Hola

hello all. i dont have a ton of time again this week, but will try to write as much as i can. i sent a few pictures this week of my area. the tienda el mormon and a remake of a olmec head because there arent any real ones here in la venta, but other ppl dont know that so you can say its real. and a atardeser from the other day.

things here have gone really well, but i have also had a lot of opposition. Idk why it has been this way but the second half of last transfer and this transfer there have been a ton of problems with investigators and ppl cant get baptized ha. This week we were supposed to have two baptisms for yolanda and jesus who we have been woking a ton with. they were ready and had the interview. their dad was there but he left when we arrived and said that he was going to come back in a little. he never came back, the baptismal form didnt get signed and they didnt want to get baptized if their dad wasnt there anyways, so they fell off date. we also found a lot of new ppl, but they dont come to church so they fall. idk why ppl dont want to come to chruch. we run around crazy sunday morning trying to go to everyoen we need to and just about always everyone we pass by for cant come or isnt there or is asleep. it is a little frustrating but i'm working hard and trying to keep positive. elder sanchez and i are teaching a ton of lessons and finding a lot of new people. this week we taught 35 lessons and found 13 new investigators which is the most i{ve done in my whole mission. also today i completed 8 months as a missionary. a third of my mission is already over. i wish i had more spanish and more baptisms but i have had a lot of amazing experiences and grown and learned a lot and hopefully i'll be able to keep improving and being more successful as well.

this week i had a lot of interesting experiences. this week we started teaching these two girls. one of them is really good but really shy, the other one isnt too shy but hasnt ever really dont anything with religion. in our last lesson with her we were teaching something and in the middle of the lesson she said. you have really beautiful eyes. and your hair too. your kids will be very beautiful....it was a little awkward but i just said thanks and continued with the lesson. there are a lot of things like that that happen here. there arent too many white ppl here, and it is interesting also to see that just about all of their celebrities here are of lighter colored skin. it is sad that it is that way, but oh well.

also this week i we contacted a man named juan coba. i contacted him with elder tanner a long time ago but never found him in his house. we taught his brother but then never found him after the first lesson. they have a mom that is about to die and i thought she was going to die when i wetn over the first time,but she is still alive but not doing well at all. she has a ton of water in her body and it looks like she is pregnant, but it is jsut water floating around in her. we said another prayer for her, and then taught juan. he in the middle of the lesson stopped us and told us that he knew everything was true that we had said and that he knew that we really were messnagers of god sent to him. It was an amazing experience to here that and he had a date for april 2nd but wasnt at church this sunday so well have to meet with him and see what happened. also this week i had a great experience with a woman named nineva. she is old and has a problem with her blood that she needs diaysis a few times a week. she is getting weaker and weaker and was very sad this last lesson. i was very quiet in the beginneng of the lesson but then felt like i needed to talk and hlep her and i learned a lot in this situation. i was giving what i needed to say to help her. she is a devout 7th day adventist and has been struggling with that she received an answer that the book of mormon is true and making the decision to change and be baptized. I focused on helping her be happy. she cried for the first part of the lesson but i talked a lot about the power that she had. her body was weak but i told her that that wasnt important. we are here on earth to be tested and to die. our body is going to fail us one day, but for htis reason we need to prepare ourselves for eternity. i felt that she was weak and sad, and i told her to be happy. to live her life the best she could and not wory about her sickness. there isnt anything she can do to change it and she can be happy. the power she has to make decisions, to live to receive answers from god. She received her answer about the book of mormon wihich is a great story as well. i also talked about how she has already changed. She started out as an investigator that was almost a bible bash the first lesson, and she has grown so much in this short time. She has been taking baby steps towards baptism and baptism is the last step that she needs to take but it is a bigger step of faith. I knew that she would receive so many blessings for it but she still needs more help. she asked us to pray so that she could have the strength to make the decision that she knows is true. i know my story here is pretty broken, but it was an amazing experience and i felt like i recieved a lot of help from my heavenly father in this lesson.

i love you all and miss you very much and hope that you are all doing great. i am having a ton of amazing experiences here and am learning a lot. my spanish is a lot better but i still have a lot to learn. right now my spanish is pretty good, and speaking in english is really really bad. i have talked to a few ppl this week in english and i cant say anything and include lots of spanish words and ya, its not good. i sound like i cant speak english haha. but that is a good thing i think. all is well here and i will talk to you next week.

love

elder smith