Hey Family!
Another week has flown by out here in the desert. It was a
really awesome week to say the least. The Lord blessed us a lot, and that
was great. I love this work so much, and I am scared to leave it.
We have been working hard out here and trying our very best. I know there
are days that I could have given it some more, but that is all good. I
like my companion a lot. He is a stud and fun to be around. I just
had to give it a week and settle in with him. The work is picking up
again, and I am enjoying it. Sunland Park is interesting, to say the
least, but I love it. I swear my whole mission I’ve been in the boonies
with Spanish people, except in ABQ, and I love it. I love the desert and
the sand/dirt. There is nothing better than New Mexico/Texas. This
mission is great.
We had a lot happen this week. We had missionary work to do,
we had to help missionaries out, give a training in Zone Conference (my boots
were shaking on that one), and some other things, but it’s all good. Life
has become a lot buzzier ever since I was called to be a ZL, but I really do
love serving missionaries and helping them become better. It been great,
and I love it.
Our investigators are doing good right now. We found a new
this week! We were super excited about that and happy that we did.
His name is Eduardo Rodriguez. We found him through a media referral
which came from the church. The English missionaries actually got it and
tried calling him, but he didn’t speak any English. So they called us and told us to call
him. He referred himself online through the church website. He told
us that he was going through a hard time, and he talked with missionaries in
Arizona when he was living over there. They just couldn’t work things out with
work and everything. He moved over here, and life has been going, but it
has been hard lately for him. His wife
walked out leaving him with 5 kids. He knew that the missionaries could
help out. He referred himself, and that’s how we found him. We
taught him the restoration this week, and he loved it. He accept a soft
baptismal invite this week. When we ask him if he knew this church is
true and everything would he be baptized, and he said that he would. We
are going to try and set a date with him this week, and we are super excited
for him. He is awesome, and we are working with someone fresh now. It strengthened my testimony when we found
him. We have been praying to find a family of 5, but we have had no luck
with it the past weeks. We have been praying and praying and finally we
just starting praying to find just one. What do you know, we found a
family of 6, and we have been so happy. I love the Lord. He goes above and beyond what we ask for
always. It may not be what we think we need, but the Lord and God know
what we need. Praying works, and it’s so simple but people sometimes
think it has to be complex. The Lord only asks for a simple prayer with our
heart to him, and he delivers us always. So that was a miracle we had this
week.
Jose “Joy” Gomez is doing really good right now. He has a
date for the 22nd of March right now, which is this Sunday. He
told us he really wants to get baptized so he fashioned his schedule to be
baptized. But we have MLC this week on
Saturday, and that will be all day, so we are going to have to baptize him on a
Sunday. Our Ward Mission Leader, who is a RM, isn’t really on board with
it. He told us that we would have to talk to our mission president to
receive permission to do that on a Sunday. We did that, and President was
fine with it. The only problem is he
would have to wait a week to receive the Holy Ghost, so that would happen ther next
Sunday. Our WML just wants to have him baptized next week so he doesn’t
wait a week to receive the Holy Ghost. But
why keep someone from receiving blessings from baptism a week when he wants to
do it? That is kind of frustrating us right now, so we are just hoping
something pans out with him. The sad thing also is that no one in the
ward is really supporting or fellowshipping him. He comes to church,
people shakes his hand and then walk away. We have to sit by him and help
him when a member should help out. We have brought members over and tried
to get a friendship started, but nothing has worked. We expressed this
concern to President, and he told us that his baptism right after church might
be a good time to have the members step up to the plate and bring him
in. We are praying hard for what we want to do. I hope we get a
baptism this week, and that would be really great. Joy is awesome, and I
am excited for the future he has ahead of him. He is super prepared, and
it’s great.
Noe and Patricia are still kicking it. They are struggling,
and we are working with them. We are just hoping they come to church, and
I know without a doubt if they do that they will get baptized. They are
just struggling to get there. They know it’s true and everything, but
they aren’t doing the actions to get that conversion. We are praying for
them a lot lately.
We tried finding new investigators a lot this week, and we found
nothing but hard-headed people. Anyone we found who was solid we had to
hand over to the English Elders because they preferred English. I never
meet so many devoted Catholics in my life. They are usually open to
hearing us out, but the people we found this week were just nut cases.
One guy we found and gave him to the English Elders came running off his porch
drunk as a skunk telling us that the work we were doing is awesome. It
was making me laugh because this guy with a beer in hand was getting in our
faces and telling us how awesome we were. When we were waking into the
area he was in, he was blasting the Lion King movie music in his house and singing
along and all. When we were walking back is when he came running out of
his house telling us how awesome we are. He told us we could come back,
but he wasn’t there. Hopefully the English Elders have some luck with
him.
We had Zone Conference yesterday, and it was awesome. We
gave a training on the Holy Ghost to our Zone and another one in front of
President again. I was shaking in my boots to say the least.
Hopefully it came out well and missionaries took something from it. We
have a special MLC this week with Lynn G Robbins, so we are excited for
that. We get to make the trek up to ABQ this week, and I am looking
forward to that. Other than that my week was just a missionary
week.
It sounds like all is well at home, and I miss you guys a
lot. You are always in my prayers, and I will keep on praying for
everyone. I hope Tyler doesn’t get hurt, Dad settles in more at work, and
Scott hears a yes. I love you guys tons, and I know this gospel is
true. There is no way this gospel isn’t true. It brings people joy
and happiness. I love you tons! Have a great week!
Love,
-Elder Smith
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