Why hello everyone,
This week and the week to come are crazy. Hope everything turns out all right. So for the first bit of news, I'm finally getting transferred this week. So long Crystal Valley and hello Limon. I don't know where that is so I should probably figure that out... It's actually just east of where I am currently. My new companion is going to be Elder Peterson. I don't know who that is but it will probably be interesting. Second piece of cool stuff that happened this week was that on Saturday we had a mission conference and ELDER HOLLAND talked to us. I don't know if I ever put that in an email, but if I didn't I'm sorry. BUT IT WAS SUPER FRICKEN COOL.
Elder Holland was amazing. He knows exactly the effect that he has on missionaries in particular and he totally used that to his advantage. Everyone in the mission was there and everyone was like an hour or more early. I was with Elder Madsen so I got a really good seat at the front of the chapel. So he some in and we all stand and he motions for us to sit down. After the opening song and some words from the Area Seventy in this area, he comes down off the stage because he doesn't like to be behind the podium.
As he comes down he says,
"The reason that I came down here to Colorado is to... get right after YOU!"
and then bends down and grabs the face of the missionary that was closest to him and kind of manhandles his face.
Then he goes, "Just kidding, but you're sure awake now, aren't you?". If there is anything that I could have expected less it was that. But it cracked every single person up in that room. The rest of the time his talk was about how he sees that we are a pretty good mission and he isn't there to talk about obedience or anything like that. He just doesn't think that we, as a mission, have enough fire in us. And if anyone is good at getting someone fired up, it's Elder Holland. I took so many notes of that conference. He had some really great things that he said and compared the people of Colorado or the United States to the character of Nicodemus in the New Testament. Look him up if you get the chance, I'll try and take a picture of the notes that I took and send that, because I don't really feel like typing out the notes that I took. :P But that was probably the coolest conference that I will ever be able to attend. Also Elder Holland is a lot shorter than I thought he would be. I'm like a full 4 inches taller than him. Also I felt like he was searching my soul when he shook my hand and looked into my eyes. Just think of that Ghost Rider movie with Nicholas Cage. It was like that, and since I'm not a burnt out corpse I think I past the interview. Whew. But now I'm on to Limon.
I'll get you the address as soon as I get it, but it should be fun. An Elder in my Zone was there for about 6 months and he says that it's one of the biggest areas in the mission and it's in the middle of nowhere. I'm not getting banished I swear. My new companion is Elder Peterson and I know nothing about him except that someone told me that they heard that they are a good missionary. It's going to be awesome. I really love the people of Crystal Valley and am going to miss them and the people that we are working with but I know that Elder Madsen will take good care of them and it will be a good change of pace. I don't want to get too complacent in the place where I am. It's a really good time to implement the things that Elder Holland talked about. There isn't a lot of growth in a comfort zone, and there isn't a lot of comfort in a growth zone. Time to grow!
I love you guys and hope that you guys are still trying to be the awesome versions of yourself that you need to be. Awesome versions are different than normal versions. I'm trying to be the Awesome Garrett more than the Normal Garrett. Awesome Garrett can be Elder Smith because he uses the atonement to be better. Normal Garrett tries to do it himself and usually fails to do the hard things. I like my Awesome analogy, it sounds cooler. :) Have a great week.
Love,
Elder (Awesome) Garrett Darren Smith
p.s. I'm probably going to need to buy a new cord that will have to be delivered to me in Limon. Also, can I use the card to order some Protein junk online because It's cheaper there than in walmart. Just let me know, THANKS!!
p.p.s I'm totally going to try and do the Video journal thing because that sounds a lot more fun than cramping my hand trying to write down everything that happened to me and forgetting what I was going to write because it took me too long to write the thing before... Endless cycle of pain and frustration.
This week and the week to come are crazy. Hope everything turns out all right. So for the first bit of news, I'm finally getting transferred this week. So long Crystal Valley and hello Limon. I don't know where that is so I should probably figure that out... It's actually just east of where I am currently. My new companion is going to be Elder Peterson. I don't know who that is but it will probably be interesting. Second piece of cool stuff that happened this week was that on Saturday we had a mission conference and ELDER HOLLAND talked to us. I don't know if I ever put that in an email, but if I didn't I'm sorry. BUT IT WAS SUPER FRICKEN COOL.
Elder Holland was amazing. He knows exactly the effect that he has on missionaries in particular and he totally used that to his advantage. Everyone in the mission was there and everyone was like an hour or more early. I was with Elder Madsen so I got a really good seat at the front of the chapel. So he some in and we all stand and he motions for us to sit down. After the opening song and some words from the Area Seventy in this area, he comes down off the stage because he doesn't like to be behind the podium.
As he comes down he says,
"The reason that I came down here to Colorado is to... get right after YOU!"
and then bends down and grabs the face of the missionary that was closest to him and kind of manhandles his face.
Then he goes, "Just kidding, but you're sure awake now, aren't you?". If there is anything that I could have expected less it was that. But it cracked every single person up in that room. The rest of the time his talk was about how he sees that we are a pretty good mission and he isn't there to talk about obedience or anything like that. He just doesn't think that we, as a mission, have enough fire in us. And if anyone is good at getting someone fired up, it's Elder Holland. I took so many notes of that conference. He had some really great things that he said and compared the people of Colorado or the United States to the character of Nicodemus in the New Testament. Look him up if you get the chance, I'll try and take a picture of the notes that I took and send that, because I don't really feel like typing out the notes that I took. :P But that was probably the coolest conference that I will ever be able to attend. Also Elder Holland is a lot shorter than I thought he would be. I'm like a full 4 inches taller than him. Also I felt like he was searching my soul when he shook my hand and looked into my eyes. Just think of that Ghost Rider movie with Nicholas Cage. It was like that, and since I'm not a burnt out corpse I think I past the interview. Whew. But now I'm on to Limon.
I'll get you the address as soon as I get it, but it should be fun. An Elder in my Zone was there for about 6 months and he says that it's one of the biggest areas in the mission and it's in the middle of nowhere. I'm not getting banished I swear. My new companion is Elder Peterson and I know nothing about him except that someone told me that they heard that they are a good missionary. It's going to be awesome. I really love the people of Crystal Valley and am going to miss them and the people that we are working with but I know that Elder Madsen will take good care of them and it will be a good change of pace. I don't want to get too complacent in the place where I am. It's a really good time to implement the things that Elder Holland talked about. There isn't a lot of growth in a comfort zone, and there isn't a lot of comfort in a growth zone. Time to grow!
I love you guys and hope that you guys are still trying to be the awesome versions of yourself that you need to be. Awesome versions are different than normal versions. I'm trying to be the Awesome Garrett more than the Normal Garrett. Awesome Garrett can be Elder Smith because he uses the atonement to be better. Normal Garrett tries to do it himself and usually fails to do the hard things. I like my Awesome analogy, it sounds cooler. :) Have a great week.
Love,
Elder (Awesome) Garrett Darren Smith
p.s. I'm probably going to need to buy a new cord that will have to be delivered to me in Limon. Also, can I use the card to order some Protein junk online because It's cheaper there than in walmart. Just let me know, THANKS!!
p.p.s I'm totally going to try and do the Video journal thing because that sounds a lot more fun than cramping my hand trying to write down everything that happened to me and forgetting what I was going to write because it took me too long to write the thing before... Endless cycle of pain and frustration.