well this was another great week here in mexico. monday we played soccer again but it started pouring rain. it made it a lot of fun, but we were soaked by the end. me and my companion make a pretty good team schoolin the mèxicanos in our ward who are pretty good ha. This week there was quite a bit of rain, to the point where i actually felt cold. if im not wet though, im hot and then i get wet from the humidity. its still not too comfortable haha, but the temperature is cooling down a bit. one day everything got soaked and my planner has servived but it is a little wet ha. .
this week was amazing and i am really able to see miracles happening here. one experience was really cool. we went by an investigator named Jacibes (haseebes) one night and found her unable to move around because her back hurt so bad. she is like 22 and lives with her family who are also investigators. We gave her a blessing and then found out a few days later that she started feeling better right away and the next day when she woke up, she was perfectly healed. We talked a lot about the preisthood and about how we are healed through our faith. Christ always says after his miracles. by your faith you: can see, can walk, can hear, live, are forgiven of your sins. everything that we do in life is based on our faith.
we have been finding a ton of people to teach lately. We talk to a ton of people on the streets and stop by the ones who say we can and who seem the most interested. In the past three weeks we have had 41 new investigators. we have had to drop many of them, but have given 20 of those 41 dates to be baptized. that doesnt seem to be enough to always help them get to church though and right now we have three people progressing towards baptism. As you can see, getting people to church is the hard part. we did find some really great people this week though. one lady named Judith is prepared. we talked to her one day in the park and i felt good about her and so i asked if we could go over the next day. she said yes. we had a great lesson with her. she said one of her old boyfriends was a member that went on a mission and one of her friends said that if she wanted a united family that she should go to the mormon church. She accepted a date for baptism for the 24th of september and came to church and everything. she is really great. we also found a really awesome family last night. we stopped by their house cause we´d talked to the parents one day. we talked about who they were and what they believed in and we decided to teach them the plan of salvation. it was perfect. we talked a lot about the family. i asked a lot of questions and was really sincere with them. i asked a 11 year old boy to explain what repentance is. he didnt really know so i helped him teach it with an example. it was awesome that at the start of the lesson the family was all over the place, the kids were in and out, the parents were on opposite sides of the room and little participation. by the end all five of them were huddled together, arms around one another, the littles boy kissed his mom on her cheek, the parents were sitting next to each other holding hands. I explained how our message was true and for the family, and that it brings families together. i joked that it had physically brought them closer in just the little time we´d been there. It was super cool and the spirit was really storng. the mom was crying a lot by the end. im way way excited about them and hope all goes well this next week. we are going by tomorrow to visit them again.
this week one of the daughters of the hna juana (got baptized a few weeks ago) had a big trial. her husband left her. she has a 10 month old girl and is pregnant with another. She had been shying away in lessons lately but we had a whole lesson dedicated to her. you never know what is going to happen in missionary work and for that it is so important to have the spirit. i walked in and played with the little girl for a little while asking how things were and then very seriously juana told me that he daughters husband left. i was then left to ponder how i as a 20 year old who has barely dated and definitely has never been married was going to counsel this family and this lady who just had this happen. i am faced with problems like this in one way or another almost everyday. life changing problems that people face and they ask us what we think. it is those times when i pray the hardest for the guidance of the spirit. we had a great lesson and at one point i asked her. "nora, why do you think that god gave you your children?" she answered with something like because he loves me. i then asked, "nora, do you think god gave you your children not knowing that this was going to happen, or do you think he knew?" she answered that of course he knew. i then explained how that should give her some peace. that god does indeed have a plan for her, and he knows that she is going to be able to complete with that, if she trusts him and exercises her faith. she will hopefully be able to be baptized this week or the coming week.
this week we also had the baptism for the hna paola. Paola is amazing and i am so excited for her. i met her the first week i was here when she told us shed like to go to a baptism. we invited her and she asked how she could be baptized. we taught her, and through problems she went forth with faith unshaken. i am astounded more because she wasnt raised in a home that practices a religion. her family doesnt support her, but her boyfriends family does and helped her alot and she helped them also. She has a solid testimony and it was amazing to finally see her baptized. i played and sang "lord i would follow thee" and it went really well. when she was baptized i felt the spirit super strong and had a huge smile of my face. i am really able to feel the joy of this work and know that it is true.
i love you all and miss you very much and hope that you have a great next week. Thank you for all you do for me.
love,
elder smith
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