 |
| I told you guys its tranquillo :) #PalmTreeCity |
 |
| English Class Party! lol |
 |
| After the temple today with some missionaries! |
 |
| bang |
 |
| Elder Walster and I at the temple :) |
 |
| Good bye week for Elder J! |
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
PICS FROM THIS WEEK!
IT'S GETTING HOT and the temple!
Hola a todos :')
I hope that you are all swell :) I am emailing today because we had
the wonderful opportunity to go to the Madrid Temple and when that
happens, we change our P-Day. Let me just say, the spirit that I feel
in the temple is incredible and undeniable. I absolutely love being
there with every fiber of my body! If you haven't been in a while, do
me a favor and GO! And a tender mercy occurred while I was there this
morning... I was changing and I heard "Elder Smith?" And when I turned
around, it was my old Branch Mission Leader from Valladolid, Hermano
Julio! I literally screamed (on accident) and he gave me the biggest
hug of all time! He said "how is my son doing?" Hahaha talk about
TRUNKY! It made me so happy. I miss Valladolid a lot, especially the
people. He said the branch misses me which was music to my ears. It
was pretty great to be able to see him :)
I don't really have a structured format for this week, since it was
extra long it kinda threw me off. But we had a really fun week! We met
with a lot of our friends and they are all doing good as usual. I have
to say that Talavera is definitely the most tranquillo place on the
whole planet. I love it so much here. The contacting is a little rough
some days, but overall it's been a great experience. We have transfers
this week and I'm 99% sure that Elder Johnson is leaving. I'm sad for
him haha! I'm already dreading the day when I leave this place! We
have a lot of goodbyes set up this week with the members :/ but, it
will be nice for a change and we will have to see what happens :)
also, it's officially reached the stage down here where I sweat no
matter what I'm doing. I can literally be standing in the shade, not
moving a muscle and I am sweating bullets. It's awesome/awful but if
you know me, you know how much I hate the cold, so I'm just soaking up
all the sun that I can :) I have started to carry a towel around with
me to wipe the sweat off my forehead hahahaha. It's gnarly. And it's
only May. Apparently here in July and August it's even hotter.
Hopefully I survive!
We had an English Class party this week because we are pretty sure
Elder Johnson is leaving and another one of our students, Nancy, is
moving to Madrid. We were sad but decided to go to a bar and get a
coke to celebrate :) we had a blast just talking about everything.
Somehow, the gospel always gets brought up and maybe they don't have
interest right now, but we are helping plant seeds for missionaries in
the future! One of our other students, Guillermo, called us right in
the middle of the party and told us that he was going to take his
English Speaking Exam right then and he asked us to say a prayer for
him! So all four of us said a little prayer for him in the middle of
the bar and apparently he did good on the test! It was so funny hahaha
:) and about 10 minutes later, a man who had just moved here from
Chile called us and asked us about English Class! I don't know why,
but Heavenly Father has opened the windows of English Class Heaven and
dropped us students after students after students!! It's the
greatest.
We played soccer on Saturday morning and that was fun, we had a few
less active kids in the branch show up and even a few friends of the
members came! It's a great opportunity to show everyone that we are
normal people. People sometimes forget that behind the shirt and tie,
there's a couple 19 year old kids. And then later that night, we went
to play basketball with like 10 straight up Spaniards and I freaking
balled out. We have really taken off with the sports thing here and
have made lots of friends here! I feel like the work is slow at times,
but we are always busy with Family Home Evenings, meetings, lessons,
visiting members, contacting, or other stuff. It's weird but we are
always doing something! I get home at night and am so happy to see my
bed because we are always exhausted!
I'll finish off with our buddy Pedro, he has been coming along little
by little. He definitely feels the spirit when we are in his house and
when he is at church and he asks really inspired questions. He has
come straight out and said that he would like to be baptized and
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Priesthood, and be able to
enter the temple. So, it's just a matter of getting him to agree to a
fecha and then preparing him from there. He is a man of great faith
and it has been fun to be able to watch him progress! Please keep him
in your prayers!
That's about it for this week. I say it every week but I love it here!
I don't want to come home anytime soon, no offense to any of you! You
are all wonderful people and I love you all soooo much but I am happy
right where I'm at :) I'll talk to you all next week and report on
what transfers have brought! THIS CHURCH IS TRUE and don't ever forget
it :) oh and last night we had a sleep over with my good buddy Elder
Walster in Madrid because Talavera is like 80,000 years away from
anything! It was a good time :) haha love you all and talk to you
soon!!
Con Amor,
Elder Brady Smith
I hope that you are all swell :) I am emailing today because we had
the wonderful opportunity to go to the Madrid Temple and when that
happens, we change our P-Day. Let me just say, the spirit that I feel
in the temple is incredible and undeniable. I absolutely love being
there with every fiber of my body! If you haven't been in a while, do
me a favor and GO! And a tender mercy occurred while I was there this
morning... I was changing and I heard "Elder Smith?" And when I turned
around, it was my old Branch Mission Leader from Valladolid, Hermano
Julio! I literally screamed (on accident) and he gave me the biggest
hug of all time! He said "how is my son doing?" Hahaha talk about
TRUNKY! It made me so happy. I miss Valladolid a lot, especially the
people. He said the branch misses me which was music to my ears. It
was pretty great to be able to see him :)
I don't really have a structured format for this week, since it was
extra long it kinda threw me off. But we had a really fun week! We met
with a lot of our friends and they are all doing good as usual. I have
to say that Talavera is definitely the most tranquillo place on the
whole planet. I love it so much here. The contacting is a little rough
some days, but overall it's been a great experience. We have transfers
this week and I'm 99% sure that Elder Johnson is leaving. I'm sad for
him haha! I'm already dreading the day when I leave this place! We
have a lot of goodbyes set up this week with the members :/ but, it
will be nice for a change and we will have to see what happens :)
also, it's officially reached the stage down here where I sweat no
matter what I'm doing. I can literally be standing in the shade, not
moving a muscle and I am sweating bullets. It's awesome/awful but if
you know me, you know how much I hate the cold, so I'm just soaking up
all the sun that I can :) I have started to carry a towel around with
me to wipe the sweat off my forehead hahahaha. It's gnarly. And it's
only May. Apparently here in July and August it's even hotter.
Hopefully I survive!
We had an English Class party this week because we are pretty sure
Elder Johnson is leaving and another one of our students, Nancy, is
moving to Madrid. We were sad but decided to go to a bar and get a
coke to celebrate :) we had a blast just talking about everything.
Somehow, the gospel always gets brought up and maybe they don't have
interest right now, but we are helping plant seeds for missionaries in
the future! One of our other students, Guillermo, called us right in
the middle of the party and told us that he was going to take his
English Speaking Exam right then and he asked us to say a prayer for
him! So all four of us said a little prayer for him in the middle of
the bar and apparently he did good on the test! It was so funny hahaha
:) and about 10 minutes later, a man who had just moved here from
Chile called us and asked us about English Class! I don't know why,
but Heavenly Father has opened the windows of English Class Heaven and
dropped us students after students after students!! It's the
greatest.
We played soccer on Saturday morning and that was fun, we had a few
less active kids in the branch show up and even a few friends of the
members came! It's a great opportunity to show everyone that we are
normal people. People sometimes forget that behind the shirt and tie,
there's a couple 19 year old kids. And then later that night, we went
to play basketball with like 10 straight up Spaniards and I freaking
balled out. We have really taken off with the sports thing here and
have made lots of friends here! I feel like the work is slow at times,
but we are always busy with Family Home Evenings, meetings, lessons,
visiting members, contacting, or other stuff. It's weird but we are
always doing something! I get home at night and am so happy to see my
bed because we are always exhausted!
I'll finish off with our buddy Pedro, he has been coming along little
by little. He definitely feels the spirit when we are in his house and
when he is at church and he asks really inspired questions. He has
come straight out and said that he would like to be baptized and
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Priesthood, and be able to
enter the temple. So, it's just a matter of getting him to agree to a
fecha and then preparing him from there. He is a man of great faith
and it has been fun to be able to watch him progress! Please keep him
in your prayers!
That's about it for this week. I say it every week but I love it here!
I don't want to come home anytime soon, no offense to any of you! You
are all wonderful people and I love you all soooo much but I am happy
right where I'm at :) I'll talk to you all next week and report on
what transfers have brought! THIS CHURCH IS TRUE and don't ever forget
it :) oh and last night we had a sleep over with my good buddy Elder
Walster in Madrid because Talavera is like 80,000 years away from
anything! It was a good time :) haha love you all and talk to you
soon!!
Con Amor,
Elder Brady Smith
Monday, May 16, 2016
PICS FROM THIS WEEK
 |
| Birthday Girl :):) LOVE U KENNA!! |
 |
| Elder Maddock and I at Elder Bednar! He's a good kid. |
 |
It was Josue's birthday on Wednesday and we took him some ice
cream
and he tackled me to the couch and kissed me on the cheek because
he was
so happy :) it was awesome hahaha
|
ELDER BEDNAR :):)
hi FAM!
first thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO 1 OF THE GREATEST SISTERS IN
THE WHOLE WORLD TOMORROW, KENNA :) for real you were my first best friend
and have always had my back. I´m so happy to be your older brother! I hope you
have the most wonderful 17th birthday possible and that you keep being you, cuz
I love you just the way you are!! HAPPY b-day KENNA :))
I just had a spectacular week here in Spain, like usual :) but
for real, it was pretty great. As you can all tell from the title, THE ELDER
BEDNAR made his way on over to the promised land this weekend and had a great
time with us missionaries and the members here in Spain! Before I get to that,
I´ll talk about the rest of the week first :)
So we have been working a lot with this dude Pedro who has been
investigating the church for like 9 years. He literally knows every single
missionary who has been through Talavera since like 2007. But, he has never
been so close to baptism either! We talked with him a lot this week about
authority and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He always talks about his baptism in
the Evangelico church but feels like something is missing. That´s where the
Holy Ghost comes in :) so we explained it this week and he really liked it. I
think I said this last week but I really think he is going to be baptized while
I´m here. We had originally talked about the 21st of May but its just
gonna be a bit later than that. I LOVE PEDRO and I´d probably vote for him too!
(if you get that movie reference, muy bien :))
Another dude I haven´t talked a lot about this week is this old
guy named Jose Luis. He is basically an Adelina, but like crazier. He came into
the capilla one day this week and just started talking with us and telling us
his whole life story. After we got him calmed down for a minute, we taught him
about the restoration, but he was way to hyper to understand anything we were
saying. So, being the quick little whipper-snapper that I am, I remember that
Elder Johnson told me that he plays the harmonica, so I told him to play me a
song. The dude knows over 250 songs on the harmonica! It was insane!! And when
that was over, he told us that he volunteers at an old folks home and performs
for them. I was curious what he meant and so he demonstrated. I attached a
video. Hopefully you can watch it and see just how interesting this guy is. I
think that if the Dos Equis guy ever got sick of being the most interesting man
in the world, Jose Luis could step right in and take his place haha. He is like
67 but thinks he´s 16. What a goof :)
Now we´re getting to the good part... on Saturday we caught a
bus up to Madrid and then got on the metro with a ton of other missionaries to
get to Pavones! The whole mission was there except for the Canaries and so I
got to see a lot of friends. They filed us in by zones and then when we were
all seated, Elder Bednar walked in. I kid none of you, the spirit that filled
the room was incredible! We listened to a couple from the UK speak, I think it
was Elder Dykes but I´m not sure. I was too focused on watching Elder Bednar
haha. Then Sister Bednar got up and bore an awesome testimony. I can´t imagine
being an apostle´s wife, good thing I´ll never have to be one either ;) Elder
Bednar just ended up doing about an hour and a half of question and answer
period with all of us missionaries. It was so awesome! I love how he always
stresses on listening to the spirit instead of the words that are spoken. By
the end, my eyes were sore because I was so fixed on him the whole time. His
testimony had to be my favorite part, it was so powerful and gave me the chills
times 100000 billion! I have no doubt that he has been called of God and he is
one of 15 men that we as Latter-Day Saints sustain as Prophets, Seers, and
Revelators. I just don´t have words for how awesome it was.
Sunday, Elder Bednar spoke to just the Madrid West Stake, and it
just so happens that Talavera is in that stake! So we got back on a bus to head
up to Madrid and listen to him again. It was so great because Pedro came and he
loved it! Elder Bednar talked to just the investigators for like a solid 30
minutes and I don´t know how anyone could ever deny the power that an Apostle
of the Lord has! It just filled me with joy. My favorite thing that he said was
probably that we are all way to worried about being perfect when all we need to
do is be a little better tomorrow than we were today, and let the
atonement of Christ make up the difference. Heavenly Father doesn´t expect us
to be perfect, he knows we are going to mess up. But he does want us to try our
best. It was so cool to see him up close and get a little personal with the
members in Spain! He even tried to use some spanish which made everyone laugh.
He sounded so American hahaha. I definitely remember those days of trying to
get the language figured out :) all in all, it was a wonderful 2 days of
listening to him speak. We showed Pedro around the temple after all was said
and done and he just can´t seem to get over how beautiful the temple is. amen
to that brother :) We got a ride back with him to Talavera and that was the
day.
I´m sorry its a long letter this week but it was so much fun. I
am loving every second out here and wish that time would slow down just a
little bit so I could take in what is going on! I love my Savior and my
Heavenly Father and I know that they live. We are all sons and daughters of a
loving father who wants us to return to live with him again. I hope you all
have a wonderful week and I´ll talk to you all soon! Happy
Birthday tomorrowKenna :))
Con Amor,
Elder Brady Smith
Monday, May 9, 2016
PICS FROM THIS WEEK
 |
| Elder Walster and I at Domino's |
 |
| Surprise visit from JOSHY!! Made my day :) |
 |
| I figured out that the most fun thing of all time is Sleeping Selfies. I got kinda good at them this week on all the bus rides we took hehe :) |
 |
| Birthday Girl repping the Spanish jersey :) love you mom! |
 |
| The classic full family selfie/screenshot :) |
MOMS AND I'M SO HAPPY :)
holaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa :)
Well today is a very special day for the Smith Family. ITS KRISTIN'S
BIRTHDAY... Or should I say the MOST WONDERFUL MOTHER IN THE WHOLE
WORLD!! Happy Birthday Mom :) I love you so much and it made my day to
be able to talk with you and the rest of the family. I'm so extremely
blessed to have the two greatest sisters and parents of all time. I
love you guys more than anything, but especially today... I LOVE YOU
MOM :) im so grateful for everything she does for me. I wouldn't be
who I am today without her support. Missions are hard, but when there
is such a supportive woman on the other side, it makes it a whole lot
easier :) LOVE YOU MOM ❤️
This week wasn't too shabby if you know what I mean! Here's what went down...
First of all, yesterday in Sacrament Meeting I was able to do some
deep thinking. I had an overwhelming feeling of joy and I wondered why
I was so happy. The purpose of this life is to be happy, that's what
God wants every single one of his children to experience. And that's
why he created his perfect plan, the Plan of Happiness. Yesterday, I
felt like I got a glimpse of just how happy we could be if we followed
through with His plan for us. I said this a lot during Skype yesterday
but it's true... I'M SOOO HAPPY HERE! It's weird but the greatest.
There's no other way you could ever feel this happy, and it's all
thanks to the gospel. I want to share this happiness that I felt
yesterday with everyone and now is the perfect time to do it I suppose
:)
We had a Zone Conference in Madrid on Thursday. We basically
re-watched the World Wide Missionary Broadcast from back in January.
It was a good reminder of all the things we had learned about Teaching
Repentance and Baptizing Converts. I'd kind of forgot about everything
they talked about so I was happy to hear it all over again. After, we
went to Domino's and had all you can eat pizza for like 2 hours. It
was so much fun to just chat with friends and talk about the mission.
Good times :) Elder Walster and I got caught up a little too, he's a
good kid. I'll put a pic at the bottom!
Another highlight of my Sunday was that Pedro and Aaron both came to
church! They both showed up right before we started the sacrament. And
they stayed for the whole 3 hours!! It was great. The members here are
easily the best in the whole mission and they treat them both like
they are both normal members. I really have a good feeling about
Pedro, I think he will get baptized in my time here in Talavera! But
there's still a bit of work to be done with him. The future looks good
down here :) I honestly love this area. There's so much potential and
the members are the greatest in the whole mission, heck in the whole
world!
There was a lot of soccer this week being played, and when that
happens, the city turns into a ghost town. But you hear people yelling
and shouting from their windows and bars and stuff. It's awesome. So,
our Branch Mission Leader decided to have a little bit of mercy on us
and invited us over to his house to watch the Atletico Madrid game
when they played Bayern, a team from Germany I think. It was the first
full game of soccer I think I've ever watched in my life and now I
have so much respect for the players and the game! I can literally
start a conversation with anyone on the street if I talk about soccer
so I've been trying to use that to my advantage. The greatest question
is "Real Madrid or Barcelona?" Hahaha they always go off about the
craziest stuff but it's great. The soccer culture is something that
I've come to love :)
We continue to teach our friends Guillermo, Nancy, Adelina, and
others. We are seeing a little progress with them but nothing big
enough to write a full paragraph about. So, more on them next week :)
oh and Elder Bednar will be in town this weekend so that will also be
included in next week's email! :)
That's the week folks. Just in case you all didn't know... I'M SO
HAPPY :) I say it a lot but it's true. I love Spain and the work here!
I know this church is true without a doubt. Happy Birthday Mom! And
S/O to my boy JLEW for getting his call to New York yesterday! Good
luck to the WX Baseball team this week against the rivals. And I got a
surprise visit yesterday during Skype from one of the greatest Yumans
known to woman kind ;) haha love you all! Talk to you next week :)
Con Amor (y muchísimo felicidad),
ELDER BRADY SMITH
Well today is a very special day for the Smith Family. ITS KRISTIN'S
BIRTHDAY... Or should I say the MOST WONDERFUL MOTHER IN THE WHOLE
WORLD!! Happy Birthday Mom :) I love you so much and it made my day to
be able to talk with you and the rest of the family. I'm so extremely
blessed to have the two greatest sisters and parents of all time. I
love you guys more than anything, but especially today... I LOVE YOU
MOM :) im so grateful for everything she does for me. I wouldn't be
who I am today without her support. Missions are hard, but when there
is such a supportive woman on the other side, it makes it a whole lot
easier :) LOVE YOU MOM ❤️
This week wasn't too shabby if you know what I mean! Here's what went down...
First of all, yesterday in Sacrament Meeting I was able to do some
deep thinking. I had an overwhelming feeling of joy and I wondered why
I was so happy. The purpose of this life is to be happy, that's what
God wants every single one of his children to experience. And that's
why he created his perfect plan, the Plan of Happiness. Yesterday, I
felt like I got a glimpse of just how happy we could be if we followed
through with His plan for us. I said this a lot during Skype yesterday
but it's true... I'M SOOO HAPPY HERE! It's weird but the greatest.
There's no other way you could ever feel this happy, and it's all
thanks to the gospel. I want to share this happiness that I felt
yesterday with everyone and now is the perfect time to do it I suppose
:)
We had a Zone Conference in Madrid on Thursday. We basically
re-watched the World Wide Missionary Broadcast from back in January.
It was a good reminder of all the things we had learned about Teaching
Repentance and Baptizing Converts. I'd kind of forgot about everything
they talked about so I was happy to hear it all over again. After, we
went to Domino's and had all you can eat pizza for like 2 hours. It
was so much fun to just chat with friends and talk about the mission.
Good times :) Elder Walster and I got caught up a little too, he's a
good kid. I'll put a pic at the bottom!
Another highlight of my Sunday was that Pedro and Aaron both came to
church! They both showed up right before we started the sacrament. And
they stayed for the whole 3 hours!! It was great. The members here are
easily the best in the whole mission and they treat them both like
they are both normal members. I really have a good feeling about
Pedro, I think he will get baptized in my time here in Talavera! But
there's still a bit of work to be done with him. The future looks good
down here :) I honestly love this area. There's so much potential and
the members are the greatest in the whole mission, heck in the whole
world!
There was a lot of soccer this week being played, and when that
happens, the city turns into a ghost town. But you hear people yelling
and shouting from their windows and bars and stuff. It's awesome. So,
our Branch Mission Leader decided to have a little bit of mercy on us
and invited us over to his house to watch the Atletico Madrid game
when they played Bayern, a team from Germany I think. It was the first
full game of soccer I think I've ever watched in my life and now I
have so much respect for the players and the game! I can literally
start a conversation with anyone on the street if I talk about soccer
so I've been trying to use that to my advantage. The greatest question
is "Real Madrid or Barcelona?" Hahaha they always go off about the
craziest stuff but it's great. The soccer culture is something that
I've come to love :)
We continue to teach our friends Guillermo, Nancy, Adelina, and
others. We are seeing a little progress with them but nothing big
enough to write a full paragraph about. So, more on them next week :)
oh and Elder Bednar will be in town this weekend so that will also be
included in next week's email! :)
That's the week folks. Just in case you all didn't know... I'M SO
HAPPY :) I say it a lot but it's true. I love Spain and the work here!
I know this church is true without a doubt. Happy Birthday Mom! And
S/O to my boy JLEW for getting his call to New York yesterday! Good
luck to the WX Baseball team this week against the rivals. And I got a
surprise visit yesterday during Skype from one of the greatest Yumans
known to woman kind ;) haha love you all! Talk to you next week :)
Con Amor (y muchísimo felicidad),
ELDER BRADY SMITH
Monday, May 2, 2016
Pics from this week
 |
| Elder Johnson and I just chilling in our Real Madrid jerseys with our Spanish cokes. Dope sauce. #winning |
 |
| A drawing that Arturo did with his eyes closed... Very appropriate if you ask me. |
 |
| Elder Johnson and Adelina at our nice little meeting on
Saturday.
They're
both pretty cool I guess!
|
 |
. Our Dominican Mother Tati... She told us that we only like her
because she gives us rice and Morir Soñando which is not true at all hahahahaha... She's the greatest! |
HAPPY SPANISH MOTHER'S DAY (yesterday)
Hello Everyone!
First off, Happy Spanish Mother's Day to all the mothers and future
mothers who are reading this :) in Spain they celebrated it yesterday
and I'm even more stoked to have a nice Skype session on Sunday with
my family! This week was interesting. Some highs and lows but that's
missionary life I guess! Here it is....
I'll just get this part out of the way at the beginning. On Tuesday
Lucy failed us which was a little unlike her, but we just planned on
heading over on Friday like normal. When we called her Friday morning
to confirm the appointment, she told us that she didn't want to
continue with the missionary lessons anymore or the church. I was
shocked and sad and angry and depressed and every other emotion
possible. What did we do wrong?! It was hard for me to not take it
personal to be completely honest. I have never prayed more for comfort
in my whole life. I know that God has his hand in every aspect of our
lives, and if Lucy didn't choose to continue with the church, then
there is a reason for that. Please continue to pray for her! Still a
bit sad about that :(
About 2 weeks ago, I read a talk by President Eyring called "Mountains
to Climb" and he starts right out by talking about President Kimball
asking God for a mountain to climb. And then President Eyring goes on
to talk about God giving him a mountain as well, so naturally I
thought, WHY NOT?! Yes, I asked God for my own mountain. Well, this
week I realized that Lucy was the mountain. Getting over her is gonna
be rough because I know how much she loves the things we teach her and
the spirit that she feels when she is with us. Things in Talavera as
far as the branch go aren't exactly perfect with the members and
stuff, so we have set a goal to fix the branch and then the Lord will
bless us with more people who want to hear the gospel. The moral of
that story is that GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS and he will give you a trial if
you ask for one. He's testing my faith and now it's time for me to
stand up to the challenge. He knocks us down only so that we will get
up and become even stronger.
The good news is that we have another investigator named Pedro with a
baptismal date for the 21st of May! He also came to church for the
first time in like 7 or 8 months last week which was awesome! He had a
dream and when Elder Johnson and Elder Bataller were on intercambios
down here, they helped him to translate it. He told them that he saw 3
paths, one led to his church, one led to our church, and the other led
to his brothers church. He saw people all dressed in white and they
were with our church headed towards something that seemed to be good!
So they asked him to prepare himself for the 21st and he accepted. The
Lord works in mysterious ways! We are also teaching his 16 year old
son, Aaron and invited him the same day to be baptized but he asked us
for a little bit more time. We are hopeful and excited for them both
and some prayers on their behalf would be nice too, if you all
wouldn't mind ;)
Guillermo is another guy we have been teaching. We found him through
English Class and he loves to talk about religion!! He came to a
meeting with us and we read the first 2 paragraphs of the Restoration
pamphlet and that took us an hour and a half!! The dude has more
questions than anyone else I have met in my whole life! He asked us
some things that even I have never wondered about in my 19 years as a
member. This is good and hopefully we can continue to meet with him
and help him know more about the church. And there's this other lady
named Nancy from Peru, she is literally golden for the church. Plus I
freaking love Peruvians more than anything, thanks to my trainer Elder
Peña :) She is super open to all that we talk about, speaks perfect
English, and wants to know more about our purpose on Earth. I'm
feeling good about the future here in Talavera!
To close, on Saturday we chatted with my buddy Arturo and my
grandmother in Talavera, Adelina. With these two, you can never go
wrong. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my whole
life and have strong desires to follow Jesus Christ and his teachings.
Arturo cut my hair again and Adelina bought us another coke and we
talked more gospel. She even started to sing us songs about Christ the
Redeemer and all this other stuff, it was so great! We walk through
the streets with her and she literally says hi to everybody because
she is so stinking friendly. It was a good day with some really
awesome people :) oh and we had 2 new people show up to sports that
day as well. I really like it here :)
That's all I got. Thanks for your love and support! I miss you all a
lot and your prayers helped me a lot this week. I know God lives and
loves every single one of us with a perfect love. I'm thankful for the
experiences I'm having and they will impact me for the rest of my
life! Have a wonderful week everyone and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY on Sunday
:) talk to you all soon!
Con Amor,
Elder Smith
First off, Happy Spanish Mother's Day to all the mothers and future
mothers who are reading this :) in Spain they celebrated it yesterday
and I'm even more stoked to have a nice Skype session on Sunday with
my family! This week was interesting. Some highs and lows but that's
missionary life I guess! Here it is....
I'll just get this part out of the way at the beginning. On Tuesday
Lucy failed us which was a little unlike her, but we just planned on
heading over on Friday like normal. When we called her Friday morning
to confirm the appointment, she told us that she didn't want to
continue with the missionary lessons anymore or the church. I was
shocked and sad and angry and depressed and every other emotion
possible. What did we do wrong?! It was hard for me to not take it
personal to be completely honest. I have never prayed more for comfort
in my whole life. I know that God has his hand in every aspect of our
lives, and if Lucy didn't choose to continue with the church, then
there is a reason for that. Please continue to pray for her! Still a
bit sad about that :(
About 2 weeks ago, I read a talk by President Eyring called "Mountains
to Climb" and he starts right out by talking about President Kimball
asking God for a mountain to climb. And then President Eyring goes on
to talk about God giving him a mountain as well, so naturally I
thought, WHY NOT?! Yes, I asked God for my own mountain. Well, this
week I realized that Lucy was the mountain. Getting over her is gonna
be rough because I know how much she loves the things we teach her and
the spirit that she feels when she is with us. Things in Talavera as
far as the branch go aren't exactly perfect with the members and
stuff, so we have set a goal to fix the branch and then the Lord will
bless us with more people who want to hear the gospel. The moral of
that story is that GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS and he will give you a trial if
you ask for one. He's testing my faith and now it's time for me to
stand up to the challenge. He knocks us down only so that we will get
up and become even stronger.
The good news is that we have another investigator named Pedro with a
baptismal date for the 21st of May! He also came to church for the
first time in like 7 or 8 months last week which was awesome! He had a
dream and when Elder Johnson and Elder Bataller were on intercambios
down here, they helped him to translate it. He told them that he saw 3
paths, one led to his church, one led to our church, and the other led
to his brothers church. He saw people all dressed in white and they
were with our church headed towards something that seemed to be good!
So they asked him to prepare himself for the 21st and he accepted. The
Lord works in mysterious ways! We are also teaching his 16 year old
son, Aaron and invited him the same day to be baptized but he asked us
for a little bit more time. We are hopeful and excited for them both
and some prayers on their behalf would be nice too, if you all
wouldn't mind ;)
Guillermo is another guy we have been teaching. We found him through
English Class and he loves to talk about religion!! He came to a
meeting with us and we read the first 2 paragraphs of the Restoration
pamphlet and that took us an hour and a half!! The dude has more
questions than anyone else I have met in my whole life! He asked us
some things that even I have never wondered about in my 19 years as a
member. This is good and hopefully we can continue to meet with him
and help him know more about the church. And there's this other lady
named Nancy from Peru, she is literally golden for the church. Plus I
freaking love Peruvians more than anything, thanks to my trainer Elder
Peña :) She is super open to all that we talk about, speaks perfect
English, and wants to know more about our purpose on Earth. I'm
feeling good about the future here in Talavera!
To close, on Saturday we chatted with my buddy Arturo and my
grandmother in Talavera, Adelina. With these two, you can never go
wrong. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my whole
life and have strong desires to follow Jesus Christ and his teachings.
Arturo cut my hair again and Adelina bought us another coke and we
talked more gospel. She even started to sing us songs about Christ the
Redeemer and all this other stuff, it was so great! We walk through
the streets with her and she literally says hi to everybody because
she is so stinking friendly. It was a good day with some really
awesome people :) oh and we had 2 new people show up to sports that
day as well. I really like it here :)
That's all I got. Thanks for your love and support! I miss you all a
lot and your prayers helped me a lot this week. I know God lives and
loves every single one of us with a perfect love. I'm thankful for the
experiences I'm having and they will impact me for the rest of my
life! Have a wonderful week everyone and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY on Sunday
:) talk to you all soon!
Con Amor,
Elder Smith
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