TIME ON A MISSION IS LIKE 'THOSE CHINESE FINGER THINGS"

Man another week come and gone. Sounds like a lot happened there! Haha not too much happened down here this week.

I’m glad everyone had a great Valentines Day and I wanted to thank you all again for the great V day package! It was great! I wore the tie on Thursday and I got a lot of compliments! Thank you for the pictures and emails though. They really made my day today.

So, today we found out that next Monday we will know who our new Mission President will be. That’s super weird.  I never thought the day would come that I would have to worry about a new President, but it’s approaching quickly. President Trayner has done a lot of amazing things for the TMM. Up here in the North we are just kicking along. We had a little bit better week. We were able to get some things going with members and found some good new people. We had a pretty cool experience, we went out with Sabrina and Alex Cavasos and met them at a potential’s house that Sabrina had known. We talked to her on her door step and Sabrina “threw down” haha! She bore testimony and invited her to church and then offered a prayer before she left. When we were walking away she's like, "who knows, maybe I could do the whole missionary thing. That felt pretty good." haha The only thing she says is holding her back is she thinks if someone rejected her or said something mean, that she would beat them up! hahaa. I guess I can’t say that it hasn't crossed my mind. haha

But it really is weird. The further you get into your mission the harder you wanna work and the more it means to you. But the harder you work, the faster is goes. Then the faster is goes it makes you wanna work even harder. It’s a TRAP!!  It’s like those Chinese finger things that you put your finger in, then when you try to pull it out, it’s got you and there’s no way out. haha! The more you struggle the worse it gets!! I’m really am so grateful for every day though.

Carlos and Margie are the hot family now and everyone wants to take them out to lessons haha. They are too funny. Remind me a lot of you guys! Just the brown version :)

But other than that, there isn't much to report so I want to leave you with a story:

I went on an exchange with one of our District Leaders up in Beeville (Elder Port) he actually came out with me. But in there area they have struggled finding and so for those 2 days we were determined to find some new peeps. We sat down with 2 families and neither was too down for anything. But then we got invited into dinner with a super great family. They fed us and we slowly transitioned into a lesson. Before they knew it, the Spirit had just rocked their world and the mom and dad were both tearing up. We set baptismal dates with all 5. It was a big testimony builder for me and I was super lucky to be there to witness such an awesome miracle. Really as missionaries we are the luckiest because we get to be a part of all these miracles that God works in their lives. Not a bad gig I’d say :) I just wouldn't mind one of those family of 5 miracles in my area!

But we are  learning. We are in the “refiners fire” so we will see how much he can push us to grow.

The mission is great! The greatest, really.. I love it.

Thank you for everything you do and I pray you have a great week!!! BYE!!

Elder SMITH!

"TIME WILL BE LIKE SAND RUNNING THROUGH YOUR FINGERS."

HIJOLE! If the weeks go any faster, I may just start emailing every 2 weeks because I have nothing to talk about! Thank you so much for the great emails, everyone! I’m glad to hear all is going well back at the home front and I am so proud that all of you have been reading as a family!!!! Super, Super Proud! Just keep it up! Kids are just like tortillas, the first ones either fall apart or burn but by the 3rd and 4th.....you can cook them just right. HAha, so there is still hope for the last 2, Mom :)

Looks like a wild day of Valentines cookies Mom and Nae! Glad to see that you’re pumping out the goodies just as fast as ever! Alex, I hope you’re enjoying baseball! That’s super exciting buddy, your gonna tear it up! Chan, Hope your doing well and you already know what my answer will be to your questions! Pull the trigger buddy! Your headed the right direction good luck! :) Just remember who the middleman was and don’t do anything crazy without me there. haha!

Sounds like all is well and I’m so glad that you have all had a great week. President Trayner told me something one time that has stuck with me my whole mission. He said, “Elder Smith, at the beginning of your mission, when you’re in the streets of Laredo, it will feel like the sun will never set. It will sit almost completely still and feel like time is at a complete stop. But in about a year and a half, the time will be like sand running through your fingers, you will try to catch it all but it will run right through until you've got none left."

I still have A TON OF TIME LEFT so don’t get trunky!!! But I can feel it slipping away and it scares me to death. Every week goes faster and faster and I already feel like I’m getting robbed. So if your praying for that...STOP! haha

The mission is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and everyday I am so grateful for it.  This last week was another rough week unfortunately. Just a trial of our faith or something, but it’s weird how when you feel like you’re the best missionaries you've ever been, things just go to pot. We have continued to work hard and enjoy ourselves, but we have felt a new sense of urgency. My time is too short here to lose or waste. But I’m still grateful for times like these, they are helping me grow.

So I though I would tell you a quick miracle that did happen to us this week before I "sign off"(Dad quote) haha! We found a new apartment complex and felt really strongly that that’s where God wanted us to be. We started talking to people and went by a couple ‘formers’. We got lead all around this big circle of apartments, and then across this field we saw a family playing outside. So we took off across the field. Haha And families are like rabbits, they all just scurry away when you come at them too fast, and before we knew it, they were all inside. But then we saw a young girl (young 20’s) just walking into her house. We yelled out to her before she could get in. We began to talk and she said,  "I’M ACTUALLY A MORMON" haha perfect :)  So we started talking and she had just moved into her mom’s house a few weeks back and none of them are members besides her. So we asked if we could meet her mom. The mom came out and just started bawling. She had been praying for someone. It really was a miracle. The bad news is they all got hit with the flu and couldn't come to church... But don’t let that take away from the great story, haha!!!

I love being a missionary. More than anything! Mostly because we see a lot of crazy crap haha :) but the miracles always make up for it. Always.

Thank you for everything family and I pray you all have a great week!

!LES AMO!

SABRINA BEARS HER AMAZING TESTIMONY

Oh hey guys! Man it’s already Monday and I’m here at the library again! Not that I don’t like talking to you, but the weeks just go way too fast. I wanted to say thank you for the great emails and pictures. We were laughing because the Superbowl is such a huge deal, but really, if anyone could even tell me who won 2 years ago I would be impressed. HAHA we just like it for the food! But I’m glad that you all had a great time! Thank you for the pictures, it’s always great to see you, and good to see that the old man’s still got it when it comes to living room wrestling. Well done! I wanted to just update you that I never got money from Uncle Kellan, so maybe check what address he sent it to because if it’s an old address someone may be holding it. . . I hope.

I was sooo happy to hear about the Newton girls and I wanted to give them a shout out. Hello Katie and Ellie! I think they would be surprised at how much I think about their family. Such a special family. Tell them I love them. As well, thank you for the picture of Art and Renee’s faces, juggled. Hijole! haha freaked me out!

So...this week was pretty rough haha :). Just one of those weeks I guess. The ones we try to avoid as much as possible. We definitely took our whippins and let’s just say we saw more naked people this week than we found new investigators. Not joking. It was ridiculous! We met the craziest people this week and any good stuff we did have

set up, fell through. So THANK YOU for Monday and the Sacrament because it feels good to start fresh this week.

It’s funny though because I wouldn't trade even the worst week on the mission for anything. Not anything.

So Carlos and Margie made it to the temple Saturday and they loved it! They are such MORMONS haha!! I love them! You guys are gonna love them too.

But I wanted to just share a sweet experience that I had Sunday...

Testimony meeting.... We are sitting there and Sabrina is sitting next to Matt Cavasos(the one that baptized her). And he has NEVER born his testimony. And he stands up and grabs her hand (brother and sister type hand hold - haha) and takes her up front. She was SUPER, SUPER nervous and didn't wanna go. So she sat down by Bishop and Matt stood up and gave an amazing testimony. Then he went and sat down by her and gave her “the look”.  She slowly got up and walked to the mic. When she started talking her voice just got really soft, and she was just calm as could be. Here’s what she said:

"So Sister Cavasos said I should share my story with you. She said that it was a testimony... So I was with the missionaries and Cavasos and they were teaching the Plan of Salvation, and I got pretty scared. I felt like there were so many steps and that I wouldn't be able to make it. I felt tons of voices in my head saying, ‘you cant do it, you dont even read!!’ and I immediately decided I wouldn't do it. And I couldn't. The missionaries asked me questions, but I had lost my voice. So we went to finish with a prayer and Sister Cavasos said it. I felt so alone and cold, but when Sister Cavasos started her prayer, I felt something warm hug me...And I heard a voice say...hey, YOU CAN DO THIS! And at that moment I felt full of love and warmth.. And I knew I could do it. And I knew that God talked to me. So I want to stand up here and tell you all thank you, for changing my life. I KNOW that this is where God wants me. And I know cus he told me. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I cried :)

Theres nothing sweeter guys :)

I love being missionary. That’s all there is too it. I love you all!!

Take care!!

Elder Smith

CARLOS GETS THE PRIESTHOOD!

Looks like a big snow week in I.F.  I’m glad you have had some fun with the dogs, the sleds, and some pistols. Just don’t shoot your eye out, sport! Jay is looking good! He been working out? Tell him I say hi! Oh and PS, the living room looks GREAT!!! I’m impressed!!  I’m glad to hear everyone has been safe this last week, especially on the roads to Rexburg.

I was gonna tell you that Sabrina has been looking at applications online but is afraid she won’t get everything done by the date. She will probably get in the following semester, unless we can pull some strings haha! Just let me know what you think and if so, I may give her your number to get it figured out. Just no talking about me!!! That’s probably illegal! But she is doing great and super excited about the new "MORMON LIFE". She has been hanging out with more members of the church and already went on a date with an RM! HAha we were stoked! She’ll fit right in at BYU! She really is a special girl and we are very proud of her. I’m sending pictures today in the mail so you can get a good look at the baptism!

So this week has gone by WAY too fast! January is already over and we are already on with the year. It makes me sick. There has been some super exciting news though.

We went over to the Ysassis house on Saturday (Carlos and Margie) and they had been over at the church all morning cleaning! They were all wiped out but they had time to make us a big turkey dinner and it was good!!! They started telling us that they had been talking to bishop and got interviewed that morning. Next Saturday they will be going up to the San Antonio Temple for the first time to do baptisms!!! We were freaking out. So excited... As well, they said that Carlos got interviewed for the Priesthood and he told us, “I felt like I was in the principals office.... BUT I PASSSED IT!!!"

So yesterday during 3rd hour, Carlos received the Aaronic Priesthood! And the best part was Sister Margie raked her kids outta bed to get them to come. Haha, she is such a Mormon Mom! She was like, "Man I shouldn’t have to rake my kids outta bed for church!" I agreed with her and assured her that MY mom never had to do that to me. haha, shhhhshhhshh.

So, their family is doing so amazing. We are teaching the daughter and working on a baptismal date. She is claustrophobic and doesn't wanna be in the small font. So we will see if we can work out a Corpus ocean baptism haha! Who knows! But I’m so proud of them! Linda is going to the temple too and they are all just being taken care of soo well!

So Sabrina got confirmed after fighting to not go up in front of everyone! haha And right after that she finally guessed my first name. She remembered that the Holy Ghost brings all things to our remembrance, I guess. But whatever works for you! Still weird when people know! But everything was great this week. The zone did great! We have amazing recent converts and couldn't be happier. Oh and we are back in a 2-some, so we are alot happier haha!

 I love you all so much, and I love being a missionary! So thanks for letting me love both:)  You guys are the best! Take care and I will talk to you muy pronto!

Love You!!

BYEEE!

SABRINA GOT BAPTIZED!

Hey party animals! 

Looks like you had a fun weekend at the cabin! Glad you all got to go. I loved the pictures. P.S. Chan has a cool sweatshirt on, haha! I hope you all are doing well and staying healthy. Tell Gpa And Gma and Papa and Grammy I say hello! Jay as well!!! How is he doing??

We had a great week here. It’s starting to heat up as well which makes me feel more at home. I’m a wuss when it comes to the cold now. But I started off the week losing my helmet. Well E. Sanchez lost it haha, but that’s the $20 charge on my card haha! My bad!

But besides that it was a pretty crazy week. I have never ever had such a crazy, spiritual transfer. In both good and bad ways.  Elder Sanchez is a very very spiritual kid. He's very special and me and him have had some amazing experiences. FIrst off, was on Tuesday, we ended up at this door step of this guy and he opened the door and said, "Come in Mormons, I’ve been waiting for you." We were kinda weirded out. But he took us in and started talking about some weird stuff. He is what we call a ‘curandero’, or like a wizard/healer/ora reader. And he had a SUPER weird spirit about him. He started reading our ora and at that point we were like, ok buddy we gotta go. But he wouldn't let us. He was talking about Elders Sanchez and Atherton’s oras and got them RIGHT ON. Then he looked at me and he could tell that I was not ok with it. He told me about how my ora was burning green, which meant that I had alot of pride and love for my family, or something like that. And I was like, ok we gotta go and he asked for my hands. I knew I shouldn't have, but long story short, he totally talked about like things from my past and future and stuff that was right on. I pulled away from him and stood up and we all got outta there. WIERD DUDE! Gave me the heebie jeebies.

So then Carlos and Margie had a family trial this week. Margie's dad passed away. I don’t remember if I told you last email, but we went Sunday night to give him a blessing  and he passed Monday morning. We went to his funeral on Thursday and it was a Catholic Rosary. GAVE  ME THE HEEBY JEEBIES! Weird stuff. But Carlos and Margie are doing better and got back to church. The ward really did a great job supporting them this last week.

So then SUNDAY!! Sabrina got baptized and it was amazing! We were super embarrassed because on her baptism day she totally wore and short skirt to church! Bishop was like, "So Elders the modestly lesson is next?" haha, It’s  actually tonight! :) But she did great.The young man of the member family that took her in, baptized her and he did great. He's 16 and it was his first baptism. I think he was changed more than she was through this. But after the baptism she walked out with a big towel rapped around her head...haha she's ridiculous.

So last thing, yesterday we got special permission from President to leave at 6 in the morning and go with the ZL’s from Corpus and a guy from the Stake High Council to go fishing in the ocean. IT WAS AWESOME! Didn't catch too much but we got to see some dolphins out where we were fishing, just as the sun was coming up. We fished right under this big military ship called the US Lexington. It was super cool! You'll have to look it up.

But sorry for the scattered email, I hope you enjoyed it! I’ll Send pictures soon! But I love you all! Take care and I’ll talk to you soon! BYYEE!!

Love Elder Smith

I LOVE THE ROBSTOWN WARD!

Man! What great emails this week! Thank you all so much! I got to hear from everyone!!! It made my day!

I wanted to start out by saying that I’m so proud of you Dad. Very proud. Thank you for being the best at everything you do. I know your not perfect, but in all of our minds, you are! What a lucky family they were to have you as their lawyer. I am so proud to be your son!

I know you used to always tell us how bad being a lawyer was haha! But it looks like Chan’s already on his way there and don’t feel too bad if that’s where I end up too. That’s kinda the vibes I’m getting! I don’t know if it’s because of you, or because you let us watch Lincoln Lawyer. Haha just kidding!

But it was good to hear from all the kids! I was cracking up at Rose’s thing too! I can’t believe how old she is! Hannah sent me a picture of all the friends at a football game and Rose was there! I can’t believe it! Tell the Rammells I say hi and that I love them! As well the Ydes, the grandparents, and JAY! Tell the Browns thank you for the package and I will get a letter sent asap!

So this week was a pretty great week! Sabrina passed her interview and is getting baptized next Sunday!! She is doing awesome and this week finally got a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. She is a very special and legit girl and we are gonna try to get her to BYU haha! Ya never know! She's going on an art scholarship to California but she may not leave, judging on how the ward has taken her in. 

We have all been fighting the flu or a cold and are trying to stay warm. It’s pretty cold up here (hence the 30 dollar coat charge on my card) :) haha! Thank you!

This week was a little hard for Carlos and Margie. Margie's dad has been on Hospice all week and finally passed away this morning. We got to go last night and see them and I gave her dad a blessing. They are a very special family. When we first found them Margie was looking for peace because of the recent death of her mother. She had began to doubt in God and when we saw them last night. She was just at peace. She just kept saying, "I prayed that Heavenly Father wouldn't let him suffer and he hasn't." The ward has really helped out and is taking them food so they are in good hands.  I LOVE THE ROBSTOWN WARD! IT IS THE BEST! I could stay in this area for the rest of my mission easy. Just too many special people.

So as far as the big family we were teaching.. We have hit some roadblocks with them. I can’t say much about what’s been going on, but all I can say is there is just as much bad as there is good. And a lot of bad spirits and evil things. They have been too involved with those things and we have just been fighting to keep them. They have great desires and are doing everything. But we've got some BIG problems to get over. Please keep them in your prayers.. 

So I wanted to end with a funny story for you guys. Especially for Dad and Chan. Last Sunday, Carlos showed up at church and he always has a white shirt on, but he doesn't like ties. So we were like, “OK brother Carlos you need a tie. What color do you like?”  And he sat and thought for a second and said, "Just not red. I like blue."

So I asked why he didn't like red. He just smiled his cheesy smile and said, "I’M A DEMOCRAT!"  haha And I thought I couldn't love him anymore!

  

I love you family! Have a wonderful week and stay warm!

Love Elder Smith

BAPTISMS IN THE 'LAND OF DESOLATION'

Man! It looks like a lot of fun this last week! I’m so glad Addi got to go to the concert! I wasn't surprised at all to see Megs and Katie there. Haha They've probably been camping outside the event center since I left on my mission! They are crazy! I was so excited to hear about Meg’s mission call. She will be an AMAZING missionary. As well I was laughing super hard at the picture Chan emailed me - “Three less lonely boys haha!

So I wanted to thank you all for your emails and pictures. And for your great words of wisdom, Chan. I’m gonna take the advice haha! Thank you for your great testimonies! And I’m sorry you kids have to go back to school! HAHA THAT STINKS! Love you guys!

So we had an awesome week this week. Pretty busy though. There’s not much new that has happened since I emailed just a few days ago, but we had an awesome week at church. Our big family came again and are doing great! They are getting a lot of opposition from the grandma, but are still doing super well. We still need to work with her. As well our girl Sabrina came and LOVED church! She fit in so well with the other kids there and was just glowing afterwards. She is a super special girl and we are super excited for her. She has completely been taken in by one of the member families and she practically lives there now. We have been sooo blessed with these great people to teach.

So I don’t remember if I told you this, but according to the mission, the “north”, Corpus and Sinton, don’t baptize. No one wants to get transferred up here because they all think that it’s too hard to baptize. President even jokes around and calls it The Land of Desolation. But things have changed so much! Our zone is being blessed so much and teaching sooo many great families. I got to go interview one of the families yesterday that live up in Beeville and it was amazing - A family of 8! The parents are members and 5 of the kids are baptismal age. Such a cool story about how the parents fell away and after 20 years of complete inactivity, they said a prayer for God to help them get back to an LDS church. The next day the missionaries were walking down the street and saw a big scary looking guy with a beard and tattoos and the Spirit told them to go talk to him. Now just a month later, next week all the kids will be baptized.

There are so many stories that have touched my heart and strengthened my testimony.  I don’t know how anyone could forget them, or say that it was just coincident, because there are no coincidences. The Lord is very involved in even the finest details of all our lives.

So here’s my bit of "wisdom" if you wanna call it, for you guys. It’s something that has been on my mind a lot. It’s the principle of a testimony. We were told by Elder Shwitzer from the 70 that a testimony can never be stationary or stay the same. I’ve been thinking a lot about that and have decided that EVERY second of the day our testimony is either being strengthened or weakened. Everything we do either increases our faith and our Spirit or it destroys it. It’s never stationary and we can never just fly to Mexico and sit back on a lawn chair and say, "I’ve finally got my testimony right where I want it." So I’ve been thinking about everything I do throughout the day. Everything I say, every thought that goes through my head, every joke I make, it effects us. ALOT! And the question I’ve been asking myself is "Is this gonna make my testimony meter go up or go down?”

I know that everything you guys are doing is making it go up!! Cus you’re a perfect family!!! haha But I thought I would share that with you in hopes that maybe that question will pop into your mind right before you do something crazy at a Justin Bieber concert haha! (Mom!)

Haha I love you guys all so much. I’m so grateful for your testimonies and for being soo great! I love you all!

Have a great week and ECHELE GANAS!

Love Elder Smith