December 27, 2017

This has been an incredibly eventful week. The Christmas season has been a blast! I'm not exactly sure where to start but, Ill do my best to explain this past week. To start off with a little bit of interesting information. While I wait for my Visa, I will be serving in the Salt Lake City West mission. At least that is what the missionary portal is telling me, so I dont know for sure. I havent received an actual email about it, so I think I'm going to be talking to a travel agent today just to check. I really don't want to be going to salt lake. I am so anxious to be in Mexico already. I feel so late to the party and I just want to get serving in my area with my people. I know everything that happens however will be guided by the Lord, and I'll be where I need to be. Moving on from that, since my group is a 7 week group here at the mtc, and because of the Christmas season, for the past week we haven't had anyone to teach. Teachers, and TRC included. It has been real down. I miss teaching even if they were/are fake investigators. The spirit of teaching brings me so much joy. Instead of teaching investigators we have been doing a ton of contacting practice. Talking to people on the street is gonna be tough... I don't think I have that much confidence in my spanish. But that will come with time. So Christmas day was AWESOME. We started off with watching The Christmas Carol, which despite being an adult, puts me on edge. I don't get a kick out of the ghost stuff that used to terrify me as a child. Idk why I never outgrew that, but that movie scared the dickens out of me when I was little. But it was great. Later we had the opportunity to listen to Elder Neil L Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He had a really good Christmas message. But during the course of that devotional, everytime that I closed my eyes, I legit would nod off and then jerk awake. It was really awkward and embarrassing. But we were able to push through. I was so close to shaking his hand, like he was one person away from me and then turned the other way and left): but I've already shaken his hand so it was all good. Then to end the night, we had David Archuleta come, and perform a christmas set for us. And it was amazing. I forgot how dang good his voice is. then at the end, he let all the missionaries in the MTC come and shake his hand, which was a cool little experience. Overall it was a great christmas day. As far as spanish is going, Ive been doing my best to read the Book of Mormon in spanish only for at least 15 minutes a day, and while it goes super slow because I am hecka gringo, its been helping with my spanish tons. I'm able to speak much more fluently than I was able to before, and while I still have the vocab of a 2nd grader, I can speak like a 5th grader (: I glad for the weekly opportunity I have to share my testimony with a group of people however small that group is. Something that Elder Anderson shared is that as we do misisonary work, we testify of Christ. And Christ at the judgement day will say " He has testified of me, and now I will testify of him to the Father." I know that while missionary work can be hard, I can already tell that this will be the best two years of my life. And While my time to serve with everything is short, I will be a missionary for life. And I know that it will be well with me in the last days. I love this gospel and I want all thosearound me and around the world to have the opportunity to hear it. So this week I invite everyone in this email to think about how they have shared the Gospel in your life and how you can improve. For those who aren't LDS, I invite you to please find and hear the missionaries. The message they teach is one of joy. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the happiest message one can every receive. It bring joy and peace in this life, and will bring even greater blessings in the life to come.  Im grateful for all of you. Keep going forth and being great people. Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos. ​

December 20

 It’s been yet another amazing week in the MTC! It’s amazing just how fast time is going by. It’s already been a month and Christmas is in 5 days!! It’s been so much fun singing Christmas music 24/7 and just going around and doing little nice things for people because light the world. I’m really grateful that I got to come here to learn and grow. This week because my group is an awkward 7 week district, we’ve been doing the infield training and I’m just so pumped to get to Mexico already! My mission president uploaded a bunch of pictures from missionary’s in my missionary portal. I had thought that it was going to be a lot more like home, and desert-y. But to my surprise there are some pretty green areas in the mountains there. I’m just anxious to get out of here and finally go serve my people in mexico. Spanish this past week actually broke my brain. We had one day where we learned the noun clause and adverb clause in subjunction, as well as the rest of our indirect and direct object pronouns. It was the first day learn Spanish where I actually felt lost and confused. I’ve since figured it out and I’ve even been able to teach with it. It’s really satisfying to actually work hard enough for the gift of tongues and to see it in your teaching. I’ve moved away from a lot of the “fear” or scared feeling of teaching and I’m beginning to love it so much. Granted when I get to the field, I’m not going to understand anyone, and it’s going to be frustrating and nerve wracking.  But I’ll just keep working till I master the language. I’ve been pretty dang humbled this week. It’s crazy how many problems people have, and as a District Leader, I feel responsible to help everyone in any way I can. And while I thought I could do more of it on my own, I’m positive that I can’t now. The lord is the one who leads this district. And as long as I put the lord first, and go to him for guidance, he will guide me in all I do and say involving those I serve with. I’ve really realized that you shouldn’t ever aspire to a position of leadership. It’s not glamorous. It’s a lot more hard work, and it brings a lot of unexpected stress. I’m grateful for the time I’ve had to learn in this position, but that being said. I’m excited to get to the field and to just be a normal missionary for awhile.  I’m really sad about this pday. Because the temple is closed and I don’t know when the next time I’ll get to go to a temple is):  I love spending my Wednesday’s in the temple. Being so close to the lord makes me so happy. That’s the closest thing I can imagine to the celestial kingdom that I can. And I know that it will be even greater. I want to spread that joy all over the earth! I’ve made a decision this week. Seeing all the senior missionary’s has lead me to decide that if the opportunity presents itself, I want to serve one with my future spouse. It’s the least I could do to pay back the lord for the countless blessings he has given me. But back to matters of the temple, because of the temple closure, they invited my district and several other members of our zone to go clean the temple. It’s going to be a really awesome experience to be able to clean the temple. I hope that even though we’re only cleaning, I can still find an opportunity to grow and learn from just being there. So crazy stuff happening within our district, one of our sisters has been having heart problems, and it turns out that it’s most likely anxiety induced. So as of right now there’s a big chance she’s going home this week. Which is really sad. Seeing people go home early makes me really sad, but I know that her mission has yet to stop. She is going to serve throughout her life. She’s an amazing person and has had such a positive impact on our district and in my life as well. I’m so grateful to her for her willingness to help others and to sing the song of the gospel for all to hear. Our Tuesdaynight devotional was with Elder Taylor of one of the quorums of the seventy(not sure which one). He’s main topic was on searching out for sacred grove experiences. It made me think about some of the life changing prayers that I’ve had. And it’s made me also think about how unbelievably sweet the atonement and repentance is. I have such a testimony of the saving power of the atonement, I know that while we all become stained each and every day. We all make mistakes and feel sorrow for that which we’ve done. We have a guilt and regret that is within us, but through the atonement, we are able to be made clean. When we come unto Christ and truly repent, we are able to have exceedingly great joy.  As Alma says in his chapter 36:26 21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy. I know that sin brings nothing but pain. Wickedness never was happiness. But that being said we are able to have all that pain removed from us through the blood of the savior. And I can testify that the joy we feel when we are truly repentant is unmatchable. Being able to comeback into the presence will be the greatest joy any of us will ever have. So this week I invite all to come unto Christ. And to humble yourself before him and repent of those things that you have done that are offensive in the sight of the lord. I’m so grateful for you all. Be sure to send more pictures and let me know how everything is going! I love you all and I know that the lord loves each and everyone of you! I need to apologize for being terrible at taking pictures and letting you all see what’s going on. It’s just inconvenient to take them. I’m always more focused on other matters. But I will try to get some more for everyone! -Elder Smith

December 13

It’s been a pretty dang good overall week. I honestly don’t even know where to start this week, but I’ll just kind of stumble on through this bad boy. To start the week off, Hermana thunell got really sick, and spread it to everyone else. Friday I was really sick and just stayed home and Legit slept like 13 extra hours that day. I ended up going to night class, and my teacher judged me for coming because I was literally dead. It’s been killing me, but I don’t feel like spending more money on a doctor appointment. So I’m getting better I just have a lot of bad coughs. I keep all my roommates awake with them, and they are starting to get a little heated about it. So I feel really bad about that.

 The weather here is retarded. Man was not meant to be this cold. My hands are always cold, and it’s awkward when I shake peoples hands because they look at me concerned because my hands are so cold. They think I’m malnourished or something... Hermana Lund(who is the 6’1 sister in the picture) has a heart problem and is going to see a specialist tomorrow, and depending on how it goes determines if she goes home or not. Everyone has been pretty on edge about that and upset. So yesterday she asked me to give her a blessing and it was an amazing spiritual experience. I have a feeling that she’ll stay and I really hope it’s true. She’s such a great personality to have here, and she is going to be an amazing missionary. And she’s the one who’s named Chloe.

 The food is killing me here. We have a good meal like twice a week... that’s it.. I eat a lot of cereal,  because I can’t have these mashed potatoes anymore. It’s just annoying. But I’m still gaining weight, slowly but surely. Being the DL has been a lot of fun. I’ve started having PPI’s with the elders of my district and it’s amazing how open they’ll be with every little thing that’s been bothering them. I feel like I’m actually making a positive impact with them. I’m seeing more and more why I was assigned to help this district. I feel like I amd really changing their lives for the better. I love all of them to death, and I’m so excited to see the lives that they’ll Change. I’ll leave you all with a spiritual thought. This week on our Tuesday devo, we had a member of the seventy talk about goals, and specifically how to better achieve them. First we need a vision of our goal. After which we make the goal, and then we need a plan to achieve it. He likened this to all aspects of our missions, but I would like you to evaluate the goals that all of you have in your lives. Think about why that goal is important. And evaluate your progress on achieving your goal. If you don’t have any goals specifically at this time, then think about an aspect of your life that you want to improve. Make a goal and then make a plan. At every step, pray to Heavenly Father and ask for guidance in your goal making and I promise that he will help you every step of the way. My testimony of planning is growing each and everyday. I know it’s an act of faith, but if we take that leap, Heavenly Father will catch us and help us jump farther. I love all of you! Here’s a picture of my district and one of our two teachers. Please don’t ask why I’m kneeling. I have no idea why, and I know it looks dumb. But Hermana Lund’s dad got everyone either a scarf or a new tie and we’re all wearing them in this picture. It was sweet.

December 6

But anyways! It has been a rather eventful week! Teaching has been getting more fun everyday, and while I feel like my Spanish has plateaued it’s still getting better slowly. I’ve been tackling it from the spiritual side, and not so much from an academic standpoint. And the gift of tongues helps me all the time, however I should probably be a bit more diligent in learning vocab and such. This past week, I’ve spent a lot of time studying about Joseph Smith this past week and his life and teachings. He was such an amazing man, and on my way to ‘perfection’ I aspire to be like him. Speaking of perfection, It reminds me of what elder Bednar said thanksgiving day, that “be ye perfect” means to just be mor complete than you were the day before. Early in the week I was feeling pretty dang sick because something was going around in the district, plus I was feeling sick from my shots. But my comps were looking after me and kind of let me sleep it out in exercise time and a lil but during personal study... oops... but i got better, and that’s what’s really important. We’ve been teaching someone named rolando for a few weeks now, and he is from Argentina. It is so hard to understand his accent. Everything is slurred together. But teaching him, and getting to know him has been an absolute blast. It makes me so excited to get out and teach the people of Mexico. Teaching is so much fun, and I absolutely love doing it! I’ve had some issues with my companions. Both have been struggling in a lot of ways, and I feel like I’m carrying them on my back at times. They’ve been having hard times feeling the spirit, and neither of them really value the Book of Mormon as they should, and instead spend time reading other resources. But I know that if they would read the Book of Mormon, so many of their problems would become much less significant. That being said, as the week has progressed, they both have been getting a bit better, and not so reliant. Sunday was a crazy day. It snowed a lot of they day and WAS STUPID COLD! I DONT KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER I CAN DO THE COLD BTW. But on Sunday we had some leadership revisions within the district, and to everyone’s surprise elder Jensen was released as district leader, and I was called in his stead. It’s been super cool. I feel like im able to help everyone in the district as a whole a lot more. I’m like the dad of the district, checking up on everyone all the time and just loving them. I love the position. I know I’m supposed to help some of the younger people get through their mtc experience. I spent a bit of money on a pencil this week... but it’s legit the coolest pencil I’ve every had. It’s 8 colored pencils in one mechanical pencil, and I’m obsessed with it. Everyone in the district is buying them because they’re dope. Im so tired of this food already. And I need to gain weight, but if I have to eat pork with mashed potatoes again, I’m probably gonna lose my mind. Elder North suggested that when I get tired of the food that I should justeat cereal, but I’m getting tired of that too. I’m getting more excited to leave and go serve in Mexico already, but my Spanish still has a very long way to go till I’m ready. I’m glad for the extra mtc time I get. I would very much enjoy if everyone would send pictures! I’d like to see how everyone’s doing! Something that’s totally crazy is that one of the sisters in my district, named hermana Miller, her birthday is the same day as Chloe’s! It’s pretty exciting stuff! I’ll leave this for now with a quote from Moroni “32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. 33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.” I know that all of us can be perfected through him. Through his atoning sacrifice we can all be made holy, without spot. So I invite you to deny yourselves of some ungodly aspect of your life, and instead turn to Christ and have him help repair and correct that part of your life. I know that he lives, and leads his church. I know this to be true, and I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to share the gospel with the people of Mexico. I’ll send some more pictures in a bit, but those were from our temple walk this past Sunday. The elder who is helping me “Titanic” is elder stites. He’s not one of my comps, but is in my district. In terms of my companions, elder Christensen is the shorter of the two and elder Clark is the very tall one. I love you all and be sure to send me emails and pictures! Love, Elder Smith

Nov 29,2017

HELLO EVERYONE! It’s been an amazing week! It’s been such a spiritually uplifting week. I’ve been growing immensely on a spiritual level, and I find my self discovering spiritual gifts that I didn’t know I had. I’ve been reading in the Book of Mormon like crazy. We were given several challenges involving the Book of Mormon. On thanksgiving Elder Bednar came to speak to us and he did a q and a with all the mtc’s involved. It was super cool. He told us to get a cheap copy of the Book of Mormon with one specific question in mind. Then to go through and read it, while highlighting any answers or insights I find in the book, then when I get to the end, write a summary. Then repeat it for that topic. Several members of the district have been doing it, and I am as well and it’s been a super cool experience. The other great advice that my branch president gave to me was that every moment of free time I get, that I should read the Book of Mormon. I have such a firm testimony of that book. During gym time, we get to watch the Joseph Smith movie while we work out and that man was a prophet of God. There’s no doubt in my mind or heart. He was called by God to restore the true and everlasting gospel to this earth, and I am eternally grateful to him. Our lessons have been pretty iffy. Both my comps are trying to learn Spanish logically, and it’s not making sense to them. Because the gift of tongues isn’t about logic, it’s about having the spirit teach you all that you need to be an effective teacher of the lord. So the majority of our lessons have been me talking and translating and helping them through the language. Elder Christensen has been getting better, and while elder Clark is too he’s been having some issues at home and has been having some health issues. It’s sometimes hard to get him to focus and I’ve been worried about him. I love hi, and I don’t want another comp to go home. It is such a sad thing to see an elder struggle. But we as a district and specifically me have been counseling with the lord as well as with leaders on what we can do to help and have been taking many steps. I pray he might be okay. Spanish is coming along steadily. I’ve kind of stopped learning vocabulary and have just been focusing on how to conjugate, and my teachers help me 1 on 1 with it, so I’ve been able to learn the flow and rhythm of the language. I’ll learn more vocab as I go, but I’m more confident in my ability to speak with natives. One of my teachers went to mexico and him and I get along really well. He’s been helping me with all my questions. He’s majoring in international business and is taking Spanish classes at UVU, so his Spanish is really dang good, he def sounds native. I can’t believe how cold it is here. It’s not even snowing, but I’m always shivering whenever I go outside. Mankind was not meant to see his own breath. It’s gonna be a rough month weather wise because it’s only getting colder. Something that’s been super cool is the fact that my patriarchal blessing is coming to past in my life. The lord is opening my eyes to things in my future. Im pretty dang excited. I apologize for the shorter letters, but there’s not much to write about here. The mtc is fantastic but it’s similar stuff, I’m trying to not give a play by play of my days though. But I’m absolutely loving my time here! All the Hermanas in my districts are giving me a hard time about not taking/sending pictures so I’ll try to better, I only have one to send at the moment. But I’ll take some when we go to the temple later today and I’ll send those. I love you guys and pray that the lord will bless you in all your endeavors. I know that as you do what he commands, he is bound to his word and will bless you in all aspects of you life. I leave the testimony with love. I’ll write some more later! Love, Elder Smith

First letter home Nov. 22, 2017

 So I didn’t get to send an email the first day because I got there so late, but I got an iPad here so we’re allowed to mail all p day which is pretty cool. My district is young. I’m the oldest one here, most are 18 and we have one other twenty year old. 5 elders and 5 sisters. I am in a trio, and my companions are cool, but they might not be the hardest workers at the moment. But thats I am planning on changing that. Spanish as a whole for the district is pretty bad, so I’ve been able to help everyone a lot and it’s a lot of fun. Last night we had a devo with a member of the seventy focused on the Book of Mormon. And it made me reevaluate my relationship with the book and I want devote more to the book. Studying every page and learning the principles. I yearn for the faith spoken of by Jacob in chapter 4 verse 6 where they had such great faith that the very trees would obey them. I know that as I search for this faith I will be blessed but the people I teach will also be blessed as the spirit is able to better teach through me. I’ve seen elder north several times now and he is doing great. He’s a little pudgy now. He’s almost 160 now I think, which is awesome for him. I’m going to need a lot of emails so that I can make this a proper group email, so as you all send letters I will try to compile the emails into one. But I am rather lazy. ITS FREEZING HERE!!! I’m so cold whenever we go outside. But then our classrooms are super warm. Our branch president has this rule where we have to wear suit jackets all the time that I do not like at all. I think it’s a hassle and I just want to wear my sweaters. But alas, I cannot. This is all I’ll write for the first one, get back to me soon and i can send more or answer some more questions. Con amor Elder Smith PS I miss the ccm 😩

Good bye

The church called us on a friday, Nov.17 and told Cory to be ready to leave the following tuesday.  BUT since his VISA had expired in May, they had to figure out some things.  They gave Cory a couple of options.  He could stay home and wait for a new VISA, he could go to a mission stateside and wait for a VISA, or he could receive a new call, or go to the Provo MTC and wait for a VISA.  he choose to go to the Provo MTC. He left Monday the 20th..

Cory was set apart to be a missionary Nov. 20 at 6:45 am.  Afterwards we went to breakfast at Cory's favorite place... IHOP.  Haley had to go to work from there and Lexie met us at the airport to say goodbye.  He was SO ready to be on his way!  Chloe put together this video.