2/6/12

hello everybody. it was another great week here in minatitlan, veracruz. we are working hard and learning a lot and able to help a lot of people this week progress. The biggest things that happened this week were that we had our stake conference, and also we had the zone leader counsel. some random things that happened this week. i heard the song bohemian rhapsody in a taxi one day, and saw a commercial for the movie hocus pocus the disney one about the witches and the candle and the talking cat ha. it brought back memories. there was some other stuff too but i dont write much down like that so i dont remember really well.

stake conference was awesome. we had a 70 come and talk to us and he did really great in bringing the sprit and exciting the members to work. there is a really big focus on missionary work here and on missionaries. sometimes i think at home we forget about that part of our calling as members of the church. he said the missionaries are the specialists in teaching, but we (members of the church) are the specialists in finding and telling our friends. it really is the truth. missionary work is thought of by many as tracting (knocking on doors, talking to people in streets) but to be honest that is the least effective use of a missionaries time. we are forced to do a lot of tracting though, because members dont give too many references. usually it is just because they are worried about what their friends will think or do, but it always turns out well. if you explain that you would like to share it with them because you love them and want them to have blessings, the worst thing anyone could say is no. but many will say yes, and many will be able to receive blessings if we all opened our mouths more about the gospel, that is the most important thing we have in this life. 

he shared a cool video of a group of young men in a ward. they started out with 1 youth that moved to the area, and ended with 26 active young men. all because they invited their friends and cousins and brothers. i would recommend watching it and sharing it. its very powerful. https://www.lds.org/youth/video/inviting-all-to-come-unto-christ-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng 

pres castañeda also came and gave some great talks. we did really well in our arrangment of be still my soul, or in spanish eres tu mi salvador. and overall it was great. about 4 weeks ago we put the goal for the assistence with the stake president of 700 people. we ended with 750 people in the stake which is really great! a lot better than normal. elder medina and i spent a whole day giving out invitations we made, and planned with member to go visit and intive. and it went well..

the zone leader counsel was really powerful. it was great because the mission did well as a whole. our focus is consistence right now. last month our focus was positivity. and now it is be positive and consistence. these are principles that are really important in life. i was reading an old letter i had that talked about being positive. of seeing the good in everything, even common things. a sink of dishes means god blessed you with food to eat. being positive is esential in life. i have developed a phrase that i said to a girl in my ward who was looking sad one day and i have used it a bit since when i said. "happiness is a decision. decide to be happy" life isnt as much what happens to us, but how we react to what happens. 

a cool experience is that this week josue and erick came to church with their mom who hopefully is baptized this week when her husband comes. i found out that josue saved money all week so that he could buy a white shirt, so that he could come to church in a white shirt and tie. it was way cool to hear. and the mom who isnt a member is really interested in paying tithing and living everything. 

the gospel is such a blessing in life. i know that this is the true church of jesus christ and that we have a living prophet today that is guided by christ directly. i love you all and miss you very much and hope that this next week goes amazingly. 

love 

elder smith