October 22, 2018

Week 41: Su Catrin, Elder Smith


Que Rollo pues Soy Elder Smith y he tenido una buena semana aqui en Obregon! Estoy muy emocionado para contarles de todo lo que ha pasado aqui en esta ciudad tan interesante y bonita... (What's going on, I am Elder Smith and I had a great week here in Obregon! Im very happy to tell you all what has happened in this city that is so interesting and pretty)

Hey guys!

I am here in Obregon again and I am excited to write to you all about what has happened. I have a hilarious and cool story that had kind of a sad ending haha. Before we went to knock on doors, we said a prayer to help us find people. I felt the need to go done one street and we did. We went to knock on a door that caught my attention. I didnt know but it was actaully an old investigator and my companion knew her. When she went to bring her palmphlet of the restoration, he told me everything and we knew that we were guided by the spirit. It was pretty cool to know that. We started to teach and my companion was talking about prophets. Out of no where my stomach got super queasy and OH MAN it got bad and I needed a bathroom STAT. I listened to my companion and did the potty dance hoping that he would hurry up. It literally was so hard and I HATE doing this but in the middle of his teaching I asked to use the bathroom. She told us that we could not because her parents would get "mad" because we are members of the church. Basically, we cut the lesson and we ran to find a bathroom JAJAJAJA. We said peace out and we took off. I was so mad after because it was an opportunity to teach and we were totally guided by the spirit but everything has a purpose and maybe God needed us to leave. It was pretty hilarious. Elder Rebolledo "Si hermana Los Profetas son guias que tienen autoridad para hablar con Dios y ellos pueden..." Elder Smith "UGHHHH PERDON NECESITO UN BAÑO LO SIENTO." (Elder Robolledo, "Yes Sister, Prophets are guides that have authority to talk with God"...Elder Smith, "Uggh excuse me I need to use the bathroom, sorry" ) But this week and time I have been here there have been many super special moments. I have felt the spirit testify to me that this is the work of God and he knows us. There have been moments when we are with investigadores and I feel a spirit that I have never felt before. This Gospel is super amazing and it changes lives. I love the quote from Jeffrey R Holland about Missionary work and Christ with Peter: What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world.

The work changes lives. It is available to all and it doesnt cost one cent. I love love love seeing changes in people in this work.
I love you all. Please dont forget what matters most. Please read yours scriptures and say your prayers. Dont forget.

Giddy Up
Elder Smith

October 15, 2018

Week 40: I was TRANSFERRED again!


Heyyyyyy guys! I have some crazy news. I am writing you guys from Obregon! I am not in Hermosillo anymore! I was in the office in Hermosillo the other day and President told me "Hey can we talk for a second?" I was like NOOOO WHAT DID I DO. He later told me that we had cambios especiales (special transfers) and that they needed me in Obregon. He called me to be ZONE LEADER. Guys I havent even been out for a year and he called me to be zone leader. i was so honored for the opportunity but I am dead scared at the same time. I am always having changes in the mission and I would ask you all to continue to pray for me it would help a lot. Well, I am here in Obregon AGAIN and the truth is, it feels good to be back. I started here and I have always like Obregon. My area is called Haciendas and we have BIKES. I have never had bikes in my mission so I am stoked. Well this area is pretty close to where I was before so I am already kind of familiar with my sorroundings. Its super crazy because we have 2 weeks in the transfer left and I was transfered out of no where. The truth is it was very hard to leave from Hermosillo because I loved it a lot. But, if Heavenly Father needs me here, I am completely willing to go. I am pretty nervous because I have been put in a leadership position that is pretty hardcore and I could definitely use the prayers.

Other than that, we had a killer week. i have some crazy experiences to share. One of them was that we played soccer as a zone and when we were leaving, we saw one of our old invesitigators that was walking around the park with his son. He stoppped us and he was super stoked to see us. We set up a time to visit them and we went the next day. We had a very beautiful lesson with them and we invited them to be baptized the 27th of October and they accepted. It was super amazing because they were already ready and spiritually humble. Their names are Armando and Guadualupe. the sad thing is that I was leaving but I was so happy that they had accepted to take that important step in their life.

Another story was a couple weeks ago. My companion and I literally had NO money left. I had to take some mony out of my own pocket to pay the rent and power bills and we literally had a couple coins left. One night we were walking home and we were super hungry. I know God knew that we were hungry that night and he blessed us. We looked in our pocket and we had a total of 6 pesos. Thats about 37 cents folks. Thats how poor we were! We walked into the store and looked for what we could buy for 6 pesos (basically nothing). My companion grabbed a bag a rice that was about the size of my fist. We are talking a bowlful. I was thinking it was going to cost 20 pesos or something and we asked the man at the counter how much it costed. He sat thinking for about 5 seconds about the price he was going to put and he said "6 pesos." We left the store surprised and grateful that Heavenly Father let us eat that night. He thinks even about the little things.

The last experience was really cool. We had a baptism yesterday and this one was a fighter. Literally satan did not want this dude to be baptized. His name is Enrique Fierros. He is one man that is very special. He loves to help others and has his own business helping others in need. He met a member of the church in idaho and gave his name to our President who gave the reference to us. At first he was very interested in how the church helps people with tithing. He was baptized and I know he is going to be a bishop someday. He is SUPER big and super cool. We had a great week. I am so grateful for the opportunity that God gave me to baptize him because i almost didnt. With all these changes, I thought I was going to miss my chance. I thank him for the opportunity. I love you guys and keep doing the little things that matter.

Giddy Up

Elder Braedoñ Smith

1/2.  Enrique and family

3. Elder Coronado, Enrique, y yo al templo 

(no entramos tuvimos una conferencia de estaca)

  

4/5. Armando y Guadalupe

6. Ya no hace color (finally its not hot)

7. Jaime (an investigator from Hermosillo)

8. Hermana Mauricio y Arias

9. Hermana Vakapuna y Rubio

9 months as a missionary!! With Elder Morgan and Elder Saunders (CCM buddies)

October 8, 2018

Week 39: Una semana muy difícil y bonita

This week was pretty amazing and difficult. This past week I have been thinking about totally trusting in Heavenly Father and letting him use us in his work. We had a zone conference where we learned that we need to completely trust in him without doubting. Me and my companion always start with a prayer before we knock on doors. I decided to say a specific prayer to help us find someone. In the prayer I said "Please help us to find a woman name francisca that lives in a white house in a family of 5 people. " It was the information that came to my mind in the prayer and afterwards we were determined to find the family. About a week passed and nothing happened. We passed by a house and a man was sitting outside with a Dodgers hat. I said "Buenas tardes que tal? Tengo una pregunta, donde compró su gorra porque yo vengo de california! Los Dodgers son mi equipo!"(Good afternoon, how are you? I have a question, where did you get that Dodgers hat? I am from California and the Dodgers are MY TEAM!) He later told me that his friend gave it to him and that he actually didn't like sports at all. We started to talk and then we shared a short message about Gods love for us and how we are his children. His name is Loreto and he looks and reminds me a lot of my Uncle Jarond. He is a fantastic person and we invited him to General Conference! We passed by the night before conference and we found him at home with his family. Perfect! We thought! Lets share a message. We asked one lady that was sitting outside what her name was. "Bertha" she told us. We then asked the other lady. "Mi nombre es Francisca." I almost spit out the water they gave us. We continued to ask them how many people were in their family and they told us "well theres a lot of people in our family but the 5 of us live here." I flipped out. I looked up and we were sitting together outside their WHITE house. Our prayer had been answered. It was super amazing. All of the things i asked for in the prayer turned out happening. We are so excited for this family because they could be baptized. I am thankful that our Heavenly Father answers prayers! I love you all so much!

Elder Smith

"Giddy up" -Cosmo Kramer

Un gato listo para atacar

October 1, 2018

Week 38: Una Gran Semana

We had a very interesting week and I continue to learn everyday of my mission. One of the hardest but amazing things that happened this week was the baptism of Carlos. Carlos is a very special person. When we met him, he used a lot of slang, and wasnt very interested in conversing with other people. Carlos had an accident with an explosion a while a go and his body was severely burned. When we met Carlos, he came to church and was interested in Sacrament Meeting. He talked a lot of slang and when we tried to teach him, it was difficult to get him to pay attention. One time, he talked for 2 hours straight and we kept asking him to listen to our lesson but he never did. One day we finally invited him to be baptized. He accepted but we really didnt feel the spirit in the lesson. A video came to my mind that is called The Atonement and Missionary work by Jeffrey R Holland that has literally changed my life. It talks about the things we pass as missionaries and why it can be difficult. It also talks about when we pass hard times as humans we are standing with the "best Life (The Savior) this world has ever known. The only pure and perfect missionary that has every lived." We showed him the video and he had tears in his eyes. I think he came to see what we had gone to do so that he would be able to learn of the Gospel. After he was baptized and confirmed, he said a very humble and sweet prayer. There was no mexican slang and basically said "we thank thee because we are in the true church." He changed. That simple prayer had an effect on me. The gospel changes people. I continue to give thanks and try to carry on the amazing, and at times tough, path of missionary work. Its amazing to see someone change. The night before the baptism I sat on the bus in gratitude for my Heavenly Father. Its something my dad has told me. Something along the lines of "when we pass hard times and then finally something good happens, all the hard stuff gets erased behind and we don't remember it." It has happened to me many times. The night before the baptism of Carlos we were going to teach him one last lesson so he could be baptized. I was super sick that day and wasn't sure I could make it. When we got to his house many things were happening and it was hard to teach. But then he started to listen to us and pay attention and I felt the spirit. It all worked out and he was baptized the next day. I am happy to know that we did everything we could to bring one more soul unto Christ.

Love you all!

Giddy up,

Elder Smith

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