Hey how’s it going! So good to hear from most of you;) Haha I love you all so much and I loved your emails. Sounds like not much has changed back in I.F. It kinda scares me because I know that I have changed and I WON’T go back to the old me! I remember Chan worrying about that and I thought he was just being a girl haha. But I’m so happy that you are all doing well. I loved that picture of the grandparents at Alex’s game. Four of the most faithful fans I’ve ever met. Even when they couldn't even see well enough to enjoy the game, they never missed. I’m so grateful for them! Tell them I love all of them so much!
Glad to hear that y'all are getting everything ready for winter. I can hardly believe summer has already passed. It is still hot as can be down here and I feel like it’s not going away. However, we did feel our first semi-cool breeze a few days ago. There was just one though haha....It was nice.
So these passed 2 weeks have been nuts. We have been all over the place. It’s been a miracle that we even have people to work with but I wanted to tell you about this super special family called the Vargas family. I believe I told you about them a few weeks ago. We received a referral from a young man from Utah that is down here to sell security systems. He ran into this family and got their info and went over with us a few days later. The family was INCREDIBLE. All so ready. There’s the Dad (Mario), Mom (Lorena), Mario Jr (12) and Lauri Jane (7). A COMPLETE FAMILY! They all accepted baptismal dates and have been solid ever since. They came to church the first Sunday and loved it. Last week they watched every session of conference and took notes! It’s super funny, Mario has a notebook just chuck full of notes, questions, and experiences. He is a great father. They even bought me a late birthday cake because they found out that they missed my birthday haha! Their family has seen so many great changes. Hopefully, I haven't already shared this, but a few days after our lesson on prayer, Mario Jr. got his shoes stolen at school and he remembered that we told him he could pray for ANYTHING. He knelt down on the locker room floor and offered a little prayer. A few minutes later, someone brought back his stolen shoes:) After he shared that in our lesson, his father teared up and admitted, "I know this is what God wants for my family..I can’t deny it." They will be baptized on the 20th of October and Mario already has plans to send BOTH of his children on missions. I really do love them.
Besides that we have been busy busy with Pte. Maluenda. We have done A LOT of exchanges with our Zone Leaders because there are some new ones and that have kept us really busy. I though I would share one more experience from our Brownsville exchange that we had 2 days ago.
The night before the exchange we got to the apartment super late because we went to rescue the ZL’s out on this country road because they had gotten a flat. The next morning we had to plan, because of our crazy night and we took about 30 minutes to plan up a great day. I was with Elder Welker. I opened up the book of formers and said a prayer to maybe pull one out that would get baptized. I told Elder Welker that the one I pulled would get baptized in November and I bet him an ice cream on it. I pulled one out of a Part Member family, the Galvan family. A family of 9!! Juan Galvan was the father’s name who is not a member. I was super excited but then realized that the elders hadn't put an address or a phone number because the family was moving. There was no way in heck that we could find this family. But, it seemed weird because I felt so good about it. So we filled in the rest of the plans and took off.
It was a little bit tough that morning because they had just opened a new area and so we kept getting lost. We were out in the middle of NOWHERE, absolutely lost and we drove past this old gas station and up ahead about 200 yards I saw a man walking. I had a SUPER strong impression to talk to him. He looked rough, but I pulled over and yelled at him (In a nice voice) :)
"Como estan Elderes!" He replied, with a huge smile on his face.
People NEVER call us Elders!!! I asked for his name. “I’m Juan Galvan.”
I couldn't believe it. We jumped out of the car and right there on the side of the road had a 5 minute lesson. The night before brother Galvan had prayed for help. It was answered the very next day. We invited him to be baptized and he happily accepted. We went back that night and set baptismal dates with about half of his family. I was so grateful for that impression. IN ALL OF BROWNSVILLE THE ONE PERSON WE STOP ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD WAS JUAN!! Pretty cool experience.
I love being a missionary. . .I wish it never had to end.
Thanks for everything family, I love you so much! Have a great day!!!
Elder Smith
