6-25-12

hola, ¿como están?

i hope that all is well and that everything is going great for you all. I have to first apologize to dad and grandpas for not saying happy fathers day last week. i wrote super fast and had remembered but then forgot when i started writing. we have been focusing a lot on family history right now as missionaries and sharing that with ppl and it has helped me to be very grateful for my family roots.  i am grateful for the example that you have given me and for all of the opportunities that you have given me and for all the things you have taught me. everyday i tell stories to ppl or use examples from my life or teach ppl the same things that you have taught me or helped me with. you are the best dad ever and i love you a ton. i also love you mom and grandpas and grandmas and all the family and my friends to the family as well :)

this week was super great. thursday we did a fireside. first we had a baptism for jesus. it went really well and there were a few investigatores that showed up to see it too. elder barrera and i sang, i need thee every hour. i played guitar and i also intended to sing the harmony part. i have never really learned how to do that too well, but i just did what sounded okay and it ended up going well. i got to baptize jesus and it was a really great service. after the baptism we gave our firside message. we watched a movie about having to change our lives and our attitudes to be able to acheive success and then talked about the message from president monson from january about "living the abundant life" or something like that "la vida abundante" about the power of our attitude. it was really great and i shared some good stories and it sorta reminded me of like being a motivational speaker mixed with preaching the gospel. it went well and then we watched a video from a clip of the movie of football like "battle of the giants" or something where a kid carries another kid on his back the whole langth of the field. set up well, it is a powerful spiritual tool and i saw various ppl crying. it was super spiritual and then after we went outside and made a fire and roasted marshmellows. it was a lot of fun and turned out really really well. a little girl of 10 years who was visiting said "i want to be baptized in this church".

sunday was a huge miracle. we have been focusing on the assistence at church and we should of had like 75 ppl or something, but even though we started the meeting with just 33, it ended up with 110! we were super excited, especially because the family of this little girl that came to the activity showed up. they are a family of 5 and really really liked the church. the dad stayed like 15 min after church ended in the room just talking with the family that brought them talking about how the theme of the day, adversity, was so perfect for his life in that moment. When they walked into the chapel i was so happy i almost cried ha. we contacted 200 people this week on the street and i kept telling my comp, if we contact everyone that passes us, we will be blessed. it was hard and we worked super hard but we were blessed. it is another example of how god always tests us. he makes us go as far as we can, until we almost cant go any farther and then in the moment where we are about to give up, if we continue to trust in him, he blesses us with everything. 

we had a ton of rain this week and i had to walk without shoes a little one day, but it was fun. we get caught in the rain sometimes,but thats alright. i love you all and miss you a ton. it is super weird that i only have 4 weeks left, but it wont hit until im like literally coming home, like on the airplane ha, so im gonna keep working hard and hopefully we will be able to have a lot of blessing. hvae fun at trek this week. 

love 

elder smith

6-18-12

pictures: got mad so i broke the tree (really got torn down by the storm), elder barrera with our lasagna,.  on the rooftop of part of our area, helping elder barrera with his haircut, my novia, fam that we made lasagna with, eating a lizard

well this week went really great. we had a ton of aweome experiences. i dont really have much time to tell you about them all but it was a good week. we are going to help baptize the grandson of our new ward mission leader. he is really great. we thought he wasnt going to understand a whole lot, but he surprised us all when we taught him, and he said a prayer at the end that i was able to feel the spirit so strongly that i and basically everyone else cried, including his grandpa. he is going to be a great future misionary. the ward is doing well. we have a sister named guadalupe that is doing really well. hopefully she will be baptized this coming week. she is progressing a lot. I don't know if i told you about her but she is the one whose husband died a year ago and she is living alone with her 7 year old son. she is really awesome though and invited us to eat with her today. the mission is awesome i am glad to hear everything is great at home and i am excited to come back and see you all, but i am sad that it is coming to a close here. i am going to use every minute of it. it has rained a lot and there was a pretty big storm thursday with trees falling and lots of wind and rain. we got pretty wet a few days, but we enjoy it ha. i am so grateful to be here and i have been learning a ton lately. i am practicing a hymn with the primary that they are going to sing next week in church, so hopefully that goes well. I am seeing the lords hand in everything and working hard to recieve his blessings. I love you all and miss you a ton. 

love 

elder smith

6-11-12

fotos: eating at a tacoria, me by a big spider, chilis rellenos, in the back of a truck, what we use to cook with, with a kid we found on the street with lots of turtles, me and elder barrera ready for the rain.

 

hello everyone,

 

this was another really great week and we were able to see a lot of miracles. there was a really big problem with the familia lopez barregan. the family that we have been working with since the start that we got here. one of kids lies a lot and is trying to separate the parents. his dad marcos and the hna gloria are trying to get married, but marco antonio (the kid) doesnt want them to.  anyways so he went and told the bishop and police that his step mom beat him and it created a HUGE PROBLEM. it wasnt really true, but the hna gloriela got mad because the bishop talked to the police. the bishop didnt know that the kid was lying and without explaining a lot, the bishop did what i or anyone would have done in the situation. they didnt say anything bad to the police like go throw her in jail. they just returned the kid home when his dad got there and there was no problem really, but the hna gloria got really mad at the bishop. we got thrown into the middle of the problem without understanding what happened. one miracle is that the day it happened in the night we showed up because they asked us to and then the relief society presidency showed up at the same time. I hoped we would just do a normal lesson but the hna gloriela got mad and told us about it....ha. but luckily the 2nd couselor is a phyciatrist and helped a ton. it was a way cool lesson. we mixed psychology with the gospel. by the end of the lesson. marco antonio and gloriela and marcos were all hugging and crying. It was something really powerful to see. from feelings of hate to love. the spirit was there so strong and it was a true miracle that i know god touched their hearts. sunday we were able to meet with the bishop and the family and fix talk that problem out as well so right now, everything is good. they should get married this week or next and then get baptized. missionary work can be a lot or work mentally, physically and psychologically ha.

 

also we had a miracle that we found a lady named guadalupe whose husband died a year ago. she came to church and we found her some friends who are members and she is set for baptism after we teach her everything else.

 

this week we also found a really great family. it was literally the very last house at the very end of the colony. we went and they let us in and it went really well. i learned a little more what it means to be humble. here everyone says humble is just a nice way to say they are poor, but really that has nothing to do with it. i learned humility is just doing what the lord asks and not depending on ourselves, but trusting in him.

 

i got really mad yesterday at a guy who tried to bible bash. idk why i got so mad. not at him, but just afterwords. i still have a ways to go until i can develop more charity for people like that ha, but i learned a lot from the situation. i read in the manual of george albert smith about missionary work and in my talk i gave this week in church i used a quote from it that says basically this, "i;ve never been ashamed to preach the gospel. idk why i would need to be ashamed just because i know the truth and someone else doesnt know it." he said it isnt our responsibility to make them know that it is true but it is our responsibilty to help them know how they can know. i know that this is the true church of jesus christ. that there is a living prophet and 12 apostles and that we have the priesthood auhtority of god to complete with the ordanances of salvation, including the sealing of a family. all that god does all that he did and will do is for our happiness, if we are willing to humble ourselves before him and trust in him always.

 

today i am going to help an hermana make lasagna. she asked if i knew how and i said that i saw my mom make it once. so we´ll see how it goes haha. everything here is going really well. we are preparing a fireside next week. nobody here really knows what that is and they thought an actually "fire" was mandatory, so next week we are going to make a fire, and bring marshmellows and everything and we are giving the class. we´re making it a ward tradition once a month.

i am loving the mission and seeing changes here in the ward. i played my come thou fount song in sacrament meeting and they all liked it. also we decided to have the primary sing a song in church in two weeks to try and bring more ppl to sacrament meeting and we practiced sunday. the ward got excited in the ward counsel and said they are going to rotate an organization to have a special number each week now!

 

i love you all and miss you and hope you have a great wek.

 

love

 

elder smith

6-4-12

this week went really well. i dont have like any time today im already late cause i had to go to the mission office to pick up my new temple recommend from presidnete and i went into his office after waiting like an hour an a half or something and then got to talk with him for a little bit which was nice though. he knows a lot and is super spiritual. you can feel it when you walk in. but due to that today i didnt have much time for stuff. 

the ward is doing great. we had a baptism this week. he is named jose and is from teapa. i learned that part of my area also includes the state of chiapus and a whole nother county! so its even bigger than i thought. jose is awesome and his parents are too, but the cant get married for issues with their papers. 

we had an assistence of 99 in church on sunday and in the ward counsel with all the leaders they were all super pumped. the ward counsel is really great too because everyone comes and the bishop just says, "elders, howd the week go?" and we share whats happening and what we need. and all the leaders say what they are going to do to help. and thats basically the whole ward counsel. 

our goal this week is to only teach complete families. that is the best way to progress. we have talked to a lot of families. there are so many problems due to disobedience to the commandments that destroy families. but we have been able to teach a lot of ppl and help them to begin to understand and receive the blessings in their families as they live the gospel of jesus christ. 

im focusing on a lot of things and learning a ton. i cant express in these letters all of the amazing experiences and the spirit that i am able to feel as a missionary. every day my testimony is strengthened and i receive spiritual confirmation that this is the true chruch of jesus christ and that christ lives and loves each one of us. I love you all and miss you a ton. and wish i could explain more, but no time. have a great next week. 

love 

elder smith

pictures. baptism of jose with his family, outside the church with elder barrera. i played "i feel my saviors love" and everyone said they liked it a lot and brought a great spirit, on the bus to teapa, it is a little scary haha and super super bumpy ha, but its alright ha always an experience

5-28-12

Pictures: temple in villahermosa we got to go last week, my bishop outside his house we ate there and it started raining really hard and flooded, some rabbits and one was huge and one really small.

 

hello everyone. hope you all had a great week. i had a lot of really great experiences. this week we have been going to a place called teapa. it is a place that takes about an hour to get to in a bus. the member came and brought the miracle investigator from last sunday. though she cant get baptized yet because her and her husband arent married and there are problems with their papers, they have an 8 year old son that is going to get baptized this thursday. he is really excited and it will be a great blessing for their family. it really was a miracle for us because there was no way we wouldve found them going and knocking doors cause its so far away. it is a cool part of my area with a big river running through it and some "mountains" as they say here (hills) ha. it is really beautiful though.

 

we worked super super hard this week and specifically worked hard with the members. we taught a ton! we had 19 lessons with members present. that is the best ive had in my whole misson and we taught 17 lessons apart form that without members. we worked hard with members to bring ppl to family nights in their houses and we talked with a lot of members and had them bring them to their friends. we got 12 references this week as well! sunday the bishop had ppl talk more about helping us. one of the high couselors who is in the ward said something really great. he said the ward is "white already for the harvest" for three reasons. 1) we have new missionaries who are really good and working super hard. 2) made a ward mission plan last week 3) called a ward mission leader that sunday. it is cool to see the ward coming together to work for a common cause. if missionary work is functioning in the ward, the ward will flourish.

 

we had some cool experiences this week. i really turned into like a marriage couselor this week. i still think that is one of the craziest things about being a missionary. the confidence that people have in us when we share the gospel. they literally look at me and ask. "what do we need to do to fix our marriage and our lives". one guy was basically decided to separate from his wife. it is a hard situation. we are working hard with them to help them to stay together and get married. i shared a scripture with him from moses 1 that talks about how when moses came out of the presence of god, satan came and tempted him. he answered satan with confidence but when satan showed his power he feared but trusted in christ and overcame satan. it is a good thing we can apply in our lives. when we try to accomplish the most good in our lives, that is also when the biggest trials and temptations come. usually we dont recogrize them as temptations of satan because they seem like small things or other ppls faults, but the times when things go well are the times we need to focus most on trusting in god and not let our guard down. if we arent progressing we are falling back. its like a manual car driving up hill. if we arent accelarating we roll back down hill and need more energy to get going again. 

 

we also counseled a women who lost her son this week. he was only like 18 and he died. we went and helped her understand better the plan of salvation. that families can be together forever if they are faithful to the plan of god and if they are sealed together by the priesthood authority of god in the temple. it was sad to see that even though she had faith in another religion, she was distraught. she literally couldnt function if she thought about him. she didnt think she would ever see him again. We helped her and taught her and sang hymns with her and i think she is going to really progress. she was a reference that we received this week also. 

 

i had a really powerful experience with president castañeda this week. we had interviews with him and he made me some really powerful promises for me in the rest of my life as i continue working hard and being faithful. everytime i am with him i always see that i have a long long way to go spiritually still.

 

well i love you all and miss you a ton. im working hard here until the end. it is crazy how fast each week seems to go by. i have already been here a month. have a great next week and good luck with school and work and everything. 

 

love 

 

elder smith 

5-21-12

hello everyone. 

well today i officially complete 22 months in the mission. it is so weird to think about. in many ways it feels like the life before doesnt exist, and in others it doesnt seem too long ago. either  way i am loving the mission and am learning a ton and having some really amazing experiences. 

this week there was a lot of great things that happened. it was pretty hard at the start. we had to drop basically all of the people that had baptismal dates. there are a lot of ppl here that say that they have faith, but dont really have that much faith. it is like just the popular thing to say. my comp explained it really well. if you are                       told the same thing 100 times by a lot of different ppl usually you accept that as the truth. though it is just something that everyone says. everyone here says that they believe in jesus christ. and it might be true. but believing in christ and having faith in christ are two very differnet things.  faith is always accompanied by works. and faith requires all of our works in every moment. when we are baptized we promise to take upon ourselves the name of christ and remember him always. that is what if means to be christian. (alma 47) be like christ. 

though this week was hard, we worked really really hard and prayed a lot and fasted to be able to find success. we have had the focus to work more and more with the members. we have gone by a lot of them to set up                family home evenings where they invite their friends to come listen to us. we have started to get a lot of success with that. the best way to reactive a family in the gospel (active or inactive in the church), is missionary work. we        saw a big change in the ward in just this week when we went and visited the members. we shared a message and challeged them and they all accepted. it is a lot harder to do that to find ppl than to just go knock a        door, but it is way more affective in the long run and helps us have real converts who are going to help the ward to be stronger. we talked with the bishop about our plan and on sunday he spoke and basically just repeated our talk with the whole ward, and then we had a special meeting with all the leaders of the ward to set up a ward mission plan and to put into practice the things that i did in minatitlan and the ideas we had. we set up a family night the house of the leaders of the church every week for the rest of the year, focused or bringing friends who arent members of the church. we set up activites. and also a day where all the leaders are going to go do visits to members and less actives. we could talk a bit and help motivate everyone and it was great to see that everyone was really excited to work. 

this week on saturday we did a special fast to be able to help the ward and to find investigators ready to progress.  we found a couple named ana maria and enrique. they are great and accepted  to be baptized. sunday we were a little sad because they didnt show up. we have been working super hard. like harder than any other time in my mission but we havent seen much of success, just a lot of trials. and when sunday came and they didnt show up because they went to a ranch they have we were a little disapointed but i kept being happy. at the last hour of church the bishop called us out of class and introduced us to a women of about 20 years old with her little baby and said she wasnt a member. we talked to her and she came with her mother-in-law. she said that she stopped working sundays and now wants to start coming each week to church. she is from an area really far away. like 40 min. we took her to the baptismal room and we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. It was truly a miracle. god challenges us until we almost cant go further but if we keep faithful and with a positve attitude, he always blesses us.  

i also found out that another couple is ready to be married and baptized that we have been teaching. so in the next few weeks we should have a lot of baptisms hopefully and the ward should start to really take off. we also got a ward mission leader called last week. another miracle i heard when i called elder johnston in minatitlan is that a girl i taught in mina who couldnt get baptized because of her husband walked into the church in mina looking for me. she said she moved and now can go to church one more week and get baptized! 

i found out my area is even bigger than i thought. we have three whole counties. and part of villahermosa. we are going to try and tour it all in a few days like one county each day or something, but it is huge! 

well love you all and miss you.hope you have a great next week. everything is great here. 

love 

elder smith

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.