27 April 2015

So this week has been first off, rather chill. Literally. We didn't even break 90 degrees this week, high 80s nothing more and overnight it got down to 65 at times. It was rad, also its just been a good time. Tuesday we had interviews with the mission president which was nice. I always enjoy being able to talk to him even if it,s for only a couple minutes, but it was super nice knowing that my companion and I had been working hard and we had plenty to report. Oh also I still cant find my SD card so no pics but i'td be a true shame to send nothing at all for so long so I'm using pics from my companions camera. 

Mcomp thinks that this is one of the ugliest ties to ever grace this planet but I'm a fan nonetheless.

There is not a ton of plant life here so when we pass not only something living but also that is really green and has pretty flowers, it's a really good day.

Also this cat is super super adorable even if he does look a bit bored

and fun fact about the candy cane tie in the pic, I've decided it's my lucky tie considering we found 6 new investigators the morning I first wore it when usually mornings are incredibly hard to find anyone at all.

and heres my comp with the kittens brother

i was made fun of for saying/doing so but food is art and let no one tell you otherwise.

and finally, today we deep cleaned. including thawing out the fridge. from which I was able to create a very rare specimen here in Hermosillo, something called a snowball. yes I did throw it at my companion Elder McCabe

also about the cleaning and all. Guys. clean your house and all that good stuff. It's worth it. 

The place we are in went from being a place I didn't want to be in to being rather chill honestly. It makes a huge difference.

That all I've got for pics for the time being but I'm sure more will come with time. 

What else have i got for you all... oh so the other day we were walking a lot because money was tight and we didn't want to pay for the bus. so we had been walking all day and were super tired. Also considering that I had forgotten to eat that morning (I need to get into a good breakfast habit haha) we were pooped. so we sit down on a bench for a bit because the plans fell though and we wanted a short break. We had done all that we could do and then sat. and then out of nowhere someone came to us and started talking to us and wanted us to come visit them in the coming week. It was awesome because we couldn't walk anymore so the Lord sent the people to us. After a couple of minutes, we were like okay. a little more, a little further, then lunch. We were about to head out but I felt like we should stay just a moment longer. so we did and a minute later another person came up and talked to us, and wants us to stop by asap. It just goes to show that if you are doing everything you can do, the rest will be made up, you will be blessed in ways you would never expect. Then another cool thing. we were put in contact with a family a few weeks ago, La Familia Valenzuela, we taught them for a few weeks and they seemed to have a ton of interest but they never came to church and suddenly got super busy and hard to find because they had just opened a new restaurant type place. so we though we wouldn't be able to talk with them much anymore but then this Sunday, partway though sacrament meeting they walked though the chapel doors. It was incredible. like they just came out of nowhere. It made me so happy I can't even explain it. We talked afterwards and figured out a plan so that we would be able to teach them still and basically, I'm super excited for this week in that respect.

Speaking of people we are teaching

Fam. Valenzuela- enough said already I believe

Aylin- shes the one with 11 years of age that wants to get baptized but her mom wont let her. This week we plan on giving it the last haul, all we can do to try and help her with that desire.

Lupita/Angleita- we found them talking with another investigator. they live a few houses down the street from each other and when we first went to teach them they recieved us with lots of inerest. at the end we asked if they knew anyone that would like to hear what we share and they gave us two other firneds to visit one of which being Josefina

Josefina- she is awesome. she doesn't have an easy life but is doing her best to live it right. She has about five kids. She also listened to what we had to say and is very interested in learning more. One of her sons doesn't live there and also specifically asked us to stop by his house as well.

That's about it as far as the teaching goes but we do plan on many more this week, which should be a phenomenal week here and I do expect you all to have the same.

Love you all tons and remember to be awesome!

Elder Smith

14 April 2015

So this week hmmm. First off it's been awesome, although there's not too much to report. Fun fact. My first weeks here I bought a little flower and planted it outside. Named him Orion but now he's grown huge. Before he had maybe one or two flowers at  time. I counted 16 the other day, and he's spread. Two baby Orions have sprouted up and are growing nicely. Just a fun fact.

Also there are lots of lizards that crawl around here I wanted to adopt the li'l guy, but regrettably, we had to let him go. 

Other fun stuff this week. Hmmm. So as I said last time we got robbed so were making what we have food wise stretch but regardless there's been plenty no matter what. For example we were eating lunch with a member and at the end we were talking and she mentioned that she had made some fantastic menudo the other day and asked if we wanted a liter to go. Obviously yes, how could we say no to cow stomach soup? So that was one of several similar things that happened it was super cool.

Teaching update:

Lucero- she was unable to get baptized this week because we were unable to finish teaching her everything but this Saturday it should come through. Fun fact, her nephew Guillermo was baptized this past Saturday so that was cool.

Alan- hes a new person we are teaching. He's the husband of a member. The whole family is active and all but he's not a member. He has a slight lack of interest at the moment but as we were teaching the other day he started to pay more and more attention and his wife really helps in the teaching too. We'll see what happens there.

Eileen- She is the niece of Ramon. She goes to church almost every Sunday and wants to be baptized but her Mom wont let her so that's a little frustrating, but we are trying hard to help her as much as possible.

Ramon-takes everything really well and is putting his life in order so that's really cool. He found a job finally and although its a 12 hour night shift, it'll be good for him I think.

Carlos- we started with the basics with him again and its starting to take hold. He's really struggling with the temporal/spiritual balance. He's very worried about life at times (understandably, for example he got paid a grand total of 180 pesos last week that's like 10 bucks) Sometimes I just want to sing Don't worry, Be happy!, but regrettably he doesn't speak English. Haha.

Pedro/Guadalupe- we found a family the other week and are teaching them. The mom and dad (Pedro and Guadalupe) are super chill. We've just started teaching but I think they have a lot of potential. Sadly, last time we taught we were accompanied by their father, not sad to be honest, but he was drunk and very very Catholic, and wanted to Bible bash a lot so it was tough to teach that day. We will see how it goes in the future.

That's about it for now, but this week should bring lots of great results!

I love you all tons and expect you all to have the best weeks ever!! Keep up the awesome and I'll write again next week!

Love,

Elder Smith

6 April 2015

Elder Smith:  Okay so I'm just hitting up the computer now and more details to come, but long story short, our house got broken into in the middle of the night and they robbed my wallet and my watches. The deal is my wallet had my debit card so I need you to cancel that bad boy asap please. I was told the mission already sent you an email but I thought I'd better double check. Please tell me when you get this thanks!:)

Oh also, I don,t know if there,s a way but if I could get a new licence as well that,d be great. If i have to wait til I come home okay that's fine too. 

Dan replying: 

Got it, we have not heard from the office yet, but will cancel and get a new one for you. Then send it out. 

We will check about license but I am not so confident on that. We will for sure find out and let you know.
Glad you are safe and it's only things. 

Elder Smith:  Okay, thank you so much. Also I found out something useful. I will need to find more details but because I'm so close to the border there are several members that have addresses on both sides of the border so you can send stuff national to them and then when they head up to the US or Mexico or what not they can take the package with them. It's a lot cheaper and takes about the same amount of time if not faster, depending. but for the debit card you can just send that normal cause it's small. 

Also any ideas for food you can give me I'd love since everything was robbed I'm running off of about 100 pesos or like $7 or so for the next two weeks until I get a replacement mission card. So any ideas for a half kilo of flour, some rice and 8 eggs hit me up. Don't worry I wont starve just if you have any creatvie ideas let me know. I have some vegetables too I cook up in olive oil and add some slap ya mama and its delicious. I have stuff to make salsa too, like really good salsa I learned from Elder Martinez. 

Dan Replying Back:

Ham fried rice minus the ham. 

Arroz e ovo. An exotic Brazilian dish called an egg over rice

Make tortillas and have veggie burrito

Make big googly eyes at the members while your stomach growls

Noodles with egg flour etc

Pancakes?

Moms heart is hurting :)

They cancelled the card, you are set on that.  

Let us know on the member mailings. We will do what is best. 

Pray for food miracles!  I found luscious blueberries along the road when we were making things stretch in Kongsvinger. They were the best. And as many as we could ever eat. 

Love you. 

From Elder Smith:

Sounds good. I'll give what I can a shot. 

Oh also delicious drink I like that Elder Martinez showed me. Super easy. Take whole cinnamon sticks and boil a few in a pot of water until the water turn reddish brown then add sugar to taste add some milk and the end, it's delicious.
Also I'll be sure to keep you updated on all the food miracles this week!

This week's regular letter:

Hey all!

Okie doke.

This week has been phenomenal for several reasons. One the iniciativa that the church has put on (I don't know what it is in English but in Sspanish its Gracias a que Él Vive). It's a super cool video that we are using right now. We also have little cards we give out to everyone. A few experiences with that. One, we were walking down the street and saw a family walking around, like the happiest most perfect family I've ever seen. It was insane. So we were like, "Hey lets talk to them!", so we went up and  we got closer I realized I'd seen them before, they were members. But it was cool because Elder Martinez and I (We were on exchanges) were both like, they look so freaking happy! Let's make them even happier. We realized they were members and said with reason they're so happy haha. But ya, living the gospel seriously brings a lot of joy and blessings it's awesome. We kept walking after talking to them a bit and found a ton more people using Gracias a que Él Vive. Another time we were giving a lesson to some less active members with a lot of marriage problems and we showed the video and testified that Christ lives and that He is here to help us and basically they really liked it. They seemed happier after that visit and closer than ever before. 

Next reason that this week has been phenomenal is General Conference. when the Prophet and Apostles and all the church leaders speak to the world its always a super cool experience. Like amazing. I heard about half in English and the other half in Spanish but ni modo I understood them both which was super super cool because I still struggle to understand Spanish sometimes. My personal favorite was a talk that told about an Indian healer that healed through dance. This healer was talking to a doctor and the doctor asked, "Can you teach me to dance?" the response was gold. "I can teach you to dance but you have to hear the music". I love that. Cause its so true. Maybe you get the rules and the steps but if you can't understand the why, the motivation behind it, you've got nothing. In life you've got to find the music and listen to it closely then dance according to it. Anyone else getting the vibe that this is personal revelation the speaker is talking about? Cause tha'td be 100% true. General conference was awesome.

Reason three. We got robbed Friday night. The house was broken into and they stole our wallets, watches and my companions backpack. Long story short, we will have a tight couple of weeks but its awesome because now I get to apply Elder Eyrings talk about fasting haha. Also it was cool. Carlos saw us walking around today and stopped us to talk and it came up that we got robbed and considering that he was robbed just a few weeks ago he was like "Dont you hate it? Doesn't it just make you angry? You just feel powerless don't you." etc etc. and we were like "well... not really, honestly it just sucks for the robbers, they have that sin they'll have to repent of one day and they got the short end of the rope really." it was a cool time.

Fourth reason. Life's awesome, Is there anything else I need to add?

Update on the people were teaching:

Carlos-nothing new to be honest, we starting from the beginning with him. We talked and basically we are going to start from page one and see whah we can do. Read pray go to church. Regrettably he couldn't make it to church this week so well see what's going on.

Lucero- still going strong. made it to the Sunday morning session of conference and is on track to be baptized this Saturday!!! So that will be super cool.

Ramón- Disappeared kinda. He got a sudden job change where he's gone a lot a lot. So we need to find him again.

Valenzuela Family- Still lots of interest but still haven't come to church so we will see what we can do this week.

That's about it honestly but we should have a ton of new people this week, thanks to Gracias a que Él Vive so I'm stoked for that

Anyway, I've had the best week of my life and hope that you all have weeks ten times better than me because each and everyone of you deserve it. Remember that He lives. Christ suffered for us . Every sin, trial, sadness pain, rejection the whole lot. He suffered it all. Then he died for us. But he did what no normal man could have done. He did the impossible, He rose the third day. Jesus Christ lives. Hhe loves each and every one of us. If you just reach out your hand and take a step of faith He's there for you. Never forget that.

I love you all more than I love a buffet of tacos de carne asada (which is a lot of love btw) and hope the best for you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Smith

30 March 2015

So it's been a real solid and awesome week (as always duh ahha)

Here are the updates on the people we are teaching

Lucero is progressing really well. She keeps coming to church with her husband and seems to enjoy it a lot. She reads and asks questions and everything, and I think we will be able to arrange it for her husband to baptize her if he keeps attending regularly. So that's awesome!

Carlos has been difficult recently. We want to take him to the temple gardens to teach him but need special permission. We'll see. Also he's having a hard time in life right now. He got robbed, is about to be fired, and things are going really hard for him. He's trying so hard to change and be a good person but bad things keep happening. Sometimes I don't know what to say to him. How to tell him that all that doesn't matter because the blessings of doing whats right outweigh any pain or trial you have to go through. That you just need to be patient and strong even if your feel destroyed and have nothing left. Cause life's just so cool .and it'd be such a shame to miss out on something just cause you let yourself get down. One thing that really helped is that we were able to take a member with us to talk with him. Never forget the importance of members in the missionary work. It helped a ton.

So we've been praying to find a family to teach and this week the coolest thing happened. We got a text from the ward mission leader saying hey head over to this address, there's some people that want to talk with you. It turns out this family just moved from Michoacan to Hermosillo and went to the church building to see what it was. Luckily there was some people there and they showed them around the place and then sent us their way. They are super interested and I'm super stoked to keep teaching them. They come from a small town where there was hardly any church period, and want to see what a church is like. So that's super cool. 

Ramón is the inlaw of a member here. We started talking to him a week ago and he is super interested as well. He wants to be baptized the 25th of this next month. He already believes this church to be the true church and is super interested. He made it to church and everything and liked it a lot.

Luis we can't teach right now for some personal reasons but he is coming to church and is trying to read the entire Book of Mormon and in five months the missionaries will be able to head over and teach him again

That's about it for the people we are teaching. I'm still having a blast here and enjoying every moment. We got robbed the other day so that was fun. But the guy only wanted our phone which is an old school Nokia that's basically worthless so he ended up just throwing it back at us ( it crashed to the ground and didn't break cause Nokia haha) saying this is useless and the as he rode away he apologized. It was kinda funny to be honest but other than that, nothing too crazy going on here. Tranfers came around and I'm still in the same place so that's fun.

Anyway have the best week of your lives and remember to do awesome things. I love you all tons and hope to hear from you soon!!!

Love

Elder Smith

23 March 2015

I keep meaning to write a big e-mail to everyone,  but its really hard for some reason. The truth is that right now it feels like every day is the same as the next. I'm working to get around that but it's really hard. I mean I'm working hard we're doing good work and all, it's just I sometimes feel like there's nothing to tell. Everyone we work with almost makes it, but in the end there's always something holding them back. 

Luis has addictions to hard drugs he's getting over them and we can't work with people who have used that type of drug until they're clean for 6 months. Carlos is awesome and hes changing a lot, but something always comes up. He gets held back over and over every time we teach the next thing, law of chastity, word of wisdom, all of the good stuff. It's just hard right now.  I don't know. It's not like I'm disannimated, we led the zone is new investigators and had a really good week as far as numbers go, but each day just feels the same as the next. But fear not. I will write a good email asap.

Oh also good news. Lucero is still progressing. I'm super excited for her. I just hope we can get her husband active and worthy to be the one to baptize her. I'm afraid I won't be here to see it because odds are i'll be transferred this next week but that's okay. 

Oh also, we found a family last week. I don't know if they'll progress but I hope so. We contacted the daughter in the street carrying three chihuahuas in her arms. We passed by the house a few days later and the son, Jesus, answered and we explained that we were missionaries, the whole shindig, and if Estefania was home. He said no but come in anyway, pasanle pasanle. We were like okay I dig it. We came in and were talking and basically an hour ago the dad had fallen off a ladder and was recuperating in his room but to this family the "Word  of God" was so important to hear they made time for us to come in and share a short message. They also gave us dinner first, like the friendliest family ever. The mom doesn't believe there is any one true church, but I hope we can help her see the truth.  The dad will believe anything written in the Bible so that's helpful. The son and daughter both are in relationships and they're boy/girlfriends, also find what we say interesting.  We came back a second time and same deal come on in, right on in. We found out that they had gotten back from work about 10 min ago and that it was the mom's birthday and once again they put everything aside to hear us. We stated teaching the restoration but couldn't finish because it got too late and we had to head home but at the first of the lesson we were like hey we'll share something quick so you can celebrate as a fam and all, but the mom said no, no, no, take all the time you want this is more important. 

No one came to church this week and they work Sundays but I really hope they progress cause they're super cool. The other people we found were member references. The daughter Eileen has 11 years of age and wants to be baptized but her mom won't let her so we are working with that family and we'll see what we can do. They're also awesome. Anyway that's a rough sum of what's going on here. I'll do my best to write better and soon haha, Love you all tons and have the best week ever! I know I will.

Elder Smith

8 and 15 of March 2015

I am doing awesome. Rough week honestly. Carlos didn't go to church and is disappearing again. We had to drop the family we were teaching because they didn't progress and we aren't finding many people. 

I plan to put dads 100% advice to use this week so that should be good. Good to hear you have lots of investigators in the ward. Remember that the members are so so so so so so so very important. Be sure to do your part, but I already know you all do. 

A girl named Lucero came to church and she is married to a member but not member herself, so we will start teaching her this week, that should be good. Luis is another guy who is going to church and really likes it.  He says he knows it's true. He already pays ttihing and wants to be baptized, but we have to wait 5 more months because he is a past meth addict so he needs 6 months clean to baptize. 

Things are goood. I love to hear about everything, Enjoy nursery Mom, that calling you've been waiting so long to have. haha.

Keep being awesome and all.  I love you all tons. I'll talk to you all soon!!!

Love

Elder Smith

Sounds like an absolutely crazy week and I love it. It's so cool that everyone is home. One day i will be too ha ha but I'm not trunky no fears. Guess what! Lucero came to church again and has a baptism date for the 11th of April. Odds are I'll be transferred by then but it's super exciting. She came with her husband who is an inactive member of 8+ years so that was awesome. 

Carlos came late because the bed grabbed him and didn't let him go, but he made it after all so that's awesome. His date is for the 28th this  month and I really hope it comes through. It'll be hard though because he has a new problem we just learned about that is a private thing but I have almost no clue what to do. Like its really hard. Which brings me to my next topic, could you send me basically a talk of your own making about personal revelation? We touched on that subject in the leadership meeting this morning (my comp is district leader and they invite the junior companions to join the meeting) and I thought of you because you're basically the expert on it. Like basically more than anyone else I know. Also if someone could take a good pic of Dad's galaxy map thing that shows how small earth is in the office I'd love it.

But ya things are going good here. I'm quite enjoying myself. 

More to come!

Love you all tons!!! 

Elder Smith

2 March 2015

This is in response to if he would want a Taco Bell sweatshirt sent out to him that finally came after he left.

( Picture of flowers he has been growing)


Go ahead and leave it with my stuff at home. I would only use it for two or three months of the year which I've
already passed this year so for the sake of not having too much stuff just keep it safe for me please. 

I loved hearing about everything and it sounds like they're all having an awesome time. Which of course is awesome and as always I wish I could join the fun! 

I've been learning this a lot recently, but mostly that you really grow more when you're outside of your comfort zone. For example I really don't like walking up to complete strangers and trying to start a conversation with them, especially when I'm learning the language, but I do it a lot, and it's awesome. Sometimes the people are very curt and abrupt with you others times they're some of the coolest people you've ever met.  Just do yourselves a favor and do something that makes you uncomfortable but that makes your learn something. It's cool. 

So if you remember a couple months ago we were teaching a guy named Carlos. He disappeared for a while but we re found him and are teaching him again and well he is an interesting case. He wants to believe but doesn't you could say. He goes to church, reads here and there and says prayers here and there, but he's kinda stuck. 

Any prayer you send that way is very appreciated. Same with Carla and Laurissa and Rocio (and the whole fam really Jorge, Adriana, Maria Jose, Veronica) those are the people we are primarily teaching right now and they are just super cool. Anyway have the most amazing of weeks and that's for everything!!!

Love,

Elder Smith

Picture of the Sunset