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