5-14-12

hello everyone. it was great to get to talk to you all yesterday. a little weird for me to be honest though, so sorry if it was a little awkward. it is weird to realize that that world still exists, and it is weird to actually see it haha. it was fun to talk though and to see you all and see that you have grown and are keeping busy with everything. hope you had a really great mothers day mom. i love you.

 

this week here went really well and also was really tough. we´ve been working really hard these last few weeks working on how we can start to build up the area nad the ward again. we talked to a ton of ppl and taught a lot as well. we even got some references from the members and everything. by the end of the week we had put 9 people on date to be baptized. or in other words we had 9 people that accepted to be baptized on a certain day. which is really good for one week. the only bad thing is that nobody in the end showed up to church. it is a problem that basically every missionary in the whole world has all the time which is hard. how to get ppl to come. they have to have the desire, but we also need to help them understand the importance and the blessings. i prayed a lot about it yesterday and figured out a good thing that i am going to try. First you need to show love towards the person. then you need to understand and comprehend what is happening, sympathize that it is something difficult and that the devil is doing everything possible on his end to make it not happen. then teach the doctrine to help them understand and see the big picutre. then invite them, but have them make the decision that they are going to come. then remind them of the goal and help them each day to acheive it, keep them focused on the goal. I am going to try that this week and we'll see what happens. it seems like something you could apply to any sort of problem or argument. Usually we dont try too hard to think about who the other person is, what their circumstances are. the more they talk, the better.

 

Yesterday we had a fun experience. after i talked to you on skype we left and looked for this young couple we taught once. we got there and they let us in. they live in one of those houses made out of metal sheets. at the endish of the lesson it started to rain. then started to rain really hard. you could barely hear anything, and there was water falling down and i had to hold a cup and try and catch the water before it landed on us. But in the house almost yelling we invited them to be baptized, and they accepted. then at the end the man said the prayer in a very loud voice. there was a really cool spirit there with us. it was an experience that i hadnt had before. this family is really out of options. we made promises to them that if they gave all that they had left to god and promised that they would serve him, that he would provide for them all that they need. they accepted and it was a really great lesson. as the lesson ended it was still raining really hard. and as we prepared to go out into the rain, they didnt really believe us ha. we put our books in little plastic bags and then sprinted out into the flooded streets. We ran down the middle of the street in pouring rain with water already up to our ankles. lots of ppl saw us which was funny, but we had a lot of fun with it. we got soaked! but after like 10 min a taxi came by and we jumped in and he took us to our house. The rest of the night there wasnt power all the time, so i got out my flashlight and we hung up our wet clothes and i played hymns on the guitar. it was a fun night. 

 

also i found out that in my last area Vicente (baptized the 14th of april) was just called to be the young mens PRESIDENT! It is so crazy. im way excited for him and know he is going to be great. can you imagine having a month in the church and being called as a president of all the young men. He has made strides in his spiritual progress and will do great though, but he does have a lot to learn, but he will do it all well. 

 

i love you all and miss you and hope you have a great next week. 

 

love 

 

elder smith 

 

pictures: last night after the storm, coming from mina to villa in the morning.

5-7-12

Hello all from my new area here in villahermosa. i got called back to villa, but in the other zone called gabiotas. i am in the ward called mercedes. it is a fairly new ward and has a few problems but as far as i can see, has good leaders and it will be good. the area is HUGE. def my biggest area yet. it is divided into like colonies, but each is like a miny city just with houses, each about the size of westlake or so, but more houses and smaller and more ppl ha. it is a little hard just because they took out both missionaries from the area and my comp and i are the new ones so nether of us knows the area. it isnt too hard though, just asking ppl you find your way pretty easily. the missionaries before have gotten a lot of complaints from the ward so they are excited we are here. i am looking forward to working hard, and so far the members have been really nice to us. we found the house and the area book and the area is sorta a mess though. my new companion is named elder barrera. he is from guatamala and just finished getting trained. he is a great missionary though and really excited and really spiritual. he teaches really well and i am excited to be with him. i am excited that i got to learn spanish, but it is definitly a huge barrier in missionary work at the start, but it brings success and blessings in a different way. im excited to work with him.

 

it is weird not being a zone leader or even a district leader. it is a small test of humility to answer the phone and talk to my district leader and receive counsel from him ha, but i think that is a good thing. i really did enjoy being a zone leader and helping all the missionaries and i learned a ton from the opportunity. it has also been way great to not have to worry about how other missionaries are working and how their investigatoes are doing and to just focus on my ward. i feel a lot less pressure and stuff ha. i have felt really good this week teaching and contacting and testifying to everyone.

 

there are some great ppl here. not too many investigators that are progressing a lot, but some good ones. the only ones they left is a mom and dad who arent married yet whose kids got baptized already. the family is great, but there are some pretty big issues still. we have taught them a few times and they are now commited to get married and baptized, so hopefully that happens in the coming weeks.

 

funny things. i ate pig feet. it was weird it was like really slimey meat kinda just like fat, and a lot of bones and in the shape of a pigs foot. it didnt really taste bad or good, there wasnt really much meat on the foot anyway hah. also i got pooped on by a bird yesterday while contacting a guy. they brought out napkins and stuff so i could clean in off and it came out alright ha.

 

saying goodbye to everyone in my last area was really hard. i was a little sad in my area looking at all the work there is to do and looking back at all the progress we had seen in the last area in insurgentes. i really love the ppl there and they became part of my family. it is always hard to leave. but also you always grow to love the new ward and ppl, so im excited for that.

 

i cant think of too much else but it was a good week. i am happy and focused. presidente told me that this is my last area and companion. and he said that this is what i have been working for all my mission so that now i can work just as the savior in the area that i should be in, with the comp i should be with and we will see and work miracles.

 

i love you all and miss you and am excited to talk this sunday with you. have a great week.

 

elder smith

4/30/12

lots of pictures and a lot more that i didnt send ha. 

this was a great week and we had a lot of success and got a lot done. 

this was my last week here in mina and i could say taht it was my best week here. we worked hard this week with tania so that she could get married and baptized. she is someone really special and is going to do great things. she doesnt have a lot of support from her inlaws, even though they are all members, they are all still inactive. the wedding went well but took a long time. it is a lot different than in the united states. here you just show up with your license and birth certificate and sign some papers and give them 500 pesos. also the rest of the family didnt take it too seriously so that was kinda sad. at one point they were signing the paper and the mom said, "its going to be for the rest of your life!" as a joke and then the judge lady said, "well we´ll see, probably not." it is a little bit of a sad perspective but something that has become true now a days. they are happy though and tania was able to get baptized.

her baptismal service was really great. we had some great talks. one by a girl named rosario and then another one by our recent convert of two weeks named vicente. he is on fire! he has the priesthood and is going to every activity there is. he is going to be a leader in the church for sure. we asked him to bare his testimony because one of the assigned speakers didnt show up. he w/out preparation gave an awesome testimony and shared something i didnt know. he said that before we talked to him on the street that day, he had been praying to god that he would put someone in his path who would help him in his life. shortly after i contacted him while on exchanges and he has been progressing ever since. it was a really powerful testimony and helped a lot. i got to baptize tania which was awesome and then elder johnston did the confirmation the next day in church.

i had a way cool interview for baptism with a lady who is basically constrained to a bed. she is having dialysis. i walked into her room and immediatly felt the spirit. the interview went really well and at the end i asked her to pray and she said no because she didnt feel she was good at it yet. i asked her to again and she said yes. she started to pray and immediatly broke into tears, thanking god for the blessings in her life and for the savior. she has such great faith and it was a testimony builder to me that even when physically we have little to nothing, god can make us powerfully spiritually. 

sunday was probably my best sunday in the mission as well. it was basically like a farewell for me ha. elder johnston and i spoke and i played a piano solo that i arranged to "if you could hie to kolob". after i helped do some things that they asked me to with the primary lke give away presents for "kids day" and they took a picture with us with them cause i was leaving. 

before my talk i had been praying really hard to first know what i should speak on, and then once i got to church that i would be guided to say what i needed to. Elder johnston gave a really great talk about the importance and significance of the sacrament. then i played the piano solo, and then i got to speak. the spirit was really powerful after i played the song and i told everyone i was leaving and thanked them for all of their love and support and service. i then spoke on the subject of answering the question of "why are we here" or "what is our purpose". I read some scriptures in moses 1:39 and DandC 11:20 and then shared a quote i liked by a 70 from conference that said, being active in the church and the gospel are not the same thing. i looked at the congregation after a few minutes and could see the staight scripture talk was not going so well, so i left my notes a little and started to speak about an experience i had in sacrament that day. Our convert Vicente and a recently activated and ordained priest named ricardo blessed the sacrament. when i looked at them during the sacrament i understood a little more about what christ did for us. i talked about the power christ has to change our lives and asked the people. Where was vicente and ricardo 4 weeks ago? vicente didnt know what the church was and ricardo was who knows where but because christ loves them and they obeyed, now they are servants of god´s army. as i spoke about them i got choked up a bit and had to stop speaking. that is when the spirit started to come really strongly.  i shared a quote by president monson about how we are a chosen generation and shared a few other points about what we need to do in this life. the to close i read my favorite scripture in mosiah 14:3-6 and then finished with a story. i asked everyone to close their eyes. i then described what it would be like to return back to the presence of god. describing ascending up and seeing the light and then seeing christ and being in his presence and telling him that in this life we served him with all of our heart might mind and strength. i then read Matthew 25:23 that basically said. well done, my good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over few things, i will make thee ruler over many things. enter into the rest of thy Lord. as i read that scripture i started to cry as well. the spirit was there so strong. i looked as i finished my talk at the congregation and just about the whole ward crying. I know taht that is our purpose. to one day return to live with god. the more we can remeber the faith we have the more often we have powerful spiritual experiences, the more power we will have to overcome the temptations of this life and return with our families, to the presence of god. 

i love you all and miss you very much. sorry its a little long this week ha, but it was a good. week. i am sad to leave my comp and all of the members and people here in mina, but i know that god directs this work and there will be many more experiences in store. hope you have an amazing next week.

love 

elder smith 

4-23-12

well im about to start my last week here in my area. it was a great last week and i am really enjoying my time here and seeing a lot of growth and changes in the ward. In my letter to president castañeda last week i asked him if i could train a new missionary again for my last two transfers. I have found that i really do like training. i am thankful for the time i have had to serve as a zone leader and i have learned a lot, but feel as though i will be able to grow more now serving as a trainer. President called me one night and talked to me about it, and sent in his letter a hint at that that is what i am going to be doing. that would mean i would go to a new area and get a brand new missionary. new experiences are always good. 

this week we focused a lot on tania. she is really doing great. i am amazed at how much she learns just hearing things once. i think i have become really accustomed to ppl not listening very well, and she actually listens and remembers almost everything we say. she has a baptism for this saturday. we just need to take her and her husband to get married. i called the judge today and he said any day this week we can go. it is pretty simple here to get marreid. 500 pesos, your license and birth certificate and thats it. they are excited and hopefully we can help the whole family of her husband who is inactive. we brought a few of them to church this week. 

we´ve had a little trouble the last few weeks finding ppl to teach. that hasnt been a problem for me really ever. there are always people, but it has been hard lately. though in that aspect it has been hard, we have been working a lot with the ward. i told dad in his letter a little about the ward. when i got here there was hardly no organization. no presidents of primary, elders, sumo sacerdotes, or young men. now it is starting to all come together. we have really great presidents of primary and elders and young men has a recent convert as president that doesnt really know very much, but we are working with them all and they are growing a lot and starting to work. for example yesterday we went and did visits with the ward. not too many showed up, but we went out with the first couselor of the bishop who is less active. we talked to him and he told us about his conversion three years ago and how they were sealed as a family in the temple two years ago, about his job, and we got to know him a little better. he left more excited to work and hopefully we see change. from the visits we did we found a TON of new families of less actives that we can help and a lot that have people in the family that arent baptized. we found a house with like 25 ppl i bet with only one active member who is assisting another ward. though i wont be here to see much of the change, i know that the ward right now is going to start to explode and that it is going to be a new ward very soon, and for that i am happy. 

this week also vicente, who got baptized last week, received the priesthood! i am excited for him. he is going to be called as a ward missionary and help us. he has been going to institute and going to all the activities. he even came to do visits sunday. like three days this week he was in church for like 6 hours ha. 

we had a great primary activity this saturday where we set up a scavanger hunt and at the end we had book of mormons wrapped up in gold paper that we gave out to the investigators. hopefully we´ll find some good teaching opportunities there. it was fun. the 30th here is Childrens day. just like mothers day or fathers day. there was food and a piñata and games and stuff and it was cool.

today for our zone activity we went to a profecional baseball team stadium and played a soft pitch baseball game against another zone. we made jerseys and got food and everything. elder johnston and i organized it with the zone leaders of acayucan and it turned out really great. nobody got hurt and even the sister missionaries liked it ha. we took a lot of pictures but i forgot my converter so it'll have to wait til next week for the pictures. 

well everything is going really well. a lot is happening and i am excited for a lot more and to keep learning and having spiritual experiences. the offices called me this week and asked me which airport i was going to return to so they could start to buy the tickets and stuff. that is a little weird and i know the last time is going to go by too fast, but i will work hard to make the last three months the best and where i grow the most. I love you and and miss you a ton. have a great week. 

love 

elder smith

4-16-12

pictures. pizza, elder johnston went to the dentist, baptism of hno vicente

hello everybody. it was another great week here and i learned a lot and had some amazing experiences. 

we have been struggling a little to find good investigatores. it seems we find them and they seem to be really great and then they dont turn out to want to talk anymore or they just want to talk but they dont want to do anything else. it has been a good experience and we have been focusing a lot on trying to help the zone to improve. there were a few problems in the zone this week that we had to try and resolve. we had to go to a companionship and have a talk with them because they werent getting along very well. hopefully it helped, we´ll have to see the affects in the long run. you learn a lot of things in the mission, like problem solving, having good relationships with ppl, patience, diligence, love. and lots more. all of which you have to apply everyday. i am grateful for the things i am able to learn from other ppl and the experiences i am able to have. 

we took elder johnston to the dentist one day because his bridge fell out. that was an interesting experience. i call the doctors and dentists here doctors in a box. because they just have a tiny little room where they work. this dentist just had to glue the bridge back in but he said he was a sergical dentist. i think he has the same time as dad does in dentistry. i dont think id trust him to do surgery though. he was nice though and we invited him to come to church. 

tania and carlos are progressing well. tania came to church this week and really liked it. we had a great lesson with her where we taught her the restoration. she is only 19 but she understood the principles of the priesthood and apostasy better than like 90% of the ppl i teach here. she wants it all to be true and is preparing to be baptized the 29th. tomorrow we are going to go to set the date for their wedding. hopefully it will be this friday. 

we had a zone conference this week. presidente castañeda came and talked a lot about how we can improve. he talked a lot about the things we talked about in the zone leader council. he talked about having an eternal perspective. of thinking about why we do the things we do. we baptize so that they can be converted so they can have eternal life. we are preparing these ppl for eternal life. sometimes we get caught up in the stress or technicality of things and forget the divinity of our life and existence. when we focus on the big picture and work to please god in all we do, we will be happier and accomplish much more in this life. he also talked a lot about the atonement and brought a very powerful spirit. i didnt even want to leave the room after he talked when there was the break. we talked about a scripture in mosiah 27:28 that says we have to repent almost unto death. we talked about what that means. we came to the conclusion that we have to go to our own Gethsemane. we have to understand really what christ did for us, and feel some of his pain. he talked about how many of the apostles and profetas are known for crying in every sacrament meeting. it is the most important meeting in all of the church. 

saturday we had the baptism for hno vicente. it went really well and there was a powerful spirit there. I got to play a song and sing. i chose "love at home", though in spanish its called "cuando hay amor or When there is love" and the words are a little more general not just about love at home. it went really well and i felt the spirit as i sang, and many ppl told me that it brought a great spirit to the service. elder johnston baptized vicente and at church the next day i got to confirm him. it was a great experience. he is an amazing guy and has a strong testimony. he has read and prayed everyday and understands everything. he is part of the ward already and is going to be a future leader for sure. next week he should receive the priesthood. he is 27. it will be amazing to be able to see his progress. 

well thats just about everything. it was a great week and i learned a lot. i love the mission and am so greatful to be here. it is super super hot now. i told mom that i went to sleep last night and at 10:30 it was 92 degrees in our room and we just have one fan to share ha. all part of the experience though. the ppl are amazing and we´re working hard to build zion here in minatitlan. i love you all and miss you a ton.

love 

elder smith

4-9-12 Pictures

4-9-12

pictures. got my easter package (thank you mom and fam!), mission pres came for a youth conference, my second pair of retired shoes i have one more that will last til the end though for sure doc martens, the kid we helped, food on sunday.


hello everyone. it was another amazing week here in mexico and we had a lot of really great expereinces. 

we had the opportunity to go to villahermosa for the zone leader cousel. we always have a two day meeting there where we talk a lot about the problems in the mission and how we can do better. our zone did really well compared to the others but we are trying to improve because the mission has been a little down. this month we put a huge mission goal and we are going to work hard to reach it. we talked a lot about the "real growth" of the church. we dont want to just baptize and then have the converts fall away, but the key is to help people really arrive at the conversion before baptism and then work with the members after so that they can stay together. we talked about how we can achieve that goal and it was mostly focused on becoming truly like christ, which was something that i had been focused on the days before we got there. it is amazing to see how the spirit prepares all of the mission leaders for the conference and share exactly what the mission needs. 

a funny thing. i saw a tv when i was leaving a house and it was the three ninjas on tv. 

we worked really hard with all the missionaries in the zone this week. we are trying to get them really motivated and to have more faith to see miracles. last week we challenged them to find 2 people to baptize in that very week that didnt have dates before. and this week we are trying to put 40 baptismal dates as a zone this week. we have seen a lot of miracles and i know we will continue to see them as we exercise more faith.

we´ve been working hard with vicente and he is progressing really well. he has read a ton of the book of mormon and all of the pamphlets we´ve left and is developing an increasingly powerful testimony. he will be baptized this saturday. also we´ve been working witha couple named carlos and tania. carlos is an inactive member and tania isnt a member. we committed them to getting married this week and they are excited and feeling the spirit doing their family prayer every night. 

other funny stories. we helped a little kid who got his arm stuck trying to reach a coin he dropped. his arm was caught between a metal fence protection. thats the picture. i asked for oil and then we got a crowbar to get him out. it was odd. also in the same house that we ate mungungo last week she gave us that fish. i liked it and ate two, but elder johnston didnt like it too much haha. 

anyways there are a lot of great things happening here. we changed houses too and our new house is a lot nicer and just us two there which is better as well. im loving the mission and learning a lot and have a lot to get done and a lot to learn in the time i have left. love you and and miss you a ton. and hope you have a great next week. 

love 

elder smith