You can't be right by doing wrong and you can't be wrong by doing right!

Elder Chavez and I jamming out to the guitar! Mi querida familia!  I am so excited for Allison to be at UVU. I seriously loved it and I can't wait to get back there and study some more! I remember that I went to Wolverine Crossing once with Cody Harris, my roommate, and I remember how nice it was.  At least she will be comfortable there, besides her bed...But trust me...I know how you feel. I have to sleep on a mattress that is disgusting and pretty worn out because many missionaries have slept on it during the years, but at least I have a bed sheet to protect me from the germs! I miss Utah weather. Chiclayo weather sucks...cold in the morning...hot in the afternoon....cold at night. With wind all over the place and so dust always gets in my eyes and my contacts get all dried up by the end of the day! But hey...that's the mission right!? So I'm  happy (: Well my dear family I have had an amazing week to be honest. I have seen the help of the Lord in our work soooo much!  Renzo is going to get baptized this weekend!!!! He is sooo excited and we have been able to get a lot closer to him and we could help him a lot more!!! He attended church for the 5th time straight yesterday and we learned about the priesthood and he feels blessed to be able to have it soon. This past Friday we watched the Joseph Smith movie with him and he said that he was able to feel the spirit and he knows that it is true! He is gonna get baptized with a little 9 year old boy named Krisner. His parents are members and they felt that since he is already 9 years old, he really needs to get baptized.  We were able to teach him over the past 2 weeks and yesterday they explained to us that Saturday they want him to get baptized (: We were thankful to find him! Also a boy named Cristofer! He is 13 years old and lives just right around the corner from us. His cousin is a member but from a different ward and he came up to our ward about a month ago so he could introduce him to us and from there we were able to teach him a lot. This past week we set a baptismal date for the 6th of September and he accepted and really wants to get baptized! He goes to church all alone and he takes notes and everything! Yesterday we talked with the mom and she agreed to support him in this decision! He is a stud! Remember Daniel?!!! We went over Saturday night and talked with his parents. Elder Chavez and I really taught with the spirit. It was cool because I was praying that my companion would say the words that Heavenly Father wanted him to use while he was talking and he did the same for me. We were able to be instruments in the hands of God and Daniel chose his own baptismal date for the 12 of September and his parents finally agreed!!! He is awesome! Also! Do you remember our convert Alexis?! Well his little brother who is 13 is now going to church every week with him and we set a baptismal date with him for the 20th of September and he accepted as well! Honestly we are so happy and blessed. I feel that God is really helping us out and we are seeing a lot of success. I think this is my last change here in this area and so I'm happy to probably end with a good note! Something I learned.... You can't be right by doing wrong and you can't be wrong by doing right!  I love you guys. He loves you! Elder Smith   Renzo and I preparing dinner (duck).

Sometimes we pray to Heavenly Father so that things will be a lot easier, but we should pray and ask that we will be made stronger

Hello to my favorite people on earth!

I just love reading all of your emails and hearing all the great experiences that you have each week!! Don't worry Mom, as Allison moves out, I'll move in for a little bit in about 6 and a half months! Crazy! But that is weird to think that all of us are all grown up. But we thank you guys for raising us up in the Gospel and always being there for us and all of the sacrifices that you have done for us. Thank you.

I'm glad that all of you guys have a job and that you love what you do. I am glad that we are strong as a family. Even though we have struggles, I have learned something on my mission. -Sometimes we pray to Heavenly Father so that things will be a lot easier, but we should pray and ask that we will be made stronger- It is so true. Let us all pray that we may be strong to overcome our trials. We have had many, we have many, and we will always continue to have many more to come. But Heavenly Father wants us to grow. I love you guys.

 Well as I told you...they didn't really tell me anything about my back. They said that it is just muscle fatigue because of all the walking that I am doing and so they have given me pills and it has been helping a little. But I'm okay (:

Renzo is doing well!! He was going to get baptized this weekend but we have moved it to next week for the 30th of August because we want to prepare him more. He told us this past week that as a baby, his Mom abandoned him and his Dad died. He lives with his Aunt and little sister. His Aunt isn't a member. But the sister of the Aunt is a member and she has been helping us. Poor kid. He is really cool though and we are excited to prepare him a little more for his baptism.

This past week we had changes and we had to go Tuesday morning bright and early to the airport to help pick up the bags for all the missionaries and leave them in the office. That afternoon 2 new elders came out with us. One from Idaho and the other from Utah. It was fun to talk to them. It made me think of my first day in the field and how lost I was.  But anyways, those  2 elders went to Jaen! So we were able to talk to them all about it since my comp and I served there a year ago!

Me and my comp having a pillow fight! He's the best!

There isn't too much to tell this week. But I will end with a funny/scary story as I always like to do that happened to me this past week.

Late at night we were walking back home from a member's house. We were walking on the sidewalk next to a small mud fence that surrounded some bushes and little trees. Well the member told us to be careful because there was a dog that was there and the dog I guess is a mean one. Well I didn't even hear the member and so I continued walking as my companion went to the street. As the little mud fence ended the dog came running around the corner and I just saw a big black blur come up right on me! The dog tried to bite me a few times but luckily it only got me once on the bum! Haha but it didn't hurt at all. At first I was terrified and didn't even know what to do! But after 5 seconds or so it got off and ran away. After we just had a huge laugh but man! It was nuts!!

This is what was left of me after my dog attack!

I hope you guys are doing well. Thanks for your prayers every day. 

I love you. 

He loves you.

Elder Smith

I love seeing the branches come off of the baptisms I've had

 I played ping pong with President before our leadership council. He beat me haha.

 Here is a picture of us with all this stuff behind a moving van. We had to go to an area about 20 minutes away and take out stuff of an old room that Elders had used

 Here I am eating something that is called a Juana. Its yellow rice with duck meat and an olive wrapped up in platano leaves.

This is the crazy traffic in Lima! 

Well I'm sitting here speechless about the amazing testimony of the Adams family. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father was able to comfort them so much through this big trial. I'm so grateful that Weston is doing okay as well as Brother Adams. That is amazing about the pie and how a man was inspired to take their favorite pie to them. I am also grateful for where we live and the ward that we have. I'm excited that soon we will be able to meet again and progress on to eternity together. What a blessing that we have the true gospel in our lives. I love you guys all so much!

Well I don't have changes and I am sooo glad because I really love where I am at right now. This area is really progressing. This past change has been my best change so far in my mission. We had 3 baptisms and 3 rescues (aka less active members who are now active). We really have desires to continue working hard because we don't have too much time left in our mission. I only have 5 changes left. A few changes happening in the mission: Every companionship will have a cell phone now. Also President changed a lot of things. He explained that he really wants to have good trainers and so a lot of the zone leaders might be trainers soon.

I had to go to Lima again to pick up my ID card that pretty much says that I am a Peru Citizen or something like that. I left Thursday night and came back Friday night. In Lima it was really cold and miserable. Friday morning the hotel we stayed at told us to check out at 7 am because our transportation was gonna be there. So we all came down at 7 but our rides didn't come until 10.  We were all in the lobby shivering and trying to warm ourselves up for 3 hours! It was terrible. But now I don't have to go to Lima again. Elder Winward was there and so it was great to see him and talk to him for a bit. He is District Leader right now in a zone near to me.

Daniel is still coming to church. Both of his parents came yesterday as well. Everything is still the same though. Renzo still has a baptismal date for the 23rd of August and so we are really excited to have another baptism.

Oh! And guess what! Saturday night the husband of my pencionista in Jaen called me and told me that Ruth (one of my converts in Jaen), her older sister got baptized! Her older sister is married and never really listened while I was there but I knew that Ruth, even though she is 15 years old, would help her and now she got baptized! I love seeing the branches come off of the baptisms! So that made me happy!

 

Elder Santos is here! He plans on going to Utah I think the 25 of August or something. He really wants to visit you guys. He can understand English pretty well, but can't speak it obviously yet. But he will study it for 6 months.  It is so fun to be around him again. We can't wait to chill when I get back!

Funny Story: Last PDay I bought some brown church shoes and while I was looking I spotted a pair that I really liked and so I asked them to take it down but the lady was too short to reach them and so I decided to help. The shoe was stuck with all the other shoes.  Since I'm so smart , I decided to pull it and about 20 shoes came crashing down. The lady looked at me all surprised and she didn't even know what to say! I didn't know what to say either and so we just laughed! It was pretty funny!

Well once again. I love you guys. Thank you so much for your emails every week and your support. I couldn't ask for a better family. I love you. He loves you.

 Elder Smith

Talking in my sleep - in Spanish!

Hello my family that I dearly miss!

I can't believe how time has flown during my mission. Lindsey Estes is coming home next month and she was with me in the MTC! The sisters of my group are going home next month as well. Two of the sisters from my group go home next week because they are going home early for studies. It's crazy! One is from Arizona and one is from Idaho. I was their District Leader in Jose Olaya and it's so crazy talking to them and thinking that they will actually be home next week. This week is the last week of this long change. This change has been 8 weeks long, but actually now thinking about it, it's gone by way fast!!

Well Mom, you are definitely right about life and it has its ups and downs. But we do just need to count our blessings. I have seen many families struggle with poverty, love in the home, and sicknesses. But something that I have learned is that the true happiness that we get comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. We just need to hope for a better day sometimes, but it doesn't matter the circumstance, we need to be by the side of the Lord. 

 

This past week Annie got baptized by her older brother! Now we just need to focus on the Dad just a little bit more because he isn't a member. Annie is such a sweetheart. In her baptism she stood up to give her testimony and she started crying and so her older brother stood up and hugged her and he shared his testimony instead. He is gonna leave soon on his mission. He is just waiting to get his call.

The ward here is so amazing. They always help us and come out to visit people. We have helped many Less Actives come back to church. This 18 year old girl who was baptized 2 years ago now has a calling and helps us so much. This 18 year old boy was into drugs and drinking. We found him about a month ago on his birthday to say happy birthday and we talked for a bit. Now he has gone to church for 3 weeks straight and paid his tithing yesterday. He always talks to us and is way awesome. Yesterday in my agenda, he wrote me a thank you note without me looking. It's awesome.

Daniel wasn't able to get baptized. We tried going over to their house a lot this past week since they live right next door to Annie but every time the lights were out. Annie's mom told us they left because they knew that we were gonna come over. So they pretty much avoided us. Daniel and his mom came to church yesterday though. We just really need to talk with the Dad because he always just takes off. He is going more and more Less Active...but we will work with them.

We found many people this past week. A boy named Renzo who is gonna be 18 next month. He is a cousin of a member and he explained that he wants to get baptized! He came to church yesterday and loves playing soccer with us on Pdays. We hope on setting a baptismal date with him for the 23rd of this month or for his birthday on the 6th of September.

Tomorrow we have a 7 hour meeting with President and all the zone leaders of the mission. We celebrated my companion's 20th birthday this past week with the family that we live with. I had fun following the tradition of egging him in the face!

Oh funny story. About 3 nights ago my companion couldn't sleep till like 3 in the morning and so the next morning when we woke up, he said to me that I talked in my sleep for like 5 minutes. But I talked in Spanish!!! In my sleep!!! Cool right? Haha!

Well I love you guys. He loves you.

Elder Smith