Elder Calvin B. Smith Email 11/15/2010

Dear Family,
This week went really well. We have two really cool people on date for December 4th. They are really solid. They are living with a recent convert and a member, so they have some one to ask questions from all the time.They will be living with the members for about 6 months. They are excited to learn more about the gospel and one of them is already sure that it is the truth they have been seeking for a long time. We are excited to keep working with them.

We have had quite a few interesting experiences this week. I got a flat tire while I was riding to walmart last week. We knocked on someone's door and they tried to turn the tables on us and tell us what we believe, rather than the other way around. It was the first time my companion had seen that happen and he got really frustrated. This week we visited a media referal from 4 years ago. We talked to the husband of the referal two weeks prior. He gave us a phone number to call. We called the phone number and left a message and no one replied. So this week we stopped back by one evening to see if we could catch her home. Her daughter answered the door and kindly told us that we could come by the next day, in the morning and see her. So we rode our bikes for another hour down to their house the next morning. Its about an eight mile ride. We knocked on the door again and the husband came out of the house huffing and puffing like he was going to pound us into the ground. He said, "Guys, guys, this is getting WAY out of hand. You stopped by last evening with out an appointment and now you are coming by again with out an appointment. We don't need anything you have, get off my porch." We replied, "Sir, the young women we talked to last night asked us to come back at this time." He bellowed back "No you did not, you were not asked to come back here, you do not have an appointment, we do not want to see you again. Goodbye!" At that he slammed the door closed. Apparently the young women had not made it clear to the head of the house that she had asked us to stop back by the next morning. I have found that most arguments and frustrations in this life just come from a lack of communication. If people would just tell other people what is going on, life would be so much easier. My companion commented, well that bike ride was the biggest waste of time ever. I suggested that we offer a prayer and ask the Lord what to do. We did and we felt that we should start heading back home for another hour long bike ride ( we rode 160 miles this week, my companion has an odometer on his bike) so we started heading back. Along the way home I saw a man sitting on a park bench and I felt that we could go teach him. So we did. I was thankful for the teaching opportunity, I know that the Lord answers prayers.

This past week we asked a member on Sunday to contact a previous investigator for us and call us back and tell us about it. (often times people get tired to listening to us, and so invitations to learn more are more effective if they come from a member) We called the member during the week and he did not return our calls, so we contacted the past investigator ourselves and he got a little annoyed because he had already told the member who we asked to call him that he did not want us stopping by with out calling first. We had not been able to get a hold of him ourselves with the phone number we had, so we apologized for not knowing. He was understanding and we got a return time to meet with him. Its amazing, we have all these devices to help us communicate, but often times we just choose to not communicate, and that causes problems for other people. Oh well. I wonder how our Heavenly Father feels when we do not choose to coordinate or communicate with Him. He probably feels the same frustration.

Take care!

Love,
Elder Calvin Smith