My motto is to “Don’t leave anything behind”

Family (: I love you ALL so much!
That was a wonderful email Mom and it made me soooo happy! Don't really worry about the phone call thing, if it happens next Tuesday and nobody answers, they will let me call again so that I can tell you if I got my visa. Also, since this is the start of my fifth week, if I don't receive my visa by the end of this week, we will go and talk to the Travel Office and they will start working on our re-assignments! There is a sister missionary that is going to Peru and she didn't get her visa yet so she was supposed to leave this past week but they decided to keep her here for the next 2 weeks to see if her visa will come. If it still doesn't come then they will re-assign her temporarily, but for now she was put in our district. She is going to the Lima central mission and she is very nice! I just hope if my visa doesn't come I will be able to serve stateside for a bit because I don’t want to stay here for two more weeks. I am literally in the Lord's hands right now and so wherever he needs me to be is where I will serve and do my very best! One new thing I have learned here is that I am not that patient, and so I am grateful for this opportunity to force myself to be patient. I have come to the understanding that I’m in God's hands and wherever he needs me is where I will go, and do my absolute best! I need to be the best missionary I can be. My motto is to “don’t leave anything behind”.I try my best everyday and I try to be the best missionary that I can be, so that I will be led to those that need to hear the gospel!

That sucks for the jazz. I hope the Lakers gets smashed! Thanks for the updates! I hope Ziggy gets drafted to a good team! I am a little sad I won’t be able to attend the wedding but at least my cardboard buddy will be there haha! I bet Mom has the most unique ideas for the wedding, like she always does!

I miss ping-pong a lot! I bet Dad will be way good by the time I get back! but I’ll still beat him (; haha… probably not though...

That is really weird to think that we will be getting a new stake president! I am way happy that I got that chance to have those amazing interviews with President Lew! He is a really unique guy, and the blessing that he gave me was so powerful.

My Spanish is coming along! Each day it gets better and better. But these past few weeks we have been learning some hard rules about it. We are about done learning everything that we need to so we should be reviewing soon! Este evangelio es muy fantastico, y estoy muy agradecido por este oportunidad a servir Dios. Yo se que Dios es bendiciendo mi y nuestro familia por este servicio.

Dad, I really want to thank you for being such a great Dad to me as I have grown up. you have been there for me have always have taught me so many things! I hope that you have more good days than bad days with your stomach! But I know that you make the best of things no matter what! thanks so much for all that you have done. Thanks for being my best friend. Te quiero mucho papa. Dios le amo tambien.

I am so glad that Jordan finished school! I had the opportunity to fast for him this week, so I hope everything went well! It is so insane that he is getting married on Tuesday! I can’t even explain how excited I am for them! Elder Quiroz and I did sealings this morning and I couldn’t help but think of Jordan and Emily! It was so exciting to hear all of the blessings that they will be receiving! They both mean so very much to me and I only wish the best for them! I really hope that Jordan’s shoulder won't need surgery and that he will be okay! But whatever happens, it’s all part of the Lords plan!

I am so glad to hear that you all are doing very well and I hope Dad continues to have more good days, than bad days. He is such an inspiration to me and it’s amazing to see how he stays so happy! I bet the wedding stuff is kind of crazy but I seriously am so excited! I am sad I won’t be able to attend it but all my prayers go out to you guys! This past week I learned so much of the atonement, I was able to study the scriptures very hard and learn more about it, and it’s so amazing that Heavenly Father will forgive us because we are his children and he seriously wants the best for us! I know that with Him we won't fail! The atonement is such a wonderful thing! Heavenly Father forgives when we repent (:

There are a lot of sister missionaries here right now and it’s very cool to see all of the people I know that are here! The lines for food are sometimes very long! But it’s cool to think of all of the lives that will be changed from all of us missionaries!

--some funny and neat experiences

This past week we were sitting in class and Elder Winward broke his pen, and so he tried to throw it across the room to the garbage can but he is a bad aim and he nailed the computer screen! It totally broke! Luckily he didn’t have to pay for the new screen! They just replaced it, but it was still hilarious! We sometimes see that duck we always try to catch, but every time we just barely miss it! haha it’s so funny when we try! Also, that spot that I am pointing at is the spot where we dropped off Jordan just over 3 years ago!(see picture above) It's weird to think that I have been here longer than he ever was! It’s really crazy to think that I only have two more weeks here (hopefully). These weeks freaking fly!

Also, one night when we came back to our room, The room was trashed with all of these happy birthday signs hanging everywhere! (see picture) None of us even had a birthday! It's just that all of the other missionaries in our zone were leaving to the field so they decided to trash our room with all of their left over candy and snacks! But we didn’t complain because we have so much candy now. (: It’s weird though because our district is the oldest one in our zone now! We have come so far and we still have so many experiences to have! On Saturday, I’ll be gone a month! Time flies here and it’s crazy and so much fun!

The other picture is of our district before some of the hermanas left last week. One of our teachers, Sister Taylor, she is on the right, she served in L.A. and she is way nice! She is our hard “fake investigator".

Elder Quiroz and I are teaching a very hard "fake investigator" and tomorrow we are teaching her about the atonement! We also taught her a very good lesson (in Spanish) on Monday and I asked her if she would be baptized, "Seguira el ejemplo de jesucristo, al ser bautizada por alguien que posea la autoridad del sacerdocio de Dios?" and she said Yes! We never thought that she would be willing to be baptized but our lesson was so wonderful and she said it was so amazing and it touched her heart!

Well, I can’t wait to get your letter Mom! Also, thanks for the stamps, M&M's and little note you gave me! It really helped me have a better day! I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week and that the wedding is amazing! Hopefully I will be able to talk to you for 5 minutes about my visa or re-assignment! We will see! It's all up to the Lord and I just need to be patient!

Te Quiero Mucho. Dios le ama tambien.
Elder Smith