My Fifth Change Here!

Bueno,

So we had changes this last week and both me and my companion will be here for another six weeks. It has hit me hard because it's a rough area and companion and sometimes I can't handle it but I think God really wants me to learn patience and to trust in him with all my heart. 

 

This week has been a good week. The whole week I thought about where I would be going and I seriously could not even guess, I really felt like I would be in this sector again and well at the end of the week I found out I would.

 

We had this awesome lesson with Mauricio and man it was COOL. His friend was there and so we decided to sit down and listen. He is catholic so I thought things might go south. We started sharing our message and this guy had so much to say like trying to contradict what we were saying. But we helped him understand better. The coolest thing for me was that Mauricio was defending the things that he had learned from us and he really believes in the things that we teach. He is an amazing guy and I feel so blessed to be here learning with him and teaching him.

I had a cool experience yesterday with an inactive family and they recently had their mother die.. she had 92 years. I love them so much but they are so hard to help. They talked so much crap about the ward and ward members and then said they were happy because they knew that their mom was in a good place. I had the feeling to ask, so you are happy because you know she is in a good place but how are you going to feel when you never see her again. Then I started to cry..Ii think it's because I really do love them and want the best for them.  I said, "what I'm going to say right now is because I love you guys not because I want to hurt your feelings". I said, "You need to stop looking at the ward and all the problems and all the problems the memeber have, because that will get you no where in your life. Put those things a side and start thinking about your selves and what you can do better." Anyway, it was super strong and it touched me to hear some of those words come out of my mouth because I said it with love and not with anger.

We have been working good and now that we are going to be together again we have plans to do better and to try new things.

 

I'm so grateful that I can be out doing the things God wants me to be doing and I know that I am learning and becoming a new person just like the people that are learning about the gospel. I really have grown to love the people and it makes me sad to see them not happy. I know that God lives and he wants us to be happy but without him we cannot be happy. I know that through Christ all things are posible. I love the gospel. 

Love you all. 

peace, Elder Smith

 

 

Ultimo semana de esto cambio!!! wooot woot!

This week has been fast... I think it got slower when one of the other elders in our ward said on Friday, " Man this week has been slow." Well my week was fast and then it all slowed down on Friday! 

First thing, I think I have found something so awesome, I was thinking the other day and man I feel happy! After we had our zone conference I have just always tried to maintain a positive happy attitude and well that is just it!! I feel like sometimes we can choose our happiness. When we are doing the things we need to be doing and we don't feel happy its because we think too much and we are choosing to be sad. I have found that by choosing to be happy we are much happier. Man, who would have thought!!!

The mission is changing a lot. We are focusing on reactivating a lot. We still teach investigators but there is a lot of reactivation. We have been going through this list that is all members in our ward and there are a little over 1000 and only about 100 are active.

This week we found a less active family on Thursday and we made an appointment to pass by on Saturday.  We went by and the first thing that they wanted us to do was give there 21 year old daughter that is special needs, a blessing. They asked me to do it and man I felt honored to do so!! I love giving blessings! After, we sat down and we were talking to the family and I felt like I should share something about Tucker. With tears in my eyes, before I started talking I could feel the spirit help me testify. I honestly don't know exactly what I said but I do know that it touched them. The spirit was so sweet in that lesson and I was so grateful to be part of that. After, the father of the special needs girl had a doubt that he shared with us. He said, " Why does she have to suffer when she has never done anything wrong?" I told him I don't know why she was that way but I know that she accepted this life. She knew that she was going to come down and have these problems but she accepted it. Anyway, that was super special for me because I honestly could related to him and I feel like I used to have some of the same questions myself.

It's amazing for me to be out here and recently, I have thought about a time that I was hiking with my dad and my young men's president. I remember when we were hiking all day, I think it was the Dead Englishman, and we got to the last stretch and we didn't have enough time to get to the bus. so they told me to give them my backpack and start running so we didn't have to hike all through the night to get to the car. So, with motivation and not wanting to let them down, I took off into the dark and started running. Although, this seems silly,  I thought a lot about how I know I can endure. I know I can do hard things I just have to know I can do it. So with the mission I have thought about how I need to think man I don't want to let my Father in Heaven down and I need to take off and go running.

I love the gospel and I am so thankful that I am out here growing closer to God and Jesus Christ. I love you all and I want the best for you so when your down and low, lower than the floor and you think you aint got a chance... do the peter panda dance. HA but seriously!! BE HAPPY.
I love you all!!

> Choa,
> Con mucho amor Elder SMith

 

Maintain a positve attitude!

So this week has been good I've been really trying to find what will help me the most and I knew that we were going to have a zone conference so I prayed that I would get guidance from that. It really hit me when I got it because they haven't been that good. Our president literally destroyed us but to be honest it was more motivational for me. Some of the things that really hit me was that we need to maintain a positive attitude no matter what is happening or what we are going through in our lives. With the next he said we need to endure our trials with patience. This I liked a lot because usually when we have a trial we are always like man I can not wait for this to pass... well turns out 2 years is a long trial. haha I'm kidding but... seriously in everything we need to have patience in our problems and the hard times in our lives because that can bring joy in those time and it really will help us with being happy 100%.

We had a really cool experience this week with one of our investigators. His name is Mauricio and man he is stubborn. But this week was different. I think that the Holy Ghost has softened him. Anyway, we finished lesson one with him and really we talked about Joseph Smith the whole time but to finish we asked him if he would pray to end and without a stutter he said yes. In his prayer he talked about how his "friends" or us... he knows that what we are doing is true.. now he didn't say the gospel but this hit me.. the spirit was there and I had teared up during the prayer , it was so simple but it touched me in the sweetest way. 

I know the gospel is true and as I help others come to the fullness of the gospel I too am coming to know more and more. My testimony and my love that this is the only true church has grown so strong and I know it with all my heart. 

I love you all!!! Seriously!! Keep being happy and do the right things!!

CON MUCHO AMOR,
Elder smith

 

 

Be Happy!

This week was strange. I had a goal to be my happy self so I could be happier in the mission. It was super hard to actually complete this goal, and man I am still working on it. At the end of the week on Friday I had an interchange with the district leader and man it was a good change. When we were finished, he left me with a note and basically said dude be happy and have excitement, then left me with D&C 24:8 go read it!! It was good because it talks about patience and how we need it in our lives with our problems we have. Saturday, I really was so determined to have a happy good day and man it was, everything changed! Instead of feeling like we have so much time, it turned into, man we don't have anytime to pass by all these people. We worked hard and did a lot this day. I really enjoyed it. Something I noticed, was the harder I work the happier I feel!! God truly wants this work to be done and he is willing to give us what we need and want if we do what he wants. So if we are asking but not doing anything, nothing will happen(usually) So if your asking God for help and your just chilling on your butt, get up and do what God expects you to do.

So, Saturday morning I had a cool experience. We were walking and I saw this house that I have passed by more than like 20 times and I felt like I should go knock... I didn't follow the feeling then I took like 2 or 3 steps more and I felt it again so I went and knocked. I shared how we can have more help and blessings from the teachings of Christ. Then I asked if we could come in for a couple of  minutes and share something fast. She said yes and we went in. Her husband is having health problems and stuff and they really need the gospel . We shared something small...and asked to leave with a prayer...then he started crying and we asked if he believed that we could give him a blessing and it would help.  He said yes and we did so.  After we found out that he was baptized when he was younger and then they shared that that don't usually let people in.  We have another appointment with them this week and man I'm excited. The Holy Ghost truly is a whisper and if we don't follow it we will miss precious times like these and it also offends the Holy Ghost. To develop a strong relationship with him we need to follow what he teaches us. 

I know this gospel is true.  I have had the sweetest experiences on my mission and I continue to see the blessings help others and me. I know that if we follow Christ in his church and we are faithful to our covenants we make with God we will have never ending happiness!!

I love you all!! Have a happy week and be yourselves!! haha that's what I will be trying to do!!

Choa,

Con amor, Elder Smith

(Note: D&C 24:8  Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.)

 

Gordon B Hinckley

“Don’t be gloomy. Do not dwell on unkind things. Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. Even if you are not happy, put a smile on your face. ‘Accentuate the positive.’ Look a little deeper for the good. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life.”