Friday, July 25, 2014

July 15, 2014


Hey Family!

This week was a pretty good week.  It was hard, and it’s been hard out here, but you just got to push on and not let the hardness bring you down.  It’s missionary work, and it’s never easy, but I sure love it.  We got Denice and Alejandro confirmed this week.  We had something crazy with that happen to us, but I will tell you the story later.  It rained super hard on Sunday.  That was a miracle, but it was super humid after.  All these crazy bugs came out, and I caught a wild turtle.  That was pretty tight.  Also it’s tarantula season out here, and they are just everywhere at night.  We saw 3 of them during the week, and it was crazy.  They were all in one night, so it was gross.  They are hairy suckers.  I am loving life though. 

This week, like I said, was hard.  We are having troubles finding people to teach lately.  A lot of people were gone this week because I think everyone is trying to get one last vacation before school starts.  Most of the members this week were gone, and so our member presents lacked.  I feel like sometimes I am doing most of the work, and that's hard, but what effs.  Denice and Alejandro got confirmed this week, and that was rad.  They showed up to church, and that was super awesome.  Sacrament meeting started, and we were waiting for them to call them up and confirm them.  The meeting rolled on, and they weren't doing it.  It got to the last part, and that's when I shot up to the stand and asked the Presidency if they could confirm them.  It was a whole miscommunication thing because one of the counselors thought she wanted a member that was out of town to confirm her.  But I just told them I don't care who does it - we just need to confirm them.  Presidente Portillo did them both.  It was super rad, and I was happy we got them confirmed.  It was a relief.  They are doing well, and it’s cool to see a new light inside of them.  I hope they progress even more.   Also this week we found a less active who I've been looking for since I got there.  Her name is Nelly Macias.  And old less active ward missionary put her name up on a board at the church, but the address spot was empty.  We have been asking her brothers and sisters about her, but they told us a street and the color of the trailer, and that's it.  We got a call this week from a member who has been in Chaparral since the ice age, and he asked us to come over.  He asked us if we could get the mail for him this week because he has to go to a clinic up in Las Cruces for his Parkinson’s.  We told him we would, and he came out with a slip of paper and gave it to us, and it was her address.  I was doing backflips in my chair, and we later contacted her and set up a time for us to come back.  I am super happy we found her, and it was a miracle from the Lord.  So that was pretty tight.  We saw Presidente Ramirez this week, and he is doing good.  I saw him on exchanges this week with another Elder, and we just talked with him.  He told us up front when we walked in that he just wanted to talk.  I love him so much and it’s sad to see that he has family problems and just won’t let go of the past and come back.  But he is a stud.  Other than that, not much happened this week.  We are struggling to find new investigators, so hopefully that will change this week.  It’s such a great area, and it just needs some hard work.

But ya, other than that, life is the same out in the desert.  It was weird this week to hit my 13th month mark.  I was thinking about how 13 months ago I was in the MTC, hitting my one month mark and being so happy.  Time has flown, and it’s scaring me how fast it has gone.  The mission is great, and I love helping people and just serving.  Time never slows down, and it’s weird but God always will take care of us.  I read a scripture in 3 Nephi 31 & 32:  "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need of all these things."  I liked that a lot this morning because no matter what we need God will take care of us when we do his will.  I thought I would share that with ya! 

It sounds like everything is good a home.  I miss you guys a lot, but it’s all good.  Thanks for the package.  Everything in it was rad tastic, and you didn't have to do that for me!  Thanks for everything.  Tyler - keep being a stud with everything dude.  You’re such a stud, and just hit the grass hard in football.  You deserve the QB spot more than anything, and you have the mind and mentality for it.  You are a great leader, and that's what the team needs.  Just keep being the duder you are, and it will pay off.  I will be praying for Scotty and for everyone.  Hopefully Scott gets in!  I love you guys tons, and I am jealous of Ella!  I can't wait to see her!  She has the best parents!  I love you guys, and you are in my prayers always!  I miss ya!  And happy 32 years mom and dad!  I couldn't have asked for better parents, and it’s been a fun time with ya.  There are a lot more memories to come!  Love ya!

Con Amor,

-Elder Smith

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