More of Mexico!

hello everyone hope that everything is going great there. thank you for all of your letters and everything. This week was a great week for me but also had its challenges. i will start off with a funny story that happened monday. we went to teach these people that we had contacted a few days earlier and set up an appointment. it was two ladies. one was like 18 and the other a little older with a baby. we taught the first lesson (the restoration) and it went pretty well, but then we asked them if they had any questions. she had a few questions in the middle of the lesson about the seventh day stuff, but we tried to answer that with that if joseph smith was a prophet he received revelation from god and that all they had to do was pray to know if joseph smith was a prophet. the 18 year old kept asking questions and little by little the questions became less and less about the lesson and more and more about me. she said she recognized me from a movie and then made a comment about how she liked my last name a lot more than spanish names, and then made the comment that i wouldnt mind having the last name smith.. i understood most of the things she said but i didnt understand this last part and so i didnt know she said that until my companion and i were talking about it after hah. it was kinda awkward and we havent had another lesson with them ha. i get a lot more looks and comments now that i´m the only white person here. and for some reason i always am by this one family with these three girls that always say every word they know how to say in english everytime i pass by. their vocabulary isnt too extensive though, but they think its the most hilarious thing in the world to say "how are you" over and over again haha.

though i´m the only white person here in la venta i had a very interesting experience the other day where there were more! we were checking for one of our investigatores at their house and they werent there, but outside the house was two trucks and a trailer and it was from alberta canada. i looked lots of times to double check and sure enough it was alberta canada. a little later these two old ladies walked out and i talked to them in english and it was really weird. i told them that i had family from there and one of them even knew where champion was haha. the conversation was really, really bad. i havent spoken much english since coming here, and basically zero english with my new companion other than to say a word or something. i am so used to talking to people that i dont know in spanish that i literally couldnt speak english. i said a ton of spanish words and forgot a lot of simple words in english and it was really bad. but it was cool to talk to people from canada. the husband of of our investigatos was fixing their truck. their transmission broke on the highway and they were stranded here for a few days but are off again. they said they were going a lot further south even. its a big road trip.

This week i had another interesting experience with alvaro. we had a really good lesson with him for the most part on wednesday. i had good scriptures and everything for him, and i was trying to help him see the testimony that he had. at the end of the lesson i asked him to kneel down with us and to pray and ask for an answer about the book of mormon. we all kneeled down and he said the prayer. when he asked the question "please help me to know if the book of mormon is true" i felt the spirit so strongly in all of my body. i received another witness that the book of mormon really is a book from god for all of us. it is a book of scripture that was translated by the prophet joseh smith which means that joseph smith really saw god the father and jesus christ in that grove of trees when he prayed and that jesus christ restored his gospel through him and that this is the only church of jesus christ with his priesthood authority. I felt this very strongly. at the end of the prayer (15 min, alvaro has to rest his voice a lot in prayers) alvaro told us that he didnt feel anything. i then talked with him about how he had received an answer about the prophet joseph smith and that he had received an answer about the book ofmormon before and that he needed to overcome the doubt that satan is giving him. as we talked he told us that he believed that what he had read so far in the book of mormon was true, and then as we were talking about baptism, his daughter burst in from the other room and started yelling and talking to him, but everything was directed at us. she made some pretty direct comments and its probably a really good thing that my spanish arguing isnt perfect yet or i probably would have been very very, bold... anyways she then stormed out of the room and the spirit was completely gone and so very shortly after that we left as well. these are the comments his family is making when we're there and i can imagine that they are probably worse when we are not there. alvaro wasnt at church this sunday and i am very very worried about him, but i fasted for him and have been praying a lot and hope he will be able to overcome this challenge.

this past week we found some good people to teach and have a few different baptisms lined up. one thing that was really great that happened yesterday is that andres´ dad finally came. the family sent us a message and we went over there right after and then talked to the dad. he had a few questions for us, but nothing too big. he asked me how old jesus christ was when he was baptized, and i thought he was going to try to argue that andres wasnt ready. i then told him 30 and then waited for his response. he then said oh, and then said well andres is only nine. i then explained about the age of accountability and then related a few experiences about andres and that he was ready, and understands everything. i told him that andres would be a great example to his other two younger brothers and that this baptism would be something as a foundation for his life. the dad accepted that and then signed the paper and gave his permission. i am going to get to baptize andres this tuesday or wednesday or thursday! we will also have two other baptisms this saturday and have a lot more lined up for the rest of the transfer that i am very excited for.

i am working hard here and trying to improve my spanish and to complete all of the goals of the mission. i am very close to completing with the mission standard numbers, but am missing the baptisms. i think that things will start to go up from here. we are finding people to teach and have been giving lots of dates, and trying to get people to church, but this is the main problem right now. i love you and miss you all and things are going great here.

love,

elder smith