"IN ALL OF BROWNSVILLE THE ONE PERSON WE STOP ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD WAS JUAN!"

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

LAST TRANSFER - NO TIME TO WASTE!

Dear family, 

I’m sorry for not emailing this week, it has been so crazy with transfers. We just sent off another group and are back to work, we’re headed to Brownsville for an exchange. My last transfer just started and it’s game time! No time to waste! I will write you all a great email this Saturday, I promise!

I love you all so much and hope to hear from you all really soon!

Hope you enjoyed conference!

Love, 

Elder Smith

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

Ok. Thank you everyone SO much for everything! Thank you grandparents for the birthday letters, they were so great! You always give way too much! I love you guys! And Sister Hart, Marivi’s mom got the card to the bishop and he got it to me on my birthday! It was great! Thank you for the package as well, family! It was great, it came right on time!

I loved the emails! Sorry to hear that we lost the Emotion Bowl. I’m still healing from our losses. But I’m glad to see that all the boys are all back together (Kegan, Stevan, Garrett). I love those guys. It will be good to see them all again. Stay out of trouble!!!

So we had a great week here. Starting with Sunday we had Stake Conference and got a bunch of super great new people to church and they loved it. That night the Thompson (He is a counselor in the Stake Presidency) family invited us over for dinner like they do every Sunday. . They are so great! Sister Thompson felt she needed to do something big for my birthday, so they made my favorite dinner and my favorite mango salsa. Man they are great.

That Monday morning we decided to play basketball early before studies because we canceled our pday because of the incoming missionary. When we got there, there were a bunch of missionaries and they had brought party hats and the little blowy things and a bunch of treats for after the game, for my birthday. It was super funny and I was really grateful for them.

That morning we spent driving around to police departments getting finger prints and everything signed to send a Sister Missionary down to Argentina and got back just in time to go to lunch with brother Traynor. What a boss!  I really love that guy. He bought us a super expensive meal of buffalo chicken pizza and made a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting (Mom’s recipe), that was great! He had candles and the whole 9 yards. I’m really grateful for him.

After that we found out that the new elders arrival had been canceled and so President Maluenda commanded us to go play soccer with all the missionaries haha! We were obedient:) We had a great time and finished the night at the Maluenda’s for some planning. Well, I thought it was planning, but when I got there the whole family was there with a great cake and chileano hot dogs. It was the most amazing birthday ever. They tried so hard to make it really special and I was really grateful. Then we got on the computer to do the BYUI endorsement and couldn't find it and President was like, “Call your Mom and ask!" I said, “Can’t Sister Maluenda just text her?”  “NO CALL!”

Haha, so I did! He was so happy that I got to talk to you! And it was sooo good to hear Addi’s voice! I wanted to talk more but couldn't. You guys are great!

We finished out the week finding a super great family of 4 that are looking really promising for October and we have a pm (part member) girl that will be getting baptized tomorrow! The lord has been blessing us a ton! And here we are today just about to go help Sister Tovar. our recent convert, move apartments!  Wish us luck!

Besides that, all is well! It’s starting to turn bitter sweet! Haha I’m just super happy with everything and love being here. I love my wards. I love the members, my area, the missionaries, the Maluenda’s. All is so great. And I really love the Lord.. He's the greatest. He definitely knew what he was doing when he called me here. It was definitely meant to be my mission!

Thanks for everything and tell everyone I say hello!

ELDER SMITH'S 21ST BIRTHDAY!

So, it is done and I'm returning with my report. We just finished with lunch at BJ's, the place they had chosen (coincidentally one of my favorite places too). They make excellent pizza at BJ's with a lot of specialty ingredients and we had a go at recreating "The Payton". It wasn't quite the same thing as the one he makes at your home, but I think it was close enough to at least remind him. We had a fun time going over where he's served so far, what he's up to now that he's in the office, etc. You really have a great son. From the way he talked, I could easily see that he loves what he's doing and that he "gets" what missionary work/leadership is about. We finished it off with the cake, which seemed to be a happy surprise for him. Thanks for letting me be a part of a fun mission memory for your family. I think things like this are great. 

William Traynor

P.S. Forgive me for not taking a ton of pictures. I don't often take pictures so I didn't remember until nearly the end. The one with the candles turned out a bit blurry. 

ORLANDO AND STACY GET BAPTIZED!

So we had an AWESOME week! But first off, thank you all so much for your emails!  You’re all the best! Glad everyone is doing well. Alex, you need to get that shoulder better buddy!! Go get ‘em this week! Sounds like everyone is doing well! Tell all the grandparents I say hello! I received a letter from Gpa and Gma Smith! Thank you so much! And I sent that email for Sister Hart. Please read it to her! Glad to see the pic of all the Westside boys again (Garrett, Kegan, & Stevan). I hope Keg puts on more weight! I loved hearing and seeing from everyone!

So where do I start? The baptism on Sunday was incredible! I got to baptize Orlando and Elder Stott baptized Stacy! They are SO sweet! Man, I love them to death! They are all excited to meet you! It was a very special service and we made it interesting because there was only like 2 1/2 ft of water. We got LOW!

Monday was so much fun! It was our first time having P-day with all the other missionaries! Pte Maluenda changed our P-day so we could hang with the other missionaries and spend more time around them! We will still email on Saturdays though. So Sunday night I had a dream about playing mud soccer, so Monday morning I woke up and we called all the zone leaders in the valley and told them to meet at 2 for mud soccer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t raining, so in our prayer leaving our house, I prayed that God could make it rain. When we got to the field it began to pour! It was incredible! 95 degress and beautiful rain!  All my buds were there! Best P-day ever! Afterwards we went to a place called Free Birds so Elder Hill could try to eat the 5 1/2 lbs burrito. Let’s just say he painted the walls with 5 lbs of pure Mexican paint. Haha He lost it all!!! Pretty bad.

So on Tuesday we had a Zone Conference here in McAllen and after we went and found a new sweet part member family which was a referral from bishop. It was a real blessing because we have only had a few hours in our area because of conferences. Wednesday we got a good full day of work and as well went to the Maluendas to celebrate the Chilean Independence Day. We ate delicious Empinadas. I love them!

That night we took off for Corpus and arrived at like 1 in the morning. We had conference that next morning and it went really well. I hate giving my “dying testimony” because I’m not dead yet! Not even close! That night we went to dinner before going home! Fuddruckers - tough on the pocketbook.

Yesterday and today we are just working away and finding peeps to baptize in October. Pray for us!

I’m excited for Monday. We were going to have a huge birthday party because there are a lot of birthdays next week, but we just found out we have a surprise Elder coming in, so we will be busy with him all day. But Brother Traynor (OUR Brother Traynor’s brother) Thats confusing.. He is taking us all to lunch so it’ll be good!!! (Me Elders Stott, Hill , and Grant) What better way to spend my birthday than with a new missionary:) It’ll be fun!

Besides that, all is well!! I’m excited for what’s to come this week and know that we are gonna find some new families to baptize! I LOVE BAPTIZING! And I love all my converts so much!

Thanks for all you do family! Remember how much I love you!!

Love Elder Smith

MY LAST ROUND OF ZONE CONFERENCES and GREAT UPDATES FROM SAN BENITO

Hey guys! Man another week come and gone! This week has been ridiculous haha! It was good to start the weekend with some great emails from you all! You’re the best! Y'all are starting to speak trunky. Stay with me family, you can make it! Let’s just say, it really set in this week giving my dying testimony at Zone Conferences. It was the worst. Because these are the last Zone Conferences until December. It felt like a waste because I don’t feel like I’m “dying” so it was just a normal testimony. But I have to give it 5 times, once at each Zone Conference. The good news is, it doesn't ever set in so I’m doing great! We are still baptizing!

I was happy to hear everything went so well with Marivi and her family. I’m glad her Mom still loves me. We were pretty close, but our last lesson was kind of a throw down, and I wasn't sure how she felt about me. Sometimes it’s tough to be firm with people you love, but sometimes its necessary. Glad all went well, thank you so much!!

This week has been pretty wild. We spent as much time as we could with O. and S. Cantu getting them ready for their interviews, which are today and their baptisms tomorrow! Unfortunately, we had almost no time in our area, not in Mcallen. Monday was our only day of proselyting and then Tuesday we headed to Laredo for Zone Conference. It was super funny because we almost ran out of gas and I got pulled over but I put on the puppy dog face and he let me of. I put on my Nacho Libre voice and told him that “this is the Lord's car”. He bought it:) It was strange being in Laredo. I gave a testimony there about 20 months ago as a new missionary and then this week I gave my last one. Kinda bitter sweet. Conference went really well though. We got back pretty late and the next morning we woke up really early to head to Harlingen for Zone Conference. It was a GREAT day and it was really special for me. I talked to the Sisters who served in part of my old area in San Benito....They told me the family that I found and taught that couldn’t get baptized (Minerva and Ramiro) are finally getting baptized. They got everything figured out for their marriage and wedding. It was the best news I’ve heard almost my whole mission. They asked if I could come down for the baptism but Orlando and Stacey get baptized at the same time Sunday. I donno what I’m gonna do, but it'll work out. The other cool thing is a guy I taught there that got baptized 2 weeks after I left, has received the Melchizedek Priesthood and is gonna baptize them all. SO COOL! The other cool news was another family we found in Brownsville got baptized last Sunday. Super cool stuff!

So after that, we booked it back and had an awesome lesson with the Cantu family. They are soo amazing! I know I always say this, but literally, they are the most prepared family I have ever taught. SO PREPARED! They are in Mosiah and read as a family every night. They are super excited about baptism. When I asked Stacey if she was ready for her interview, she said "I’m just nervous because sometimes I forget Nephi’s 3 brothers’ name. "Don’t worry Stacey, they won’t ask you that.”  haha! They are great. I really love them! I am willing to bet that in 2 years Orlando will be an Elders Quorum President. He's a boss.

Then late that night we left to go to Rio Grande City for an exchange. We got called half way through the exchange on Thursday and had to go pick a missionary up and drive him to Laredo, then take another to the airport in Laredo Friday morning. I was SO sick of the car at this point haha! But we made it alright. We got to play some Laredo volleyball early Friday morning after about 4 hours of sleep and then got him to the airport and got on the road back to McAllen. It was our P-day so we spent half of it driving and the other half napping haha! Then last night we went to a fiesta to celebrate Mexico's Independence! It was boss!! Man, we had a ton of fun. We had a bunch of investigators there! Santi (Santiago), Orlando and Stacey’s son was the star of the Primary’s dance and they loved it. I was so proud! It was great to see the Aguas family perform too and Emmanuel got up and danced haha! Brother Rodrigues was there with the priesthood putting everything together. ALL boss members! I was so proud and we laughed and sang and had a great time with the ward. I really love it here:)

So today we are running all over with the interviews, a training, and lessons, and it’s good to be back home. I’m not looking forward to next week’s Zone Conferences a ton, but we are ready to go. We will hit up Corpus next week and then be here in McAllen for the other. IT’LL BE GREAT!

It’s good to stay busy, but sometimes I wanna slow down to just enjoy the mission. Unfortunately, the only way you can really enjoy it, is if you’re running around crazy teaching, chasing people down, yelling at them, and baptizing. Unfortunately that’s what makes the time go faster. But I do love every moment. The mission is the greatest thing that has every happened to me. I realized that this is very much home for me now:)  

But, we are gonna hit it hard next week once again! Finish this week with 2 amazing baptisms and keep them coming! There’s too many prepared people and not enough time! I love you all so much and I pray that you are all safe!

I LOVE YOU! So much!

Elder Smith

TESTIMONY OF FASTING AND PRAYER - THE CANTU FAMILY

So good to hear from all of you! You all look great in the pictures! Especially Alex, what a stallion. I’m so proud of him! And you all looked good on your first day of school! Los guapos! Hope your loving school! It’s good to see Chan back! I feel like the only time I get pictures of him is when he wants to show off the pretty girl that he's dating. You'll have to fill me in boss! Thank you all for your emails and everything you do! I love you all a bunch! Tell the grandparents I say hello and that I love them! Jay as well and all the friends and family!

So this past week was nuts! So I’m gonna start with my testimony of fasting! I have never experienced such an obvious answer to prayers and fasting as I did this week. We had been working with a few families and all had fallen off. Elder Stott had gotten here and we decided to do a special fast so God would provide us with a prepared family that would get baptized in September. It was the last week to find for September so the pressure was on. We fasted that day and worked super hard and . . . nothing.  That night we came back here to the office to finish up somethings and Elder Hill was here with his comp Elder Grant. They are the ZL’s in Hidalgo and they ran over to us super excited. They told us they had been teaching a family that moved into our area and they had already been to church and been taught like half the lessons. They handed them over and we have had some of the most amazing lessons with them. The cool thing is it is the son of a member and I had been working with that member (the mom) when I first got to this area, so we could baptize her son when he got here from Mexico! Well, he got here and they are gonna be baptized on the 15! They literally are one of the most prepared families I have ever taught. It’s the Cantu family! Please pray for them!

So, on Wednesday we had MLC and it was super good! Man I feel like my mind just gets blown by Pres Maluenda. Every time he takes us aside and teaches us, I feel so blessed. It’s funny, but he always talks about being great fathers and husbands, more than great missionaries. He has made a HUGE difference in my life, I can’t even explain it.

Yesterday we went up to Robstown with Pte. to do a special zone conference. It was REALLY good. I got to see some members too and I saw Sabrina! She's doing great, and so are all my other converts! I love that place!

I really have been reminiscing a lot on my mission and all the great people I have met and miracles I’ve seen. It’s amazing how big a part of me it all is. It really has changed my vision. I know exactly what God expects of me now :) Thanks for giving me up ;)

I love the mish! And I love you guys! Thanks for all you do! Be safe and smart and don’t get too trunky!

Love Elder Smith