HOT!!!!! Week 13 Newark, Delaware

Hey everyone! how is everything going this week? all is good here and so glad to be out here! How was Pioneer day? bummer we don't get that holiday out here. Well it reallywouldn't matter because wedon't get to see those fireworks anyway! oh well. But it's so crazy it's already the end of the month again! heading to month 9 wow where does time go! So far this has been the hardest but most worth it 8 months of my life i am so glad i get this chance to be out here!

Well first off this week was soooo hot it got up to 110 the day we had to walk because we are running out of miles so we cannot drive that much! but it was so hot! we were drenchedin sweat when we got to our investigators house! Also this week i was on exchanges and was in Wilmington where theydon't have a car so we rode bikes all day long that was super hot too. It's been sooooo hot and i have been drinking a lot of water to stay some what hydrated! Its amazing how hot it gets here you step out of the car and you are automatically sweating! This is nothing like Utah! Also Tuesday while we were playing soccer it poured rain on us it was so much fun we were just soaked but it felt sooo good! We are getting a lot of people out to play soccer its awesome i think we will get some people coming to church just from playing soccer! I am getting pretty good mom you would be proud i scored two goals last time and this is onMexicans who like soccer is their life.

Well we had a cool experience last night so we have a family names the Lunas the mom and Jenny who is 18 are really active and such amazing people. The dad has been inactive for awhile and they have been separated for awhile. It just has been a bad situation but he is starting to turn the corner. So last night he wanted us to come over and teach him. So we did it was awesome he is coming back to church and we talked a lot about the temple and how Jenny wants him to be there when she gets married so we are really seeing a miracle in the making a house changing! We are going there tonight for Family home evening. Man this gospel is awesome it changes families.

Well i talked to Elder Lindsley on Thursday he has a great trainer. He is awesome and really excited to be out here. Well love you all be good and thanks for all you do!

Elder Smart

Week 12 Newark, Delaware

Hey everyone how is going? hope all is well back in Utah or wherever you may be! All is good here! i found out that i will be staying another transfer here! i am super excited and i am still with my companion Elder Dopp super cool Elder! We are hopefully going to see a lot of success this next transfer we have some things lined up that will be good! We have Four baptismal dates and look to have some more coming up! We had a really good week this last week it was our best week of the transfer lesson wise so far, we taught 26 lessons up to this week our most we had taught was 23 so we raised the bar it was good. We got a lot of potential investigators this week to that could be really good! I am super excited! man i love being out on a mission! we also started to play soccer every Tuesday and we had 12 non members out this last week so could be a baptizing machine out of that! plus we get a lot of members there cause they all love soccer!

Well i hit golf balls twice this week! it was awesome! We went this last Monday for p-day ya the first like 20 were just like shank after shank it was pretty hilarious then i got a hang of it after a while! Then on Thursday for our break we were out an about so we stopped by golf galaxy and we just hit balls on the simulator it was fun! the guys were impressed look at this young kids in a white shirt and tie hit the ball so far! i got it up to 300 only but not bad! It was really fun! Well we really don't have any cool stories this week to tell

Well one we have had a really hard time finding people to come to church with us cause they work! so yesterday we knocked to see who was home on Sundays! we found two new people that don't work Sundays and said they would come to church with us that was really awesome and they seem like good guys! We will see what happens. But i am so happy to be serving a mission love this gospel love all of you. The book of Mormon is so true its blue!

Have a good week

Elder Smart

Hey!

Hey how is everyone! this was a good long week! How is everything at home? Hows the Summer treating you guys? it is a scorcher here. This could be my last transfer here but who knows i sure hope not things are really starting to take shape here and we have some investigators that are really progressing we are hoping to have 6 baptismal dates by the end of this week. But i really hope i do not get transferred! I really have enjoyed the time i have been with Elder Dopp too, we have had a good time and started up a lot of things here in this area! But all is good wherever the Lord needs me that's where I will be right

Well just want to start out this week has got me thinking a lot how i can better myself as a missionary! There is a lot. I get really impatient i figured out especially when studying it is super hard for me to study for such long periods of time. I need to find ways that will help me enjoy myself while studying! Still am looking for that way. But it will come soon. Also the hard thing is getting people to church here for the last few weeks. I need to increase my faith man its hard at times to have it but i got to work on that!

Well we have a really cool family we are working with named Laura & Osvaldo there are probably in their upper 20's great family! they three little boys way cool kids. So we have been kinda teaching them a lot and they show a lot of interest they are reading the Book of Mormon and everything the only thing that is hard for them is coming to church, since he works on Sundays. We told him of the story that happened with some members that asked to change schedules so that they could go to church, the wife's was able to change, but the husband quit his job but found another one that week that was better. Way cool story. But we extended the baptismal date to them this week they said they will be baptized once they get to know the church more. So we are praying that he will be coming to church soon. Also we have Benjamin the guys that is a "member" but we have to re-baptize him since we cant find his records or anything. We should be baptizing him hopefully this week so that should be exciting. Also working with a lady named Viviana Monte, we are only able to go over there when her husbands not home because he wont allow her to listen to the missionaries or go to church. So frustrating why are people so hard like that they don't get it, what would it harm? but anyways her little nine year old committed suicide 2 years ago it was so hard for her she had no belief in God or anything. Then her aunt and uncle our members so they started talking to here and finally let the missionaries come over they helped her a lot she would easily be baptized if her husband wasn't so hard. we are going to continue to pray that one day he will soften up. The little boy already has his temple work done which is really cool. She is such a cool lady she will be baptized one day i know it!

Well i hope all goes well i will let you know what happens with where i am going this next week. Oh it was really cool this past week we had interviews with President. He said that i am one of the few missionaries he can trust and doesn't need to worry about it made me really happy and felt really honored for him to say that! I love our mission president he is such a cool guy! Well love you all have a good week and CTR!

Elder Smart

July 5th, 2011

Hey how is everyone doing! Hope everyone had a great fourth of July and enjoyed fireworks and a lot of good for me because only saw like 2 fireworks on our way driving home last night. Bummer huh we were not allowed to do anything and to watch fireworks or anything with people so we just got to chill and work out in our house haha. Hope the fireworks were good there. Plus fireworks here are illegal in Delaware so they don't sell any here in the state but of course people just go to PA and buy them. But we understand there are a lot of bad things that go on during those times. Everyone drinks here and what not we just didn't want to risk our safety so we know where President is coming from.

Well this week was good we still don't have any more baptismal dates but we do have some planned to give. We have a family Laura and Osvaldo that are really progressing really well. We had planned to give them a baptismal date this last Saturday but it didn't work we just didn't have enough time during the lesson since they got home a little late. But they are really cool people. but it is really weird both me and Elder Dopp feel nervous while we are teaching its just weird cause we usually feel fine, and when he gets nervous he just talks a lot and me i just don't talk haha. But this last week we taught really well together it was a good week!

haha so something funny this week we decided we want to try saving money so we combine both of our laundry loads together which costs 75 cents each then we don't dry them. We made a hanging line in our apartment with telephone wires. It works great, we are super smart its been really fun with him. We have had a lot of fun while working hard at the same time. i really hope we get to stay together for one more transfer till he leaves. I just want a companion for more than one transfer and not get thrown around, its har that way, like you get used to each other like 4 weeks into it so you need more time to work together effectively.

Really cool experience this week was Araseli the one i have been talking about a lot with her husband. Ya she bore her testimony this week in sacrament it was super powerful, because its been hard for her to not have a husband that is in the church and what not. But she told about the experience when we first went to her house something happened the day before and so we came the next day and we told her if she had faith that he would come out and listen to us. And he came out and listened now he is progressing a lot and he really sees a difference in her family way cool! Goes to show what this gospel does and how the Lord prepares people for us to teach.

Well love you all your all amazing i am so grateful to be out here and the help people and grow closer to my Savior. Thanks for all your love an support your amazing!

Elder Taylor Smart