He's arrived in the "Indies"!

After only 12 days in the MTC, we got to talk to Elder Randon Smith on Monday morning (8-26-13)as he was on his way.  He called us from Houston, TX while on a layover.  It was so good to hear his voice!  We had speaker phones going so Dad could be in on the conversation from work.  We were so happy to hear from him.  He was so excited and ready to get to the "Indies" as he called it.  He left the MTC at 2:30 am and was tired too!  He still had a 6 hour flight to get to the Indies.  He arrived there last night (8-26-13) at 9:00 pm.  His time zone is 3 hours ahead of us.  He looks great in the photo!  Big smile!  He sounded so happy when we talked to him, he loved the MTC and said he did take pics.  So I will post those as soon as he sends them to me!  I asked him how he was doing and he said, "Great, I just can't wait to get there!"  It is such an amazing feeling, as a mother,  to look at this picture!  I can't describe the excitement and joy that I feel.  I am so proud of this Elder and love him so much!  His message is posted below.  He said to just send letters to the Mission home address which is posted on this blog, then they send the letters to him. He is shown here with his mission pres. and wife, The Mehrs.

Twenty-two new elders arrive in Trinidad:
Back Row: Elder Jacobsen, Elder Larson, Elder Sorensen, Elder Hodgkinson, Elder Harding, 
Elder Smith, Elder Christensen & Elder Bates. Middle Row: Elder Smith, Elder Evans, Elder 
Day, Elder Garner, Elder Kippen, Elder Fraley & Elder Lever. Front Row: Elder Brown, Elder 
Beck, Elder Bertschi, Elder Witten, Elder Chapman, Elder Call & Elder Lewis. 
Seated: President and Sister Mehr

Hey I just wanted to let you know I made it! I have been assigned to port of spain in trinidad. I will let you know more but the Mehr's are amazing! Love them already! Well I gotta go! Love you lots!

-Elder Smith

Elder Smith is heading to the "Indies"!

We got a letter yesterday!  Yay!  We love our missionary!  He flys out Monday morning at the very early time of 2:30 A.M.  So he'll have a short night's sleep Sunday night!  He is happy and well, no more injuries! :)  I will post his Indies address as soon as I know it, but you can still send letters to the general Indies address he already posted on here and the letters will still get to him.  Missionaries like mail, so please write! The church is true, it rolls powerfully forth with the incredible help of all of these righteous young men and women, It's amazing!  I'll keep you posted, I told him to take pictures, he's not so good at that so we will see!  :)  Luvs to all of you amazing family and friends!

First letter from Randon from the MTC! Feels like we waited for eternity! :)

So if you were wondering if I was going to grow up on my mission then after the first week it probably isn't looking to good... Ha I actually just got out of the doctors office because of an injury that occurred last night... We'll discuss that later on...

The MTC is amazing! The food is not the greatest for your bowels at times but I still love it here! It's a lot like the NBA finals in a way. It has a lot of excitement and I have seen every single stage of male patterned baldness! I thank Heavenly Father for my thick mane every day! :) I have 2 comps and we are the West indies Brothers! One is Elder Christensen who is super spiritual and a really humble guy from Oak City, Utah and I like him a lot. He is also the big District Leader! He is a stud! The other one is Elder Beck from Boise! He even watches The Office so we talk about that sometimes. He reminds me a lot of Mckay Parrish in a way and he is super cool! We like to party and we're practicing our whistling so we can do a musical number! Ha so yes mom I am using my musical talents. We also have two other elders in our district who are going to Colorado Springs. One is Elder Hansen who went to Skyview. He said that he wrestled Nick Sorenson. Elder Hansen is a super cool guy who I've grown to love. I didn't know that Skyview could create cool people so it was nice to learn that... The other is Elder Boswell. He is hilarious! He reminds me so much of Scott Frishkinechthskdht. (I gave up on trying to spell that last name) But anyway Elder Boswell is just a funny guy and he even does Scott's pointing thing when he talks! Ha it kills me every time! There is also a sister in my district that reminds me of Zoey a lot... So seeing all these people really helps in a way! There is also an Elder that reminds me of Dwight Schrute! Ha so he makes things ten times better!

So I know you're all wondering "How did Elder Smith get injured?!?" Well just hold in the tears because I am still OK. But the story goes like this. I sleep on the top bunk and so i have to get up there somehow. So last night Dwight and some other Elders came over to our room and Elder Beck was like "Elder Smith show them how you jump onto your bed!" K so I don't ever jump onto my bed, I use the ladder... So me jumping onto the bed was a leap of faith! So I'm just like "Yeah I'm going to show Dwight how it's done!" So I stretched first, then got a running start, and jumped! Let's just say I didn't quite make it... I ended up grabbing onto the bar on the bed and kinda broke it and fell backwards and landed on my wrist... But for a moment there I felt like MJ! However now I feel like Greg Ostertag with a sprained wrist... So it's a tough deal!

All in all the MTC is great and I love it here! We need more sisters though! They bring a love that the elders just can't bring so that's my challenge to all the girls out there!

I'd be lying if I told you I didn't miss you all a ton and that I'm not a little homesick! But I'd also be lying if I told you that this isn't where I need to be! The spirit is so strong here and I love this work! It is moving forward so choose the Lord's team NOW! He blesses people and will bless you!

Love you all,

Elder Smith
P.S, We had a fireside on Sunday with Vai Sikahema as the speaker! It was great and exactly what I needed. He talked about how he has been privileged to put on some of the most iconic sports uniforms ever. But his favorite uniform he ever put on was the shirt, tie and a missionary name-tag! Just thought I'd share that with you. :)

The MTC!

Today was the start of Elder Randon Smith's West Indies Adventure!  And what an adventure it will be.  My heart was breaking as we all said goodbye!  The Lord will take good care of him, he is in His hands.  We arrived at the MTC at exactly 2:00 pm and we all were so excited because we were on time (apparently being on time for things is a problem for us)!:)  I rolled down the van window and an elderly missionary said, "are you here to drop off a sister or an elder?"  I said, "an elder", and he then stuck a blue sticky note on my windshield!  I then hear a "manly" squeal from the back of the van as Randon expresses his excitement.  He was so ready to be there!  He said something like, "YES!  This is so incredible!"  Pulled over to the curb, we all got out and said our goodbyes and took one final picture!  He was beaming as we were all crying!  As he walked away he turned and gave me one last look and...A WINK!  The Stake Presidency member who set him apart told him to do that and he remembered!  Made my day!  We all cried for a good while after that, but it helped that he was smiling as big as Texas as he walked away! Go get 'em Elder Smith!