Elder Ian James Smith

July 29, 2025 Je suis Belge! I just got transferred, I'm in literally the land of promise. Belgium waffles and French fries galore. And the work here is absolutely awesome! Charleroi is not the prettiest sector (it's the hood) but the people here are super humble and are all open. This last week we were able to find 16 new friends who are interested! We found an old lady from Madagascar who is super sweet. We had a good conversation and at the end she went in for the "bizou" which is something french speakers do when they kiss your cheek. It wasn't my first time but it's just soo awkward every time It happens.  I love Charleroi, my new companion is cool and we can't wait to cook this sector together! Spiritual thought  Christ is “the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” John 1:9  One thing I've realised as I've gone throughout my mission is that everyone has a piece of Christ in their life. There is always some way that Ch...

July 21, 2025  Bonjour everyone!  I will soon be a Belgian and I am soo excited! I just got transferred to Charleroi, Belgium with Elder Gambee. I'm so pumped up! I've wanted to serve in Belgium since I got called as a missionary and I will be in a four man in an awesome apartment.  We had a ton of success this week finding as well as teaching. We have one friend right now who is super cool and is searching for the truth. He also came to church the last two weeks. Pray for him as he continues his search, s'il vous plaît. We also had our zone conference at Lille this week. It was awesome getting united with a bunch of cool missionaries. I also got a tahitian shirt from Elder Ravatuua love this guy!  And got to see all the Elders (including Elder Stone and Wilstead some of my good mission friends and old comps). Our mission is doing so well right now as far as finding and teaching and baptising the Lord truly is hastening his work.  Also on Tuesday we had an amazi...

July 14, 2025   Hello everyone! I hope your days have been great.  I'll start off with a crazy story. One of our members actually met Elder Kearon in person! But not at a fireside or a meeting, at an In and Out burger in Idaho ordering a double double animal style. Crazy story that he dropped to us in the middle of the Elders quorum lesson.  .This last week was pretty normal. We had exchanges with our ZLs, I was with Elder Stone, we were in the same MTC district. He's soo cool and we had a great time together. I exchanged with him and had our interviews on the same day, we had a good time. We just met soo many crazy people I'm starting to realize a lot of the people that we meet as missionaries are crazy! But some are normal and they are awesome! We have a new friend here who is awesome. He came to church this last Sunday and is super sweet.  This upcoming week is going to be crazy we have an exchange with the Charleville Elders on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we have...

 July 7, 2025 God bless America  ! And hello from France  ! I just hit my one year, I was set apart 1 year ago, crazy! Don't blink! We're still alive and kicking it in Saint-Quentin. We had the wildest week for weather of all time. On Wednesday it was a little over 100 degrees hot. Then yesterday there was a big rain storm and it's currently raining right now.  At the beginning of this week we had an exchange here in Saint-Quentin. I was with Elder Swenson, low key an amazing exchange. We were able to go to our member's pizza place and get some amazing pizza. The rest of the week was pretty simple, lots of finding. We were able to talk to a lot of very interesting people. We also paid a visit to some of my favorite people Antonio and Maria Pires. They are an older couple. They are from Portugal. There is a photo in my google photo. She is so sweet and so short and the most passionate person I have met. She is soo chatty and I can confidently say that her faith is sti...