Elder Zachary F. Smith - Washington Yakima Mission

  Hello everyone it's time for TWO STRAIGHT WEEKS OF WRITING EMAILS WOOOOOOO. This week was pretty dang fun, and it started with one of the best holidays, Thanksgiving. For the first time ever I ate Thanksgiving dinner without family, and it did end up effected me just a little. Thinking of all the past Thanksgiving I spent with my family, the food we eat the football we watch, our wards Turkey Bowl, Mom's special jello, I definitely missed it a lot this year. However I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the family that invited us over, is related to President Hall back in Vienna!! Brother Hall is his brother, and when I said i was from Vienna I very quickly began to connect the dots when he started to talk about how his brother was a Stake President who lives there. What a small world, I took care of his brothers turtle, and he was my own brothers Mission President! We had a wonderful meal of turkey, stuffing, rolls, and other classic Thanksgiving foods. We ended up spendi...

Well it's been a couple weeks since I sat down to write an email, which is exactly what I assumed would happen haha.  This week was absolutely wild. It all started last Thursday, our YSA ward mission leader, Tyson, had a birthday and all the missionaries plus a bunch of YSA members celebrated at a nice expensive restaurant. It was so funny trying to make it as cheap as possible, I split my meal with Sister Morgan, some missionaries only got a drink... but then some got an entire burger and fries, AND I ENVY THOSE PEOPLE because Mikayla (YSA member) ended up paying for ALL of us... K I don't actually envy them but it was very funny.  There was this old lady playing music, and she eventually started to play Sweet Caroline, AWESOME SONG and I got it recorded. We took an absolute ton of photos and just had a wonderful night. The rest of the week consisted of a bunch of finding and teaching until Monday. The Zone Leaders came up for exchanges, and we have the coolest Zone Leaders t...

I love nature, and recently I've been making sure I notice the beauty of the world as I spend hours walking through it, because sometimes you are too wrapped up in your busy life to see the beauty that's just right in front of you... Today while walking from door to door, I noticed this little guy. This future tree has potential to grow into something majestic and impactful, touching and blessing lives for years and years. But for now, it can't even stand upright on its own. Consider yourself as though you were this small, young tree. We are all of such divine and powerful potential... and the chains holding the tree up is Jesus Christ. It's not shameful to use Christ as a foundation to build yourself up into something magnificent, its actually quite beautiful.

It's been six weeks since I arrived in the mission. Transfers are this week. I'm staying here in Ellensburg with the same companion, Elder Clarke. Today we went out to eat on the last day as a District and to say goodbye to a missionary going home, Elder Johansen Elder Allen, Elder Smith, Elder Clarke, Elder Farley, Elder Morgan, Elder Johansen, Sister Morgan, Sister Arbon One of our friends has decided to be baptized. The date is November 25, hopefully it happens!  Also, More chopping and stacking wood!

Halloween was good, we went to a YSA party and then got chased home by a crazy lady. This lady is know by the missionaries and has caused problems before. She becomes friendly and then does something crazy like tries to poison them or run them down with her car. She started yelling at us so we ran home.  View from my apartment