Week 23

AREA: North Las Vegas (Deer Springs/Waterfall)        
COMPANION: Elder Tukuwafu

My week has been pretty good, we are having trouble finding people to
teach so we are doing a lots of finding activities. For example
visiting part member family's, unbaptized children, and a lot of
potential investigators. The highlight of my week is contacting a
referral named Lamar Rogers, he is a police officer out of duty right
now because his back hurts from a plane accident. We were able to
teach him today but it ended up being a 2 1/2 hour lesson due to his
openness and lots of talking.   Other than the lesson being too long
it was very sad. Jewel. We were able to set up another appointment for
Wednesday hopefully it will be shorter. We were also able to teach Jen
Mujica and Brendan.  Me and Elder Tukuafu are getting along, he is
teaching me a lot about how to be a better teacher and not awkward
when speaking to investigators haha.  I guess I have awkward pauses
that other steward used to do so I start picking it up. Other than
Lamar, Jen, and Brandon's lesson the week was pretty slow.  All we can
do his work harder and rely on the spirit to guide us to find new
investigators. We also have been trying to work with the ward members
more frequently to get referrals to contact.  Missionaries love
referrals! I encourage you guys to be missionary minded and good
example so you may have referrals to give to your missionaries.

This week I have been focusing on the Atonement and the Sacrament.
The Atonement is so special we have the opportunity use it in our
everyday lives.  It can help you with not only repenting from sins but
when you are in tough situations in life.  I know Jesus Christ
suffered for us and he loves us more than we can comprehend. I know he
lives and that we can get help from him.  We just have to read our
scriptures and pray sincerely.  I know what I'm doing out here is what
God wants for me.  It's what I want for myself.  I wouldn't be out
here if I don't know that this church is true.  It's truly a sacrifice
to be out here, and it can be hard sometimes but I always need to
remember to think about why I'm truly here.  I'm here for the people I
teach and the people I help come to Christ.  It's a wonderful
opportunity to be here and I'm not going to waste my time, I'm going
to get my money's worth.

Love you guys!

Week 22

AREA: North Las Vegas (Deer Springs/Waterfall)        
COMPANION: Elder Tukuwafu

My week has been pretty good.  We had a new investigator named
Skylar Dworin and she was golden.  She was so excited to have us come
over and teach her the first discussion.  We asked her to be baptized
the the 21st of January.  We tried to schedule another lesson and she
responded after two days saying she has moved to Louisiana.  So that
sucked, we referred her over to the Louisiana missionaries for her
area.  Whoever those missionaries might be, they are lucky to get her
to teach.  That was the biggest thing that happened this week.  Right
now we are just trying to clean our area book (all of our potential
investigators and plans to find people).  Our investigator Joe Downing
moved out of our area so we will refer him over to the missionaries in
his new area.  We will be doing a lot of finding activities to find
some more people to teach.

We also were able to go to Mount Charleston to see snow and play
around in it.  Both my companion, Elder Tukuafu, and Elder Talani have
never seen snow.  So that was a life changing experience for them.  It
was really fun, my hand were really cold since I didn't have gloves.
We sledded and made a snowman.  Fun stuff.

This week I have really been focusing on trying to be a good example.
Being a good example will not only change your life it will change
others.  I want everyone to be a good example in life and you will
change for the better.  It will bless your life to not be a follower
of things that are bad and set a good example.

Kenny's baptism from Elder Tukuafu's old area.  He baptized him, it
was a huge baptism.  Elder Steward was there.

Week 21

AREA: North Las Vegas (Deer Springs/Waterfall)        
COMPANION: Elder Tukuwafu

There was no email this week...only pictures. Probably because we had just gotten to skype with him the day before! He said that they went up to Mount Charleston for their P-Day, so that's what many of these pictures are from.

Kevin and his comp made cinnamon rolls and orange rolls on Christmas morning, as if tradition in the Smith family.

New sweater

Such a pure, cute picture of Kevin

I'm guessing presents from Mom

Week 20

AREA: North Las Vegas (Deer Springs/Waterfall)        
COMPANION: Elder Tukuwafu

This has been a lot of fun, my companion is a lot of fun.  Elder
Steward was a pretty serious guy and Elder Tukuafu jokes around a lot.
We are a great companionship and teach well together.  We get things
done and have fun at the same time. We have been able to teach a few
times this week together. We had a lot of lessons scheduled but almost
half of more fell through. We have been trying hard to find lessons.
We had a miracle happen on Tuesday, we came out of a lesson and we're
off to dinner and We accidentally walked the wrong way for 5 mins away
from dinner and we ran into 3 people and got return appointments for
all of them. It was amazing to see how the Lord works in mysterious
and funny ways. It was mind blowing because the average amount of
contacts we get where we get a return appointment is probably 10% and
we got 3/3. Other than that are week was pretty normal. We found 2 new
investigators so that was awesome. I'm excited for the coming weeks.

Can't wait to talk to you family! Love you!

We are the best ever! We were thinking of starting a band!

Week 19

AREA: North Las Vegas (Deer Springs/Waterfall)        
COMPANION: Elder Tukuwafu

So first things first I got a new companion, His name is Elder
Tukuwafu. He's from Tonga.  He was Elder Steward companion two months
before me so I new a little bit about him already.  He's a
professional volleyball player but has gained 100+lbs on his mission
so far.  He has 2 more transfers left.

This week has been good, we had good lessons through out the week.  We
taught Joe Downing a couple times and he is going to be moving out
soon because the divorce is almost final.  We also taught Jen which
was powerful, we had a great lesson because we prepared well for it
and the spirit was strong in the lesson.  We had a referral from a guy
in the ward we contacted and set up a lesson with a guy named Lamar
Rogers for Saturday and showed up at the time we set up and he didn't
answer the door or he wasn't home.  It sucked because the member
showed up to help us teach and he changed into a suit and everything
so that was a bummer.  I had a good week and I'm excited to get to
know my new companion Elder Tukuwafu.  So far so good.

Sorry to keep it short but I'm short on time.

I know I'm here for the right reason and so grateful for my testimony
I have.  I hope to grow it to be stronger and stronger.  Remember to
continue participating in the LighttheWorld initiative.  I know it
will grow your testimony and build your love with Christ.

Dutch Chocolate from Elder Steward mom, it was Sinter Claus day. S
for Smith. I eat some of the chocolate before I took the picture.

The Shurtleff family. Elder Steward saying goodbye to them.

Week 18

AREA: North Las Vegas (Deer Springs/Waterfall)        
COMPANION: Elder Steward  

Hello!
 I forgot my journal again so I will just summarize my week the best I can.

      This was decent, we had about 5 lessons this week.  We weren't
able to meet with Jen again, she keeps canceling last minute, it's
getting kind of annoying.  We did meet with Brendan twice this week
and taught about the scripture study and the Plan of Salvation.  He
was excited he is understanding the scriptures better but said it's to
hard to follow the rules especially if he goes off to college.  He
called us this morning telling us he doesn't want to meet with us
anymore because it's to hard and we tried to explain to him what he is
doing and he agreed he still was strong about his decision so that
sucks.  Hopefully he changes his mind soon.  Transfers are next week
so I'll let you know what happens.  The other lessons we had this week
were with new converts and Joe.  They went well, Joe is still
struggling, he wants to get out of the house as soon as possible.  The
divorce is almost final and is ready for it to be, it's pretty sad.
We are trying to find people to teach but nobody seems to not want to
talk to us even more than usual because it gets darker quicker and
it's colder out👌🏻50 degrees haha.  It supposed to get down below
freezing for the low soon and on bike that's cold.  I hope I have a
great last week before transfers, I'm trying hard every day I serve.
Hope for the best this week.

We watched a really funny but meaningful video in church yesterday in
priest quorum about helping less actives come back to church.  I'm not
sure what it's call but it's in the picture below to follow it on
gospel library.  It's about Guillermo.

I know that bringing less actives back to church is just as important
as getting baptisms because number don't matter.  People Salvation
matters, bringing them back to church is sometimes hard but all you
have to do is be there friend.  I know that will make the whole
difference.  Pray for specific people and specific missionaries by
name in your area to have success and that will give them blessing and
you as well.  I love our church and I know it's the only true one.  It
is the fullness of the gospel and so great full to have it in my life.

Christmas lights in the missionary apartment

Follow this to the video

Week 17

AREA: North Las Vegas (Deer Springs/Waterfall)         
COMPANION: Elder Steward  
 
This week has been pretty slow.  A lot of people out of town or busy
for thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving was great, we had dinner with an older
couple named the Eastmonds.  It was very quiet and simple but good.
Then we ended up going to the Shurleff's to hang out for an hour.  The
Shurleff's are a really fun family.  They know the new family that
live in the WSP ward pretty well, I'm sure if you asked them who the
Shurleff's were they would freak out and say they are awesome.
The highlight of my week is being able to start passing out the new
#LighttheWorld pass along cards.  The video is short but powerful.  It
shows that we can be like Jesus as we serve the Lord.  The video is on
Mormon.org. It has a 25 days of service that we are promoting to the
world.  It has a video for each day in December leading up to
Christmas.  It's awesome how much work the church is putting into
their Christmas initiative.
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that
ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your cfellow beings ye
are only in the service of your God.
Service can be so simple but change people's lives.  In the month of
December I want everyone to participate in the 25 days of service.  It
will bless your and the people you serve lives.