6-20-11

hello everyone. another week has come and gone and it is going by pretty quick. we had a good week this week as well and a few cool experiences. this tuesday we had interviews with pres. castañeda. it went well but it was kinda bad too becaause he showed up two hours late. he was in another place with the rest of the zone but said he was going to come to la venta because its on the way back to villahermosa. i guess to try and save time but we ended up calling him when he was 40 min late and then he said an hour from that time hed be there so we tried to run adn do a lesson and move around our whole day, but it went alright. president told me a cool experience he had and just asked me how things were and how i liked the new training program. he also told me that i will almost for sure be leaving la venta at the end of this transfer. that will be a good thing i think. ive been here forever, but it will be hard to leave everyone here that ive gotten so used to.

a few funny stories from this week. this one night we were walking around and this taxi guy pulled over and told us to get in. we sort of knew him, but i was pretty sure he was drunk. we then spent the next few minutes driving around with him going like 5 mph on the road while he told us he wanted to change his life and that he has nothing good going. It was sad and we had him drive us to his house to show us where it was.we then got out of the car before he got back on the main road haha. we went by a few days later and the lesson went super well. we taught the restoration of the gospel and then at the end he asked us when he could be baptized. it was pretty cool and we will help him with certain problems he has so that he can get baptized.

this week also we set up an appointment to meet with this lady and her family. when we got there the next day and yelled at them to come out. (there arent doorbells and you dont cross their yard to get ppl to come out, you just yell "buenos tardes"from outside their gates and then they come out.) so anyways i yelled and then a little boy came out and said "my mom IS here... Oh i mean she´s not here" while at the same time mouthing and shaking his head and pointing that she was right behind the door haha. I then told him thanks and then invited him and his little brother to church. they were only like 6 years old ha.

also the hermano Ernan (found out his name really isnt ernansa but ernan) is really funny. everytime we talk to him he tells us another random story that takes forever to tell. this week he told us a crazy one about how this guy was bullying him or something and so he swung at him with a machete and almost got him, but just cut his nose. but apparently after that he never was bothered again ha. He also every week in the principios del evangelio gives a really long story/answer to simple questions. this week after like 5 min i tried to summarize what he said and thanked him for the comment and then asked someone else to read something and asked another person a question and then he gets up and says "i didnt even get to finish yet." he then went on to finish his story and then sat back in his seat haha. He's fun and about every priesthood he falls asleep during the class. i think its a little long for him. but its funny to watch him and me and elder watts have a hard time not laughing as his head falls all the way back and he woke up and had no idea where he was for a second ha.

also this week when we were walking by there were these three little girls outside playing. as we walked by they ran away screaming. then when we went by the house they came back with like 6 other little girls and they all started yelling at us until we were like really far away and out of sight. they were funny though. we get a lot of funny looks from ppl all of the time too. its the funniest when they're from little girls who think we´re cute. not so funny when its old ladies haha.

we almost got another baptism this week which would have been 4 weeks in a row, but the girl that was going to get baptized couldnt because her parents said she needs to go to church more time. all of her cousins are members, and shes come to church the last few weeks and really likes it. we´ll keep working with her and hopefully she´ll be able to get baptized before i leave.

we had a really cool experience witha lady named Mariveli. we have worked with her for a while, but when we ask her how are you, she never says good. she aways says mas o menos. We had a really good talk last week because she said she doesnt feel happy. the lessons with her lately have been really really good. and she has felt the spirit and has been looking so much happier. that is the purpose of the gospel and of life, is to be happy. She made a sacrifice to come to church this week and i think she really liked it. hopefullly she will be able to be baptized in a few weeks as well.

elder watts and i have been working really hard and we constantly critique what we do. It is hard to constantly have to change and there is never a point where ill be able to stop trying to be better. we have learned a lot though and are trying to be the best we can be. We have worked hard finding new ppl to teach and have found some really good families and people to teach that will hopefully turn out good. It is hard work, especially in all the sun and now rain too. i got drenched the other day when i was caught without my rain coat. I am definitely tired alllll of the time, but it is amazing to be able to do this work. I have learned so much and have been learning more and more how to trust in god in all things and let him guide me. I know that this church is true and my testimony is strengthened everyday through many spiritual experiences.

love

elder smith

6/13/11

Hello everyone. This week for me was amazing! I have one experience in particular that i want to share that truly was a miracle.

We have been able to have baptisms the last two weeks in a row and so this tuesday the zone leaders called us and told us good job with everything and to keep working hard and then asked us if we had anyone for the next week. i told them that we didnt for the next two weeks. After that they told us to do a special fast to find someone to be baptized this last week. we had just done a fast two days before for fast sunday but we decided that we were going to do it. so we ate that day and then started our fast. I had a few ppl in mind that could potentially be baptized this week, but i wasnt really sure who we were going to find. We started out the day and found a few new investigators and had some good lessons, but didnt find anyone that could be baptized that week. Tuesday we had to be in coatza (about an hour away) because we had a conference the next day early, so we lost about 2 hours of work tuesday night. we had to move our schedule around to try and fit in a few more things. We were on our way to our last appointment of the night about an hour late.. when someone from another street called to us. At first i thought it was just a drunk guy and almost just kept walking, but then seeing that it was in a house i recognized thought id just go say hi. we walked over and the guy introduced himself and somewhat awkwardly stuck his hand through a chainlink fence to shake our hands while asking us if we spoke spanish ha. We were late for our appointment, but i asked him if we could come in and talk with him for a little bit. he let us in and told us his story. His name is Abenamar and had been living in the usa for the last 11 years working. In his time in the US he had come into contact with a member one day while walking in the street and the member brought him to church. from there he started talking to the missionaries. at this time he was very sick and could barely walk and had been that way for about 3 months. The missionaries gave him a priesthood blessing and two days later he could walk perfectly normal and was healed. He talked with the missionaries there a lot and was good friends with them. he said they came over everyday and that he'd been going to church for about 5 months. he was in san antonio texas and had moved a little bit. about 3 weeks ago he was caught by immegrations and deported from the country and came back here to his home where he hasnt seen his family in 11 years. He told me that he had been praying and looking for the missionaries since he had arrived here. there was a strong spirit in the lesson and i asked him if he had been baptized. he said that he had, but not in the church of jesus christ, but taht he'd already been baptized in the pentocostle church. we then taught him a review of the message of the restoration and focusing on the priesthood authority. he remembered a lot of it and he accepted everything we taught and had a powerful testimony. I felt the guidance of the spirit as we spoke. we finished talking about the authority and the restoration and i started to explain the gospel of jesus christ and that we need to complete with the gospel with the power and authority of god to be saved. he agreed. i then taught a little bit more about baptism and i invited him to be baptized. he then said. "i have prayed a lot to know if this is true, and i know it is. yes" He accepted to be baptized and then i invited him to be baptized on the 11th of june, this last saturday and he said Yes! As soon as the words came from his mouth I tried to talk again but i couldn't. I tried to explain to him our part of this story. That we had begun a fast that very day to find someone to be baptized that week, and that we were not where we had planned to be in a time that we hadnt planned to be there, he was looking our way in the few seconds that we passed by his intersection, we were impressed to stay even when we had another appointment, and not to count the other factors that he was deported, and his history with the missionaries, or the factors of what would have happened if we hadnt have fasted and prayed or if we were not obedient missionaries. A feeling of joy combined with a new found knowledge and testimony that the lord guides his work and that all things work together for his divine purposes. It is hard to express the feelings that i have for what happened and the spirit that was there with us. It was a happiness that filled my whole body and an amazement that this truly is the work of the lord. As we talked more he also cried a little bit as he continued explaining his story and situation more. As we walked out of the lesson and back to our house, i turned to elder watts and said "Elder watts, I think the church is true!" ha. We were both amazed at the power of prayer and fasting and i know that the lord lead and guided all of us so that this baptism could take place here on this very day.

His baptismal service was very powerful as well. we had a member who is waiting for his mission call do the baptism. we had to go to the beach again becuase there still isnt water here, but it was really cool. I felt the spirit strongly when he was baptized and as always had a huge smile on my face the whole time after haha. i got to participate in his confirmation and reception of the gift of the holy ghost the next day and it was really amazing as well.

this week we also had the opportunity to hear from presidnete tenorio of the seventy, and he was reallly funny. he gave a good talk and i learned a lot from him. There were a lot of miracles this week, but the experience finding and baptizing abenamar was amazing. i know that this is the true church of jesus christ restored in these last days through a righteous prophet who was chosen of god. I know that the priesthood authority has been restored along with this church so that all those who are sincere of heart, who ask of god with faith through prayer and are willing to take upon them the name of jesus christ, can receive a testimony of the truth of this gospel and receive the blessings of salvation in the eternity and the true happiness in this life. I love you all and miss you and continually pray for you. Hope this next week is amazing

love,

Elder Smith

6-6-11

hello everyone. well this was another amazing week here in la venta. I had a lot of really amazing experiences and have really learned so much.

This week i have continued to feel a really amazing change in the way that i am teaching. i feel more and more comfortable teaching in lessons and feel more and more as if i am teaching a personalized lesson as opposed to a rote presentation. it is hard in spanish to not do that especially when a lot of my companions in the past have. in a companion study with elder watts one day when we were talking on the subject i related how we had gotten better and how we could continue to improve by asking him the question "do we teach our lessons the same way you would teach your best friend from home". The answer for both of us was no, and though it is a little different, it was a good thought that i had to help me be myself more in lessons and really try to love the people and build a connection with them from the start. i have really felt a huge difference in the way i teach in these last few weeks with elder watts and have felt directed by the spirit more and more as i learn to really rely on the spirit to teach them.

I had an interesting experience with an investigator this week where i got pretty mad, but it was a justified good mad ha (ill explain). we went over to the perez family to teach a lesson. we got there and we basically always talk mostly with the husband (juan). we got there, had a prayer and i asked how they were and then asked why they didnt go to church and if theyd read and prayed. He then went into a list of excuses of things, but turned out he was sleeping sunday, and didnt read, and hadnt really prayed. he then to try and back that up i guess went into first how in the church the sunday they went, he already knew everything that we talked about and said bluntly. "i went in with nothing and came out with nothing". (i used that later). We talked aout the sabbath day and he exagerated how everyone knows what it is and that we shouldnt have talked about it. he then went in how we never answer their questions and gave an example that i never answered his question about who melchezidek was (which i had, but did again anyway). and other than that he couldnt remember what other questions he'd asked and so he then said the thing where i got mad. he said i dont think you guys would know the answers to my questions so i dont ask. you dont have much knowledge of the scriptures and are inexperienced, and thats why we always talk about really basic stuff. Me and elder watts joked afterwords because we had been reading in moroni about the war chapters in our studies and we said "elder smith got upset like moroni" ha. I starting with the topic of the class in church, that he doesnt know what the sabbath day is becuase he hasnt put it into practice and isnt living it. he went in with nothing and left with nothing for his attitude. i then answered his question and asked if he had any others, but he didnt. then i explained that we were there to help him and his family to find the salvation and that there was no other way they were going to be able to get it. that we arent there to just help him study the bible for fun, but it is something serious. that we are there as guides and that it is him who has been making and breaking his promises with god when he hasnt been keeping his commitments and then asked him some simple questions about the gospel and explained to him the answers of why we study the basic principles of the gospel. it is not that we dont have the knowledge to teach him it is just that if he cant and isnt willing to live simple and basic principles or commandments why would we want to study complicated principles. I spoke very boldly to say the least and at the end i think it sank in a little bit. Though i spoke strongly, i felt the spirit the whole time that i spoke and felt guided by the spirit. hopefully someday he will be able to do the very simple thing of reading and praying diligently about the book of mormon.

that was an experience that was powerful for me, but not the ones i like very much, but have to happen sometimes. I usually stay away from ppl that want to argue, but this was a good investigator who changed for some reason away from the gospel. It was a good learning experience for me though, and this example played a part in a good discussion i had with elder watts about how we can be better at finding the elect.

we also had an amazing baptism this week. the hno. ernanza got baptized. he is a old man of 73 years and is really great. we found him a few weeks ago when he called us over to talk. we were a little skeptical at first because he loves to tell stories ha, but he accepted everything and the gospel will help him a ton! he has had a rough life including separation from his family, he got hit by a car and hurt his body really bad with lasting affects that limited and limit his working ability, and has a pretty bad living condition now. he has been humbled and prepared by the lord for us to find him, and it was a great experience to be able to baptize him in the ocean (wasnt water here again this week). After presidente nazario gave a cool talk about how he entered into the gate and the way of the lord. i felt the spirit very powerfully when i thought about how this man who has seen so much and experienced so many things, had entered into this path and was completely clean from any sins of his past life. he is73 but is born again of the water and now of the spirit as well. It was amazing to work with him and to see the blessings he will receive in his life and the eternity.

this sunday was also amazing. we had just about 60 ppl in sacrament meeting. though that doesnt sound like a lot,, we usually have like 40 or 45 and so having 60 there was amazing. a lot of less actives were there and all my converts were there as well except for maria but she had a reason, and i was just full of joy. i went up to share my testimony and i tried expressing my love for the ppl there and had to just stop and wait for like a minute because i couldnt talk. It was a powerful meeting and everyone there felt the strong spirit, as everyone got up and bore their testimonies.

the mission is amazing and i am learning so much and have had some truly amazing experiences. i know that this is the true church and gospel of jesus christ and there is nothing i love more than to share this message with everyone that will hear it each day. i hope that everything is going great at home and that you are all doing well. I love you and miss you

love

Elder Smith

Another Week in La Venta- May 30, 2011

Hello everyone. i had a really great week this week and i'll try to get everything into this email. to explain the pictures as well. there was a terantula in our shower one morning i walked in and looked down and was a little surprised ha. we put it in a bag and threw it outside, we told other ppl later and they all said we should have killed it cause theyre pretty dangerous. its the first one ive seen though so dont worry. also i thought dad might like the harley we saw here hah. the others are from when our investigators (maria and roberto) got married, and then the baptism in the ocean. elder watts got his first baptism in the ocean so that was really cool.

this week was amazing. I am really starting to understand how to teach and listen to the spirit and how to adapt lessons to each person that we teach. i feel a lot more personable, and i feel like we develop a stronger relationship with the people after just a few minutes of talking. It is really an amazing experience to feel the lord working through me and have things ive never thought of come to my mind to say, that just seem to work perfectly in helping these people here. we have met some really great people and had some really powerful lessons. one of the ladies that we are teaching is named guadalupe. she is really great and is really studying the scriptures. she was having a little bit of trouble one lesson and we came over and she told us the first thing "i dont think we should talk anymore, i think i got an answer that i need to go back to my old church..." when i heard this i would have thought that i would be very worried. that isnt what we planned on thats not what happens very often either. usualy we drop ppl because they dont progress. though when she said this i was excited for the opportunity and knew it would be an amazing lesson. i prayed very hard for guidance the whole lesson and felt that the spirit dirrected us as we taught her. we focused on the book of mormon and how big of a role it plays in conversion, and about how her prayers would be answered. the lesson was very powerful and ended with me bearing my testimony about how i came to know the book of mormon was true. this time i chose to tell about an experience i had on my mission when i finished the book of mormon again and prayed to know about it. i dont tell these stories very often in great detail in lessons because they are sacred things. i know that she felt the spiritl, and that it was what she needed. she is continuing reading and praying and is a really amazing lady with great faith.

this week also maria and roberto got married. it has been planned to happen SOOO many tiems and also this week was planned for tuesday then thursday then finally for friday which was the last day it could happen so that maria could be baptized this week. I was praying so much this week that it could finally happen. i had been studying patience in the christlike atributes part of preach my gospel because i didnt feel very patient ha. It was hard when they are so close but just hadn't done it. the day before, (thursday night) roberto said it was going to happen but i still had my doubts. we got president nazario to drive us to their house and didnt find them at home. we drove back to the centro and found them waiting outside the registro civil to get married. theyd already gotten pictures and coppies of all paper and were ready. they needed three more witnesses becuase me and elder watts cant be witnesses but president nazario knows everyone here and in 30 seconds had three people's credentials (drivers licenses) and went off to make copies. the ppl came and signed and then they got married! it was literally the happiest feeling in the world when i saw them waiting to get married. they were excited and i was just so so happy ha.

the next day there was still no water in la venta to fill the font so we had to go all the way to santana to the beach to do the baptism. it was a great experience. it was just me elder watts, roberto, maria, their baby and one other of their girls. it was really small but really great. we had a little meeting, sang families can be together forever, and i gave a small talk on baptism, took some pictures, and then elder watts got to baptize his first person in the ocean. he was way excited and it was really great. the beach was beautiful as dusk and the sun was big and very red, though it doesnt look that way in the pictures. the spirit was very strong as they stood in the ocean waves and said the prayer and then baptized her in the water, just how christ was baptized. it really was so amazing to see this family make changes. we started teaching them when elder sanchez first got here but then stopped because they were talking to other ppl and didnt really ever listen to us. we went back to teach them after they went to a primary activity at the church and everything changed! i now understand why we have those activities. they are amazing. never hesitate to invite someone to a church thing even when it seems like they wont like it or it will be awkward, because they work miracles. this families atitiude towards the church changed and the hna maria started coming to church they started listening, they read the book of mormon, gained a testimony, got baptized and they are amazing. god prepares his children for this message and we are talking about robertos baptism in three weeks. he was basically a drunk and now is awesome and i could see him and branch president someday! we had a really great talk with him and president nazario on the car ride home. We've talked a lot about the temple with them and i am so excited to see them agian in one year to see them be sealed for time and all eternity.

I love you all and miss you very much and hope that everything continues well for you all at home. i am going to stay another transfer here in la venta so by the end of this next transfer i'll have almost a year in the mission and almost 7 months in la venta haha. I love the mission and am very greatful for all the amazing experiences i have had in the midst of many trials as well, but without those the blessings wouldnt be so great. we are going to have another baptism this next week and we are working hard to find ppl to baptize every week now. ill talk to you all in another week.

love

elder smith

10 Month Mark!

hello everyone. well its been another amazing week here in la venta, mexico and i am really learning a lot and having some amazing experiences. this week i completed 10 months in the mission which is pretty crazy. one more transfer and i'll be at my year mark. i still have that feeling that i dont really know what im doing and i need a lot more practice and improvement and work, but i think thats mostly a good thing. elder watts and i have been focusing a lot everyday on how we can be better. focusing on different topics different principles and then applying them in one week. in the new study program for training new missionaries it also has focuses. this week was how to get investigators to come to church. thats not how they said it but that was the goal of it. we focused a lot on that and we had 5 ppl in church and some ppl that we didnt think would come. also from the ppl that didnt come to church we were able to determine if they were ppl we should continue teaching or not and in many cases made the decision to stop teaching them a lot easier. there is a funny story with an old guy named juan that we found last week. he accepted a date, but doesnt really listen too well when we teach but just says yes all the time really loud while we talk, but then when we ask him something he just says yes again loud, and then he has to ask again what we said. this saturday we went over to remind him about church. hed said before that he could come. when we got there he explained how his teeth hurt really bad so i told him to go to a dentist but then he said he didnt have money to go. we then continued with the lesson and asked him about church. he then said he couldnt come cause he had to go to the dentist. i was confused and asked why hed said he didnt have money. he then said he did...? then i said well you could go at 12 after chruch right. and he said no but i cant remember why. i then said well you could be today after our lesson (it was like 1 oclock) he said no cause its saturday and i need to drink. he always talks about how bad drinking is. then when i asked about that he said, oh not for me them (referning to the dentists). i then said oh i dont think the dentists are drunk when working. he said very convinsed that they do because it

was saturday. he finally said hed go but when we saw him by chance sunday morning he made another excuse and now we dont teach him , but i thought his excuses were funny haha. and i hope you dont get drunk when working on teeth dad or anytime ha.

this week on tuesday we went to villahermosa and listened to elder quinten l cook of the 12 apostles. it was an amazing experience and i really learned a lot. he did a question and answer part and gave a talk after his wife and a 70' named elder dehoyos. it was really powerful and i learned a lot from him. i especially liked the personal stories that he told about being around the other apostles and prophets. he told one about how he never feels qualified or capable to be an apostle and then that elder packer told him one day in the temple as well that in his 41 years as an apostle he still doesnt feel qualified. It is often how i feel as a missionary, but he said that the lord qualifies us when we do his work in his way he will give us what we need to accomplish his work. i took lots of notes as well and really learned a lot. we also all got to shake his hand and meet him. it was cool to see how each missionary lit up when they passed by him, and it was a really amazing experience.

a lot happened this week but i want to share two experiences that i had. the first one is about the hna maria astrit. she has been an investigator for a while and should have been baptized but we cant get them to come to the court house place to get married. they want to and have everything ready, they just have to go! anyways we had some really good talks with her about everything this week. one night when i was about to announce her baptism she told me that she still wasnt sure about it. shed told me before that she was ready, but then started a long conversation and a really powerful lesson. we went to their house later that day with her and her husband roberto who is also an investigator. we didnt have a set plan, i just thought a lot about them and tried to find what needed to be said. i eventually found what it was and asked an inspired question, when i asked them, "why are we here" (referring to us as missionaries). they said to help them get married, baptize them, help them know the scriptures better, and some other things. i told them after each of these that that is part of the reason, but not the answer. we are here because we love them, and we want to help them have salvation. i wont be able to write the words exactly that i used but they were very powerful and i felt the lord working in me. I then made a comparison in the ways we can look at the church. there is one way of looking at things from a worldly or temporal perspective, and then you can look at things from an eternal or spiritual perspective. for example going to church. from a temporal persective, we have to go every sunday to a building where we sit and talk for 3 hours. from an eternal perspective and spiritual perspective we go to hear the words of god, be spiritually edified,

remember our savior and redeemer, pray, grow, hlep others, be closer to god. we can apply this principle with anything in this world. the problem i see with many investigators/less actives/active members, is that too often we see things only from a temporal perspective. we cant see eveything completely spiritual all the time i know, and im not trying to say that we should do that, but the more we can see things from this perspective, the happier we will be, the more we will understand god and his purpose for us in this life. I expressed to them this idea and applied it to them. i also had another lesson with the hna maria without her family where she told us how much of a difference our talks had made. i felt the sprit direct out words and saw how it helped her.

i dont have any more time, but i had a lot of other really cool equally powerful experiences this week that i will share another day after my mission ha.

love

elder smith

May 16

hello everyone. another week has come and gone and i had a lot of good experiences and some harder ones as well. we were really excited to get a baptism this week and excited about a boy named cristian who had been changing. it turned out though that he didnt really want to change and couldnt give up coffee and didnt want to go to church, so we didnt get a baptism this weeek, but thats alright cause we found some really great people and should have a lot in the coming weeks.

everything is going well with elder watts and he is a lot of fun. his
spanish is getting better and i learn a lot from him. we have some funny jokes with all the members now that when we walk by they all point up at the trees and say monkey, monkey because one of the first days elder watts was here he did that to a little kid to get him to
look away and now they do it everytime we walk by haha.

we are teaching a cool family named the sanchez vasquez family (maria and roberto). they are really amazing and making big changes in their lives. they now read the book of mormon and bible together everyday as a family and are doing family prayers and everything. every lesson they are very attentive and listening, and are still a lot of fun to talk to and stuff, and are a little goofy, but they are really
amazing. we are going to try and get them married this wednesday in the morning. we have had it planned many times before,but i hope this time it will happen. we are going over to pick them up and go wtih them to the place and ive checked all their papers and everything. i think that maria will be baptized this saturday and roberto has to get to chruch two times still before he can be baptized.

we had some good lessons with some references that we got. we almost never get references from members and we went over with the member to this reference that is two twin girls and it was a really great
lesson. they said they felt the spirit in the lesson and when i asked
them to be baptized they accepted! they also told their friend (member) that when they prayed the next day they felt the spirit very
powrefully in the form of being really happy. alegria!

we also had a cool experience with a girl named patty. she is 24 and
just graduated from her school. she is really great but has a lot of
family and friend problems. she had heard a lot of false stuff about the church, but we had a really long lessons with her one morning where we met at the church watched the joseph smith movie and then
talked about her whole life basically and how she got to the point
where she was listening to us. she said the movie and coming to church answered most of her questions and then it was really cool to see how she has been prepared to listen to our message and also cool to see how much people will open up to you about their lives. This is just someone we met on the street, and in a few meetings someone that we really care about and who is willing to tell us some of the deepest things of her life. It is awesome to be a missionary and to feel the spirit work in me to help all of these people with their problems
through helping to teach them about this gospel, that is the answer to
all of lifes struggles.

we are going to get to hear from quintin l cook tomorrow in
villahermosa and im really excited for that. also presidente emailed
me today and said that he is going to come to la venta and interview our district here and then come out and work with us. im WAY excited for that and am going to try and learn as much as i can from him while
hes here. he is really powerful and hopefully ill be able to learn to do things just as powerfully.

everything is going great for me here. I took my first hot shower today in 5 months because the sun has heated up the water. it was like really hot though, it was really weird ha. I am learning so much and having really great experiences. the time is going by way fast right now, and im almost done with my first transfer here with elder watts in 2 more weeks. i have felt the spirit guiding me so much and have been able to really strengthen my testimony, especially in the book of mormon. the book of mormon is so important and plays the biggest role nuestro conversion. i know the book of mormon is true and for that i know that this is the true church of Jesus christ and the way we find all of the happiness in this life and the salvation in the life to come. i love you all and miss you very much and hope you have a great next week.

love

elder smith

May 9 Picture