I have grown to absolutely love everyone in this area.

 Elder Chavez and I with a really great newly active friend of ours

Gotta love these Peruvian dogs

A member in our ward is a singer in a mariachi band

This guy drives around selling fruit down the streets, yelling into a microphone:

 "Manzanas, Uvas, Platanos!"

In a neighboring town called Monsefu

Trying (unsuccessfully) to block all the flying dust from my eyes!

 Just hanging out saying HI to people in the streets of Jaen.

Rabbits!

Hola mi familia (:

I am so happy to hear that everything is going well with school and work! How blessed we all are to have school and work. I sometimes miss studying and working! But I am happy that I have been able to learn more of how to organize my stuff and time so that I can do it a lot better when I get back!

I honestly don't know what I want to do for my career. As we all know that I started thinking of Law Enforcement. But I have been thinking also of doing banking. Over these past few months as a zone leader I have had to deal with the money of the zone and put it into a system every week of how much we spent and stuff like that. But yet again, I hate math. So right now my plan is to get back and worry more about that then. I hope to look into the careers more and go to the temple to see if it's the right choice.

Well I am sad to say that this week could be my last week here in Los Amautas. Last Pday in my report to President Williams I asked him if I could stay here another change until November because I love it soooo much. I have grown to absolutely love everyone in this area. The members, the converts, and the investigators. It's probably not the prettiest area like Jaen, since its all dirt. But I love it. I don't want to leave yet. The only thing is that if I stay, my companion will either stay here to finish his mission, but I don't think so because that would be way too much time in one area. Or he would stay and go to another area just for 1 change to finish his mission since he goes home in January. So I'm thinking I might have a change. President has explained that he is gonna probably drop some zone leaders to train or be district leaders because he wants good missionaries doing these things. So we will see what happens. So...yeah...but either way. I'll follow where the Lord wants me to go.

This past week Daniel didn't get baptized....As we went over to his house to pick him up for his baptismal interview he was really nervous and didn't want to do it yet. He has just heard all of his life that if he gets baptized, he will just fail and will go in active. He just got nervous. But he really wants to follow Christ and keep learning. We invited him to pray and see when he should get baptized. Pray for him that he may receive the comfort he needs.

Yesterday I was able to talk in Sacrament Meeting and also teach the Gospel Principles class with the investigators and less active members. Both times I talked about families. I have learned on my mission that it is so important to gain the trust of others so that they can say and explain what really is happening in their lives. If parents could learn to really gain that trust with their children, it would be so much easier for them to help them in their struggles and problems. As their kids, they need to respect and obey them. I also talked about temples and being an eternal family. That is my next goal as I get off my mission. To be married in the temple. I am so grateful for you guys and for always supporting me and for helping me to be on my mission. 

This past week we went on interchanges with some missionaries of the zone.  Yesterday I went with Elder Flores. He is from Mexico and sooo cool. We met an atheist and it was an interesting experience. We started teaching him for like 5 minutes and out of nowhere he just started bursting out laughing and explained he was an atheist. I was kind of shocked and didn't know what to say.  H said goodbye and told us to go away. But I gave him a contact card with the picture of Jesus Christ. I bore my testimony that HE LIVES!!! I also told him that I hope that he will one day get to know his Savior and we left. 

I love you all. He loves you.

Elder Smith