Dear Smith Family,
This week went by really fast. The other Elders had three baptisms this weekend! It was fun to do all those interviews! I have really learned a lot from interviewing people and being interviewed by my mission president. It seems like I learn something from each person. Transfers are this week. I am being transferred. I got a call Saturday evening from President McConkie. He told me that I was going to be training. I'm a little nervous. I know how I look up to my trainer and how he did so much for me my first transfer, I want to do the same for my new missionary. I want to have a perfect transfer and baptize. When I told Elder Goodrich that I was training he cried out in despair. He didn't want to leave Sumter. When we got home that evening he started pulling out his suitcases and making preparations to leave. He thought he was leaving, I was staying and training in Sumter. Later that night we received transfer information, we found out that I was the one who would be leaving and that Elder Goodrich was staying. I was a little bummed out. We have some really cool people that we are working with right now. They will soon be on baptismal date. Both have said that they will get baptized, but right now temporary circumstances are stopping them. They should be baptized at the end of this next transfer. I don't know where I am being transferred to yet, I will find out Wednesday. I travel to Columbia on Tuesday for a Trainer training session.
It has been getting dark a lot faster around here and people are starting to get upset when we knock on the door at 8:30pm at night. Last Monday we had the Police called on us twice. The police were nice and just told us to be careful and respectful of others. There isn't really much they could do. We try to be respectful of others later at night and do other things besides tracking, but sometimes that is all we have to do.
Earlier this week we were teaching a guy who works at Shaw Airforce base. He does aircraft maintenance. He is open to learning about the Book of Mormon and he asks a lot of really good questions. Although we have meet with him twice now, he still hasn't read from the Book of Mormon. It is so important that investigators receive revelation through reading the Book of Mormon that they need to be baptized. While we were talking to him, it came up that some F-16s had crashed down off the Gulf of Mexico a few years ago. He told us that they were from Shaw Airforce base and that the base has one of the largest F-16 fighter groups on the East Coast. I had no idea that those jets could travel so far and so fast. He told us they could get from Sumter, SC to Washington in about 15 minutes, and from Sumter to the Gulf in about 30 minutes. Crazy!
Dad: RE: Complaint free world: Your bracelet activity sounds like a good idea, but I wouldn't be able to do it because I can't wear bracelets. Something my district has done to remove negativity is to call each other out on it. We call negative comments "being repugnant". See dictionary and Mosiah 29:36
Ex: Missionary 1: Why are our investigators so lame and dogging our appointments?
Missionary 2: Elder, that was a repugnant comment!
Missionary 1: Oh, hahaha, my bad.
The word itself "repugnant" is often so goofy that it just needs to be spoken among those who know what it means for the mood to change in a group.
Elder Erickson is really good at removing negativity and I have learned a lot from him recently. When one of the Elders moved into our area and starting making negative comments about having to leave his past area Elder Erickson pretended to start freaking about it and cried out in a goofy voice "Ahhhh, negativity!!! I just can't stand the negativity!!!" It immediately put a smile on every one's face and we all started laughing at him. The Elder who was making the negative comments got the message, stopped talking once the attention was diverted from him and a spirit of peace and happiness was restored to the apartment. It worked really well!
It all started a few months ago when one of the assistants Elder Erickson was serving with discovered Mosiah 29:36 and looked up the word "repugnant" in the dictionary. Ever since then it was just "his word" that he used all the time to describe negativity. When he went home the only communication between this past assistant and the current ones were a few scripture references with one word singled out. ex: Alma 34:32 3rd word, etc.... After they pieced together the scripture references and words it said "Thou art repugnant."-and that was it. hahaha So now that we have been cracking down on negativity instead of feeding each other on it, we have had a much happier district. It can be so easy to get discouraged and start talking negatively about something that starts a whirlwind of criticisms about other people that takes the spirit away. Even saying something like "I can't believe that person just ....." and the following comments from a companion can destroy the sensitive peace that accompanies the spirit. I am so glad that I have learned to be happier and remove a lot of negativity from my life. I told my mission President in my last interview that I am happier now than I have ever been in my life. Its amazing how something so simple can make some one so much happier! Maybe you and the family can work in a similar way to remove negativity, I know if you try, (and make it fun or funny!) especially alongside your bracelet activity, that you will be a happier person.
Since I have to leave Sumter tomorrow I will be packing and cleaning most of my preparation day, so I will not be able to write any letters this week. Sorry!
I made a few notes in your letter below.
Its raining cats and dogs right now. I love you all! Thanks for being awesome!
Love,
Elder Calvin Smith
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