8-23-11

fotos. temple with elder hernandez, baptism with hna juana. hna juana and her daughters and their kids, hna gave us rootbeer floats- that is the first time ive seen rootbeer in mexico. a little girl made a heart for me. i made her do it for the picture but the first time she did it without me sayng anything ha.

Hola,

well this was a big week and a lot happened. As you all noticed, i was a little frustrated with things. sunday i was working really hard but just beat. i said a prayer that i just wanted something good to happen. from then on the week went really well. We had a miracle with the hna. juana. she didnt go to church, but we went over monday and things changed. she didnt come i think because she wasnt sure about her date to be baptized and didnt want to tell everyone there that she was going to or wasnt going to. we went by monday and she said ive got great news. she then went on to tell us how she was was washing clothes but that she was mad that she couldnt think of an answer of why she wasnt going to be baptized. as she was thinking about it she said that she felt good about being baptized and made the decision. she couldnt think of a reason why she wasnt. she has read up to mosiah in the book of mormon and has felt the spirit. i was able to baptize her and the service went really well. we did the baptism and confirmation after the stake conference and had to get permission from the president and bishop. everything was well planned, except an hour before i asked her if shed brought clothes and said no. we ran around looking for clothes. luckily the assistants had a very big overall that she used, but couldnt zip up all the way, but she brought a shirt so it worked out. Also the water was green coming out, but there wasnt anything to do about that. the service went well and an 8 year old got baptized at the same time too. i also arranged and played guitar and sang "i am a child of god". im trying to compress a video to send but idk how, and i dont know too many computer words in spanish ha. hopefully it works. it went well and i felt the spirit singing and i got a lot of compliments. it really was a miracle that she got baptized and i am thankful for her faith and for the lord for these blessings. i have been studying a lot about faith lately and have learned a lot. faith is a theme that is in many ways very simple, but at the same time something that we cant quite understand completely. i have been striving to increase my faith through study of the scriptures and prayer and hard work, and have received many blessings.

i had interviews with the president this week but didnt get to talk with him too much because he got a phone call. he gave me a really big complement that surprised me though. he asked me how i was working with the ward and i told him of some things we were doing with the bishop and to help with some problems the ward has and then he asked me. "what would the difference be if elder scott and elder ballard were working in your area in your place." i wasnt sure what he was going for so i answered. "well...it´d probably be better :)" he said a few things and then said. "well i think theyd be doing the same thing that you are doing there in helping the people and the ward."

also i am going to be receiving a new companion tomorrow. elder hernandez has been a junior companion his whole mission and has 10 months but has grown a lot and is a great missionary and now is going to be a senior comp and district leader. i am going to be getting a new missionary straight from the mtc again so im really excited for that and for everything we have going in our area. There is a girl named paula that will be baptized in 2 weeks that is really amazing. we taught her the plan of salvation and it was a powerful lesson guided by the spirit. The mission is hard but worth it. i hae learned a lot and grown a lot. i sometimes get too serious but am trying to find the balance between serious, organized, responsable, obedient, and fun and myself. but its still in the works ha.

love elder smith