The Lost Sheep

Family,

Well to clarify quickly so Mom isn't worried what I meant when I said I was thinking a lot is simply that when someone you are with is going home in a few days you tend to think about home a little bit more. The thought of not being a missionary and being home is a strange thought. Quit your worrying Mom, I'm doing just fine!

Cleaning the flat was definitely necessary, ha ha. The last Elders had been there a long time. When you are in an area for too long you get too comfortable and then things start to get messy. Plus our flat is tiny like insanely small. So all the space that we can get, we need. I'm glad my father taught me how to actually clean something and how to do it right.

Well we had a pretty funny experience this week. We were biking to a Dinner appointment about a 15 minute cycle away from our flat and seeing as I have a nice racer and iron thighs I was biking pretty fast. Well my companion was biking at Jamaican speed and was pretty far behind me so I would stop and wait occasionally to let him catch up. Well at one point we went through two roundabouts back to back and well he saw me go through the first one but lost me at the second. He ended up taking the wrong exit and thinking that I was just biking fast ahead of him. He just kept on going, in the wrong direction. Well I got to the point where I was going to wait for him and I looked back and he was nowhere in sight. Dang it. So I biked back down to see if I could find him on the route just biking at his Jamaican pace, but I couldn't find him anywhere. We were already late for dinner so I decided to just bike back to the members house and have them help me find him. I went back out on my bike and the members went out in their car to see if we could find him, nothing. I finally biked to the church which we passed on our way to the dinner to see if he made it back there. But instead I found the Zone Leaders there preparing for a baptism which was to be later that night. So one of the Zone Leaders stayed with the Ward Mission Leader and the other went out with me to try and find Elder Smith. We drove and we drove and we just couldn't find him. He also didn't have the phone or know any of the phone numbers. So about an hour and a half later we rolled back up to the church and guess who we saw just pulling his bike into the church. Yep, Elder Smith. I don't know how but he had gotten himself lost and only found his way back to the church by using a fuzzy google maps map. Seeing as he didn't have any wifi. But we made it back together and the members just packed up the dinner and brought it to the church so we could still eat. After we found him I sat down with him and we had a, "what to do if you get lost," chat. I also made him write our phone number, the Zone Leaders phone number and Presidents phone number in his planner. I hope this will help if he tries to get lost again.

The work has been good but is has been a bit slow. We are both still really new to the area and we are trying to rebuild a lot. So not too much to report. But good things are to come. Elder Smith is way cool. He is a convert of just 3 years and is from Montego Bay, Jamaican. Before he came on his mission he was actually a chef specializing in Jamaican Classics. To be fair he hasn't cooked for me yet, but he promises that he is gonna make me something really nice.

Things are great. The Lord is good. The work is pressing forward. Hope you are all doing amazing.

Love,

Elder Kmetzsch

A Quiet Week

Family,

Well Elder Hsu (shoe) is officially back in Taiwan and I have imported my next companion all the way from Jamaica! His name is Elder Smith. He has been on is mission just about a year now, and he is just absolutely a riot! Probably one of the funnier human beings that I have ever met. He just has that Caribbean spice to him.

This week was a little weird as in just strange and not normal. It started with the last two days of Elder Hsu's mission which was strange and got me thinking quite a bit. But then he left and Elder Smith came in. The day after Smith got here, so this is Wednesday morning, I woke up and I could not speak. My voice was completely gone....  For the next 4 days I would not be able to utter a word. For anyone who knows me well, they would know that I like to talk, a lot. I was quite poorly and unable to do much, but we did clean our flat really well. It was a quiet week for sure. But it ended with a sacrament talk on Sunday. I was getting pretty nervous Saturday night that my voice wasn't going to come back in time. Funny enough I woke up Sunday morning and nope there was no voice, but it was a little better, enough that I was able to squeak some words out. So I decided that I would just give the talk anyway, and it ended up being probably the best talk that I have given! The topic was what does the song, "A Child's Prayer," teach me about my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Words came to me that I hadn't planned and I really felt like I was listening to the spirit more, because I was having a hard time talking. It was a great learning experience for me on how sometimes you have to stop listening to yourself talk for a minute and you might just hear the spirit.

Besides that not too much happened because I was quite poorly and we stayed in to rest. But don't worry Mom, I am feeling great now and I can almost speak with my full voice.

I am sooo jealous that you all got to go to the Hewlett's cabin this week! I sure do miss those trips but mostly those people!

Glad all is well in Sunny Centerville.

Love,

Elder Kmetzsch

Faith in Every Footstep

Family,

What a week! Settling into a new area with a new flat and a new companion is always a tricky one, but it is getting easier and easier as time goes on. Elder Hsu and I have worked pretty hard this week to teach me all I need to know about the area and the investigators before he goes home this Wednesday. It is kinda strange that I am only going to have him as a companion for two weeks in total but it sure does make time go fast! We had some amazing miracles happen this week with finding new people to teach and having people come to church and it all ended with seven investigators coming to church!

Man that meme is probably one of the funnier things that I have ever heard!! Poor BYU, ha ha!

Well you can tell Bishop Daines that I am doing just great! And that I love his guts and all that he has done for me.

Emma you need to just go for it!! Don't hold back when it comes to putting yourself out there. I really regret that I was so embarrassed about acting and things. But if my mission has taught me one thing it is that it doesn't matter, not one bit! Seriously though so what if you are a little embarrassed for a moment or even a day. After that no one is going to remember. When you do remember it will be a very sweet and funny memory that you can look back at and laugh. Don't hold back, you'll regret it!

This week has been full of fun and craziness just running around everywhere and seeing everyone that we can. It'll be even funner when I get to learn the area on a bike after Elder Hsu leaves. I am really exited to get back on a bike! I'm going to use it as a opportunity to burn off a little of that extra weight that came on in Aberystwyth with the car. I'm not 100% sure who my new companion will be after tomorrow but I will for sure to let you know next week.

It is funny that you mentioned that talk by Elder Anderson because that was my favourite talk of the conference. I think me and Mom just have similar thinking. But it was a truly inspired message that was followed perfectly by Elder Bennet and President Utchdorf. Faith is something soooo real and tangible it is something that I feed off of daily to keep me moving forward in the right direction. No you can't always see it, but you can feel it, and if you can't feel it then do three simple things. Read the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes every day, say your morning and evening prayers and go to church each Sunday. As you do these things your faith will be strengthened and you will be able to do more are more as time goes on. I love the phrase, "Faith in Every Footstep," and it has taken on a new meaning to me recently. To me it is now saying that sometimes to take even just one footstep takes faith and not just hope, it takes faith with real tangible things that you can do. Like Elder Anderson said, there are things we can do and not to just wait for it to fall on us!

Well I hope you are all safe, healthy and happy! The work moves forward and the Lord is at the head!!

Love you all,

Elder Kmetzsch

Transferred

Family,

Well I would love to give you all an update on Luna and everything that is happening in Harborne, but unfortunately I was transferred this week! Hopefully Luna will be getting baptized next Sunday so continue to pray for her! I was a little gutted that I got moved but I am adjusting well to the new area. My new area is Wolverhampton. It is really close to Birmingham only about a 30 minute train ride from my old area. My companion for the next week is named Elder Hsu. He is from Taiwan as well and is actually going home in a week. So I am just serving with him until he goes home. Then I will be getting a new companion who is TBD, ha ha, gotta love mission life.

New birthday suit

It has been a crazy weekend trying to get to know the area really quickly before Elder Hsu goes home, so I can just take over the area with my next companion. Plus having General Conference is always fun. But man what a conference! I can't even describe how much I needed all of those talks. I felt like the conference was just for me! It was also amazing to see 3 new apostles called. The Lord is truly at the head of this church. I was praying so hard for President Monson during his talk. He seemed to be struggling really bad. But you could tell the spirit was strengthening him.

Okay so there was an Elder in my last district whose parents went to Highland High and are about the same age as you are, 55. Do you remember a Tom Miner and Julie Sandquist? Apparently his Dad played tight end and his football name was Minus? I bet Dad and him know each other. I think it will be cool for you to meet Elder Tsai's parents this week, I hope it works out!

There isn't too much to report on this week and I don't have loads of time. Hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Kmetzsch

Do you guys like my new suit?? It was my birthday present to myself!