So family it sounds like all is well! I loved all your emails! Sounds like a fun weekend skiing and staying at the Bin! Hope you all had a blast and Mom and Dad, I hope you had a blast at Lady A! And I can’t believe you heard Darius Rucker! He is way good!!! But tell all the family hello and that I’m missing all of them and all of you! First thing, I want to check how Grandma is doing with her leg and how Grandpa is recovering? I’ve been worried about them, so please update and let them know they are in my prayers. And same for Papa and Grammy, I hope they are doing well and tell them all that I will write asap. And thank everyone that has written me and I’ll try to get you written back!!!(Aunt Nene and Uncle Paul, Ydes...and everyone else! Love Ya)
So this week was super good! Definately a different Valentines day then ive ever had! We went down to Mcallen for V day for First comp training and it was a blast. Me and Elder Stevens drove down a whole van of missionaries and had a way sweet day. And mom it was a miracles that i got that package. It got there just seconds before i left to head back to laredo! Thank you so much i loved it! Your the best valentine! I hope you got my card a sent!
So this week was really great, but also really hard. Bad news first, Julio. The day before his interview to get baptized, this Sunday, he backed out. And just wasn’t ready and it broke my heart. I thought getting dumped by a girl hurt. I was in the pits the whole night but the next day we went to work and set 4 new B.D.s. The Lord really blessed us with those so we will see how they progress. I love finding humble people and they are all pretty prepared.
We have a lot of great investigators right now and my very favorites are the Cantera family I’ve told you about. But the bad news from them this week is they can’t get his divorce done and get married for 3 years because of some "Stuff" and so they are stuck in limbo and it’s so hard. They have changed so much and are so ready, but they have a big trial in front of them. But I love their kids but they are soooooo out of control! So we had a little obedience lesson last night with them and la familia Orozco. Brother Orozco is like the craziest guy I’ve ever met. And let me tell you it’s hard to control a lesson with Spanish people who just LOVE to talk! So me and Elder Stevens put together a game. It was that primary game "don’t eat pete", or in Laredo terms, "no comas a Pedro". Man, they went nuts for that game, especially the parents! Haha Everyone was screaming and laughing and we had a blast. Afterwards we tied it in with obedience and it was super good. And me and Elder Stevens totally controlled the lesson, it was great!
But as far as the Spanish, I LOVE IT! I love learning and studying and speaking with people. I’ve been leading a lot of lessons and learning so much. I feel like people know I have a personality now because I can actually talk to them. I’ve been making a lot of the phone calls in Spanish, which were a nightmare at first! But it’s just super fun and such a humbling experience. I think the talk in sacrament was really good to get me out of my Spanish shell because now I just love talking to everyone!
As far as the food, EVERY Spanish Mama wants to feed us and they make us eat a lot! But I’m ok with that because I LOVE the food. We eat at like every appointment, even when it’s not a dinner appointment. Haha But the people are just awesome and they take good care of us.
So those are just some updates. But other than that, its just WORK! It’s such a blessing to be a missionary. I have learned so much already and I learn more everyday. It’s not easy to be away from you all and I hope you know how much I miss you, and love you. But this will be but a small moment in what we have to come. And there’s so many of these people that need the same blessing that we have. I hope you keep them all in your prayers. You are all in mine. I love you all and pray that you have a wonderful week. Be safe and take care. Until next week.
Les quiero,
Elder Smith
