Family!
Man I have sooooo much to tell you and not much email time! This is been, hands down, the craziest, absolute hardest, week of my life! But at the same time, it has been one of the happiest weeks of my life! I was called to the Laredo Rio Bravo Area, which is like ALL Spanish! It is crazy! Baptism my fire for sure! haha! And the number one area for stolen bikes in the country! We actually do have a lot of investigators that speak English though, which isn’t very common. I can see Mexico from the front door of my apartment. We are like 2 streets from the river, haha. My apartment is pretty nice, too. All the missionaries say it’s by far the nicest one here!
As far as my companion, he is the BIGGEST stud! Elder Stevens is his name and he is from California. He has only been out 3 months, and just got done being trained and now he is training! But we are already way tight! He is the hardest worker and way funny and we have a ton of fun. Everyone calls us the "bebitos" or little babies haha! Because we are the youngest companionship in the mission! I’ll tell you a little more about all the success we had this week at the end! As far as Spanish...hard. A lot of times the only way I communicate is with a smile haha! I spend most dinner appointments getting laughed at and trying to learn and ask questions, but I LOVE IT! I already am sooo in love with some of these people! They think it’s so funny when I try to talk and say nice things because they speak a lot differently than people in the MTC. We always go to dinner and have AMAZING food, then just try to have a lesson, but it turns into Spanish class, haha, but I’m learning!
So Laredo supposedly has the ONLY hill in Texas! Haha maybe a little exaggeration, but it’s pretty flat everywhere else! But everyday we have to truck up the hill on our bikes to get to appointments because we’re clear down at the bottom of the hill in Santa Rita or "The Dirty South" so my buns and thighs are definitely feeling it! That one speed bike is really testing me and mis nalgas (butt cheeks). You can edit that mom :) But it’s great!!
So Church....Oh man pretty overwhelming. All the people that know me like to laugh at me and talk really fast to me to see that look on my face. But it gets us dinner dates because I give them a good laugh! But they all love when I have to introduce myself in church. But we have 6 hours of church, English Branch and Spanish. But after Spanish Branch my brain is ready to explode! But I sat by the Cantera family who I just love, so it was ok! I’ll talk about them next!
So about this week, first off this area has only had one baptism in the last 3 months. Since me and Elder Stevens have been here, we have set 6 baptismal dates!!! We can hardly believe that the Lord has blessed us with so much success already! Like everyday we have been lead to so many people who are so prepared! I don’t even know why we have been so blessed to be part of so many miracles, but i am sooo grateful!!!! Most of our baptismal dates have some serious problems to work through, but it can be done. Haha! Maybe I can talk about our Lesbian investigator in a letter sometime soon!!
But the Cantera Family (who is my favorite and have a little girl Melanie that wants to meet Addi) are not married because he has to get a divorce across the border, then get married before baptism. But an awesome family. And the family that we have been really working with a lot is Samantha and Juan, who speak English. Samantha was a previous investigator, but the missionaries could never meet Juan because he was always at work. They are both about 20 or 22 and have a 2 year old. But one night we had an appointment and Elder Stevens was like I think we need to go stop by Samantha’s. So we rode up and JAUN was there!!!! Turns out that they were just talking about how he wanted to meet us and how that day he really wished we could come and there we were! By the end of that little meeting in there dirt driveway, out in front of the trailer, he had set a baptismal date, decided to quit his job so he could come to church, and decided that they would get married so they could be baptized. He kept saying to us "There’s something about you guys. You just bring a good feeling. How can I get this feeling more?" SOOO AMAZING! The Lord has blessed us so much. For a couple of greenies, we are pretty lucky to be able to be instruments of our Heavenly Father.
So family, there is so much more to tell and so much more on my mind, but I just don’t have enough time. But if nothing else, I just want you to know how much I love and miss you. Every time I have a different momma make my dinner, I think of MOM. Or when I see the Cantera kids, I think of Addi and Alex. Every time we have Brother Martinez cook us up some steak, I miss dad! And every time I think of the word GIRLS, I’m always thinking of Casanova, I mean Chan! Haha I’m so glad you all are doing so well! I hope the grandparents are well and tell Grandpa to get feeling better. I’m worried about him!!! Tell them all I love them and that I’ll send letters soon!
Family, I’m so lucky to be apart of this work. It’s so hard. The hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything because I know that it is true. And I know the Lord wants me here in Laredo. I hope you all have a wonderful week and always remember how much I love you! Until next week, Love
Elder Smith
