T'was the night before Christmas when all through the flat, not an elder was sleeping, not even Elder Smith...

                T’was the night before Christmas when all through the flat, not an elder was sleeping, not even Elder Smith… so maybe my poetry needs a little more work but I think it’s the motive behind it that shinesType equation here. a bit brighter than the poetry itself. This is my 2nd and last Christmas on mission and as I approach it this year, I am a bit more prepared than last year. That could be taken in several ways but the one I want to focus on is my preparation to be able to celebrate the birth of the Savior in a selfless way; the most selfless way I’ve ever celebrated it before in my life!
                As I think about Christmas, the things that come most quickly to my mind are the great memories! The funny, less-significant things like being out of school and the food as well as things of a bit more importance such as music, family, gifts, and the Savior. As I think about them, I smile and laugh to myself to remember all the fun traditions and things and to then see how they can be linked back to the real Reason for the season.
                Music has been and always will be a big part of my life. The case is the same with Christmas music! Alright, so I can’t stand a lot of it and some of the songs are pretty corny but a lot of it, especially the Christmas hymns are the best! We’ve been caroling around Nelspruit and to see people’s faces light up as they recognize and start singing along is so sweet! As well, there are great memories associated with my Raffi CD that I’ve been playing in the car! Haha we always played that CD when we decorated our Christmas tree. It got to the point where we now know ALL the words and even what song comes next before it starts playing! Haha! Or all of the times at Grandma and Grandpa Richard’s house when we had the Christmas talent show, I can’t remember not doing something musical each year. Music is definitely a great part of this Christmas season!
                And speaking of the Richard’s Christmas party, memories of family gatherings and family also fill my mind when I think of Christmas. It is always a time where people came from out of town for all of the different parties and to celebrate with the family! As we have been asked what is our favorite part of Christmas, family has always been a part of my answer! I don’t think there is something else that makes me smile like I do when I think about my family and Christmas! Isn’t it great that we also have knowledge of how to have an eternal family!? That way our happiness can be eternal! Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ is that able to happen and it is this season in which we celebrate His birth. :) I have great memories attached with my family and friends and Christmas!
                The next thing I think about when I think “Christmas” is gifts. And I like to think about it in two ways. The first, giving of gifts is one I know we are all familiar with. It’s one of my favorite things to give gifts! Now, admittedly I can say that when I was younger my favorite was “what do I get from Santa!?!?” but now I think that I enjoy giving more than receiving! And I think that is because when you have someone picked out, you start to think about what gift could make that person smile the most, what would mean the most to them? And then you give your gift and it’s usually a memorable experience! That is why I like giving gifts but the second reason may be a bit less common of a thought and may be a bit more difficult. The second part of gifts is being the receiver of gifts. What does it take to be a good receiver? I think it boils down to humility (Jacob 4:3), gratitude and then using the gift! When all those fall into place, I think we are on our way to some great Christmas memories!
                The last and most important thing I think of when its Christmas time is the Savior. He is the Gift and He is my favorite part of Christmas. I cannot remember a time where Christmas in my life was not very closely linked with the Savior! We were forever dressing up and acting out the nativity whether it was with the Smith family, the Richards/Homer family, or even my immediate family! This season is truly all about the one we call our Redeemer and our Savior, Jesus the Christ! How great that he came to the earth introduced by a heavenly choir singing wondrous music. Because of Him, we have eternal families and Happiness! Because our Father in Heaven gave us the gift of His Son (John 3:16, 3 Nephi 14:9-11) and He gave His everything for us in the gift of the Atonement, we are able to have not just immortality but eternal life! So how do we receive this gift? We live the gospel that he taught us! Our Faith in Christ leads us to repentance and the making/renewing of covenants that will allow us to live Christ-like lives. How do we give back? We turn outward and serve and love those around us! (Mosiah 2:17)
                I am very thankful for this unique chance to serve during Christmas time! My focus can be wholly upon the Savior and the Atonement! With the help of the Savior and my companion, we can bring others to the same knowledge and subsequent happiness and peace that our families have received!! With this, I wish all of you back home a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! Remember the real Reason for the season and let us all strive to be more like Him in this coming 2015 year!
I love you!
-Elder David Spencer “Tony” Smith

On top of the Klaserie Falls in the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve (also known as God's Window)

Even in the face of very apparent danger, if we stick up for what we believe we will be okay. (A multimedia presentation!)

Click here to hear Elders Smith, Clegg, Melese & Bisimana sing their mission song (accompanied by Elder Smith on the guitar.)

Click here to listen to Elders Melese & Bisimana recite rhymes in their native languages (Xhosa- the clicking language, and Swahili.)

               Here’s Elder Smith coming right at ya with his own typie! Haha I don’t know what I did to deserve such a great gift for my birthday but I hope that the words that I will be able to put into my weekly letters will be able to make this gift well worth it! But wow! What a hectic week! Both great and…less great happened to us this week and so buckle up, grab your popcorns (yes, multiple popcorns, that’s how we do it here ;) ) and enjoy the week in this unique day-by-day perspective (something happened almost every day so here we go!)
                Monday: since I’ve been sick for 9 weeks, Sis. Dunn and I decided that it was about time that I recovered and got well. So I had an appointment Monday morning at the doctor office with the concern of whether or not I had TB… its prevalent enough here in SA and I have been coughing for 9 weeks so it’s only natural (but stressful, can you imagine? Eish it was a trip). So anyway, Dr Van Niekerk was telling me that I could get a chest x-ray, skin test, or even an expensive fluid test but he didn’t think that I had it so at first I felt good. But then when he was checking me out and getting vitals, he got stern and suggested: “I think you’d better get a chest x-ray.”  “Oh great, that’s what you said I needed if you thought I had TB” is the thought that went thru my head as I went across to the radiology room to get my x-rays. So that’s what I got to stress about until 3:30 p. when I saw him again that same day (keep in mind that I had to spend my precious p-day hours doing all this stuff). Luckily, he examined the x-ray and said I don’t have TB but that if I take these prescriptions, I’ll be a better man. Sign me up! I’ll be a better man! Haha well, what he didn’t mention is that like in the Ekurhuleni municipality, there was like no pharmacy that had these pills :/ and I got to spend 1.5 hours driving around finding no luck (still on p-day.. haha) luckily, thanks to the help of an amazing mission mom, I was able to get my medicine! And so I’m TB free and on the way to being a “better man”. This crazy Monday set the tone for the rest of the week!
                Tuesday: well, time to add to the list of crazy events. And as I relate the beginning of our proselyting time, keep in mind that no matter how stupid it may sound as you read it, this was extremely scary. So remember Samuel from my last 1 or 2 posts? The super prepared guy that bore his testimony at his first time at church? And stopped smoking and drinking after reading the pamphlet? Well we went to visit him and here is what happened to the best of my memory (maybe check Clegg’s version if I miss any details). We walked in and it was Samuel and his friend sitting in the main room. So we greeted (the friend only spoke Sotho at this point) and sat down to begin our visit. He seemed caught off guard and told us that he was expecting a call for our next appt. even though the time we were there was the appointment we had set with him. So we offered to reschedule when he would be ready but he said, “no don’t waste energy since you’re here we can pray.” Now, normally I would have been like, “okay sweet, we get to teach another lesson!” but for some reason my mouth just started talking and again asked if we could reschedule and come another time (not knowing what we would do in the meantime). And for the 2nd time he insisted that we sit and stay. So then I asked who would pray for us and it was like someone flipped a switch and Samuel’s whole attitude changed. He asked, “how did Jesus Christ teach His apostles to pray?” and so we tried to answer but were cut off by another, more strict “HOW did Jesus Christ teach His apostles to pray!?” and this process repeated about 4-5 times as each time he didn’t listen to us but got more aggressive and started throwing pamphlets on the table. This is when I got the sickest feeling in my stomach but more on that later. His friend now chimed in and started speaking Sotho so we didn’t know what he was saying (add that stress and worry) but Samuel got up and went into the other room to fill up a glass bottle with water. Anyway, he came back in, slammed the bottle on the table and went and shut and bolted the door shut. Now here is the reason for the sickness in the stomach: I realized that 1-we were now locked in the house of a 2-man who has been in/out of prison and 3-is getting mad and aggressive and thanks to the slamming of the bottle on the table, 4-there is an open knife on the table… for those of you who don’t know a lot about SA, knives are worse than guns; especially in the hands of a aggressive ex-con. So for what felt like an eternity, my stomach was in knots. Only 2 times previous have I felt that way and they were both when a gun was involved. So after this eternity of being fearful, I realized that I didn’t need to be! We weren’t doing anything wrong and we were simply here to proclaim a message of hope; so why did I lose my hope!? I realized that fear and faith aren’t the same thing so I changed  my fearful prayers (you’d better believe I was praying from the start) into faithful prayers and I felt the fear in my stomach just  go away. There are promises given to us as missionaries and I’ve seen the evidence of guardian angels many times in my 9 months here so I knew I had no reason to fear what would happen but to have faith that the Lord would deliver us from any harm. So now that the fear was gone but the adrenaline was still very up, Clegg and I were communicating via looks and it was clear that both of us were trying to find a way out. During this whole time, Samuel and his friend are just spitting the most false doctrine and getting mad at us for “lying” to him about how Jehovah isn’t Jesus Christ and that its really God and how we shouldn’t pray to him cause he gets annoyed and how Jehovah taught how we can drink but not get drunk and all this JW doctrine * (see * below.) But Clegg has the stroke of genius to hand me the phone with a message typed in Spanish “vamos?” (I thought this was very wise because they could’ve grabbed our phone and if they read it and understood, who knows what they would have done but they didn’t know Spanish.) So now me and Clegg were on the same page and I had the phone and an idea. So as I’m keeping eye-contact with Samuel and his friend, (who are both drunk we’ve figured out….didn’t they just say “drink but not get drunk?” Anyways…) I am sending “Please Call” requests to Daveyton 2 like crazy! And then I put the phone in my pocket and waited for the return call. Again, another eternity has passed but the phone finally rang! I pulled it out of my pocket and answered and pulled the biggest fake call I could muster haha! I made it sound like the other missionaries were in trouble and that, since we had the car, could we come get them now-now (South African slang for “immediately!”) (Poor Elder Melese was pretty confused on the other end of the line haha). So Clegg and I picked up our bags and walked right out and without a return appointment but with Samuel saying “I’ll come to church and testify of the truth.” Alright buddy, you do that. At least we were out! We then went to the other guys and told Elder Bizimana (the District Leader) what happened and then called President Dunn and told him as well. CRAZY! And it sounded so crazy and even dumb every time we retold the story but eish, at least from my side, it was super scary. And upon reflection, I was trying to think about what the Lord could have been teaching me in that situation and these are the things I got: He was teaching me that “faith is the antidote for fear!” and that I have no need to fear when we have many things on our side protecting us! It was almost like a 2 Kings 6:15-18 Kasi edition! He was also teaching me about courage to stand up for the truth! Even in the face of very apparent danger, if we stick up for what we believe we will be okay. There was a time where I didn’t really stick up for what I believed and that moment still pains me today. It has moved me to greater courage to stand up and let my light shine and be an example and all those things. During the course of being yelled at for “lying” to Samuel, there was a big temptation to be apologetic and deny the things we taught. I mean this guy was angry and if you’ve been to prison here you know how to use a knife; pretty big temptation right? But the painful memory came to my mind and I knew that I could not deny what I knew to be true. So during the course of this “lesson”, if you can call it that, I did not deny the truth that I knew and believed. We bore testimony that what we had taught him was what we knew and believed to be the truth and reminded him that we had simply invited him to pray! So reflecting upon that period of time made me glad and gave me strength in knowing that if we stick up for what we know, we can and will speak with the tongue of angels, or by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And all throughout the rest of the week, I’ve been lucky enough to see how the lessons the Lord taught me on Tuesday were and are preparing me for bigger and possibly tougher situations; here goes nothing!
*We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. –A of F #11
                Wow, Tuesday was a long day and that whole deal only lasted 45 min. Haha! Anyway moving on!
                Wednesday: actually nothing huge happened on Wednesday except the Lord gave us a huge opportunity to serve! We had a fairly normal day and were coming off a super sweet 6:00 lesson where this new family had kept their commitments to pray about the Book of Mormon! It was sweet cause they’ve noticed the difference around their yard since we’ve been coming and they’ve been reading! So we were happy and we were going to finish our day by visiting a less active family, the Mabodlas, that lives in a far part of our area called Chris Hani. When we got there, we found out that their son had passed away and was being buried on Saturday. Elder Clegg shared a wonderful scripture in Mosiah 16:6-9 about how the sting of death is swallowed up because of the Atonement! It was a very comforting spirit that accompanied his words and testimony.  :)  We were very blessed to have been able to have the kilometers to visit this family and find out about this tragedy because no one from the ward knew about it at that point but luckily the tender mercies of the Lord are on all of His children! So we were able to report that to the bishop and get the most help for this family.
              Thursday: now Thursday was the promised day!!! Why? Because the Zone leaders came and I got my medicine! As well as my birthday package!!!!!!!! =D =D =D 

The Birthday Package!

          Eish, it killed me to have to wait till I got home to open it but I made it and thankfully I was able to push it out of my mind during lessons haha. I was extremely overwhelmed at the size of it, overwhelmed that the Youlton family would be so amazing to bring it all the way from West Jordan for me, :) and even more overwhelmed at the presents inside!! And what was more meaningful than the items themselves was the thought and love that went behind EVERY single one of them! Typie; rechargeable batteries for my camera; A USB with music, Mormon messages, photos and conference talks; USB recorder for blog posts and music recording :) ; toooooo much food stuffs (birthday cake mix, stuffing, CAPN CRUNCH!!, seasonings and sauce mixes)!!!! Haha and American sweets (jolly ranchers, lifesavers, Werthers, Sees pops, and Sue Greene’s lollys! Thank you!!)!!! Plus it was really funny to see Elder Bizimana (from Rwanda) eat Pop Rocks and to see his face haha :) I also got stuff to make a belated birthday party; (balloons, candles, and a sign that reminds me that I’m 20!) as well as a Frisbee from dad; personal lax ball from Lou; amazing drawing from Bekah; Liahona magazines; guitar pics; lacrosse stickers; lax pictures so people can see what sport I play haha; my Nike hoodie; and my work gloves for when we give service. I can’t believe how spoiled am! Now you can see why I was overwhelmed! And again I just have to point out how there was personal meaning behind each of those gifts! And the ones that probably brought the most love were the pictures and thoughts from my family! I got 36 minutes worth of mission stories from my dad! I got a picture of the Savior! I got a picture of Grandpa Richards and me the night before I left for SA with the caption “companions” because he is watching my back :) THANK YOU! NGIYABONGA! REALEBOGA! Is there a bigger word that Thank you? Does it mean more in Zulu or Sotho? Either way I am very thankful  :) It was so much more than I could have asked for and it definitely made my Thursday GREAT!  Thank you to Brother and Sister Youlton for making that birthday package happen.  :)

                Friday: THE coolest experience! Especially coming off listening to my dad’s story about being arrested in France and then giving away 4 copies of the Book of Mormon! You’ll have to listen to the audio recording from my USB for the story :) We’re getting crazy adding sound dynamics to the blog! Haha!  It truly was the coolest!! Ahh the Lord is Great! This gospel is true!! Now go listen! Oh and Gogo Mhlanga signed the papers for her house to be the new meeting place for the church in Daveyton East (Chris Hani, Sgodi, etc)!!

Click here to hear the Police Miracle story.

                Saturday: Today was a great chance for us to give more service as well as have a new cultural experience known as the African funeral. We were all 4 able to go to the Mabodla’s son’s funeral and I’m glad we did because we were the only ones from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were there. Even though we were late, we still got to give our love and love from the bishop and ward as well as help with the dishes! Haha- There is a lot of food served for everyone at funerals here so there were a ton of dishes!! All hand washed in tubs out back by the missionaries :)  Haha! We had fun and we hope it helped the family by taking it off their minds. Maybe they’ll decide to come back to church! Saturday we also got rain and lightning so it was just super cool! The rain is probably my favorite part of the summer!!
                Sunday:  Ahh the Sabbath day :) My favorite day of the week for sure! Being able to go to church and be spiritually recharged for the upcoming week is soo necessary! And I’m glad I’ve been able to learn that here because I’ll take that home with me and keep the importance of Sunday in my mind. We had the amazing experience of 3 baptisms in Daveyton 2!  Thoriso and Kewaka Molefa and Excellent Mavodze were baptized today and the service was very nice and the spirit very strong as we got to witness these people commit to follow Christ for the rest of eternity! Its times like this that make me excited for 1-being a missionary but also for 2-knowing that if we endure to the end after priesthood ordinances, we can live with God again! Is there a greater reward? Is there anything more we can do during our 4 minutes? (“Your Four Minutes” –Bishop Gary E. Stevenson) Remember that we’ll have eternity to look back! Let’s look back on a gold medal performance :)
                WHEW! There is the week for ya! Haha pretty long eh? It was a great week and I’m now looking forward to a great p-day and even better week! Haha I’ve got some cracks on my grammar (or lack thereof) so I hope this makes sense! Haha I already know there are spelling errors and grammatical inconsistencies but what else is new? I haven’t spoken proper English since I got here and I’m proud of it! :P Haha! I love you guys :) Carry on back home and remember to follow the spirit in ALL things! God indeed IS in the details of our lives! :) 
Cheers! 
Love, Elder David Spencer “Tony” Smith
                PS. I LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD! :)

"I am an African ... because my soul is at home in Africa"

 (This post was sent on Monday, September 15, 2014)

“This is the new South Africa, where we can live together!” 
             ~Nice man on the street where we were contacting

I am an African
Not because I was born there
But because my heart beats with Africa’s
I am an African
Not because my skin is black
But because my mind is engaged by Africa
I am an African
Not because I live on its soil
But because my soul is at home in Africa
~Wayne Visser
(See the full text of this poem here.)

This week has been a great one!  Again, full of miracles and full of learning! We had zone conference and it was pretty dope if I can use that word to describe a zone conference. Haha! In all reality though, it was wonderful and uplifting and we learned a lot; at least I did. This whole week has been about learning! Whether it was in a conference or in the area, this week has helped me to continue growing as a servant of the Lord and as a lifelong disciple of Christ :)

                Some of the miracles we have been experiencing are continuations of miracles! Elder Clegg and I have been trying our hardest to be the most obedient we can be and we think (hope) that that is why we are seeing such great success in our area! Many of the less-active members' hearts are being softened as they desire to come back to church and keep commitments, our investigators are feeling the spirit more and more and are seeing the fruits of planting and nourishing their own seeds of faith! One investigator, Sis. Anna, told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true! It’s extremely cool to see her drive to come to church! As the investigator, she is more so the driving force in getting the family to church than her husband (who is a less active member but still a sweeeet guy.) Another miracle this week occurred during a lesson with one of our investigators on date to be baptized. We planned to teach Oliver the law of chastity but were concerned because of the slight language barrier that exists because he can’t always comprehend gospel words/topics in English. Luckily, his friend and our ward missionary Lesedi was able to translate into Pedi (a Setho dialect) when we needed it and Oliver not only understood and committed to live it but liked what it was about and agreed with it! We’re talking a 21 yr old guy living in the kasi (South African slang for ghetto) who agrees with the law of chastity! Miracle! Haha! Oliver is truly converted and it is our privilege to be a part of his acceptance of the gospel!

Homes and a playground in Daveyton

Daveyton homes are 1-2 rooms with concrete floors
and corrugated tin roofs. 

                But now for the update from Zone conference!! It’s lacrosse camp again!  I’ve used this analogy 3 times now but it’s still the best way I can describe the feelings that I feel as I am able to learn from President and Sis. Dunn and the Assistants. It was a different dynamic than in the past but it was still good! We had a lesson on the Book of Mormon and its role in conversion from Pres. Dunn and that was eye opening! We were able to see the promises that are contained as we use the Book of Mormon and the spirit in our teaching! Simple things such as reading passages with people enable them (and us) to feel the spirit and power associated with Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It reminds me of the cool scripture in Alma 31:5 about the power of the Word of God! Haha I’m not going to quote it so you guys can have the chance of looking it up yourselves and seeing how cool it is! After that great lesson we were then split up by zones into different “workshops”. We first went to sis. Dunn’s about being FIT for the kingdom”. It was a really cool presentation on how we can all be a little better at using our 30 min to exercise each morning! It was nice not feeling guilty since we’ve been running for the last 3 months; as well, feeling good and healthy is probably the biggest plus. Then we went to the AP’s workshop which was probably my favorite! “What to do when there’s nothing to do” helped us to find activities to do when we have “nothing to do” (ie. Appt falls thru, current finding method isn’t working, etc). I say this was my favorite because I really like the focus on using The Lord’s time wisely and not wasting it! It was really cool, we found out that after taking out the time for: food, preparing, studying, meetings, sleep, p-day, and travel we really only have 6 ½ months worth of opening our mouths proclaiming the gospel! Haha time to get working! We got a lunch break where we got a nice lasagna from the senior couple missionaries (THANK YOU!!!!!) and then we went to our last workshop given by Pres. Dunn about engaging with members. It was cool because we talked about the basic mechanics of cogs. (yes, Elder Allen and I did quote The Incredibles) we talked about “mesh-inary work” and how we as fulltime missionaries can mesh better with the members to help the work progress further! After the Workshops we had a Q&A from the ZLs and played a PMG game to kinda build unity and end on a fun note. It was definitely different than I am used to but it was great! It’s nice to look back on the zone conferences with the Omers and to see how much I learned and then look at the current setting and KNOW that the Lord has called the Dunns for this time and for us as individuals! One quote that I love on my companion’s wall is a picture of small flowers with the caption “He is in the details” and He truly is! I feel that the sooner we are all able to learn that better, life will cease to be as stressful and rather we will learn how to become more like Him. And that’s what life is all about: learning! Whether its lacrosse camp, zone conference or just plain life we are here to learn! And don’t worry, we can smile and have fun while we’re doing it :) That’s where I am thankful that Elder Allen’s zone and Elder Graham’s zone were with us so we could chill and have fun joking again. To end, ZC was dope!
                On a sweet lacrosse/mission/adult life note, we adopted a new mission maxim of “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” And in the AP’s workshop we talked about not being discouraged about past events. Do both of those sound familiar to my fellow CH laxers? “First time, every time” and “it is what it is” –two of the greatest sayings from the man that I have come to admire more and more as I go thru life as an adult, Coach Matt Evans. We didn’t see it as high school punks goofing off at practice or during the bus trips or even during the weeks of running and running and then running even more as punishment for not running enough the first two times. But now, I see clearly that Coach Evans was preparing us for real life. It is what it is! Deal with it and learn from it and move on towards greater things! And first time every time! If you’re gonna do something, do it right instead of doing it again. Nobody likes excuses in lax as well as in real life! So I guess this note is just my way of saying thanks coach :)

Elder Clegg's birthday was 3 days before Elder Smith's!  They
helped make each other's birthdays fun and memorable.

Elder Clegg and I are killing it here in Daveyton and having fun while we do it! I’m very glad to 

Elder Clegg's birthday breakfast
made by Elder Smith

have him as a companion because he helps me be better! And man, this guy’s testimony and ability to teach astounds me every lesson! Haha! 
What a missionary to learn from! And what a friend to have as we become the best we can be together! 
Life on mission is good, the greatest, even the best! I love you all and I love Jesus Christ :)
Tha’s ‘bout it!  
Elder Smith

Usually Elder Smith & Elder Clegg are the only two
mulungus in the ward as pictured above.

PS We weren’t the only two mulungus (Zulu word meaning "whitey" or "white person") at church yesterday! A father and his 3 sons from good ‘ol Cache Valley, UT joined our ward! Haha imagine seeing white people in a township ward and you’ll be as shocked as we were! Haha Clegg and I may have even been a bit jealous that these guys were ruining our reputation as the only 2 white guys in Daveyton! Nah! The dad does robotics for the mining companies here so he was on a business trip but let his boys tag along for the weekend so they could go to the Kruger wildlife park (jealous fa sho!) and see South Africa! So it was fun to talk to fellow Utahns and see how small the world is! And even better, the sons go to Mountain Crest High School!  So there ya go dad! 

Proof that Missionaries are still just 

18-, 19-, 20- and 21-year-old kids! 

 

Life Lessons from a Lax Bro: "The lessons that I have learned from all my coaches ... have benefited me in many ways here in the mission field"

             Well, we’ll skip the corny opening cause we got some straight dope to get to this week! Yo yo yo big news and big headliners! So transfers are Tuesday and alas, my time with my best friend has come to a close but it has been a great 3 months as companions! Yo it’s weird to look back on these 3 months and see how fast they’ve flown as compared to my first 3! But now it’s finished and time to move on to a new companion! ** We hit new records in our statistics this week to set Daveyton up to be the best area in the mission! And what would we do without friends to help us thru the dull and/or rough times. All this week has been full of crazy happenings and sadly one of them is that Elder Graham is getting transferred and that means that Typie (*AlphaSpeller) will be no longer! Haha! Shame no more intricate blog posts for now because I’ll have to go back to typing it in the email shop and there just ain’t time for that!

                But man eish, it’s crazy that Stilgoe’s and my time together is finished! It was a killer companionship and we had fun and worked hard and felt the spirit! No better way to do things! I learned a lot from him in ways that I haven’t learned before and it’s good; it helps me to grow in many more ways! We were able to work together to set turn this area around and set it up to be a baptizing area! And not just for the statistic of baptism but for legit convert baptisms! One of the crucial things that we are able to constantly learn is the need for the Spirit in this work. This companionship helped to reaffirm that within myself. I could go on but in the spirit of brevity, this was a great time to be the duo of Smith and Stilgoe! Now it’s time for him to move to his next area and for me to get my new companion! Elder Graham is leaving (as I already said) and so that means that Elder Kewuti will be staying and getting a new companion as well as myself. And I can’t wait to see who my new companion will be!

                It was a great week to finish our companionship on! We were able to achieve the standard of excellence by teaching 30+ quality lessons this week and 5 father-led families!!! This is the first time on mission that I’ve been able to teach 5 FLF in a week! Good things are happening! We also got 8 new investigators to add to our teaching pool so we will not have a dying area! It was definitely hard work for 3 months but it paid off along the way and has now been extremely rewarding! It makes everything worth it.

                So one of the nice things about being here, as I think I may have mentioned before, is being able to set goals to make yourself a better person and a better missionary. What’s even better is when you add a friend to the mix who sets the same goals and you can both help each other to get better! It’s been really cool to become friends with Elder Allen (Seattle) who is serving in Etwatwa just next door to Daveyton. Yo he’s a honey badger for sure! As we have both set goals to not talk crap on others and not sing music that isn’t consistent with our calling, we are able to check each other and help each other keep as close to 100% as possible! The nice part is that every other night when we go running with the missionaries in the complex, we follow up with how our day went as far as our goals were concerned! It’s too nice! Haha And we’ve found that we can distract ourselves from music by quoting a bunch of movies and as well as “East vs. West” by Key & Peele! haha Eish it’s too much a good time!

                These are the things that have been happening so far this week but, as my last time on “typie”, I want to share something that has impacted me this week. I know I shared a couple quotes by Coach Evans last week but sharing those made me reflect on my time as a Lax Bro pre-mish. 1st- I couldn’t be more grateful for the talent I was blessed with to be able to play at the level I did. It was that which put me in the position to appreciate #2. 2nd- the lessons that I have learned from all my coaches and all my experiences have benefited me in many ways here in the mission field. Things as simple as our team mottos: “No Excuses” and “First Time, Every Time” and sayings like “it is what it is” have turned from a lacrosse perspective to a real life perspective. Coach knew what he was doing when he gave us those mottos and ingrained them into our minds thru the use of pushups, planks, Mary-Katherines, etc when we gave an excuse or only played 50%. For that I am grateful because they come into mind here in South Africa. Believe it or not, when we graduate and finish high school lax, we still are able to come up with excuses! Haha they don’t just magically disappear! But when you are able to take a lesson learned and apply it to post lacrosse life, you get somewhere! There are many things in the work and in companionships that are prime opportunities for excuses. There are more than enough tasks to complete that could be done 50% or even 75% and called “good”. What we were able to learn however is that isn’t a very good show of sportsmanship or, as it’s called in the real-world: character. Because I’m a missionary and I love making parallels to the gospel, our Heavenly Father doesn’t like it when we give excuses either! He wants us to do his commandments the "First Time, Every Time!" And just like push-ups or what-what to correct our mistake, our God has given us the ability to repent. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we are able to fix our mistakes but it means "No Excuses" and we should really do it the First Time if we want it to matter. One of the things you realize as well is that whatever you go through, "it is what it is!" You can’t redo what happened in the past but you can learn from it and move forward! Because of these valuable lessons that I was able to learn in lacrosse and specifically from my coach, I feel a step ahead of the game as far as accountability goes and if I am able to continue learning to not give excuses and to do my best the first time, every time, I know that I, and all those who learn the same lessons, will be able to become the person that I, my family, my coach, and my Father in Heaven know I can be.

                 But that’s TTFN! Stay golden and Lax on!

    Love,

         Elder David Spencer “Tony” Smith

(** Editor's Note: Elder Smith has been asked to serve as a trainer so his next companion will be a new missionary.  They will train together for 3 months. Missionaries refer to this as being a “father” and gaining a “son” because they have the opportunity to train, teach & serve the new missionary and help prepare them for the rest of their mission.)  

"...Johannesburg City is too dangerous for missionaries!" (alternately titled "...I love all the fatherly figures I have in my life.")

“...And now to Elder Smith with the Mission Update.”
“Well guys we have a pretty crazy week happening here in the South Africa Johannesburg mission. News highlights for you include Johannesburg areas getting closed down by a member of the Area Seventy, Father’s Day, transfer updates, Elder Smith can drive, and a cancelled temple trip. Stay tuned....”
Haha it’s a good thing I haven’t run out of bad blog openings ne!? Haha This week has been very eventful! Starting with transfers that happened on Tuesday! Our whole district still stayed together for another transfer which is nice! Me and Stilgoe are getting along better and better and Kewuti and Graham are still working hard and seeming to get along as well. The other guys in the flat next to us had some changes though; my mission brother (trained by Matos) went DL, Raymond and his son got Joburg 2 closed and are now opening Sebokhang 2 in the south part of the mission. Man that bummed me out for sure! Both of the areas I’ve served in now are closed -_____- I guess the Lord has some purpose to bring about that I don’t know about! Still a shame though, I hope those who are on baptism date don’t fall through and that the Ward can handle it all. And that even brings me to the next crazy part of the week. In district meeting we got an SMS from another area in the Joburg zone saying that ALL the Joburg areas were now closed!!!! =O WHAAAAAATT!?!?!? They pulled Elder Dalton and his companion out of Joburg 1 and now all 3 of the Joburg areas are closed! I called him up and found out that Elder Cook from the Quorum of the Seventy heard about what happened to Elder Raymond and closed the areas because Johannesburg city is too dangerous for missionaries. It makes sense having served there for 5 months but man that news is just crazy! I’ve heard that the church will be doing some surveillance to see how to move along the work there in Jozi. Crazy stuff!! And on top of that bad news, we found out that the Benoni Zone’s temple trip this transfer (we get one every-other transfer) is cancelled :l Duhhh! Haha What’s going on these days! We are hoping that it will just be re-scheduled instead of cancelled.
                But “enough of the poopy stuff”, it’s time for the cool stuff!!! Like first, I finally got my permission to drive so I’m back behind the wheel :) and secondly but most importantly, Father’s Day on Sunday!!!!!!!!!! And from the Daveyton District of Stilgoe, Smith, Kewuti, and Graham, we wish all of you fathers a HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And from my side, man I don’t know how to put it other than I don’t know how I would have gotten this far in life, much less mission without my Dad, someone who has been there for me from before day one. How blessed I am to have a dad who loves his family enough to have prepared himself even before his family. I think it sets such a cool example for all of us sons and daughters to live in a way that when we start families of our own, we have solid a foundation to start upon. And so I don’t brag too much but all I need to say is that I love my dad with all my heart! As well, I love all the fatherly figures that I have in my life. From my Grandpas and Uncles to my Lacrosse Coaches and Priesthood Leaders/Teachers and everyone in between, I have been blessed to have “fathers” in my life that have taught me valuable lessons. I express the feelings of many when I say thank you for everything you have done in our lives!
Well, tha's 'bout it!
-Elder Spencer "Tony" Smith

"most of the room got emotional, even though we were all "too tough" to admit that we were crying"

6/6/14

Whaddup Whaddup Whaddup!!

My name is Elder Smith and this is my companion Elder Stilgoe. We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we have a pretty cool update from the streets of Daveyton for you guys this week. We had a pretty freakin great time here in these last few weeks! We’ve been preparing for a big finding activity that we’re having on Saturday at the chapel, we’ve had zone conference, we’ve finished the South Africa Johannesburg Mission 86-day Book of Mormon reading challenge, and been forwarding the work of salvation in our lives as well as the lives of the people we interact with.

                So i guess i should start from the beginning eh? So since ive been here, my companion has had the cool idea to do a fireside/activity at the church to help us bring the church “out of obscurity” if you will, here in Daveyton and to help us find people! So after getting approval from the leaders in the ward and stake, we put our heads together and organized the “Unified in CHRIST” open house! We will be inviting everyone to the open house on the 7^th june to come closer to Christ by learning about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that there are alot of churches here in Daveyton (and SA) and most of us have the common belief in our Savior Jesus Christ! So we felt that a night where everyone who is or wants to be “unified in Christ” can come and learn more about him! So in these past two weeks we’ve been handing out flyers and posting posters (i’ll include a picture) ALL around Daveyton! We’ve been taking them to our members, investigators, random people on the street, and (my personal favourite) to all the churches/congregations and pastors here in D-town to invite them and their congregations to the activity! Its been going very well inviting people and many of the pastors have been giving them to their congregations because we are unified in Christ! As i write this now, it hasn’t happened yet but from the feedback we’re getting from the people we’ve invited and from the members who are inviting friends, its sounding like itll turn out really well! As far as the events of the night, when people come, they will be greeted at the chapel and given a copy of the Book of Mormon, a Restoration Pamphlet, a Pass-along card, and a sheet to write their personal questions on. We’ll be holding it in the chapel and so we’ll start with hymn and prayer and my companion will conduct and welcome everyone who came. From there he’ll introduce everyone and give a layout of the night. We’ll be teaching about the true nature of God, how the Gospel blesses families, the need for prophets, the Savior’s time here on earth, and the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Each of us missionaries and our ward mission leader are each teaching a topic and have prepared the simple truths and doctrine of our unique message. And since we don’t want it to turn into a “bible-bash”, we will kindly ask that the people who attend who have questions of comments, write them down. We’re also going to be passing around a sign up sheet so that those who do have questions can give us their details and we can give them a visit and answer their questions in a more personal setting in their homes. We’re then going to conclude our night by having a tour of our building so that everyone can know what goes on in “that building that [they] always see when they drive down the main street.” It sounds really good on paper, in our minds, and is getting good feedback from Pres. Omer, our leaders, members and non-members alike! We’re just fasting and praying and studying so that it can hopefully touch at least that 1 person that Heavenly Father is preparing!

*I’ll add onto the blog post after the activity itself :) *

                This past Tuesday we were able to have zone conference! Man that was a bittersweet experience. It was President and Sister Omer’s last zone conf. On their mission and so aat the bearing of their testimonies, most of the room got emotional, even though we were all “too tough” to admit that we were crying. President delivered a very powerful talk on the Book of Mormon (as we finished the challenge) and the restoration. I took some notes of the meeting and my impressions and i want to share some of them:

                He put a picture of the first vision on the projector and asked us what Jospeh Smith was thinking when this happened. As we answered, Pres. Omer then posed the question: “what do you think the perspective of the Father and the Son was on the morning of the first vision?” wow, what a powerful question that i’ve never even considered! Some of my thoughts were about the Joy that they must have been feeling as one of their sons who had been foreordained and prepared from the foundation chose to exercise his agency righteously and ask in faith to start the wonderful turn of events that would become the restoration. It then led me to think how happy they are when WE exercise our agency righteously! Other points were mentioned but President then came to point out that there must have been joy and anticipation concerning that morning as both the Gathering of Israel and the Abrahamic covenant were being fulfilled! We then started talking about how the BoM, the result and evidence of the restoration was THE tool for gathering scattered Israel and that, in the words of Isaiah, we must be “swift messengers” of the truth! And indeed we must be swift! Time isn’t really an option anymore as we near the coming of our savior! As we look to 1 nephi 15:18, we see that we are currently living that! President Omer taught a very good lesson :)

                From there we then had quick lessons from sister Omer on being faithful and responsible stewards of our Heavenly Father’s things that we are given to help us on our mission and i strengthened my resolve to be better at doing my dishes and keeping tidy haha its been struggling a little ;P but then a lesson from the APs about using the Book of Mormon to answer our own and our investigators “questions of the soul”. That was a very nice lesson because we all got to participate and share from what we gained in our BoM challenge as it pertained to those questions.

                The conference then came to a close and President and Sister Omer bore their testimonies. I cannot find the words to accurately describe the spirit we felt as they did so or as President left us with a blessing. All i can say is that I KNOW the Lord calls his most faithful servants to lead this missionary work and he inspires them to do and say what we all need to hear! I know that is true for President and Sis. Omer and i know that itll be true for the Dunns when they arrive and become our new Mission President and mother on the 30^th of this month. It has been all of our privilege to serve with them and especially for me, I can say that i love President with all my heart :) Zone conference all in all was great and, once again, i soaked it all up like learning from “Beardy” (James Beardmore) at EMW Lax camp! Haha

6/7/14

                Wow so tonight was our finding activity and yo yo yo it was sooo cool! After lots of preparation and prayer and fasting (alma 17:2-3) we were able to teach a group of about 30 people! 18 of which were non-members and not already investigators! Man the spirit was so strong and we all taught with the power and authority of God as the Holy ghost was able to testify through our words and the testimonies shared! One of our less active members came, a guy named Sipho November and he  brought with him about 8 of his friends to hear what we had to say! What a blessing for a guy who is struggling with his testimony to be doing missionary work on that level! And esp. With a crowd that most people would just disregard as “not open to gospel”. So far we have 2 new investigators from it and hopefully  many seeds were planted that need to be! We do have faith and trust that everything that happened there tonight was by the Grace of our Lord. Whether we are here to see the fruits of the activity or they take time and other missionaries, we all 4 KNOW that the Lord prepared all of those people to hear what they heard tonight. Whatever is going on their lives (and even in ours) the Lord is in it to provide us the opportunities to use our agency to come closer to Christ! That is the truth!!

                Mission life is going by great tho! We are sitting here waiting for the transfer news to see if Stilgoe stays or goes. Personally, i wish that he stays and signs are pointing to it because he has no reason to leave but whatever happens will be good. We have had such a good time here as friends and companions thats fa sho! But like i said earlier, whatever happens, the Lord will be in it! Also, as a mission we were able to finish the BOM challenge this week and i slacked for a bit during the middle but i plan on finishing this week and ill be writing my tetstimony in the back of that blue softback copy of the BOM that we used and i will send an email of my testimony of that wonderful book of scripture. It truly is life changing.

                YO yo yo YO! Elder Cetraro, you’re not “Elder” anymore!!!! =O haha WHAAAA!?!?! Yo cuz how does it feel to be home!? How does it feel to have found yourself after losing yourself!? Man so many great things about mission that i cant wait to hear from you as i am able to, like always, follow closely in your footsteps and learn as im sure you did. Yo mission is great ne? Enjoy being home my friend and know that i have taken your advice to just throw myself into the work and to work hard :) till we meet again! Cheers!

*Transfer news results*

The daveyton district is staying the same for another transfer!!!! None of us are leaving and the saga continues!! :) siiiiiiick!

And in other news, eish, my last companion just got his second incident in jozi this last week. Last Saturday, E. Raymond got mugged in hillbrow and then Saturday night a guy broke his side car window with his gun and had it in raymond’s ribs for a good 30 seconds and he says he is now traumatized (hmmm i wonder why!?!?) but thanks to his companions driving and reactions to the spirit, they got away without any gunshout wounds. Crazy stuff! ‘sall good doe, im in ekasi baba!

Till next time :)

Tha's 'bout it!

 -Elder David Spencer “Tony” Smith

"To my wonderful home ward"

**because elder smith didn't have time to write for the blog this week, i would like to share a letter that he wrote to the members of his home ward at the end of last year.**

Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Johannesburg, South Africa

To my wonderful home ward,
I hope all is well back in Utah and that you all had a wonderful holiday season!  Because of the atmosphere during this season here in downtown Johannesburg, we cannot leave our flat but I count my blessings because it allows me time to reflect on the importance of this restored Gospel.  I'm lucky to have this time because I wanted to write and address all of my friends and neighbors in the Copper Hills 7th ward.  As we go into a new year, we all get to look back on 2013 with all the fun memories and learning experiences we had, as well as look forward to 2014 with goals and further growth in mind.  I have only been serving a little over a month and have a ways to go but with all I've learned in that short time, I'm excited to grow further in this amazing Gospel.  Here in South Africa, People, lifestyle and culture are nothing like what we are familiar with back home, but the Gospel is!  Whether we're 30 from church headquarters or 9,094 miles, it makes no difference and is a testament to the divinity and truth that our Church is founded upon.  
Being here has opened my eyes in many ways and I wish to share the experiences and things that I am working on now and plan on applying when I get home!  As you can guess, here in Joburg, there aren't chapels every half milke and not everyone knows about the church; in fact, members are few and far between. With that in mind however, I'm inspired daily by what I see and just have to share! 
The first thing I want to share is how people can magnify their callings despite their situation or the calling itself.  One brother has the assignment of placing hymn books before sacrament meeting.  He walks 10 km and get there 1 hour before the meeting starts so that they can be neat and organized for sacrament meeting that day.  We saw him one morning as we came out of a meeting and he just looked ecstatic to be there doing what he was doing!  Something as seemingly simple as laying out hymn books yet this brother was happy to serve and to do his part! I want to follow his example when I get back of joyfully serving whenever I am called.  The diligence I've seen is amazing and encouraging.  To walk into a single room house with a tin roof and to see a copy of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" taped on the wall beside a pass along card with a picture of the Savior just shows how much this Church and the Gospel means to these wonderful people!  It makes me want to strive not to take it for granted anymore!
Brothers and sisters, my friends, I want to bear my testimony to you that I know beyond the slightest doubt that this is the Restored Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ on the earth today!  The Church is true!  The Book of Mormon along with the words of our Prophets can be the guiding light and driving force for all of God's children if we only do our best to have faith, repent, be baptized or take the sacrament, live with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and never, EVER give up!  Because of the Atonement we can live with our Heavenly Father again one day and also with our families.  I know that families are ordained of God and as we strive to come closer to God, we will grow closer to our families.  I know that through prayer, we can receive guidance, comfort and personal revelation and that God is just waiting for us to ask!  We can't receive until we ask and the door can't be opened until we knock but the love our Father has for us will never fail and He and His Son will always be there for us; that is the truth.
I love you brothers and sisters and you are in my prayers.  I would invite you to continue being the best you can be and do not ever give up!
Much love,
Elder David Spencer Smith

"I soaked it all up like I would goalie skills at a lacrosse camp! That’s how excited I was for Zone Conference!"

Bonjour, howzit, kunjani, whaddup!?
Hey guys back home! How’s life!? Here in SA it’s still as crazy and wonderful as ever! Elder Matos and I have the coolest experiences, both spiritual and regular, daily! We eat some crazy food at least once a week, meet some cool and weird people, and grow as companions and servants of the Lord!
I guess the most prominent experience we've been going through is the 10 days of consecutive rain haha. Being from Utah, I think the longest time I’ve experienced rain was one whole day, not 10 :P needless to say, we've really found out what about us and our stuff is waterproof haha shoes? For the 1st half of the proselyting day yes. Raincoat? Yes. Umbrella? When I can fit all of me under it, yes haha. Boot of our car? Nope! Looks like we have several waterlogged copies of the book of Mormon to prove that one :P but its all good! It’s a new experience and even tracting in the rain produces more results haha I think it because people feel bad for us so they actually listen to what we have to say. that and the rumor goes around that the more you tract in the rain, the more beautiful your wife is:) so we spend a lot of time in the rain ;) hahaha But yeah, we also have tried more crazy foods! Some better than others but new nonetheless. We’ve had muhodu (cow intestines), sardines, semp beans, and green mangos with salt and chili powder. The first two were fo' sho' nasty and the last two were freakin' amazing!
Are you ready for the Zulu phrase of the week? Here goes: valumnyango = close the door, vulumnyango = open the door. I expect perfect pronunciation next time I see you:)
So another crazy bit about SA, words like the H-word, D-word and the A-word are acceptable here! Yes, even in church and by members! Haha It kinda takes me a second to catch my breath after hearing them AT church but I guess it’s normal for them haha! Welcome to SA!!
We near the 23rd and the 30th where Elder Matos and I have baptisms! It’s cool because both of these sisters, Sandra and Jeanethe, were people that WE found and that WE started teaching. We literally get to see the fruits of our labors:) and they’re very sweet!
We had zone conference this weekend and I loved it!! I soaked it all up like I would goalie skills at a lacrosse camp! That’s how excited I was for ZC! We learned how to internalize our purpose as missionaries (to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel thru faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end) so that we can be Christ-like missionaries and not just do missionary things. We have also been issued a challenge at zone conference to read the BOM in 86 days starting yesterday! If any of you would like to join the SAJM, its 6 pages a day:) keep me posted on your insights if/as you decide to read with us:) **
I hope all is well back home and I want to thank Tangee (my lax momma) for her package of CH Lax gear and schedule so I can cheer on from afar! I love you guys!!
Tha’s ‘bout it!
Elder Smith signing off :)
(**Editor's Note: Elder Smith has invited us all to take the SAJM (South Africa Johannesburg Mission) Book of Mormon Challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 86 days (starting March 9th).  If you would like to know why the Book of Mormon is so important, why Mormons call it the "cornerstone of our religion,"  click here to learn more.  On this page, you can read about the BOM, watch a short video clip, ask questions via instant messaging and order your free copy.  As Elder Smith said, "I promise, if you really want and need to know of its truth, and are willing to ACT when you get an answer, you will have the truth made known to you!"  Anyone who would like to share insights, feelings, thoughts and questions can send them to spencer.smith@ihomer.net)

"So I want to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon."

(** editor's note: sometimes Elder Smith doesn't even have enough time to write much but we lucked out this week with two letters!  enjoy his testimony!  if you need a copy of the Book of Mormon to take his challenge, click here.)

So I want to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon. This amazing book of scripture is the key to knowing whether or not what I do here on a mission is true. If there are any doubts about ANY aspect of this church, they all hinge upon the Book of Mormon. Think about this, if I bring you a cake, how will you know if it’s good or not? You have to take a bite! Then you must taste and think about that taste, is it good? The Book of Mormon is the same way! Instead of biting, we read. Instead of tasting, we ponder! Then we appeal to the Source of all truth, our Heavenly Father. He will tell us if what we feel is true or not. Then, once you know if it’s true, and it is!, your question will be answered:)
Being here on a mission, I have found that, like Nephi, I have come to delight in the study of scriptures! Now, after 2 months, I look forward to reading and studying! The stories and things learned are so cool and even humorous at times! Like Laman and Lemuel?? Eish, what idiots! haha but seriously, this Book is amazing and I’ve seen the power of its conversion here in SA. That’s no story nor is it an exaggeration. I’ve seen people change their way of living because of the same things I described and are described in the introduction. I encourage all of my friends and family back home to read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I promise, if you really want and need to know of its truth, and are willing to ACT when you get an answer, you will have the truth made known to you! I love it here and love all that I am able to learn!!! :) And I love all of you!
Tha’s ‘bout it!
Love, Elder Smith:)

"I have been overcome with the Spirit in the feelings of love and eternal appreciation"

Dear Family & Friends,
I want to express the feelings in my heart at this moment.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Gospel is true.  At the present moment I have been overcome with the Spirit in the feelings of love and eternal appreciation.  The Lord puts people in all of our lives so that we may learn and grow according to the Plan of Happiness.  Whether these people are our family or friends or whether it is someone in a far continent who has been called to touch lives but whose life is in turn being touched it matters not.  What matters is this Gospel! This Good News! No matter our relationship here on earth, we are all God's children.  Being out here on my mission, I have tried to imagine the love my parents have for each of us 4 children and I simply cannot comprehend that love!  Then I imagine that love multiplied by a trillion and we get (*understand/comprehend) less than 0.0001% of our Heavenly Father's love for all of His children here on earth.  We have been so blessed in this life!
Being on mission we only get R1350 (*approx. $135 USD) a month to live on.  That can only be used wisely for basic living.  I know why they do that.  Maybe it's because it's possible or probably because more missionaries can be sent out with a suitable amount but I think it goes beyond that!  When we have very little, we become humbled in such a way that cannot be achieved when we are back at home and have so much!  And when we are humbled, we can be taught; taught in so many aspects it's hard to digest.  So why do I bring up this point?  Certainly not to make us feel bad or guilty about what we have but to encourage us to be grateful for the good and bad things that happen!   If we can take that perspective I can promise the Lord will teach us.  Of that I testify! If we can give effort to think "How can I learn from this stinky situation" and then pray with real intent (real intent= you will act, you intend to) for a way to grow through the trial, the enabling power of the atonement will get us through it!  I don't want to sound preachy, not at all, but I felt inspired to share that :)
These feelings of the Spirit are very real :)  Always I will try to have them with me!  I love you all very much!
Love,
Elder David Spencer Smith