Streets of Leon
Monday, June 26, 2017
Elder Moreno
Homies!! 馃檪
Another week down,
and I can't believe how fast this one went. It was eventful too so hopefully
this email doesn't bore you all to death :) s/o to those who actually read this
still. You guys are awesome.
This was a week full
of lasts... and it was pretty sad :( I had my last interview with president
pack, last Zone Conference, and gave my last testimony! I guess everyone gets
to that time in their missions though when things just start to wind down. I LOVED
ZONE CONFERENCE! It was one of the best ones I think I've ever had during my
time here. President pack is such a machine J he invited us to go into the
homes of members and teach them the restoration in 4 minutes, but teach it like
we were sharing a story instead of teaching a lesson. He promised us that the
members would jump on board and have more ganas to share it with their friends.
Let's just say that when we finished sharing it the first time, the spirit was
SOOOOOO strong. All the members were dead silent in the house and thanked us so
much for bringing a good spirit into their homes. They even started blurting
out names of friends that they wanted to hear the lesson! It was such a
miracle! President is an inspired dude. I love him so much. In my interview, we
talked about lots of stuff for the future like temple, scripture study, and
even dating and marriage haha. Definitely don't feel prepared for that but it
was good. So now I just gotta sprint to the finish line!!
The past weekend here
in Le贸n was ZOINKERS! There's this party called San Juan or something like that
and it's where people just go absolutely insane. Literally the biggest party of
the whole year and it happened this weekend. There were beer booths, flea
markets, bull fights, concerts and giant stages, bonfires, tons of drunk
people, and lots of other stuff. Le贸n is such a party city hahaha so it didn't
really help with the work aspect but it was definitely cool to see a city
literally come to life. Elder Palacios and I were joking that Babylonia was
being brought back hahaha :) I love the Spanish culture but am sure glad to not
be a part of it! We saw so many bar fights and people throwing up from so much
alcohol and it just makes me happy to have the standards that we have as Latter
Day Saints. It really made me think of what it means to be in the world but not
of the world as the scriptures say.
I did intercambios
with Elder Moreno who is like one of my best buddies in the mission and he is
going home with me on the same day so we got a celebratory MTN DEW from the
American store and drank to our last zone conference, interviews, and
testimonies. It was totally awesome hahaha. He's a good chaval :)
Saturday night we got
a call from one of our Dominican buddies named Pepe wanting to know if we
wanted to play basketball with him. The party was just getting started so we
decided to avoid the drunks and ball out. Nobody showed up for a while but PEPE
BROUGHT HIS 2 BASEBALL GLOVES AND A SOFTBALL AND WE PLAYED CATCH 馃槱馃槏 he was a super good pitcher in
the Dominican Republic but hurt his shoulder so now he can't throw anymore but
we played catch for like 45 minutes. It was heavenly hahaha. Then we taught him
the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and he is actually really interested
in finding a church with good principles and standards! So that was fun to
teach a court side lesson in street clothes :) after a while of chatting with
him, like 10 more Dominicans rolled up and we played pick up ball with them and
I absolutely destroyed them with my dope nasty jumper so they were hyped that a
white boy could play 馃槑 we got all their numbers and one
of them is even a pastor for a Christian church! They wanna ball and talk more
about Jesus another day so I'm definitely down for that :) hopefully something
comes out of it!
This week I reflected
a lot on the sweet and simple things of this church. I am so grateful for the
restoration of the gospel in these latter days and the commandments that
protect us and bless us. Everyone we talk to always has such a negative opinion
on the "Mormon rules" but I know that when we follow the counsel that
we have been given, we will be protected and blessed. I'm thankful for the
prophet Joseph Smith and his willingness to act on spiritual promptings. I'm
thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ for being the perfect example to me and to
all of us. I would be so lost without all these beautiful principles and
doctrines in my life, and I absolutely love being able to share them with the
people in Spain every day! Thanks for the support and prayers, they never go
unnoticed! Hasta la pr贸xima muchachos J
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Pics from this week
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| Elder Palaciooooooooooos |
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| Plaza Panorama |
 |
| We had our death meeting this week by video conference. 'Twas sad. |
¡Que no soy Laura!
Whats up Fam!!
Happy Late Father's Day to all you super cool dudes in the world who
have kids and to all the future dads too :) it's good to be a man.
This week was pretty good, not a whole lot to contar but there were
some highlights!
Lina got confirmed yesterday!! Woo HOO!! She's officially a member of
the church and she is very excited to start this new journey in her
life. I often think of how we found her and the whole process she went
through and it just motivates me even more to open my mouth and talk
with everyone! who knows when the Lord will put another prepared
person in our path :) we did manage to find some cool new people this
week so hopefully we can meet up with them and get them on the road to
salvation! 馃
Another cool thing from yesterday was that the young women invited us
to their class and asked us to share our thoughts about the priesthood
and how it's blessed our lives. I literally felt like I was talking to
kenna and Ellie haha!! But they were just amazed and so grateful for
the influence of worthy priesthood holders in their lives. I shared a
lot of experiences about Dad and how he taught me my whole life how to
live worthily of the priesthood and that he was always my role model!
Pretty fitting for Father's Day if you ask me ;) then my companion,
who is a convert of like 2 years, shared his thoughts and it was so
awesome to get 2 completely different views on it. One of the young
women said that when she sees us or her dad or any other man using his
priesthood power that we look like super heroes 馃檪 that was a super
sweet comment that I'll never forget. Anyways, what I want to get
across with this story is that the priesthood has blessed my life in
so many ways and I have seen it bless so many other people's lives as
well. I'm grateful for my role models who have taught me how to use it
and respect it and I plan on doing the same some day with my little
chillins :) it's such a sacred power that changes lives when put to
good use!
We ran into a lot of people we have contacted in the street, old
investigators, and other friends this week which was super cool. We
had impressions all week of places to go and whenever we got there,
someone we had been looking for magically appeared :) we set up lots
of lessons and were able to offer service to a lot of our friends so
hopefully they realize that we really do want to help them! Lots of
little miracles are occurring these days in Le贸n 馃
Elder Palacios is awesome. I love Peruvians :) he is one of the most,
or if not, the most diligent companion I've ever had and really wants
to succeed but is completely reliant on the Lord. He was baptized in
2014 and then entered the mission last August with my hijo so I've met
him before in various meetings. He is the only member in his family
and before the mission he was studying civil engineering! He likes to
cook and kinda forgets about the cleaning part but I have no problem
with that cuz he's doing me a favor by making food haha :) I have no
doubt that he is supposed to be my companion right now because I'm
learning a lot more from him than I'm sure he is learning from me
haha! But we make a good duo :) it was weird without elder kiser for a
few days but I think I'm finally adjusting. Miss my brother boo
though.
That's about all I got folks! This week I've got my last Zone
Conference of the mission and I think my last interview with president
pack as well! Hard to believe that all the "lasts" are finally here. I
know this work is 100% guided by the Lord and he helps us every step
of the way when we are obedient, diligent, and faithful! I am
continuing to learn more about the Savior every day and I love him so
much. I hope everyone has a great week and stays safe wherever you
are!! Peace out BOiZ.
Com amor,
脡lder Smith
Happy Late Father's Day to all you super cool dudes in the world who
have kids and to all the future dads too :) it's good to be a man.
This week was pretty good, not a whole lot to contar but there were
some highlights!
Lina got confirmed yesterday!! Woo HOO!! She's officially a member of
the church and she is very excited to start this new journey in her
life. I often think of how we found her and the whole process she went
through and it just motivates me even more to open my mouth and talk
with everyone! who knows when the Lord will put another prepared
person in our path :) we did manage to find some cool new people this
week so hopefully we can meet up with them and get them on the road to
salvation! 馃
Another cool thing from yesterday was that the young women invited us
to their class and asked us to share our thoughts about the priesthood
and how it's blessed our lives. I literally felt like I was talking to
kenna and Ellie haha!! But they were just amazed and so grateful for
the influence of worthy priesthood holders in their lives. I shared a
lot of experiences about Dad and how he taught me my whole life how to
live worthily of the priesthood and that he was always my role model!
Pretty fitting for Father's Day if you ask me ;) then my companion,
who is a convert of like 2 years, shared his thoughts and it was so
awesome to get 2 completely different views on it. One of the young
women said that when she sees us or her dad or any other man using his
priesthood power that we look like super heroes 馃檪 that was a super
sweet comment that I'll never forget. Anyways, what I want to get
across with this story is that the priesthood has blessed my life in
so many ways and I have seen it bless so many other people's lives as
well. I'm grateful for my role models who have taught me how to use it
and respect it and I plan on doing the same some day with my little
chillins :) it's such a sacred power that changes lives when put to
good use!
We ran into a lot of people we have contacted in the street, old
investigators, and other friends this week which was super cool. We
had impressions all week of places to go and whenever we got there,
someone we had been looking for magically appeared :) we set up lots
of lessons and were able to offer service to a lot of our friends so
hopefully they realize that we really do want to help them! Lots of
little miracles are occurring these days in Le贸n 馃
Elder Palacios is awesome. I love Peruvians :) he is one of the most,
or if not, the most diligent companion I've ever had and really wants
to succeed but is completely reliant on the Lord. He was baptized in
2014 and then entered the mission last August with my hijo so I've met
him before in various meetings. He is the only member in his family
and before the mission he was studying civil engineering! He likes to
cook and kinda forgets about the cleaning part but I have no problem
with that cuz he's doing me a favor by making food haha :) I have no
doubt that he is supposed to be my companion right now because I'm
learning a lot more from him than I'm sure he is learning from me
haha! But we make a good duo :) it was weird without elder kiser for a
few days but I think I'm finally adjusting. Miss my brother boo
though.
That's about all I got folks! This week I've got my last Zone
Conference of the mission and I think my last interview with president
pack as well! Hard to believe that all the "lasts" are finally here. I
know this work is 100% guided by the Lord and he helps us every step
of the way when we are obedient, diligent, and faithful! I am
continuing to learn more about the Savior every day and I love him so
much. I hope everyone has a great week and stays safe wherever you
are!! Peace out BOiZ.
Com amor,
脡lder Smith
Monday, June 12, 2017
Letter from Mike.....
This was an email we received from Mike Taylor who met Brady in Spain. What a kind man to take time to email us. Sounds like a wonderful experience. I'd love to take the walk myself someday.....
Sorry this is coming to you a week later. My friend and I are
walking the 500 miles Camino de Santiago I will include our blog at the end if
you want to see it, where we referred to our Sunday in Leon seven days ago.
Mormon Church, which is a world wide church of 15 million
members. Each individual congregation all over the world wether big or
small meet each Sunday for sacrament and renewing our commitments to our
savior, Jesus Christ.
Last Sunday June 4th we attended a small branch in Leon
where we meet in a small facility with approximately 50-60 active members,
every chair was filled.
As we arrived the branch secretary let us in, welcomed us and
showed us where the chapel was located. Everybody is friendly, but we
could not understand them at all until the Elders and Sister showed up. They
were incredibly helpful and explained to us who people were in the branch and
what was going on. Later Elder Smith was our translator for the fast and
testimony meeting. The spirit was very strong.
The missionaries were Sister Robinson of St George and Sister
Koeber of Highland Utah and Elder Smith of Bountiful and Elder Kiser of St
George. They were fabulous.
The branch had just baptized on Saturday a father of a family
who were baptized a few weeks before and he was confirmed in the meeting. He
later got up and bore his testimony about how thankful his family had found the
gospel. Very sweet.
They are darling, darling missionaries. All mom and dad should
be incredibly proud of these missionaries serving the Lord's children in
Spain.
We took these pictures of them on our way out and we're so
thankful that we had a chance to be in their branch today. You both have great
young men, get ready for them coming home as touched by the Lord.
M. Clark Taylor
801-419-2550
Pics from this week
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| My favorite plate I've tried on the mission.. bandeja paisa from Colombia :) |
 |
This was right before I cried saying bye to my little
hermanito this morning
|
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| Lina's Special Day ft. MATCHING TIES |
 |
payooooooo
|
 |
Bye Bye Elder Peroni!!
|
I like you plenty plenty
Hola Buenas :)
This week was freaking crazy!!
I'm getting straight into it cuz not much time to write but it was such a good
week. Elder Kiser is officially gone!! It was a sad drop off at the station
this morning... it literally feels like yesterday he was picking me up!! He
headed off to Parla which is a little pueblo of Madrid. Only 12 weeks without
him then we will be hanging after the mission :) my new (and last 馃槓) companion is named Elder Palacios and he is from Peru! So
basically I started my mission off with a Peruvian and I'm gonna end it with
another! He's a really good kid, has been out for like 10 months and has lots
of ganas to work! We will be going hard right up until the very end!! When I
get more info on him I'll share :) but the coolest thing of the week es lo
siguiente... ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
LINA GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!!
Literally elder kiser and I have been praying ever since we got together that
we could have a baptism together and it happened on the last day of the
transfer. Out with a bang if you ask me :) she passed her interview this
Wednesday and then we were running around like crazy getting everything ready
for transfers, intercambios, and the baptism! It turned out great and the
spirit was strong. Her mom and brother came and they loved it! The members treated
them so well. I wanted to share just a few of my thoughts about how we found
Lina and how much change I've seen in her in the past few weeks...
So. The whole Lina story started
back on April 17th. We were walking back from a part of Le贸n called "El
Crucero" and I see this chaval on a bridge with a cool looking shirt and I
stopped him and asked where he bought it and he pointed to a big shopping mall
and said over there. Then I was like "Hey! I've been looking for a mall
for a while!" He offered to take us over there right then but we said a
different day would be better. So we got his number and decided to play some
f煤tbol with him. Well, after like a ton of weeks calling him and inviting him
to come play with us on saturdays, he finally shows up :) and he brought his
sister too!! We showed them the capilla and gave them both a Book of Mormon and
like 5 days later we found out that the sister had read like 150+ pages in the
book!! So we were like dang this girl is for real. Long story short, the chaval
we contacted was Diego and his sister was Lina who just got baptized :) it's
the first time in my mission that I've found someone off the street and
baptized them, all the others have been member references but it was definitely
a fun experience to take Lina through the whole baptismal process! She should
be confirmed next week and we are still working with Diego and their mom too,
so good things will be coming in the near future with them!! 馃檪馃檪 now you all know how the story began and ended.
Kinda cool huh?!
Well that's about all I got for
today, I'm tired of typing and my emotions are all over the place. Today is the
first day of my last transfer in the mission!! I literally blinked and the time
passed faster than the speed of light. things are great, the church is true,
and I'm so blessed to be a representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I love him and I love this work, I know it's true and I am so glad for all the
experiences I've had in the mission field. Hay que perseverar hasta el fin and
that's exactly what I'm gonna do!! I love you all, and happy early birthday
shout out to CRAIGER/SNAKES/OLD MAN this Friday! How old are you turning now?
87?! 馃槈 just kidding... love you!! Thanks for reading
this week's edition... talk to you all soon!!
Con amor,
Elder b. Smith
Monday, June 5, 2017
Pics from this week
 |
| We said bye to all our University of Washington homies this week :( it was sad |
 |
Our buddy chris jones from Virginia who is doing the Camino! His toe was hurt so we prayed for him and then he took us out to ice cream |
 |
| Visiting some of elder kiser's member friends in Oviedo :) |
 |
District meeting in Avil茅s!
|
 |
| Last Monday after p day was over, we went over to check the bus schedules and walked by our Dominican basketball homies and took them on in 2 on 2 and we beat them 3 games to 1. After we lost the first game cuz we weren't hot, we couldn't lose :) ball is life, and the gospel too. |
"Dios es Guapo" y El Flow Celestial
Gente!!
I have like no time today... we have been balling in the sun and I'm
super burnt hahaha plus this week wasn't too crazy but there is some
cool stuff I want to talk about!!
Sooooo.... after a long week of not being able to meet with Iris... we
saw her yesterday and she explained some of her doubts and we talked
about them. Al final, she decided she wanted to be baptized this
coming Sunday the 11th. So we were hyped and made a plan to teach her
all the lessons and get her interview all squared away. Well this
morning when I woke up, I saw a text on my phone from her that said
she decided not to be baptized after all this week :/ Satan is working
overtime on her. I know she will be baptized at some point, it just
might not be as soon as we would like. Hopefully I'm here for it
though!! On the other hand, Lina is looking really good still and she
should be baptized this Sunday! We've been working really hard with
her and she decided that the time has come to make he commitment! So
she will be having her interview tomorrow and then we will make all
the arrangements this week :) pray for us please que todo nos vaya
bien!!! 馃檹馃徏
On Friday I was able to do my first baptismal interview of my whole
mission and it was AWESOME! The lady is from Oviedo and is such a
sweet spirit. She was really nervous but she passed the interview with
flying colors and as soon as I told her that I had good news... she
started crying :) it was so sweet. I love people who understand the
gospel and really want to make changes to align their lives with the
teachings of Christ. The elect, people. They're out there!! D&C 29:7.
The 脷LTIMA SEMANA CON BOO BABY KISE PUP has arrived 馃樋 pretty sad tbh.
Literally this kid is my brother. We have worked hard in Le贸n and
tried our best to help the missionaries in the zone grow as well as
putting in the hours in our own area. I'm really gonna miss him, but
we will be mobbing after the mission a lot so I'm not too worried. But
being mission comps definitely sealed the deal to be lifelong homies
:') all good things come to an end, am I right?
A couple of shout outs to finish off this week's edition of elder
smith's mission letter... happy birthday grandpa Smedley today and MY
BFF tHam is officially in the last week of his mission!! I love you
chaval, go hard until the very end! And I'll see you soon 馃
Thanks for reading this week, I'll be back soon! Don't miss me
too much :):):)
Con amor,
Elder smith
I have like no time today... we have been balling in the sun and I'm
super burnt hahaha plus this week wasn't too crazy but there is some
cool stuff I want to talk about!!
Sooooo.... after a long week of not being able to meet with Iris... we
saw her yesterday and she explained some of her doubts and we talked
about them. Al final, she decided she wanted to be baptized this
coming Sunday the 11th. So we were hyped and made a plan to teach her
all the lessons and get her interview all squared away. Well this
morning when I woke up, I saw a text on my phone from her that said
she decided not to be baptized after all this week :/ Satan is working
overtime on her. I know she will be baptized at some point, it just
might not be as soon as we would like. Hopefully I'm here for it
though!! On the other hand, Lina is looking really good still and she
should be baptized this Sunday! We've been working really hard with
her and she decided that the time has come to make he commitment! So
she will be having her interview tomorrow and then we will make all
the arrangements this week :) pray for us please que todo nos vaya
bien!!! 馃檹馃徏
On Friday I was able to do my first baptismal interview of my whole
mission and it was AWESOME! The lady is from Oviedo and is such a
sweet spirit. She was really nervous but she passed the interview with
flying colors and as soon as I told her that I had good news... she
started crying :) it was so sweet. I love people who understand the
gospel and really want to make changes to align their lives with the
teachings of Christ. The elect, people. They're out there!! D&C 29:7.
The 脷LTIMA SEMANA CON BOO BABY KISE PUP has arrived 馃樋 pretty sad tbh.
Literally this kid is my brother. We have worked hard in Le贸n and
tried our best to help the missionaries in the zone grow as well as
putting in the hours in our own area. I'm really gonna miss him, but
we will be mobbing after the mission a lot so I'm not too worried. But
being mission comps definitely sealed the deal to be lifelong homies
:') all good things come to an end, am I right?
A couple of shout outs to finish off this week's edition of elder
smith's mission letter... happy birthday grandpa Smedley today and MY
BFF tHam is officially in the last week of his mission!! I love you
chaval, go hard until the very end! And I'll see you soon 馃
Thanks for reading this week, I'll be back soon! Don't miss me
too much :):):)
Con amor,
Elder smith
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