7-25-11

1/ What is your address or street you live on? (I want to look on google maps.)

my city is called pamoca. im not sure what the street is called but there is a park sort of close and we are in appartments that look the same as all the others ha.

2/ What do you guys do for food now? someone cooks, buy and cook etc.

i eat cereal in the morning, or tortillas with peanut butter and water. then at 2 we eat with members everyday and its usually pretty good. some sort of meat, almost always chicken, with rice and vegetables, and torillas. then at night if there is time when we get home i make tortillas with peanut butter or quesodillas with ham cheese and hot sause that are pretty good on a little electric stove.

3/ What is the name of your ward and stake?

our ward is called Tierra Colorada in the stake Villahermosa

4/ Tell about your average day, tracting apartments, street contacting like you did in LaVenta.

we contact on the street with just ppl that walk by all day. we dont tract too much in apartments because not too many ppl are home. usually i try to knock the doors on the same level when we get to an appointment and nobody is home, but other than that we dont do much door contacting. we set up appointments sometimes with contacts on the streets, but those arent too reliable, but there wasnt hardly anything at the start when i got here so we had to do it, its getting a little better now, but its hard when appointments arent there. we usually stay in our area of pomoca but we have another area that we might try to go to tomorrow that is called nacajuca. but i havent seen it yet. im told it is about the size of la venta though, and hasnt been touched by missionaries, so im excited to go there. we try to teach as many lessons as we can in the day. sometimes in door contacts we ask to come in and they let us. normally lessons are with investigators. we have about 5 less active lessons a week. and try to have 10 new investigators every week, which means each week we also have to drop a lot because we cant keep all of the investigators if they arent sincere.

5/ What are the biggest changes from LaVenta to Villahermosa?

there are a lot of ppl here. there is a city. i live in a suburbish type thing though. not downtown. im pretty close to tierra colorada that is a little bigger and has a walmart but we go to a similar store called chidraui that is closer-. the ppl are all in more of a hurry and dont let us in quite as much. i dont get quite as many gringo comments or girl problems, though there are still a lot. we walk a lot, and teach inside apartments more. in la venta it was almost always outside houses. and i dont think ill every be able to know all the ppl in the city like i practically did in la venta haha.

6/ How many Elders in your in your district names and where from how long they have been out?

4 elders. elder hernandez 9 months. elder corona 9 months and elder herrera 5 months. they are all mexicans. there are only 3 americans in my zone.

7/ When do you have district meeting?

district meeting is every tuesday at 9 in the chapel in tierra colorada, or we meet as a zone in the stake center in villahermosa.

okay. well this week was a good one. we were able to have some cool experiences and find some good ppl. and i am growing and learning a lot. i forgot my planner so i am going to see what i remember. The robles family (5) didnt come to church this week. we worked with them a lot this week and had a lot of really good lessons. i am always really happy in lessons with them and smile a lot and i really love their family and want them to be able to be baptized really bad. the zone leaders have been calling us every 5 minutes to check how they are because they want to make a goal for the zone. they havent come to church twice yet, but the zone leaders are saying they can still be baptized this next week, so we are going to try, but they still have some doubts that we are trying to work out. we had a super powerful lesson saturday with them where i told my experience about knowing that the book of mormon was true, and got really choked up while telling that. my comp is a convert of 2 years and he told his story, and we brought a couple in the ward. the husband is the elders quorm pres and the wife is a recent convert and they are preparing for the temple in a few months. it was a super great lesson and they expressed that they know the book of mormon is true, but then they still said they werent sure about the baptism. last night i spent a lot of time praying for ways that we can help them and to know what they need. i wrote down as much of the things that came. one of them was an assignment that i have for you mom and dad. I want you each to write a letter about why the church is important to you and the family. but serious, not just "its good because we can be together forever" but really something that changed your lives at one point, something that means a lot. why you know the church is true and why you still go. I feel like they think religion is important and feel like the book is true, but not enough to feel the need to make a few more sacrifices and i think this will help at least me a lot to help them, and will help both of you a lot. i might try to check this week fast so that i can help them fast if your could try to do that in the next few days that would be perfect. i hope that they will keep strong.

We also found a great family last week that came to church this week and they are really really great. we have a lot of fun with them in lessons and i always like singing hymns with them at the end and they always end with a smile. the hymns are really powerful, and i always take a minute or two after and re read the words and show how they can use the hymn in their lives. i always tell them that they are practicing for my choir and at church i told them here is where all the practice is going to come in to play, right before we sang the first hymn. They still have a few things to work through, and they will be out of town this week, but hopefully they witll be great.

the other date for baptism we had fell this week as well becaue she didnt come to church. she is good. but her husband who is a member is drinking and smoking which makes it hard. we are trying to bring her aunt to the next lesson and we brought her once but the investigator couldnt do it.

this last week a member that lives by us that helps us a lot had here birthday. she jokingly noted that we should bring her a present but then said she was joking. we were about to go home that night and i remembered and told my comp that we should get her something. we went into oxo which is like 711 and i bought her a little ice cream thing. we went to her house and gave it to her and she almost cried. it was a good example to me that little acts of service make a big difference to ppl.

well i officially completed one year in the mission! its a little crazy and it hasnt hit really. i havent reflected too much. but i am feeling really happy and enjoying every contact and lesson and trying to saver every moment. presidente castañeda gave me a good compliment this week ha said "Siento que tendrá mucho éxito. la razon es que es un misionero escogido y los escogidos escucharán la voz del señor por medio de usted. ánimo!!!" which means "I feel like you will have a lot of success. the reason is that you are a chosen or elect missionary and the elect will hear the voice of the Lord through you." I have felt really good this week here and am working hard to really find out how i can be better and help these ppl. i dont want to be a salesman that has the same pitch for everyone, but i feel more like a person giving something that truly means the world to me and trying to help them feel that so that it means the world to them as well.

i am loving my time here in the mission and am leaning a lot! i love you all and miss you and hope you have a great week.

love

elder smith