on Monday night. It was the coolest thing ever for him! I had to attend a ground breaking ceremony at BMCC - but I raced back and got there at halftime. His Dad had a smile the size of Texas on his face. Loved seeing my family so excited! Alex is now learning body parts in Spanish. I wanted he and I to take an evening Conversational Spanish class from my friend Amy (who is teaching for BMCC), however, the class begins while Alex is still in football practice (not to mention my work schedule is crazy right now). Guess he and I will learn all of the essential body parts on our own! Friday night the Mustangs play Stanfield; should be a good game. Alex tried for his driving permit again last week without success. Not a good day for him. I told him some days are like that, even in Australia (our secret code that everything will be just fine). I noticed that he came home after that and was a little more chipper and told me a few other lines from our favorite book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Kids are such a blessing, they can bounce back after their hearts break. I admire Alex's strength. Things don't come easy for him (especially test-taking), but he keeps marching on. Great, now I'm crying again (lol).
Matt and I texted back and forth for quite a while last night. I was working late and a message popped up from my favorite college student. A few updates: he likes his classes, he and I bought all the right textbooks (after a long, frustrating time in the library trying to find the correct editions), speech/debate class is harder than he thought it would be and he's spending a ton of time playing basketball at Dixon. Chemistry is cool - they blow things up and he didn't have to be up until 1 pm today. Ah........college life. I told him he was a lucky dog; I had to be out the door by 6 am to work in La Grande today. His response, "Yuuuup". So proud of all he's doing!!!! My Dad would have gone wild knowing that Matt was attending OSU for Mechanical Engineering. I would love to be able to tell him right now............but I'm sure he's watching over Matt with a proud smile from Heaven. One of the last conversations I had with my Dad was me confiding that I was a bit worried about Matt. He hadn't yet decided what he was going to do after graduation - and my Dad suggested that Matt go and spend a week with my brother, who is an Electrician. My Dad thought Matt would be awesome at this profession - and thought Matt could get some hands-on experience with my brother. I always thought Matt would head in the direction of Fish & Wildlife; a profession that I was trying to steer him away from. The competion for jobs is so fierce, I didn't want him to struggle to find work. I think he picked a GREAT field.....I'm excited to see what the future brings him.
And then there's Gen. Currently, I can hear her wrestling Alex in the TV room. She's singing "Eye of the Tiger" and using her best karate moves on her older brother. She too received a special letter (just for her) from Grant. Again - a smile the size of Texas on the face of someone I love when she saw that envelope. She misses him so much. She often teases Alex & Ryan that Grant and Matt are the "nice brothers". Gotta love that girl. Grant asks if she's still running the show. My response is......of course she is!
This last weekend brought General Conference and the Annual Smith Pie-Baking day. We baked over 20 pies and delivered them throughout the community. Since Greg and I are both working out everyday....we only saved two pies for the kids to eat (and yes.....it's been a nightmare, those pies call my name!). Fun, fun times....a few pictures are below. Ryan ended the evening by rolling up his brother into a big blanket "burrito". That was a total crack-up.
Time for scripture study with the kids and then a good nights sleep. The past few nights have left me up and working after I put the kids to bed. Tonight..............I go to sleep at the same time they do (hooooray!).
I just might make it through this audit season.
He's doing an important work, and I couldn't be prouder of him!
Today's email from Elder Smith:
Dear Family,
So sorry about what happened this week! I found out that my zone was going to temple after I sent the emails. When we go to the temple our p-day gets moved. Sorry I didn’t have any way to let you guys know. Next week everything should be back to normal again.
So this week has probably been one of the best weeks of my whole mission spiritually. I did a division with our Zone Leader and it was way awesome. We marked a 3 people for baptism. That week we had 21 new investigators! All families! It was amazing. A good week is normally about 11 or 12 new investigators. Also my new companion (Elder R. Santos) is our District Leader. That means I see the zl´s all the time and get to do a ton of divisions and such. Plus he's an awesome missionary. He has 1 year and 6 months, so he has a lot of experience.
Then there was conference which was just plain awesome. I’ve never really been into conference as much as I am now as a missionary. I loved it. I watch the whole thing in Portuguese which was weird but cool. We take 3 buses just to go watch it and had to sleep in the house of the zl's which is another bus. Then the next day (Sunday) we had to get up at 4 to watch the priesthood at 6 am. (It’s Saturday night in the states right?) But the messages were all awesome. It seemed like the major theme I got out of it was we need to use our agency to follow the prophet. It’s amazing how the Lord will inspire multiple speakers to use the same topic so we can understand what he is trying to say to us. Oh by the way, Richard G. Scott and one other Apostle recorded their talks in Portuguese before conference rather than use translators...but their accents were so terrible no one could understand what they were saying. I actually felt pretty bad for them because most of the Brazilians just laughed through their whole talks.
OH!! And the BIG NEWS!!! WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS WEEKEND!!!!! His name is Elton. He's 18 years old. We have been working with him for almost 2 months. We worked with him a ton then he fell off the face of the earth for about 3 weeks. When we found him again early this week we asked him about baptism and he accepted immediately. So this weekend (if all works out well) he should be in the water (as we say on the mission). I think I will be the one to baptism him too. It’s going to be really cool. But to be honest, I think I’m going to cry if I’m the one to do the baptism. Holy cow you have no idea how much I’ve worked for this! Just to have a baptism of someone I actually found and taught after all this time…..... I'm pretty excited.
Oh and thanks so much for the package Mom!! My comp had never heard of that kind of gum (I think bubble something) and he liked it. Oh and Dad had some questions so here are the answers:
My comp is Elder R Santos. He is from the Amazon. He has been a member his whole life. His sister JUST got on her mission and will be going home the same time I will. I tease him about how he has to introduce me to his sister a lot. He’s really cool.
I am fluent. I hate to say this because I know the Lord will smite me for saying this but... I speak really well actually. I’ve had people ask if I have a Brazilian mom. (It's really common for Brazilian RMs to marry Brazilian women.) But I know it’s just because The Lord is using me as a tool to accomplish his work. I know it’s not because I'm smart or great or anything. But yes I am fluent.
As for if I love the people... Loving a Paulista is like loving a New Yorker. I guess it can be done... Mostly I love people who move here from the north. Northern Brazil is the friendliest place in the world.
I have given many talks in church. I’ve also sang in sacrament meeting.
I will never get a car. I walked a ton. About 4 miles every day. But there is a saying here on the mission; “A good missionary doesn’t walk a lot, but uses his head and is helped by the members”. So I’ve started doing this more which means I walk less. I’d rather be a good missionary then in good shape.
Oh and my shoes were gone the first transfer. We bought terrible shoes. I have new ones now that I got for free and they should hold but for a long time. My clothes are all sweat stained but that’s normal. All in all everything is good.
Tell Alex I'm very proud of him for all his hard work! He is seeing the rewards on the playing field! Tell him I said school and church first!
I hope Ryan has gotten better. I know it was just a scare but I hope he is healthy again. Hope he is working hard in everything he is doing! He should be too busy to waste time watching TV!
Tell Matt I want to write him and pass him my address. I wrote him 3 times and never got anything from him.
Is Gen still running the show? Who is her teacher this year again? Tell I love her.
Well that’s all. Let me know how the election goes! Keep me updated!
I love you all very much. Sorry for the grammar errors. I don’t speak English very well anymore.
Love,
Elder Smith
Ok....so updates on other kidlets in my life: Ryan is feeling better finally! A few scares - but I think the end result will be ok. There have been many possible problems relating to his kidneys, but his endocrinologist doctor thinks all might be well. He wants to see Ryan's actual ultrasound scan before he gives an opinion (he just read a written "Impression" by the technician). Initially, the report from another hospital stated that Ryan had a finding that was possibly related to "Renal Disease". I absolutely went crazy with grief and worry. I studied and read as much as I could, and played the waiting game. The doctors here wanted the specialist (his name is Bill) to read the results. I heard from Bill yesterday, and he doesn't believe that the results are related to kidney or renal disease. Phewwwww......I breathed a sigh of relief. No one, at this point, can explain why there were subtle findings in his kidneys or why his face is swelling................but we're working on it. Some type of infection just entered Ryan's body and has caused some havic. Hopefully, the worst is over. He's still on medicine....so hopefully it will just keep getting better. Bill is reviewing all of his blood workups and should have an answer back to me. For now.....my Ryan is back and running wild. When we went jogging the other night, the little show-off lapped me three times! He then had a push-up contest with his father last night..............and BEAT him. Yes, I think my Ryan is back. He plays his cousin in football tomorrow - should be a great game.
Alex started on offense AND defense on Monday night. It was the coolest thing ever for him! I had to attend a ground breaking ceremony at BMCC - but I raced back and got there at halftime. His Dad had a smile the size of Texas on his face. Loved seeing my family so excited! Alex is now learning body parts in Spanish. I wanted he and I to take an evening Conversational Spanish class from my friend Amy (who is teaching for BMCC), however, the class begins while Alex is still in football practice (not to mention my work schedule is crazy right now). Guess he and I will learn all of the essential body parts on our own! Friday night the Mustangs play Stanfield; should be a good game. Alex tried for his driving permit again last week without success. Not a good day for him. I told him some days are like that, even in Australia (our secret code that everything will be just fine). I noticed that he came home after that and was a little more chipper and told me a few other lines from our favorite book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Kids are such a blessing, they can bounce back after their hearts break. I admire Alex's strength. Things don't come easy for him (especially test-taking), but he keeps marching on. Great, now I'm crying again (lol).
Matt and I texted back and forth for quite a while last night. I was working late and a message popped up from my favorite college student. A few updates: he likes his classes, he and I bought all the right textbooks (after a long, frustrating time in the library trying to find the correct editions), speech/debate class is harder than he thought it would be and he's spending a ton of time playing basketball at Dixon. Chemistry is cool - they blow things up and he didn't have to be up until 1 pm today. Ah........college life. I told him he was a lucky dog; I had to be out the door by 6 am to work in La Grande today. His response, "Yuuuup". So proud of all he's doing!!!! My Dad would have gone wild knowing that Matt was attending OSU for Mechanical Engineering. I would love to be able to tell him right now............but I'm sure he's watching over Matt with a proud smile from Heaven. One of the last conversations I had with my Dad was me confiding that I was a bit worried about Matt. He hadn't yet decided what he was going to do after graduation - and my Dad suggested that Matt go and spend a week with my brother, who is an Electrician. My Dad thought Matt would be awesome at this profession - and thought Matt could get some hands-on experience with my brother. I always thought Matt would head in the direction of Fish & Wildlife; a profession that I was trying to steer him away from. The competion for jobs is so fierce, I didn't want him to struggle to find work. I think he picked a GREAT field.....I'm excited to see what the future brings him.
And then there's Gen. Currently, I can hear her wrestling Alex in the TV room. She's singing "Eye of the Tiger" and using her best karate moves on her older brother. She too received a special letter (just for her) from Grant. Again - a smile the size of Texas on the face of someone I love when she saw that envelope. She misses him so much. She often teases Alex & Ryan that Grant and Matt are the "nice brothers". Gotta love that girl. Grant asks if she's still running the show. My response is......of course she is!
This last weekend brought General Conference and the Annual Smith Pie-Baking day. We baked over 20 pies and delivered them throughout the community. Since Greg and I are both working out everyday....we only saved two pies for the kids to eat (and yes.....it's been a nightmare, those pies call my name!). Fun, fun times....a few pictures are below. Ryan ended the evening by rolling up his brother into a big blanket "burrito". That was a total crack-up.
Time for scripture study with the kids and then a good nights sleep. The past few nights have left me up and working after I put the kids to bed. Tonight..............I go to sleep at the same time they do (hooooray!).
I just might make it through this audit season.
Alex protecting the QB.
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