August 30, 2010

FELIZ CUMPLE JENNA!!!!! THE BIG 25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I can´t believe Jenna is 25. She is getting pretty old. It is pretty crazy how time is going. I hope you had a good birthday. It sounded like you had a fun time. Keeping it simple. That is how I like it. Mac (Pichón) sounds like a really fun kid. I guess until now it seems like I will ever be meeting him. I am really excited to meet the little one. He sounds really funny. We have an investigator that has a kid about the same age as him. She is really quiet and shy, I don´t think the parents were the best people before we showed up. But I am way excited to see him.

That is horrible about Brady. That just sounds so painful and hard. I hope he is doing ok. I can´t even imagine the pain he is in right now. That has got to be so hard. Hopefully he gets better and up and walking soon.

That is really cool that the stake center is going to be done so soon. That is like a month and half more. Or in missionary time, in one more transfer it will be up. That is cool that all the wards that interest me are in the same building. Our ward, the Arboleda Branch and the singles ward. The good thing is that it is right in front of the house and at 1230. I have gone to church at 9 for the past two years. It is going to be weird to go to church in the afternoon. But I am going to like it more. It sounds like it is going up fast. I am glad they put street lights in. It should help out with the punks that go out there all the time.

So I might be working in the store for a while. That sounds good with me. Whatever will get me going will be good with me. What ideas does grandpa have in that brain of his? I guess I will be seeing. I owe him a lot anyways. That is the least I can do is to help him.

This week was good and bad at the same time. A lot of good things happened and also a hot chocolate party that got me really mad. That may sound weird right now but you will find out. The people we baptized last weekend are doing great. She (Matilde) is doing everything she can to help her family know the importance of the church. She is so awesome. She is going to be the first Relief Society president. She just doesnt know it yet. Her husband is catholic and her inlaws are J-Dubs. She has had to fight to get baptized but she did. So did her daughter. The Morales Family is doing really good too. All the girls in the family have been reading about temple marriage and we talked with them about how important it is. It is going to be harder for them just because they will have to look really hard for someone to go with them. They are doing great though. They love reading and going to church. Sounds like a great way to strengthen a testimony. The Montaña family is doing great to. The bishop is going to set a goal with them about going to the temple next year. Sonia is really excited. That is why the week went so well. All of the recent converts that are there since I have been there are doing really well. The only thing that I didn´t like was that the Zonda wind came it for like two days today. It really messes with my head and is just so dusty. There are branches falling everywhere and it just is horrible. It just happened to be a day when all the people who we had appointments with weren´t there. It was a great day. Also on sunday, right in the same time as church they had a hot chocolate party. Something that the politics do to win votes. But they had hot chocolote and were giving away free stuff. Well a lot of the members and all the investigators thought it would be a better idea to go there than church. I was pretty upset but they have there agency and are able to do what they want. It is just sad that they chose that. We had a good week anyways. We had about 15 members go. That is pretty good for Zonda.

Today we went with and investigator named Ramón and a kid named Johnny to climb a mountain. It was way fun. It was a little bigger than I thought. They thing I have noticed is that Argentines don´t believe in switch bakcs. I have never been so greatful for switch backs. There trail just went pretty much strait. It was the steepest train that I have ever been on. My legs are dead. We hiked up and played Uno. I guess our investigator doesnt know that saints and virgins can´t do anything for you because he lit candle for the virgin up on top. Everyone was saying how great the virgin is up there and there wasn´t even one there. I think someone stole it and just left the little house thing. But was really fun. It wasn´t a really clear day, there was a lot of dust in the air. But it was still really cool. I´ll be sending some pictures.

Something pretty cool. We are going to be on the Zonda radio next saturday. they want to hear why and what we are doing here. I am really excited.

Ok. So Emily wants a shirt. Sounds good. I have seen one that she might like. I am just going to have to make a guess on the size. I am going to buy some fake jerseys and some other stuff. I think 200 more should be good. I really have no idea. Just do what ever you can. I dont want to spend a lot of money if there isn´t any. If 200 is good that I am fine with that. What ever you can do. I will just be making some guesses on what I bring home. There isn´t a lot of difference in clothing here and there. So I will just hope I get lucky with finding stuff.

I love you all so much. Fight to the end. Man I cant believe it already september. I love you.

Chau

Elder Smith

























here are some pictures, if you dont get them, i will explain latter. i dont have time right now. love ya alll

Elder Smith is coming home !!!

August 24, 2010

Dear Brother and Sister Smith,

A couple of weeks ago, we notified your stake president, that Elder Smith is to be released to return home on 14 Sep 2010. We are providing you with the flight itinerary which Elder Smith has from Mendoza to North America. A copy of that itinerary is being e-mailed next week to Elder Smith, also. During the final interview with the mission president, Elder Smith will be given any other necessary instructions with the complete itinerary from Mendoza to the United States.

The schedule for Elder Smith the day before his release will go something like this:

08:00 am. Weighing and preparing of luggage

10:00 a.m. Interview with President Lindahl, issuing of interim temple recommend.

Noon-5:00 pm. Missionary is allowed to shop for souvenirs in downtown Mendoza

06:30 p.m. Farewell dinner and testimony meeting at the Lindahl home.

Early on 14 Sep 2010, Elder Smith will be transported to the Mendoza airport to catch his departing flight. In addition to personal luggage, each missionary will be carrying home two large white envelopes. One envelope will contain travel instructions and complete travel itinerary. The other, a sealed envelope for the stake president, will contain the missionary release letter and certificate of release which the stake president will present at either the release interview or during Elder Smith´s visit to the Stake High Council.

At this juncture, I believe I speak for President and Sister Lindahl when I say that it has been a joy having Elder Smith in our mission. May the Lord continue to bless your family for the sacrifice you have made in preparing, sending, and maintaining a full-time missionary.

Elder Sandford

Secretario

Mision Mendoza Argentina

2012677@ldschurch.org

(011)54-261-424-4165

Electronic tickets have been issued, only your passport and Visa will be needed to check-in

To avoid Cancellation of Reservation, it is important to telephone the airline on which each missionary originates and reconfirm the reservation and Ticket Number at least 72 hours prior to travel.

Tickets are non-refundable, Penalties apply for changes or cancellations.

Many of the US airline carriers are charging for a second bag when you fly. Please be prepared to pay the additional cost when you check in for your flight.

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT DATE 22JUNE10

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST AGENT VH/8C BOOKING REF 2RNAXE

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111 SMITH/BLAKE AUSTIN 140026-R

FAX : 801-240-5115

MISSIONARY TRAVEL

ARGENTINA MENDOZA

SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

DELTA AIR LINES 14SEP BUENOS AIRE BA ATLANTA GA 830P 600A

DL 110 TUESDAY PISTARINI HARTSFIELD JAC 15SEP

L ECONOMY TERMINAL S

NON SMOKING DINNER NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 10:30 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-200/300

SEAT 40E NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

DELTA AIR LINES 15SEP ATLANTA GA PHOENIX AZ 841A 945A

DL 2915 WEDNESDAY HARTSFIELD JAC SKY HARBOR INT

L ECONOMY TERMINAL S TERMINAL 3

NON SMOKING FOOD FOR PURCHASE NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 4:04 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 757-200/300

SEAT 46C NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

RESERVATION NUMBER(S) DL/EHE8JJ

-----------------------------------------------

BEIDLER C - EXT 25156

.

(8C) MISSION PRES JAMES BLAINE LINDAHL

PH 011 54 261/ 424-4165 OFFICE 424-3197 HOME

* NOTICE * STATE OR FEDERAL PHOTO I.D. REQUIRED AT AIRPORT.

BECAUSE CHECK-IN TIMES AROUND THE WORLD MAY VARY BASED

ON THE INDIVIDUAL AIRPORT AND DAY-TO-DAY SECURITY ISSUES

PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY FOR YOUR FLIGHTS.

IF YOU NEED FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING AIRPORT SECURITY,

PLEASE CONTACT THE AIRPORT DIRECTLY.

MISSIONARY TRAVEL (800) 537-3537 OR (801) 240-5111

EMPLOYEE TRAVEL (800) 537-1232 OR (801) 240-1387

GENERAL AUTHORITY TRAVEL (800)453-3860 OR (801)240-1000

August 23, 2010

Hey family,

Wow, time is going fast. It is insane how fast it is going. I really noticed it in church. But that is how it is. Well it sounds like you all had a good week. Sounds like you all had fun doing yardwork and being in the heat. Sounds like fun.

So everyone has started school again. Is Brady going to go to school? I can imagine that it is pretty hard. That is horrible. I still can´t believe he broke his femer. Poor kid. Well I guess he wont be doing much when I get home.

That is retarded that those kids screwed up the front of the church. Kids do stupid things everywhere not just there. The good thing is that there people are scared of the cops. Here no one is scared to get caught because the police doesn´t do anything. I have seen kids doing grafiti when a police man drove by. It is crazy but true. Lets just hope it doesn´t happen again.

That is awesome that a General Authority is coming to our stake. I get home right in time for it. I am excited to see who it is. If I had a choice I would hope that Elder Holland came. He is so awesome, he talks so well. We´ll just have to see. It looks like I will have a little time to prepare my talk now. By the way has anyone told you on what I need to talk about? I´ll figure something out.

That is sweet that Bryce is the ward representative. Hopefully he does a good job. We´ll help him get into shape. I have to get into a workout routine anyways when I get home. I´ll have some time to go running and maybe go to a gym. I want to lose some more weight. 30 pounds is good but I want to loose a little bit more. You´ll have to help me out.

I really respect President Ostler. I finally got the letter from him. He really seems like he cares for the RM´s and wants to help us out. He told me some of the things that I am going to have to do when I get home. A lot of what he said President Lindahl told us just an hour before I opened the letter. President wants a copy of it. But it was a very nice letter.

Well, I guess now a little about my week. We had a really good week this week. A lot happened. On Friday we had zone conference. My last one and I am willing to say the best ones that I had. President talked about doing the little things in like good so that you can have a good life. He talked a lot about how he became so rich. (sounds weird). But he told us all the little things he did to help him out. All the little things he learned in his mission. He really wants us to have a good succesful life. He told me that he might buy a house in Gilbert and said we can drink some orange juice out on porch after the mission. He is a great guy. Sister lindahl had a great talk about how Satan messes with our minds. It was really a good confernce. Just a shame that it was my last. This week has been good but also I have really relized that my mission is about done. It is really sad. I look at all the things I am doing right now and I am going to miss it so much. It is a really weird feeling. It is kind of the feeling when I was getting ready to go on a mission. Sad I was leaving the life I had, scared for what was coming, excited for what was coming and having no idea what I was going to be doing. Well It is the same now. I am sad I am leaving the mission life, argentina, the people i have come to love behind. But at the same time I am excited and scared for the life I will be having. It is a happy/sad feeling. Just have to try my hardest. I have 3 weeks to give it all I have before I go home.

This week we had 2 baptisms. Matilde and Soledad Recabarren. They are a really cool mom and daughter. They had to fight for it too. The husband at first did not like us at all. But with time and showing him the blessings from the church he let them get baptized. It was one of the best baptismal services I have had. The water was nice and warm, there were a couple of members but most importantly they and us felt the spirit. It was wonderful. It really hit me that night, the sad part of leaving behind the people I love and the missionary work. I hope it is not my last baptism but it might be. We have some people but they have to get married. I am going to miss the work a lot.

We ate lunch with the stake presdient. President Noriega. He is so awesome. He always has the spirit so strongly and he helps us out a ton. I want to live my life so that I can be someone like the leaders I have now. President Lindahl, Noriega and Ostler. They are such great examples and I need to strive to be a good person like them.

We really had such a great week. A lot of people went to church and it was a great meeting.

I love you all so much.

Have a good week.

Love Elder Smith


ps. mom, i got my flight plans and you should have gotten them too. if not tell me next week and i will send them to you. Could you just put some extra money of my card for when i am traveling and if i need to buy some more stuff to take home. i dont know what to buy, but I want to buy some stuff that i want to remember argentina with. thanks mom, i love you. time is coming down to the wire. I got to get one things. love you, elder smith

August 16, 2010

Dear Family,

That is so sad that Brady broke his femer. I can´t even imagine. That has to hurt so badly. I hope he is ok. That is just bad luck to break it right before school. Hopefully he will be able to get around ok. Well I guess he wont be doing much when I get home. Just sitting around. Poor little kid.

So Chad is married. I rememberd when we were in the bus on the way home like friday night that he was married. I can´t believe it. It is going to be so weird to know that he is married. Man he did that fast. Like was like 3 months or maybe a little more. It sounds like he is happy and I sure hope he is. He is such a good kid. So Logan still isnt doing to good. That is so retarded. It is so sad that he fell into that. I hope he can get out.

That is really funny about the field is black and already to harvest. That is so awesome. It is sad but true. Everyone loves going to the poor areas. No one wants to go to the city of Mendoza when you go can go to a poor place. It is sad that there is such a big differnce but there is.

So I was talking with my companion about the nephite lamanite thing. Actually it has never came up. But we were talking about it and I don´t think it has anything to do with what she thinks. Ok, God had to do something with the people of nephi and laman to show them apart. God made a promise with the people of nephi when they were obedient. God made the lamanites darker so that they could easily tell who were the ones following God. Really for God I don´t think that the color really matters because at one time the lamanites were more righteous then the nephites and the kept their color. But in this part of the book of mormon the nephites were righteous so what God did is changed that lamanites color to show that they repented and where not part of the lamanites. Mainly I think it is to just tell them apart. It just happened to be at this time that the nephite where righteous who had white skin so God took the curse away from them that they got from Laman. When it says they were made fair, I dont think they were talking about looking better just the skin turning color. There can always be doubts that people have. There are some things that the book of mormon talks about that are all new and may be a little different. Really, it all comes down to the big question. If a person really wants to know if the book of mormon is true just try the promise that moroni gives. Just ask God. It may seem so simple. But it is in the end of the book of mormon for a reason. We just try the word and then ask God. Elder Frost and I are telling everyone right now. It is amazing those that really have real intent and faith in Christ get an answer and it is so much easier. Doubts shouldnt stop people from reading. Really doubts can only be resolved my praying and reading. This doubt she has about the skin color is a legitament doubt but a doubt can always be resovled through prayer.

I havn´t gotten any information about when I am going home or anything. I have no idea when I will get it either. I just know the day is the 15th of September. It is coming up so fast. It kind of hit me yesterday in church. I am going to miss argentina so badly. It is just so ghetto and fun. I love it. I am also going to miss being in a spanish speaking country. I will just have to get some mexican friends. Learn there kind of spanish.

This week was really good. Elder Frost is still so new and it is so fun to be with him. He is a really good guy. Really funny and really is trying hard. He is really trying to not ever talk about home which is helping me stay focused. It is just sometimes like a machine. I am opening him up a little bit right now. He just has to be able to find the middle staying focused but not being a machine.

We had a lot of success this week. Elder Frost came from a pretty hard area and I don´t think that did a ton of teaching and here in Zonda we are teaching a ton. Everyday he is so happy and so excited.

We are teaching a girl named Viviana. She is doing great. She reads everything we leave and knows it is true. Like I said, real intent and faith in Christ. She just read really wanting to know if it was true and she knows it is true. She went to a primary activity from the stake. Which really helped her see that there are more then 15 mormons in the world. Her boyfriend went to church yesterday. Church went pretty bad. There were more investigators then members. I dont know what happened but almost every member was busy yesterday and three members went and 4 investigators. It was pretty sad. But I guess things like that happen. It was fun still. I think they all felt the spirit which is the important thing.

Well mom, if i find anything out about when i go home or anything i will let you know.

i love you all so much.

bye

love elder smith

August 9. 2010

Hey Family,

How´s everything going? Hopefully really well. I don´t think moms email worked because I didn´t get her letter but I got Emily´s and Grandma´s. That is sad that Josh´s grandpa died. Even though they weren´t very close that is still sad. So Annie is pregnant. That is crazy. There are so many new babies in the family. There are three right now that I don´t know and another one coming. Atleast I will be home for Annie´s. That really is weird that Lindsay had a baby. It is going to be weird with all the new ones in the family. Especially Mac (Pichón). I am pretty excited to meet him. He seems like a really cool kid.

That is sweet that Brittney and Dustin were sealed in the temple. They have got to be really happy. What a great blessing it is to have the temple in our lives.

I can´t believe that Bryce and Kaylee are starting their senior year. That is to crazy. They still seem way to small to be seniors in high school. When I left they were sophmores. It is crazy how time goes by. My mission is flying by. I don´t get where the time is going. The weeks just feel like days now. I have been in Zonda for 7 weeks. It seems like I just got here. But I am loving it. I don´t know a lot of what happened this week in the family so I will just go into the week that I had.

This week was really good. Elder Vazquez went to Albardón, another part of San Juan. Only about 45 minutes away so I will still see him. My new companion is Elder Frost. He is from Prescott. He is a really good Elder. He is helping me out a lot. He is pretty new in the mission. He has been here for about 4 and a half months but he is speaking really well. Everyone loves the way that he talks. Everyone in Zonda has had people that can speak pretty well, everyone has had atleast more than a year in the mission. He is the newest missionary that has ever gone to Zonda. We were saying a prayer in a families house and one of the kids just started laughing like crazy. He just thought the way that he talked was really funny. I almost started laughing just because the little kid thought that it was so funny. He is the third member of his family to serve a mission. He is really going to help me finish the mission well. I am doing really well actually. I know some missionaries that don´t do anything their last transfer. I just don´t get how they can do that. I am trying my hardest do just do the best I have ever done. I have 5 more weeks to just kill it out there. It is going to be really sad to have to leave Zonda. Zonda is doing really well. It is probably my favorite area that I have had. It is so different just because it is so new. I love it.

This week we werent in Zonda as much as usuall because of transfers. But we still had a really good week. The Montaña Family is doing great. They got baptized on saturday and confirmed on sunday. I confirmed Sonia, the mom. It was the first time that I have confirmed someone. The bishopric usually takes care of that. I was suprised when they asked me. It was a really good experiece though. It was the first time that I have given anything to someone using the priesthood. I have never ordained anyone in the priesthood, I have just given blessings and baptized. So it was a relly cool experience to have to confirm someone.

On saturday when we went to the Montaña family to pick them up to go to the city for their baptism. (there is not a font in Zonda) When we got there they werent ready yet. Alejandro was still in the shower and I was kind of nervous. The water was filling up and if we missed the next bus we were going to be late for the baptism and the font was going to overflow and flood the church. So I was hurrying them along and we finally left. They have little kids so they were walking pretty slow. As we are almost do the road we see the bus come. Elder Frost and I booked it to go stop the bus. They bus driver barely saw us and stopped. We were so lucky. It we were ten seconds later we would have missed the bus and it would have been a really big problem.

We get to the church and no one is there. I was pretty mad because I had called a lot of people to go and no one came. There were three members in the baptism and 6 missionaries. It was horrible. Good thing they didn´t care. That is one thing that really bugs me. There are never a lot of people in the baptisms. But everything went well. The first one to get baptized was a girl named Luciana. As she got in her little brother started screaming NADÁ NADÁ. SWIM SWIM!!! So we had to calm them down to have the baptism. Everything went well with her. Then the mom Sonia got baptized. She took one stepp into the water and she slipped down the steps. It was pretty funny. Good thing she didn´t hurt herself. She just laughed it off. And good thing her kids didn´t see it because they would of been laughing really loudly. The other two were really good aswell. Alejandro is really tall and barely fit in the font. When Matias got in he thought it was so cool and just started laughing. It was a really good service. I liked it a lot. They all looked so happy. It really turned out really well. Everything was actually really nice.

We are teaching this girl who we were teaching her uncle. Her uncle just likes us as friends. He just likes us over to talk about anything. And most the time he doesn´t like talking about the gospel. Well as we were trying to talk about the gospel his niece Viviana was listening to us. I asked if she was interested in what we were talking about and she said yes and she also said that she is reading the book we left for her uncle. The book of Mormon. So we taught her the first lesson and set a baptismal date with her. She accepted it really well. Then at the end of the lesson a little girl game out and we asked who it was and she said it was her daughter. Then the question that I am always scared to ask because I hate getting the answer. I asked if she was married and she said no. AAAHHHH I hate that. It can take a while in Argentina to get married. Well we just went and will have to teach her about the Law of Chastity this week. But on sunday we went to her house to get her and she answered the door and I asked if she was ready. She said, ya I have been waiting. I love hearing that. She went to church and I think she really liked it. The house was full. There were twenty people from Zonda there. That is awesome. There has not been that many since I have got there. She was talking to some of the members there hopefully making some friends. I think she really liked it. Hopefully she will be able to get married fast. I want to see her baptized before I go home. I´ll keep crossing my fingers and praying.

That was about all for the week. It was really good Well I hope that you all have a great week. I love you all so much.

Elder B. Smith

the montaña family

August 1, 2010

Dear Family,


Wow, it is already august. I cant believe that. Time is going by so fast. CRAZY!!!! This last transfer went by so quickly. I can´t believe it has just been 6 weeks. But that´s how it goes. Thanks Jenna for the pictures and videos of Mac. They were really nice. He is so big. I didn´t imagine him that big. He looks like a really happy kid though. It is crazy how things change so fastly. Bryce is going to be a senior in ten days. I really can´t believe that one. That is really really crazy. That means it has been 4 years since I started my senior year. I am getting old. Oh well.

Ya I remember going to the Randolf Center. Like you said mom, it is really humbling (i dont know how to spell that). But it is a really good experience. I liked it a lot. It really does think of the blessings that one has. Just being healthy. A lot of people ask for that when we pray with them for the first time and I am finally understanding it. It´s just our family has been really blessed with being healthy. I hope it stays that way too.

I still keep forgeting that Jenna is in a new house. When you said their house looks really nice I just thought of the one by the wharehouse. That is going to be weird that she is way out there in the booneys. Spaghetti sounds good. I haven´t eaten a good meal in a while. I have a lot more respect for the member that give food to the missionaries. We have had one home cooked meal in zonda for the last five weeks. It has been weird just eating in the Pajarito eating a sandwhich(a nasty sandwhich) everday. But I garentee that the spaghetti sauce is better there than here. I like it, it is just not the best.

That sounds so nice with all the rain and the good weather. The weather has been pretty nice here too. Not too cold. I hope it stays that way. I don´t like the cold while being a missionary or atleast not in argentina. If it is cold outside it is cold inside too.

I am so excited to go to the temple again. It has been too long since I have gone. I need to go get refreshed. I just miss the quietness of it and just being so clean.

So is Kylie getting excited to start the mission. She only has like six weeks left before she goes. She is going to love it.

So we had a really good week this week. First off I am going to tell a story that happened today going to play soccer for p day. OUR BUS CRASHED!!!!!!!!! It was crazy. We were just going down the road and I was standing up just holding on to the bars and then a guy got up so I sat down. I was sitting down and then we hear the tires screak and everyone yell. Then BOOOOOMMM all the people standing up went flying to the front of the bus. I was just in my seat and how I was sitting I just hit my side in the seat in front of me. I look out the front window and we t-boned the car that just pulled out infront of us. What was she thinking? We helped the old ladys up. One hurt her knee and the other fell down the steps but I think she was ok. The lady in the car was bleeding pretty bad out of her eye. They ambulance got there and helped her out of her car and then we left. It really is a miracle that that is the only thing that happened. We hit her hard. I am just glad that a missionary didnt get hurt. There were like ten missionaries one there. I was thinking today. If something really did happen. It would ruin their mission. I am so glad that everything was ok. We were really blessed today that nothing happened.

So that is the bus crash. Well today we started a new transfer. My last one. It is kind of sad. Elder Vazquez is leaving and I am getting a new companion named Elder Frost. I don´t know him at all or even where he is from. I heard he is cool though. So I am pretty excited.

So with the Morales family. We baptized Carolina this sunday. Everything went well. She looked so happy. They have changed so much. We went to fill the font and the door wouldnt work on one side. So I had to go through the other one to change the water. That is why in one of the pictures you see me climbing through the font. It was pretty fun. It was a good baptism and the stake president which is the best by far leader that i have met in argentina did the confirmation. it was a really good meeting. Earlier in the week we were at their house and the dad came out and sat at the table with us (which has never happened before). He was just sitting there and he had told us before that he didnt want anything to do with it. he was ok with his family going but he dint want anything to do with it. He just sad down and i asked him what he thought of us(missionaries) now. his respons was a little lame. he said you are both really good. So i kept on asking him. i asked him about the changes he has seen in his family. he said that he really has seen a big change in his family. we then asked everyone there how going to church has helped in their lives. the best were of the mom and the two oldest girls. one of the girls said that it was a relief to go and just rest and learn. the other said that she goes because it makes her feel a lot better. one of the girls is 22 and has 2 kids. she never would stay with her kids. she would just go hang out with her friends. but a week ago she didnt go hang out, she wanted to be with her family. she said that it was the important thing not the friends. the mom said that she loves going to church because of the way her family has changed. when i got to zonda the mom said that carolina would never change and that she is the worst child she had. she now says the total opposite. you can actually see the love in them now. i love that family so much, i am going to miss then a ton. It is amazing how just keeping the commandments just really does bless people. i wish more people would realize it.

We have also been working with another family. The Montaña family. the one with the whole family and elder barlow with his super man shirt. They are a really good family. as you can see in the pictures that they are eating pixy stix. they really like them a lot. it also really helps keep the kids quiet during the lessons. There are a miracle. but this family is doing really good. they all went to church. they are a family of 7. they are learing a lot. the mom is a little slow with all the things but she is getting it slowly. they made us a asado or bbq on saturday. it wasnt the best but it is the thought that counts. we really hope that this family gets baptized because we need more priesthood holders in zonda. we have been really praying about this family. they are a really important family for zonda.

on sunday we had to go to the stake center. so we rented a van. there are 15 seats but we had a total of 20 people. it was AWESOME. Our goal was to fill the van and we got it. God is really blessing zonda right now. elder frost and i just have to keep on with the work there. he is going to love it.

last night i met up with raul meaurio. the guy that got baptized last year in santa lucia. it was so sweet to see him. he was really happy to see me too. he bowed down to me when he saw me. he also told me that i still have a piece of land if i want to build a house in san juan. ha ha he is funny. but it was really nice to know that he is doing good and that he is still active.

we ate lunch with the bishop chacon and his family. they are from santa lucia and we also visited a inactive family that we were working with. it was so good to see them all. it is good to catch up with all of them.

So i had to use that 50 dollars becasue the money that the mission gave me just doesnt make it for the month. we travel to much. but i need to know if anyone wants anything from here. i dont know what to get. the close are the same from the state and so is jewlry. so if anyone wants anything tell me and i will see if they have it here. let me know.

well i am about out of time. i hope you all have a good week. i love you all so much.

love elder smith

July 26, 2010

¿Cómo está familia mia?

Hey family, how is everyone? It sounds like everyone is doing great. Man, I can´t even imagine how pretty the mountains look right now. I am in a place that looks like mesa in the winter. There is nothing green. But I can imagine how it will look in summer. It has to be so pretty in summer. I´ll send you all some pictures. It is definatley my favorite area. I love it so much. That fish fry really sounded good. But I have to go on a good diet when I get home, I still have to loose some weight. I stopped loosing weight. I just got used to the ton of walking and the food i guess. I have a lot to do and a lot of goals to make. Thanks mom for checking up on that stuff for me. Man Brady is right. It is so weird being in this time of the mission. I have to work really hard though. I can make the goal I put for my second year. Just have to work like no other. We are doing really good and we have been really really blessed. There are so many families that i have learned to love here.

Happy Birthday to everone, Grandpa(sorry i missed it) grandma and katie. Grandma i liked the story of caleb. It is way funny how little kids talk. I love when little kids here want to pray. their prayers are so awesome. But it is ok if we are all looking old. Everyone thinks that I look inbetween 28 and 35 years old. I sure hope they are just blind. But it is funny anyway. they always get so suprised when they find out how old we really are. I think it is the clothes.

So we had a really good week this week. really good. We are working with a family right now. The morales family. They are so awesome. The love us. They are always making us presents and we love them alot too. They are so happy and nice. The awesome part is that this family was doing really really bad only like a month ago. When I got here they were about to split apart. They all hated eachother and they were always fighting. One even pulled out a knife and wanted to use it on her sister. It was crazy. Well there were a couple that werent baptized and we were still working with them. We didnt do anything differnt we just really wanted to show our love for them. We tried every thing. Playing dont eat pete, making banana bread and brownies and just being their friends. We have had a lot of talks about famileis and the problems they can have. They thought their family wasn´t good just because they faught. We both talked about our families, i told them i chased emily with a bat and we also talked about how much we love our families, how much we have been blessed by the gospel. We promised them a lot of blessings. The Lord completes with his blessings. He really worked a miracle with that family. The family is together. almost all of them are baptized and they love eachother now. The ones that were fighting and almost stabbed eachother, are now always together and always happy. one of them got baptized yesterday. They were so happy. The smiles on their faces were priceless. The family is doing good and they are going 100% with church. They are reading and praying and doing everything they need to do. Vanesa and Carolina have read 400 pages of the book of mormon. They are almost done. The power of the book of mormon is so true. They love reading it and they always have a ton of questions for us when we go. They are so amazing.

Yesterday they were suposed to both be getting baptized but one of them had problems and i wont go into detail but she is getting baptized next week. but one of them did. it was a great day in church. They learned a lot and the members(in the city not zonda) really helped them out and made them feel good. We have to baptize in the city because dont have a baptismal font in zonda. But we had a priest baptize her and everything was doing good. it was probably the best baptism i have had just because the spirit was so strong. We played a movie where there are clips of converts that are talking well they cuoted the book of alma when ammon is talking. He talks about how they were made into insturments in the hands of God. It hit me hard, that i was used as an insturment in the lords hands to help them. Right then i never felt a better feeling then my whole life seeing these people getting baptized. It was the best feeling every and i never want to for get it. i loved everypart of it. I love the mission and i love the people. they have so many trials and such a hard life, but they are fighting for something better, fighting really hard. It is so true, the promise of being blessed as you obey the commandments.

We are also working with a the montaña family. they are a family of seven. They are doing really good. The mom loves everything we are talking about. especially the idea of her sons going on a mission. They went to church yesterday, or actually the little house. It is so small. but it was really nice. they felt good even though the sister did not teach the lesson verywell. my companion and i had to do an overall summary so they could understand. Mom, i used your ;The purpose of fasting is fasting with a purpose. the members liked it.

On saturday we had a really sweet activity with the youth from the stake. They did an activity that they went on an island and they had a whole bunch of games and other stuff to do. They gave them white pieces of papers to buy things there. There were booths like dancing, video games, cooking, soccer, volleball, tie tieing, missionary work and some others. They go around doing all the thing and they sale their white papers for all the activities the have. the also get blue pieces of papers for doing wordly thing and white for doing spiritual things. we had an activity on how they can talk to their friends at school. we had some people but not a ton. well when it all finished they were going back to argenitna in the plane and the plane crashed. then they had judgement. everyone that had more white papers then blue got to go to the celestial kingdom and the others had to go to the terestial and the telestial. in the two bottom ones they were really hot rooms and nasty food. about 90 percent were in there. then the ones that went to the celestial kingdom were met my the stake president and his wife(the best lider i have met in my whole mission). They had some really good food and gave them a nice prise. it was so good. it was an awesome activity. it would be fun at home too.

the thing that suprised me is that the youth here are really strong. they have a huge testimony and they actually talked really well.

well if i am going to send pictures i have to go. but i love you all so much. have a good week.

elder smith