the life of a GOAL-ie

Elder Tony- GOALie

               Ekse fedi, yizo re kaofela! Ey eye y kasi life is too nice! And yes mom, this IS the fastest way to lose any knowledge of proper English and grammar ;) Haha so get your red pens out and get ready to correct cause here comes the blog of the week  :) (Mom’s Note: Just for the record, I have not corrected, or even mentioned, his grammar once in the last 10 months.  I guess he’s just emotionally scarred from the 19 years previous… )

             I guess first things first: the name of the blog has changed into something that I feel is far more appropriate! Not that “tha’s ‘bout it” wasn't good but this is better!

Elder Clegg

                “The life of a GOALie” better describes what is going on here in the life of Elder Smith :) Here’s my explanation and the story leading up to it: So during weekly planning and inventory this week, Elder Clegg was able to give me some solid advice on how I could be better! And that included the personal goal of actually writing down my goals.  This would make it so that I could be more accountable to something as well as be able to put it on my wall so I can look at it! So I did just that but as I was trying to be creative and name it something cooler than just “goals”, I saw out of the corner of my eye some lacrosse pictures that my family sent me!  *inspiration moment*

I thought about all the great life lessons I’ve learned from lacrosse, all the growth, all the sports analogies used to explain the gospel, as well as all the fun and I knew my title had to be lacrosse related. Luckily, the inspiration kept going and the best position in the game actually has the word in it: GOALie! And so there ya have it:  this blog is about a lacrosse goalie who is serving a mission and trying to become a consecrated missionary by setting goals- The life of a GOALie!
                I’m very amazed at and grateful for the events that transpired in order to lead me to this new frame of mind and motivation for achievement. I know Heavenly Father answers prayers because this is the answering of many recent prayers! The event that started the chain reaction was so simple and I think that is what makes it that great! So let me start by saying how much I love, admire, and respect my companion, Elder Clegg. On Wednesday he gave me a small torn card with a little quote on it from Pres. Uchtdorf and it said “I am doing a great work and cannot come down.” Man, that hit home as I remembered this talk from conference! I asked if he had the whole talk and of course he did! Before I go any further, I urge everyone who reads this post to read that talk! But it talks about the story of Nehemiah in the Old Testament. As he was building the walls of Jerusalem, he was tempted to come down but knowing the danger, he refused with the phrase “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down” (Neh 6:3). President Uchtdorf then goes on to explain how we need to be careful to keep our attention on the things that matter most! And despite temptation and distractions, we need to remember that we are “doing a great work and cannot come down.” What a great reminder!! It’s what I needed to read right at that moment and I thank Elder Clegg for listening to the promptings of the spirit :)  It led me to desire to write my goals down and if you read the above paragraphs, you know the story! So anyways now we’re at the lacrosse junction. I know it’s a blessing that I got those pictures! Cause now, not only can I show people that rugby and soccer aren’t the best

 BUT I can also have a reminder that I am goalie, I’m (Elder) Tony, I’m a GOALie. So each of my missionary planners from here on out will have a picture of CH Lax and a picture of the Savior as my reminders! See how the Lord works in many small and simple ways to bring about the salvation of His children? How oft will he gather us? Amazing :) Ahh the gospel is true!
                As far as events go, this week has been pretty sweet and not nearly as crazy as last week- haha. No near stabbings or funerals but just great missionary work and spiritual growth! We have been able to help several people come closer to Christ than they may have been last week and that makes all the difference! Oliver is one of those people and his is an exciting story! He is preparing for baptism on the 12th of October and so we have been teaching him all the lessons and this past week we have focused on the commandments. When Oliver heard the law of chastity he took out his earrings and he hasn’t worn them since. When he heard the Word of Wisdom, he said “oh I already live like that!” This guy is sweeeeeet! Haha it’s been such a blessing to find him through Lesedi (one of our ward missionaries), begin teaching him, and be able to see him baptized in 2 weeks! What a blessing! This week we also got to go on exchanges, have Zone Meeting,

Elder Smith made this cake from items sent from home.

celebrate the Daveyton birthdays (Clegg, Myself, Ronnie, Shimi, Nature, and Sipho) with a cake from home,

and I even had the privilege of doing the confirmation of Bro. Excellent Mavodze in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday! How can you complain about such a week!? I guess the only sad thing is the high-ish potential I have to leave this area on Oct. 14 :(  I’ve been in Daveyton 5 months now and so things are looking like I might leave :( BUT, we never know, I could stay for 7 ½ and remain with Clegg or something but either way I shall “Act upon this land as for years” (D&C 51:16-17).
                It’s been a fun week and a fast one as well! Too many great things happening here in Msanzi. I am now double digits in my mission age and that’s ridiculous! Clegg and I only have 2 weeks in the transfer and time doesn’t seem to be slowing! But until next Monday, Salani Kahle :)
-Elder David Spencer “Tony” Smith

It's all about the dogs this week...

He loves his lollies!  Thanks Sue Greene :)

"Fast Food"  It's not exactly McDonald's but it's a great little place to grab a Kota!

Kota! = Kasi sandwich made from a hollowed out kota (or quarter) of a loaf of bread stuffed with fried chips (French Fries), boerewors (SA sausage), Russian Sausage, Vienna Sausage, fried polony (bologna sausage), atchar (pickled veg & fruit) and sauce.  Yum.  

"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.)  

"I learned a valuable lesson this week, and it turns out we all have a choice!"

♪♫ It’s a beautiful day in the mission field, a beautiful day for a p-day. Would you be mine, could you be mine? I have always wanted to be a missionary just like this, I’ve always wanted to be in the mission field like this so, let’s make the most of this preparation day, since we’re emailing, we mind as well say, will you reply, will you reply, won’t you read my email. Won’t you read? Won’t you please? Please will you read my email? ♪♫  Takin' it back to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood this week!
                But aanyway kids it’s been a fast week this week! That’s a good thing and a bad thing but, as the wise mkhulu (1) Coach Evans would say, “It is what it is.”  Nah but it was a great week! Last p-day we had a fun zone activity, I learned a valuable lesson this week, and it turns out we all have a choice! Stay tuned =D
                So last Monday, we had our zone activity and it was actually something different than braai and sports! Haha we went to East Rand Mall and did a photo scavenger hunt with our whole zone! It was too funny! We had to get pictures with stuff like an “Afrikaaner”, “a nice looking girl with an ugly guy” and “a white waiter” haha and a bunch of other stuff that is unique to mzansi (2) J haha it was a blast and so we got 3 points for a picture of the item and 5 points if a missionary was in the picture! The best part was that our group (Daveyton 1 and 2 and Etwatwa) won!! So we got bragging rights and a Cadbury dairy milk bar :) so that was a fun way to switch up the p-day routine!
                Then, in addition to being the zone scavenger champs, I was able to learn a valuable lesson over the course of the week. So on Thursday in weekly planning I set the goal to, as the white handbook says: “avoid all forms of worldly entertainment” by not singing worldly music. The thing is I forgot to write it down in my planner so I forgot about it. Then on Friday at district meeting, Elder Allen and I started singing “Die Young” by Ke$ha (yeah great choice right? Haha who knows where that came from but it did) and my companion reminded me of my goal. Well, I kinda had some pride and came up with an excuse that I had changed my goal. So that was Friday but then Saturday came. So we were going to a lesson and a car pulled up behind us bumping “I’m different” by 2Chainz and so I started rapping along. It’s not a very good song and definitely a “worldly form of entertainment” but I justified singing it. During the rap I got the impression I should stop because of the goal I had set on Thursday. I justified though and said it was too hard of a goal for me and that I could work on it later in my mission. Well, that was a mistake. So we went into this lesson and simply, I couldn’t teach. My questions weren’t inspired and just plain bad questions and my thoughts were just empty words. I struggled thru that lesson but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why! In a later lesson where we were teaching about the Holy Ghost, my comp said something that really hit me. I can’t remember word for word but it was too the effect that he was able to have the spirit with him always as a missionary. Not because of his badge but because he had learned what he needed to do to keep the spirit with him. This hit me really hard and right then and there I knew why the previous lesson was so hard: I didn’t have the spirit. So I decided then and there to work for my goal and sing music that is in line with my calling. Again, as the wise mkhulu Coach Evans would say: “No Excuses!” And I realized that the spirit can help us keep our goals as well as give us the motivation! So how’s that for a pride-swallowing valuable life lesson!? And it isn’t even finished! At church, in gospel principles class, we learned about agency and I learned something that caps off my life lesson. When we make good choices, it strengthens our agency and makes it easier to make more good choices!! Hence the motivation I received to keep my goal and not allow myself to tell myself it was too hard. On top of that, consider this: if good choices strengthen our agency, then what do bad choices do to our agency? And who influences those bad choices? Things to consider :) but until next time, it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood! And thanks coach! Cheers :)
Tha’s ‘bout it!
-Elder David Spencer “Tony” Smith

(1) Mkhulu is Xhosa for a wise & revered grandfather or elder.
(2) Mzansi is the Xhosa word meaning the country of South Africa.

"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

"This post goes out to my lax bros back home."

This post goes out to my lax bros back home. I finally found someone who knows my sport!! And he is my new zone leader!! haha Elder Tew played attack for Bingham’s varsity team in 2011 and remembers me playing against him! haha Funny thing is that he remembers having to actually set up an offense when I came into the game after their plan was, and I quote him, "all we had to do was score 3 easy goals on Talyn and we knew he would lose it" hahaha I love Talyn and everything he taught me about goalie but I had to laugh when Elder Tew said that! But it’s been great to talk lax with him and to just actually have someone who loves it as much as I! Guaranteed we will talk about it today when we go play rugby with the zone :)
Oh and for my pal Joe Otta-Otta, I met Elder Jensen from WJ!