February 26 2018

Thats actually a complete lie. I dont understand this backwards country. But I am starting to love it more day by day. This week has been a rollercoaster. Its been both awesome and really hard. First off. Time pásses differently here in Mexico. Not sure how to explain it, but the first have of the day is super short, then the second half after comida can be super grueling. We only eat two meals a day here. ( I cant remember if I explain that last week or not). So we get to have breakfast at home, adn then we have our siesta meal called ´comida´ ( real creative with the spanish there) at 2 o clock, and then work the rest of the day. Im working on adusting to eating more during comida, but I ust dont like eating, and usually end up hungry about 6 or 7 o clock. Also another part of life here is walking. We walk so much. And the roads here (if you can call them that) can be very rough. The side walk isnt really a place for walking because itll hurt your feet more than the calle. My shoes have promptly changes colores. so a solid dust brown. Personally I think they look fresh to death, But I cant brag too much. Working on that humitlity here. The weather out here in Muzquiz, Mexico is a nice comfortable 80ish everyday. Just enough to cause a comfortable sweat as we walk around. Reminds me of highschool walking between classes. The good ol´ days. Another thing that is pretty awesome is the fact that since we live in the center of town, we get to listen to this hood mexican rap all day while we are home. super comforting and spiritually uplifting. But on the real note, I love it here. Mexico has been so awesome and we have met some really awesome people. Miracle So last saturday while out contacting, rather than going door to door, I wanted to just walk around until the spirit helped me find who was ready. After a brief prayer, I started walking and felt that there was someone on the next street, the second house on the right side. So we went and knocked and a 21 year old came out and invited us it. We taught the restoration, and came back saturday. He had read, notated and wanted to learn more and read more from the Book of Mormon. It was awesome, and then his family came in and were all talking about how he was so excited and was talking to them about it. They then invited us to eat comida with them and teach them the following sunday. It was a miracle to me, as we had not had much success in finding anyone. And when I just submitted myself to the lord and the spirit he guided me to someone he had been working with for us. Super awesome stuff. Spanish has been coming more and more everyday. Being forced to use it kind of makes you better. We continue to meet more awesome people everyday. But we have had days of straight contacting where no one would listen or open their doors to us. The work is for sure hard here. But I know the lord is with us. he prepares us and teaches us to be better every day. Its been hard as the investigators we have dont come to church. Both weeks ive been here we have yet to have anymore come to church. But Its okay. we are working on it and we´ll get this area thriving. SO there is this awesome stuff here in mexico called conatct paper. which is basically lamantaion that you do by hand, so last night I conctacted my copy of Jesus the Christ with pictures of Jesus and it looks super awesome. Speaking of which that book is amazing! Ive learned so much ahout the savior from reading it. I love each of you are think about you all. Stay firm and true. I know the lord will bless all of you in your lives and you will have greater oy and happiness as you listen to his teachings and his coucil. So turn to him. He will help you. Love Elder Smith PS: Sorry for no pictures still. The good internet cafe has yet to be fixed
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February 19, 2018

This week has been absolutely crazy. I have a lot to write about and not enough time for energy to do so. First off, I want to apologize for spelling mistakes. Spanish keyboards, are weird and I dont know how to correctly type with them. Also it says everything I type is spelling incorrectly. So Sorry. So to start off with a little story. Last monday I woke up nice and early. Around 5:40 am to get ready to go to airport at 7. Had a lovely flight to mexico city, where a driver for the CCM came and picked me up. I got to spend the night on the Mexico City Temple grounds in the dorms there. I got there about 4:30, ate and went to bed because I had to be up and going at 2 in the morning to leave At 3. But I couldnt sleep. So I just read some books and played games by myself. Which isnt very fun incase you are wondering. I finally got to sleep around 10ish and my alarm didnt go off. I thankly woke up at like 2:16 which was a huge miracle. got ready and was ready on time to go to the airport again. Where I had luggage problem. Got it all figured out and went to my gate. Where I waited for 4 hours. My flight got delayed, and By the time I got to saltillo I was just completely exhuasted. After some meetings with the new missionaries, I got to drive to my area which is in Northern Mexico. Another 6 hours to get to our house for the night. SO this was probably the longest day of my life. is was bad. But since then Mexico has been pretty great. Ive been growing through a massive culture sahock. It is nothing like the states. And everything is in spanish (surprise) and it can be frustrating. the transition has been brutal to say the least. Its so poor here. and no one really takes care of anything. The streets are a mess, and everything is ust different. Spending all day walking hurts mis patos mucho. And by the time we get home Im ust dead beat. This week unfortunatly I wont be able to send any pictures as the Ciber ( internet cafe) that I am in is super ghetto. But I will send them when we find one thats a bit safer. My new dad is named Elder Sabey, and he has been out for 6 months. He is from herimum Utah or something like that. But he is pretty cool. He played soccer all throughout his life, so we have something to talk about. But on the topic of soccer. THERE IS A STRICT NO SOCCER RULE HERE!! What the HECK! Its so frustrating, becuase we see kids play soccer all the time, and we just want to go play, but we cant. Kills me on the inside everyday. We have several people that we picked up this week as we got whitewashed into this area. And 2 of them are progessing super well towards baptism. So we should at have one baptism this weekend, and maybe two. Im excited as the work moves forward. We found another younger kid named Jesus this week who has genuine interests, and was eager to meet with us again. Im happy to see people go forward. As Ive been here, I seen the lords hand in my life so much more. Its been super hard. The food is really fighting my tummy, and the lqanguage is hard. But as i have leaned on the lord, Ive been able to be happy through the week. I did have two breakdowns where I thought "I cant do this" but im pushing through, and Ill be a full blown mexican in no time! I love you all and I pray for you. Stay strong, and lean on you father in heaven. Elder Smith

February 10, Face book post

The past 6 weeks, I have had the pleasure of serving here in the Salt Lake City west mission. It's been an absolutely amazing experience. I've met so many wonderful people. I've taught the gospel to a lot of people, some more willing to hear than others, but sharing the good news. I've met some people who will mean so much to me forever. I've made some of the best friends. And it's only been 6 weeks. The Lord has shown so much about myself to me. He's shared a greater portion of his word and has let me feel a greater love than I ever have had in my life. I'm so sad to be leaving this mission, and these people. But it's time for me to go to Mexico. I'm so excited to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of the Saltillo Mexico mission. 19 ¶ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Mathew 28:19-20 I go forth to teach in another nation. But the Salt Lake City West mission will always be special to me. I will always love these people, and I will always remember them. I leave my brothers and sisters here to continue teaching, and I expect the best from them (; I love you all, and I pray that you all may come closer to Christ through one way or another. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to return to our Heavenly Father. It is the path the greater joy. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and it is the word of God. Any one who reads it will find greater joy and peace in their lives. And will also come to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know of the truthfulness of what I preach. I testify of it. I do so in the holy name of the Jesus Christ. Amen.

February 5

This has been an awesome week! We started the week off with having interviews with president Palmer. Which was so uplifting. We had such a great talk and he assured me that my visa would come soon and they would ship me off. I'm pretty excited to be leaving soon. So as a whole this week, we didn't have a super productive week so to speak in terms of numbers. Quite frankly our investigators just aren't progressing. One named Mario is having a hard time keeping the commitments, and even though he loves the message he isn't moving forward. His dad recently died, so he finds comfort in our message. But at this point we have taught most of what we can, and he has to trust heavenly father to keep moving forward. Another investigator named Juan keeps all the commitments except he has a hard time understanding that he needs to be baptised by someone who has the proper authority to do that. We are planning on taking the restoration lessons again, one part at a time. To help him understand a bit more. I love these people and I want to see them come unto Christ to a different level. And to come unto his fold through baptism. I love the gospel and everyone can benefit from the message. Spanish this week has been a great leaps and bounds. But I learned some things the hard way. For example. While visiting a member, i called the virgin Mary, la Vieja. It sparked some laughs, but im just grateful that it wasnt a Catholic home. Regardless it was still super embarrassing! But I'm still moving forward really fast. So I finished my visa paper work. And I'm expected to receive my visa sometime tomorrow. At which point we don't know if I'll stay till the end of this transfer. But I hope I do. I've grown so much here and I love the people and the area. But I'm also so excited get to mexico finally. I love you all and I hope you have a good week. Elder Smith

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