Hola!

Hello everyone. I dont have a ton of time today but i want to write something really fast. this week was great and everything is going really well. my spanish is a lot better, and i have really only been speaking spanish in my time here and its hard to switch into english without a spanish accent or using spanish words. i also think a lot more in spanish. i can understand and communicate a lot better, though there is a lot that i am missing still.

to answer some of your questions. most missionaries our out on the city of villahermosa. i dont know how many are there but there is one zone in villa and the rest are outside of villa. the mission boundaries are all of tabasco and a part of varacruz. my zone is in varacruz, but i am in tabasco. i went into varacruz today though, in coatzacoalcos to buy some stuff. i bought myself some late birthday presents ha. i bought a really cheap classical guitar and a case and extra strings and a capo and the guitar is used but not too bad. i played it on the bus ride back to my area haha, and it is going to help me a lot to relax at nights. i have missed music A LOT in my mission.

this week i had some really great lessons. i had another lesson with alvaro. his daughter also was in the lesson. we watched the joseph smith movie amd it was really powerful. he told us at the end that he felt the spirit in the same way that he had before when he prayed about the prophet joseph smith, but he still doesnt want to be baptized. there is a lot of pressure from his family to not. but we will continue with him.

we also have been teaching this family that is call the lopez's. they are really great and i love teaching them. apart from the smallest boy named fransico. he is 5 and very bad ha. the first time we went over, he threw a piece of meat at me and it landed on my white shirt. it came out but still. the second time we went over to set up an appointment and he came out with a bottle. i thought it was empty...turns out it was full of baby powder and i got covered from my head to my waist. i am much more careful around him now though and nothing more has happened to me. they are great and very excited about the gospel and they will be baptized this week and next week.

this week the hna cristal was supposed to be baptized, but she had the interview and is going to wait one week. she told me that she wants me to baptized her though and i am really excited for that. she is really amazing and i have seen such a huge change in her. when we first started teaching her, she was very, very skeptical and not the most ideal investigator, but she was willing to test it. she read and she prayed, and she got her answer that it was true. she did her part to the best of her ability and the lord blessed her with the answer and with these amazing changes in her life.

this week we also started teaching this 10 year old boy named josue. he is a different kind of investigator than any other that i have ever had. I really really need to help him. i have known of him since i got here because he is always out on the streets and always talks to us. one day when we were talking to him later at night we asked him what he was doing. he said nothing, and my companion asked where his friedns were, and he said he didnt have any. "only you guys" referring to us... at this moment started when i felt the need to help him. we set up an appointment with him, and say him another night. this night he told us about his job. his mom took him out of school and he works from 6 in the morning to 7 at night cleaning a meat shop and makes 30 pesos a day (basically 2 dollars). he makes about 30 cents an hour... we went to his house sunday morning to bring him to church and he said he couldnt go. we asked him why and he opend the door. there was a baby about 1 year old on the bed sleeping. he told us his mom left two days ago and wasnt going to be back until today (monday). his mom left a ten year old and a one year old alone for 3 or 4 days with 50 pesos to buy food. he needs a lot of help. we taught him the first lesson and it is hard for him to understand and he has some a.d.d issues too but we are going to help him, and talk to the president also to see what he can do. he is in the hands of the lord and we are going to do everything that we can.

this is a summary of my week. it was a bit hotter this week and was in the 90's most days here and is going to get hotter. in may it is going to be 116!! i will probably die, because i'm always sweating a ton here in all of the clothes we have on. I love it here and am learning so much. my companion and i are working very hard and are leading the zone right now. hopefully well be able to keep finding people and baptizing but i know that they are blessings and that we receive them when we do our part. i love you all and miss you very much. we have interviews with the president tomorrow and so i will get mail if there is any from the last time i got letters, but it might be too short of a time, but we'll see. I love you all and miss you and hope that you have a great next week. i am doing great here.

love elder smith