"it is stinking hot here!"

Date: Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 10:56 AM

Hello family!

Sounds like you guys had an awesome week. Tell dad happy late fathers day I have a bunch of cards to send (inlcuding oneot dad for fathers day and one ot grandma thanking her for the package she sent me). I hope to get them in the mail this next week or so. Things have been crazy around here this last week.

On Friday, my mission President told me to pack my bags because I would be leaving in the morning to a city called Sousa. I left saturday morning and got here around 5 or so.It is way far from everything and it is stinking hot here. The other city I was in was pretty chilly (75 degrees). I am pretty sure I have changed because I was getting cold and I was studying with my suit jacket,socks and a blanket and it was 75 degrees Here it is much warmer. Luckily it is the winter. If not it would probably be around 120 degrees every day. 

We had normal transfer yesterday ( my transfer was out of the normal). My new companion is Elder Staheli from springville Utah. He is really awesome. We are both excited to get to work! This is his last transfer. Our area is really awesome and the members are super cool. We got a whole bunch of new missionaries here in the zone but I know it will be a fun transfer. Monday night, I had to go to the bus station around 1130 at night to drop off a missionary, then tuesday night we had two missionaries leave around 11 from the house, and last night we went to the bus station two times, the second time we stayed till around 1230 at night. Transfer here in this town are kind of crazy because it is so far but luckily almost everyone has gotten here safely, tonight there will be one more companionship getting here. Lots of new areas have been opening. I think 31 new missionaries got here this week. It is an exciting time to be serving a missionary for the Lord. I really feel the Lord is hastening His work and it is so fun being a part of it and am very excited for Kadyn and Mary.They will be great missionaries. I am excited for Becca too The more missionaries the better! Sunday there is going to be a world wild conference for missionaries and mission president's and President Monson is going to speak to us I am very excited to hear what he will say.

Well this week I had a cool experience with a family we are teaching. The husband has had some great experiences already praying and reading the Book of Mormon. During a leson, we asked him if he knew that Joseph Smtih was a prophet, he said he didn't know yet. Then we asked him if he knew that the Book of Mormon is true. He replied, '' I know that the Book of Mormon is true.'' right when he said that I got so happy! He has already stopped drinking coffee ad now he just is having trouble because he works on sundays.It is really hard to find work here and when you find it, it is hard to not be on sundays. He said he would talk to his boos though. I know that the Lord will help himfind a way to be able to keep the Sabbath Day holy and go to church with his family. His wife as well has a desire to be baptized.

Well I don't have too many experiences here yet. Things are going well. I feel like I get busier and busier with each transfer but that is okay. Time is flying by and I want to take advantage of every minute!

I am officialy a missionary in the Brasil Natal Mission now, well at least in 15 days when the mission opens I will be. But I won't be going back to João Pessoa. Now I can say I served two missions!

I had a funny experience this last week. Two fridays ago our leader came to our area to do an interview and while he was walking super quick on the road he tripped on this rope thing and fell pretty hard on his face. It was funny because when he got to the church He was kind of dirty and so that way funny. But the funnier part was last tuesday when he went on companion exchanges with me in my area and around 8:30 we went to an investigators house and while we were talking to them the wife that lives there said,'' hey aren't you that guy who fell down last week on the street?'' It was hilarious. I think he felt a little embarrassed but it was funny.

Thanks for all your support. I love you guys a lot! I hope everything goes well this week. I'll talk to you guys on monday Miss you

Love,

Elder Smith

D&C 107:99-100

Date: Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 7:05 AM

Hello!

Thanks for the videos dad! It is cool seeing you all in action. After so much time away from home sometimes I really do feel like I forgot how everything was! I feel like I was born a missionary and that all my life before was just a dream!

This last week went well. We had a zone conference which was really awesome. It was the last zone conference we will have with President Hall and maybe even the last time I will see him! He has been an awesome mission President and I know that everyone will miss him. But we are excited to recieve our new president and make him feel welcome to the Brasil João Pessoa mission! Next week we have the last transfers before the mission splits so I will know whether I will continue to be in the Brasil João Pessoa mission or the Brasil Natal mission. The new mission presidents will get here at the end of the month. Things are changing a whole lot but it is excited and a great experience for us all.

This last week we were teaching a part-member family. The wife is a member but her husband is not and the have a kid as well. We went there and talked about the plan of salvation and families with them. We talked about the temple and the importance of being sealed with our families so that we can be together forever. The Spirit was really strong. We usually invite the man of the house to offer a prayer or choose who will say the prayer. Usually, he is pretty shy and doesn't want to say it, but this time I asked him to choose someone and he said ''I'll say it''. I really was not expecting that! It was really awesome. He gave a great prayer and I felt very happy. I really hope he chooses to be baptized and that this family can be sealed in the temple. That would be amazing.

Also, there is a family we have been teaching for about 3 weeks. They were having trouble going to church, but finally two of their daughters went with a member. They were really the only ones with adesire to progress so we invited them to be baptized this last sunday. During the week we went there and followed-up like normal. But thursday we went there and We asked one of their daughters if she had been drinking coffee and she said no! And that she wanted to get baptized sunday. It was so awesome. We taught the whole family together and the Spirit was very strong. Because of the example of this girl it seemed like the whole family got a little more excited. She was baptized yesterday and I hope through her exmaple the family will start to progress better and see how great the gospel really is.

Well I hope all is well back at home. I love you all and miss you lots! You guys mean everything to me!

Our mission president talked about christlike atributes this last week and I was studying diligence today. I love this scripture D and C 107:99-100

Love,

Elder Smith

"I love the Book of Mormon"

Date: June 3, 2013

Thanks for the letter mom! Things are going well here in Malvinas.

We had one of our best weeks this last week. I really saw lots of changes in the lives of our investigators and the less-actives we are working with. The ward seems to be getting pretty excited because there were some new faces at church yesterday. We are teaching a less-active who works at a bakery and sometimes makes bread for us. He is  awesome and keeps saying he wants  to stop doing the things he was doing and find a church. It is  great seeing his desire to go to church and his pure intent to follow Jesus Christ.

A few funny things I have seen lately,  A man on the side of the road cutting open a huge lizard animal thing like a foot and a half long and  saying he was gonna give it to his friend because his friend likes to eat them! Also, sometimes they put a lot of people on the motorcyle at one time here, and the other day I say a man and a woman on the motorcycle and the woman was on the back breast-feading her baby as they road down the street. It was  very interesting. 

We have been teaching a really great family lately who lives close to a member. After a few weeks, 2 of their children went to church yesterday! They really liked church and want to continue. I am hoping through their example the whole family can be brought into the church and be an eternal family! 

I have been studying lots of the teaching of Christ lastely. I know he was the son of God and that he died for us. That He wasn't just a very wise man or a great teacher, but literally our Savior and came to the earth to show us the perfect example. I am very grateful to Him for His sacrifice he made. 

On Friday we went to another area to help out the Sister's in our district because they were helping Sisters in another area. We got to teach a man who goes to our ward but lives in their area. It was really good and we read Alma 32  together. I think during the  reading we did, I was better able to understand this chapter better. I was able to think back on my life and how I gained a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. I remember when I was like 17  or 16 I started reading the Book of Mormon everyday at night before going to bed. It was during this time in my life that I saw true growth and I felt much closer to the Savior. It was through these experiences that I gained a stronger testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon and I then knew it was truly from God. I love the Book of Mormon. I have felt the Spirit the strongest during my mission as I have read the Book of Mormon with our investigators.        

Well I hope you all have an awesome week. Thanks for the recipes. I love you all and miss you lots! Tell Andrea and Abe I will try to get their letters off this week for their birthday! I feel kind of bad but I really just remembered a few days ago that their birthday was coming up because I am so unattached to the world!

Love,

Elder Smith