My week was ballin'!

Hey guys, how was y’alls week? My week was ballin'! So on Monday we went to Villa Gonzalez with the Bishop to marry Jose and Isabel. The Bishop and I were the witnesses so it was legit! They are now legally married and are getting baptized this Saturday! So I am way excited, I was going to be really disappointed if we couldn’t do it before I finished my mission.

This week was awesome, Sunday was one of my favorite Fast and Testimony meeting of my mission. People actually shared real testimonies and not storimonies. For the first time in my mission I had an investigator share her testimony. Yoel and Rosana are doing really good. I thought a couple of weeks ago they were done for but they have made a complete 180.

Today we went to Esperanza and we played basketball and we had a chicken barbeque to enjoy the 4th of July (1 Nephi 13:16-19)! So it was fun.

So my topic is Eternal Life and Exaltation, hey I can use Dad's favorite scripture, haha.

Well I hope that y’all enjoy the 4th of July and save me some fireworks. Take care.

Love,

Elder Smith

Mathew and his companion with Jose and Isabel



Jose and Isabel with the Bishop

A wedding and baptisms next week

Hey guys how are y’all doing? Dang Mike is home now!!!! That is crazy. That journal entry is pretty funny, hahaha. I loved my Pokémon cards back in the day. I feel the same way about the weather, it is definitely way to hot.  

Well today we put the appointment for Jose and Isabel’s wedding with the civil judge for Monday morning. Everything is deposited and all we have to do is show up and they will be married!!!!!!!!!! Finally!!! So the Bishop and I are going to be the witnesses because Elder Carrasco doesn’t have his cedula (equivalent to a social security card I think). So after all of the fight they will be baptized next Saturday :). They are ready to go. 

We are trying to find new people and we have a couple others that are progressing. I was in Esperanza on Monday on an exchange with Elder Olson, having an American comp would be way too much fun. 

We got invited to eat both lunch and dinner this last Sunday for the first time in months which was way bomb. The American missions get really spoiled, that is why all of them get fat on their missions.
  

Well only 22 more days left.... Well I don’t have too much to say so I hope that y’all have a great week and that y’all enjoy the summer!!!! 

Love,

Elder Smith

Jose and Isabel finally got their actas de nacimientos (birth certificates)

Hey guys how are y’all doing? Today we went to Santiago, so I was able to get all of y’alls souvenirs so I don’t want to hear any complaining when I get home. It looks like y’all have had a busy week visiting family. It looks like a lot of fun. There are only 4 weeks left.....

Yesterday Jose and Isabel finally got their actas de nacimientos (birth certificates) taken care of!!!!!!! So we just need to put the date with the judge and get the money together and they will be good to go. Our new bishop and 1st counselor are working hard with them to get everything ready. The ward is getting better and better every week. We have some other investigators that are progressing quite a bit. We are preparing a 10 year old kid whose family are members but because he didn’t get baptized at age 8 so it is our responsibility to get him baptized.

I hope that you guys have a safe trip home from Utah!!! I hope that y’all have a great week and that all goes well!!! I can’t wait to see you guys in a month!!!

Hey can you send me my flight plans please?

Love, Elder Smith

I had a farm experience.

Hey guys how are y’all doing? Well it looks like y’all are enjoying Utah. I love the weather in the summer up there. I could go for some 60 degree weather right now. Everything is going alright down here, I’m having to have some patience with my companion (he isn’t the brightest guy in the world) but it is all good. 

Well I love having a new Bishopric that actually works. A few weeks ago the church attendance was about 50 people and now it almost hit 90 people on Sunday. Also they are helping us a lot with our investigators. As of yesterday, with some help from our 1st counselor, the birth certificates are ready for Jose and Isabel, they just need to go pick them up. So they just need to get the money together and they are good to go. We had 6 investigators in church on Sunday!!! We are working a lot with part member families and less actives so there are some new people to teach.  

I got to kill my first chicken this week. We were eating dinner at our Bishop’s house and he told Nino to get a chicken from out back and asked me if I wanted to do it so I gave it a shot. So I learned how to chop of its head and feather it and clean it out. I love how it still moved with blood gushing out of its neck after I cut off its head. So I had a farm experience. 

Well I hope that all goes well this week and that Dad will get to be able to fly. I love you guys a lot and can’t wait to see y’all!!!!!! 

Love,

Elder Smith

Well I'm Staying!!!!!

Well I'm staying!!!!! My kid will be killing me (Elder Carrasco will be my last companion). So I will have 6 transfers here in Mao. The new bishop called President Lee to ask him if he would let me stay and finish my mission here. So I am excited, it will be hard but it will be fun.  

How are y’all doing? The house is looking good. It will be weird walking in and not seeing all white. I hope that y’all are enjoying summer vacation.  

So not too much that is new is going on here. I thought I was for sure gone this transfer and I even started packing, so yesterday I had to unpack a little bit. But we had a great lesson with Jose and Isabel last night with a family that has 30 years in the church so that was sweet. We are teaching a guy that doesn’t know how to read but he understands really well from just us explaining the lessons to him. He came to church the 2nd week we were teaching him so he is progressing. We are working on completing some of the less active families we have here. The ward has a lot more energy to work now and the attendance went up by almost 20 people in one week with our new bishop.  

Well I don’t have that many things to write today. Just waiting patiently for the 19th of July!!! I hope that all goes well and that y’all have a great week in the sun!!!! 

Love,

Elder Smith

The photo- eating dinner with the Bishop, the good bye dinner but I didn’t leave after all

I only have 50 days left

Hey guys how are y’all doing? The house is looking awesome!!!!!!!! Finally y’all put some color into it. Man I only have 50 days left!!! It is super hot here right now, I am fried and I don’t stop sweating. Even with my fan sometimes I keep sweating. So we went to Santiago today and I got to see Cesar so that was legit. He is doing really good and has learned a lot reading the scriptures from when I left La Vega. I got to eat at McDonalds so I’m happy.  

So this week when I was playing the prelude music for Sacrament Meeting I saw the whole Stake Presidency walk in and I was like dang something is going to happen. So the released our Bishopric and called Cristian, our First Counselor as our Bishop so he is starting to get things going again. We are working with him and Richard who are lawyers to help get Jose and Isabel married. They were working to get it done this week but it looks like it won’t be done. So the Bishop wants me to end my mission here to get them in the water. So I might end up staying here after all but we will see. That would be an insanely long amount of time here. It is getting harder and harder every day, I'm trying get Elder Carrasco to take control, but he is timid so I'm trying to help him. 

So transfers are next week so I have no idea of what is going to happen to me. I'll find out Tuesday where I am going. Hey I saw in the newspaper in McDonalds today that Mitt Romney won Texas, so legit!! 

I'll try not to do stupid things... I hope that y’all have a great week and that y’all enjoy the summer!!!!! 

Love,

Elder Smith

I gave my dying testimony on Friday in my last Zone Conference

Hey guys how are y’all doing? We did survive the elections but it was one of the most unproductive weeks in my mission. Between the Zone Conference, meetings, a ton of rain and the elections it was almost impossible to get anything done. I gave my dying testimony on Friday in my last Zone Conference so the end is getting near. Danilo won the elections here. One of the places to vote was right in front of our house at the high school and there were two women who got in a fight that we could see so that was funny.  

So today we went to Esperanza and we played basketball as a zone and it was way fun, we have some good players in our zone and it was awesome to finally play with some good people.  

We had a total of like 20 people at church on Sunday, there was only Sacrament Meeting. 

Well we are back to square one contacting all day trying to find people who are ready for the gospel. We have found some pretty good people this week. Jose and Isabel are still doing really well, so I hope we can get their papers figured out this week. He had to work all weekend as being part of the military. Yoel and his wife are doing well as well. 

Well I hope that all goes well back home for everyone. Only two more weeks until transfers and hopefully I am out of here. It is getting harder and harder every day. Take care guys!!!! 

Love,

Elder Smith

9 More Weeks

Hey guys what is up? It was great to be able to Skype with y’all Sunday!!!! The next time it won’t be in video but I will be with you guys!!! So 9 more weeks, it is still a lot of time and there is a lot to do. Today I finally got to play basketball and I didn’t do too bad. We have some guys in our zone that are really good so it was a lot of fun.  

Well I don’t have too much to say seeing how we talked for 5 hours on Sunday. We are still working on getting the papers figured out so José and Isabel can get married. It is really difficult with elections coming up because the government is focusing on that. So with the elections we aren’t even going to leave the house this weekend, we can only go to church for one hour and that is it. Things will be getting pretty crazy.

This Friday is my last zone conference in my mission so I get to give my dying testimony so that will be fun. On Monday I had an exchange with an American Elder so that was a good break and so much fun.

Well that is all that I have for today, but I hope that y’all have an awesome week and that all goes well.  

Love,

Elder Smith

Here are some pictures of Matthew's surprise birthday party the Elders gave him.

Happy B-day Brittney

Happy B-day Brittney and Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!!!! Hey guys how are y’all doing? I can’t wait till Sunday and we can Skype!!!! It will be about at 1:00pm or so when I get on to Skype with you guys. So y’all can go to church the full time and y’all won’t have to worry about anything. So I can see that mom is patiently waiting with her countdown, haha.  

This week was really rough for us. It is hard having 7 months in the same area and walking the same streets and talking to the same people. We had to let go of a few of our investigators this week which was sad. That is the hardest part of the mission is when you have to stop teaching people that you have been teaching for a long time and they stop progressing. Jose and Isabel are still working on their papers and all will be good. They set the example for the other members. Elder Carrasco and I got to give the Elder's Quorum Class on Sunday to try to get the members motivated to help us in the mission work. So that helped us a bit. 

I really don’t have a bunch to write today seeing how that we are going to Skype on Sunday!!!! I hope that all goes well and that y’all have a great week!!!!!

Pancake breakfast with Elder Carrasco and Alfredo who is a kid in the ward

Alfredo and Elder Carrasco

The breakfast of champions

Matthew, Elder Carrasco and Anthony on the top of Anthony's house

This dog has a Sammie face

Rainbow over the chapel

So that will be a cool way to spend my birthday.

Hey guys how is y’alls week going? It looks like there is a lot going on with the summer coming up. I’m getting excited to be able to talk with you guys next Sunday for Mother’s Day!!! What time do y’all have church right now? Congrats to Makenzie for her throwing and Jacob looks pretty studly with that bow tie. I have a bow tie Ill bring home with me and Jacob and I can go to church with bow ties.  

So we were going to have a wedding today but there was a little problem with the birth certificates, they only had copies but they needed the originals so they should have them today. They went on Monday to go apply for them. So it looks like Jose and Isabel will be getting baptized next Saturday, the 12th of May!!!!!!!! So that will be a cool way to spend my birthday. They are doing really well, we went with our Elder's Quorum President to their house last night and we had a good lesson with them.  

Also we are teaching a member's wife that isn’t a member and she now has a desire to get baptized and it is a young couple and the husband is a return missionary so we will get to complete a family! Also Winston is doing really well but his extended family is giving him some heat for going to our church.  

This Sunday we get to give a class to the Ward about how they can participate in the missionary work so that will be good help for us. At least the rain has stopped for the most part and we haven’t had any problems with that this week.  

The photo book is really cool! This week one of the missionaries in our Mission finished his mission and his homecoming ward is my ward so it was weird being at his homecoming party seeing Elder Perez for almost my whole mission and now he is home so it trunked me out a bit but not too much. 

Well I hope that all keeps going well and 11 more days till Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take care and have a great week!!! 

Love,

Elder Smith