Hola Familia y Amigos :)
Can't quite believe it's Monday again. Is the time going by as
fast for you guys as it is for me?! It's a little freaky, but I'm loving it
here!! Alrighty here's my week in review :)
Tuesday, we went to visit the Family of Stefan. I was so excited
to go back and be with my family away from home! We got to Matapozuel, went to
the "grocery store" and bought a ton of bread, meat, and drinks to
surprise them with. It felt good to serve them, give them a good meal. I'm not
sure what they eat with the little money they have, so they definitely liked
the sight of lots of fresh food. Right before we started the lesson, Stefan and
all the other men in the house got a phone call that one of their neighbors
needed help with something, so they apologized and left. Well, it's a rule that
we aren't allowed to be in a house with only women, but Stefan wanted us to
stay and wait for him. Haha we were stuck in a way tough situation, Stefan
insisted that we were all family and nothing bad would happen. So we said okay,
and when he left, we waited for about 5 minutes then decided to just teach the
Restoration to the people who were there, just the kids and women. They didn't
understand much and Stefan wasn't there to help translate to Romanian, but I
did download the First Vision on my iPad in Romanian, so I know they understood
that part which is the most important of all. After that we just said we had to
leave, so it all worked out. It was a quick visit and we didn't see Stefan
after that, so I felt really bad but rules are rules. Hopefully this week we
can get back and have another good visit.
Wednesday we had District Meeting in Valladolid which was very
fun. Elder Peña did a good job putting it together. After, we had more
intercambios, and I was with Elder Kempf from Malaga! He's a cool dude, and
speaks really fast Spanish. I didn't understand him as well as I do other
people but it was all okay. We went up to his area, Ponferrada, which is a 4
hour bus ride from Valladolid. I love bus rides because it gives me lots of
time to think and see more of Spain. There's lots of farm land up north and
it's really pretty. Once we got to Ponferrada, we had one lesson fall through
so we did some contacting until it was time to go home.
Thursday morning we had our studies, and Elder Kempf helped
me a lot with my pronunciation and the Plan of Salvation lesson. It's hard to
explain to people in English, and that makes Spanish just a riot too!! So he
gave me some good pointers and I practiced a lot with him. Then, I had to travel
4 hours back to Valladolid by myself! A little scary but it was good, lots of
time to think about life. If you know me, you know I love to day dream so it
was a quality 4 hours :) and also if you know me, I get car sick so easily so
it made it hard to read scriptures. After about the first 15 minutes I was
ready to throw up everywhere so I had to turn on my air conditioner and chill
the rest of the way. Once I got back to Valladolid, Elder Peña was there to
pick me up at the station and gave me a big hug and said "I missed you,
and I ate one of your donuts." I laughed so hard!!! Literally the funniest
thing of all time haha. I have the best companion in the whole world :)
Friday, we woke up and went to the train station again because
we had a Trainer/Trainee Reunion in Madrid!! It was at the MTC and I was so
excited to go home!! I love Madrid so much and I miss it a ton. Walking onto
temple grounds again was possibly one of the greatest feelings of all time!! I
saw 2 of my old maestros, it was so awesome! We received lots of good counsel
about how to use our iPads effectively, how to make companionship study better,
and lots of other stuff. President Pack said that all the new missionaries
looked a lot more tired than the day when we left, which is so true! Walking
around all day takes it out of me, and I'm so surprised at night when we get
back to the Piso that my feet are still attached to my legs. They hurt so bad
:( but it's all good, they still work and that's all that matters. So Friday
was a little throwback, I rode the metro again and I saw a bunch of the current
missionaries in the MTC! I was able to hopefully comfort them a little and tell
them that it's sad to leave there but the field is awesome too. If I can do
this, anyone can do this :)
Every Saturday morning, we teach an English class en la
capilla. It's a quality time! The two men, Julio and Alfredo actually have
quite good English so we pick a different subject every week and then see where
we end up when the time is out. It's usually really far off of where we
started! The others are still working on the basics, but we have tons of fun.
It's a good way to share a spiritual thought and they really seem to enjoy it!
The rest of Saturday was awesome mainly because I opened my SUPER MISSIONARY
package and it made my whole week! I was overwhelmed with the love from all the
snacks, pictures, talks, and other stuff. Super, super cool, so thanks to
everyone who helped, especially my mom!! :) Sunday was good, Stefan brought 10
family members to church and we picked up another investigator named Michael!
He is 15 and his mom is inactive but older sister Nicole is active and loves to
hang with the missionaries. We have eaten at their house a bunch. Michael has
just a few problems we are trying to work through but Elder Peña and I have a
good feeling we can get him ready to be baptized! He loves to beatbox, so
whenever he sees me he shows me what he has been working on. It's so funny haha
we always have good laughs together!
Sorry there aren't a ton of way spiritual experiences this week,
sometimes you have weeks like these. The spiritual thought for this week
happened on Wednesday during District Conference. One of the Hermanas gave us
all a picture of the Savior with a quote on the back from Gary E. Stevenson. It
says "You have the Savior of the world on your side. How can you
fail?" It's soooooo true! I feel like some days there was nothing that
went right. We had no luck contacting, no lessons to teach, and the day feels
like a failure. What's important for us to remember is that Heavenly Father is
proud of us for trying. As long as we are doing our best, there's no way He
will let us fail. In the end, we know who will come out on top.
Thanks for the letters, packages, emails, and prayers. You have
no idea how much it helps! Have a wonderful week :)
Con Amor,
Elder Brady Craig Smith
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