I have never worked soooo hard in my life!

 

Wow I kind of forgot today was Memorial Day because I have been soooo busy. I have never worked soooo hard in my life! We had 20 lessons with members, 17 other lessons, and 50 contacts! We just kept going from house to house, from door to door and it was amazing to see how Elder Santos works. Being Zone Leader is really tiring but an amazing experience. I haven't gotten to bed on time yet because we always receive calls, or we are planning for the zone, or planning for our area. Last night we went to bed at 12 because we had to do reports. There is soooo much to learn but I am excited to help out and serve the Lord even more.

This area is soooo amazing. We are going to have 2 baptisms in June. The thing with Peru is that the people don't really get married. So it's really hard when people that have been living as a family all of the sudden have to live the Law of Chastity. We just need a little more time with these investigators and it should go well.

Today we spent the day doing a little bit of service.

There are soooo many people to teach here and I can see a lot of success. This coming week though is gonna be hard though because we have a lot of meetings. Tomorrow we are meeting with all the zone leaders and sister leaders in the office. My zone is sweet though. It covers the office and the assistants are in our zone. There are 10 sisters in the zone because this zone is the safest zone. My area is pretty nice, but still dirt roads. All the main roads are paved, but the side roads, dirt. Haha gotta love it. We also have meetings with the stake president where we talk about the problems and struggles of the zone. It is pretty cool to be honest. My companion goes home in 4 weeks and so I am kind of tired of him saying it to everyone that we meet haha but honestly he is soooo hilarious. He got in to BYU Provo and so he will be going in the fall! Cool eh?

Oh I forgot! Since we contacted so much this past week, we found a 19 year old girl named Daisy. We contacted her and she let us teach her. This was Saturday and we just taught her a short lesson. Anyways something that I learned is to always invite everyone to church. At the end of the lesson I invited her and she told me yeah! Yesterday she attended church! That has never happened to me! Just contact someone in the street and the next day they attend church! We are excited to work with her.

A fish dish. I didn't like it too much! Bet your BBQ was much better!

 I hope you guys all had a wonderful Memorial Day. I am excited to be there with you guys next year. I miss all our family holidays traditions.

I love you all. He loves you.

Elder Smith

New Assignment!

Hey family (:

Just a super quick mid week email to let you know where I am: 
Here is my new assignment!

Zone-Chiclayo Peru

Area-Los Amautas

Companion-Elder Santos from Lima Peru

Assignment-Zone Leader

Well as zone leaders we have soooo many things to do it is insane. We have to manage the money of the zone and do some paperwork right now so I just thought I'd write you guys real quick to let you know where I am! My companion is legit. He goes home in June though because he is ending his mission! So I have about 4 weeks to learn the responsibilities of a zone leader. All is well. Please pray for me though because we have a lot to do! There are 12 areas in my zone. I am excited.

Talk to you Monday!!

I love you. He loves you

Elder Smith

The Lord has called me to a new area and so I will go!

Hello Everybody!
Wow that is crazy about Allison! This year has passed too fast. Even though I'm only like a 1 year and a few months older than Allison I feel like she should be 14 still in Jr. High School. But no! She is pretty much done with all the High School stuff! Well congrats baby sis!

That story about Braiden was really awesome! I know him actually! When I took that Peer Tutoring class for my senior year, I actually tutored Braiden for a little bit and he is such an amazing kid and I love that he just loves to talk! That is sooo amazing that he would just go to the picture of Jesus Christ and just talk to Him. I heard that the other day from a member that came out with us to teach. He explained that we must close our eyes while we pray and focus and picture that God is literally right in front of us so that we can express everything. Sometimes we just do the prayer just for doing a prayer...but every time he is listening and willing to bless us so we must strive to really try to communicate with him with a humble heart.

(Note From Elder Smith's Mom )I include the story Jake referenced above because I feel like it's one that everyone can be inspired by:  Yesterday at Allison's Seminary graduation, Brother Butler told us about this special needs boy that would usually come early and stop by his office to chat. Outside his office is a large painting of the Savior and Braiden often stopped there to pray aloud and have a real conversation with Him. Isn't that kind of faith and love so pure and honest and wonderful? He left us with a great little sentence that Braiden said during one of those prayers, "Lord, help me to stick to the good stuff!" That is seriously going to be in my head forever. I hope that we'll always be able to "stick to the good stuff!"  So much power in those simple words. I loved it. Allison said that is the main reason she is going into Special Education because it's so rewarding and you feel so good being around such perfect people.

Well folks...I have changes. I am leaving here tomorrow around 8:15 in the morning and the change meeting is at 8:30 am. I was kind of shocked when they told me that last night. I have completed 2 changes here...It has gone by pretty slow. I am sad to leave the members and the recent converts...but the Lord has called me to a new area and so I will go. I am excited too on the other hand to get to know more people. I don't know where I'll be going, tomorrow I'll find out.

I just said goodbye to Jesus Ñique and a few other members and I'll say goodbye to Laura and others later after I write all of you guys. This area of Jose Olaya has been difficult, but I have learned soo many things.

We met some awesome people this past week as well and Elder Supayabe should have more baptisms in June. Suzetty wants to get baptized in June, she just needs to attend church more. Also there are others and so I am happy that I will be leaving this area well off for Elder Supayabe. Jesus Ñique thanked me for helping him find the truth and he promised that he will never fall away and I know that that is true. We had another lesson with his neighbors and he gives such a strong testimony every time. He is so awesome. 

The other day we were walking in the street and a guy stopped us and said he wanted to talk. So we stopped for a while and all of a sudden he whips out his bible and says that he is a pastor of a church and started trashing on us. Elder Supayabe and I didn't really like that at all.  But we also understand that we need to defend the truth. Anyway after like 5 minutes of Bible bashing, we bore an awesome testimony about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. The man just looked at us and he had no idea of what to say....so he closed his bible and just walked away!!! How cool! It really helped me to know that we have the truth. I love this gospel.

I am kind of nervous about tomorrow and where I will be going and who my next companion will be. But I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me. I love this work and I am happy that I will be able to help other people out. I love you all sooo very much. I miss you guys.

I love you. He loves you.

Elder Smith

Planes, monkeys, and old friends--great times!

Wow what a week that I just had!

It was awesome to be able to talk to you guys and hear your voices and see your faces! You all are amazing and have helped me so much on my mission. 

I am so happy that your calling is going great Mom. Well I have only heard great things about each one of your callings that you all have and I know that it is because the Lord really knows who you guys are and needs you guys in specific callings of the church. I hope all of you keep having wonderful spiritual experiences!

Today we went to a museum for PDay. Here are few pictures from our activity there.

 

Tuesday night was my flight to Lima and we left around 10 at night. It was cool though because my first MTC companion, Elder Winward, was there with the group going to Lima.  Anyway we go to Lima at 11 and we expected representatives from the Church to come pick us up to to drive us to a hotel.  But we sat there....and sat there....and sat there......No one came until 2 in the morning! Luckily they bough us some Papa John's Pizza that was delicious!! Finally! American Pizza! We got to the hotel around 3 but I didn't sleep till 4. It was a pretty nice hotel actually.  We woke up the next morning at 7:30 since they let us sleep in a little bit. 

Then we went to the airport and as I arrived to the gate, I saw my first companion that was in the field with me in Arizona, Elder Seymour! We gave each other a huge hug! I haven't seen him for almost a year since he is in the Lima East mission.

 

He told me that the very first family that I taught in Arizona got baptized!! Jose and Elba. I love them so much and it gives me so much joy to hear they are strong in the church! They said they are going to go through the temple next April and that they want me to be there with them.

We then had to go to Ecuador and so we flew to a city called 
Tumbes, the city that is at the very top of Peru. I almost threw up on the plane, haha it was waayyy too bumpy! Speaking of planes...I talked to everyone that I sat by about the Gospel. I guess I am not scared anymore about talking to people about it! We then crossed the border into Ecuador in a big van. We had to do a lot of paperwork since my passport had expired. Then we came back into Peru and did more paperwork. We got back on the plane at 10 at night. Arrived in Lima at 11. Fell asleep at 1:30 am and woke up at 3. So overall about 5 hours of sleep in 2 days! Not that fun!

Honestly this past week, there is not a whole lot to talk about. We have been a little bummed out because we haven't been able to find Suzette yet, she may have traveled to Lima once again...darn it. The sisters in my zone had 2 baptisms and we went to go and see it. Seeing people getting baptized is such a spiritual experience every time. When I got to baptize Jesus Ñique last week, I felt so amazing being in the baptismal font. Just to be standing in the font with a person that you have taught for such a long time, really strengthens your testimony. I love to see people find happiness in this True Church.

Just monkeying around earlier this week!

 

Jesus Ñique is doing sooo awesome. Saturday night he planned to do a Family Home Evening Night with his family. I found this FHE manual and we gave it to him.  He looked up the topic he wanted to discuss and shared everything! It was so legit. He is seriously going to be able to help sooo many people in this church. His family is really amazing. My biggest desire is that they all get baptized. The mom is kind of shy and doesn't really talk. But after the lesson they gave us some dessert and we were able to bond more with them and were able to gain more of her trust. Sadly they didn't attend church yesterday...only Jesus Ñique. But that's okay...little by little.

Laura Sandoval is also doing really well! She is reading the Book of Mormon everyday and is almost done with 2nd Nephi. She also received a calling as the Secretary of the Young Women. So it is perfect for her. She is really happy to be in the church. She also gave us lunch this past Friday. What makes me happy is that the recent converts here are really strong in the church and I can tell that they won't go in active ever. That is what we want as missionaries, true converts, not just whatever person that gets baptized. 

This is the last week of the change. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if I got changed but I have no idea! These past 2 changes have flown by since I have been here! And by the end of this next change, President and Hermana Risso are going home. They have been such an inspiration to me.

That is all for this week. I love you. He loves you

Elder Smith

...he said that we are angels that helped him get baptized

What Up!!
That is so weird that the college year is already over and that Emily and Jordan are out about once again selling in California! I am glad that they made it over there safely. Wow, Allison way to go on your high school studies and everything you have done toward college already! I am kind of jealous that you never have to take Math or English ever again. I am kind of scared for when I get back because I don't think I'll remember much.  Allison you will have to help me, okay smarty pants?

I received the Easter package this past week! Thank you sooo much! Elder Supayabe and I pretty much ate it all already haha but it hit the spot that is for sure!

Well this past week was a miracle with Jesus Ñique. We were over there every day this past week helping him out a whole bunch. Watching video clips on lds.org, reading the Liahona, reading the Book of Mormon and answering any question that he had. Thursday came and we asked him how he felt about Saturday for his baptism and he said the same thing he told us last week....not yet....But we really felt that he needed to get baptized. I explained to him that now is the time that he needs to follow Jesus Christ. He explained that his family hasn't been acting that great and he wanted to have his baptism peacefully. We told him that the only thing that would help him was his baptism. We told him that he should just have a baptismal interview with the zone leader to see if it would help him and he agreed. Friday at 6 he had his baptismal interview. He stayed in there for about 1 hour and 15 minutes! I was so nervous! Finally he came out...with a big smile on his face! He said to mem, "Elder Smith, I'm gonna get baptized tomorrow at 7 and you are going to baptize me!!"  I can't tell you guys how happy I was and I was shaking soooo much! I just wanted to scream but I couldn't because we were in the church. We all gave him a big hug! When he said 7, we thought at night, but no...In the morning! We woke up at 5:15am to be able to set up the baptism. His wife came and his son. It was sooo spiritual. When he came up out of the water, he gave me a big hug and said that he felt like a renewed person. Yesterday,  since it was fast Sunday, he gave his testimony! It was sooo powerful. He explained that many years ago, his family members always invited him to church but he felt that it wasn't his time. As time went on he started feeling the spirit so strongly and he said that Conference sealed the deal. He explained he knew it was true and he couldn't deny it. What impacted me the most is that he said that we are angels that helped him get baptized. Many members say that we are angels and I feel so blessed to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Here is a funny/sad story. The other day I was playing soccer in the street with some 5 year olds and there was this old grumpy lady who yelled at us for playing in the street. The street is tiny and no one drives on it. We continued playing and a the littlest boy kicked the ball right into the old grumpy lady's house. The boys got all scared and the lady slammed the door.  About 20 seconds later, she opened the door, threw the ball back out into the street, but she popped the ball, and slammed the door closed. The boys got all sad and ran off almost crying. I felt terrible! So I grabbed a Jesus Christ card that I had in my pocket and slid it under her door to show her whats up! Because they were just little kids having fun. After we put it under the door, we ran off as well...but ran off laughing! Good times!

Tomorrow I am going to Lima. My visa expired since I was here on a traveler's visa and I am going to have to travel outside of the country. Most likely to Ecuador. I am leaving tomorrow night and coming back Thursday morning. I am leaving with like 10 other missionaries.

I love you. He loves you.

Elder Smith

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.