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
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