March 9, 2009

Dear Famiy,

Well it sounds like everyone is doing really well. Ya and that is weird that annie is married now. That is really weird. It just seems like life stays the same at home and nothing changes but that is wrong. But that is cool. And then Brittney is getting married. That’s really cool too. I think I met him before I left but I am not sure. I am happy she will be able to go through the temple pretty soon. I miss the temple a lot. I think I kind of took advantage of the temple so close before the mission. It is really a sacrifice for the people to go here. They have to take a bus to Buenos Aires or try to get to chilie but still it costs some money which a lot of argentines don’t have. We are lucky to have a temple so close to our house.

It is weird that Justin speaks so soon. It seems like he just told me he got his call. I am excited for him to be speaking Spanish. He will love it and he will love new york. And I cant wait to hear where brenton will be going. That would be awesome if it was here. Because president lindahl got a letter from the first presidency saying that they want this mission to be one of the biggest in south America. Right now we are like 150 missionaries and they want it to be a mission of 200. that would be amazing if he came here. Ha ha and president just wrote me saying ¨good progress, about time to be senior comp.¨ I don’t know what that means this transfer or next but I hope next. I want to learn the language a little more. But ya transfers are next week. I am pretty sure I will be leaving Bermejo, but I have liked Bermejo. The only problem is that it seems like I have knocked almost every door and talked to every person too. But we will see. That will be cool but I like it here. I finally know the area like the back of my hand. I know the area better then some members who have been living here for a long time. But that’s mission life. Oh and you can tell tanner judd that I live with the elders that work in Los Coralitos. They are way good and tell him that area is doing really well also. And elder macías served in one of his areas too and said it was doing really well..

Oh so I got the package you sent me. I got the sock and the candy and the letter. Thanks a lot. So Diego came to church again. He is way cool. We only have to drop the two cigarettes he is smoking a day and he is good. He has not drank for two weeks. He is stopping smoking tonight. But he is really good. She always says that he is so thankful that God put us in his path because he was going down hill. He is way ready for this change in his life. And we are ready for another baptism.

So this week in march madness we had a really good week. We only needed two more lessons last night and we couldn’t get them because we found an inactive family that took a long time. It was still good though. I had the best numbers of lessons and open the mouths then in my whole mission. We taught a lot and talked to a lot of people.

Ha ha dad I know how you feel about being sore. We played American football two weeks ago and I havnet ran that much in a long time. Man were we all sore after that. But it was a lot easier to run around with out forty more pounds. Why didn’t I lose all that sooner. Who knows.

Well this week I will send you some pictures. I will send one of two dogs that live on our road that just always get in fights and scare us. They are huge and also of my new jersey. Guess what tomorrow I have been out for 6 months!!!!!!!I love you all so much.

Elder smith




1. Elder Berezay and i with our jerseys
2. Elder Chase and i at a restaurant
3. Rocky and two face (the names of the dogs)

March 2, 2009

Hey Famiy,

Well it sounds like everyone is doing good but first. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYCE AND JOSH!!!!!!! wow bryce is 16 and josh is what like 29 ha ha just kidding. but happy birthday. wow bryce you are a presbítero and you can bless the sacrament now. i remember my first time. i was scared to death. but you will do great. ha ha i hope. tell me about it. and emily. wow you cooked a nice meal. i wish i could of tasted it. i guess you will have to cook for me when i get home. the mission sent me a letter saying they are sending the mission a recipie book. i am excited for that. on sundays we cook our own food and i cook spegetti. even though i love it i think i am ready to cook something else too. but that is really weird that annie is getting married. i mean really weird. but i guess good if she is happy. hey bryce maybe i will be able to set you appart as an elder. that would be cool. tell me what you think. hey but that is in more then 2 years. but to answer the question about the wether it is still really hot. but supposefully it is going to cool down this week. i am really excited for that. oh mom could you tell me again how much is in my bank account i dont want to accidently not have any in there. but today i bought a soccer jersey. from the team tomba it is the one that the member plays on. i will take a picture and send it next week.

well this last week was really good. i baptized cecilia on saturday and she was confirmed yesterday. it was really nice we had like 25 people there. that is a lot. mainly because our branch only has like 50 active people. but it was really good. i baptized her and elder riggs played the violin. it was really nice. i will send pictures too.

so yesterday we had diego in church. he is really good. and i really think he is goind to be baptized. he is really fun too. a little weird but fun. we are working with him to get him to stop smoking and drinking he is doing really good. he is like at one a day. went from twenty to one in like a day. we just have to get rid of that one. but really good guy. she wants to change and be a better dad and husband.

really quick mom. could you ask tanner judd the areas that he served in and what time he served? thanks.

so yesterday we were walking to church and i was in my suit and i heard something hit my jacket. ya it was bird poop. it was pretty discustiing but oh well it washed out. it was just grorss.

also another cool thing. we were walking in this field and we found 12 liters of soda. ha ha just in the middle of a field it the package and everything. so we walked it back to the pench and now we have pop for a long time. it was pretty funny.

ha ha somthing that happened with the baptism. we were trying to start the water heater and my comp forgot that the gas was still on so he lit the match and a huge flame flew out of the water heater and hit me in the hand and him in the face. ha ha i dont have hair on my fingers anymore and he is lucky that he still has eyelashes and eyebrows. it was really funny though.

this week starts march madness. it is just a thing the assistant and president are doing to make our goals a little harder and get us to work harder. they are to open the mouth with someone 32 times a day for five days in a row. have 16 new invesitigator lessons in a week. have 8 people in church. and have 4 baptisms. they are really hard but we have all month to work on it. if we dont get it this week we have next week. but we are going to do it. if we do it we get to go the the mission home and watch the life of president hinkcly and have popcorn. i dont know if it sounds fun you but as a missionary it does. the only problem is that transfers are on the 18th and i am pretty sure i will be leaving bermejo i almost have 4 months here. i dont know we will see. oh and in like a little over a week i will have 6 months on the mission. wow. well i love you all so much. talk to you next week

elder smith.





1. Cecilias baptism
2. our church of bermejo
3. elder berezay and i at a statue of the virgin mary and we are sad.
4. our zone after we played football americano and ultimate freesbee

February 23, 2009

Dear Famiy,
Well it sounds like everyone is doing really well. Ha ha especially Mac. What a kid burping and farting all the time. That a boy. Well he isn’t really like me anymore. I guess I kind of stopped that. I really don’t do it as much anymore. Well sometimes. But not like I use to. Ha ha so something funny really quick. So last night I saw my jeans in my draw and I thought I would try them on because I haven’t worn them since my first p day here. And in the mtc I was going to leave them because they were kinda tight on me and didn’t know if I was going to want to wear them. But I brought them anyways and tried them on last night. Ha ha they are kind of big on me. They are for sure not tight on the legs anymore and they are definitely not tight around the waste. I can take them off without unbuttoning them. Ha ah it made me feel good. But ya I still haven’t weighed myself in a while. But I am pretty sure I am still losing because I have to make another hole in my belt. Yay. I am not going to lie. Starting the garden sounds pretty fun right now. It would be nice to help out with something like that. We always ask to help people that are working outside and they just laugh at us. WE KNOW HOW TO WORK. But they don’t know that. And they are really prideful and want to just do it themselves. Oh well one day I will be able to work like that again. So Emily to answer your question. Ya you can attach pictures. But it is still good to get pictures too. Oh ya. I got three of the little yellow packages. Thanks for the cards and they socks and the pictures. They are awesome. It was nice to see all the pictures from Christmas. With josh singing and everything. Looks good josh.
So yesterday we were walking back from church with an investigator and I finally realized that missionaries walk at a really fast speed. Ha ha we were walking back and I just couldn’t walk that slow it was bugging me so much. But he was just walking normal speed. I guess when I am done with my mission I will just have to slow it down a little. But one of the families that we are teaching they told us to be safe when we are walking home. And Diego said, oh it is ok they walk really fast they will get there in no time. And it is true we walk really fast. Ya I don’t know why I just told you that, but now you know we walk fast.
So lets see. We went to Belén’s house this last week. And she told us she has been reading from the for strength of youth pamphlet. So when we got there we asked if she had any questions. She said no. but then she said. Man now I have to get rid of almost all my clothes. I cant wear those clothes anymore. Ha ah that was awesome to hear. She is really changing her life around. She is a really cool girl and she will be strong in the church.
So this Friday was zone conference. It was such a good conference. The zone leaders had a special transfer because of a problem in another zone so one of our zone leaders was transferred a day before zone conference so the zone leaders but together a conference in one night. It was still good. They used a parable of Jesus and is was really good and spiritual. And then Hermana Lindahl talked about when Jesus raised Lazurath from the dead and had them take off his grave clothes. And how we need to take off our grave clothes and start our life again. Our graves clothes are our old sins and our old life. It was such a good talk and her Spanish is getting so good. And president talked about teaching families and how he wants us to double our numbers and teach more. Then they showed a new way to transfer from one companion to the other while teaching. It is called the limpia parabrisa. Windshield wipers. It is just a new way to teach with out pauses and teach when you are ready. So we practiced it with our companions and then president had two missionaries go out into the plaza and find someone that would come in and listen to our message. Ha ha first they brought in a drunk so we just all shook his hand and he left. Then they found a really cool guy. And two sisters taught him using this new method. It was way good. Haha the funny thing is that this guy was taught with forty missionaries watching him. I would have been scared to go into that church. Ha ah but it was really really cool. They also challenged us to read the book of mormon in 66 days. It tood Joseph smith 66 days to translate it so we are reading it in 66 days. It is going to be really good. The only problem is i just got done with 2nd nephi and now I am starting over. Ha ha oh well.
Well this Saturday we are baptizing the friend of Belén. So another baptism yay. But other than that everything is good we are going to play soccer today and it will be fun. I love you all so much.
Elder Smith





1-me and elder riggs and elder berezay
2-zone conference, the missionaries of our appartment
3-the arces. it is their third mission. they are machines
4-me and elder sullivan my zone leader

February 16, 2009

Dear Famiy,

So lets see. it sounds like everyone is doing really good. thats what i like to hear. ha ha so i got your valentines card. i totally forgot about that holliday they dont even celebrate it. but thanks a lot for the card i really liked it. i wish elder macias could of saw it he would of thought that it was so cool. kinda like when we went to shopping. shopping is a mall here. and ya it is called ´shopping´. but when we went in he was so amazed. he never seen anything like a mall in his whole life. he would like the card i know it. but so ya. FELIZ CUMPLE EMILY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Wow you are getting so old. How old are you? I forget. But happy birthday I love you. So mom got to meet the osmands. Or something I don’t know how to spell it. That is so cool. And went bowling. We aren’t aloud to go bowling anymore so I am glad I did it the first week of the mission. Ha ha but oh well I am not here to bowl I can do that when I get home. Speaking of that, i have already been gone 5 months and in this transfer I am going to complete 6 months. Wow crazy. Almost a fourth way done with my mission. Crazy.

So the parents of elder riggs are Karen and larry. Don’t know if she is going to know them but that would be cool. So ya elder riggs plays the violin in sacrament meeting and in makes it so much better. Argentines don’t really know how to sing. And when having investigators it makes it a lot better. I cant believe I am saying this but hearing about the garden. I actually want to do some stuff like that. Everytime we ask people if they need help while they are working they just laugh. The must think we are some weird Americans that don’t know how to work. They got the weird Americans part right. Ha ha. Today we were talking about how much we like that we can talk in English and no one will understand us. It is so much fun. Ha ha. So ya I think I am going to finally send pictures of the last baptism now. Oh and dad. Ha ha we don’t have a ward mission leader the baptism was on us. Ha ha it went well the only problem was that the branch president was late. But other then that it was way good. We had to youths speak about baptism and the holy ghost and I baptized her. It was way good. She has been reading from the book of mormon and we are going back to see her tonight.

So lets see. This last week we found a new family. They are diego and natalia. They have three kids. And they are really good. We found them knocking doors. We have gone over there like 3 times now. And I really think they are going to progress. I sure hope so. They like the thing about the word of wisdom. She doesn’t drink but they she wants her husband to stop. The good thing is that he wants to also. They understand everything really well. We watched the restoration with them last night. And they loved that part when God and Jesus Christ appeared to joseph smith. We gave them a book of mormon and left them 2 nephi 31 and 32. it is so simple. The only way we can get to live with God again is if we are baptized and receive the holy ghost and endure to the end. I just am learning how to teach it to them so they see the importance too. If they read and pray I know they will know it is true. They are going to be so good. I know it. So another funny thing about them is that here in argentina you have neighborhoods that have names. So they live in neighborhood San Jorge and in the neighborhood they have block that are lettered. So there is block a, block b, block c and so forth. They live on block d house number 10. so in Spanish it is d diez. And de diez is a saying. Like it means awesome. If someone asked you how you are doing you say de diez. So this family lives on d diez and they are a family de deiz. I don’t know if you got that but it is pretty funny for us here.

So something else really funny. We were knocking doors and we found a family that just moved into the branch. And they asked if we have pictures and so I gave them my little album. They started looking through it and the grandma said ¨I don’t see you in any of these pictures¨ I said no I am right there is the middle. Ha ha and then they said. Man you were fat. I guess that is a good thing that they said I WAS fat. Ha ha I thought it was funny.

So bryce wanted to here something funny. So we were walking down the road and we saw a lady with a hose watering down two dogs that looked like they were just playing in the water. But they were fighting and the lady was trying to stop them. But we didn’t know so we just kept watching then she yelled. Don’t watch help. So we started throwing rocks and the dogs but they just kepted fighting. So elder riggs got a huge stick and just started pokeing there heads. That didn’t work so the lady said hit them. So he hit them over the head with this branch. Hard. They finally stopped and ran away. But it was funny. We were just sitting there throwing rocks and the dogs and hitting them with stick. I guess there was a dog fight outside our pench this morning but we were studying in the other room. I heard it was a pretty good fight too.

Well this next week we have zone conference I am really excited for that. And other than that everyting in good. We are working hard and are getting way tired everyday. But hey that is what we are supposed to do. No? but I am happy and and understanding more and more each day. Ha ha oh ya. The daughter of the de diez family likes to listen to us because she likes our accents. If that gets her baptized I am fine with it. Well I love you all so much. Be safe.

Elder smith

February 9, 2009

Dear Family,

So sounds like everyone is doing really well. Newly painted house, nice cut lawns, ha ha sounds fun. ha ha not really. for a service Project this last week we cut a members lawn. Ha ha but we had to use a little electric weed eater that didn’t work very good. Ha ha it was really horrible actually I really appreciate the stuff we had for doing yard work. But lets see wow it is already February it just seems like we had Christmas. And we are already almost ten days into the month. Oh speaking of the tenth. Tomorrow I hit 5 months in the mission. Wow and in this transfer I will hit 6 months. I am going to be a fourth way done with my mission in a month. That is crazy. And that is so cool that brenton is starting his papers. The zone leader told me when we did divisions that the first presidency told president lindahl that they want this mission to be a mission of 200 and right now it is a mission of like 160. Ha ha that would be so cool if he got called to this mission. I think he would like it. It is a little different then the states though. It takes a little getting use too. But over all it is fun. Ha ha elder morgan, a zone leader, we were talking about how we just really don’t fit in at all. So he just likes to do stupid things. Say weird things to kids. Say we can speak japaneese too and just make up nonsense with the kids. It is pretty fun. Ha ha and we have a new elder in our apartment and it is just fun to watch him in the streets because he doesn’t fit in at all. He is a way Utah elder. Ha ha. But ya that would be amazing if brenton came here. It has happened. Elder west, Gardna´s grandson. Him and his cousin served in this mission at the same exact time. But now they are home. Wow that is weird. So lets see the stuff that has happened this week. So on Monday elder macias and I were walking down the road and I was thinking to myself that we need to find more people. So I said a little prayer so that I would be able to know where the house that we needed to knock. What would be the sign that it would be that door. Then a thought came to my head that the first house that we walk by that we hear English we need to knock that door. So we did. And a person answered the door that was a little scary looking but we talked to him anyways. He was pierced in the ears a lot of tattoos and a little goatee. We just talked to him anyways and got into his house and taught him. The only part of the story that isn’t cool is that we haven’t been able to find him in his house yet. Oh well. So I had to say goodbye to elder macías on Wednesday. It was kinda sad I really liked him he was a way good elder. And right now he is in school in the plata in Buenos aires. Way weird. So I got my new comp on Wednesday too. He is from west valley Utah. His name is Elder Riggs. He plays the violin really well so he plays it in baptisms and in church. Oh speaking of baptisms we had another one this week. Her name is Belén Oropel. She is sixteen and I was able to baptize her. It was way cool. She wanted more friends in the church so we invited every youth we could possibly invite. We got about 17 people at the baptism which is way good. But she said it was awesome. She came to church yesterday and received the holy ghost. And we might be having a baptism either this weekend or the next. We are doing pretty good here in Bermejo. Right now we have baptized three weeks in a row. Yay. But I am doing really well. To answer a question from dad. People do eat a lot of beef. And they have this thing called an asado. But I have only been to two. At an asado they eat a lot of beef and they are really really good. So ya the beef is way good. Oh and don’t buy Bryce pants that cost that much. That is a joke. He doesn’t need panst that cost that much. But ya so the internet place that I am in I cant send pictures so I will have to send pictures of the two baptisms next week. But I love you all and I cant wait to hear from you all next week. I love you. Bye.

February 2, 2009

Hello Famiy,

Well it sounds like everyone is doing really good. Which I like to hear. Ya wow this week went by really fast. Really really really fast. We worked hard this last week because it is elder macía´s last week in the mission. He leaves for home on thrusday. Weird. Ha ha well this week also went slow on Wednesday and Thursday. I got sick Tuesday night about at 8 p.m. I just started feeling weak and we still had a long way to walk back to the pench so I just pushed it and went right to bed when I got there. I woke up at 1 in the morning burning so I took my temperature and it was 102 then threw up and coldnt sleep. Ha ha but everthing is good now. Feel back to 100 percent. Yay. It was so boring just sitting in the pench on Thursday. I so like working more. Ha ha. That’s good though. Well to start out. That stinks that the cardinals lost. Not like I will hear about it here I don’t hear anything about football. Oh well there is always another year. So dad had some questions that I will answer. Lets see for breakfast I eat a bowl of cereal and I drink a little bit of yogurt. I love the yogurt here. And for lunch we eat with members. Sometimes it is good. Sometimes I just have to shove it down with some pop. And for dinner well we just eat a little snack before we go to bed. We don’t have time for dinner. But we eat at members homes Tuesday through Saturday. And everyweek another sister is the ward washes our clothes. Sometimes they cant wash garments so I have to but for the most part there are enough that can. In our branch we don’t have ward missionaries or a ward mission leader. They are trying the get us one but for know it is just me and elder macías. And ya there are sister missionaries, in my zone there are two sisters and the sisters are machines. They get things done. Ha ha but ya the mission is awesome. So on Tuesday we had a little zone meeting before district meeting and elder macias and I won the bull. Ha ha the bull is for the companionship that did the best for that week. So for this week we had the bull or el buey. In our pench. Ha ha it was nice. But lets see. Oh so transfers are this week and I am pretty sure I am still going to be here in Bermejo and have a new companion. It stinks everyone in my pench knows what they are doing for transfers except me. Oh well I find out tomorrow who my new comp is. But this Saturday we had another baptism. We baptized the brother of facundo his name is Alfio. He is so smart. Elder berezay told me that in his interview he knew all the commandments really well and he is only twelve. He will be a good member. So right now we have two baptism in a row and we think we will baptize belén this Saturday too we will see.. but Bermejo is doing good right now. Working hard. Yesterday we bore our testimonies at church and it wasreally nice. I wasn’t stumbling over words like before. Having elder macias as a comp has been a huge blessing. Huge.
So we saw a really realy gross sad thing this week. We saw a dog on the side of the road so we thought it got hit by a car and was dead. But we walked past it and saw it breathing so we went to see if it was ok and in his back he had a hole about the size of a softball and there were bugs coming out of the hole. Like worms and stuff so he was just suffering to death. It was so sad. I don’t know why I told that story but oh well. Well I hope everyone is safe and has fun this week. I love you so much.
Elder smih

January 26, 2009

Dear Famiy,

Well i hope everyone is doing good that was kinda scary to hear about mac. I sure hope he is ok trust me we will be praying for him this week in my personal prayers and companion prayers. That is so scary, and then todd getting in a crash, whats going on. Ha ha crazy crazy crazy. Well atleast everyone is alive that is the good thing. So i think the shirts that i have are called stratford shirts. I really like them too. They have been working really good. But they are really nice and not to thick too. Thats so cool that justin went through the temple. Wow that doesnt seem that long ago but it really was a long time ago. Ha ha in june. 7 months ago i think. Wow time actually does go by fast in the mission. This next transfer i hit my 6 month mark. Wow. I think the address that i put on the letter is the better address. Becuase i took it right off the paper i have with the mission address on it. But who knows. I dont. That would be really nice to get something from me for brittany because elder morgan sent a package that weighed a half a kilo and it was 40 pesos. Expensive. But i am still going to do a little somthing for her with what i can. I havent even seen anything here that would be worth getting that couldnt be bought in the status. But i am always looking. Oh about your lesson. Ya it is hard to teach kids and make then realize the importance of the gospel. But we have a conversation with a guy saying he had the holy ghost. But the people are wrong. They can feel the holy ghost but they cant have it with them as a constant companion until they are baptized and confirmed. And then you have the gift of the holy ghost. And it is so important. I know it is hard to get it into their heads but all we can do is try. Oh and with chase judd is he is presidents secretary it either means that he will be traviling with the president or he works in the offices. It is good i guess he will be with the president more and if his president is like mine it is good. Ya today i will try to write weston a letter. That is sad i just realizad that me justin and brady will be gone. Man that is sad. Ya i will write him. So all i have heard this last week was ohbama obahma everywhere i went. One guy always says oohh the people of obahma. Ha ha but it is annoying. I start telling people i am from canada it is a lot easier. Ha ha. Oh and someone sent me a christmas card and with 5 dollars but i have no idea who they are. Who are the seiters???? So this week i did divisions with the zone leaders and i was with elder morgan. We had so much fun he is so funny. We messed with the little kids and just had a lot of fun. I also did divisions with lavalle and i was with elder Villalba. He is from paraguay. We were walkng down the road and theri was a store called Arizona. So i bought a water from him and asked who has been to Arizona. It was a kid who has about 25 years and he finished school at dobson hight school. It was wierd but cool too. So a bishop came to our pench to spray for bugs and didnt give us back the key but he gave it to elder berezay who we live with and we say elder berezay in the street and he said oh i lift the key on the front porch. But there is a note on the door saying where it is. I freaked out!!!! I was so glad my camera wasnt in there. Ha ha but they thing he said next brought me comfort. He said, oh it is ok i wrote it in english no will understand. Ha ha and it is true no one understands. Ha ha.

So ya on Saturday we had the baptism. And we were filling up the font. And i said esta agua es para limpiar el pezcado. After i said this my comp looked at me funny and then i thought i little bit. I sait this water is for cleaning fish. I wanted to say this water is for cleaning sin. Sin is pecado and fish is pezcado. Ha ah. Ya i felt stupid. Bu the baptism went really good. I was able to baptise him. His name is facundo Alarcón. It was really nice. A really good experience and we are also planning on two baptisms next week. The brother of facundo and a girl named belén. We are going to work hard for them both.

I will send some pictures. But i love you all so much i hope mac is better. Be safe i love you.

Elder smith




photos.

1. this word means a lot of waters. our name of our district.
2. our celebration coke. yum!!!!!!
3. this is the baptism photo. facunda has nine years.
4. waiting for the baptismal font