January 28

A week of changes. First off I want to apologize for last week's email. When I was writing the email, and put my picture into the email, it deleted most of what I had written and I lost all my stuff. It was super unfortunate, but I'll try to write more today to make up for it. To start the week off, on last Tuesday I had the lovely opportunity of being ripped from my first area and both my dad's (trainers) and got moved to a new area. I lost having a car, and was put into a new environment very abruptly. So my new dad is named Elder Pantoja. He is from Yacama Washington, and get this. He knew elder Davis. My companion from the Mexico city MTC. He is super awesome. He's 23 and a convert of 3 years. He has so much fire and such a huge desire to work all the time. Sometimes it makes me a little too tired. But overall I love him and we get along super well together. I've already learned so much, and made most of the adjustment to this new area. It's a much nicer area and there's a lot of money here. Which one of the things that means is that most of the Hispanics in this area are bilingual. I love that part because it means when my brain fries and I can't speak Spanish, they understand my English as well! Some actually prefer to learn in English so we get to teach in both languages which is a huge confidence boost and it just makes me happy. So I got to go to my first baptism on Saturday. The investigators name was Ana Collio, and she was baptized Saturday night. It was so sweet and meaningful. That part right there is the joy of the gospel in full effect. To see someone so happy because of the decision they've made to come closer to their savior. It reminds me of the joy spoken of in D and C 18 that talks about the worth of souls. Nothing can compare to the joy of sharing the Gospel, and bringing others closer to Christ. Teaching gets more and more fun every time, and while it can still be stressful not knowing exactly what the say, the Lord helps so much with everything that I need. As much as I stress about Spanish, I'm actually doing really well with the language. I can understand a lot, and am able to speak it back at a decent level. I just have to think about what to say. So I talk really slow and I tend to look a little dumb some times. But I'm loving the language. I still have yet to dream in Spanish though. So I got a lot more to learn. I'm loving being a missionary. Physically I'm doing so much better. We ate some super spicy enchiladas last night which killed my tummy, but I'm gaining weight and I'm becoming a true missionary. I love it so much. So pictures. First one is me with my elder Spilsbury while he was taking a sista. Second is me with my "Harry Potter/scientist/librarian" glasses Con amor Elder Smith

January 15, 2017

So this week, has been the week of Disney music in different languages. Let it go in different languages legit gives me wicked chills that I hadn't gotten from frozen music in a long time. We play this game, where we try to apply gospel principles to disney music, and some of ths music gets super deep very fast. Its so much fun. But moving on, I just want to say that this past week has been very tough. A combination of being sick, as well as not knowing any spanish has been rough. I say that I dont know spanish, when i actuallu do. Its just accents that completely ruin me over. Ive made a goal to finish the spanish book of mormon by myself by the end of my 12 weeks, so I still have a lot go read because Im only like 50 pages in. Oops. As far as spiritual growth goes Ive been studying a lot of Joseph Smith's teachings. Specifically the King Follet Speech, which is about the true nature of God, and who is was and is. Im just blown away by talking deep doctrine so often with my comps. It is crazy how deep something like the plan of salvation is. I really love the learning Ive been experiencing. So we have been working super hard. So many people either blow us off, or just ignore us when we come by. Its kind of hurtful, but its also whatever. Those who we have been working with have been amazing. We have two people who are on datw for baptism and who are progressing super fast. Its amazing how the gospel touches peoples lives. You can see them change before your eyes. There are times when we will start talking to people and at first they wont let us in, but after a minute or two, the spirit soften their hearts and rhey let us in. Its also crazy how nice the latino community. Elded Spilsbury always gets free food because he knows how to compliment them, and then they want to feed him. Which is hilarious. I love it, even though its super hard. I dont have much else to save, but i love you all! Keep the lord first and everything else will fall into place. Elder Smith

January 8

Actually nothing could throw off my groove from this past week! It was super tough and Im just progressively getting more tired everyday. But the feeling of sharing the gospel and baring testimony to people is such an amazing feeling! Quickly to share a little info. Im sorry for spelling errors, I am using the area smartphone to write this, and its darn near impossible to write on this thing. Second, because I am waiting for my visa, and I could leave at anytime I am currently in a trio with two 18 monthers. One is named elder dancy and hes from Atlanta, and the other is Elder Spilsbury and get this. Hes from Mexico. Hes from the lds coloneys down there. Both a pretry good guys and we have been working hard. Spanish in practice is so much harder. I can understand a lot of the people we talk to as well as my companions. But when it comes to speaking, i find myself talking super slow and not having a very big vocab. Its really humbling to know that Im totally trash at this language. But Im learning a lot and its fun along the way. The latino community is super loving and fun. Ive met some really great people, and we had some amazing lessons this past week. For the first 5 days or so, I was still super nauseous and could hardly eat anything. Yet every house we went to, I learned w Quick that everyone just wants to feed the missionaries. Even if we just came from dinner. Im afraid Im going to offend a lot more people than I already have. That part is going to be rough. I am already in love with this mission and leaving is going to kill me when I eventually go to mexico. But Ill continue to work my hardest and try to be a good missionary. This week was a very fruitful week for my first week. We had 8 new investigators and had 2 of them come to church. With those investigators, I had some of the most spiritual moments of my life. One of our investigators is an english teacher from chile, so even though she is fluent in spanish, she asked us to teach in english. We had the chance to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to her. And she has been reading the BoM with her family for weeks, so she has been supee receptive to our message. The spirit during the part about baptism was palpable. You could of cut it with a knife. Its amazing the calling of a missionary. When we testify of truth, the Holy Ghost is there with us to comfirm everything we say. I love it with every fiber of my being. A littlw about the area, we are currently in west jordan. And are over a spanisj branch that is really missionary focused. Both on retention as well as bringing others unto christ. They want to become a ward really bad, so we are doing everythinv we can to support amd help them through this. We have a list of like 20+ less actives that we get to visit this week. I just love going into peoples homes and just bringing a new joy into their lives. I dont have pictures really this week, other than a picture of elder spilsbury making some pepper jack cheese in our apartment. Which is actually pretty dang yummy. And one last thing. I already know one of the reasons the lord wantdx me in SLC. Three days before leaving the mtc I broke my vlasses. So being here is an opportunity to get new glasses. The gospel is true everyone. The most shared scriptures this week for us was moroni's promise in chapter 10 verses 3-5. So I invite everyone to read part of the book of mormon and take his promise. Pray about the words you read and i promise you can receive an answer in your heart. I love and appreciate you all. -Elder Smith