Monday, April 11, 2016

Rap, Basketball, Zone Conference, yeah.

Yo yo yo yo yo yo

How y'all doin? Just sitting here in freaking RAINY TALAVERA where
when it rains... IT POURS!!! It's been raining for like 2 days
straight now and it makes for some pretty crappy contacting, so it'd
be nice if it would stop! Other than that... I had a very fun week :)
here's all about it.

So we finally met with Lucy again... (Hallelujah, I've been missing
her the last like 2 weeks) and we had to move her baptismal date.
Actually right now, she doesn't have one :/ but it's okay, we still
have a few more things to teach her and in the meantime, she can heal
and then we will re-set a date for her baptism! We talked with her a
little bit about the restoration again and I don't think any of us can
really comprehend how important the restoration was. I never did until
I got out on my mission and believe me, I still have a long ways to
go! But that's what I'm here to preach, that the Gospel of Jesus
Christ has been restored back on the earth in the exact same form that
Christ had made. It's the key doctrine in this church, if we know that
it has been restored by a prophet of God, then we everything else will
fall into place! Lucy took it well :)

Wednesday was one of the greatest days of my mission. I went to Toledo
for intercambios with Elder Bataller, a native from Spain. He is
companions with my good friend, Elder Gearig. We had been out and
about contacting and had a little of success, and then we got a text
from some friends or future investigators asking if we wanted to play
basketball. Obviously I said yes ;) so we changed and went. Oh and
another side note... Elder Bataller like does legit Rap/Free Style and
so I made a goal that we would find a way to get him to rap. After we
played for awhile, a bunch of Dominicans showed up and Elder Bataller
knew a few of them, and one of them rapped too!! So needless to say,
we whipped out the instrumental beats of 50 Cent and Cali Swag
District and got to work. Elder Bataller just crushed this Dominican
kid and he did it rapping about the gospel!! And then I cleaned up on
the court, if you know what I'm saying. Yes, Elder Smith's still got
game! Later that night we passed by a menos activa and shared a quick
scripture in the door. It was short and powerful! I was super happy :)
all in all, that day we taught 4 lessons and received 5 references,
which is kinda unheard of down in Toledo. I was shocked and knew that
God opened up a door for a little basketball, rap, and sharing the
gospel. Miracles happen on intercambios!

Thursday we had a Zone Conference in Madrid, and it was all about our
methods of teaching and finding new people. Elder Bataller shared the
experience about the rap and everyone loved it haha. Just gotta think
outside the box a little :) Later that night, a new guy came to one of
our English Classes named Jesus. He said the first time he came to
English Class was in 1998 (18 years), and that the first Elders that
he ever met were Elder Smith and Elder Johnson. YES, ELDER SMITH AND
ELDER JOHNSON, YOU READ IT RIGHT!! I was absolutely blown away when he
said that! I don't think it's a coincidence that he came back when the
current Elders Johnson and Smith were here, hopefully we can open up a
gospel conversation with him! Then again, Smith and Johnson are 2 very
common names, but I guess we'll see :)

On Saturday morning, we had a branch mission activity where the
members literally left and went to contact. I was so impressed because
I've never really heard of that before, but then again these members
are incredible! We also ate with members 5 times this week (that's my
new mission record) and during this activity, they came back with a
handful of references and one guy even came to church on Sunday to
pick up a Book of Mormon! It was a huge success! And then later that
day, we met up with another one of my most favorite people on the
planet, Adelina :) we went to another bar and she bought us a coke and
we just talked gospel for a good hour. She always loves to talk about
her family, so we felt inspired to give her a "The Family : A
Proclamation to the World" pamphlet and she was so happy! She
continues to read in the Book of Mormon every day and says she loves
it, but she is pretty set in her own religion. Even if she doesn't
change, I have a dope new friend :)

That's all I have for this week! Pretty eventful and really fun. I'm
so happy out here on my mission and Elder Johnson and I are learning
and growing together more every day. I love my Father in Heaven and
his son, Jesus Christ. These truly are the best 2 years of my life and
I'm excited for another week of work here in Talavera :) thanks for
the love and prayers, I'll talk to you all soon!

Con Amor,
Elderrrr Smithhhh

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