Feeding many missionaries

Dear Mom,

Today I ate corn flakes for breakfast and Subway for lunch. All of the office elders (myself included) just got back from the center plaza of San Fernando from our Subway run. The 7 of us are together almost every day. 

This week was great! A few investigators progressed and we found more people to teach and baptize!

William: went to church this week! During the week we were able to teach him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He loves the peace he feels in the church and is excited to get baptized. His schedule is complicated and he needs to be completely ready for baptism so he will likely get baptized in a month. We just have to teach the most clearly and powerfully that we can.

Katherine: we found Katherine this week talking to people in the street. Turns out that she's neighbors of a member of the church and was invited to the church a year ago. She didn't go but she remembered how nice the member was. We taught her a lesson about baptism and the importance of prayer in the member's house and Katherine went to church! She told us that she wants to grow spiritually. Katherine is really intelligent and has understood all of the scriptures that she has read! It is incredible to see how powerful the Book of Mormon is when people read and understand it. 

Rodrigo and Jorge: after two spiritual lessons, Rodrigo and Jorge told us that they needed some time to think about things. They have a hard time believing that God exists because of how lost Jorge's son is (Rodrigo's brother). We encouraged them to keep reading the Book of Mormon and to keep praying. We are going to keep in touch with them via texting and phone calls to help them out when we can. 

The office work is going well. This week we pulled off two great multi-zone conferences! I now have more respect and appreciation for how well Grandma Sharee plans the food for our family reunions. FEEDING LOTS OF PEOPLE IS CRAZY!!!!! I'm sure I'll get better at estimating how big the average missionary stomach is but, WOW, I am grateful that we had the two senior couples to help us out. The Wrides and the Wilcoxs are great! I'll try and get a picture of them this week!

I'm glad that Sister Poulson got my letter! I hope that she is doing well and know that she has a fantastic ward to support her. 

I love you! Take picture of Boston for me!

Love,

Elder Smith

Office work

Dear Mom, 

The offices are going great! It's been a mix of spiritual moments, late nights in the office and learning. We recently started working with the Wrides, a senior missionary couple in our mission. Elder Wride was a big business auditor and has the know-how of office management. His hilarious, lovable personality has made it fun to learn proper financial procedures and business practices. We are currently working on simplifying the work we do. Last week the area "tech guys" came in and updated our computers so we're getting used to the new programs. 

This week we taught an amazing amount of lessons considering the time we have to work. God is softening peoples' to receive us. 

Jorge and Rodrigo are progressing. They both had questions about the priesthood line of authority. When we explained it, THEY UNDERSTOOD! That in itself is a miracle. They weren't able to go to church this week so their baptism will be pushed back but they're progressing. 

Camila introduced us to her uncle and aunt. The lesson we had with them was good but they weren't so open to listening to our beliefs. Maybe in a few weeks, they'll soften up. Camila is still going well. She read a chapter of the Book of Mormon and said that God answered her prayer. She knows that it's true! We are going to visit her and her whole family tomorrow. 

Last night we found a guy named Maxemiliano (his name reminds me of the books Maximum Ride). He received us with a surprisingly humble attitude. Maxemiliano is 19, lives in Beccar with his parents and 7 younger siblings. He comes from a Catholic background and is looking for peace. We taught him about Joseph Smith. My favorite part of our talk was when Maxemiliano stopped us and said, "Wait, so if Jesus and all of his Apostles died, God would need to call someone else to be a prophet! When did he do that?!?!?!?!?" It is satisfying to see people understand what we teach them.

So, as you might have already guessed, the office schedule kinda threw off my routine of sleep, exercise, and food. I got sick last week and am almost back to 100%. But, I talked to the mission nurse and she told me that I could work and it wouldn't slow down my healing so I just made an extra effort to get rest and eat better. Whoahla. I am now getting better. I was sick for about a month last winter but it was the same deal. Thus far, I haven't taken a sick day. 

Elder Fairchild's parents came and visited the mission offices. It was strange to have a conversation in English. Just yesterday I was talking to the Wilcox (another senior couple that works in the offices with us) and Hermana Wilcox couldn't understand some of the words I was saying. Apparently, my English has a little accent now. 

Overall, everything is going great! I am praying for you and for the family. I think of you every day and am grateful for the support that you give me. 

I hope your week is fantastic!

Love,

Elder Smith

Adjusting to the office

Dear Mom, 

Being in the office has been completely different. We are pretty much in charge of keeping the mission running. Random things come up all of the time that we have to take care of. I decided that a large chunk of my job is to take care of problems so that President Smith doesn't have to. Yes, I was able to go back to our apartment and get all of my stuff. I've been really happy working with Elder Zubeldia and Elder Crandall. We are in the offices with Elder Drummond and Elder Lucero (two elders from my MTC group!) for almost the entire day! Dad is right, it is a difficult adjustment but it is nice to be working with other elders. The assistants and two missionary couples are in and out of the office quite a bit too. 

Despite a huge cut in time that we have to work in our area, we have a great week! We found three families that show genuine interest in the gospel. Rodrigo is part of the Camú family. He's 18 years old. We found him knocking doors. Rodrigo has a lot of doubts about the truthfulness of God and Jesus Christ. His older brother was deep into drugs and theft. While in prison, he heard about Jesus Christ and started to change. However, when he got out of prison the change didn't last and now he's back in the streets. Rodrigo's faith was shaken because of his brother's story and don't believe that God exists or can truly change people. We promised him that if he would read the book of Mormon and keep meeting with us that he would find answers to his doubts. 

We also started teaching Malina and her family last night. A short message that we shared with one of their friends earlier in the week caught their attention. They don't have much religious experience but they want to learn about eternal life and eternal families. 

We are teaching a few other people: William, Alejandro, Ruben. Rina, and Luciano. They are all just starting to listen to us but they have great desires to know what the truth is! I love the feeling of teaching the gospel to those who want to know. 

I haven't heard anything about Guillermo, I'll find out tomorrow in District Meeting. Some of the families I was teaching in Zarate are progressing! Fabio got baptized a few weeks ago. Cristian, Flavia, Ivan, Elias, and Eliseo all got baptized (I waiting for the picture from Elder Deschamps). Daisy and her husband are also getting married soon and will get baptized right after their wedding! I love hearing about their progress!

I've been sleeping well. In the office our sleep schedule is kinda in the air but I feel rested. God is definitely helping us keep going. 

Thanks for the quote you sent me from Gabe! Does he have much time left? 

I love you! 

Elder Smith

Sent to the office

Dear Mom, 

To start off, I am now in a new area! President Smith called me last night as I was riding the train back to our apartment and said, "Elder Smith, could you go to the office right now? I would like to change your assignment. You will now be my secretary."

I responded, "alrighty, we're on our way."

We got off at the closest station, crossed the tracks and took another train to the mission offices. 

I've been in the offices for a good 6 of the last 12 hours. All of the missionaries have transfers today and my new companion, Elder Zubeldia, will be training me with my new responsibilities. As I understand it, the secretary's job is to organize and facilitate mission functions, work with the other office elders (there's 5 of us!) and to do pretty much anything that President needs help with. I'm excited to be with Elder Drummond and Elder Lucero in the offices. They're from the same group as me! I'm also excited to work more closely with President and learn from him. A few interesting differences about the offices:

• I'll be working in the office every day of the week from 8-6, Mon-Fri. 
• We have a car
• we have a washing and drying machine
• we have computers
• we see everything that happens in the mission

I'm honestly a little worried about not having so much time to proselyte. I've been told it's a difficult adjustment. However, I'm sure that I will learn a lot and will still be able to help many people!

I'm sad to leave Pacheco. We had a little miracle this week. On Friday, we did exchanges with the elders from Benavidez. I worked with Elder Rodriguez from El Salvador. In route to an appointment, we felt like we should talk with a group of young men that were sitting against a house fence. They listened to our little message of Easter and Christ's resurrection and agreed to go to conference with us. Guillermo, the most interested of the bunch, gave us his cell number because they live in the villa and don't have an address (it's nuts inside of a villa. There are houses in every nick and cranny). 

Sunday morning rolled around and we headed to the rally point that we had chosen.

we got there and called. 

and called. 

and called. 

sent a text. 

waited.

and called again. 

no Guillermo.

Disappointed and a little disillusioned, we decided to head to the conference. However, I felt like we should wait just five minutes more before leaving. I said a little prayer in my heart and looked for Guillermo. Five minutes passed and all we saw were a few early morning Paraguayos, a huge rat running through the villa and into the open sewer ditches and passing buses. 

We sighed disappointed and headed towards the member's house that we would be carpooling with. Right when we got to the last block corner, we heard running feet approaching us from behind. IT WAS GUILLERMO!!! He made it to us panting and said, "sorry I'm late. I was trying to get my friends to come with me but they just want to sleep. Can we go?" We were so happy to see him. We gave him a hug and chatted all the way to the members home. 

We all watched the Sunday morning session of conference in the stake center and were able to introduce Guillermo to the majority of the YSA and youth from our ward. He loved the conference and accepted to have us visit his family in the coming days. I am confident that the Lord heard my prayer and that He helps us do the work that we could never accomplish alone. 

We watched the 4 general sessions of conference as a zone in English. It was a spiritual party in the offices (the same offices that will be my home for the next few months). I loved the feeling of standing as a quorum of elders to sustain the prophet. When the new First Presidency was first organized, I felt the calm confirmation that President Nelson is the prophet of God. Saturday, I felt that confirmation again and felt the responsibility that I have to be a witness of the prophet. We are defenders of truth and witnesses of the reality of God's divine priesthood!

I loved the talk that Elder M. Russell Ballard gave on faith in Jesus Christ. I often find myself trying to perfection myself on my own and am blessed by the reminder that my faith should be placed and centered in Christ. He has the ability to care for the things that I alone could never do. I also loved the focus on seeking and following personal revelation. 

Yep! 3 Temples in Argentina: Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Salta!

I have pictures with Elder Martinez and the exchanges we did in the past 2 weeks but with the suddenness of my assignment change, I haven't yet been back to our apartment. All my stuff is still there. 

I wrote both Shannon and Seth a few weeks ago. Hopefully, the letter gets there before Shannon leaves.

Brinn told me that you wrote her recently. How was that? 

Everyone has told me that they're excited about the trips coming up! I hope you have a great time! I was recently thinking about our trip to Hawaii when I was a little, eh....., teenagery. I remember Dad pulling me aside and telling me that my attitude was a decision. I can choose to be positive. Sorry for not always being the best. I am grateful for the patience that you and dad have with us. I love our family and treasure the experiences that we have together. Thank you for working to give us a happy family. 

I love you, Mom.

Love, Elder Smith