day 161

haha oh man so we got a text from our zone leaders saying that we won't be able to write you guys till today cause the libraries are normally closed the day after. so here i am. :) well this week has been an awesome one!! we had a christmas eve dinner and then a christmas dinner. the eve dinner was with the family that we had thanksgiving with and then the christmas dinner was with the mcdonalds. as you guys know. um i think i can send some pictures this time. so here are some and then i am sending my sd card home.

well thats about it for now! i can't wait to hear from you again! until next time,

love,

Elder Jens Smith
Pictures will come with the sd card that he sends home...

day 161 Questions and Answers

What did you end up doing yesterday? 
so christmas morning we got up at about 7:15 and opened present and then we got ready for church and after church we went over to the mcdonalds to email. after dinner we started setting up a pingpong table and played that for a while. :) awesome!!!! 

What did you eat? 
we had ham, potatoes, noodles, stuffing, jello, rolls. it was soo good!

Did your companion get to talk to his family? 
yeah he did. unfortunatly his family wasn't able to get their video working so they saw him and were able to talk with each other but he couldn't see them. sad.

Did you have stay while he talked to his family...like in the same room?  Wasn't he there the whole time too? 
no we didn't. after a while of us talking he went up stairs and then when he and his family started talking i did the same thing.

What did Sister Reed send?  I forgot to ask. 
she sent me lots of goodies! some cookies, some awesome cards from the young women, and some mixed nuts and then some candy cane kisses. it was really good!

Got any questions for us? 
hmmm...not that i can think of.

Do you email Christian?
 i do sometimes. i try whenever i have time to.

Did your companion and you exchange presents? 
no not really. :) we buy each other lunch and dinner so i guess that could be our presents to each other.

day 159 Happy Day, it's Christmas!!!

We got a call from Jensen this morning around 10:20 our time.  We called him back and started doing skype.  It was so good to see him.  He looked so nice.  He was wearing a new purple tie.  Our session was a little delayed with voice to video, but it was just nice to have him in our living room with us.  I was sad that Christian and Jensen couldn't talk to each other.  He mentioned that he's got one investigator that they're working with and he requested some "cardigans" like Mr. Rogers would wear.  hehe  I wanted to send him a nice bright yellow one but he nixed that right away..."they have to be approved missionary wear"  He was at a member's house (1st counselor in branch presidency) using their computers and eating there.  It was fun to see little kids running around. We got over an hour to talk to him.  He "talked" to Adi  while Adi was trying to figure out how he recognized that voice, but wouldn't focus on the computer.  It was cute.  He wanted to see the chickens and the new washer and dryer.

Best Christmas present ever.

day 153

haha neato frito huh? thats a new one i have never heard of before. :) and the movie quote is from the incredibles. :) i got that one right away. when he is getting out of his car and the little boy is on his trike and he says " what are you waiting for?" and the little boy says "i don't know, something amazing i guess." and then the guy says, "me too kid, me too." haha funny. so tomorrow i will have my click day and i will have been out here for 5 months!!! it doesn't seem that long but it really is!! haha any ways. so hopefully the computer will let me put some pictures on here for you guys. and in christians pic. he looks so much bigger!!! like hefty!!! "i'd like to take out a heeeefty loan." name that movie!!!! haha funny. random!! nope no pics this time. i will send home my sd card and then you can look at the pics there and do what you will with them.

well i love and miss all of you!! hope your christ...mas can be focused on the christ part of it more than the mas part. can't wait to hear from you again!!! until next time.

 love
Elder Jens Smith

Ok so any guesses on the movie quote?    "I'd like to take out a heeeefty loan."  I have my guess but it's prolly wrong.  We googled Christian's quote after many days of thinking.

day 153 Questions and Answers

Can you send us a picture of you and Elder Kendell?  like one of you in your suits together?  or really any pics...i'll take any really. 
yeah i'll try... :)

Tell us about Christmas?  When will you be able to call?  Will you be able to skype?  We can skype too?  I don't know what will happen with Christian (he's 14 hours ahead of us...13 for you...don't know if he'll call on saturday?) or how he'll be able to.  Our church is at 10 for just that day and only sacrament mtg...(do you just have sacrament mtg too?)  then it changes to 1 freakin o clock.  yuck!!!  So not happy about that one. 
so yeah i will be able to call and if you guys can we might be able to skype. one of the members here has it and he might let us use that. anyways...yeah i tried to get  President jergensen to let me call christian in the phillipines but he said that i wouldn't be able to. so the only way that i can talk to him is if he is calling at the same time that i do....so i don't know how much the possiblity of us talking to each other will be. our church is at 9, so 8 for you guys so i'll probably start calling you guys at around 1-2 maybe noonish. i don't know if elder kendell is going to want to talk to his parents first so we'll find out and just plan on that then. i used to think that having church at 1 was awesome cause i didn't have to worry about getting up on time and getting ready so fast. i could take my time but now i think that the earlier chruch is much better.

Just mailed your package yesterday (thursday).  I hope you like it and can wait till Christmas to open them.  It supposed to be at the mission office on monday...so hopefully they will hurry and forward it to you .  Have you gotten anymore packages from anyone yet? 
well i have gotten nate and lori's package for my birthday and it was way cool!!! i got some of those sticky hands and we played with them for hours! awesome!!

How did you get a Christmas tree? 
the tree and all the ornaments were in this little closet that is in our appartment and so we just got that out one night and put every thing up. pretty sweet.

Did you get something special on Friday?  Were you home?  Or was it on the doorstep? 
haha yeah we did get it on friday but we didn't eat all of it till like saturday and sunday night. we had just had two dinners that night and so we were super full so we stuck the pizza in the fridge and waited till then to stick it in the oven and warm it right up. it was so awesome!!! thank you momma!! i love you so much!

What did you do in Oskaloosa?  for your bday?  Did you get to make some brownies? 
ok so here's the low down on what i did for my birthday. we went to osky and went and played basketball in the morning which was awesome! then we went home and got changed and did some service for some people there. after that we went home and got ready for lazer tag!!! we played lazer tag for at least an hour and it was only 5 bucks! after that we went home and got ready for that night where we went down to pella and with a member and some people from the local high school and area we played SOCCER!!! so cool to spend my birthday playin the sport i love and emailin my family. such an awesome birthday out here. yeah we made some brownies but had to substitue the vegatable oil for some shortening....they turned out ok but when i took it out i didn't wait to put the candles in it so they all melted and got into the brownies but it was still good.

Do you think that you'll be able to talk to Christian too on Christmas? somehow?  Or were you thinking at the same time that we all talk, we can talk together? 
yeah i am pretty sure you will be able to talk to christian on christmas. i was hoping that we could all call at the same time and talk that way but it doesn't look like we'll be able to do that. :/

Is there anything that you'd like us to ask Christian? when he calls? 
uh, just how things are there and what kind of food he has eaten. :) oh guess what! i ate a frog leg!!! now i can say when people ask me what the weirdest thing i have eaten i can respond and say that. :) haha
Where/what are your plans for Christmas?  well they are pretty unsure right now. a lot of members have asked us what we are doing something and then say that they might be doing something but right now it looks like we will be just having dinner at a member of the branch council's house.

We asked Christian what he wanted for Christmas and he said "I don't know...something amazing I guess.."  and then said...name that movie. 
it took us a while but maybe you can guess  its from the incredibles!!

How often do you get your haircut?  Does anyone do it for free?  Or you have to go somewheres?  mmm i just got my hair cut in osky for my birthday so that was cool but i don't get it cut very often. i cut it once right before i got out and once when i was with elder excell and now once with elder kendell.

day 148 Transfer Week and Hoppy Burfday!

well this week has been a long one but well worth it. i have learned so much and am so excited for this next transfer because i have faith that we will find a new investigator to get baptized in the next few weeks. i want to bare my testimony in my native tongue...."mommaniams come down....town, and, we found out, we weren't gonbe dravin the truck." hahahahahaha funny!!!!!! i love you all and can't wait till monday!!! i can't believe that christian leaves the MTC on monday!!! crazy!!! anyway im really glad that he will cause then i will be able to talk to him. otherwise he wouldn't have been able to call and talk to any of us cause i don't think they let them call in the MTC cause there are so many who would be calling home. anyways...have a good
week.

love

Elder Jens Smith

sorry no pics. the computer won't let me. :(

day 148 Questions and Answers

So for future reference....wash all new stuff, check detergent, if this happens again get some benadryl.  I don't want to assume you didn't know any of this...but did you?
 .........ha yeah thanks for that. :) no its ok. i am really fine. i don't really know at all what i had or what i ate or put on. i don't think it was from a new detergent cause we had used it before for like a week or two before and it didn't do anything then. and it wasn't any foods cause i ate all the same food when i got it and they didn't start back up. so i really have no idea what it could have been. sister jergensen said it could have been from the cold or from sweating a lot. and i did work out really hard the morning i got them. oh well. president now has me taking allegra in the morning when i wake up and benedryl right before bed for a month. so far no more hives or allergic reaction.

And Corin asked...did you get the hives from the leaves?
......mmm no don't think so.

I LOVE the pictures you send...keep them coming! got any for today?
The pictures you sent this last time were of...

leaves...where? what? why?
 .....we raked up some leaves for a guy in our ward who just lost his mom and we helped him get get the house lookin good.

Elder Kendell putting on an ornament?  special for any reason?

 ......its our christmas tree!!!!!

Elder Kendell laying on the floor with his feet up on the couch? tired?

 ........hahahahaha yeah he fell asleep like that!

If you are going...are you glad?  Apprehensive?  Tired of that place?

 .......uh well im not going but it is kinda bitter sweet cause i was hoping to get out of here and see a new place but at the same time i want to find an investigator so bad here so that i don't python knoxville. (sqeeze all the investigators out of the place)

What're you plans for you bday?
.....well we are spending it in oskaloosa so i won't be home till tomorrow. sorry momma.

Are you going to visit tons of people and say goodbye...(that is IF you are leaving that place?) 

..........nope :)

Are you using your jumprope? (dad wants to know)
well it is really hard using this jumprope cause it doesn't have any weight to the handles so its hard for me to keep turning the jumprope without my shoulders getting tired and getting the rope all the way underneath me.
but yeah i have used the jumprope a couple 3 times. :)

day 139

We were quite concerned about Jensen's hives.  All we thought were...they are two boys that don't know anything about hives...that you need to take benadryl when something like happens...or that you could have shortness of breath...And it doesn't look too comfortable either...  So we inquired further. 

End result is this:  Jensen is better now.  He HAS/HAD been working with Sister Jergensen and a dr. there since last week.  They have had him on Allegra during the day and benadryl in the evening and now he looks like this.  Mucho improvement.


Here is what he had to say:
Hi mom and dad, I'm doing just fine and I apologize for not clearing this whole thing up with you guys. On Monday I still had this but it was only minimal and was just informing you about what had happened without informing you I was doing something to fix it. I love you guys so much! Until Wednesday!
Love Elder Jens Smith.

President Jergensen had been with Jensen all day at Zone conference. Hence the white shirt hanging off...hehe  Proof... (I can only imagine the conversation that preceeded this picture)

day 138 PICTURES!!

ha alrighty here are some pictures. :) viewer discrestion is advised.

Elder Kendell putting on an ornament.

Elder Kendell

Jens and Elder Kendell

Jensen's hives

day 138

I can't believe how fast this week has gone by!!!!! holy moly! so this week has been a lame one. i have gotten some hives or some sort of allargic reaction to something that i ate. i have had it all this week. it started on wednesday and is still going on. I have no clue what it is that i ate but hopefully we can get it taken care of soon so i can focus more on the work here. i really hope that its not something i like to eat. :(  anyway.

transfers are coming up and i can't believe how fast this one has gone. im pretty sure i'll be leaving knoxville. our zone leaders told me there is a 30% chance that im staying so it'll be cool to see if i do get to leave but at the same time its going to be sad if i do have to leave my birthplace. i have really gotten to know and love these people here in knoxville and i am going to miss them tons if i do end up leaving.

so we don't really have any investigators now. things have gone down a lot and its been getting tough to find people who are interested. hopefully we will be able to find someone who is searching for the gospel.

i absolutely loved the devotional of the first presidency last night!!! super spiritual! and i loved the choir too. haha now that we have to listen to only them they have become my favorite "band" haha. there were a few non-members there and i think they liked it. i didn't get a chance to actually talk to them. they left too fast. haha

have you been able to find some of those talks by those guys i requested? haha i totally called christian getting hurt playing vollyball or basketball!!!! haha what a goofball! his time in the MTC is now limited!! i can't believe he is only about three or four weeks away from leaving the MTC. CRaZY!

anyways...i love and miss you all and hope you have a wonderful christmas!!! oh and the wednesday right before transfers is my birthday! how awesomely planned is that?! :) haha alright bye now.

love,

Elder Jens Smith

day 138 Questions and Answers

How has your week been? 
well this week was really fast but at the same time pretty lame. i have spent at least 6 hours in the last 4 days at home trying to get my rash...thing under control. its been rough.

You said in your last letter that you got to play soccer instead of football...did you request that? or were other people more interested in playing soccer too? 
no we just started kicking the ball, elder kendell and i and they everybody who played soccer and some spectators came outside and had a blast!! it was way cool!

what time do you have to be in every night?  Is every night the same or are some nights different curfew? 
yeah if we aren't at a members house having dinner or a lesson then we have to be in by 9. if we are then its 9:30.

Have you received my package yet?  Have you done any of the days?  Aren't they fun?  Or maybe not huh? 
haha i absolutly love the calender thing!!! it totally reminds me of home and of you momma. :)

Good this week? 
well good this week is that im not sick or anything. bad is that i got this dumb allergy thing goin on and i don't like it one bit.

What have you learned? 
i have learned to not stick your finger in a rat trap...it hurts. also i learned that the book of mormon is an awesomely powerful book and is able to help us understand our questions and concerns with anything you read in it.

Did you write any of those girls I sent you addresses for yet? 
yes i did. i wrote the first three but i didn't have time to write the nice girl staying at the atkinsons house. i will do that today hopefully.

day 131

well this week has been really slow for the work but it went by really fast. it seems like two days ago we were here and didn't have enough time again!
haha thats awesome that you were able to get a new washer and dryer!!!! i have been waiting for you to get one and now you get one while im out! ha oh well. are you planning on moving while we are out?

so gary finally got a birdie? does he have more than one? and when you told me that his name is "the baron" i immediatly thought of the pizza. :) hahahaha

which cousins came over? and i can't wait to have those songbooks! every time we are in sunday school we can hear the primary kids sing and they are singing the same songs that we sung when i was just in primary and i sing along and makes me miss teaching and being with all those goofy kids! :)

ha i was reading that scripture a couple o days ago and thought of why i picked that one and i was really glad that i did. it is a beautiful verse and it makes me think of the power behind it. we have been focusing our efforts on the book of mormon and i have had my testimony grow so much about the book of mormon and how powerful it is in the conversion of our investigators. Sister Bowen, (Elder Bowen of the seventy's wife) told us that if our investigators have their testimony based on the book of mormon they will always be faithful in the church. What a promise!!!!! so powerful. i encourage you guys to gain an even greater testimony of the book of mormon. it has increased my knowledge and faith so much and i want that for you as well.

so i was told that christian wouldn't be able to call home on christmas if he is still in the MTC cause there would be too many people calling home. so hopefully he will be in the Phillipines before christmas cause then i would be able to call him as well. your letter that you sent to me last about christian  and him hurting his leg or something like that. what happened?

anyways...i love and miss you all and hope that you had and have a wonderful thanksgiving and an even better christmas.

love
Elder Jens Smith

day 131 Questions Answered

You mentioned in your last letter that you hit your 4th month mark..."click day" what is that and what do you do for it? 
ok so for "click day" we call it that cause it marks the day we went to the MTC and we do it every month. so on the 20th of every month its my click day.

How was your Thanksgiving?  Were you asked to bring anything? hehe 
thanksgiving was awesome!!!! no we didn't bring any food. we just brought up with our branch mission leader some tables and chairs.

What did you learn this week? 
well i learned that fireside talks by John Bytheway and Troy Dunn are HILARIOUS! haha i think i would like that for a christmas present or birthday present is all their talks that you can find. and the MO TAB.

Favorite thing on thanksgiving? 
ha favorite thing on thanksgiving was that instead of playing football we played soccer! awesome!

Did you miss any food from here? 
hmmm. i do miss the yams even though we had them there for thanksgiving they just weren't the same as yours momma!

Best this week. 
hmmm probably thanksgiving was the best thing this week. we have been having really slow weeks this past month. for the work that is. but this last week it went by so fast!

I love you soooo soo much!!! did you know that? 
i did know that but i love and miss you even more! ;)

day 124

anyway not much else has happend other than stake conference which i thought i would be able to see amanda and levi there but that was the day they decided to stay home and not have the kids be a disruption. lame sauce!!!!! oh well. hopefully i will get to see them soon. and also having Elder Bowen from the seventy come and teach our zone about the abrahamic covanant. it was super sweet!!! well they are kicking me off the computer now. :(((( i love and miss you guys so much.
sorry again for the short letter.
love,

Elder Jens Smith

day 124 Questions and Answers

I've sent you Christian's emails...are you getting them in letter form?  He's pretty funny! especially the part where he says some words in his language... 
i haven't gotten anything from you but that first one. hopefully it will come this week. haha i can tell from his first letters that he is really funny. his comp sounds awesome and wish i could meet him. its weird to think that chirstian is learning a different language and speaking it. i bet he has got it down pretty well now that he's been there for almost 4 weeks! and also i hit my 4 month mark (my click day). CRAZY!!! just think...in two more months i will have been out for 6 months! AHHHH it doesn't seem like that long at all!

How did you figure out how to use your camera and upload the pictures? 
well i went to wal mart and bought a little device that plugs into the usb port in the computer and i can plug my SD card from my camara into that and it uploads pictures onto the computer. awesome! i will send home my card cause it has videos on it that won't fit on the emails.

What're your plans for Thanksgiving?  Going anywhere special?  Some members house? 
yeah we are going to a members house and they usually have like 30 or more people there for thanksgiving so we were invited there. pretty cool.

I think dad asked you what you wanted for your birthday/christmas gifts...and you said that you'd think about it.. Have you had a chance to do that?  I would like to know so I can send them out soon for you to get them. 
YES i would like every mo tab CD that you guys can find and send it to me cause our mission president has told us that our baptismal goal for this next year would be 400 and to acheive that goal we needed to make some sacrifices and one of those is listening to only mo tab. so that would be nice if you could do that. also send me some winter gear!!!!! i only have that coat that randy gave me and it doesn't work all that well with keeping the cold out. some gloves, a beanie, some nice warm socks...(black), um...some thermals, a big puffy coat. i don't know how expensive it will be for you to ship those out to me but maybe you could put some monies on my card and i can have elder kendell help me buy the cheapest stuff there is so that it doesn't cost that much.

We have to speak this next Sunday ...well not really speak...we're reporting on YOU GUYS!!!  Anything you'd like me to say? Or funny stories? 
um...well Elder Kendell and i had a laughing fit yesterday. we went to a L.A. (Less Active)'s house and had dinner with them and after we watched a movie and it started cutting out at the end which was aparently really funny and so we just started busting up laughing and we couldn't say the prayer we were laughing so much and so hard! haha funny stuff! other than that not very much funny stuff has happend lately. sorry.

Best this week? 
best this week probably was stake conference and zone meeting. we had a general authority come and speak with us cause he was there to set apart the new stake president for the des moines stake.

Funny stories? 
not yet. sorry.

It snowed and stayed over night on friday night but was gone again like by saturday night.  Any snow for you?  Ty is bummed that the ski season won't open up till Dec 7th I think?  and he already has a pass and wants to use it. 
ha we haven't gotten any snow. its just really really cold. thats lame that ty can't go and that it won't open till then. when did they open up last year?  

What is the best thing about Elder Kendell?  Send us a picture of you two so I can add it to your shrine on the wall.  I'll take a picture of the wall.  It has metamorphed (gosh when I was rereading this I wondered "is that even a word?" lol, I don't think it is)  into a shrine of my missionaries.  Do you think that you'll be together just ONE transfer or for one more?  Like be there in Knoxville over Christmas? 
the best thing about Elder Kendell is that he is really easy to get along with. he makes me laugh and he is a really mature missionary. he is able to correct some of the mistakes that i make and help me correct them after lessons or after role playing during companion study. hmmm...he doesn't think that i will be here another transfer and i don't know what to think. maybe i will stay and maybe i won't. i have no stinkin' clue!

Last time you sent a picture of some jello...did the fife's send you some and how to make that recipe?  Was it easy? 
yeah!!! they sent me a package full of things that they thought was nessesary for me to have as a missionary. teagan sent me a little rubber football and garrett sent me the stain glass jello recipe cause he was sure that it was my favorite thing that i had at my farewell...hahaha i don't think i had a piece of it cause it was all gone by the time i got to it but it was good when i made it! :) and then owen thought it was nice to send me some toilet paper...fortunatly we had one roll of tp left when he sent it so we were lucky enough to use his roll. :) haha and emmett gave me some of his halloween candy. it was a nice funny package.

day 117 Woohoo Pictures!!

 Elder Brandley, Elder Holmes, Elder Smith, Elder Herrin

Buddies in the MTC.

Kristina sent him a package and in there sent some instructions on how to make this cool jello called stained glass jello.  They had made it for Jens' farewell luncheon and he loved it.  Sooo fun and awesome! 
Thanks so much Kristina, Garrett, Teagan, Owen, Emmy and Dunc!

day 117

well, i finally figured out how to put pictures on my email. now you will probably have pictures every email...hopefully. :)
any ways...this week has kinda gone by slow for me. it was rough starting up and getting lessons set with the Less Actives and with the members also. we are trying to up our lessons by having a member present there. we haven't been doing too well with that.

so on monday we went up to oskaloosa with the elders up there and had a blast for P-day. we went to their church and played basketball and then some four square and then we went to their little mall and played lazer tag!!! it was so sweet and it wasn't busy at all so when we got done they asked if we wanted to go again for free and we were like...YES PLEASE! so we played again and it was super fun.

tuesday we did a lot of tracting and it was really misty and so we got our suits soaked and it was really cold.

wednesday we had a regular day with visiting our less actives and then after the day was done we went indianola for exchanges and it was awesome doing that. i got to be with the new elder who had only been out for a week here. so i got to see what it would have been kinda like if i were to have trained.

thursday we stayed up in indianola and blitzed their area.

Friday morning we packed up and headed home and planned for the baptism and my talk. it was an amazing baptism.

saturday we had district meeting and the ZL's brought a big piece of round ice and so after we all took turns putting it on our head for how ever long. like 30 secs. pretty crazy

sunday i had to give a talk on the importance of missionary work. it went ok. it just sounded like i was rebuking the memebers. :s haha i guess i know what to do next time i have to give a talk. :)

well thats my week for you all. sorry im a horrible writer. i'll try to improve on my writing home email skills. i love you all so much. thank you!

love,

Elder Jens Smith

day 117 Questions and Answers

We saw a picture of alphabet letters that spelled out your name and zach's name...Is there a story behind that? 
ok so i was eating some alphabet soup which we had found in our cabinets and so i thought...before i finish this i wanted to spell our names together. so i picked out our letters and we both took pictures.

Elder Kendell is from Morgan Utah?  That's up north and west...Did he play soccer?  On his fb page it just says that he likes his brothers soccer playing.  (we already stalked him) 
uh..yeah he did. he played a little bit but didn't play all of high school. i think his first two years.

Good and bad this week? 
good is that we are getting so many people on the road to baptism and it is amazing how people can change and find their way to the Iron rod.

Funny stories? 
hmm...no funny stories this time. sorry.

Are you still seeing the nursing home lady? 
yeah we are. the branch is trying to get her to church because the only thing holding her back from coming to church is a vehical that can transport her to and from church cause she is in a wheelchair.

How is James? 
well james is good...hopefully...we still haven't seen him and i don't think we will see him for a while. sad.

How was your baptism???!!! and your talk? 
the baptism was awesome!!!! I gave a good talk on the holy Ghost and i thought it was really good! after he and his parents were crying and his parents are non-members. awesome!!! unfortunatly they weren't able to come to his confirmation. 

What's your favorite movie quote that Elder Kendell does? 
he says "uh, where did he go george?" i don't know where thats from but elder herrin said it all in the MTC and then our branch mission leader said it and i was like..."where is that from!?" and now Elder Kendell says it really well. and he has lots of movie voices. better then mine i think. :)

day 110 Pictures Stolen (for the last time!!)

Halloween...they had to stay in missionary attire but could alter it a tad.  Elder E. is an NBA draft pick and Jensen is Harry Potter... 

Alphabet soup

"Zach" and "Jens"



day 110

well this week has been a short one but also really hard on me. i feel like im still really new to this whole thing and i don't feel comfortable planning out our days cause there aren't very many people we can see in knoxville. i guess its time to start tracting and finding other ways to find people. so i do have a funny story kinda. so elder kendell and i went to dairy queen to eat lunch the other day and i got some chicken strips and so we waited and got our food and the lady walked away too fast for me to ask her for something so i go up to the counter and get there and nobody is looking at me and didn't look like they wanted to help me so i just asked "do you have any frysauce?" and they all turned and stared at me and then the lady finally said..."what?" as soon as she said that i remembered that they don't have "frysauce." so i quickly tried to save my faux pas by asking for some ketsup instead and it happened to be on the table already where we were sitting. i felt so embarrassed. so i walked back to our table quickly and quietly so that i didn't do anything else dumb.

so transfers were good. we had a good ride up there and i slept most of the way to iowa city where transfers were. i was able to see elder herrin and elder holmes and also elder brandly. i finally saw the third member of my highschool in my mission. elder prows. he is training now.

uh this week was really short but it seems to be just as long as any other normal week in between emails.



DEAR TYLER, UHH...UHH...HAPPY BIRPHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOUR 17 NOW! HOLY COW! HAHA THAT RHYMED. SO ANYWAYS... IM SORRY THAT I COULDN'T GET YOU A LETTER IN TIME ON YOUR BIRTHDAY SO HOPEFULLY THIS WILL DO. I WILL TRY TO SEND SOMETHING HOME TODAY FOR YOU. I HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAY IS AWESOME AND THAT YOU CAN MAKE IT AN AWESOME 17TH BIRTHDAY. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND STILL CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR A JUNIOR AND THAT YOUR ALMOST 18!

well i love and miss you all. i hope to hear back from you soon.

Love,

Elder Jens Smith

day 110 Questions and Answers

New companion's name? And where is he from?  How long has he been out?  Where was his last area?
ok so my new companions name is Elder William Kendell and he has been out for a year tomorrow. his last area was in ceder rapids and he was there for 6 months. he is really funny and knows tons and tons of movies!

Where did Elder Excell go? 
Elder Excell went to waukee. i think thats how you spell it but its right next to west des moines on the west side. and he is now a ZL

1st time is snowed here was last night...you got any? 
well no it has been pretty nice lately. its getting colder though but still no snow.

Good and bad this week? 
good this week is that we are baptizing jared and he wants me to speak at his baptism! cool beans! bad is that i am really stressed about planning our day out and not having enough to do.

How are your "show me around this new city" skills going?   Do you still feel inadequate? 
they are ok. i thought i would be doing better than i am but oh well. yeah i still kinda feel like im new to this and don't really know what im doing.

When you have exchanges, don't you have to show that elder around? 
well we do exchanges whenever. really but only like twice a transfer. we are going to oskaloosa today to have a district p-day which will be way cool. 

Did you get a letter from me...actually from Christian's email? 
like real mail or email. i got an email about you and Christian but not any real mail.

day 105 Transfer Week

so, the reason i wasn't able to write on monday is because i was in the hospital with some investigator for moral support. we have an amazing relationship with them and they asked us to go up with them and we had to call pres. jergensen and make sure it was ok for us to go so we went there and ended up staying for 8 hours. we didn't really plan on us staying for that long but we got home at about 6-7:30 and then we still had to do our laundry. it was a tiring day but it was awesome.

well i got cut up for the first time on my hands. we were in oskaloosa on exchanges and we had some time between lessons and we decided to play 500 with the football. so the guy throws it and me and an elder from oskaloosa go for the ball and didn't have very good balance and so i took a little trip and slid into home plate on a gravel road and got some minor cuts on my hand, my shirt is tow up and im missing a button now. well somethings gotta happen some time. :)

we are really progressing with this lady who is a daughter of a member and she has just committed to quit smoking last monday the 31st of oct. so far i think she has been clean and is doing pretty well. she has listened to us teach her mom loads of times and knows that this church is true and i think we are going to invite her to be baptized soon but we wanted to wait "a couple a days"(pedro style from napolean dynamite)/weeks till we feel she is doing well with her smoking problem. 

im super excited for our baptism next fri. it will be my first real baptism. ( i've had a few others but i wasn't as involved with them as i am with this one.)

thank you so much for the package you sent me with the extra stuff. i absolutely love the pics and it made me tear up when i saw adi as a puppy. ;)

anyways...this week has been heck week cause of all the halloween difficulties and then having to have transfers and having to get elder e. to everyones house to say goodbye has been really hectic.  i love and miss all of you and can't wait to hear back from you!

love
Elder Jens Smith

day 105 Questions and Answers

So since it's transfer week did you get a new comp?  details please.  If Elder E. got transferred where did he go? 
ok so yeah it is transfer week...we call it heck week :) haha but i don't know yet where he is going and i have yet to find out who my next companion is. well will find this all out tomorrow at transfer meeting. He is getting transferred and he is also becoming a ZL! crazy!

Did you stay there?
yeah im staying here. 

It's super stormy today (tuesday)?  How bout your weather? 
yesterday, (tuesday) was really warm and was about 75 degrees! today is not so nice. it is stormy now, so i guess we got your storm residue.

you didn't answer my question last time (it wasn't in the question section...so you're off the hook) about the tie that you were wearing in the picture with sams dad...It's one that I don't recognize...  oh yeah!! well one of elder e. roommates at BYU I came by and gave us some of his ties from his mission. he had just gotten back like a week before he came over to our house. he normally lives in west des moines so he brought us some old ties of his and some new ties. i got a red tie that is just like the purple one that i wore on my first day here.

Did you have any trick or treaters?  Do anything special on that day?  Go to any people's house?  no we didn't have any tricker treaters. haha funny. but on sunday its actually called beggers night and thats when all the little kids go out and tricker treat and then on mon. the 31st is when all the adults go out and party and do wild things so on both days our car got "grounded" at 6 so some members volunteered to take us to their house on sunday and then on monday some members took us out to eat at a chinese restaurant. it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.

You know I play cards with Heather and some of her family.  Aunt Valene mentioned that she knew of a cousin that is serving in Iowa and in fact went in to the MTC around the same time as you did.  His name is Adam Wally...know him?
hmmm...no it doesn't sound familiar.

Do you remember when we checked on if you happened to know anyone from here right when you got your call and you knew some kid from provo high...have you seen him? 
no i haven't seen him but...there were two other people that i knew from school that were in my mission. Joe Reid and scott nay. they both went to school with me. it was really good to see them.

Do you write Christian? snail mail or email? 
um i did the first week he went into the mtc but i haven't yet but i will write him both kinds of letters. snail mail and email.

Good and bad this week? 
good is that we have a ton of progressing investigators and one baptism that is supposed to be on next fri the 11th. bad is that im really nervous to not have someone who knows the area better then i do and have him take me around places. but now i have to pull up my pants and start doing things with out his help. :)

day 97

well this week has flown by and i can't believe it's already almost transfer week!!!!! ahhhhhh!!! i can't believe that i have been out for 3 months! wow. and christian has been in the mtc almost a week! that boggles my mind!!!! haha funny word. any ways...

wow how is ty doin? why did he run in the 5k? did dad ask him to or just on his own free will?

nope we don't have a fall break. lame sauce.

yeah so remember how we contacted james and committed him to baptism...well we found out that he is now in jail. haha so hopefully he gets out soon so we can talk to him. we knocked on his door for a week and a half and then someone from the neighbors house came out and told us that he went to jail.

haha yeah funny story about sam's dad. so elder e. and i were in our room studying and then all of a sudden we hear this loud knock at our door and we were like oh crap its someone from the appartment like the guy down stairs coming up to tell us to be quiet or something when elder e. went and opened the door and we saw that it was just the UPS guy and so i was like, oh sweet someone is getting a package then sam's dad said, "are you elder smith?" and i replied "yes?" and i was thinking awesome i got a package or something and then he said "you probably don't recognize me" and when he said that i totally recognized him! hahaha it was so funny. my face must have been really funny cause i was really kinda confused for a sec and then i remembered him. so we talked and then he got those pictures with his phone and then right then he sent them to sam and i bet those pics were up the same day as when she got them on her phone. so that was really random but nice to see a familar face.

well i think im about to get kicked off the computer. i love you so much and miss you.

love

ELder Jens Smith.

day 97 Questions and Answers

well momma, you did it. you finally made me cry while reading your letter. haha i got down to the very end and was just reading it and then you called me bug...thats when i started tearing up. so anyways...question time.

In your last letter you mentioned that you ate dinner with the Coats' (something about spaghetti because he accidentally made something with cream cheese)  What's wrong with cream cheese?  Somebody allergic?  And do you go over there whenever you don't have a dinner appt?  Or do they set dinner times with you? 
haha no, nobody is allergic to the cream cheese, the husband didn't know that the cream cheese was for dinner so he made like some nacho dip with some of them. we hardly go to their house its just that she wanted to make us that dinner so she had us over for two sundays in a row. they live in pella which we don't go up to very often cause its about 15 mins away and we have to save our miles for something else.

Have you been sick ever?  Have you hurt any part of your body? 
nope. never been sick yet or haven't hurt any part of my body. no good having to go poop real bad kind of stories. sorry. :)

You mentioned to Christian to get to the firesides an hour early?  Why?  So you can get a good seat? 
yeah there is like a little place where you have to wait till about 6:30 to get into and if you want to have a good seat you probably want to get there early so you can sit in a good chair and it fills up fast so if he thinks he can just go there at 6:30 then he will not get a seat.

I just looked at your weather there and it was 39* brrrrrrrr....Do you need anymore blankets? 
it was really cold but now its pretty warm. its been above 70 for a while now and this morning when we went  out to go exercise it was like 64 degrees! so nice! um i don't know if i will need any more. lately i have been pretty hot while i've been in bed like sleeping with out any of my sheets or blankets on me cause its so hot.

Do you pay for your rent/utilities? Or is that already taken care of for you by the mission office?  nope. thats what the 400 goes to. you pay the 400 and the mission takes care of everything else so that we don't have to worry about it and stay focused.

Do you ever do a sharing time for primary?  How many kids do you think are in your ward? branch? 
hmm i don't know if we do. uh we have about 20 kids in our primary. with the less active families we would have about 15 more kids if they came to church.

You do fhe with some members...do you need any lessons?  Or is what I have too juvenile? 
well, i don't think we are going to be calling it FHE anymore. i think we are going to turn it into a book of mormon class.

Do you have any questions for me?  Want anymore addresses? 
um i can't think of anyone at the moment that i want an address from. and i don't have any questions right now. 

day 93 Fun Find!

Jens used to play for the Iowa Menace (a semi pro soccer team which is in West Des Moines Iowa).

In West Des Moines Jens had a friend named Sam Webb.

Sam Webb has a dad.

That dad is a UPS driver.

That driver has Knoxville as his assignment for this week.

During this week he found Jensen.

day 89

well this week has been a busy one.

Monday was a normal P-day. nothin new there.

Tuesday we had a normal day as well.

Wednesday was different. we had the oskaloosa elder come down and stay the night and have district meeting after on thursday. when they got here we planned for a sec and then went out. i went with elder wilson. he is a new elder and zone leader. we went out and visited some people and then it came time to tract. we got down a street and into this ladies house and it started drizzling. then when we were just about to leave it started to pour!!! our car was all the way down the street and then some! we tried to run to the car but being soaked and having a backpack on didn't really help me out with the running to the car. so we got dried off at the apartment and then went back out and went to the other side of the street that we had been tracting before. every day before we had tried to find james and where he lived but we just could not!!! so elder wilson and i go out and try to find james. so we start walking down the street and i say "lets try this one." so we go and knock on this door and we knocked probably three times and were about to leave when he comes out and says that he was just in the middle of a shower but i looked at his face more closely and it was james!!!! haha we had no clue where he lived but on this street. so we went in with him and committed him to be baptised without a date!!!! awesome!!!!!! the tough part about this is that everyday since then we haven't been able to get ahold of him. he doesn't have a phone at all and so its really hard to find him home when we are able to go to his house. hopefully we can find him home one of these times when we try again. after james we went to this assisted living home where an older lady was and she had been a member and we nor the ward had known about her for over a year!!! so we visited her and she is such a cute old lady! i love visiting her! she is probably my favorite person to visit. oh bonnie dropped us. she didn't know why she just felt that she need to drop us. so that was a bummer.

Thursday we had district meeting and that was great! i learned so much and was so spiritually fed!

Friday we had a good day. we were able to go to the coats house and drop off the recipes for them and also meet with some families and set up dinner and teaching appointments.

Saturday was a normal day. just visiting the regular people that we normally visit.

Sunday we had dinner with the coats and had two investigators at church. they are daughters of a member of our branch and we have been meeting with them for a while and they finally were able to come to church.  sorry for the short letter.

i love and miss you so much! can't wait to hear back from you!

love
Elder Jens Smith

day 89 Questions and Answers

What kind of last minute advice would you give Christian before he leaves...besides shaving everyday, reading preach my gospel, or scriptures.
pray every single time he feels like it. focus on the language part of preach my gospel as well as the lessons in chapter 3. learn them well and go to the back of each lesson and memorize the order that each one is in. like the restoration: God is our loving Heavenly Father, the gospel blesses families and so on and then after that then he can focus on the important things that go with each topic. also write in your journal every single night!!!!!!!!!!! even though you might not feel like it, write in it about why you don't want to write in it. it will help you see what you can do better.  

You mentioned that you eat dinner with the Coats'.  Are they members? or people that you're teaching?  Do they have kids?  Are they an older couple? 
yeah we had dinner with the coats last night and we had spaghetti because her husband accidentally made something with some cream cheese so we just had spaghetti but it was still super good! they are members and they are a young couple. their oldest kid just turned 8 in september. they have three girls. awesome family!

Who are your neighbors? 
my neighbors are this mean old man that lives beneath us...you can probably think of why he is mean to us. Two 20 and 21 year old boys being rowdy and he is probably a drinker and doesn't like loud noises...sooooo yeah he doesn't really like us but then we have right across the door from us is this nice lady named teressa. she makes such good food from what we can smell when we go to and from our apartment.  then we have a lady that lives kiddy corner from us and i have no clue who she is but that she drives a sweet lookin scion etc.

My bus driver is not a member...What do you think I could do? 
just be casual about it. don't throw up the gospel on them but ask if they have friends that are mormon and see what they think about our religion. we are going to be teaching a lesson to the members in our branch about this exact same thing. how members can talk to people about the gospel too and not just the missionaries. :) just be your self momma! i know that if you say a prayer in your heart the next time you talk with them and ask Heavenly Father to help you to know what to say and to have their hearts softened then you won't even have to worry about what to say.

Good and bad this week? 
good...we found a new investegator this week and he seems golden! his name is james and i'll tell you more about him in my letter.
bad is that we haven't seen him at all since the first time we met him.

Do you ever eat out? Oh you do... when you go to oskaloosa...at the chinese place?  Did you know when we read your last letter...dad and I went right over to the lotus garden and had lunch?...we pretended you were with us.  :) 
uh sometimes we eat out but usually when we are with the district. i think we have only eaten out like 2 or three times by ourselves. 

Christian wants to ask what your schedule was like in the MTC so he knows what to expect. 
your schedule is going to be packed!!!!!! you won't have any time to lay down and take a nap. you will always have something to do whether it is personal study to going to the gym for gym time. oh be sure you get to the firesides and those kind of things an hour early yes i said an hour early!!! they are the best thing to go to and since you will be there for 9 weeks you will be able to have so many! always try to attend those things! and take notes as well! christian, always be willing to turn to the Lord when you have any type of question. say your prayers with sincerity and with real intent. go into the book of mormon and read the introduction to the book of mormon. read the last two paragraphs and really apply that to yourself. ponder this and think about how it will help not only you as you read the book of mormon but also your investegators when you invite them to read and ponder the book of mormon. it is so imparitive that you are always and exactly obedient! i don't think i was as obedient as i should have been in the MTC and now being out here i really wish i was. please know that as you do these things your life will be changed! but most of all don't get stressed out. have a good attitude about every thing and know that with the Lord ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!! always remember that christian.

day 82

well, this week has been a busy one. we have only been in knoxville at most two whole days.

monday we had p-day and we didn't have to start proselyting till 5.

tuesday we had a normal day

wednesday Elder E. had to go to a leadership training in Des Moines, and i got to go with the indianola elders that day and didn't go home till about 7:30 at night.

thursday we did service for an elderly lady and helped her with some things that need to be moved around in her house. then we met a guy who we would always pass in our car and he would wave at us first and we thought that was so cool and then we were walking home and met him walking the other way. we stopped and talked with him and set up a day that would work for him. we unfortunately weren't able to contact him last week so we are going to do that today.

Friday we had interviews and that was great. we got some recipes and some training on how to maintain our weight and diet by sis. jergensen. this was all in indianola and so we were like, the miles are approved so why not just stay here and do exchanges for the day, and we went to eat at this chinese place which was soooooo good!!!! both times i went there i thought of the lotus garden. (lotus garden is a place across the street from Brian's work that we often frequent...fun times and tons of food)
saturday we had district meeting in indianola and after that we had district lunch and ate at the same chinese place! i at so much chicken! but any ways i don't really have any funny stories to tell you this week but i will definitely let you know if i have any next week.

sorry for such a short letter. oh and tell christian happy late birthday for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe he goes to the MTC in like 9 days!!!!!! holy cow! haha well i love and miss you all.

love
Elder Jens Smith.

day 82 Questions and Answers

Is it starting to get cold there?  A couple days ago we turned on the heat...have you had to do the same? 
No way!! about two weeks ago it was like 50 degrees and freezing but after a few days of that we have had weather that has been up in the 80's!!! it is so hot!! i don't even use my big iowa blanket. i hardly use the green blanket! we have tons of window open but still are so hot.

What is something you learned this week? 
something that i am learning this week and hopefully throughout my mission is how to be a fourth missionary. look up that talk for the boys its a great one. its by Tadd R. Callister. great talk.

Good and bad this week? 
good. was we met a new investigator this week. bad was that we have only been home in our area at least once this last week.

What was your favorite food/dinner you ate? 
um probably would have to be dinner with the coats. she is the lady that wanted the recipes. we had taco soup with some home made tortilla chips. they were so yummy!!

Are you still running in the mornings? with your soccer ball? 
well i have switched to jump roping. it got cold about two weeks ago and was like i don't want to run in the snow so im practicing that and its really hard and makes my shoulders really really sore.

day 75 pictures

I love this...absolutely love this.  Elder E. and Jens watching conference in their church.  You can see the other chairs are empty...their invitees didn't show. (thank you again Traci!)

day 75

well this week has been a normal week.

first we start off and have p-day like normal and help a less active put up some sheet rock in his house and then he took us out to lunch.

on tuesday...i can't remember what we did on tuesday. must have been a regular day.

wednesday, we went up to Des Moines and had zone conference which was awesome!!! so i get to the stake center and walk into the gym and who do i see when i get in there!? Elder H!!!! hahaha i was so stinkin happy to see him and hugged and started talkin and laughin and oh i wish i could see him more often!! i missed that kid so much! haha it was such a good time. it was also a spiritual time as well. we got trained about what a spiritually mature missionary does and what a spritually immature missionary does and it really made me see some of the things that i thought i was doing good on and see that i can improve them. so the car that you see is now traded in for a 2008 red for fusion. the elders in newton traded with us. i have no idea why. it's not as good as the 2011 but...can't argue with the lord. 

then thursday...are you ready for this, we had to go to JAIL!!!!!! :(...not a pleasant experience...but also an awesome one as well. :) we went to visit a son to a less active in our ward who had just got put in there so we went to talk with him and see how he's doing. turns out that you can only go see someone only once a week if your clergy.

friday was pretty normal. we saw lots of less actives and invited them to come to general conference and then we went to help a Part Member family move. that was way fun. being able to be in our civies (thats short for our civilion clothes) and having nobody recognize us from the branch. haha funny. they all were like "we didn't recognize you without your white shirts and ties."

saturday and sunday we watched conference and visit a member who had just had surgery on his intestines for some reason which i don't know.

 and now this week starts! well i guess i will fill you in on this week next week!!! haha love and miss you all.

love,

Elder Jens Smith

day 75 Questions and Answers

In your pictures (which I absolutely love by the way...i only look at it a couple times a day) you have some milk and juice cartons on your bowflex machine?  Why?  Are they filled will something? 

haha no they were just filled with water to add some weight to it cause it only had 20 pounds on each side.

What was your favorite conference talk? 

i think my favorite was President Eyerings talk in the afternoon session of saturday. thats when i think it was. i don't know but it was so good.

Did you get to go to priesthood session somewhere? Or was that also at the church and that you invited some people to? 

yeah it was just at the church and the first two session on saturday was just Elder Excell and I and that was nice just having a big church all to ourselves and being able to write down so many things that they said. i loved it!!!

Speaking of favorite foods...I asked Christian what he wanted for his food at his last speaking assignment sunday in two weeks and he's decided that he wants macaroni and cheese and corn dogs.   Sound good?  

I kinda laughed but whatever...

Do you get to go fishing? or is that considered "water"?  

no we don't go fishing. just cause its not missionary like and no i don't think it has to do with the water fact. just that we aren't supposed to.

Best and worst this week?  

best...meeting with investigators and telling them and inviting them to the church to watch general conference, and watching conference. worst...not having any of the people we talked to come to the church with us. NOT ONE!!!! haha we talked to about 6 or 7 people and committed them to coming to the church to watch with us. oh well.

day 68 recieved but more like day 25-35

 Elder E. in their kitchen

 The working your bum off pants...also these came from the "Almost free store" for fiddy cents.

 The "greenie" package I sent them.  I also sent Elder E. a "greenie trainer" one too.  There are some stamps, candy, some N. shampoo from dad's work, noise puddy, playdough, some ties, a green bubble wand, postcards from the Petersons and a picture drawn from Korrine and a bottle stuffed with green items that they have to "figure out how to open"....among other things.

day 68 recieved but more like day 10 MTC Pictures

day 68

well, this week has been fun and crazy at the same time. we had transfers this last week on thursday and so im hoping our mail and every thing will be sent this week cause they didn't get to it last week.

this week has been really good. we stopped by some peoples houses and talk with them and find out some of their concerns with the church and so this week at church we had 5 investigators there! one was lenard. he has been to church so many times! before i came to knoxville, everyone said that for about 3 years he had been coming to church every week and so people thought he was a member so they always assumed that he had been baptized but he never had. then he started to not come to church any more and now we are trying to get him back and see why he stopped coming to church. the past two sundays he came and it was awesome to see him there. his wife i think is really opposed to the church and when ever we come over she tries to answer the door and shoo us away.

another is a father of a family who is very active in the church. his whole family are members but he's not. he comes to church and even when the wife doesn't go to church he'll take the kids to church and sit with them. i think one of his problems is missing the sunday football games and having a couple beers with the games. other then that he could be getting baptised in a few weeks but we are trying to love him into the church and we are trying to find a way to do that with out the beer and tevo-ing the ball games so after church or the next day he could watch them.

then the next three are bonnie and her daughter and husband. bonnie is...somthin' else. she believes lots of things people tell her so its going to be a slow process. i think i told you about her before but i have no real concern from her yet as to why she won't come to church or take the lessons. her daughter i have never met before and same with her daughters husband. so those are the five people that we had a church on sunday.

we would've had 6 but jared wasn't there. he decided to get caught up on his seminary homework. he was the one that was supposed to be getting baptized on christians birthday. so we gave him the papers on the friday of the week before last and he called us the next day and said that his mom wanted him to wait till he turns 18. i think i also told you this story but oh well. :)

well, i can't really think of anything else to say. i love and miss you all! i love you momma!

love
Elder Jens Smith

day 68 Questions Answered

What is something you learned this week? 
i learned that you need to be patient and forgiving of everyone. if the lord is able to forgive someone who has done wrong, then who are we to not be forgiving to others.

Do you have any questions for me? 
um...can you email me the recipie and baking instructions for the costa vida? a lady in our ward asked me for one of my fav. dinners and i told her this one. or should i just tell her to go to corin's blog? whichever's easier.

What're your plans for conference weekend or do you have any? 
we are planning on inviting some investigators to conference. we are holding it at our church.

Did you like how the shoes felt?  Or maybe you didn't get the full effect because they were too big. 
the shoes felt really good but yeah they were a bit big. they kept slipping of the back of my heal.

I bet this week seemed to go by super fast because of pday being wednesday last week and you only having to wait a couple days till monday?  Did it? 
yeah this week has gone by fast but the days seemed to be going like 5 miles an hour. like you said before the days go by slow and the weeks fly by. its so crazy. but yeah.

day 63 One picture stolen again

The Elders in the district.

day 63 Transfer Week

so now to the weekly report.

well this week was a long one. we had transfers this week and instead of having p day on monday we had to have it on wednesday. so its been a long one. we got transfer calls on saturday and none of our district is getting transfer except for one of our ZL's and he was here for just one transfer...or maybe two but really short!

so the week before we had exchanges with the elders in indianola and they came to knoxville and elder n. and i went to see a lady by the name of beverly. she hasn't come to church in over three years and so we had always just gone over to see how she was doin and stuff like that. so we shared a message with her and we asked her to come to church and she turned us down right on the spot so we didn't really focus on that. we left and the week later elder e. and i went to her house and had a special lesson planned for her.  she has a real problem with the mountain meadows massacre and thought that it was so horrible for these people to do that. we had brought with us an article about that and how it was all a misunderstanding and we finished reading it and looked up and was crying. i thought she was crying for some other reason but it turned out she was upset. we told her that we agreed that it shouldn't have happened and then the conversation turned into something so spiritual. elder e. started saying that this isn't something that should be holding her back from going to church. something that happened 150 years ago shouldn't be something that keeps your salvation at stake. he was so bold with her and i was kinda surprised at the way he was talking to her but then we asked her to come to church and we again told her that coming to church was something she needed to do in order to get over this thing. she then said im not making any promises but i will try my hardest to come to church. and i was amazed! and she came to church! the spirit works in such mysterious ways and is so powerful! its so awesome to see the effect it has on some of the most stubborn people. awesome!

we just got back from exchanges with indianola this morning and had a great time over there. when i was with elder d. (elder n.'s comp.) we talked to a guy who was drunk and you could smell him from a mile away but we gave a sweet explanation of the book of mormon and how god not only has scriptures about the people in jerusalem but also has some about he people in the americas. it was pretty cool.

over the past few days i have been struggling with remembering the things i learn. i think i am afraid to talk to people and say something that might offend them and have them be turned away from hearing our message. that's one of the things i am trying so hard to work on right now. im pretty open with the people i know but i shut myself off to everyone else i don't know. but i know i'm growing because everyone says that you can't grow if you are comfortable and i am definitely not comfortable. ha but i know that the lord will guide me and help me recognize the spirit if i am willing and ready to change and learn to open my mouth!!!

i love the members in knoxville. we have been fed so many times by the members and im starting to get to know and like this small branch.

well, thats all i have for this week. i love and miss you so much and can't wait to hear back from you!

Love
Elder Jens Smith.

day 63 Questions Answered

When I sent the cousin's letters I put some little baby pictures of the Syd and Miquel trying to trick Elder Excell??  Was he like...wha?  And did you get the letters on the same day?  so you could give him the "real" older pictures at the same time? 
haha so he go the letter the day before i got your letter. :) so we both thought that you only sent those pics and i was like really mom...but then we got the letter with the older ones.

Is it time for transfers?  I guess you think you're staying...Is that still the case?  Wow I can't believe it...It doesn't seem like 6 weeks is very long to be in a place. 
yeah it is time for transfers but yeah im staying and so is everyone in our district 'sept for one of our ZL's.  but yeah i still can't believe how fast every thing is going!

Who writes to you?  Do you have some new friends that you met in the MTC? 
uh not a lot of people write me. um...well im trying to stay in contact with elder h. and some sisters that gave me their addresses but other than that not very many.

Do you have a crock pot?  If you do...you can make your favorite cream cheese chicken... easy peasy.  If you don't...they're always at a thrift store pretty cheap...get one.  You can just leave it in the apartment when you leave right? 
no we don't have a crock pot. i wish we did. yeah we can prolly get some at a thrift store.

What do you have to eat?  Do you cook sometimes and what do you cook?  Does Elder E. cook?  Do you share food? 
um not very much. just some totinos pizzas and some ramen noodles, cereal and some snacks. we don't really cook anything. we don't really have anything to cook. elder e. does cook really well. he makes really good hambugers and steaks and lots of meat stuff. pretty good.

How're your shoes?  Do you love them?  Is it like walking on butta? 
uh...well the shoes were a little big so i sent them back and i also sent the primaries letters as well as a surprise for you momma in the shoe box so be sure to open the box when you get it. :)

Are you getting ready for your next baptism?  It's like in a week right?  On Christian's birfday?  well the guys name is jared  and he is 17 and he's not going to be baptized on his b-day cause his mom wants him to wait till he is 18 which he turns in nov. so just a few weeks away...shouldn't hurt anything.

That is soooo great to have that many investigators come to church!!! Wow, I don't even think I've ever seen that many here even?  Way to go Idaho! (name that movie)  Do they seem pretty strong and committed? 
yeah it is! we even got a lady who hasn't come to church in over three years to come!!!! our lesson was so intense and was so spritual and just awesome. so hopefully we will see her at church more often.

How is that lady that you met in an AA meeting parking lot that you were so excited about? 
her name is shelly and she dropped us like a hot potato! haha i'll tell you more about her in a sec.

day 54

well...this week has gone by pretty slow. it was weird not being able to email on monday cause of labor day and i think it just threw every thing off. it just seemed like an off week. we did some really good things but it just seemed slow. we talked to a lady this week about coming to church. she is a less active that we are working with and she has two daughters that aren't members so we are working with them and they are really cool. one of the daughters is about like 50 and is a heavy smoker so we are trying to work with her the most and have her stop that habit. the other daughter quit smoking a while ago but we are also going to try and have her sit in on our lessons with everyone. yesterday we had three investigators at church yesterday! it was awesome to see them there and have the members really sit down and fellowship them and welcome them to the ward. member work here is pretty hard. we have a lot of members that live in pella which is about 25 miles away from the church and from where most of our less actives are so its really hard to have a member present but we are doing better.

i really can't believe that its been almost two months that i've been gone! time really goes by so fast when your focused on what you need to be doing.

anyways...not much else has happened here so im gunna cut it short. i am loving this place and am loving the people here even more. i am going to miss this place when i leave here. i love and miss you guys so much and you are in my prayers every day! hope to hear from you soon!

love

Elder Jens Smith

day 54 Questions Answered

Ok first question...What is up with your camera?  Did you loose it?  It's ok just tell us so we know... How does Elder Excell send pictures home?  Your card is the kind that you just put in the computer and upload right?  We saw a really really nice picture of you in the church and with your newest baptismal guy...  They are so nice!  I love to see them.  Would love to see some that you took. 
ok so i printed some out but i wanted to mail them to you with a letter about them. i will have to find some way to put them on my email so i don't have to do that.

Best and worst this week?
best thing this week probably was upping our efforts to have more members come to lessons and we have done really well so far i think.
worst thing i think would be that this week has gone by soooo slow!! its seems like i emailed you like two weeks ago and not last week.

Are you still going to the older lady's house and cleaning her house for food?
yeah we are but we are trying to teach her lessons now and i think she is progressing well but it will be very slow.

Did you get the shoes yet?
 no i haven't gotten the shoes yet but i did get the primarys letters! im so excited to write them back! i loved hearing from them. 

Does the time go by super fast for you too?  I can't believe sometimes that it's already another week since we last emailed.  President Bell told us tonight..."The days seem like weeks...but a week seems like a day"  Isn't that interesting?  Sometimes your days go by so slow but then it's already time to email home and you can't believe it's already been a week gone by.
yeah that is really true!! days seem to go on for ever but when you look back at the week its already been a week and a half! i can't believe that i have been out for a month and a half! it seems so crazy!

Have you been to any thrift stores?
hmmm no we haven't been. just to the one where i got my gray pants.

Did you get the letters with your cousin's addresses?
yeah i did. haha he was pretty excited to be able to finally write them today.

How bout the primary children's letters?
well i guess you know the answer to this question. :) but yeah im so excited to write them back!

How was your first baptism?  What do you do to prepare for that?  Do you have to physically fill the font?  Make the program?  Find musical numbers/talks?
it was good but weird at the same time. i think it was the fact that i hadn't taught him before so i didn't really know him but it was still awesome for him to want to get baptized. yeah we do. we have to use a members garden hose which takes like 3 hours! we usually make the programs i think but this baptism his family did everything.