The Best Week of My Life!!

Hello Family and Friends :)

This was possibly the greatest week of my life. I've never been happier, I'm absolutely loving the mission! The hard days and the awesome days, they all have a purpose and it's shaping me into the missionary and person that I know Heavenly Father wants me to be! The language is coming along nicely as well, living with a Peruvian 24/7 definitely helps :) okay, here's my week!

I forgot to mention this last week, but we got a call from a random guy named Javier who wanted to hear more about our church, so we set up a lesson with him. We taught him all about the Restoration and it was incredible!! The Spirit was so strong, especially the first vision. It was such a cool experience to me because the Spirit testified to me that it was a real event. My testimony also grew about the gift of tongues because I understood every word he said and I spoke without restrictions! My Spanish was perfect for one whole lesson and it gave me so much confidence. SOOOO COOL :):) 

Tuesday was good, we went to a lesson with this one guy who we thought was a non-member but it turned out he was! So like halfway through the lesson, I asked him if he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon to receive his answer if it was the word of God. Haha he was like "oh I already know it is. I've read it a lot." I was like what the heck why haven't we baptized you yet?! Then he told us he was a member and I got a good laugh out of it. He's a little inactive but we got him to come to church with us which was awesome! His name is Luís. Then later than night, like at 11 we got a call that the new Elders were waiting for us in the train station! So we got out of bed, changed out of our PJ's, and sprinted to the train station! They're really cool, one is Elder Tree from Montana and the other is Elder Fletcher from Texas. Elder Tree has 15 months in the mission and Elder Fletcher is fresh out of the MTC!! We are very excited to have them here :) 

Wednesday, we had district meeting which is just Valladolid, so 4 Elders and that's all! It's different than last transfer, but I like it because we are going to save lots of money from bus and train rides to the North! Elder Peña and I decided to fast as well, so after lunch we started. He stood up after and said "I saw something, you and me and someone else in a room." I was like what the heck are you okay?! Haha! But then he said the person was getting ready for baptism!! We both fasted to see the fruits of our labors, particularly for a baptism. Later that day, we went to visit Michael. We read Alma 39 with him, then invited him to ink and pray about a baptismal date for him on the 5th of December! He accepted!!! I've literally never been happier in my life!! I hugged Michael so tight and said I love you brother!! Then we got outside and I screamed sooooo loud hahaha. It was a very good day :) 

Thursday, we had a visit with another investigator named Fernando. He is cool but has a lot of questions about the gospel. He had an accident about 10 years ago that made it so he is in a wheelchair and can't use his legs at all. Anyways, he asked us about a ton of stuff like garments, gay marriage, having clean thoughts, and tithing. He has a cousin that lives in Utah and for some reason his cousin gave him garments and he was wearing them when we went over!! Haha it was the weirdest thing of all time!! So we talked about a ton of stuff, including that you can't wear those garments until you go through the temple! Our lesson was over 4 hours long!! We missed 2 other appointments because of him! Anyways, he came to church on Sunday which was good, and he said he liked it a lot. He just needs to stop wearing the garments!! Oh my goodness it's a weird situation but I kinda laughed about it. Nothing worth writing about happened on Friday :) 

Saturday we had the English class in the morning with a record of 6 people there! It's more fun now because we have more Elders from the states so it's not just one Hermana and I! I shared the spiritual thought which was a quote that mom sent me, "we love others best when we love God most" and the people loved it! So thanks mom :) we had another lesson with Luís (the guy who I thought wasn't a member), then another meeting with a guy named Manuel. He has been a friend of the missionaries for quite some time now and he loves to practice his English with me! So for the first 30 minutes, we talked about Utah in English because he is obsessed with Utah and then we taught him about faith! And I shared "mountains to climb" with him and he loved it! That video is freaking money! Anyways, he wants to come visit me in Utah when I get home so we will see how things go with him. He is Catholic but I think there is a chance that we can change him :) 

Sunday was by far the best day of the week. We got to church and went into the clerk’s office with Michael and the 2nd counselor in the branch. Michael told us he wanted to move his date up for his baptism to this Friday the 20th!!! I wanted to die of happiness!! Literally I've seen this kid change so much. I remember the first time we met him, he couldn't sit still and just loved to beat box. But now, he reads his scriptures every day and told us that he received his answer through prayer! So we will have a baptism this week for him!! The greatest part? During sacrament meeting I was sitting right next to him and he leaned over to me and whispered in my ear... "Will you baptize me?" OF FREAKING COURSE I'LL BAPTIZE YOU!! J It made me feel so good, like all the work I've done has finally paid off. Later that night we swung by his house and did a practice baptismal interview and he passed with flying colors! It's so cool to see people change with the gospel. His small but powerful testimony has changed mine so much more than I could ever imagine! I'm so very excited for him :) 

So overall, this week was amazing. I'm so very happy to be here serving the Lord in Spain! I know I'm in Valladolid for 1 person right now and I did all I could to invite him to come unto our savior, Jesus Christ. It paid off :) Heavenly Father is there and answers our questions, just like he answered Michael's. Don't be afraid to ask him for anything! This church rocks and Spain is the best. Look forward to pictures next week of a baptism :) 

Have a wonderful week, thanks for all the support! I love you all! 

Con Amor,

Elder Brady Craig Smith