October 27, 2015 - Halloween in Guate

Dad I did a double and a triple take when I saw the clown picture. What is going on in Granite Bay these days??? I leave for a year and my poor father goes and turns himself into a horror movie fanatic...... Dad I know you miss me but you’re going to have to stay strong for a little bit longer.... But really that was hilarious seeing the Smith Family as clowns. I miss you guys and your crazy doings!!

Well we have finished October.  We had an OK month of October as a zone.  But now its November and we are ready to go. I am writing late today because I am on divisions and I had to come down to the beach (Puerto San Jose) to do a baptismal interview. Some crazy stuff happened so I’ll be here till 6 or 7 at night. But the good news is that we are starting off baptizing!!!

Elder Guzman and I fasted last Sat/Sun and made a 40-day Purification List together on Sunday before we finished our fast. We made some gnarly goals and are leaving a lot of things behind. But I felt the familiar warm confirmation of the Holy Ghost telling me that the work we were embarking on was good. Elder Guzman finally is joining me on this journey and it will be nice to have some company! I really love that guy. I think we have the best companionship in the whole mission because we have become brothers of sorts. I think sometimes he is the Spanish version of Matthew. A quick example of a conversation we had in the morning ''why do you wash your backpack everyday?'' ''because it smells bad!'' ''its you that smells bad'' ''that’s a lie, come and smell me.'' ''I smell you every day''.

I loved in the Book of Mormon today something I read in Alma 26:21-22. Its the formula to baptizing all of Golondrinas. No but really I loved it and how it said that ''no natural man knows these things'' or something like that. The natural man knows no real joy, no real repentance, faith, good works, and unceasing prayers (vs 22). If we can put him off and do those four things mentioned in vs 22, we can have success. SCRIPTURE NUGGET!

Love you guys so much. I already ate all the mashed potatoes btw.

Love,

Elder Smith

 Elder Smith and Elder Guzman wearing shirts from our family reunions this summer

 

October 20, 2015 - No more birthday surprises.....

Would like to start off thanking you guys for all you support for me this weekend. (His wallet was pick pocketed so his ATM card had to be canceled etc.) I promise that I wont let the wallet out of hands anymore! Matt, thanks for your suggestions for keeping the wallet safe.... I’ll go with the barbed wire idea I think. But yeah glad that’s over! Apparently a teenage kid went to the house of a member in an area like 20 minutes from mine and said ''Hey, do you know the gringos?'' and then showed her the wallet and asked for 120 quetzals for it. They convinced them to just hand it over and then that was that. How fun!

This weekend we had the baptisms of Alexia, Estuardo, and Jhonatón. I baptized Estuardo (funniest moment of the week) and had to pronounce his last name (Ixcomparixk). Try saying that 5 times fast... It was a wonderful service and the miracles just keep coming and coming. The Lord has blessed this area where Elder Guzman and I are working 15 baptisms in just 4 weeks. To put that into prospective, that is almost more than I baptized in an entire year. I am trying to humble myself (Alma 32) and not get settled into a routine. Its always time to progress and keep growing. I love the inspired questions from that Talk from conference ''What lack I yet?''. I ask it often. Sometimes its hard to answer. But when I find myself humbled and willing, the answers ALWAYS come. I testify that if we humble ourselves and have the true intention to change, the Holy Ghost will tell us in our minds and in our hearts what we should change. I have slowly (ever so slowly) been able to do that more easily and more frequently over the course of these 13 months.

I love the mission and being able to meet celestial friends. I love testifying of my Savior and challenging every person I teach to be baptized. I will give you an example of the first lesson we had with 15 year old Brandon just 2 days ago.

First we read Alma 5:12,14

''Brandon we testify that the changes you have made so far (he has been to church twice already without an invite from us) are made possible through Jesus Christ. He changes our hearts.''

Then we read Alma 5:62

''Brandon, we make the same invitation to you. Come unto Him and be baptized. When would you like to be clean from sin?''

''Hmm maybe on my birthday?''

''When is that?''

''The 16th of November.''

''Did you know that you can get baptized this Sunday?''  <--- this is now the favorite questions of Elder Guzman and Elder Smith

''I want to get baptized this Sunday.''

Ohhhh how the spirit was there and how we rejoiced in another soul that wants to come unto the waters of baptism, showing works meet for repentance. I live for those moments. Like Grandpa T would say, ''You can’t pay for these kinds of experiences!"

Thank you so much for the TWO packages. I got them both. And also a big big thank you to Aunt Kristin for the package and the life changing talk. Mom if you could ask her about the talk she sent me and then if you could send that to me next Tuesday in Spanish. This zone needs to read that talk. I loved the treats and the t-shirts and the handwritten cards that everyone wrote me from the reunions. Those are so fun to read.

Love you guys so much!!!!!

Elder Smith

PS-  KK I’m counting the number of times you don’t email me......those are the number of big kisses you will get when I come home!!!!