Winter on the Shores of Lake Michigan

Here is some catch up on Thomas. He left the Lansing/Williamston area the first week of December and headed for St. Joseph/Benton Harbor on the east shore of Lake Michigan (the very southwest corner of the State). His apartment is right across the street from the lake on a road appropriately named Lakeshore Drive. Lakeshore Drive continues around the lake towards Chicago. You may remember on the news about the massive blizzard that hit the mid-west. When they showed shots of Chicago they liked to show the hundreds of cars snowed in on Lakeshore Drive near Chicago.

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You can see in the photos that Thomas has his fair share of snow and ice. He also shares with you pictures of typical homes in parts of the Benton Harbor area. He reports that about 30% of the homes are boarded up like that, and that many boarded up homes still have people living in them. The Michigan economy has really been hit hard and has been suffering for years and is only one of two states that goes down in population each year. But Thomas really loves meeting and talking to the people in this new area. His companion is Elder Kohler from Ammon, Idaho -- so he knows snow and cold.

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They really don't seem to mind the weather. At the beginning the work was really tough because previous missionaries in the area the past year or so were not good missionaries. They have now won over the confidence of some of the members so they get better support for rides, etc. Hopefully, the members will now bring some good contacts for them to teach. They spent a lot of time knocking, as that was about all they had to start with. But slowly they have built up a great pool of investigators and contacts. One week they had 22 follow-up appointments which is way high for their mission. Last week they had 17, so all the work paid off. You may have read his email of February 12 where he reported they had an investigator attend church, which is very good for his mission. They are teaching some promising contacts and our prayers are with Thomas and all the missionaries.

We love Thomas!!

Best to all, John.

Elder Kenton Smith Hits the 6-Month Mark Serving in Paysandú

The following is a piece from a letter sent on Tuesday, January 11, 2011. For the full version email Jannae. Can you believe Kenton's been gone for 6 months?

We have a bunch of other investigators that are slowly moving along and are all showing interest. They just have to come to church and then the will realize that this is really what they need. I have noticed that that is what usually happens; when they start feeling the spirit when they go to church they realize that they have a better week and they want to keep coming back.

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I really got to see a miracle this week, our investigator Oscar got baptized this week and Carla´s son Giancarlo was the one who baptized him! He only received the priesthood last week so it was the first baptism he ever did! He had to do it twice because he did it wrong the first time but he got it done! It was such a cool experience. During the service we had Carla give a talk on baptism and on the gift of the Holy Ghost and she just walked up to the stand without notes or scriptures and gave a 5 minute talk quoting scriptures! She is so amazing and she has been coming to lessons with us recently.

I am so grateful for my calling and am very excited to keep going and changing lives. I will be hitting my 6-month mark on Saturday and it is mind blowing that I have been gone that long. Hard work really makes the time fly. Thank you for all of your support, please support the missionary work in your wards the missionaries there will love that gift. The church is true and it is the only one that has the power to make families forever. Make sure people know that about the church when you get all those fun questions!

Elder Mabey Bids Farewell to East Lansing

Thomas has been in such a nice situation in the Living Center directly across the street from Michigan State for over 3 months now serving in the Williamston area. As the week begins he'll be transfered to a new area, St. Joseph and I thought it might be nice to bid farewell with a few pictures. Elder Mabey has had three different companions while in this area and learned a lot about how to serve the Lord in the beautiful state of Michigan! He has come to love the PEOPLE that he's been serving, all ages and ethic groups. He also reports he's fine tuned his basketball shot, loved attending the Michigan State/Purde football game and thrilled to have seen the Sigma Chi house on campus.

However, he is anxious to move on to where the Lord will have him serve next which is along the shores of Lake Michigan and reported to have good oppertunities for missionary work!

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If you want to send him an email, his address hasn't changed. It's thomas dot mabey @ myldsmail.net When we get his new address I'll pass it along, he loves any news from home.

Grand to be in Grand Rapid's

Grand Rapids has certainly been living up to it's name during the last several weeks for Elder Mabey and Elder Barney. Thomas has decribed Elder Barney as someone that knows how to work when he is suposed to and knows how to have a good time at the right times. They seem to be doing a GRAND job. Maggie Emgach was baptized Saturday, July 10th and Thomas conferred the Holy Ghost on Sunday. I his words "I haven't been that happy in a long time . . . it was sweet."

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"We keep seeing miracles all the time. . . Blessings are all around me. If you don't count your blessing you wont know you have them."

Elder Mabey says Good Bye To Big Rapids

We got a letter from Thomas today that said he was being transfered to the second largest city in Michigan. He isn't sad to leave Big Rapids, but he recognizes that he learned valuable lessons in the three months he was there. He loved his last companion, Elder Hunt. They worked hard and had fun while they were doing it. Here is a quote from his letter:

It’s crazy how hard it is to get people to pick up the book and read it. That’s how Dawn was this transfer. She said that she believed in everything we were saying besides Joseph Smith, but she wouldn’t read the Book of Mormon because she knew it wasn’t true. It’s hard to tell people what they are missing out on without offending them. In the future I plan on emphasizing the question "what if it were true? How important would that be for you?" it really is a crazy story. Everything about Mormonism is nuts. I know because I have researched a bunch of other religions. That’s why it’s so important to know if it’s true so you're not just wasting your time with some bogus story. Because if Joseph Smith really saw what he said he did, then that means Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that his church is again on the earth. And all revelations given since that time are true as well- pretty intense stuff. And that being true it means that as members of the church we have a huge responsibility to spread the gospel, which literally means good news, to everyone that will listen.

Michigan Missionary

Who ever coined the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" was right. We got the first pictures from Thomas and it opened my eyes as to what really goes on in the MTC and to where he is in Michigan. For those of you who have already lived the mission experience, this will not be new, but you might enjoy the JOY on the faces.

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It's easy to see that the mission hasn't taken the fun out of Thomas. He is spreading the good news of the gospel as well.

If you want to read his letters and you haven't been getting them,

let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Thomas' Farewell

I've been wondering what to do with these wonderful pictures of one of the happiest days of my life, Thomas' farewell. After the meeting where Thomas told his unique story, we headed back to our house for a bit of lunch and some fine visiting, some music and making some memories.

Kenton and Thomas, the two missionary cousins!

What a good looking group, the Smith Family Cousins at Thomas' farewell.

Oh, how I love you all!