I felt like we needed to contact that street

Hey Everybody! Man what a fun and busy week that you all had. I can't believe how fast that Allison's senior prom has come and it looks like she enjoyed it a lot! And way to be Jordan for being there to show the kid how things are done in the Smith family (; haha!
Congratulations Emily for graduating! That is such a great accomplishment! Especially from BYU! Also congratulations to Jordan and Emily for completing a year of eternity of their marriage! This year has flown for me! We are basically already in the 5th month of 2014. I can't believe it!

Laura Sandoval's Baptism last week 4/19/14

Laura is doing amazing. Last night we were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie at her house. She really hopes to have and raise a family in the Church when she grows up and I know that God will bless her so that she can have that. She deserves it. That is for sure. She is the one that lives close to the people who almost robbed us a few weeks ago and as we walked out of her house last night after the movie, we saw them throwing beer bottles at each other and there was a huge fight! Haha Laura grabbed us and threw us inside and we waited there another 15 minutes until it was safe. Haha it was a crazy experience.

Jesus Ñique is doing so well. He was going to get baptized this past week but we didn't really have enough time to do everything. His parents are actually members already and we didn't even know!  He said that he wanted to go to their house to be able to tell them. We hope that his Dad will be  able to baptize him this weekend. We wanted him to be baptized this past week, but it's more important that his family is there so it can be even that more special. He also told his own family that he was going to be baptized and they all supported him and so that was a great blessing. He hopes to be able to baptize his wife soon. She doesn't really listen to us and always hides in her room when we come. But we hope that as soon as he gets baptized, she will open up and start seeing how amazing that this Church can bless her and her family's life. At first Jesus Ñique said that he wanted to get baptized with his wife but we explained that HE could baptize her and he got more excited. His testimony is soooo strong and he says he knows 100 percent that this is the true church. We are still teaching his neighbors and he is coming with us to teach them. They are opening up more to us and becoming our friends and so that is really well since it is key that we gain a friendship with the people so that they can open their hearts and accept the message.

We had an amazing lesson the other day. We went to a member's house and found a non-member lady who was visiting them. The lady explained to us that she hears voices to kill herself and she wants it out of her mind and life. We explained to her the priesthood and how we have the power to heal people according to their faith in Jesus Christ. She asked us for a blessing and right after she said that she felt that it left her and that she felt something different. That really affected her and she attended church yesterday and so we are excited for all the new people that we are meeting.

Here is an amazing experience that I have been waiting to have all of my mission. Wednesday morning we went to go and teach people. However no one was home and we didn't really have anything to do so we stopped on a corner of a street and asked ourselves...now what? We looked at our agendas and nothing...we didn't know what to do. We looked up and saw the street right in front of us. We stood there for about 3 minutes just looking at the street, wondering if we should knock the doors. I told Elder Supayabe, I think we already contacted the left side of the street, but let's try the right side. As we knocked door by door, nothing...we kept going and going and finally we found an 18 year old girl and she let us inside her house and she explained that she was investigating the church in Lima but moved up here and never could find the church. We taught an amazing lesson thanks to the spirit and the second lesson we put a baptismal date with her and she accepted for the 30th of May! We are so excited. After the first lesso, I said to Elder Supayabe, "I felt that we needed to contact that street, I felt that someone was waiting for us."  And he told me, "Elder...so did I."   It was sooo powerful.

Here is a funny/sad experience. Our fan in our room doesn't really work because it has a broken cord and it has to be taped down to the outlet. So the cord fell out and I was smart and decided to fix it with a metal pen in my hand. Sure enough I electrocuted the crap out of me! It was sooo bad haha it hurt!!!! Elder Supayabe was showering and ran out of the bathroom half naked asking what happened! In the end I just laughed. But man that hurt! Stupid me...haha
I love you 
He loves you
Elder Smith

This church is perfect because Jesus Christ himself guides it

Family and Friends!

What? Allison is graduating High School? And What? Emily is going to graduate college? Wow how time flies right? I am happy that Allison got asked to Senior Prom! That will be a lot of fun for her and I hope the boy isn't a punk! Haha! But I'm sure they will have fun!

It is weird to think that I am going to complete 2 years of a graduate of High School. I feel like these past 2 years especially have flown by and I have grown so much spiritually and mentally and well I would say physically, but my muscles have gone down since there is no gym here haha.  But hey I'm doing my perfect pushups Jordan so that I can come home benching it up! (:

Well Laura Sandoval got baptized! Wooo Hoo!!! We were soo happy for her and the decision that she made to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She had so much faith in the lessons and when she got baptized. I was able to baptize her and while we were in the font and I was saying the words to baptize her, she was pulling my arm hairs because she was soooo nervous! But it went well! President and Hermana Risso also came! Before the baptism, I told Elder Supayabe, ¨Hey, I think that President is going to come since there hasn't been a baptism here in a long time.¨ But he didn't believe me.  And then sure enough he came and he congratulated us for the hard work we put in. Laura also gave her testimony and the whole time she was just crying. It was a very spiritual experience. Her friends who introduced her into the church also came. Man I am so blessed to be able to see all of these lives changed during my mission. This church is perfect because Jesus Christ himself guides it through President Monson. I know that the people can feel it every time that we teach it.  The only thing that is hard for them is just the  process of changing because being a member isn't easy because there are a lot of standards. However, it is worth it and these standards help us to go and stay on the right track towards eternal life. I have really felt it in my life and I am happy I have about 1 year left to keep doing this and serving the Lord!

Jesus Ñique hopes to be getting baptized this week. I say hopes because he is a little nervous. He knows that everything is true, he just needs to  take that big leap of faith and do it. We had a neat lesson with him and his neighbors once again this past week. This time we brought the Joseph Smith Restoration movie so that we didn't have to sit there and basically Bible Bash the whole time and the spirit was super strong. I remember walking out of the lesson and saying to my companion, "Oh my gosh, the spirit was incredible! I didn't even know what to say! I just wanted to watch the movie, end it, and say in the name of Jesus Christ Amen because the spirit was awesome." His neighbors understand more about Joseph Smith but they are still on the edge of the Book of Mormon. But Jesus Ñique said, ¨Yes, this is true, I can feel it¨. That helped us out a whole bunch and we look forward on working hard with him so that he can get baptized this weekend.

Well for Easter...it was hard to work...Thursday and Friday there was absolutely no one in the streets! They were all inside resting or drinking! So we basically walked around the whole day trying to find someone but we had no success. But I know that the Lord will bless us for our efforts. We ate this dish named Causa. It has fish, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, onions and tomatoes. It was pretty good. The people don't eat regular beef or chicken this day. Only fish because it's the Lords meat I guess. But I didn't see the fake Jesus Christ walking around the streets. So actually it was pretty boring. But it was great for us to get to celebrate Easter  with a very special baptism!! (:

Well I love you all. He loves you

Elder Smith

PS. I forgot my adapter so I'll have to send pictures next week. Sorry.

As missionaries we don't try to convince the people, we teach of what we know to be true and we testify of it, and it is their job to pray and figure out if it is true

What up everyone! Jealous I went to the beach? Haha

Anyway to start off...I have no idea where those cookies came from but that is disgusting, I remember before I left my friend Braiden came over with some cookies and they tasted bad and I guess we put them up there hahahaha but yeah ooops! (Mom found this plate of petrified cookies on top of Jake's closet after deep cleaning his room this past week. Lesson learned. Missionary Mom Tip of the Week: DO NOT wait one year to deep clean your son's room after he leaves. You never know what treasures you are missing out on!)

That is awesome that Tony was able to be there for Ed's birthday! Oh and happy birthday Ed! I miss you all and the food that Grandma makes too...well...I would kill to have that right now! Don't worry about the Easter package...it'll come when it comes. I am not in any rush whatsoever.

Easter here in Peru...it is a lot different than the states. This weekend is called La Semana Santa..¨Holy Week¨. I haven't been here for one yet but what I have heard is that they pick a Jesus Christ and he holds a big cross and walks through the town and everyone follows him and praises him and they drink A LOT. I am not really down with the whole big idea of following a fake Christ but whatever...I am not sure what we are going to do or if we will be able to work that much. They put on a ton of movies of Jesus in the city and so who knows, maybe the people will be more receptive!

Changes were this past week and I have a new district. One elder from Nevada and one sister from Arizona came in my district. The sister is from my group and she was in my district in Jaen as well! It is weird...the sisters of my group only have 5 months left of their mission! Crazy how time flies.

There is a baptism this weekend!!!! Laura is gonna get baptized this Saturday at 5. So far it seems pretty set up and Elder Supayabe and I are so happy to break the 6 month without baptims streak! So excited. This past week we left her with some great reading assignments from the Book of Mormon and that helped her out soooo much. This past week in District Meeting I taught about how to leave good commitments so that the investigators can progress and how the Book of Mormon is Key for someone's conversion. The Book of Mormon works miracles unto the peoples and it converts them. The Book of Mormon is what got my testimony so strong about this church. We are so excited for Laura. She never really had any doubts about the church and was so strong since day 1 and we were able to put the baptismal date early and she has been striving to achieve it! (:

We are also hoping to have a baptism with Jesus Ñique this 26th of April. As I have told you guys he has received the lessons since like 6 months ago but his wife kind of put doubts in his mind and he hasn't gotten baptized. But he attended General Conference last week but only 1 session and we were confused because we thought he would attend more but actually we went to his house this past week and he told us that he hooked it up on his TV and watched all of it! He has received a strong testimony of the church and he really wants to get baptized. He still has a lot of questions though, but he feels the spirit every time we teach him and it helps him out a ton. Last week we had a FHE with him and his neighbors.  His neighbors are from a different church and they asked sooo many questions. We were able to respond to every one of them and the spirit really guided us to scriptures and powerful testimonies. During my mission, my love for Hyrum and Joseph Smith has grown so much. His neighbors just tried to tear down Joseph Smith and the story of him. But I have learned on my mission that we need to stand up for the truth. I probably gave the boldest and strongest testimony I have probably given my whole entire life about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. To be honest I can't even remember what I said because the spirit truly worked through me. I hate how people try to tear down the Book of Mormon. It is so true and it is a marvelous book and we are so blessed to have it. I remember telling them that as missionaries we don't try to convince the people, we teach of what we know to be true and we testify of it, and we leave commitments and it is their job to pray and figure out if it is true. We have all the answers to your questions, but they  decide for themselves if they are true. . . Something like that is what I said. It was great. Before that FHE we always asked if we could have one but he said he didn't feel prepared but this time he did and he is really coming along. We talked with his wife and she is for it this time.. She also says that she wants to be together with him on this but we never really see her so it will take a little bit longer with her. But we are happy for the progress that is coming along in our area.

Anyway that is all for this week.

I love you all. He loves you

Elder Smith 

We must learn to be grateful

Hello Friends and Family!
Today my District went to a museum here in Chiclayo. Way fun!

 

 

I am so happy to hear that you guys all enjoyed General Conference! I sure missed our tradition of breakfast once again as I ate my scrambled eggs with bread just like I have every morning. But seriously conference was amazing. I could sit here and write all about it, but as we all know...the schedule of a missionary is crazy and we don't have that much time. My favorite talk would have to be by Elder Uchtdorf in the Sunday Morning Session when he talked about gratitude. I feel I could apply that a little bit more in my life. He said if we want to have an amazing life full of beauty and joy, we must learn to be grateful. He invited us all to live Thanksgiving daily. As I have been in this area, Jose Olaya, it has been hard, we didn't have a baptism this past change, and I have been a little hard on myself through doubts. However, I have been sooo grateful and blessed in this area. My testimony about turning to the Lord and being humble has really helped me grow. Anyway, that was my favorite talk of conference. It was such a great experience. 

Speaking of conference, I couldn't see the first 30 minutes of the Saturday Morning Session, because being in Peru, no one showed up at 11 to watch it and by the time the leaders came at 11:15, and tried to hook up the projector, it didn't work and there was no connection. My companion told me that we should go to a different chapel just 10 minutes away, but we were expecting investigators and I told him that I felt we should stay. Around 11:25, 6 investigators came to watch it and there was still no connection. We decided to say a prayer and sure enough, 2 minutes later or less, the conference came on!

For the afternoon session, the gringos and I watched it in an office upstairs, as you can tell by the pictures. But ya...I didn't hear Holland's talk...bummer.

This is a view of what my area in Chiclayo looks like

So here is a funny/scary story. Mom as I told you last week in my email, that there are some parts here that are dangerous, but nothing ever happens. Well, about 3 hours after emails last week, something happened!! Haha. We were walking down a street and there is this corner where a bunch of drunk dudes always drink, but they never do anything to us so we usually pass by them pretty close.  But this time, I had an impression to walk more in the street away from them. Oh and by the way, we can't avoid them because an investigator lives 1 house down from where they were. Anyways I told Elder Supayabe to walk closer to me and he did and as we were walking passed them they said, "Hey Hermanos!" and we said, "Hello how are you guys" but we kept on walking. However, as we kept walking, so did they. They started to walk behind us. I looked back and noticed they were walking pretty fast so I kind of pushed my companion on the shoulder to walk faster as well and we were walking pretty fast and out of nowhere they started booking it towards us and we looked back and I thought I saw a knife in one of their hands and so we ran sooooo freaking fast I can't even explain it! I felt like Reggie Bush hauling for a touchdown haha!! I don't think I have run that fast in my whole life! Thankfully they stopped because we ran too fast and I think that they were way too drunk. But nothing happened so we are okay (:

Probably not the greatest name for crackers....

More on the spiritual side, we set up a baptismal date with Laura for the 19th of this month! She really wants to get baptized and she attended 2 sessions of General Conference. We are sooo stoked because we have been working so hard to get success. This area is quite difficult. We tracked the other day and we knocked and talked to about 30 people and not 1 let us in the house. Half of them just slammed the door in our faces and screamed, "I am catholic!!!"The people sometimes don't understand that we don't want to change their beliefs in Jesus Christ; we want to increase it and make it more beautiful. I can't describe to you all how strong my testimony is right now of this wonderful true church. My knowledge has increased as well as my testimony and love for the Savior. I invite all you guys to read and ponder the talks of the living prophets as well of the old prophets. It has helped me soo much to read the Book of Mormon. I love this church and I love Him.

I love you all. He loves you.

Elder Smith