Refining ourselves!

Well this week was good! We were able to work hard and find a lot of new people. 

In church we learned about refining ourselves. The teacher asked us if we thought that being a member was easy. One of the brothers said that after he got his testimony it was easy for him. I said that the idea of us is to progress always and I think that it’s hard because giving the example of a return missionary because sometimes they get back and they stop to study the scriptures and then with time the progressing stops. This happens with all of us. We get comfortable with where we are and we don’t move forward. But it’s so important to keep active and always move forward. 

I know that God lives and loves us. I know that he wants us to be happy and i know that when we feel pain he feels pain. HE is our Loving heavenly Father that sent his son Jesus Christ so that we could return to him. I love him and am so thankful for Christ and I love him so very much for what he did for me and all of us. 

Be happy!! Move on! 

Con mucho Amor,

Elder Smith

The work is progressing!

Bueno,

Last week was super good! We have been finding more and more people every day and the work is progressing. We taught one of our investigators named Jorge more about trusting God. He really wants to go to church and really he believes everything and loves what we teach him but his poor little wife is so sick and he doesn’t want to leave her alone or bring her with him. We testified that if he did what God wanted everything would be okay and he would be blessing. So at the end of that lesson he said, "I’ll think about it".  Then we asked if we could call him to help him wake up and go. He said, "don’t bug me too much”.  So, we ended with that, said a prayer and hoped for the best. Personally, I didn’t think he would come... or I guess it was more of forgetting because I thought he was bugged with us. 

Then on Sunday he walked in.... and this guy lives pretty far from the church. He walked and he walks with a cane. HE put his trust in the lord hoping that everything will work out fine. I love seeing this in people, when they do things that aren’t easy especially because we don’t know how God will bless us but just know that he will bless us and help us!

Also, another one of Gods children decided to get baptized and make a promise with him yesterday! It was so amazing seeing this little boy grow and understand. Even though it takes little by little for him to grow to understand he has changed and I truly love him and am so grateful that I am able to help him and his family. 

I love you all!

Con Mucho Amor 

Elder Smith

We are here to help!!

Well this last week was so good. We worked hard and tried to do our best the whole week. We have started to find more and more people that are ready for the gospel and it’s interesting to find people in places that we never thought would really have success. 

We have been finding a lot more people and I think we will start to see more success. We will be having a baptism this Sunday... well if all goes well. His name is Vicente he is 11 and is special but his mom and sister are members and his dad is not. They are very good members and I think that it will be good for them. Basically, he didn’t get baptized at the age of 8 because he was afraid of water. But now he is good. We have taught him everything in very simple ways and it amazes me to see how smart and awesome he is. 

This week was full of cool things. On Saturday afternoon I got a call from the President’s wife and I was confused why she would be calling me at this time. She told me that one of the sisters in our district was having an asthma attack and couldn’t breathe so we ran to where they were and found her on the ground.  Thankfully, right when we got there a member showed up with his car so we put her in the car and ran her to the emergency area. We got there and the sister couldn’t walk and the ladies that helped her out of the car couldn’t carry her and I had all my hands full. So I asked my companion to help but he looked at me like he was in shock... soooo in that moment I picked up the sister and I ran her into the place. They helped get her stable and now everything is okay. It was funny because I had called the Sisters to get their number for the week and then she started going off about how embarrassed she was for what happened and well it was a weird conversation. I told her that it was fine and that, that’s why we are here... to help. Anyway, it was a crazy experience that happened.

I talked in church  about how we need to listen better to the spirit and think more about the simpleness of the gospel and focus on our heart and how we can feel the spirit. I know that we can feel the spirit by doing good things and what God wants.

I love you all!! 

Con mucho Amor,

 Elder Smith

Can we decide to live the gospel more fully?

Well this week was good. I think that I have learned a lot about something.  The gospel doesn’t change and neither does the spirit. Well a lot of people have talked to me and said “Well sometimes we have to spend money on Sunday and so we have to do it,” or other things like that. Someone else said that the Sabbath is personal and that we all live it differently. My opinion on that is that is true. It is personal... but we all have to follow the spirit to know how we can sanctify the Sabbath Day. I think that if we all follow the spirit we will all be doing about the something because the gospel doesn’t change depending on your family or who you are. The gospel is here to help us and we need to follow it to show love to God and Christ for everything that they have done for us. 

Well, I have thought a lot about the talk from President Uctdorf this last conference.  Last week someone invited me to read it again. Really the gospel is so simple and we don’t need to look for something big to show us the way or an answer to a prayer like Joseph Smith’s. We need to focus on our heart and how we feel. No bad thing is from God.  All good comes from God, therefore we need to follow the good that comes to us. 

I know that this is true and that this is the true church and that Jesus Christ is guiding it and us through President Monson. I love this gospel and am so grateful for the change that it has brought me. I pray that we all can decide to live the gospel more fully so that we can become like Christ. 

Con mucho Amor,

Elder Smith