Tuesday, December 2, 2014

December 2, 2014


Hey Family!

It was great to hear from you this week.  I miss you guys tons.  It was fun to have a visit from Dave this week.  I will have to tell you about that story later.  We are working hard and giving it our all right now.  I love this area, but I am scared that my time is short.  We have transfers next week, so P-day will be on a Monday.  I am finishing training, and I don’t know if I am going to stay or what.  I love it here like all my other areas, but there is just something about ABQ that I love.  It is an amazing city, and I truly love it here.  It is unique, and the people are as well.  It has a good feel to it, and it is just a fun city.  I am kind of scared that I am departing, but we will see.  This week we had a lot of success.  It has gotten colder so it’s a little bit harder to contact people.  But that is ok.  We are having success with less-actives like usual, and that is awesome.  It was a good Thanksgiving week, and for the first time ever I didn’t have turkey on Thanksgiving.

Our investigators are doing really good right now.  We haven’t set any baptism dates this whole transfer, which is a struggle to say the least.  We have been striking out on that.  I hope we will be able to set some dates this week.  That is my hope.  We were able to get members out with us this week, and that was awesome.  We took a member out to the boonies with us to see Maria and her family.  It was a short lesson because they don’t have any light out there.  We were sharing a message under flashlights, so that was kind of cool.  She has been having problems with her sewer system, so she asked if we could help her with it.  We had the member look at it, and it just drains out into the desert.  So from what I understand it’s been freezing.  We are trying to get the ward into doing a service project, and we are hoping it goes through.  Every time we go out there I get this weird feeling in her house.  I think there is something fishy that we don’t know about, and I hope we dig it out.  We haven’t been able to see Jamyll in a while.  I don’t think he has gotten back from Mexico.  I still hope he comes back with good news.  We are continuing to work with Osvaldo.  We have been teaching him and teaching him.  I am just hoping that he will say yes to a date, but he keeps telling us that he wants to work things out with Magda and get baptized together.  My companion and I think he should just get baptized and lead the pack.  It is a struggle.  We weren’t able to see the Fam Ramos this week, and that was a real bummer.  They called and canceled on us, so that was a bummer.  They told us that they would call us next week, so we are planning on just going by tomorrow if they don’t call.  That is pretty much an update on the investigator end.

We are having pretty good success with less-actives.  I think my companion thinks I am nuts because I love going by their houses.  We found a new less-active this week, and that was cool.  His name is Hno Escobedo.   We stopped by on Sunday to see him.  He told us he is somewhat of a new member, but he now is going to the Catholic Church and really likes it there.  He told us he is in a group over there with all the guys, and they talk about Jesus or something, and he is enjoying it a lot.   I walked out of there just thinking how hard it’s going to be to get him to come back, but I know that the Lord can do it.   We are going through the ward list right now and calling all the people we don’t know.  We have had some success with it.  We found another guy last night.  He asked us to call him today, and he would tell us what days are good for him.   Aaron Gallegos hasn’t come to church in a while.  I don’t know what his deal is.  He told us it has been a struggle waking up, but I think there is something more to it.   Hopefully he comes soon.  Other than that, all the less-actives are doing well.  It has been hard, but it’s all good.

I was funny to run into Dave Hildebrand this week.  We were pulling up to our house, and we were driving by the mail box to check the mail.  Our mail box is just off the side of Gun Club, and we share it with our landlord.  But we noticed there was a car in front of the mail box.  We checked the mail, and we didn’t think much of it.  We pulled into our parking spot, and then the car pulled up behind our car, and then this man got out.  We were like what is going on?  We kind of live in the ghetto, so we were like something is about to go down. He walked closer and closer to the window. I rolled down the window and said, “Hi, I am Elder Smith!”  He responded, “I am Dave, I know you!”  He grabbed my shoulder and looked back to the car and yelled, “We found him, WE FOUND HIM!”   I was trying to figure out in my head where I had seen him.  I realized soon that is was Dad’s really good friend.  I got out of the car, and we started talking.  His wife got out of the car and gave me a hug, and she was like this is from your mom.  His son also gave me a hug and told me it was from mom as well.  They gave me the package, and we talked for a minute.  He told me he lives out in Paradise Hills.  It is just a little bit over from me in ABQ.  It’s probably a 20 minute drive from me.  He gave me his business card and told me to call him whenever I need something.  He is a really nice man.  He was talking a lot about you, Dad, and how you are such a great friend to him.  Thanks for the package and the surprise visit from Dave.  It was nice to meet him, and he is a great guy.

Thanksgiving was good out here, and we had success.  We had one of our dinners with the bishop and we had pazole.  It was a good meal.  The other one was huge, and it was Guatemalan food so it made me think of Scott.  We have a member who is Guatemalan, so she makes Guatemalan food when we come over.  I think I like Mexican more, but it is still good.  It was a good Thanksgiving.  

That was pretty much my week for you.  We were able to see a lot of people, and it was a really successful week.  Funny thing is that I got attacked by a dog for the first time with my companion.  I guess his good luck charm ran out.  Life is good out here. and it will be interesting to see if I get transferred or not.  I will let you know Monday.

It sounds like everything is good at home.  I am happy the Pack won this week.  It made me excited when I read that they won.  I hope you guys have a safe trip next week, and if it is too much of a hassle to email me don’t worry about it.  My life is the same, and you’re having a blast.  Get me something good from Green Bay!  I hope you guys have a great week, and it is full of fun!  I miss you guys tons, and give Beary a scratch for me!  I am excited to see you guys in a couple of weeks over FaceTime.  I am looking forward to that!  Love you, and you’re always in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Smith

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