8-15-11

Hello. well to answer the questions. it is still super hot here. idk why but its just a little hotter here in villahermosa than any other part of the mission. It is hot and humid and i am more accostomed to it, but it is still super super hot. i have had day dreams about an oregon fall, but dont think it will be that way ha. There hasnt been too much storms or even rain this week. a little at night but not much. i am currently serving in both areas. a little time in both. in a few weeks im going to be totally in nacajuca, but im delaying going in there completely because of families we have here, but ill have to do it soon i think. the baptism was super stressful because the other elders didnt plan anything. it wasnt our baptism, but we ended up doing a lot for it but they didnt do anything. and so it was really unorganized and the members didnt do what they were supposed to and we brought 6 investigators that all made comments after of "why wasnt anyone else there" or "why did it start an hour late" so it wasnt a super great experience. not completely bad, but the organization part was really bad.

this week we had some good things happen and some hard things as well. on monday we had a meeting with all of the district leaders and talked about how we can be better at meeting our goals in our districts and as a zone. it went well and i learned a bit.

this week we had to stop teaching the robles family. the dad doesnt want to be baptized because he is catholic. he is catholic because his family has always been catholic. they say they know the book of mormon is true and everything. it is really hard. yesterday i spoke very boldly to him. so that you have a picture, we read 2 nephi 33 with them and i explained. we love their family and it was hard to leave them. in the end it ended on good terms that they could continue reading and praying and coming to church and maybe someday they will be able to be baptized. we spent a lot of time with them in my time here in this area.

we were able to find a lot of good ppl and had a lot ready to be baptized this week or the next but they didnt come to church which has been pretty hard, but hopefully next week they can come and keep progressing.

yesterday i had a pretty cool experince where i was pretty down about church and was trying to just work really hard. we were contacting and i prayed and told my companion. "i just want something good to happen" After following a prompting to go to another area and contacting a few ppl, we found a family. we taught the grandma, a daughter, and a boy of about 13 years. they all felt the spirit and accepted to be baptized! it was a great experience. the only problem for me is that the grandma and daughter live in another area so we have to pass them to other missionaries. but hopefully the family of the boy that lives there will be able to accept as well.

well i love you all and miss you. i am happy here working hard and trying to do everything i can to complete with the work that god has prepared for me here. I hope you all have a great week.

love

elder smith