"We felt the love that Heavenly Father has for ALL of his children"

Hello everybody!!
Aesh (eye-shh): a very common exclamation used just like "jeeze", "whoa" or "oh boy"
Yo (yo): another exclamation to show disbelief
YO! I can’t believe I’ve already been here a month already!! Haha if it keeps flying by like this I think I might miss my whole mission!! Haha 2 years is nothin:) So I have a whole week’s worth of stories to tell but I want to start by saying I love you all very much and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! It's weird having summer for Christmas but I’ll get used to the short sleeve shirts:) haha Well I guess I’ll start with the funny experience I had right after I emailed last Monday. So Elder Matos and I went shopping right? We got our groceries and went to go into another shop when we locked the car (manually, no auto locks) and he says "wait! The keys are still in there!" Yup, the keys were in there. In the ignition too! Yup, the car was still running.. Haha Elder Matos' Venezuelan currency doesn’t work here either so he only has his allotment card and that isn’t very much haha So guess who got to pay the locksmith R950 rand to come unlock the car? Yours truly!! Haha it’s all good though, considering I’ve done it to myself and been considerably embarrassed. Needless to say, I could understand my companion’s feelings and we got thru it safely:) So a little more about South Africa: people here are even more diverse than in the US! People from DRC, Zim, Malawi, etc all come here! In fact, I wish I would have learned a little more French from my dad and it would have come in handy! We’re teaching this guy, Angelo, from DRC and we gave him a French Book of Mormon and his eyes lit up as he said, "I’m going to read this now!" the work is great here! People, including myself, are so humbled by their circumstances that the message of the gospel and hope for eternal happiness really gets to people’s hearts here in a way different than back in Utah. Maybe it’s because everyone knows about the Mormons.. Who knows!? All I know is it’s great to be here! A little hectic sometimes and weird food but its great!! All great except the sight of five or six 12-year-old boys drinking beer in the street, not being able to stand because they are drunk :( It is a different world here for sure!
So on Friday I had an exchange with Elder Nilsen, one of our ZL. He is an awesome kid! I definitely made a friend and he told me I was an amazing missionary because I follow the rules. Haha I laugh because the rules are the only sense of comfort I really have here; knowing they’ll keep me safe. "Well if that’s what it takes then I’ll keep on doing it!" I told him. He is really powerful and I wish I could be his companion next transfer but his airplane is only 50 days away. Haha so for those of you who don’t know that I can’t drive a stick shift, I can’t. Or at least, couldn’t, until Friday haha. Elder Nilsen can’t and so since I kind of know how it works, I had the advantage and luckily we're doing the Lord’s work because the angels pushed our car from our flat to our area!! Haha I went from not knowing how to drive a manual OR drive in SA (the opposite side of the road with crazy divers and taxis) to doing it all in one day! I’ll just say the adrenaline was flowing like crazy!!! Haha I don’t think I stopped praying the whole drive either!
Then Sunday we had a couple cool experiences! After sacrament, the Joburg 1 elders were sick and left so Elder Matos and I got to direct 2 saving ordinances!! A little 8 year old girl in the ward, Chani Gombo, was baptized and confirmed a member of the church by her father! It was very cool to be a part of and it is one of my "gold nuggets" that I will store away (that’s for you Bro. Cooper.) Then, that evening we had two appointments fall through so Elder Matos and I went to Rhoddes Park in Kensington and went to all these families and sang Christmas carols from my mini hymn book! They were either drunk or sober but it didn’t matter because once we started the hymns, their eyes lit up and some of them sang along to the ones they knew!! It was cool because we felt the love that Heavenly father has for ALL of his children and how happy he will be when they can realize the love he has for them and come back into the fold:) It was almost like your experience Bekah!
Anyways, I’m super excited for Christmas and Skyping my family! Even though I get crap from the elders since I’ve only been out a month haha! We also got invited to several family braiis so we won’t go hungry!! (braii (a br-eye) is a bbq)
It’s comforting to know that whatever my mood is at the beginning of the day, when I can serve all day and feel those spiritual highs I go to bed happy and confident and with a bigger testimony of this wonderful gospel:)
MERRY CHRISTMAS AGAIN!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!
Tha's 'bout all!
Love,
Elder David Spencer Tony Smith

Elder Smith's kitchen

Elder Smith's desk on the right

Elder Smith's Addresses

i have had quite a few people ask me for these recently so i'm going to put them all here for easy access. thank you so much, by the way, for supporting Elder Smith.  we know he truly appreciates the time and effort you make to stay in touch!  ~L

EMAIL:
spencer.smith@ihomer.net

POUCH (for one page letters):
Elder David Spencer Smith
South Africa Johannesburg Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150
*Please follow the Pouch mail instructions carefully. One-page letters, (no envelopes or photos) written on one side of the page may be sent by Pouch. Fold the letter in thirds, blank side out. Place 2 pieces of tape on the long side about one inch in from each end but do not seal the ends. Return address in the top left corner, first class US stamp in the top right corner & Elder Smith's Pouch address (above) in the middle. Notebook & lightweight paper will not make it through the high-speed sorting system so please use something more heavy-weight.

LETTERS & CARDS:
Elder David Spencer Smith
South Africa Johannesburg Mission
Private Bag X4
Ansfrere 1711, South Africa

PACKAGES:
Elder David Spencer Smith
South Africa Johannesburg Mission
3 Phillips Avenue
Discovery 1709
Roodepoort
South Africa
*Packages should be labeled "MISSIONARY SUPPLIES" and valued less than $40.00 to avoid high custom charges.  


SAJMmom

"Life as a missionary is very interesting to say the least!"

Howzit all!?
Wow, I have officially been here 3 weeks and yet my life is changed! For the better too:)
So my companion who is training me is Elder Manuel Matos from Venezuela. He’s a great guy and I am learning lots! It helps that we get along alright too, I don’t want to beat him up yet ;) haha jk From the stories I’ve heard, it could be worse! But he and I have been assigned to open a new area! Joburg 3. For those who don’t know what that entails, 2 words can cover it fairly simply: hard work. When you open a new area, there are no investigators, no contacts, no nuthin'! haha So we wake up every morning and after 3 hours of study/training we go out proselyting. Proselyting involves tracting (knocking on doors) and street contacting (walking up and down the streets meeting people and introducing ourselves and our message). At least the weather’s nice though (except it rains every single day) because the work is all work haha.
Here in South Africa it’s... well let’s just say not as safe as we're used to back in good ol' Utah. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, rich and poor has a 7ft fence with barbed wire and spikes and sometimes electric surrounding their property. You can imagine how difficult it would be to tract when you can’t knock on any doors, right?? So what we have to do is look for people in their yards or places with intercoms and pray the intercom isn’t broken. It’s just a super different culture here that’ll take some getting used to. My area (Kensington, Bruma and Berea for those with Google maps) has rich and poor areas. The rich people are snobby and tell us to get lost and the poor people don’t speak English; well not all of them anyway. So it’s hard but the work goes on!! I just pray that I get through the day and so far I’ve made it haha:) Life as a missionary is very interesting to say the least! You are really just thrown out on your own! "Here’s R1350*- spend it wisely this month!" (Crazy how we can live off of about $135 huh!?) So if I could give any advice for future missionaries and college students it would be this: learn how to cook, plan, budget and shop!! You won’t regret it!
So those who were in my neighborhood will appreciate this next part! In the MTC I had a friend from Manchester England (yeah a ManU fan, not Chelsea:/ ) named Elder Wild. Do you guys remember Elder Rowlands who served in our stake who was from England?? He lived with Elder Wild!! Elder Wild had Elder Rowland's actual Preach My Gospel book with the words "West Jordan - CH stake” written in it! I thought that it was just the craziest connection!!
I wish I had more time to email and make this blog post not so...unorganized, but we only have one day to do our shopping, laundry, soccer and cleaning so I better hop to it! For those who have emailed, I love every bit of it and tried to reply to them all even if it was just a little bit:) keep them coming!! And for those who haven’t received a letter, they’re coming!! They’ll get there it just takes forever and I have a little time to write each night:) so if you haven’t gotten one, it’s not cause I don’t love you:) it’ll come!
On that note, if I could ask Santa for anything this Christmas, it would be handwritten letters that I can hold and read each night!!  Also just happy pictures of all my friends and family smiling:) you wouldn't believe how much it can brighten the day of a person 9,000 miles from home! I know postage is expensive but I can’t print anything off here in an internet cafe. If you email pictures I can look at them once a week which is great! but a hard copy would be even better:) I’d also ask Santa to keep me in his prayers:) All of you, my friends and family, are in my prayers multiple times a day and I thank the Lord for every person He's given me!!
Tha’s ‘bout all!
Love,
Elder Spencer Smith
(*Editor’s note- the local currency is the Rand or R.  R1 is equal to about $0.097 USD.)

Elder Smith (from Pres. Omer)

11 December 2013

Dear Brother and Sister Smith,

I am pleased to inform you that your son, Elder David Spencer Smith has arrived in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission and he is doing wonderfully.  We are delighted to have him serving with us in the Mission.  Elder Smith will serve initially in the Johannesburg 3 Area of the Johannesburg Zone. His companion and trainer is Elder Manuel Matos Bautista, from Venezuela. Attached are 2 pictures we thought you might enjoy.  One is of him with Sis. Omer and me, and the other is of him with his new companion.  
Uplifting and supportive letters from home are important to missionaries.  We encourage you to write or e-mail your son weekly.  
We appreciate your support of your missionary and thank you for sharing him with the South Africa Johannesburg Mission.  

Sincerely, 
S. Craig Omer, President
South Africa Johannesburg Mission

SAMTC empty (from Sis. Reber)

The MTC is empty.  There is no more laughter in the halls.
The missionaries left this morning for their missions.  They were excited and ready to get out into the field.
I will most likely know their trainers.  

These are the final photos I'm sending to you.  It is the group photo that will hang on the wall of the MTC....and also a Preach My Gospel photo with them holding up their training manual.

Thank you to those who send me kind notes and helped me feel that it was worth the effort to email you.

Love,
Sister Janet Reber
South Africa MTC

(can you spot Elder Smith?)