The Tower of Babel!!!

Yo, Quoi de neuf?

I wanna give some shout outs this week to my boys out there this week. GGGG Baby Garrett Happy 11th Birthday!!! and my little stunner Carson will be 3! Wow, that is crazy!

Garrett and Carson, have a great birthday and know that I love you BEAUCOUP!!!

This week was so pretty here in Périgueux, the sun came out, the trees are getting their leaves, all the flowers are blooming and the trees are blossoming, the sky is blue and the work went pretty well. It is a new transfer and I will still be in Périgueux with Elder Bennallack. I am excited to keep working in the city, with these amis and with my son. He is getting better and better with his french and he is becoming more and more like a normal missionary. It is fun to work with him and to be dig into the work with somebody that is excited and ready to learn.

A brief point of buisness: I don't know who is following these emails and I don't know if you that are following these emails remember VANESSA in Carcassonne, but she got BAPTISED this week!!!!!!!! I remember how sad and destroied I was when she decided to not get baptised and I am so so so happy to here that finally she got baptised. She has had a whole herd of missionaries that taught here and the word passed through the grapevine all over the mission that she had finally got baptised!!!!!!! SoOoOo AWESOME!!!

Our amis are doing good. Fabiola and Kevin are both progressing well and their baptisms are set for the 25th of March, they are so kool and they have a desire to follow Jesus Christ, they both have a boyfriend/girlfriend and that might delay the baptism, but we will see. We also have an ami, here name is Diane. she is from congo and she is 15, she is getting baptised on the 9th of April and she is GREAT, she loves coming to young womans and the girls in the branch have all become instant friends with here and it has even brought out some less active young women because they have become friends with Diane, and Diane loves to come to church and activities.

and alas the Tower of Babel. Just a little quick story. There is a big giant 10 story apartment complex that is by the church and it is also set at the very tip top of a hill that over looks all of Périgueux, while I was with Elder Heywood we were trying to guess how many people lived in that building, and then I said to him "Don't you think that at least 1 of those people would be interested in the gospel?" while I was with Elder Heywood we never had the chance to go contacting in that building, but I have kept looking at the building and saying we need to go and call the tower of babel to repentance. But it is kind of out of the way to go up this massive hill, well this week we had a little bit of time at the end of the day and I looked but at the tower of babel and decided that it was time to finally call these people to some repentance. We got inside the building and he headed up to the very top of the building and started knocking, surprisingly everyone was really really kind even if they weren't interested and then we got to the 3rd door, knock knock knock, we were like "hey we are missionaries and we talk about God" he was like "hey i'm african I love god" ( ok so he didn't tell us he was african, but he was a total sterotype) we went in and started talking with him, he is muslim and doesn't want to change but really really nice.....then his wife walked in........she starts to talk to us, turns out that she is from Ivory Coast and she has been in france for 2 years and like 3 weeks before she got to france she HAD A BAPTISMAL DATE IN THE IVORY COAST!!!!!! she didn't show for her baptism because she got nervous and we found her! wow! we haven't taught her a second time but can you spell MIRACLE! crazy

well that is all she wrote, have a great week!!!

LOve Elder Smith

ps good luck to ben with the match ( I have no idea what the match is, but it sounds important and very intimidating, I am guessing it is some kind of decision making process for medical school. GOOD LUCK!)

Baptism!!!!!!

Two years ago President Beard (stake president) asked me to go and teach a missionary lesson with Aaron Burgin, who was preparing to leave on his mission at the time, I was nervous and I had started to consider a mission. I agreed to teach the lessons but I was still nervous so I headed off to the Bountiful temple to seek a little bit of the spirit and a little bit of comfort. As I was in the baptistry at the temple, I was reading the scriptures and praying to know if I needed to start to get myself read to serve a mission. I opened the scriptures randomly and my eyes fell upon the verse 3 of Doctrine and Covenants 31, "Lift up your heart and rejoice for the hour of your mission is come" I continued to read and was filled with peace and received the comfort that I needed. I had received my answer that indeed the Lord wanted me to prepare to serve a mission and that I would be blessed by following this impression. I came to love this passage, verse 3 to 7, because it speaks about the blessings that my mission would bring to my family. It was a scripture that I read often as I prepared for my mission. From time to time I re-read it during sacrament meeting or during my personal studies in the morning. In that scripture the Lord makes several promises. I had been taught by the spirit that these promises were given straight to me as well.

This week during the baptism of Jonathan Richard, the closing song was "Love at Home". As the song started, I had the sweetest spirit come over me and the deepest impression that the promise of the Lord had been fufilled -- that I had been guided to France, to Périgueux and to Jonathan as a result of my sincere prayer from that day two years ago in the Bountiful temple. I felt a reassurance for my family and also a forgiveness of my sins and that truly the Lord was "establishing his church by my hand". The baptismal service was powerful, the spirit was there and Jonathan was radiant. A priest in the ward, Matthieu Donadier, baptised Jonathan. After the baptism Jonathan told me that he is going to start preparation for his mission and that as soon as he has the means, he is going to leave. He has asked us if he can teach with us as well. He will be a powerful and great member of the church and the Lord will further establish his church by his hand. I have had the spirit touch my heart and witness to me that I was a tool in bringing one of the lost sheep back into the fold and that Jonathan will stay strong and one day enter into the rest of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so very humbled to have been blessed by the Lord and am so so very grateful for the chance that I have to be here in Périgueux. On top of all of that, Jonathan even recieved the priesthood after church and he is now a priest. I met him on the street 27 days ago.

Elders Bennallack, Mayer, Smith and Magnan with Jonathan Richard


Elder Bennalack, Mathieu Donadier, Jonathan Richard and Elder Smith

I have come to know that those who honestly search for the truth and seek for the holy ghost will find the truth, it is true that we can fall from the Lord very quickly but we can also have a rapid change of heart for the better when we are sincere. I know that the Lord lives, I have no doubt that he loves me, and I will forever remember this week and the blessings that we have received.

I love you all and I hope that you like the pictures. It is warming up here in Périgueux and I'm loving it! Summer here we come!

Love Elder Smith