Crazy Semana!

Hello all :')

Well it was a crazy good week with an even crazier finish! Keep
reading to find out more :) :) :)

Okey dokey... so remember how last week I said that President always
has a card up his sleeve for transfers? Well folks, he played it :) I
was so surprised when transfer calls came in hahaha it was about the
last thing I was expecting. So, I'm staying a 4th transfer in B3 which
means I'll be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas! But, Elder Jones is
leaving! Normally greenies are in their first areas for about 6 months
so it was really surprising! But guess where he's going?!?! Yep :)
VALLADOLID!!! He will be serving in the exact same companionship that
Elder Peña and I opened just over a year ago! He'll be in my same
piso, he'll be there the exact same time of year as me, he will meet
all the people I know, everything the exact same! I was so blown
away!! I seriously am so excited for him haha he is going to the
greatest place in the whole mission. My new companion in B3 will be
Elder Johnson! He is from Nampa, Idaho and has been out for a year! So
now I will have had 2 Johnson's and a Jones :) he's a great guy so I'm
excited to see what happens these next six weeks! So that's what
happened with transfers :) now here's how the week went!

So Elena passed her baptismal interview :) WOOO HOOO :) she wants to
be baptized on 26th of November in the morning so that all her family
can come to support her. She is kind of a gift that fell from the sky,
but we are still really excited for her. She has been waiting for over
10 years to be legally married and now finally can be baptized! She's
been preparing for a while and I'm just glad we can be here to help
her move on to the next step :) I'll keep y'all updated on how
everything goes with her!

So probably the saddest part of the week... Nancy left Spain :( she
went back to Venezuela! We called her on Thursday (elder jones
birthday) and met up with her, and while we were sitting in a park
talking, she told us that her daughter bought her a ticket back to
Venezuela. Her youngest daughter lives here and Nancy came to try and
help her out, but things didn't end up turning out too well. So, it
literally came as a complete surprise. Right when she said that, i was
like immediately shocked. I am going to miss her soooooo much, when we
said goodbye, she pulled us both in and gave us hugs and besos ;) she
made us sign her Book of Mormon and kept telling us that it was her
most prized possession. I have no doubt that she will be baptized in
Venezuela one day. She lives by the church over there. She has had a
crazy hard life. Her husband was a journalist and one day, some people
didn't like an article that he wrote so they went to his house and
killed him and put a gun to the youngest daughter's head and
threatened to kill her too but didn't. She is one of the strongest
people I have ever met and I am going to miss her sooooooo much.
Change is hard but for her its going to be the best thing right now!

We are doing super duper good with our family from Honduras, we
visited them 3 times this week and the dad was a bit sick, so we gave
him a blessing and he has started to feel a lot better. I think i
mentioned it in my last email, but they finally got married civilly!
And the wife who is catholic, she has been reading so much every day
on LDS.org and the Book of Mormon as well. We take the kids to church
every Sunday and i think we could see some possible baptisms with them
in the coming months. They are literally the greatest family of all
time, they make us the best food in the whole world every time we go
over and i feel so good helping them out. I just love missionary work
so much wooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww.

MY SON IS GONE! I am so glad i had the chance to serve with elder
jones. He is a machine. Honestly some days it feels more like he
trained me than i trained him. He was only here for 2 transfers, but
he left his mark in a good way. We had like 3 separate eating
appointments yesterday just so the people could say goodbye to him! I
learned so much during our time together and consider him my little
brother who is a lot taller than me haha :) Valladolid needs him right
now and im so sure that he is going to have so much success! Go North
Chaval!!

This morning we went on our final breakfast trip, and as we were
walking in the street, we passed a guy from New York and he was with
his daughter. We started to talk with him and he has a lot of friends
that are mormons and he wished us luck and told us to pray for him.
Then, his 5 year old daughter looked up at him and said "no daddy, we
should pray for them. They need it!" It was the cutest thing in the
world and got me thinking about all the people who have been
supporting me throughout my mission. I promise not a single prayer
goes unnoticed. I am so grateful for the family and friends that all
of you reading this are and have been for me my whole life, especially
during my mission. Things are sooooooo very good right now. I love
this church with everything i've got!

Elder Johnson and i are gonna tear it up this week and you'll hear
from me soon :) have a great one familia y amigos and stay safe!! LOVE
YOU ALL :)))))))))) ❤️❤️

Con Amor,
ELDER smith