CRAZY WEEK & THE BEACH!!

Hola Familia y Amigos :)

What a week!! I'm super happy to be here having these experiences. I
know that God has a plan for every single one of us, and yes I know I
say that every week, but it's because I see it more and more in my
life every day. Here's how it all went down...

So Monday through Wednesday I was in a trio with Elders Tree and
Fletcher. That was actually super fun, and I've developed a love for
trio contacting. We split up and go 1 and 2, so I always just picked
the solo position and ended up having a lot of success!! It's hard for
me to not get frustrated sometimes when the people are straight up
jerks to you, but I just have to remember that they aren't prepared
yet. I did my part as a missionary, and one day everyone will know of
the truthfulness of this gospel. On Wednesday night, I picked up Elder
Galvan from the train station!! Haha he is super cool, we have been
having a ton of fun together. He's from California and has been out
for like 19 months, so more than likely he'll finish up his mission
here in Valladolid. He's a convert of 3 years and knows a lot about
the gospel so I'm really excited to learn from him!! All of Wednesday
we just finished unpacking his stuff in the Piso.

Thursday morning we woke up and got our stuff ready to head to A
Coruña! It was about an 8 hour bus ride from Valladolid and along the
way we picked up the missionaries from León and Ponferrada. We got to
A Coruña and went straight to the hotel to dump our stuff in the room
(the hotel was freaking nice haha, it brought back all the days of
baseball and basketball tournaments with my friends and vacations with
the family) then to get food as a zone. When we got back to the hotel,
my ZL Elder Müller told me that Hermana Pack wanted to talk to me. I
instantly felt like there was a rock inside my stomach. So when I got
up to their room, they told me that Grandpa Smith had passed away. I
didn't want to believe it at first, then I just started crying. I
specifically remembered the last time I saw him in person, when he
came to our house when I was set apart. He shared his testimony with
me and it was so strong!! Then I got super happy because I pictured
him giving Grandma Smith a big hug and everyone who knows Grandpa
knows how long he has been waiting for that day. Anyways, President
and Hermana Pack both gave me big hugs and comforted me which was
really nice. I felt Grandpa and Grandma Smith in that moment tell me
that everything was going to be okay. I spent a night reflecting on
Grandpa Smith in my hotel room, just thinking about what an amazing
guy he is. I believe today is his Funeral, and I'm sad I won't be
there but he's here with me in Spain so it's all good :) I love you
Grandpa Smith!!

Friday, we had the chance to listen to Elder Moreira of the 70! He and
his wife came from Portugal to speak to us. Elder Moreira was
hilarious haha, he had me laughing pretty good the whole time. His
wife only speaks Portuguese, but she did give her talk in Spanish and
I was super proud of her for giving it a good effort. She stressed
that Missionary Work is the most important work we'll ever do in our
lives. Elder Moreira talked about change. I wish I would have counted
the amount of times he actually said the word "change", because it was
in the thousands. We are always changing and that's what I loved about
his message, nobody is perfect. Duh. But sometimes we are stubborn and
don't want to change. Accepting change is hard, but in the end, it's
going to shape us into the missionaries that God wants us to become. I
learned a lot from their messages and had a fun time seeing a bunch of
my MTC friends!! Our bus for Valladolid left early Saturday morning,
so we actually got to work in A Coruña for the rest of the day. Elder
Tree served there so he took us on a tour of the city as we contacted
and passed by members. The best part was definitely when we made our
way down towards THE BEACH HOLY COW I MISS THE BEACH haha and
not gonna lie, it was very tempting to sprint into the ocean but I
held back haha. The rest of the night, we had a Noche de Hogar with
the A Coruña missionaries, and after we did an hour of Zumba!! It was
so much fun haha but I was sore the next morning. Just another bit of
info... My good friend Elder Walster and I are professionals at Zumba
now haha. It was nice to see him this weekend :)

Saturday!! 19!! Haha I don't feel any different, but do want to thank
everyone who sent me birthday packages, emails, and letters. It was
Elder Müller's birthday as well and he slept right below me on the
floor on Friday night, so right when the clock hit 12 o'clock, we got
a nice selfie of the birthday boys haha!! We caught our bus back to
Valladolid at 9, then had a Piso check when we got back. We passed!!
All my hard work with cleaning has been paying off haha :) To end the
night, we got a Kebab to celebrate. Only 1 more birthday in the
mission field :)

Sunday was super good, the members really seem to like Elder Galvan so
I'm excited for that. In priesthood, we talked about the literal power
of the priesthood. We as priesthood holders hold the exact same power
as Christ did when he created the world under the direction of
Heavenly Father. HOW COOL!! Sometimes I think we forget just how
sacred the priesthood is, and this lesson was a good reminder to me.
I'm going to try to find more opportunities to magnify my priesthood
this week. Sunday night, we taught a Preach My Gospel class and it was
super successful! The spirit was strong as we taught about chapter 5
which is focused on the Book of Mormon. We invited Claudia and one of
the other Elders Investigators to come and then the "students" taught
the real investigators what they learned from our class!! Claudia and
Angel, the investigators, felt the spirit really strong! I was so
happy, things just worked out perfectly. It was a little miracle to
me, finish the crazy hectic week off with a bang. I just love being a
missionary!!

I'm sorry this email was so long, but thanks for reading this far. I
love the work here. It's hard, and some weeks I just have more to say
than others! Anyways, I love you all a lot. Sometimes I think about
home and how much I miss my friends and family but then remember that
these 2 years are so short and so sacred. I don't want to have any
regrets when I get home. And I'm planning on all of you to be there to
greet me at the airport, okay?! ;) haha well that's all I have for
this week. Love you all! Thanks for everything!!

Con Amor,

Elder Brady Craig Smith

Birthday Dinner

     Happy 19th Birthday Brady!

Nineteen years ago Brady made Craig and I parents.  What a wonderful gift he has been to us and  his sisters.  He is a genuine, compassionate, thoughtful, intelligent and amazing friend to many.  We are so blessed to be best friends for the eternities.  Have a wonderful day Braids!!

 

 

Loving Brady across the miles at LORENA'S

Coincidence???? Don't think so.  We were eating our meal and realized
we were seated at table ..... 23.  Always on our minds!

Goodbye Grandpa Smith

 

 

It was difficult for Brady to leave on his mission knowing he may not see his Grandpa Smith alive again.  They had a special bond and Brady respected and admired him so much.  He was a wonderful example of a Patriarch who led his family in righteousness and focused on the most important things in life.  Below are the communications we had with Sister Pack the “Mission Mom” and an email from Brady.

 

Following an email Kristin sent to inform Pres. & Sister Pack about Grandpa Smith’s Passing

February 4, 2016

We are sorry to hear that.  Our love and prayers are with your family.  I have good news. We will be with Elder Smith tonight and be able to tell him in person.  He is headed to A Coruña for a zone conference tomorrow. Is there any other information you would like us to share? We feel blessed that we will be able to tell him in person.  We will let you know after we speak with him. 

 Love,

Hermana Pack

 

We just had an opportunity to speak with Elder Smith.  He got a little emotional, but handled the news pretty well. We had a chance to talk about his grandpa. He told us what an amazing man he is.  We gave him permission to email you. We will continue to pray for your family at this difficult time. Thank you for sending such a fine young man on a mission. He has grown leaps and bounds since he first got here.  We are very proud of him as we know you are. 

Love, 

Hermana Pack

Spain Madrid Mission

 

Hey mom and dad,

So I'm just sitting in a hotel room at 12:06AM in A Coruña. We had a 7
and a half hour bus ride to get here today and I'm like super tired.
Anyways, elder Müller came up to me and told me that Hermana and
president pack wanted to talk to me when we got back from getting food
as a zone. I kinda had an idea of what it was, but didn't want to
think about it too much. So I knocked on their hotel room door and
went in and then they told me that grandpa smith had passed away. I
started crying and elder galvan and elder cotton (my other zone
leader) were there with me too. The email you sent Hermana and
president pack was perfect, and thanks for letting them do it. Usually
they have to do it over the phone and they told me it was a tender
mercy that we were together tonight so they could tell me in person. I
gave both president and Hermana pack a hug and it comforted me a lot.
President pack shared a story with me and his grandma passed right
before he went on his mission and it was tough for his family as well.
I was super sad at first but now I am super happy because I know how
long grandpa has been waiting for this. I love that man so much and I
can just picture him and grandma giving each other a big hug!! Not a
coincidence that this morning during my personal study this morning I
happened to listen to "you'll be in my heart" by Phil Collins. That
was grandma and grandpa smith letting me know that everything would be
okay!!

So dad, I just want to tell you I'm so sorry. I wish I was there so
bad so I could give you a big hug!! You had the most amazing father in
the whole world. I shared with president pack about how grandpa was
always so generous and they absolutely loved it. Dad I love you the
most and I know that you're sad but so happy too!! He is so happy
right now. I have gained such a strong testimony of families and how
they can really be together forever while I've been in the mission
field. There's no doubt in my mind that grandpa is just beyond happy
right now!! Mom and girls... You guys are sad too but be happy :)
grandpa is awesome. He's happy!! Do a big group hug with you 4 for me
today.

I love you guys a lot. I'm never going to forget grandpa smith and I'm
so happy that he's home. I will talk to you guys on Monday but
president told me to let you guys know that I found out. He will be
missed but he left his mark on all of the people who knew him!! I will
miss him a lot. Anyways, have a great weekend and I'll talk to you on
Monday!!

With love,
Elder Smith

Ps president and Hermana pack gave me special early birthday wishes
right from you guys so thanks for that :) it was almost as if you two
were sitting there in the room talking to me!!!

Setting Apart at the Smith's

Handsome Smith Men!

 

 

 

Pics from this week

With Rosario, Manolo, Juanita, and the grandma who has t
he worst memory in the whole world! It's sad and hilarious! 

What is life without a little mirror pic
with my dad in the mission 

With la familia Yubero at our BBQ!!

Traslados Y Todo :)

SUPPP :) 

Another week has passed. What is happening to the time?!?! And we had transfers. The news you've all been dying to hear haha!! I'll be here in Valladolid for 5 more weeks but with a new companion!! His name is Elder Galvan and he will be getting here on Wednesday. I'm super excited to work with him, I have heard only good things about him and that he's a super good missionary. As for Elder Peña, I dropped him off at the train station this morning! He is headed to the Canary Islands!! He'll more than likely finish his mission up there and he was super happy. It was a very bitter-sweet goodbye, but I think the change is going to be good. In Peru, Elder Peña's house is by the beach and so he's very happy to be going to the coast again! His island is called Lanzarote, and he and his new companion will be the only missionaries on the whole island. Since we received the transfer email Saturday night, he's been walking around the Piso and packing his bags just yelling "Hello Beach!" Hahaha so needless to say, he's pretty excited. 

We had a BBQ with President Yubero and his family Sunday Night (holy freaking best meat I have ever eaten) to send Elder Peña off on a good note, and he gave a "fireside" type of deal to us four missionaries. He thanked us for what we are doing there and recognized how far we have come with a lot of less-active families. It was cool because when we first got here, he gave us 4 families to focus on, and yesterday at church 3 of the 4 came!!  It put a nice big smile on my face. I love Valladolid and feel blessed to have 5 more weeks here! It's gonna be a little weird at first to not be here with Elder Peña, but Elder Galvan and I are gonna have an awesome time together. 

This week we said a lot of goodbyes because we kind of knew that one of the two of us was going to leave, so we got to eat with a lot of members. That's always a good thing haha. One of them was with Rosario, Manolo, Juanita, and the grandma with the bad memory!! Every time we go over to eat, she always gives us her life story because she doesn't remember that we have heard it a bazillion times!! It's so funny. We will be sitting down and she tells us what pueblo she is from and then what she did last week, and then two minutes later she repeats the same thing!! It's hard to not bust up laughing because she gets pretty animated with her stories. But they're always the same ones!! Haha what a good lady. She keeps me laughing :) anyways, everyone loves the Peruvian haha and he really helped me with my relationships with the members. I remember my first few weeks here, I was super shy and didn't want to use my Spanish very much but now that Elder Peña is gone, it's all up to me and I'm very excited! As bad as I wanted a change, I'm gonna miss him a lot. But the work goes on and this change is necessary and I'm going to learn a lot from Elder Galvan!!

This upcoming week we are headed to A Coruña to listen to Elder Joaquin Moreira of the 70! I'm so excited and he has prepared a lot of stuff for us missionaries. I'm also excited to see a bunch of my buddies from the MTC, it's going to be a fun few days! And on Saturday we have a "Surprise" Piso inspection haha. Normally they're a surprise but this week one of the matrimonial couples called us and asked us for our address and told us they'll be in town this weekend for the meetings and he'll be checking in on how we are doing. I feel a little scattered today and with all the things that have been going on, transfers and headed to A Coruña for 2 days and then finally we will start our week on Saturday! So it's been hectic but I'm just super, super, super ready to get this new transfer going :) 

This week I was reading in the Book of Mormon and one passage of scripture really stuck out to me. It's in Mosiah 26:18 and it says Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my name; for in my name shall they be called; and they are mine. We as members of the Lord's true church have chosen to bear his name. As missionaries, we have his name on our chest every single day and it's the greatest thing of all time. I am absolutely loving being a missionary and have noticed big changes in myself since I left. I'm only 18 years old (almost 19 hehe) but I know that this is the Lord's church. It is the one true and living church on the whole Earth. He loves every single one of us and wants what is best. His plan is perfect. Embrace it! Live it! Love it! Take pride in being "THE LORD'S PEOPLE" :)

thank you all for your love and support, especially this week!! All the packages and letters and emails are just the greatest. I love every single one of you to death!! ¡Que tengan una semana FANTÁSTICA! ¡Les quiero muchísimo! 

Con Amor,

Elder Smith

Pics from this week

 My sweet new graffiti ride... I'm pretty sure I've found all the
cool graffiti there is in Valladolid so I'm always happy when I find
the new stuff!

Quality Darth Vader and something else in León :)

Nichole and Michael's cousin named Emiline, this was right before
she hit me in the face and I got a bloody nose haha. It was quite
painful but I laughed.

Last Week b4 Transfers:))

Hellooooo :)

Well I made it!! It's the last week of the longest transfer known to
man. It's been long but super good too, I have enjoyed every single
second and am super excited to see what kind of changes are headed my
way this next week!! This week was good, here's how it went!

So first off, we have decided to wait on Claudia's baptism. We have
fasted and prayed like crazy and this is what we feel is best for her
at this time. I'm not going to lie, it was a hard pill for me to
swallow. I was all for the baptism and didn't want to wait any longer,
but sometimes we have to look at the situation from all angles. I'm
confident that she will be baptized someday, hopefully I'm here to see
it but if not, it will still be a special day for her regardless of
when it is. I have come to realize that the Lord really has his hand
in all things and this is his work. If he gave us the prompting to
wait for some reason, then that's what we should do. Claudia is
prepared and has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and all the
basic principles of the gospel, so for now we are going to focus on
helping her strengthen that!!

Wednesday we went to León to watch the World Wide Missionary
Conference which was AMAZING!! First off I love going to León so that
was good, and second, I learned sooooo much! Elder Anderson taught us
that when we don't know what to say, speak of the Savior. Always have
his name on your lips and be ready to testify! This is something that
I can improve, after all his name is on my chest every moment of every
day! Elder Bednar said something that I loved... "You can bring it
unto the heart, but you can't jam it into the heart." A lot of the
time, I feel like trying to jam my message into the hearts of the
people I'm teaching, but that's not how it works. I can control my
part as a missionary and do my job which is to bring it unto the
hearts of the people, but ultimately it's up to them to accept it. The
last point I wanted to share is that we need to be bold, confident,
and extend our commitments with love! And never forget to promise
blessings. It was a spiritual missionary feast and I learned sooo
much. It was almost like a missionary General Conference!! Anyways, it
was a good day :)

Thursday was weekly planning which was good and then after... WE
CLEANED! Holy cow I was sweating my guts out haha it felt sooo good to
CLEAN!! Before my mission I considered myself a clean person, but now
I don't know what I would call myself haha... I'm a clean maniac! I
was at a point of puking once or twice while I was cleaning the
bathroom. I don't want to give details because I'll throw up writing
this email but let's just say I feel much better about the cleanliness
of our Piso now. Elder Peña cleans a little bit, but the majority of
it is me. But the miracle is that he helped me a ton on Thursday!!
Haha I was a happy missionary living in a clean Piso so that was a
good feeling. I have a testimony that when we are clean, we are more
in-tune with the spirit, because I could feel a difference immediately
after. I'm already praying that my next companion is a clean freak
like me now haha!! :)

Saturday we had one of the most fun English classes I can remember in
my time here. I found out that one of our "students", Alfredo, lived
in Wyoming for a few years so he was familiar with the states and that
explains why his English was so good! We talked about Wyoming and
Cowboys and horses and Yellowstone and everything about the western
United States for like an hour and a half and it was so much fun to
connect with him! At the end of every English class, we always share a
thought and this time I shared one of my favorite scriptures in D&C
6:36. It says "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
After I shared this scripture, Alfredo got teary-eyed and told me how
beautiful he thought it was! He's such a good guy and I'm so glad that
I've gotten to know him and enjoy a few hours every week speaking
English. I'm hoping that by sharing all these scriptures with him and
being a genuine friend, maybe one day his heart will be open to hear
the gospel!! He's such a good guy. Haha I love Alfredo!!

Sunday was another good Sabbath day as usual. Church is completely
different now on my mission than it was before! I've come to love
being with all the members for 3 hours and getting to know them
better. It's hard here because everyone lives in pueblos that are like
an hour out of town so to get around and visit them costs a lot of
money and takes up entire days. So Sunday's are the best when we all
get together :) As the 4 Elders here, we have made a Branch Mission
Plan that we have thought about, prayed about, and fasted about a lot.
It contains goals about baptisms, less-actives, recent-converts, and
involving the members. The whole idea of the plan is to help the
members realize that missionaries come and go, but they, the members,
are the ones that will be here and can have the most impact. We
presented it to President Yubero, Hermano Julio who is our ward
mission leader, and the presidents of every organization in the
branch. They were all super happy and excited to hear about the plan,
so that's a good sign :) This work is incredible and I'm so happy to
be apart of it!

This was a good week :) I continue to learn more and more every single
day and am so grateful to be a missionary here in Valladolid. We will
see what happens with transfers, but no matter what, I'll work with it
because the Lord knows what I need. Thank you all for your love and
support. I am so blessed to have the best family and friends in the
whole world!! I pray for you all every day :) have a wonderful week!

Con Amor,

Elder Smith