New Zone-Pacheco

Dear Mom, 

Yep! I got sent to a new zone. I'm now zone leader in the Litoral Zone with Elder Martinez. We are the biggest zone in the mission with 12 areas and more than thirty missionaries! It's going to be a big adjustment coming from the smallest two zones in the mission but I am excited! My new area is called Pacheco. We have a large ward (about 140 active members) and we are anticipating a lot of success in the coming month. We decided to focus on sharing the Book of Mormon in the month of March. Yesterday I was able to share my testimony with the ward and I challenged all of them to share one Book of Mormon in the next 30 days. I got the sense that they will need a little boost of energy from the missionaries but we are ready to encourage all of them. The youth and YSA in the ward accepted the challenge!

I'm excited to be with Elder Martinez. I was his zone leader in Zarate so we already know each other. He's from Monterrey, Mexico and speaks lots of English. We usually speak in Spanish because I want the practice but it's fun to use English expressions every once in a while. Elder Martinez is very quiet and very diligent. We'll get along well. 

This week we went back to the basics: talking with everyone and sharing our testimonies. We found a few new families to teach and also started teaching the family members of a few recent converts. 

Paula, an investigator that Elder Martinez was teaching before I got here, got baptized on Sunday. She'll be confirmed this coming Sunday. Eliseo and Elias from Zarate also got baptized and confirmed! Their parents, Cristian and Flavia, put a date with the government to get married!!! That means two and possible 3 couples that we were teaching in Zarate getting married and baptized in March!

I got the package you sent this week! Thank you so much. I feel loved just knowing that you remember my birthday in enough advance to send a package. We're going to make the brownies tonight and eat them tomorrow to celebrate. I love the whiteboard messages that you sent in the photo album. (hope it's okay but I opened the package this morning so I wouldn't get distracted tomorrow). 

I'm grateful for your love and for your testimony. Thank you for being my mom. 

Love,

Elder Smith

Paula with us and the ward mission leader

Paula and her family

Conference with Elder Christofferson

Hi mom, I hope you're doing well. We had a busy week traveling to capital with the conference and five days straight of splits. I'm still in a trio. Transfers are today so I don't have time. It is 99% sure that I will be going to a different area. I have learned a lot here in Zarate but am ready to have a clean slate and give my new zone everything I have. I love you! Next week I'll tell you about my new companion (still don't know how it will be!)

The conference with Elder Christofferson. I was surprised that he spent the whole conference teaching us doctrine. It makes sense but I was expecting a little chastisement or something to pull the mission into line. But nope. He taught doctrine. 

Hope you have a great week. Is there still snow?

Love,

Elder Smith 

Recessive genes

This week was great! Zarate is celebrating the annual festival of the tango and we saw some great progress in our area(s). I'm currently working with two other missionaries, Elder Deschamps (my companion) and Elder Cantero. Elder Cantero is waiting for his companion to get here with the next wave of missionaries so for now, we are teaching in two cities. 

Little Answer to Prayer

I've recently been praying to understand why I'm here in Buenos Aires. I know that God wants me to be a missionary but at times I have felt that any missionary could do the work that I am doing. 

This Thursday we were knocking doors in a neighborhood to find people to teach. As I knocked on a door, I heard someone behind me say "Elder!" I turned around and saw a man coming towards me. He introduced himself as Pablo and told me that I had talked with him two months ago in another city. He had gone on vacations for a month but now was back and was really interested in learning about Jesus Christ!!! We were able to go to his house and teach him about Christ and about the restoration of His church. Since then we have also started teaching his mother and older sister. 

I am grateful that God made me so blond! I am confident that possessing the majority of the recessive genes available in the world made it so Pablo could recognize me. While I'm sure that God has sent me here for more than just to be blond, I am glad that this rubiocito has a role in God's work. I know that God knows each of us and knows where He needs us to be. 

The Morel Family

We have been teaching the Morel family for the past two weeks. The parents are working on getting married in March and the kids are anxious to get baptized! Here are their names and ages: Hermano Morel-35, Hermana Morel-30ish, Elias-10, Eliseo-9, Ivan-7, Eugenia-4. They have questions about how to develop faith in Christ and how to have an eternal family. 

Mission Conference

Tomorrow the mission will be visited by Elder Christofferson of the quorum of the twelve!!! We are currently preparing for the conference. My zone will be traveling by train to Buenos Aires to stay the night with other missionaries in order to get to the conference on time! I'll tell you about the conference next week. 

Trust that God will give you what you need! I have growing faith that the Lord knows me personally and that "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things" (2 Nephi 2:24, Book of Mormon). 

Love,

Elder Smith

Collections of restaurants on the River Paraná

Heading to the riverfront of Zarate

Neighborhood and some factories

Halfway there

Dear Mom,

I'm doing well. We practiced singing for the conference that's coming up so I didn't have time to write yesterday. Don't have much time today. Gotta be a missionary. 

Elder Christofferson is coming to our mission in 1 week! He served as a missionary in Buenos Aires Norte and so the conference with him will be just our mission! We don't know if we should be excited or terrified. I am excited to know exactly what an apostle would teach our mission. Pres. Smith asked me to put together a musical number for the conference. 8 missionaries will be singing "We'll Bring the World His Truth." It will be good. 

It is crazy that I am almost at a year mark. I don't think about that much though. I have learned SSSOOOOOOOO many things. It would be impossible to write it all. Some of the most precious principles I have learned:

1. Trust that the Lord will take care of what you can't take care of.

2. Take care of what you can take care of.

3. Trust that the Lord will give you what you need.

4. When in doubt, be obedient. 

5. Being flexible and sacrificing personal opinions and desires is hard but necessary.

...and many many more things. 

I hope to learn much more. I want to learn how to inspire other people. I also want to learn what the Lord's will is for me here in my mission and in my life. I figure that if I can do what the Lord wants me to do and be who the Lord wants me to be, I will have a meaningful life and mission. I will have joy. 

Hahaha, the story of Andrew and Brother Cannon is great! What a good teacher. I'm glad that Brother Cannon is there. }

The zone is still in need of boosting. We have 14 missionaries in our zone. I want to be a great example for the missionaries and help them understand the doctrine of the work of salvation. There are other ways to motivate people but I can't think of another way that will have a lasting impact on the Elders and Hermanas. 

We can only use our email on PDay (and special exceptions like today).

Zarate 1 is doing good! We are teaching two families that are progressing quickly! I would write more but it's time to preach! I love you!

Elder Smith