Elder Ian James Smith

  Hello, everybody. I'm still out here on a mission. Doing great, eating a lot and loving life! I love my current city. It's called Amiens. One cool fact about this city is that there are a ton of universities. So there's a lot of people my age, so it's super fun to talk with people on the road and also, there's a lot of young adults in our ward, so I like to joke with them. We saw a ton of success here this last week. We had 7 friends come to church! Our zone this transfer is doing something called "burn the ships". It's based off this Spanish conquistador who decided that retreat was not an option so he burned the ships so that he and his men could not retreat.  This week we had an exchange in Lille, it was awesome. I was with the tallest missionary in the mission right now, Elder Checkettes. But it low-key rained the whole day so it felt like a weird exchange. I love my district, they're GOATS. We were able to count a lot of miracles that happen...

 October 20. 2025 Hello back home hope you're doing great! This is my first email in Amiens. I'm loving it. It's a blast, it has a massive cathedral and my companion is super cool, his name is Elder Laughlin. It's gonna be a good time today. We went and got some o takos.  This week was low key kind of crazy for me on Saturday. We had a baptism in this sector which was an absolute lob from these elders who were before me, they planned a baptism days after the transfer, which is crazy. Super cool. He's from Nigeria. His name's literally "Success".  It's been amazing to see all the growth that I've had as a missionary, but also to see the growth that my friends that I've taught have had. This morning, I woke up to a voice message from a new member in Lilas telling me all about how much she loved the temple and how much she's loving her new calling! It is amazing for me to see someone that we found that is now super integrated into the chur...

 October 14, 2025 Hello, everyone. Sadly I am saying goodbye to Charleroi. But I am saying hello to a place called Amiens. The hardest thing I've ever had to do is say goodbye to these wonderful members and all of their hospitality that they've shown to me. These last 12 weeks, we were able to see more miracles than I ever saw in my entire mission in this one area, we were able to have 6 baptismal dates set and then 1 baptism of Leila this last Saturday.   The greatest blessings I've seen on my mission is being able to sit down with people and talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to testify to them that it has been restored on the Earth. One of the most amazing things I've seen is the hearts of these people when I talk about the joy that I've received from this gospel as well. Charleroi has taught me a lot about being a missionary and my personal conversion to Christ and what that means. I don't think there has ever been a person who's loved their miss...

 October 6, 2025 I love everyone! I hope your week has been awesome. Wrapping up my time here in Charleroi (Belgium). I know I'm leaving this transfer because we don't have visas for Belgium so we can only be here for two transfers. Don't know where I'm going, but yeah, this week is going to be crazy. This Saturday we have 2 big things. There is transfer news and there is also a baptism for our friend, Layla. We are super excited for her. Her progression has been absolutely amazing. And if you're in Charleroi, you're welcome to come. It's from 16 to 19 at the church building here.     General conference was absolutely amazing. I personally loved the talks given by Elder Patrick Kearon and Elder Holland. If you didn't know Holland is my favorite apostle. When he gets passionate, he gets a little sarcastic and I absolutely love that.  This last week we had zone conference, which was awesome. We talked a lot about the keys to the priesthood, and how this ...