Jaren loves life!

That was the title of Jaren's letter to us this week.  That's a good sign to a parent who only gets to hear from their child away from home once a week.

I recently posted about how interesting I thought it was that he didn't know what was going on in the world with the economy and such.  Well, they were made aware by the mission president at zone conference last week.  Jaren talks about that here.  Now he knows why people are losing jobs and struggling there just as they are here, but of course, Jaren has a positive outlook on that, just as he does most things in life.  It helped that his mission president pitched it that way, also.

I am grateful that he is actually on a mission.  We don't have to worry about him having a job here in order to be able to pay for school.  Hopefully things will turn around by the time he returns in July 2010!

Dear Family,

Well, first off, it sounds like things have or will be changing a lot at home over the next couple of months with the RANCH turning into A FARM!! All this time it has just been talk, but I guess you are pretty serious about it! Have fun!!!

We just had Zone Conference yesterday and it was absolutely amazing as usual. Präsident actually gave us a low down on what is going on in the world, at least with the economy. The mission has to reduce its spending, and they told us that not all of our remimbursments need to be reimbursed and that we need to budget our spending and funds appropriately. It was interesting. President also related to us that from what he has been told and from what he has seen, the world is on the verge of experiencing the largest economic disaster in recorded history, many times larger in depth than the Great Depression. With that said, he then reiterated a little about what President Oaks said, from the area Seventy just a week and a half ago, saying that Europe in particular, is on the verge of a break through. It is an exciting time to serve the Lord, and to bring those who are being prepared into the gospel. President Ninow then said, "Truly, the Lord is preparing and humbling his people right now, and this is one way that the Lord is doing it." He then gave the history of the gospel being preached in South America, how even 140 years after the church was established, Brazil for example had only 3000 members at about 1970. Now, nearly forty years later, the country truly has blossomed like a rose, and now has over 1,000,000 members, and South America as a whole has nearly 3,000,000! He then told us, same thing was true, and promised for all the world, including Europe. You are here during a time when people here are asking more than ever if God exists, and why they are here on this earth. You see it every day! He then said, unlike normal ups and downs in life, you experience huge ups and downs in a single day! And then he gave this really cool analogy, "The mission is a sanctification process on steroids, it really is! you are the putty in the Lords hands, and he is molding and shaping you and refining you as you go throughout your mission."

So, amid the woes of the world, and the crisis, the war, the turmoil, I am happy to serve the Lord in one of the most exciting times of the World! I could care less what is happening in the news. In fact, the news just stresses me out, and that is one thing I really haven´t missed on the mission. I feel at peace. I want to bring this peace into the lives of others. 

Which brings me to my next point. Elder White and I had an incredible week! It was the best week I have had yet! We taught a total of 16 lessons, half of which were with people on the street, and we are going to meet with one of them this next week! Now when I say lesson, I mean a lesson. Thursday alone we had five, my best day ever! We started out in the morning and talked to everyone we met as we walked. A few people later, we came in contact with a young guy, and ended up talking about the Plan of Salvation with him for 20 minutes, on the street. Then, we walked further up the street, and within minutes, stopped another person on the street, again, another 20-30 minute lesson, this time on the restoration and a little on the Plan of Salvation. And then, right after finishing with him, talked to this older lady for about 20 minutes on the restoration. She wasn´t that interested in the end though. But still, my testimony grew so much, that the Lord leads us to those who will listen, who are searching for the truth. In the end, none of these people gave good contact info, or wanted to hear more, but I felt like we shared with them what they needed to hear that day. Maybe they will have more interest later, and I can only hope they will. We did get the contact of one guy on Monday, and he wants to meet with us next Monday, after he gets a few things in order. We have been in contact with him, so we are excited to meet with him! 

I was still satisfied that we worked really hard, that we were where we needed to be, and talked to the right people at the right time. I love this work, and really starting to Love the people more than ever. 

William and Charity are doing well. We are actually meeting them tonight, and talking about Authority with them. William doesn´t quite understand it yet, but once he does, I think it will open the door for him. Charity is really great, but I think William is more of the example, and so, she will most likely follow him. They are so fun to teach, but it is also difficult at the same time. If they do become members, they will need to have a translator every Sunday, to translate for them. We at least have brought the Niesen´s along with us, so they are becoming friends with them as well.

Schwester Schmitt, who has been an investigator for quite a while, came to church last Sunday! We were so excited to have her there! She has been a part of so many different religions, but decided to study on her own because she always saw strife and people not living their lives the way that they should. We had a pretty amazing sacrament meeting, and one of the songs was "Families can be Together Forever", with all the talks on Families. She asked us afterwards why families are so important in our church. It was so revealing to me. We have talked about the family several times with her before, but I think she is starting to understand, and wants to understand more than ever the "why." She is progressing pretty good, also.

All I can say is that the Lords hand has truly been revealed, but it was only after we decided to put forth our best effort, having done all that we could do, that we had such an amazing week! This work is real, The gospel is true, and the Lord is humbling his people, and they are becoming more and more receptive here.

Now, hopefully I can answer your questions!

Well, I can´t quite copy them over for some reason, but no, I haven´t heard from Elder Taylor yet. But, I am sure that he is busy getting things figured out, what he is going to be doing, where he will be living, and such. I´ll probably email him here soon though to see how he is doing.

And about food. Well, we don´t have too many dinner appointments, so we either cook food ourselves, our eat something quick while we are out.

Hope you all have a good week. Glad to know that all is well, that is also an answer to my prayers. I know the Lord is watching over you as he is me. I love you all!!!

Your Son,
Elder Smith

He must have remembered to take his journal with him when he wrote this letter because it is very detailed with quotes and everything.  I think I wrote from my missionary journal when I wrote letters to my family, also.  There is so much that happens in a week that it's hard to forget.  It was pretty easy to do.  I would take my journal with me often. I always carried it to meetings and was pretty good to write in it daily.  It was pretty easy to take to the laundromat, which is where I did a good share of my letter writing.  Jaren doesn't have that luxury.  He has to go to an internet cafe to write his letters.  It's not like he has a laptop that he can just pull out and start typing away on while he does his laundry.