9/5/11

Hello everyone. First to explain the pictures. Our fridge was completely frozen over and we spent like 30 minutes hitting all of the ice out with the end of a broom and a fork (best tools we had ha) when i got most of it out I found two chocolate coins. I was pretty dang excited cause by the time i finished i was all sweaty and everything, but we got it all working well now ha. Also, the little boy in the door way. We ate at their house and we said we were going to leave and he said "i dont want the elders to leave!" and began piling toys up on the door and the final thing was his spiderman tent and himself haha. other sunsets, my district. One member had those glasses and we tried them on ha. oh and my guitar brand is ESMI. So i added a T at the end so that it is ESMIT, which is how everyone says my name "elder esmiT" haha

well this was a really great week. we had alot of good experiences. and some hard things as well. first of all we had a cool experience with the hna paola. she is the girlfriend of a member here that we have now taught everything. this week we found out that she cant be baptized here in our area because she doesnt technically live here. we have been teaching her in the house of her boyfriend and have already taught her everythign. she will be baptized in an area close to ours this next sunday. we had a cool experience where we were able to teach her and prepare her for her baptismal intervew. As we taught her she brought up a doubt that she didnt know if thomas monson was a prophet. i explained some things and bore my testimony to her about the organization of the church about her testimony and my testimony and it was really powerful. we ended up talking a lot about just life. why it is so important that we found the true gospel of jesus christ. she is amazing really and so ready to be baptized. it has been amazing to be able to teach her. she also told us that after the last time we taught her. she stayed and talked to her boyfriend about everything and that while talking she received her answer to everything. she said she knows it is all true! her family doestn support her really but she says thats not important and is doing everything for her future family! im way excited for her baptism this next week!

another cool experience is that one day we got a text from a new investigator. she is named paulina and is a friend of a recent convert. she is 17 and came to church last week with her friend. she told us that she couldnt meet with us that day as we had planned. we went about the day lookign for ppl to taech and everythign and it ended up that we were by her house, without the intention but we were going to meet with an investigator that lives close. they werent home, but paulina walked out and was on the phone. she hung up and then said hi. i asked how she was and she said mas o menos. i told her she looked like menos o mas and she said that it was really bad and started to cry a little. she explained how one of her friends had just died of leucemia. We took the opportunity to share a quick message with her. i started off by sharing alma 7:11-12 that talks about how christ suffered so that he could help us when we go through trials and he knows exactly how we feel. I then talked about the plan of salvation, about where her friend is. by the end of the conversation she had stopped crying and i managed to make her smile quite a bit. i felt the spirit as i testified and i think she felt it as well. hopefully she will be able to continue to progress and receive the help she needs from our savior. 

funnier stories. It is funny sometimes the things elder peine says. he is a really great elder and really excited but mixes some stuff up sometimes. one time he asked a lady if she was pregnant and then when she asked what he said he said "nada....". another time he asked who a lady was next to a guy we were talking to and he said "oh thats my wife" and he responded with the same words as him. instead of saying oh thats your wife he said oh thats my wife. there are some other good ones, but he has grown a lot and come a long way in just two weeks. we are working hard and having a lot of success. 

we are trying to get the daughter of juana and her husband married so that they can get baptized, and have found a few more cool families. Yesterday i taught a lesson half in english with that guy from portland. he is a very very stereotypical guy from portland. i asked him some questions and he responded with very obscure answers. like who is god for you? well is depends on who you think god is... i also asked him what he believed and he said he was catholic but that he took things from budhism and muslim and all different types. it was funny but cool to talk to him and to teach in english. it was a little hard, but at the same time easier to teach in english. it sounds weird, and i said weird words that dont translate well from spanish to english, for example. "i know that this will give you grand blessings in your life." then i paused and said "i dont think ive ever used the word grand before right now..."

love

elder smith