6/28/13
Hi Mom and Dad and family :)
Wow what a day. We just stopped at the office and I wanted to tell you I love you and that I will email tomorrow if we can find time. President Maluenda is incredible!! I felt something really special about him and his wife. He has 4 beautiful kids with him and 2 others who didn't come. I love them already... and they don’t speak much English, especially Hermana Maluenda. You will LOVE them. Tonight we went out with the Trayners (Pres. Hna. and Zach) for a bitter sweet dinner. I will miss them so much. We will take them to the airport in the morning and then will go over to the mission home to teach President Maluenda about the mission program. It’s so crazy but I love it. And I got SO excited to hear that Colt got called as an AP. What a boss! I’m so proud of him. I emailed him just barely, but tell his family I love them! I’ll email tomorrow but take care and tty soon!
Love Elder Smith
6/29/13
Oh man I’ve got so much to tell you all! First off, thanks again for the pictures and emails and everything! You guys are the best. These past few days have been super crazy! I dunno where to start but I’ll start with the baptism last Sunday!
It was a really great service and it really touched me. The parents of the Aguas family were so excited for the baptisms of their little girls and are so happy to be back in the church. Its been about 8 years but now they are bound and determined to get to the temple. It was sad because at the service the dad got up and started to cry and just said how bad he felt for not being worthy enough to baptize his daughters and then he promised everyone that one day he would be a worthy priesthood holder. They are a really special family. As well the young man Matthew who has pretty much been adopted by their family was super excited for baptism. The parents only speak Spanish and him English but they love him. And we found out his uncle is a stake president up in Michigan. He was sure happy to hear about the baptism. Now we are working on getting his family. But it was great. He asked me to baptize him and I pulled an Alma and pretty much went completely under myself haha but it was great! The Trayners and the whole office staff were there and it was a good way to send the Trayners out.
It was kinda hard because we had a family of 2 that fell off and another one that was getting baptized this Sunday that moved back to Monterrey suddenly. It was hard but luckily we still have another baptism this Sunday to welcome the Maluendas!
So this week was crazy with the last zone conferences! Then we had a first companionship training! We got to see a bunch of our buds that are training and then we went out to lunch with the Trayners. Then Friday came... It was nuts!!! We got everything ready to pick the Maluendas up at the airport at 12:30. We rushed over with the Trayners and got there just in time for them to walk out. Pte. Maluenda is like 6 3! Super tall! He's got a super sweet wife and a beautiful family. He has a 16 year old daughter (she's like 6 feet tall), a 15 year old daughter, an 11 year old son, and an 8 year old daughter. They are super great. We got their bags loaded up and took them back to the mission office for a luncheon with the senior office missionaries. It was great. We then took them to the mission home to show them around.The kids were going crazy and picked their rooms and then hit the sack pretty hard haha. They were so tired. We left them and the Trayners to talk a little about their responsibilities and me and Elder Munsey went out to work for a bit. We then went to help the Trayners with their bags and got them checked into the hotel. It was weird, President Trayner didn’t have his tag on and sister Trayner called him Steve!! But we went and got them checked into their hotel and then President said, "Ok Elders, whatcha got goin on tonight?" It was about 8 and we said "Nothing set." He said, "Ok! lets go to dinner, ONE LAST TIME!” We got some Chinese food and when we finished we gave President Maluenda a call. We only speak Spanish with him, haha. He is excited, but a bit nervous. We made plans to meet with him Saturday and then got to bed. This morning we got to the hotel at 10ish to take the Trayners to the airport. They were nervous but excited, joking the whole way there, just like President does. We got them checked in, said our sad goodbyes and put them on the plane. It felt so weird. . . . and lonely, to be honest.
Afterwards we came to the office and got down to business with President Maluenda. He is super inspired. He definitely set some strong expectations of us. I know he will push us to be a lot better, and we gave him the run down. It’s scary to be the only ones that know whats going on, but he is picking it up really fast. He will be just what this mission needs. We love him. So here we are writing our emails really fast before we go out to work. PDays a thing of the past. . .at least for this week haha!
I love you all! Wish us luck!
Love Elder Smith
