4-23-12

well im about to start my last week here in my area. it was a great last week and i am really enjoying my time here and seeing a lot of growth and changes in the ward. In my letter to president castañeda last week i asked him if i could train a new missionary again for my last two transfers. I have found that i really do like training. i am thankful for the time i have had to serve as a zone leader and i have learned a lot, but feel as though i will be able to grow more now serving as a trainer. President called me one night and talked to me about it, and sent in his letter a hint at that that is what i am going to be doing. that would mean i would go to a new area and get a brand new missionary. new experiences are always good. 

this week we focused a lot on tania. she is really doing great. i am amazed at how much she learns just hearing things once. i think i have become really accustomed to ppl not listening very well, and she actually listens and remembers almost everything we say. she has a baptism for this saturday. we just need to take her and her husband to get married. i called the judge today and he said any day this week we can go. it is pretty simple here to get marreid. 500 pesos, your license and birth certificate and thats it. they are excited and hopefully we can help the whole family of her husband who is inactive. we brought a few of them to church this week. 

we´ve had a little trouble the last few weeks finding ppl to teach. that hasnt been a problem for me really ever. there are always people, but it has been hard lately. though in that aspect it has been hard, we have been working a lot with the ward. i told dad in his letter a little about the ward. when i got here there was hardly no organization. no presidents of primary, elders, sumo sacerdotes, or young men. now it is starting to all come together. we have really great presidents of primary and elders and young men has a recent convert as president that doesnt really know very much, but we are working with them all and they are growing a lot and starting to work. for example yesterday we went and did visits with the ward. not too many showed up, but we went out with the first couselor of the bishop who is less active. we talked to him and he told us about his conversion three years ago and how they were sealed as a family in the temple two years ago, about his job, and we got to know him a little better. he left more excited to work and hopefully we see change. from the visits we did we found a TON of new families of less actives that we can help and a lot that have people in the family that arent baptized. we found a house with like 25 ppl i bet with only one active member who is assisting another ward. though i wont be here to see much of the change, i know that the ward right now is going to start to explode and that it is going to be a new ward very soon, and for that i am happy. 

this week also vicente, who got baptized last week, received the priesthood! i am excited for him. he is going to be called as a ward missionary and help us. he has been going to institute and going to all the activities. he even came to do visits sunday. like three days this week he was in church for like 6 hours ha. 

we had a great primary activity this saturday where we set up a scavanger hunt and at the end we had book of mormons wrapped up in gold paper that we gave out to the investigators. hopefully we´ll find some good teaching opportunities there. it was fun. the 30th here is Childrens day. just like mothers day or fathers day. there was food and a piñata and games and stuff and it was cool.

today for our zone activity we went to a profecional baseball team stadium and played a soft pitch baseball game against another zone. we made jerseys and got food and everything. elder johnston and i organized it with the zone leaders of acayucan and it turned out really great. nobody got hurt and even the sister missionaries liked it ha. we took a lot of pictures but i forgot my converter so it'll have to wait til next week for the pictures. 

well everything is going really well. a lot is happening and i am excited for a lot more and to keep learning and having spiritual experiences. the offices called me this week and asked me which airport i was going to return to so they could start to buy the tickets and stuff. that is a little weird and i know the last time is going to go by too fast, but i will work hard to make the last three months the best and where i grow the most. I love you and and miss you a ton. have a great week. 

love 

elder smith