August 27, 2018

Week 33

HEYYYYYYYYYY

What is good in the Hood my peoples?? I am excited to tell you all that has happened this week because we literally have had a very interesting week. I would like to share one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. My companion and I have been making goals to make our prayers to find investigators specific and with detail. We have been praying to find a family that lives in a white house with parents and kids. We had been praying for about for a week and then we remembered that we had a reference from President Myers.(Our mission President) The reference was one of his good friends and we decided to go visit him. He lives in a private neighborhood so it was a little difficult to get in. When we got in, we waited for him to come. All of the sudden a suuuppperrr nice BMW came up and a person came out and told us that they CAME TO PICK US UP. We are talking like a REALLY nice BMW. They took us to the house and we arrived at a really nice two story house. We waited for our contact to arrive and when this guy arrived, he looked like John Cena! A HUGE mexican dude that could literally could kill us. We all met, sat down, and we decided to share the message of the restoration. I was super nervous because he was there with his wife and his super pretty daughter and they were all watching us hard core. We started the lesson and it went really great. We felt really good with them. We left super excited to teach a family! And that's not even the best part of the story. We didn't even realize until we got home but the house was WHITE and it was a family with TWO PARENTS AND KIDS. Our prayer was literally answered. We were so happy. I could not believe it! I have set one of my goals to pray more specifically and with more meaning. I literally saw the result of a specific prayer and the answer that followed. Henry B Eyring said: When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests, and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: Remember Him." This is day when we were searching for the family we had prayed for and we were exhausted. We said a prayer to help us finish the day and to have more energy to press on. We found this awesome family and we were so thankful that we DIDNT give up. Sometimes we think as misioneros, why is this so hard? Why doesn't this go better? Why do the people not understand us? Jeffrey R Holland said:"I am convinced that Missionary Work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience! Salvation was NEVER easy! We are the Church of Jesus Christ and this is the truth. He is our great eternal head. Why would we believe, why would we think that it would be easy if it was NEVER easy for him." Missionary Work is hard but it is worth it. When we work hard, we see miracles. I know this is true. I love you all and please remember Him always.

Giddy Up,

Elder Smith

1. Esperando bus

2. Estamos Loco

3. La Vista de Hermosillo

4. La referencia que recibimos de Presidente Myers

5. Otra vez pero una foto mas chila

6. Elder Rivero y Yo

7. Elder Peterson de Gilbert, AZ!

August 20, 2018

Week 32: La Ciudad Mas Rica En Todo Mexico No Manches

HEY HEY HEY ITS FAT ALBERT jajaja no its me Elder Smith for those of you who dont know me jajaja. HOW HAS EVERYONE BEEN??!! I know you guys didnt believe it but I am STILL LIVING here in Mexico. Pretty crazy. We are living here in Hermosillo in the nicest part of town. No joke guys I could see myself living here (if I had the money to do it because WOW you need to have a lot of Benjamins in your tri-fold wallet if you want to live here). I love this area! The houses are beautiful, the people are interesting, and THERE IS THRIFTY ICE CREAM HERE jajajajaja. I could not believe it I was like where am I?.. I think I am at home but oh wait I am a missionary oh I remember jajaja. Things are good here in Mexico and we are moving along. My companion sprained his ankle and the last week we were at home THE ENTIRE TIME. I am happy that he is better and we have been able to start working again.

I wanted to start my letter with some crazy funny stories because I haven't mentioned any for a while. One day, we went to go visit a member. She is a fantastic member of the church but has a few emotional struggles. She loves hymns so we decided to sing her one. We sang "I Stand All Amazed". I love that hymn and it is actually really special. We we started to sing, she started too. We realized that she sang a little off but it didn't matter because Hymns are special for everyone! When she started to sing she really started feeling it! I looked at my companion with my what in the world is happening right now but then realized, who cares! We all feel the spirit in different ways and she was really feeling it!

Another story..My companion Elder Rivero was telling me one day, Dude you have to try this burros in this city, they are KILLER. I was like ok lets do it. I am not kidding you guys, when my flippin burrito arrived. It was LONGER than one foot. I NEEDED to take a picture but I FORGOT. It was was filled with cream cheese, meat, and avocado. The funniest part is that the WHOLE OUTSIDE OF THIS BURRITO WAS WRAPPED IN BACON. WE ARE TALKING LONGER THAN A FOOT LONG PEOPLE. I was thinking this burrito is physically going to kill me. We started eating and my companion ate his in like 33.87 seconds and I took a half and hour to eat half. I could only finish half of it! That night I woke up at 3 a.m. feeling a little strange. And then, all of this sudden, BOOM, I ran to the bathroom. To make a long story short, I died JAJAJA. The burros here are good but are not physically possible to eat because WOOO I died. But, I recovered.

One of the coolest things that is happening in our area is we are teaching a family that wants to be baptized. Hermana Cynthia is a mother three boys and they are a fantastic family. They have come to live with their father who is blind. Their dad is an awesome faithful member of the church and always shares his testimony in our lessons. We taught about the Restoration of the church and they were all pretty into to it. We went to church and we asked her what she thought. She really liked it! We asked her if she had any questions and she said Yea I have one, when can I be baptized ? We were so stoked. I am so excited for them. We are moving along a little slow here because my companion had foot problems but now that he is feeling better we are going to start working like locos. HERE ARE SOME FOTOS FOR YOU FOLKS

1. Conozcan mi hijo Mexicano Santiago

2. Elder Rivero y Hermano Carreon (El Papa de la Hermana Cynthia)

3. La vista de nuestra casa de DOS PISOS (hubo lluvia)

4. Arturo no quiso estar en la foto con nosotros

5. Felices

6. Paz

7. Creo que no vamos a poder trabajar mucho esta semana...

August 13, 2018

Week 31: Hermosillo!

Hey everyone! I hope everything is going well. I am here in Hermosillo and it is crazy nice. Hahaha I could totally see myself living here after my mission. In fact, there is an American family in our ward and that was a surprise haha. One of the coolest things that has happened this week was that one Hermana named Cynthia came with her kids to live here in Hermosillo. She is the daughter of one of the members here and she is great! We started teaching her this week and she is super into to it. She told us that she wants to be baptized. So rad! Her Dad has been a faithful member the church for a long time and is blind. He has a super cool strong testimony and is always willing to help with the lessons. I love Hermosillo. I love Obregon too but it is just a completley different vibe. Hermosillo is more historical, there are more Americans, and its a much bigger city. I would love to come visit here after because its a pretty rad town. You guys should search in google pictures of the cathedral and all that downtown stuff because it is so rad.  I gave my first capacitacion (training) as a district leader and I think I am figuring it out.  All is fine but, I like to be 100 obedient and also have fun. But, there are missionaries here that are super disobedient and it makes me a little uncomfortable. I am trying my best to be the best I can for the Lord through my obedience but sometimes its hard when others don't want to do the same. I know that being obedient to the Lord brings blessings so Ill keep trying and do my best to be a good example. Other than that all is good! I am sorry I will send fotos next week but, I am a little short on time right now.  

Giddy up,

Elder Smith

August 6, 2018

Week 30: Estoy en Satelite!

Que onda plebes estoy aqui en Hermosillo en mi area que se llama Satelite! ( How 's everyone? I am here in Hermosillo in my new area called Satellite) This last week was really good and we finished strong. We had an activity with the ward to bring more investigators to church! We did a car wash and an open house. So, when the members were washing the cars, we walked with the investigators through the church to show them what we do as members of the church. It was super cool to show people our chapel and what we do as Mormons. Almost everyone was super interested and didn't know a lot of the things about our religion. Also, they said that everything was very organized and focused on our spiritual learning. I know that the church of Jesus Christ is perfect and I was able to see that with the visitors that showed up. I recieved the news that I was going to be transfered to Hermosillo as a District Leader! I am so terrfied hahaha. I know that I will be able to do it but, a lot of changes are happening in my mission super fast. I would definitley need a ton of prayers this upcoming days because I am doing many many things outside my comfort zone. Leaving my area was super hard. I literally have grown so much there and will miss the church members and converts. I will remember and love them forever. I hope that the area continues to thrive and grow because it is a super rad area. Here are some fotos with some of the best members and people there are in the world.

Les voy a dar mas informacion luego (I will give you more information later)

Giddy Up

Elder Smith

1. Una Hermana super buena que se llama Luz

2. La Hermana Edith Rojas!

3. El Famoso Hermano Luis Perez!

4. Hermana Bojourquez

5. Hermano Ismael y Hermana Laurita

6. Una foto estilo selfie con el iphone x

7. Un buen pescado

8. Hermano Dan y Hermana Orozco

9. La ultima foto

10. Mi mejor amigo Hermano Pedro. He has a super big part in my mission. The first week I arrived  I felt really bad and down. I couldn't communicate with anyone and felt super sad. He sat down with me and gave me a pep talk. He told me "Tú vas a aprender español. Va a pasar con tiempo". And it did! He is a super awesome member of the church.

11. La mejor familia. era muy dificil irme por ellos. Les quiero tanto.

12.no estabamos listos para tomar la foto 

13.Hermana Manuela y Hermano Mario nuestros conversos

July 30, 2018

Week 29: Dos Bautismos

HEYYYYYYYYYYYY MY PEOPLEESSS this week was very crazy. We had a TON to do to prepare for the baptisms that we had but everything turned out really well. FIRST, I have to share some crazy stories. One of the craziest things happened at church. At the end of church one of the members pulled me out of the last class and told me that she needed help with something. I was wondering what in the world could it be that she wanted help with. My companion and i went with her outside to meet another young lady with her mom. The young lady told me that she was trying to communicate with some dude from Arizona that she needed to meet. She basically asked me to translate the call so that they could communicate. ANYWAYS, first of all it was super hard core difficult to think and speak in two different languages at the same time. But, it was super cool because it was my first translating experience. Anyways, but it was just super strange and everything. I had no idea what they wanted so i basically just ended the call. It was SUPER strange but it was cool that I got to translate.


Also, when we were preparing for one of our baptisms. One of the people (the younger kid name Gustavo) last minute told that he didnt have permission from his mom and COULD NOT BE BAPTIZED. My heart dropped. We literally did so much to prepare for his special day and he was ready and boom. That was it. I was so bummed. Some how, some way, his mom changed her mind last minute and he WAS able to baptized. I got to meet his mom and she seems like a great lady. I am very thankful that she gave him the permission to be baptized and change his life. But imagine, we prepared him all this time he was ready and we prepared the baptism the whole day and boom. He couldnt be baptized. Luckily, everything turned out well and he could. This baptism was really special with him and an lady named hermana Brenda. We vistited her a lot with Elder Sosa when I arrived in Obregon. For a long time, she wasn't ready to be baptized and it made me feel really bad because she is awesome. When she told us that she was ready to be baptized, I was so happy for her. It is one thing that I have seen COUNTLESS times in my mission. Everyone has their OWN time and their OWN conversion. It makes so much sense to me. We are all different so why wouldn't we have different times and experiences. Many times we see people go off the path or members that make incorrect choices. I would ask you with all my heart, please dont judge these people. Everyone has their own time and it happens when the person is ready. We all make mistakes and we all need to repent. Sometimes we forget that we are here to CHANGE and it is part of the plan of salvation. We are all imperfect. We are all on the same path. People are moving at different paces. This is as it should be. Personally, I have experienced my conversion in different ways and times than other people. Please dont let Satan enter into your minds telling you that you dont know enough or your testimony is not enough. Continue with faith and WORK for your testimony. When we work for our testimony of the gospel with a real intent, our it will grow.


I want to share an experience that I had a couple days ago. I love the Book of Mormon. I love the direction that I recieve when I read it. I have known it was true but sometimes I dont really feel it all the time because we teach teach teach and sometimes I feel like a robot. There is a paragraph in the introduction that says that we should read, meditate, and pray about the Book of Mormon to know that it is true. I literally read and teach that section or phrase EVERY DAY. One night, I decided to do as the book asks. I began with a prayer and read for a while and after I thought and meditated. Specifically about what I have read. Ok I know these stories I thought but what does this mean for me PERSONALLY in my life. After thinking, I got out of my bed and got down on my knees before my Heavenly Father with a humble heart and was anxious to recieve an answer. I started to pray to my Heavenly Father with a desire to know of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I recieved my answer. I had always known that the Book of Mormon was true but, I never really asked with a true intent. I testify, will all my soul that it is the world of God. And that we will learn so many things about Him and our lives. As I write this, I feel the truthfulness of this testimony that I have. I promise you, everything single one of you that is reading this, that if you read the Book of Mormon with a REAL INTENT, meditate the message it contains and get down on your knees before our Heavenly Father that you will recieve your answer. It will happen in the time that is right for you because we all different. I know this is true. Personally, it would not be possible to be on a mission if I didnt have a testimony. My testimony is what sustains me and motivates me to be a servant of our Heavenly Father. Joseph Smith himself said "Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none." I testify of the words from a Prophet of God that if we have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Everything is true. If it is true, Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, with the help from Heaven he could restore church, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the exact church that Jesus Christ established when he came to earth. I know this is true. If you havent asked of God if it is true, please do it. Our lives are given a new purpose when we know that it is the word of God. Be patient. Your answer will come.

Love you all!

Giddy Up,

Elder Smith

1. Last day with our district..so sad
2. Elder Izucar's last district meeting
3. I spotted myself inside a store