Gray in Grays

Hi Family,

I can't believe it is another P-Day already... and to be honest not much has happened. We haven't seen a whole lot of success here lately, but I've had some very spiritual evenings with the families in this ward. Last night we went by the Jones and had a Thanksgiving Feast with him. Bro. Jones knows how to cook like a king, I never leave the Jones’ house hungry. It just isn't possible. He is easily my favorite member in the ward and he works so hard as the second counselor in the Bishopric. He is in his 70's and his wife is struggling with many health problems. He is literally her hands and feet, and I have never seen such a dedicated man to his wife. Sister Jones suffers from so many different things including muscular dystrophy.  She had her gallbladder removed, as well as, her appendix and so much more that I don't even know how she is alive.  Yet she is still here. I see a love between them that goes beyond any earthly measure. And that was probably the best part of my week. Getting to know just how important it is that families are forever. 

Besides that not much has happened as I said before. It’s starting to be Christmas time and there are people playing musical instruments in the streets and stuff like that... all the Christmas sale ads are already up and before I know it, I'll probably be transferred from this area right before Christmas. So transfers are on the Dec. 10, so I wouldn't send stuff to the flat I'm living in. I'd start sending the mail to the mission office, and then they get it to me as often as they can. After the transfer and I find out where I'm at, you can send stuff to the flat I'm living in. I just would hate to leave this area right before Christmas, because I know all the members, and I enjoy working here so much. It’s going be hard for me to move to another area now even though this is just my Greenie Area.

I saw all your pictures that you sent, and I just would like to take a walk in the nice fall leaves of the Utah mountains right now. Being is Grays is very gray. I'm not depressed or anything, but there just isn't any countryside or anything. The people are all very glum, and we spend our time trying to bring a smile to these people's faces.

I'm excited for those gloves mom. I can tell they are going to be good :). Besides that, the world just goes on. I don't know what I'm going to do for Christmas. A Costco Christmas would be great... but there is a fair chance that I might be moved from this area... so I might not have Costco anymore, so we'll have to see about what happens there. I'm grateful for the support I get from you guys. I know my letters are getting shorter... but I just don’t have much to talk about at the moment. I just have to keep going from day to day. I'll tell you one thing.  You learn so much out here. Gospel doctrine is a lot deeper than I would have thought, and I have so much to learn and to read about. If anything, this has been the largest learning curve of my life. I don't think things will get boring in that perspective. An interesting thing you might Amazon me is something called the LDS Almanac 2011, or the 2012 version would be nice. It’s full of Gospel information and I'd like to have one for reference and study.

Besides that, I'm still waiting on any packages you may have sent. I haven't gotten anything except post from Shannon and Whitney.  By the way I appreciate that post a lot. I love getting letters because Elder Hansen gets all the post. He has like ten chicks just writing to him.  So... I kinda need to one up him with more post... just kidding. I hope everything is going ok for you guys back home. I didn't have a lot of pictures this week so I'll send you what I can. I love you guys so much and I hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Elder Bradley J. Smith