Saturday, September 28, 2013

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!


Ok. Thank you everyone SO much for everything! Thank you grandparents for the birthday letters, they were so great! You always give way too much! I love you guys! And Sister Hart, Marivi’s mom got the card to the bishop and he got it to me on my birthday! It was great! Thank you for the package as well, family! It was great, it came right on time!

I loved the emails! Sorry to hear that we lost the Emotion Bowl. I’m still healing from our losses. But I’m glad to see that all the boys are all back together (Kegan, Stevan, Garrett). I love those guys. It will be good to see them all again. Stay out of trouble!!!

So we had a great week here. Starting with Sunday we had Stake Conference and got a bunch of super great new people to church and they loved it. That night the Thompson (He is a counselor in the Stake Presidency) family invited us over for dinner like they do every Sunday. . They are so great! Sister Thompson felt she needed to do something big for my birthday, so they made my favorite dinner and my favorite mango salsa. Man they are great.

That Monday morning we decided to play basketball early before studies because we canceled our pday because of the incoming missionary. When we got there, there were a bunch of missionaries and they had brought party hats and the little blowy things and a bunch of treats for after the game, for my birthday. It was super funny and I was really grateful for them.

That morning we spent driving around to police departments getting finger prints and everything signed to send a Sister Missionary down to Argentina and got back just in time to go to lunch with brother Traynor. What a boss!  I really love that guy. He bought us a super expensive meal of buffalo chicken pizza and made a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting (Mom’s recipe), that was great! He had candles and the whole 9 yards. I’m really grateful for him.

After that we found out that the new elders arrival had been canceled and so President Maluenda commanded us to go play soccer with all the missionaries haha! We were obedient:) We had a great time and finished the night at the Maluenda’s for some planning. Well, I thought it was planning, but when I got there the whole family was there with a great cake and chileano hot dogs. It was the most amazing birthday ever. They tried so hard to make it really special and I was really grateful. Then we got on the computer to do the BYUI endorsement and couldn't find it and President was like, “Call your Mom and ask!" I said, “Can’t Sister Maluenda just text her?”  “NO CALL!”

Haha, so I did! He was so happy that I got to talk to you! And it was sooo good to hear Addi’s voice! I wanted to talk more but couldn't. You guys are great!

We finished out the week finding a super great family of 4 that are looking really promising for October and we have a pm (part member) girl that will be getting baptized tomorrow! The lord has been blessing us a ton! And here we are today just about to go help Sister Tovar. our recent convert, move apartments!  Wish us luck!
Besides that, all is well! It’s starting to turn bitter sweet! Haha I’m just super happy with everything and love being here. I love my wards. I love the members, my area, the missionaries, the Maluenda’s. All is so great. And I really love the Lord.. He's the greatest. He definitely knew what he was doing when he called me here. It was definitely meant to be my mission!

Thanks for everything and tell everyone I say hello!

Monday, September 23, 2013

ELDER SMITH'S 21ST BIRTHDAY!

So, it is done and I'm returning with my report. We just finished with lunch at BJ's, the place they had chosen (coincidentally one of my favorite places too). They make excellent pizza at BJ's with a lot of specialty ingredients and we had a go at recreating "The Payton". It wasn't quite the same thing as the one he makes at your home, but I think it was close enough to at least remind him. We had a fun time going over where he's served so far, what he's up to now that he's in the office, etc. You really have a great son. From the way he talked, I could easily see that he loves what he's doing and that he "gets" what missionary work/leadership is about. We finished it off with the cake, which seemed to be a happy surprise for him. Thanks for letting me be a part of a fun mission memory for your family. I think things like this are great. 

William Traynor

P.S. Forgive me for not taking a ton of pictures. I don't often take pictures so I didn't remember until nearly the end. The one with the candles turned out a bit blurry.