Wednesday, November 12, 2014

November 4, 2014

Hey Family!

It was so good to hear from you and hear about your Halloween.  I am super happy you guys had some fun, and I wish I was home for the action.  Mom looked super good, like usual.  She never fails to amaze me.  Scott and Wendy were classic, and I am still chuckling over here about that.  Everyone else looked really good, and I miss you guys tons!  I am happy the Giants won!  They took it again for the 3rd year, and I couldn't be happier.  Thanks for getting me those items.  You guys do too much for me. 

I am doing well out here - just working away at the everyday grind.  I love it out here, and I love this city.  It has been getting really cold lately so I have been freezing my butt off at nights.  We don't have any heat in our house.  I put on my Oregon jacket, and that helps with the cold at night.  I am just handling it, Harry.  I might have to buy another blanket, but I think I’ll be ok.  We are working hard out here, and the Lord is blessing us.  I love serving a mission and the people.  It’s a joy to do what the Savior would do 24/7.  It opens your eyes to so many things.  I wrote in my journal this week how the mission really increases your gospel knowledge and helps you understand it better.  It’s amazing, and I love it.

This week was a little bit hard, but at the same time it was a really good week.  We worked hard and gave the Lord the best we could.  I know that I could have worked harder some days, but that’s alright.  We weren’t able to see Jamyll this week.  His dad has been at work and also at the hospital because his uncle has a tumor.  I did go on splits with his dad this week and we talked for a while.  He told me that Jamyll really wants to get baptized, and it’s something he wants to do, but the only problem he has is he wants to talk with his mom about it.  I guess that has been a struggle.  I think she might live in Mexico our something.  I think he is also kind of scared to talk with her.  I hope he will do it soon because he is super prepared.  Juan kind of blew us off this week.  We had appointments with him and everything but he wasn’t there, or he told us he was busy.  So that was frustrating.  Hopefully we will reconnect with him this week and be able to teach him.  He is awesome, but we struggle with appointments with him.  We have a new investigator name Cladio.  He lived in Rio Grande North’s area, but he and his family moved over here into our area.  His wife is a recent convert, so we are strengthening her and trying to get him baptized.  He is an awesome guy, and we had a great lesson with him this week about reading and praying.  We had some good laughs, and the spirit was strong.  The miracle from that was this Sunday.  He showed up to church, and the other Elders told us that he hardly comes.  It was a pretty cool to see the Lord work miracles.  I think he enjoyed it.  I am hoping he did.  I am happy we are teaching him.

We had a lot of success with our less-actives this week.  Aaron Gallegos is back into his routine of coming to church every week.  I hope he progresses with the Gospel again and doesn’t fall back into his old habits.  He is going to still need some strengthening from us and the ward.  He blessed his 2 kids this week, so his whole less-active family came, and that was awesome.  We did some service for his mom this week and hopefully that opened her heart a little more this week.  I hope we get her back to church and get that family going again.  It’s an awesome family, and the ward needs them badly.   I love working with less-actives a lot.  Hopefully we will get some back. 

We are also still dealing with crazy bible bashers, and that is hard but it’s good. The ward had a Trunk or Treat also, and that went well.  My companion and I put on our cowboy hats and passed out some candy.  I will send some pics for you. My companion is still having really bad luck with dogs.  I don’t know if I told you this story, but my companion got attacked by a dog again.  I about peed my pants.  We were walking down this street, and I was walking near this fence, and this dog came bolting out and ran past me and started biting my companion.  It didn’t care one bit about me - all it wanted was my companion.  I was laughing, and my companion was trying to get it off.  We were both laughing really hard.  Yesterday we were walking in a trailer park, and we almost had a dog bust through a fence to get us.  I think the Lord was protecting us.   It was crazy but we are safe.  That was my week for you in a short couple of paragraphs.  I am doing good - just working away

It sounds like everything is good at home, and I do miss not being there.  I love the fall at home, and I am missing that right now.  It’s crazy how fast time is going for me.  I can’t believe that it is November.  It feels like yesterday it was summer, and I was out in Chappy dealing with the heat.  Now it’s freezing over here, and it’s fall.  I love it though, and I am just trying to make the best with the time I have left.  I am happy to hear everyone is good at home.  Dad,  I would love to go to the New Mexico-Utah State game with you next week….the only problem I have is that I have no way of getting there right now.  I hope it’s an awesome game!  I hope the Pack bring their A-game this week and kick some butt!  I love you guys tons, and you’re always in my prayers!  I also finished Jesus the Christ this week, and I loved it!  It was such an awesome book, and I learned a lot.  I hope you guys have a great week, and I miss you tons!  Keep it steezy for me!

Love,

- Elder Smith

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