Tuesday, December 23, 2014

December 16, 2014


Hey Family!

Another week has flown by and life has been crazy out here.  Transfers came and went this week.  I got a new companion this week as well, and that was awesome.  We have been pretty busy this week with a lot of things.  I feel like life has sped up, and it has been just crazy.  I have been really tried lately but that is okay.  I think is because of stress and just being worn down.  I think every day of the mission is tiring.  I don’t think there has been a day that I haven’t been tried, but I sure do love it.   We had a really good, kind of crazy, and a little bit of a hard week.  But it was a great week.  I sure do love ABQ.

My new companion is Elder Chamberlain from Holladay, Utah.  He went to Olympus with me, and I knew of him.  He was a swimmer and a water polo player.  He is a super cool guy, and I really enjoy being around him.  He is showing the ropes of being a ZL right now, and that is awesome.  We had to do a lot of reports this week, and that was crazy.  We had SMCM meeting this week with the Stake, and so we had to type up all these reports for the Zone and present it to the Stake President and his councilors.  It was a little crazy and took some time, but we did it!  The meeting went really well, and the Stake is happy with the work that has been going on right now.  We also had to drive down to Socorro on Tuesday.  It is like a 1 hour drive from us, and it was a crazy drive.  We had to bring an Elder that was supposed to be dropped off there on the way up from El Paso, but he ended up not being dropped off.  We had to pick him up and then drive our night away down to Socorro.  It was a gnarly drive, but we got to see some of the Elders in our Zone so it was cool.  We have a super big Zone.  It is the biggest Zone geographically in the mission.  We have Elders 2 hours away from us on a reservation.  It is kind of nice to have a big Zone and have a lot of missionaries.  We are working hard and trying to change this Zone around.

Our investigators are doing pretty well.  Magda, Osvaldo, and Tanya are still on date for the 17th of January, and I am really hoping they will make their date.  I know they want to, and they are striving for it, but it’s been kind of a struggle.  Osvaldo has moved in, and they aren’t married yet.  I am just hoping everything will work out, and we will get them in the water in January.  I love that family to death.  Jesus, another one of our investigators, is doing well.  I think I wrote about him a while ago but I am not really sure.  We had an awesome lesson with him and his wife.  He is definitely prepared for the Gospel, and he is trying to find something better for his life.  He is a super cool guy, and he accepted a soft baptism invite this week.  His wife is still trying to decide whether it’s for her or not.  I know we will be able to get him and his wife baptized.  We still haven’t seen Jamyll yet.  We had an appointment with him and his dad this week, but when we showed up Jamyll wasn’t there.  His dad apologized because he spaced it and sent him to the movie theater.  We ended up sharing a thought with him and his mom and it went really well.  We have an appointment with Jamyll tonight, and we are hoping it goes well.  Other than that we haven’t had too much success with our other investigators.

 Our less actives are doing well, and we had a lot of success with them this week.  I don’t know what Elder Chamberlain has, but a bunch of less actives just poured their soul out to us this week, and that was cool.  Hna Trujillo told us how she was having problems with her husband because he is drunk and is debating whether to leave him or not.  We did a fast together, and we went back to follow up with it, and they took off to Mexico because her Grandma died.  So they went to go take care of that.  We are really making progress with them, and it is awesome to see that happen.   We are just crossing our fingers that they finally come back and are active again.  Aaron is showing signs of improvement as well.  I have notice a change in his soul.  I don’t know if it is because he is drinking tons right now and is just happy all the time, or if he stopped it and has the Holy Ghost with him and the Light of Christ.  He has been much happier and just full of life.  The past couple of weeks he was different and not happy.  He seemed to not care as much and just didn’t want to talk.  Lately, he is laughing and having fun with us.  He is just different, and I love it.  We fasted with him as well, and he committed to do it.  The day he was fasting he was able to find a job, and that was awesome.  He called us the night he was fasting and told us how he found a job and asked if he could eat.  We told him he could because it was like 6, and he was happy.  He was also super happy because it was the first time he really fasted.  It was awesome to see that happen to him.   We went over Sunday to chill with him, and he was talking to us about the fast.   He told us how when his mom and sister started making food he went to his room and locked himself in and didn’t come out till 6.  He told us how he fought his hunger by writing down all the things he was fasting for on a paper.  He really changed from fasting, and it was awesome to see that happen.   There is light for him, and he is now changing.  It is awesome to see.

That was my week for you in a nutshell.  We worked hard this week, and it paid off.  We were kind of busy, so that was a little crazy and hard to work sometimes.  We are trying to carol as much as possible right now, but it’s sometimes a little hard with everything we have going on.  I sure love it here in ABQ, and dad you should be coming down to the game this week!  It’s like 15 minutes away from my place!  I love ABQ that is for sure.

This week, or sometime, I need you to make me a Skype account and also for you guys.  I am going to be Skyping this time instead of using Facetime, so I need you to hook me up with an account and send me the info next emailing session so I can sign in without a problem on Christmas.  I will be doing it at the church, but I don’t have the times yet.  I will let you know for sure next Tuesday.  If you could just figure out the Skype thing and make me account and hook it up to the account, I will call - that will be great.  I am super excited to talk with you and see you. 

It sounds like you had a blast at the Packers game!  I got the stocking so thanks a million!  It made me feel like I was right there with you guys.  I am bummed that I missed out on the game, but that is alright!  I love the pics of Green Bay and everything.  I sure do miss you guys.  If you could also send me some new basketball shorts that would be great.  One of my pairs has a hole, and my other is hanging on by a thin thread and has paint all over it.   I sure do miss you guys and pray for you daily.  Mom, it’s kind of funny you are studying the New Testament right now, I am doing the same thing.  I just got done with John 2 today, and I have loved reading the New Testament.  It has really taught me who Christ was.   He is our Shepard, and we are his sheep.  When we show our love to everyone, we are recognized as one of his disciples.  He is an amazing person and through him we are changed.  We must follow his ways and when we do that, we become like him.  That is our goal in life - to become like him.  This time of season we reflect on him, and we don’t need gifts or presents, we just need our Savior.  He is the perfect gift this Christmas Season!   Happy Birthday Tyler this week!  Big 16 baby!  Love you, and miss you!

Love,
-Elder Smith   

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