Thursday, September 4, 2014

September 2, 2014


Hey Family!

It is good to be sitting down writing you guys again.  I am jealous that football is in full gear right now.  I am mad at myself because I never played football in high school.  It’s been my regret forever, but that's alright.  I wish I could see Tyler and the Pack take it to the house this year.  But I can’t wait till next year to see that.  We just got back from eating an awesome burrito at Los Pollos Hermanos or Twisters.  It is such a good burrito and pretty dang cheap.  I love it out here in ABQ.  It has so much life to it, and it’s just fun.  This week was a really good week, and the Lord blessed us a lot this week.  The part that sucked this week is my companion crashed our car into the back of someone because he wasn't paying attention.  So we don't have a car right now.  We probably won’t have one for 3 weeks, so we are taking the buses around, riding bikes, and walking.  It’s really wearing me down.  It’s been frustrating because the it has kind of slowed down our work, and our area is huge.  But what can we do?  I have serious respect for Sean and Scott for walking and doing all that stuff on their missions.  I am out of shape or something because it’s hard on me, but I can handle it.  The Lord will help me through it, and we will ask members for help. 

Our investigators are doing really good right now, and that is amazing.  We struggled to find new contacts last week because we focused a lot on teaching.  So hopefully we will find a lot more new investigators since we are going to be out and about now.  Overall it was a really good week.

I think I told you last week that a member, Hno Munoz, who is a stud, is having us teach his son, Jamyll.  He is very prepared, and he is seeking for the truth.   We had a lesson with him last night, and we asked him to be baptized.  His dad gave a really good testimony about the importance of baptism, but in the end Jamil told us he wants to read and pray to find his answer.  That is really awesome that he wants to do that and try and discover the truth.  His dad is checking up with him every day with reading and stuff, so that is really nice.  Jamyll is also the one begging his dad to come to church every week, which is super sick.  I am excited to watch him progress and find the truth.  I will keep you posted on him. 

We have another investigator named Griselda.  It’s another part member situation like Hno Munoz.  Her husband and kids were baptized a couple months back, and she decided last minute not to be baptized. So it’s been a struggle working with her.  She loves the church but just doesn't want to be baptized.  We have a date with her right now for the 13th of September, but she won’t pray for the life of her.  We keep on asking her if she would, and she says yes, but when we follow up with her she says she hasn't.  That's been the cycle with her so that is a struggle, but we are working through it.  I know the Lord will help us with it.  I also feel like she knows the church is true but is just scared to change her deep-rooted Catholicism in her family.  It is a project, but we will get through it.  Paco, our crazy investigator, is doing good, and he is still investigating.  He came to church this week for the second time, and that is really good.  He seems like he really likes it there, and he told us there is a really nice feel to it.  We told him that is the spirit, so that was really cool.  He also loves the peaceful music, and that was cool to hear that.  He is cool but crazy.  Those are pretty much our most solid investigators right now.  Magda won’t work out her problems with her boyfriend who is living with her still, so she can't get baptized till something happens with that.  She has told us she really wants to, and in return we tell her to get married, but she hasn't pulled any strings to make that happened. 

I also blacked out this week, or I was going to throw up or something, because I always black out before I spit some chunks.  I remember Scott had to catch me in the jungle when that happened.  We were giving a member a blessing because he crashed on his bike on the way to work.  He just completely destroyed his face, and he asked for a blessing.  I went to do the first part of the blessing, and I got super dizzy and just felt weird.  I hurried and sat down on the couch and let the member and my companion do the blessing.  I blacked out for a minute, and then I had to throw up.  But I kept it in because I prayed that I wouldn't, and I didn't.  But I broke out into this really bad sweat, so I have no clue what happened there.  Maybe the Lord just wanted the member to do the blessing so he made me sick for a minute.  I have no clue what happened, but I am feeling pretty good now. 

Living with 4 Elders is a trip, that's all I can say.  There is never a dull moment in our house.  One of the other Elders, Elder Christensen, is a stud.   He came out just last transfer, and I just love being around him.  He and I are just deep cleaning our house right now because past elders have just trashed it.  So we have been cleaning and everything.  It has been fun.  We found really bad black mold, so we are going to attack that this week.  We called up Sister Miller and asked her what to do.  She told us Clorox will kill it.  So we got some masks, and we are going to go hammer on it this week.  So wish us luck.  Other than that life is good and fun.

It sounds like everything is good at home, and everyone is in one piece.  I miss you guys tons, and it’s weird how fast time is flying right now.  I was stunned when I was writing in my journal “September 1st.”  It feels like yesterday it was just May, but, nope, that has passed, and we are on our way to fall and winter!  I hope you have a wonderful week, and I miss you guys tons!  Keep it steezy for me, and good luck in football this week!  You are always in my prayers!

Love,

-Elder Smith

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