Trevors Homecoming

Monday, March 25, 2013

Letter #6 (good thing he will never change!)

Dear ma and pa!

First off nice job getting a fun toy when i leave! classic!!! I could be bouncing that through the sage brush bashing bunnies but noooooooo! ha Well this week wasn't to bad. The weeks are flying by keeping busy is the best thing to do out here to help you not think of home! But Tonya and Domar bailed on us this week, freaking clowns! But were still going to keep on them! on Weds. we went to the Card family's house for dinner. We gave there daughter's blessings cause they were sick! We ate some hot dog thing in a tortilla it wasn't to bad! But we have been getting fed a lot this week, which is always a bonus! we were running low on the food this week and $, and randomly members would call us and tell us to come pick up food, it was sweet!! one of the members name is Vinda she is African and she made us like 7 pounds of rice and this beef stuff to put on top! it was good and to top that of she bought us ice cream!! i told Jesus to send her to the Celestial Kingdom! haaa Well after that on Saturday me and Chocolate were walking down to some in active members houses down in Newark. On the way we passed by this basketball court that had like 5 kids 12 to 14 years old playing basketball. They started talking some mad crap!! they were throwing the F bomb at us calling me a kracker and all this stuff. i wanted to break all of them in half!! But i asked my companion if i can just take my tag off and go back and he said i would still get in trouble! soooooooo i think im just gonna come back after the mission with my bow and teach them a lesson! haha punks!! Well that was about the best thing that happened this week. The funny thing is everyone here thinks i look like Bradley Cooper and Jake Gylenhall! its funny im a super star over here! haha i could get use to this!! But also on Thursday we went and saw a member who got baptized when she was 8 i think but her mom wouldn't let her come to church until she turned 18. So she turned 18 the other day so we went and saw her. Her name is Karmen she is way cool she loves running track and stuff but while we were there her friends came over Ricardo and Asia. Ricardo is a little on the femmy side so he's scary and we keep our distance. but there both really prepared Asia was asking lots of questions and she wants to get baptized but is scared of the water! There's something with black people non of them can swim neither can my chocolate companion! haha but We have appointments with them this week so hopefully they will keep wanting to learn more! Well that's it from the ginger boy love you guys don't wreck my jeep while im gone! ha

Love: Elder Jake Gylennhall aka Elder Trevor Smith

Elder Smith and Elder Smith

Trevor and his companion Elder Smith. He is from Kansas and will be coming home in 5 months.
He is going to attend Utah State to play football.

Monday, March 18, 2013

My Mission

My Mission

A mission's a strange experience,
it's a trial and a test.
It throws at you the worst,
yet teaches you the best.

I heard somewhere that this would be
the best time of my life.
But somehow no one told me
of the hardship and the strife.

I've never been so happy.
I've never been so depressed.
I've never felt so forsaken.
I've never felt so blessed.

I've never been so confused.
Things have never been so clear.
Heavenly Father seems so distant.
I've never felt Him so near.

I've never felt so discourage.
I've never had so much hope.
I think I can go on forever.
I think I've come to the end of my rope.

I've never had it so easy.
Life has never been this tough.
Things have never gone so smoothly.
Things have never been so rough.

I've never traveled through more valleys.
I've never ascended so many peaks.
I've never met so many neat people.
I've never met so many geeks.

I've never been so lonely.
I've never had so many friends.
Oh, I hope this is all over soon.
Man, I hope it never ends!

Letter #5 (I now love Monday's)

WHAT UP FAM!

To start things off just want to let you know that the library I'm in right now, the heater isn't working. So, I'm freezing my ginger butt off in here writing this and cant feel my fingers so this might be a interesting one! Well this week was pretty legit! Had a lot of way cool things happen! I got to see Fakey aka Lindsay and Whit on Monday that was way fun! We partied it upppp! But on Wednesday we had a exchange where we just switched Companion for the day. So I got put with Elder Hunt, who lives with us. And I got put in charge of my area so I was the head ginger! ya that's right! ha ha. Well it started off really slow no one would answer their doors but while we were walking down the street a lady came running across the road and stopped us and asked if we were the Latter Day Saints. We laughed and said yes. You could tell she had her fair share of the druggies but she said she needed God more in her life and wanted a Book of Mormon. So I talked to her about it and set up a appointment for the following Saturday. While we were leaving she pointed over to a guy sitting on the stairs who was her husband and said he needed God in his life to, so we waved and said we would see her on Saturday. So we walked down the street to the house we were going to and no one answered.....of course! So we headed back and I said to E. Hunt if Tonya and Domar were outside......... (the lady who just stopped us and her husband) We should just teach them cause we had some time before our next appointment. So we walked down there and they were, so we stopped and started talking to Domar and he was really upset about life because he broke his leg and was out of work. And him and Tonya just kept screaming at each other so once they calmed down I asked if we could go inside and they said yes. Once we got inside the mood changed big time Domar wasn't being a clown and was really paying attention. I grabbed a Book of Mormon and started to talk about how it would bring blessings into there lives and how it can get them through the rough times there having. Well after that Domar started crying telling me about how he is frustrated because he can't eat when he wants to and he can't keep up on his bills! ya sad stuff! So I asked him if he wanted a blessing and he did so we finished the lesson and I gave him a blessing...FYI this was the first blessing I've given so I was soiling my pants. But it was way cool I just relaxed and let it flow. It was way cool and he was very happy after. But I felt like a champion leaving that place it was really cool. But that was the cool experience for the week. Now for the funny stuff. on Friday we went over to a guys named Victor. He lives in a old folks home! ha! Well we get there and we sit down and he just started telling us about his whole life story and the reason he is in there is because he use to be a gang banger! He got in a fight and this guy who hit him in the head with a metal bar. So, after that he has always has seizures. He is only like 40. Well he kept talking about just random stuff forever and about half way through a sentence he stopped and lifted one of his cheeks off his wheel chair and ripped one! haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa I was trying so hard not to laugh and you should of seen the chocolate man trying not to laugh it was awesome! made my whole day!! And for St P day we went to another ward and they fed us a bunch of Haitian food it was goooood! And I ended up having to do a dance in front of everyone which was only like 50 people its a little branch..ha and it was a Tongan dance called Hakka! A member recorded it but ill see if she can send it to you. But there were 2 funny girls who are like 13 and 15 came up to us and asked if my hair was natural! guess these chocolate people here don't see a lot of ginger white boys! But after that dinner we went to another members house and they fed us pork chops and fruit and rice crispies! it was good and there little daughter who is adopted from Haiti is obsessed with me its funny! Well that's it for the week love you guys and tell twink to keep on being chunky! haaaaaaaaa

  • Love: Elder Smith

Monday, March 11, 2013

Letter #4 Great week!

Dear Mother and Father!!
 
This week wasnt to bad! We got a big list of all the members and non active members in our area and we called all of them and tried to set up a apointment with them. Some came through and some juked us!! Dont worry me and jesus are working on them! haha But me and my chocolate companion walked a lot this week. We get bored walking around so we play games while walking to our other apointments. The trash game is a classic where we kick a coke bottle or a vodka bottle :) that some hobo left on the ground and kick it back and forth, but my favorite is my companion taught me how to beat box hahahaha can you imagine my red headed butt beat boxing its awesome..well he is super good at rapping ...of course he is black! so i beat box and he rapes about our day its pretty legit! But on Friday we went and taught a girl names Santina! she is way cool. She has two boys who are 4 and 7 she got divorced after 14 years which would be crazy hard. But she just wants the best for her boys and she is a way good mom! She has been taught before by missionaries but they just gave her a book of mormon. But me and the chocolate man taught her about the gospel of J.C. And that went way good so about half way the spirit was way strong and Jesus pretty much told me to invite her to get baptized....so i did!! And she said yes! it was pretty sweet! we also invited her to come to church but she flaked on us. So hopfully she is serious about this and we will get to see her this friday. But thats the only new investigator we have this week. Its starting to get warmer here so thats always nice! But NJ is just like Cedar......bi-polar the other day its was a blizzard and the next it was 60! Well I didnt have to say the prayer this sunday but my MTC companion did HA!! People didnt set there clocks so half the ward showed up at like 45 after! But thats about all for this week. Oh And last p day we drove up and played b-ball with Colby! it was way good to see him. But his area is way nice only saw like 4 black people it was a whole new world but i could for sure live there! And i saw my first Ferrari dealership in Morristown! ive decided im going to go test drive one some day while im here! haha love ya!
 
Love: Elder Smith

Lindsay and her friends got to go and visit Trevor.

I am a little jealous....but, happy he is doing so good!
 They had lunch with Elder Davenport


Dillon love's poster boy!


Monday, March 4, 2013

Weekly update #3 March 4, 2013 (This one makes me laugh!)

what up ma and paps!
 

This week has been a lot better. We have moved 2 people into new places this week so it was really nice getting to just dress in our street close and do some work. Also the teaching has picked up. Its a lot different then i expected. I figured we just focused on getting people into the church. But we also work hard on people that have fallen away from the church. Which is nice to go talk to them cause they know what we are talking about and so all we do is try to boost up their faith and testimonies so its a lot easier. And usually i can relate to them so thats nice to. But im starting to learn a lot more about the scriptures which is nice cause before i didnt know jack! but im getting there. But i got to tell you about a member that we went and saw. His name is Akoto. ya goofy names over here! But he lives in a apartment building and we knew from the beginning that he had a mice problem but this time was nasty. We went over to teach him a quick lesson like we always do everyweek. Well as i was getting my scriptures i looked over and a mouse ran across the floor and my chocolate companion just about soiled his pants! haha he hates them he act just like the black people in the movies its funny! But after the lesson Akoto asked us to move some suit cases in a closet for him so, not looking forward to this we did. So we went in his room and grabbed a suit case and the one i got had mice crap allll over it! It was horrible and not to mention the fact he hasn't opened these in 5 years ya my companion about lost it after hearing that! But there was mice crap alllll over the floor underneath the suit cases! it was horrible! But that was my nasty story for the week. haha i figured you would enjoy it!. But other then that we have just been teaching members Frances and Kou Dou Gou haven't really showed much interest we call them a lot but nothing happens. But yesterday was fast and testimony day and guess who had to say the prayer AGAIN! YES me the red head! these people need to learn how to set sacrement up! but its all good i also bore my testimony so that was cool but i was soiling my pants the whole time so i will need some new Jesus Jammies! hahaha jk jk! Well thats about it for the week im still white and my companion is still black so thats about it! :) The days are going a lot faster so thats nice cause i sleep like a champ at night. but love ya tell everyone hi for me!
 
Love: Elder Ginger Smith

Just a few pictures from this week