Pics from this week in Talavera

The Toledo District :)

the TEMPLE!!

We have found a few very slim streets here in Talavera

and I felt a picture was appropriate haha

 

I was very glad to see that my wonderful mother found one of my
best friends who just got home... Elder Müller! And he even delivered
the package :) this picture made me really
happy so I just decided to share it haha.

Semana 1 en Talavera :)

WHAT UP FAM :)

Week 1 in Talavera de la Reina is over! It felt kinda slow to be
honest, but I think that's always how it is when you change areas or
companions and that kind of stuff. Just to start off, some cool stuff
that I've noticed in Talavera in the last week are... 1) It's super
tiny compared to Valladolid... Valladolid had about 350,000 people and
Talavera has just over 80,000. 2) The weather here is soooo much
better, like I can walk around in a white shirt and be fine all day!
There's even palm trees here that line the streets... I'm not sure why
they're here but I'm not complaining 3) Lots of gypsies... Lots
of freaking gypsies... Hahaha. And 4) they are known for their
ceramics, and I love ceramics! Everything you look at is ceramic art
and it's super pretty. I feel like I'm in Ms. Swann's class at Woods
Cross all over again! It's the greatest! Anyways, besides all that fun
stuff, here is some more about my week :)

LUCY!! We have an investigator named Lucy from Colombia, she's 70 but
doesn't seem that old at all. She is literally the greatest person on
the planet! We teach her every Tuesday and Friday and she is super
receptive to everything we have taught so far. Anyways, we went into
the lesson on Tuesday planning to just get to know her better and
share something small, but the topic of baptism got brought up. Elder
Johnson had told me earlier that she was super set already on being
baptized and they had decided to extend the invitation for the 9th of
April. So, we asked her if she would but she said she wants to be
baptized on her son's birthday one week after so the day would be even
more special! WOO HOO :):) she is the type of lady who isn't going to
back out of a commitment like this and now we've got her locked down
for the 16th of April. I was sooooo happy, and how awesome to set a
baptismal date on my first day in the new area!!! She hasn't missed a
week of church since she came one day in January with a member friend.
We are so excited for Lucy and it's going to be really fun to see her
progress!! :)

The members here are super awesome, we meet with a bunch of them on a
regular basis. For example, every Monday night, we have correlation
meeting and a Noche de Hogar with our Branch Mission Leader who also
happens to be the Elders Quorum President and the Secretary of the
Branch. Hahaha. If that doesn't explain to you how small the branch
is, then I don't know what does! Normally we have about 20-30 people
come on Sunday's. Super different than what I'm used to, but that's
good because I'll get to know the members on a really personal level!
We eat with the Branch President every Sunday night and then talk
about how the week went and stuff. Another cool thing that we have
started is THE MAP! We have divided a map of Talavera up into 16
sections and every week we give the map to a different member and ask
them to pray about what section we should go to and look for more new
people. This week we'll be in section 11 and our goal is to find a
family. So please pray that we can have some success in section 11 and
that the Lord will help us find a family! It's a really good idea for
finding and I know that the members are really dedicated to helping us
find the people who are prepared for the gospel!

We contact A LOT here. I think the farthest we have had to walk to an
appointment is like 10 minutes away, and in Valladolid it was like an
hour to each appointment. With that being said, I'm getting to know
the city really well! We pass a lot of the same people on the street
who have shut us down earlier in the day haha. It's tiny. But I'm
loving it! Oh and what I said about gypsies last week is definitely
true, they're everywhere! There are whole 10 story Piso buildings just
with gypsies living there. They are different people but some of them
are kinda nice :) Spain in general isn't an easy place to be a
missionary and the church is very young here. But, with God's help, we
will be led to the people who are prepared to hear the good word. The
sad part is when people don't even give us a chance to introduce
ourselves and the message that we have. A lot of the people that stop
to listen to us are asking us to buy things from them because they
don't have work or they just stop and insult us. Super awesome, right?

On Wednesday, we got to go to the TEMPLE!! We woke up at 4 o'clock in
the morning to take our bus and metro into Madrid. It was my first
legitimate session in Spanish because in the MTC, they do sessions in
English for the missionaries. I kept up with the whole thing and still
felt the same spirit that I always do! It made me realize how blessed
we are as members of the church to have temples. ESPECIALLY IN UTAH!!
They're literally everywhere, so if you haven't gone in a while, GO!!
After we had district meeting which went well, it was weird to have
more than 4 people in a district but I loved it! Being in an area
where it's just you and your companion is an adjustment for me but
nothing that I can't handle :)

The last thing I wanna talk about is that every Friday night, the
branch has a Noche de Hogar and this time since I was the new
missionary, I got to pick the game! And of course, I picked the Name
Game :) hahaha it's so much fun to watch the people in Spain play
because they get so intense and take it so seriously!! It was a huge
hit! I love this branch so much already and I've only been here for a
week. They take good care of us missionaries and are involved in our
work with us. I don't feel like it's a church of members and a church
of missionaries, we are all together in this wonderful cause of
bringing more souls unto Christ!! I'm really excited for what the next
few transfers are going to bring :)

Thank you all for your continued support in this journey of mine! This
mission has changed me and I have learned more in the last 7 months
(almost) than in my whole life combined! The work isn't easy, but it's
so worth it and I am loving every second. I know that with God's help,
everything is possible. He knows each one of us personally and has a
plan for us. I'm grateful to represent my Savior, Jesus Christ every
single day here in Talavera. I hope you guys have a wonderful week and
I'll talk to you soon :)

CON AMOR <3

ELDER BRADY SMITH

Here's a little bit about......Talavera de la Reina

Talavera de la Reina

Talavera de la Reina is a city and municipality in the western part of the province of Toledo, which is in turn part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain.  It is the second-largest nucleus of population in Castile-La Mancha and the largest in the province: its population of 83,793 makes it larger than the city of Toledo, although the latter remains the provincial capital.

The city is settled along the river Tagus(Tajo in Spanish) at a broad bank. There are two islands in the center of the city called Isla Grande and Chamelo Island. The city is surrounded by two ranges of mountains, in the north the Sierra de San Vicente, and in the south Montes de Toledo.

The city is divided in two by the river Tagus. The northern part is the larger and more populated; both parts are connected by three bridges, one of them built in the Middle Ages.

The weather is continental; winter is wet and cold with dense fog in the mornings, and summer is quite warm. The area is very fertile with Mediterranean forests, elms, olive trees and corks.



Salvador Church's Apse

 


Colegial Church of Talavera de la Reina

 

The river

 

The city is internationally known for its ceramics, which Philip II of Spain used as tiled revetments in many of his works, such as the monastery of El Escorial. The nickname of Talavera de la Reina is 'The City of Pottery' (La Ciudad de la Cerámica, in Spanish). Mexico's famous Talavera pottery was named after the city.

Pottery

 

 

 

 

Pics from this week

I also gave a tie to Hermano Julio, our branch mission leader. He
gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek and called me His Son :) he
wants me to come back and live with him after the mission hahaha!

Luis :)

.Last District Meeting in Valladolid!

Hermana Isabel León :)

Some weird/quality graffiti in Palencia haha



I did a tie swap with Johussen, presidente Yubero's son and about
cried! He's the coolest kid in the branch and like my
best friend. I'm going to miss him a lot!!

Elder Galvan and I eating his famous Spanish Pasta!

Elder Johnson and I just chilling in the capilla.....
 It's gonna be a fun few transfers with this kid :)

Hermana Juanita :)

Adios Valladolid y Hola Talavera :)

Hola familia y amigos!!

So as you can tell by the title of the email, I'm no longer in
Valladolid!! Holy cow after a good almost 6 months there it just
naturally became my new home. Now I'm in a city called Talavera de la
Reina, it's south of Madrid and kinda by Toledo. My new companion is
Elder Johnson from Ogden, Utah and he is a super good kid! He has been
out for 2 transfers and so that makes me the senior companion!! Hahaha
I'm so nervous!! But it will all be good, the Lord knows what I need
and that's why he sent me down here :) sorry I don't have a really
structured format this week but here's what has happened in the life
of Elder Smith!!

So one funny experience... We were out contacting one day before an
appointment and this big group of teenage girls stopped us and asked
us if we wanted to be their boyfriends hahahahaha. They looked a
little sketchy and then they told us they were gypsies!! That's not a
joke, they were literally gypsies. So I took my name tag off and
showed it to them and explained to them why I couldn't be their
boyfriend and that I was a missionary. They didn't like that excuse
and kept asking but I just kept saying no haha. Finally they just left
and I got a laugh out of it after. Apparently in my new area,
Talavera, the place is crawling with gypsies. So pray for me, this
could be an interesting few transfers!!

This week was just mainly filled with goodbyes. And you all know me, I
don't like goodbyes at all. So it was kind of a sad/emotional/weird
week. Elder Galvan and I pressed forward to the very end and had a
successful week. He will do great in the area that I so dearly love
and my new replacement is Elder Dover from Texas! He seems like a good
guy so I'm not too worried about the area, it'll be in good hands. On
Wednesday we had our last district meeting in Valladolid and I put a
picture of it at the bottom, but it was also Elder Galvan's birthday
so we went to an American restaurant called Foster's to celebrate!! It
was a fun day. I'm actually sad to leave Elder Galvan because he
taught me a lot of things about being a missionary. I learned from his
example and loved how he was so humble. He was always focused on the
needs of the people we met with and we have finally stared to see some
progress with them.

Luis, the guy who we have been helping since day 1, started up smoking
again :( he went 16 months without doing it but then one day he got
stressed and pulled out the cigarettes again! So we sat down with him,
gave him a blessing that he will be able to withstand the temptations
to smoke, and then created a plan. Now every night before bed we call
him to see if he has smoked that day or not and it has motivated him
to not smoke anymore. He wanted to talk scriptures with me the other
day and I was so surprised at how much he understood! I said, "Luis,
when did you read all this?" And he just responded, "well I didn't
want to make you disappointed by smoking again so I read my scriptures
instead." I hugged that guy so hard!! It's awesome when someone really
wants to change. I know that with the Lord's help, he'll stop smoking
and continue on the path that leads to eternal life.

Saturday and Sunday were days filled with goodbyes, and I didn't
really want to do it but you can't avoid it on the mission. We went to
Palencia one last time to visit the Family from Honduras and committed
them to come to church but they didn't end up showing because they got
called in to work last minute. It was a bummer but hopefully they will
be able to find something that doesn't conflict with the Sabbath. It
was a bitter sweet moment to bare my testimony in front of the branch
one last time, I really have come to love these people. Haha oh and
the hugging rule for missionaries... Yeah I got so many old ladies to
hug me. It was the best!! Oops :) I'm not too stoked to talk about all
the goodbyes but I pretty much said bye to everyone and that's that.
I'll put pictures but yeah, it just makes me kinda sad. It's a little
fresh still!! But Sunday night we went to a funeral of a lady who was
in the branch. She passed away but I never knew her because she was
always in a care facility. The way the members talked about her, she
seemed awesome!! I wish I could have gotten to know her, none of her
family is LDS except for her so the majority of the talks were focused
on the Plan of Salvation and how we can return to live with our loved
ones again. It brought peace to my mind as I thought about how I
really will be able to live with my family for all eternity!! I can't
imagine life without them :) we ate with Presidente Yubero and his
family one last time after the funeral then I got all packed and this
morning I took a train, metro, and bus to get to Talavera! It seems a
lot smaller than Valladolid but that will be good because I'll get to
know the members super well! Bring it on baby :)

Overall, I have absolutely loved my time in Valladolid and it will
always have a big special place in my heart. I'm really excited to be
here in Talavera with Elder Johnson and we will see what the next few
transfers bring! Please pray for me because you all know how I don't
like change a whole lot but I'm doing good so far haha!! That's all
for this week, I love you all and thanks for your support!! And, my
good friend Elder Gearig just got moved to Toldeo so we will be in the
same district and I'm very excited for that :)

THANKS EVERYONE FOR EVERYTHING, LOVE YOU ALL LOTS AND LOTS :')

Con Amor,
Elder Brady Smith

 

Pics from this week

There’s 2 Elder Smiths in the branch now J

Noche de Hogar with Israel and his Family! I love that kid so much!

Us missionaries and Angel just being ourselves :)

Real Valladolid's Stadium :)

Another lookout of the city

The sun was bright ha ha

Highest point in Valladolid with my new Jersey :) I love it here

The Last Week in Valladolid :/

HOWDY :)

Happy Leap Year Day or whatever it is today haha! I cannot believe and
refuse to accept the fact that this is my last week in Valladolid!! To
be honest, I am not looking forward to a change but I know that it'll
be great. I have come to love this area and branch just like I'm in
Bountiful and the Val Verda 4th Ward! Elder Galvan has been a great
help to me and a wonderful companion, I've learned a lot from him in
these short 5 weeks that we've had together!! This week was better
than last, we didn't have to drop anyone and no one said anything
about not being a member anymore! So already you can tell it was a
better week than last :)

On Tuesday we had intercambios and I was with Elder Tree!! I love
Elder Tree :) he is such a good missionary, I have learned a lot from
his example in the 3 transfers that we have been here together. We had
a few appointments set up and they went well, but I wanted to focus on
contacting with him because he can get almost any person to stop and
talk to him. He taught me his ways and they have come in handy as I've
been walking the streets this past week. We visited Hermano Julio and
his wife Yailia for medio día (us 4 missionaries) and they made us
some amazing Colombian food! This soup they prepared for us had fish
in it and Elder Fletcher is allergic to fish but he ate it anyways. I
have never seen someone in so much pain in my whole life!! The poor
Elder was in the bathroom for hours just sick as a dog. This was only
funny because Elder Fletcher didn't want to tell Hermana Yailila to
make him something else hahaha. Other than that, I felt super bad for
the poor guy, but luckily now he looks back at it and laughs :)

Wednesday we had district meeting and then Hermana Fernandez has been
dying to take the missionaries to Burger King so we went with her. She
is such a good lady and is so eager to share the gospel with anyone at
any given moment. I have learned a lot about the importance of good
member support in my time in the mission field and would encourage all
of you at home to help the missionaries!! I can promise you that
blessings will come, this is the Lord's work and he is hastening it
right now! So if you get the chance, help the Elders and Sisters!
Later that night, we passed by Elsa who is Michael's grandma. I don't
know why but I just had a feeling to go by and see how she was doing.
When we got there, she let us right in and said "Oh Elders, I'm so
happy to see you! I've been waiting to talk to you!" She told us she
feels a little lonely now that Nichole and Stefany both have left for
their missions. Her husband José, sleeps all day and when he wakes up
he goes and smokes then goes back to sleep. She told us that one day
she wants to be baptized in a river just like Jesus was, so we will
have to see what happens with her! Even if she doesn't ever get
baptized, she's like a Grandma to me and is one of the coolest ladies
that I have ever met :) she calls us her sons hahaha.

Thursday and Friday were a blur, we had quite a few of appointments
fail us so we spent lots of time contacting. Friday we went up to
Palencia to see if we could visit the Familia Berrios from Honduras,
but they weren't home and neither were any of the members that live up
there. So, it was pouring rain and we ended up walking around all day
drenched and freezing cold with nobody wanting to talk to us at all.
But I was still happy and it was a day that I'll never forget.

Instead of English Class on Saturday, we taught one of our
investigators, Carmen, the Restoration! She lived in England for a
year or so and she speaks English, so we taught her in English which
was fun. She is still working on it but keeps up with us Americans as
we talk. She has a lot of questions about the gospel and that makes me
happy because she is actually thinking and praying about the things
that we are teaching her. The next step is to get her to church this
week, so hopefully all goes well there! For medio día, we ate Dominos
Pizza with Hermana Isabel León. She's a branch missionary here and
loves us Elders. She is a very cool lady and we enjoyed an afternoon
talking with her and sharing a thought. As we were leaving, Bon Jovi's
famous "Livin' on a Prayer" came on and us 4 Elders just broke out
singing super loud in the restaurant! We got lots of people to laugh
and then just apologized to everyone and said we needed an "American
Moment" hahaha :) good times.

Sunday was pretty normal, we taught Sunday School and then had Ward
Council meeting after priesthood. Our branch is super involved with
missionary work and that makes us so happy because apparently there
are other areas where they aren't as supportive as they are here.
That's definitely something that I'm going to miss about this place.
We had a Noche de Hogar with a sweet family from Bolivia later that
afternoon, they shared a short thought about humility and Ether 12:27.
We got a picture with them and then headed right to Preach My Gospel
classes. In the picture I put at the bottom, you can see that there is
a kid in a wheelchair. His name is Israel and he passes the sacrament
to us every single week! A different deacon takes a turn each week to
push him around and he passes it to the whole congregation :) I'm sad
I haven't gotten a picture sooner, but he is literally the coolest
person I've ever met in my life. He always gets super excited when he
sees me and gives me a huge hug! I am so glad to call Israel my best
buddy here :) I know I say that about everyone but I just have too
many best friends to pick only one. Sorry, I'm a people person ;)

Huge S/O to all those Seniors in High School who are starting to get
their mission calls, I'm so proud of all of you! And to anyone else
who is getting ready to serve, my Mom and sisters send me screenshots
of Instagram pictures with your calls and it makes me so happy :)
MISSIONARY WORK IS THE GREATEST!!

Today for P-Day we went to the highest point in Valladolid called
Plaza Parque Sol.  I bought the ceremonial Real Valladolid jersey as a
parting gift for myself. And then we took a trip to the Soccer stadium
where they play. We went with Angel again and he is the best tour
guide this city has ever seen! We took some good pics and I attached
them at the end.

That's the week from Elder Smith. I'm gonna be super emotional when I
have to leave this beautiful place :( I've been here for almost 6
months and I can' thank my Heavenly Father enough for the things I've
learned and the experiences he has provided me. The countdown is on to
my next area, companion, and adventure! I know the Lord has prepared
more people for me to find, and I have more future best friends and
long lasting relationships waiting for me :) thanks for your love and
support, I love you all more than you'll ever know.

CON AMOR,

ELDER SMITH