May 31, 2010

Hey family,

So you are finally up in the mountains. That sounds so good. It has to be so nice up there. I keep forgetting that you have a dog. So it is pretty cold up there. It has been pretty cold here too. It has rained almost all week. The roads get so muddy and our shoes and pants get so dirty. It is more fun like that though. We helped an old lady cross a muddy street and I got filthy. Oh well. When it gets cold and rainy that means that all Argentines just stay in the house. So that helps with getting into houses and teaching lessons, but not for church. Good thing that it cleared up on Sunday. It cleared up and was just cold on Sunday so that helped a lot. Elder Mendoza and I had a pretty good week. We brought a couple of our investigators to church. We were really happy. We had some hard weeks but it is changing now. We have one investigator that has had more baptismal dates than anyone I know. But she is finally ready. Now we are just waiting so that her husband can get the Priesthood and baptize his wife. We just have to push the bishop to have an interview with him. Hopefully everything goes well with it. We also brought someone to church that are living in a barn while they build their house. So you can imagine how their clothes look. It was fun though. They walked in a little late and it was right in the middle of Sacrament Meeting and he said with a loud voice. Good Morning to all. We didn´t have time to teach him about being quiet. He learned pretty fast though. So Elder Mendoza and I are going on 16 weeks together. That is a long time. We are getting a long OK for this long together. I have not been sleeping well though. I now know that I can not have a wife that snores. I can´t sleep at all. I bought some ear bluggs the other day and we bought some of those breath right strips for Elder Mendoza. You just can´t stop him. He really is like a train every night. But I can fight through it. Last night we stayed at the other Zone Leaders apartment so I slept in a different room then him. So I slept pretty well last night.

So this week Elder Zivic is coming. He is in the area presidency. We are all really excited. The last conference with Elder Bowen was amazing and we are all waiting for another one like that. Hope if goes well. There are going to be a lot of strikes this week with the buses. All the buses come in from Buenos Aires. If they catch a strike in any other providence we are going to have problems. We just have to hope that everything goes well.

So my birthday was pretty good. It was really slow with missionary work. Everyone was with family or hung over. We went to a couple of families houses and visited less active members. The Valle Family gave me a mate cup and straw which was way nice of them. They have a little 6 year old named Joselyn or nickname Pupi. She was so excited to give me my present. I have never seen her so happy. It was really nice. Rosa's family made me a cake and also we have some other cakes coming this week. So all in all it was as good as a birthday as you can have on the mission. It was a normal day so we had to work. But that is how it is going to be for the rest of my life. I just have to get used to that.

So my MTC group is getting smaller and smaller. We were supposed to be 4 missionaries going home together. Two are going home earlier for school. I would rather just finish my full two years. I can wait a little bit. I am getting nervous though for school. We were in a converts house helping them all with their English homework and they showed me their math homework. I am dead. I don´t remember anything. I am going to have to do some major studying when it comes to going back to school.

We are going to see what will happen in the next couple of weeks. I have three more weeks with Elder Mendoza and we are going to finish off strong. Keep praying for us. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all so much.

PS. i have not gotten the package yet but maybe on Thursday. If not Thursday it will be in like a couple of weeks. Also mom, could you tell me every week how much i have in my account. I guess every time I check here in charges me. So you know i have spent about 400 pesos. If you could put a little more in there just so I am safe that would be nice. I will pay all this back. I love you so much

So I have bought some stuff. I bought Bryce and I a jersey. It is pretty nice. It isn´t real but it is in between real and fake. I will send a picture home today of it. I am going to buy some mates today and some other stuff here in the capital of San Luis.

May 25, 2010

Here are some pictures.

1. this is a families grave cite. you can see inside and everything. it was really cool.

2. elder mendoza and i writing you all one day.

3. these are the tacos that we have when we go to mendoza for mission counsel. SO GOOD!!!!

4. these are all the elders that went to mission counsel.

5. this is the bus we went in. it is like first class everything. REALLY FUN.

6. elder mendoza and i

7. this is when they gave me the wine and we didnt know what to do.

8. elder mendoza and his wine.

9. this is the tie and the medallions that elder and i won from president lindahl.

10. here is some of the grave cites. it is really weird how they do it.

11. graves.

12 graves.

13.graves

14. graves (about to put someone in)

15. a grave house.

16. inside a grave house.

17. inside a grave house.

18. inside another grave house. this one was way weird.

19. one of the pathways in the grave yard.

20. 21 22. some more grave stuff. i liked this little statue thing.

23.this is the main walkway.

24. this is a huge grave house for people from spain. i guess that is how they did it back in the day.

25. this is a statue on one of the grave houses.

26. i am giving a sermon to elder mendoza and rodriguez.

27. 28. more grave stuff.

so here were the pictures. i hope you liked them. it was really cool to see how it is in a catholic country. love you all.

blake

May 24, 2010

Dear Family,

¡SOY VIEJO!! I AM SO OLD!!! I can´t believe that tomorrow I turn 21 years old!!!! Time is going so fast. A year ago I was in San Juan with Elder Alfonso. So much has happened since then. It is amazing what can happen in one year. I should be getting a couple of cakes tomorrow and through out the week. We are going to have tacos tomorrow with the sister that teaches Principles of the Gospel class. I am going to bring my last bottle of hot sauce from Mattas. I am pretty excited. We will see how my birthday goes. Today is a holidy also. They just decided to make monday and tuesday holidays. So it is really boring in the streets.

So things are not looking to good in Arizona right now. I know don´t know hardly nothing but it should be intersting. Things here with the government are not to great either. The buses are going on strike again this week. Wednesday throu friday. It really makes it a lot harder for the missionary work. Our area needs buses. Oh well, what can we do?

I sure hope Grandma is ok. That is really scary. I will keep her in my prayers. Hopefully she gets better soon. Take it easy Grandma!!!!! I am really glad that we have really good medical help where we live and also good police. It is just so different here.

That has to be pretty nice to have that in the mountains just waiting to go up there. It sounds so relaxing. Just to be outside and take a nap(siesta) on the cot. Hope you all have a ton of fun.

So the Gila Valley Temple is ready. I really want to go see it. I can´t believe that she gave 500,000 dollars to the temple. Atleast she used it for a good cause. It has to look awesome. I wish the people would just stop complaining about the temple. They will be such a good thing to have next to your house or your buisness. Oh well.

Alright, so this week was really good. We found a lot of really cool people. We found a family of 12. they all see really interested too. we will see tomorrow. we are working really hard and trying to be obedient and just leave the rest in the Lords hands. we are seeing some of the fruit.

yesteryday i spoke in church about testimonies. it wasnt to bad because no one came. it was so cold and rainy yestereday. it was horrible. but i think i did a good job.

we went to mendoza on monday and it was an aweomse meeting. president talked about james 1:5. it was so good. he talked about how it is the key to save your life. praying to God. He also talked about setting goals now and after the mission. it was so nice. the sister lindahl talked about the keys we have in the priesthood and how we need to use it. she gave us a key to help remind us of our power. we are supposed to carry it with us on our scriptures that we use in the street. it really helps. it is a good idea.

when we were on our way home we were in the bus. i asked to have a bottle of wine to take home with me but instead of giving me a bottle she gave me a glass of wine. elder mendoza and i were laught pretty hard. we just hid it in the cup holder. it was so funny. i just wanted the bottle. oh well.

so today we went to a cemetary. next week i will send you some pictures. it is so interesting. nothing like the states. you can see on there coffins. it would be so scary at night. you will see next week. well i have to send some stuff to the office so i got to go. i love you all.


blake

May 17, 2010

Hola familia,

Wow, first off i want to say. Josh i love the beard!!!!! I´ve never seen him with a beard. So they went to Atlanta for a concert. That sounds really fun. So Chad had his homecoming already. Time is going to fast. I can´t believe it. The weeks and days are just going like crazy. I always am asking Elder Mendoza where the time is going. We have been together for a long time. We are going for 13 weeks. It is my record with one companion. We are getting along really well. We are excited to keep working together. We know each other really well so we can teach really well together right now. Chad right now seems even better than before because he chose a really good meal to eat. HAYSTACKS!!!!! yuuummmm that sounds good. So it sounded like you had a pretty successful yard sale. It is a smart way to get some money for camping. When are you going to go up there??? Will this be the first year with the new trailer??? I bet you are so excited to go up there. I wouldn´t want to be in the heat either. Hopefully you can go up soon.

That is awesome that there are 3 temples in Arizona now. It will be nice to go and do a session there. Have you heard anything about the other two temples?? The last I heard the one in Phoenix was having problems. How is it now?? Hopefully they can start it soon.

I am glad that Grandpa has some help in the garden. I wish I would have helped more then I did before the mission. I bet it will be a great garden.

So we had a pretty crazy week. It was transfer week. Everyone got comfortable in their areas and now we are starting to work like normal again. We have a pretty good zone. Like always there are some problems but I am used to those now. It wouldn´t be normal if there wasn´t any problems. But I am loving it. We are seeing a lot of progress in our area. The families that we are working with are doing great. It was pretty hard for some of them to get to church on Sunday just because it was a pretty cold morning. It was like 36 degrees in the morning going to church. For an Argentine that is just like walking out into a blizzard. it was 2 degrees Celsius. they see that and they just don't go anywhere. there weren't that many people in the church. but that is ok. just testing everyone. we are pretty lucky where we live that if it is raining, cold, hot or anything we can just get in the car and go. here you either have to wait at a bus stop, take a taxi, ride a bike or walk. there is one member with a car. we are all tested in different ways.

this week we ate some interesting things with the Valle family. they cooked us cow tongue and cow liver. Lengua and Hígado. it was actually not that bad. it was kind of gross only because i knew what i was eating. this member works at a butchering place and meat processing place. he took some videos of his job. he took only three and is going to take more. but he took a video of when the kill them. they knock the cow out and then hang them upside down and put a huge knife through the heart. it was a lot of blood. he is going to put it on a DVD so i can take it home. i am pretty excited.

this Wednesday we are gong to Mendoza for consejo or mission counsel. i am pretty excited. i am mostly excited for the tacos. they are SO GOOD. we leave Wednesday morning at about 3 and get back at 11 at night. it is a really long day but it is pretty fun also.

we are working with some pretty good people right now. last night we were in a members house and a friend came over. so we were talking getting to know him. he was getting to know us. he had never talked to Mormon missionaries before. but he was asking questions like how long are we here and normal questions. he then asked how old we were. i told him to guess. he told me 25!!!!! i do not look that old. ha ha. but it was funny. he was 20 too. i queasy i look a lot older then him. i don't see it. but that was about it for the week. i will try to send some pictures. i love you all so much. have a good week. les quiero un montón.

elder smith











here are some of the pictures of the last little bit. i hope you like them. love you all chau chau

May 10, 2010

Hey family,

well it was great talking to you all last night. i can´t believe that it was the last time. but it was really nice. it was nice to here that everyone is doing good. that bryce broke his bed and he is sleeping on the floor like good old times. i have gotten over the habbit of sleeping on the ground. They just dont have comfortable carpet here. oh well. i just hope that there arent any scorpions. that´s awesome that weston has opened himself up and that he is now talking with a lot of people. he has got to be so much happier now. so what kind of plans do they have waiting for me??? that will be interesting. i hope that he gets his job back at lehi valley so that we can work together again. i think it would be nice to work at lehi valley again. i would really like too.

i hope the surgery for grandpa goes well. i heard it was a pretty easy surgery. a lot of people have catarats here too. i never even knew what it was until i came here. i wouldnt trust any doctor here to do it though. the hospitals are pretty scarry. i remember when i got my hernia. i was so scared to go into the hospitals. i was even more scared when i was in there. it is way depressing. i should have taken pictures. oh well.

i will be excited to here about chads homecoming. i cant believe his dad bought him all of that. that is so much money. a brand new car and that cell phone. oh by the way, bryce what is that new cell phones name???? i forgot. tell chad that i say hi.

So brett is eating intestines. i have gotten really lucky. i cant believe how i have not eatin intestines or stomach. they eat it all the time but i just have never eaten it with a family yet. they have all kind of weird stuff. the thing that i have tried and i just dont like is the blood sausage. it is called morcilla. it is so gross. i cant believe they eat it here. my companion likes to eat intestines they are called hígado. he just likes eating it because it is cheap but i think it is discusting looking. i am so glad we dont eat that in the states. yuck. ¡Que asqueroso! hopefully i get lucky and dont ever have to eat it.

so the assistants called us last night to tell us about transfers. want to hear something funny? elder mendoza and i are staying together. THREE TRANSFERS TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!! i am going to be with him for 4 1/2 months. that is so long. oh well. he is a cool kid. so i am staying here is villa mercedes, hipólito irigoyen for another 6 weeks. i am really glad that i am staying though. i really wanted to stay because there is a lot that can still be done and ha ha all the members know about my birthday. hopefully i get some cake :) we are still not quite sure what is going to happen with the zone. i know they are taking a couple of the elders out. they are taking two really good elders out. hopefully they send us some really good elders too.

i am going to send you some pictures of the baptism we had on saturday night. we activated a family and baptized her little girl. they are such a great family. i am glad i can stay and help them some more.

well i dont have a ton more to say. but i love you all so much. dont forget to ask irma about the mexican slang. and tell her this. irma usted sabe que los argentinos hablan mejor que los mexicanos. ya va a ver. soy muy orgulloso con castellano. jaja. pero la verdad es que nunca voy a hablar con argentinos otra vez asi que voy a estar hablando como usted con tiempo. asi que tiene que ayudarme con las palabras que ustedes usan. gracias irma. aguante argentina.

i love you all so much. tell brady and weston i say hola. have a good week. talk to you next week. chao chao

elder smith

May 7, 2010

(my cell phone) (other elders cell phone, elder sanchez and quebbeman)

011-54-9-2657-321-690 011--54-9-2657-321783

hey mom,

sorry that it didnt work. i have checked the number and it should have worked. try this second number. it is the other cell phone of the apartment. but try the first one first again. it is my cell phone. i will have the phone until about 3 here so about 11 at home. so you can keep trying with that. try the second phone inbetween 9-11 to try to get a hold of me. elder sanchez with answer the phone but his companion is a gringo so he will pass it to him. good luck. if i dont get anything today in the afternoon i will go to the internet place again and i will email you again. hopefully it will work. sorry that it didnt work. i will be waiting for you call.

if you get this email right away just email me back. we can try it right now.

te quiero

blake

May 3, 2010

IT IS ALREADY MAY!!!!!!!!!

time is going really fast. it is already may and we will be talking again this sunday. crazy!!!! before i forget i will give you the number real quick. so i want you to call on thursday night at like 6 30 your time. i am pretty sure that will be 10 30 here. we will give it a test call. and if i dont get a call thursday night i will send you another email. ok so here is the number. 011549-2657-321-690 so i will be waiting for the call on thursday night to make sure it will work and we will give you the time on thursday.

ok so sounds like you had a really busy week. which cat had kittens????? floyd??? mrs. cat??? or is there a new one??? but that is pretty cool. six new kittens there is the house. that should be pretty fun. do we still have that dog daisy??? man it is hard to keep track of things. oh well.

so it sounded like it was fun to go to Gila Valley Temple didication. i sure do miss the temple. that is something that i want to do right when i get home. i miss it a ton. we are so blessed to have a temple. my companion has to travel a day to get to the temple. we have fifteen minutes. we are so blessed. i can see that more and more each day. oh does el rey and the buger house sound good. i love argentine food but it just doesnt match mexican food. that is something that just cant be topped. aunt katies story about the bus sounds like what happened to us in febuary. when we get a flat too. it was pretty scary but we were just on a flat road. it is pretty scary. there are a lot of people on those buses.

so brein is dating. that is good. she deserves a good boy. she is a good girl. do you know his name??? so chad got home last week. he sent me an email. it is really weird that i am the last of the group. i am the only one in the field right now. but i am loving it. transfers are coming up. i will know what will happen next week. i dont know what is going to happen. i dont know if i will stay here or go somewhere else. i am up for anything. i am pretty sure that i will have one area more. i want to go back to san juan. i love san juan. we will just see waht happens.

so tylers old girlfriend is getting married. ha ha that happened to a missionary here too. his old girlfriend got married on his birthday. how does that happen?? oh well who cares. i know he is ok. he will find some one better. a prophet promised it. so you just have to trust it. ha ha. so you got pulled over mom. it is ok. it happens to the best of us. i got pulled over in utah too for the same reason. oh well. at least you didnt get a ticket. lucky duck. it is for keeping the commandments and going to the temple. cant wait to do a sesson there. so what is the new s on the other two??? anything good.

so this week was really good. i had to go to mendoza to get new cell phones. the mission got new cell phones so me and the other zone leader from san luis went and got them. president bought us mcdonalds and everytihg. we came back to san luis in a royal suite bus. it was amazing. it is like first class on the airplane. they give you all the pop you want. the seat folds all they back and they gave us a bottle of wine. BUT I LEFT IF IN THE BUS. i was so mad. i wanted it for a souvenier. oh well. right now we are working with the Valle family. there are doing so good. he is going to baptize his daughter this weekened. he bore his testimony for the first time in ten years. it was so nice. he really animated the members to help us too. he put our names in there for us. ha ha. hoepfully it will kick the members into gear. when he got down from bearing his testimony his two daughters gave him a huge hug. it was so amazing. there were so happy. i loved it. there is so much to do it this ward. i dont want to go. hopefully i stay. there are some more people to baptize and more families to help. i love it.

a lot happened this week i just cant think of it all right now. but everything is doing really good. i sure hope grandma is ok. i will be praying for her a lot. tell her to be careful and to use lights. i love you all so much. have a good week. chau.

elder blake smith

oh before i forget. bryce tell me about iron man 2. is it good? i saw on a news paper that it came out.