December 30, 2013

Hey Family! I hope you got my package and everythings all good. We had a good week but I´m so turned around because we had district meeting on monday and pday on wednesday and I´ve been a day behind all week long! The weathers getting colder and its feeling more and more like Madrid! The waves are huge and its been fun to just watch them and other people get white washed for a wave, hahaha. But we´ve been good and working hard. We got in a lot more lessons this week and we´ve been walking the streets a lot. We´ve had a lot of first lessons and so far so good!
We finally were able to start teaching Tomás! He´s the one that has a Sean Connery voice. We told him that too and we may have gone on a big shpeel about the James Bond movies and then A Team because I was whistling the tune at that moment. Hahahaaa seriously, everytime I hear the name Murdock, I think of the moment when he´s swinging on the blades and singing, ´´You spin my head right round...´´ Hahahaa! Oh we´re going to get along great. He´s wonderful! He´s come to church three times so far and its been wonderful because he´s slowing warming up to a new environment. Slowly, but surely. He´s a little hesitant but alls good.
It´s been a good week working with Hermana Cassinat. She´s doing fine and said she doesn´t even feel like she´s going home, so that's good. We don´t talk about it and I told her not to start packing until the day before she leaves :) She´s leaving Wednesday and spending a day in Madrid then flying away! So I´m heading to Las Palmas to work with the Hermana´s there and I´ll say goodbye for Telde for 3ish days. We´re coming back to work on Saturday and I´ll come to Church for Sunday, so we have it all planned out. I´m excited for my new compy.
Leo has been a good support for his wife, Irma. She´s still getting used to the regular church schedule, but yesterday she showed up to church alone and we had no idea where Leo was. Later, she told us that he got a call saying he had to come and work and then he told her that she HAD to come to church! haha it was great, because at least she came on her own and not just for her husband. I could tell that she wasn´t too excited to be there though....oh well.
There´s a man named Gonzalo and he´s great. He´s wanting to change his life again and be a ´´mormon´´, as he says. He´s a really really smart guy and loves the temple soooo much. We had an FHE at his house and he taught the lesson and honestly it felt like he was a member and everything. He´s an amazing man but sometimes we can´t figure out whats going on in his brain. He´s also part of the Mafia, so whenever he talks with us in the street, some guy would come up, greet him, and then pat our arms. Gonzalo just goes and does a back kick, nearly smacking the guy in the face and says, ´´NOBODY touches the Telde hermanas!!´´ hahahahahahahahaaa then he told us that if anyone gives us trouble we just say, ´´we know Gonzalo´´. hahahaaa he´s great though. I love that man. He´s quite facsinating.
It will be sad for Hermana Cassinat to leave but I am sure she´ll be fine and I had the most wonderful 2 transfers with her! Literally, I have never laughed so hard in my entire life. But I´m excited for the new companion to bless Telde even more!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!!!

Love

Hermana Smith

FaceTime at Christmas with McKinsey

FaceTiming McKinsey on Christmas Eve was great! We were so happy to see her!

December 16, 2013

Hey family!

ok so important stuff first: I will not be writing you on monday because pday for us is wednesday. And, due to lack of computers, etc. I will be FACETIMING JASONS COMPUTER CHRISTMAS EVE AT 4PM MOUNTAIN TIME and 11PM MY TIME. i´ll be facetiming from the buhlers iphone. if you want a bigger screen then we´ll talk skype but you gotta get ahold of the buhlers for that. We´re only supposed to be on for one hour so have your questions ready. 

one last thing: we´re in charge of an activity (the end of jan.) about family history. we´re planning on having a stand in a plaza and since telde consists of mostly old folks, we´ll be busy. but i need your (as in mama bert and ben and sasha and dad) help to give me information on how to do it for those who are not members, etc. thanks :)

another thing: i still haven´t received my package but please people you don´t need to send stuff to the buhlers!! i receive letters and packages just fine at my own apartment! but i recieved the thanksgiving letter. it was cute and the buhlers opened it for me and they had a good laugh. hehehee it is pretty funny. ´´THey shoved stuffing up his what?!´´ hahahahahahahahaaa. oh yea i´ll get my package this week. they send it down only with the AP´s or when a senior couple is travelling.

whew! got that off my chest. ok soooooo the week! Each week is great in the mission field. I feel so blessed to be a missionary in this time! Seriously, though. I have never felt so much love until now. Before, I loved missionary work. But I think i was looking at it more on an adventure type of thought process. now, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. ahem. moving on.... 

we toured the islands!!! actually, driving here reminds me a little like driving in mexico...but we were on the edge of mountains. hahahahaaaa ok funny experience. there was this big semi coming and hermana buhlers driving and i´m right behind her. we slam on our brakes so that he could squeeze by then he just wizzed passed us. literally, he missed the mirror by like an inch then was even closer to my face. after hermana buhler and i just went ´´WHHEEEEEEEEEWWW!!!´´ hahahaaa we both saw our lives flash before our eyes. but it was wonderful!! its really chill here. i took sooooo many photos i´m already out of memory cards. we´re buying a flash drive today.

Anywhoooo....Hermana Cassinat (not cassiNUTS. we had a good laugh. so did hermana buhler. i think you two would get along dad) and I have been working with the members and trying to get references from them. We thought that maybe the fact is they just don´t know us very well. Some members we know well but others not as well. We met with 2 families this week and it was wonderful to actually see them in their home setting and how they really interacted with each other. Plus they didn´t have the stay still fold your arms dont scream dont kick your brother rules like they do in church. They´re great examples and they talked about how they´re trying to figure out ways to help us and the branch. I was really humbled at their kindness because we never saw this in barrio 6. I´ve thought many times this week how we´re in charge of Telde and therefore, we should be receiving revelation for Telde. I have never really thought about it until I came to this area and how true it is. We pray for our investgators and the members and to find people in the street. But it wasn´t until recently that I´ve started to pray for the people in the streets, that they´ll be more receptive and willing to accept our message. I feel that what I need and should do here in Telde is clearer and I´m extremely grateful that I am here serving! It may not have the most members or the madrid transportation, but I am grateful for the trust that the Lord has put in me to quidar this area.

OH! something cool!!! We were in intercambios this week and I was staying in telde. so me and this las palmas hermana are walkin home and i´m telling her this scary story about telde (i´ll tell ya later) then we get a phone call...and they said we were on hurricane red alert!!! ´´Get to your apartments by 3 and don´t come out for any reason until we call you´´. heehee, SWEET!! So I call hermana buhler and she says, this is so cool!! hahahaa all the canarian missionaries were super duper excited for this. but it all ended up being nothing and 2ish hours later we were out again. but the winds were pretty dangerous and we got rained on a lot but nada scary. we were all a little disappointed but grateful that nothing bad happened.

So I sang at church yesterday!! it was pretty fun and everyone started talking about how they´ll be lookin for me in the motab choir in the future. i said, you better!! heehee it was a lot of fun. i sang the first noel. we bribed some people from english class to come and here me. theycame! but then scrammed outta there right afterwards. oh well. poco a poco!

We were visiting this less active and she said, oh do you want to talk to my sister? she isn´t a member. ohh. well ok! her sister is bedridden and has a lot of bitter feelings abuot that and plus her mother died like 3 months ago. we had an amazing lessno with her and you could feel the spirit soooo strongly in that lesson. I love that lady so much. hopefully, she´ll accept us more in the future.

hahaa so on friday the 13th, all these events happened in literally 15 minutes and all so bizzar and hilarious. So we´re taking out the trash and she flings the bag into the dumpster. well, all this trash juice just sprays all over me and i´m so seriously grossed out and she´s just cracking up a gut over there. so i run to her and try wiping myself off on her and we have this giant struggle. meanwhile. this old man is just casually watching us from his boxing gym. then hna cassinat just punches me right on the arm and so i lost that fight cuz it hurt. then we realized we forgot something plus i had to go potty and we return to our apartment and i go first and run up the stairs. i hear this CRASH behind me and she´s all sprawled on the steps cuz her big toe didn´t quite make it over the step. i´m tryin SO STINKING HARD not to laugh so i´m just gasping, ´´oooohh aare you oooohahahahahahahaa!!!!´´ i couldn´t even let it out i was laughin so hard plus i still needed to pee and busting a gut was not helping!! then finally we left the apartment. now we pass the old man who saw hermana cassinat actnig like a child earlier (ahem) and then he invites us into his gym and gives us a private tour. soooooo pretty much there was no point to this story but i just had to write it down because all these events were all squished into a short period of time and i´m still laughing as we write this.

Well, family, thats all folks! I love ya!! I´ll talk to you next week. If the times are no good then email hermana buhler and we´ll get it taken care of.

love hermana smith

December 9, 2013

Hey! So we had a baptism! Leo was baptized and it was such an amaaaaazing baptism! We were freaking out a little bit because Leo and Irma were super late (came 15 min before baptism was supposed to start) but only because they went to the store to buy food for the baptism! They are so wonderful. He loved it and his sister and her family came. It went so well and the members helped a lot. He was confirmed yesterday and when he sat down, he put his hand over his heart and said, ´´whoa´´. Then he patted his heart. The Spirit was so strong! Plus, under the direction of Pres.  of the Stake and not under the direction of the missionaries and the Branch members, he received the Aaronic Priesthood right after his confirmation. Jolly good. Now this week we´ll explain WHAT he received.

Other than that this week went really well. We do a lot of contacting and talk with less actives since there are more than the actual active members. But we´ve received some good references and we´re hoping to get to teachin´ soon!

Thats so exciting about your lives right now! We´re going to tour the Islands with the Buhlers today so i don´t have a lot of time to write.

now for your questions: yes i´m getting leather covers. no i will never wear closed toed shoes. my feet want to be free plus i hate shoe shopping. all my winter stuff is in the peninsula so i bought just like 2 cardigans but thats all. i´m good and warm.

oh i´m singing next sunday and speaking the sunday after that.

love you all! have a great week!

loves kinsey poo.

December 2, 2013

Hey family!

Look like your week was just splendid and jolly and full of food. We were seeing a lot of that too. The Buhlers were kind enough to have a Thanksgiving dinner with all the missionaries on the island and it was sooooooooooooo much fun. The Déniz family came (family from telde and the husband is the first stake pres on the islands) and they´re soooo hilarious. That family plus the buhlers called for 3 hours of us busting a gut and peeing in our seats. We ate our hearts out and it was deliiiicious food. but of course, your food is better mom :) (shhh don´t tell hna buhler)

This week was good and we walked around a lot. We´ve cleaned out the area book even more and so we´re on the hunt more than ever to find new investigators. We haven´t had a lot of success but we fasted about it and during those 24 hours the Lord blessed us more than I was expecting. I shouldn´t have been surprised but I was. It takes a long time to go out of Telde to visit other areas so most of the time if lessons fell us, then we´re walking around and we pass like 3 people in 30 minutes. Especially at night time, then its a kiss of death sometimes. We´ve had quite a bit of meetings as a district and as a zone about finding new people and we´re trying new stuff. We had a chit chat with Hermana Buhler yesterday because Hermana Cassinat and I maybe had a bit of a panic attack and she calmed us down and told us that we´re just planting these seeds and then the missionaries in a year will be grateful for our hard work, because then Telde would be a ward, etc. It was a nice chit chat. 

Leo and Irma are doing really well but they didn´t come to church on Sunday to go to a family thing (we´re almost positive he went to play soccer with his family). We´re still planning on having the baptism on Saturday but we´re waiting to talk with him to know more before before making a sure decision. He´s a good little guy.

There was a branch FHE and we played this x box game thing. ok, they picked us first to play and of course, we blew it! score of 62. so all these little primary kids are creaming our rear ends and we felt that justice was not served and we were delt with unjustly. So we petitioned to play again and of course we went. and won. more like CREAMED THEIR LITTLE HINIES. 104!! oh yeah!

thats so sad that the tidwells are leaving!! nooo!!! what ward are they moving into? 

I love you family! you are all such great examples to me. I love hearing from each and every one of you. Please know that I love this Gospel and I know that Jesus Christ lives and that God lives, too. He is literally our Savior and our Redeemer. I know that it´s only through Him that we can all return to our Father in Heaven with our families for eternity. I have such a strong testimony of that and of the scriptures. They are true and they are the word of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it holds the answers to our questions and it holds the plenitud del evangelio. Hermana Cassinat and I are always wanting 4 more hours of personal study every day! haha but we are so blessed to be missionaries, especially at this time. I remember something from zone conference and Hermana Jackson spoke about D and C 4. She went into details of it and I know for a fact that what has been profesied has come to pass and the field is white and it is ready to be harvested. People are ready to hear and receive this message of hope and of peace. Please don´t hesitat to share this. Can´t believe i´m saying this, but I´m a Mormon! I´m a Latter-Day Saint! I´m a missionary! I´m a representative of Jesus Christ and His servant! I know it! I live it! and boy, do I LOVE IT.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Until we meet again,

Hermana Smith

November 25, 2013

Hey fam!! estoy aquí. don´t worry. i´ll do a recap of the last 2 weeks for ya. you´re getting double the awesomeness today!

2 weeks ago we started talking to this guy on a bench and then his friends came and joined us. We had a really good conversation with them but they only wanted to know about English class. One of the men is named Thomas and he spoke English very well. We gave him our card and as we were leaving, Hermana Cassinat and I both felt that Thomas was golden and ready. We didn't see him until a couple of days later when he came to English class. Again, we both felt that this man was special. At the end he told us that he wanted to show us something. He pulled out of his bag a photo of two sister missionaries from 14 years ago with his daughter. He had been receiving the charlas and he said he liked them very much! Hermana Cassinat and I are very excited to talk with him and we both feel very strongly that he's going to be a great leader in the Church. We invited him to church, but he couldn´t come. That really bummed us out. He has an amazing voice. Hermana Cassinat and I call it the spanish Sean Connery voice. I want to video tape him speaking sometime. Sometimes we like to just sit and listen to him speak:)

Oh a funny occasion. So we contacted this slightly crazy guy (thats not unusual) and he kept on saying the only english words he knows ´´looky looky, boogy boogy, i like to move it move it!!´´ we try not to laugh in his face. but each time he wants to have a juice with us and this one (and last) occasion, he took us into this cafe...........well so i´m trying to have a conversasion with him and its usually the same thing, ´´no we can´t go to your house unless there´s another woman. i don´t care if you´re honorable. other people may not know, but we work for Someone who WILL know...etc.´´ meanwhile, hermana cassinat is bombarded by 3 drunk guys and she got some numbers!!! hahaha actually, nothing came of this occasion, i just thought it was overall super funny. don´t worry peeps; they may be drunk, but they are honorable drunk men!

we contacted this joven and he´s super cool. He doesn´t live in our area, but we´ve been trying to send his number to those missionaries. he works in Telde so a lot of times hermana cassinat and i go and try and teach him a bit. we gave him the bom and he´s been reading and praying!! He spends most of his time here in telde and last week we tried to meet him at institute in Las Palmas. In the end, algo pasó and he couldn´t come. but we were promised a ride back by the buhlers so we got to stay a couple of minutes. i remember talking to sasha about a few Canarians that i should say hi to and so i went up and talked to the institute teacher. I told him that Elder Zimmerman is my sisinlaws father and he said no me digas! haha he is such a wonderful man and spoke highly of the zimmerman family!

We had Zone Conference and it was absolutely wonderful. It´s a 2 day thing so we were at the old mission home in the mountains (Canaries used to be its own mission) and monday we played sports and ate all day. then we watched 17 miracles and i cried like a baby. then we had the actual conference the next day. WOW. So amazing! I sang with some other missionaries and well....2 of the elders got a ´´giggle attack´´, as they say it. hahahaaha we were so confused why everyone inthe audience was smiling while we singa super spiritual song. haha now me know. All the speakers were wonderful and I feltt they were definitely following the Spirit and it was all so uplifting. This is by far my favorite conference! The one´s in Madrid were good but i felt more chastized then uplifted. 

Update on Leo and his wife Irma! We have been working with him and his baptism. Yesterday, Leo and Irma came to church! Afterwards, we showed them the baptismal font and explained with the whole process. I dipped Hermana Cassinat. They were both surprised at how simple it was and I think that fear that they had is gone now that they know. We were going to have it this Saturday, but we´ve changed it to the next Saturday, the 8th. It will be so wonderful, because the rama will be so involved! they´re talking about having the primary sing a musical number and its so amzing because b6 never put their 2 cents in and here we can have a lesson an hour before and show up for the service on time and the members have done it all! and that means no more flooding baptismal fonts!!

I finished reading the book of mormon this week and it was really so wonderful. ah, i just LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON SO STINKIN MUCH!!!!! Hermana Cassinat, by her example, is really helping me set more goals to achieve. In all, she´s a wonderful missionary and I feel so blessed to know that I have this next and last transfer with her. A lot of times, I still feel like I´m being trained (she also reminds me so much of Hermana Hansen!!!!) because I´m learning so much. Oh yeah, and Hermana Cassinat goes home after this transfer, on Jan. 6th or something like that. Its crazy how time flies! I really admire her because she isn't letting the thought of her going home soon affect her teaching or make her lazy at all. Or trunky. We just don´t talk about it. But it WIGS my mind that the transfer is gone and we´re on a new one. I was talking to the Jacksons and asking their advice about going home dates. and they told me i needed to go to school and no i couldn´t do a half transfer....that means times a ticking and no me gusta para nada

thank you so much for all your prayers and letters. oh and the jacksons found my package!! aparently some elder stuck it in a closet in the stake building up in madrid and its been sitting there ever sense...but i´ll get it sooner or later!!

LOVE YA!

hermana smith

oh and we have permission to have a thanksgiving meal with the Buhlers this thursday!! yum.

November 11, 2013

Hola familia!!

This week was really good. Hermana Cassinat and I have been a bit worried about finding new investigators because the ones we have now aren´t really progressing. It´s been difficult and expensive when we don´t have the trusty Madrid transportation but we make it work. we´re best buds with the taxi people and the bus transportation. they call the buses here guaguas or in the english, wah-wahs. hhahahahahahahahaaa. But we are working and contacting and hopefully we´ll see some trusty new souls!
Our Ecuadorian, Leo, is doing really well and his wife is wonderful! Her name is Irma and she just came in from Ecuador and she is so sweet and really understands the doctrine. We think she´s supportive of his baptism but we get down to that this week. He will be baptized the 23rd of this month and we are very excited for him! We feel that when his wife gets baptized, she´ll be a huge support and booster for Leo. Things don´t really click for him, but Irma is super sharp. They came to church for all 3 hours and she was so loved by all the members! We felt so grateful that everyone was her friend. She seems really receptive and we want her to have the best of friends since she´s just moved here.
Hermana Cassinat and I are doing really well. Hahahaa we´re really good at getting distracted, so during a weekly planning session, we were figuring out a baptismal date for an investigator, then hermana cassinat said, oh thats pearl harbor day! then we ended up talking about military and how we wanted to join, then veterans then the goverment shutting down then we sang all the american songs we knew then talked about songs in general with good lyrics. then we scream and blame each other 20 min later. hahahaaa its sooooo hilarious but i don´t suggest it for any missionary!

I´m still trying to get the hang of things because the transportation and finding places here is so difficult, but she´s been a huge support. Our biggest problem is getting the members involved in lessons. Our district leader gave us a good idea to simply bring the investigators to the members houses and we never thought of it that way. We´re going to try it out this week! but the story of old bishop tidwell (not old as in years...)really helped and i took a picture of it so that we can refer to it later in the week:)

i´m glad that you´re week was wonderful! and busy! hahaa but i´m super happy to be here in telde! its a big fam bam here and i don´t want to leave!

now for the daily questions!

1. i received one letter and i´ll call the office just to double and triple check :) did you write another name on the package for them to not know? like rosa for example? (dad) oh and i received the birthday letter with the wonderulness song in it and the monthly relief society letter from my visiting teacher last wednesday:)

2. mail to the islands. please :)

i feel terrible not because i didn´t get a package (please) but because you all put your heart and soul into it. i´m sorry that your efforts and love and everything was lost:( but i´m just fine andi know that all will be well.

I love you all! please know that i love the mission so much. i love serving the Lord. it scares me that my time is ticking and i have t minus something amount of time left. but know that i am working and tring my best to be the best missionary that the Lord expects me to be.

Love you!

Hermana smith

A couple serving on the Canary Islands, Elder and Sister Buhler, sent a few notes about Kinsey to us this week (our dad was trying to sort out how things work there for mailing packages). 

[Sent on Mon, Nov. 11]
Hermana Smith is doing great!  Yesterday we were in her and her companion's gospel essential class for investigators and they did a fantastic job teaching about the Holy Ghost.  Her spanish is really coming along and she is very happy!
[Sent on Wed, Nov 13]
Your daughter is such a joy to serve with on this island!!  She is doing fantastic!!  In fact yesterday she and her companion were contacting all day in Telde and found some wonderful people to teach.  She is happy and doing well! She will probably be here for at least a few more months, as Elders and Hermanas usually serve around 5 to 6 months here.  Don't worry, we will take good care of her while she is here!!

Love,

Elder and Hermana Buhler

November 4, 2013

hey fam bam!
this week was super fun. i am loving the mission!  I love it here in
Telde and Hermana Cassinat is wonderful. I don´t think I´ll ever have
a bad day with her (knock on wood). She´s an amazing teacher and I am
learning many great things from her. She´s super down to earth and we
talk in a sid voice from ice age a lot. hahahaa.
It has been very interesting because Hermana Cassinat and I will run
into many MA´s in the street and looking at the members list, Telde
could be a ward. I´ve been thinking about that a lot and wondering
what we could do as missionaries to help Telde. We´ve heard about
wards and branches falling because of the members falling away and
ever since that, I´ve been feeling a little hesitant about even more
converts, not knowing if they´d fall away right after or not. But our
new stake President, Presidente Deníz spoke in a combined meeting
yesterday about this and it was so wonderful. He lives in Telde and so
he came to church and told us of his journey right from the beginning
of him following his impressions of a new stake to now. He told us
that he felt the same impression that Telde was going to be a ward
very soon. He also said that we need 15-20 active Elders to be
considered a ward, and we were only faulting 8. Seeing it like that,
it is very possible. I´m very excited for the future of Telde! hermana
cassinat and i did a high 5 after that. oh squirrel moment, we have
an investigator named moussa from africa and obvio his 2nd language is
english and so for high fives he says, touch my hand!! hahahahahaaaa
oh gosh we die every time.
We were in charge of the branch halloween party and it was stressful
because the primary were expecting a terror room and we looked stupid
for a second until our mission leader said he´d do it. hahaa but
turned out to be a huge success! We had 2 investigators and their
young kids come and they loved it. The relief society grabbed them and
they were all chatting up the whole night! we felt so good know that
we didn´t have to tell the members to do their job. They´re great in
missionary work.
Leo, our man with a fecha, is reunited with his wife! We had a good
lesson with only him and we went over the baptismal interview
questions. It went super well and i was so surprised to hear his
testimony about the Atonement and repentence. I don´t know Leo very
well so hearing that has helped me so much have more confidence in
him. His wife is super nice and wow is she a babe. we´re trying to
have a lesson with them both but it hasn´t happened so far. We´re
hoping for a turnout this week and hopefully she´ll be receptive to
our message.
Okie dokie! moms questions!
1. I was doing the work of the Lord and the Buhlers came at the end of
the day to sing. then we ate the lovely strawberry with cream cheese
frosting and sprinkles cake and went home to sleep :)
2. you can probably send packages to me in telde. we usually stay in
the islands for awhile so thats what i´m thinking.
3. i have not received anything because the office doesn´t mail them.
the office sends them at zone and district meetings, temple day and
for us islanders, zone conference. we have zone conference the 19th so
thats when i´ll get my stuff. but i talked to the office 2 weeks ago
and the buhlers (from their trip last week to madrid) also have said
that i haven´t received a package. i really am sorry to say that they
thnk its lost :/
4. we didn´t buy anything except go out to eat some turkish food
during medio día. but today i bought new shoes for 8€ cuz i´ve been
sewing mine for awhile to keep them together.
5 or 6. i gave a list of things i wanted to kelly a monthish ago so
you can ask her. but honestly just those church videos. i´m really
doing fine here. oh and skirts from sister missionary mall. i´ve been
trying to look for skirts here and its impossible. i´ve been wearing
the same 3 from that store. oh and borrowing from sister cassinat. i
mean hermana.
i´m really sorry to hear about mama bert and her friends :( and also
brians situation. it hurts my heart but this is a good time for brian.
he was meant to have that job and I can tell he´s giong to be so
blessed by the gospel. go daddy! you little missionary slash bishop
you...
But family, seriously. I am doing fine. I´m doing more than fine, I am
blessed. I´ve been really reading the scriptures and its been really
blessing my life. I know you all keep asking me if i need anything or
what do i want from the states, but I want to ask you all what I can
do for you. What can I do for you? Is there anyway where I can serve
you? I am serving a mission and I am taken care of.
I love you all! keep the letters coming
LOVE YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!
hermana smith.

October 29, 2013

hey fam bam! here´s some fotos for y´all.
ok mom´s 20 Q:
1.Did you get the package?  I called the office and they haven´t received any package for an
hermaña smith. that was a couple of days ago but i know that a
missionary couple are heading to madrid this week for a fútbol game
and they´ll pick up all the mail. if they don´t bring it back then
hopefully í´ll get it at zone conference which is november 19th. if
not, then.....i don´t know when. maybe in january.
2. Are the people of the Islands different than Madrid?  its so different here and we get a lot of receptive people. i
haven´t met as many rude people here opposed to those i´ve definitely
met in madrid. we´re working hard but its really a lot of contacting
or finding some old less actives. which is a lot.

3. Hair problems with the salt water? yes i do have some hair left. we´re going to the farmacia and
grabing some hair pills and  special shampoo and conditioner for this
stuff. poor hermana cassinat is at her whits end with her hair. my
skin does feel softer though, so its a win win situation.
oh now dads 20 q´s:
1. unfortunetely i speak less spanish here because its more contacting
then teaching, so a lot of times hermana cassinat and i are passing
time by doing the whole name this movie! trivia. in the zone, don´t
know. but there are 2 spanish speakers in our district, somos 14
2. we cook mostly. i haven´t eaten at a members yet but we have an
investigator named aida that made us pancakes. hermana cassinat and i
cook a lot and we like to cook fried chicken and pasta and all that
good stuff. we haven´t had money for awhile cuz its so expensive to
travel so we´ve been eating a lot of pasta and mucho of the instant
packages from the states. we had mac and cheese yesterday! wow that
was good. members are super good with la obra misional. they pretty
much do it for us instead of us asking them.
whew ok now the week! This week was fun and honestly i gotta be
careful because its like having too much of a good thing! i´ve been
trying to improve my teaching skills more that i´m not stressed with
other stuff and its a slow process since we don´t really teach a lot.
but its been great and hermana cassinat has been a great example and
teacher. she´s just awesome. it was so cool, we went into this bar to
grab some water (now hold your horses bars here aren´t as bad as the
states) and i saw a pass along card of jesus christ on the counter! i
look at it then look on the back and it was my card! i had written it!
hahaa it was awsmoe because at least someone was jkind enough to put
it up instead of tossing it.
we have an investigator named leo, from ecuador (soon to be the 2nd
south american in the rama!) and we taught the gospel of jesus christ
and temples. what we do is we take the pamphlet for the Gospel (which
is la fe, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, el don del espíritu santo y
a preseverar hasta el fin) and in the pamphlet they have pictures of
jesus to go with each of them. we take them out and then cut up a big
poster of the madrid temple and we stick the pieces on the back. we
show the steps and then in the end we can reach the temple. he was so
focused on that and it was such a good lesson! we asked him to be
baptized on the 16 of november and he said yes! we´re so excited for
him and hope that he´ll continue to preseverar hasta el fin.
so it was day light savings time here last saturday and oh my
goodness!! they shut everything down and they partied ALL NIGHT LONG.
we have some awesome videos of it.
but i love telde so much. i am so blessed to be here. its so different
than madrid, but i´m glad that i have this chance to be here.
oh we´re in charge of the halloween party for the branch and i looked
in my recipe folder and lo and behold! most of them were perfect for
halloween! so we´re cooking no bakes, carmel popcorn, apple crisp,
rice krispies, hot cider, etc.we´re very excited :) but yes a little
stressed. we´ll send pics next week! we´re dressing up as eachother so
i get a chance to wear hermana cassinats clothes! yesssss.... :)
i love you all so very much! i´m so grateful for all of your letters
and your kinds words. know that there´s someone in telde that loves
ya!
con mucho amor,
hermana smith

October 21, 2013

Hey fam bam! hahahahaa i just laugh thinking of Telde now. not in a rude way, but in a YOU DA BEST way. i love it here. and sure the oceans awesome and every thing and i see it like 5 billion times a day, but its all good and i´m having a blast!

Thanks for all of your kind words. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. and i´ve had like 400 conversations with Elder Buhler about Caldwell. He´s awesome and we keep figuring out people that we know. He worked for the Christenson mint farm! he knows them and was good friends with kelly jenkins. his parents live by the kimball building, so maybe you know them dad?

ok. moms questions.

1. Her name is Jamie Cassinat and she is from California. she is the funnest person to be around with and an amazing missionary. She´ll be going home the end of next transfer so she´s hoping to stay with me one more transfer. she´s a nurse going to byu provo and we have a lot of the same qualities and tastes, which means she wants to snuggle up, pig out on good food and read a book at the same time. like me.

2. Buhlers are amazing. They´ve been on almost all 7 continents and they are one wild couple. hahahaa just spending a couple of minutes with them can give you a good discription. you can read their blog to find out more information. oh and i would love to have some dirt to tease elder buhler with. hermana cassinat and i are very excited :)

3.oh yes the islands!! i was told that it was super humid and i shouldn´t bring lotion. so i didn´t. big fat lie. its more of a desert than idaho! there are cactisus here!! oh and we can´t drink the water because its salty and your hair falls out. we have a picture of the hair we collected from sweeping. just 2 weeks of hair. 

4.yes i will send pictures.

5. Buhlers live near las palmas, not in our area. they live in the old mission home. we live alone in a big apartment and i found one cockroach but it looked like the one from the last apartment so i´m thinking it just crawled in my luggage for a ride. too bad the thing didn´t die on the plane. but they have cockroaches here, but they´´re about an inch and a half longer and fly.

thats so exciting for jay!! ´he´ll be blessed. cant wait to hear where jess will go.

Ok! So more about my week! This week was absolutely amazing. I have literally never had so much fun in my entire mission. I love Telde! The people here are so wonderful. We have had the privilege to talk with so many people on the streets and even though most of them are crazy drunk, I have never felt unsafe.
The members here are amazing. They are so hard working and very aware of helping one another. The movie about President Monson (on the lords errand or something like that), there was a story about a branch in Canada when he was mission president. The Branch President had asked for a big church building, but obviously they couldn´t have one until they had more members. For the telde branch, the ward list is 10 pages long, with about 8 pages of them inactive. Now, when we have a first lesson with someone, we write their name on a list in our study room and we think of what calling will be good for them in the Church. With this mindset, we feel more of an urgency for them to understand, so that they can fulfill that calling. Even some investigators, who have been investigating for many years, we have said, "But Ignacio! We NEED a Gospel Doctrines teacher!" I have had so much fun doing missionary work with this!
We had a first lesson with this man from Nigera named Gabriel. When I was in B6, I´ve taught Nigerians and I´ve gotten no where with them. They were either evangelical preachers or they were in the drug thing. But Gabriel was so receptive. He told us that he´s been baptized in many churches but if he doesn´t like one thing that doesn´t go with the bible, he leaves them. We introduced the Book of Mormon to him and he was so astonished, saying that ´´he has never heard of Christ visiting the Americas´´. He had heard that the Mormons didn´t pray and were devil worshippers, etc. We had a wonderful lesson sincero with him and he kept on asking us to tell him more. He was absolutely wonderful and I can see him doing so well in the church. He has a Canarian wife and son and he said he wants a spanish book of mormon too so that his wife can read it too. We feel so blessed to have met with him!
One thing I have learned more this week is compassion and charity. We contacted this man who was either drunk or a little not right in the head and since then we´ve met with him 3 times. The first 2 times, it was mostly contacting his friends around him, but this last time, a women came up to us with we were talking with him and she starting talking to him. He completely changed and was worried for whatever mishap happened to her. She looked at us, and seeing our faces, said, ´´He may seem crazy, but he´s not. He´s a good man and a good friend.´´ After that, he completely changed and he was very focused on what we taught about the Book of Mormon. I was very shocked and was able to see him in a different way, a way where he can actually progress to a calling in the church. He´s gonna be our geneology expert :)
Many miracles have occured this week that I can write down. But I am so grateful to be here in Telde! I feel like I am supposed to be here and for a reason! This feels like a completely different mission than in Madrid, but I´m excited to work here.

I love you all! Que tenga una buena semana!

Loves y hugs

Hermana Smith

ps. mom. is this long enough for you? hermana cassinat and i had a good laugh at that. i´ve spoiled you too much.

October 14, 2013

Well family. TRANSFERS!! And yes I did get transferred. Tooooooooo.......(drum roll) the islands! I'm on La Gran Canaria in an area called La Telde. It's super awesome but I'm still trying to recover from the 3 hour plane ride. Yeah, I know it's a little pathetic. But I really am happy to be here even though EVERYONE was super sad to see me leave. It was really humbling for me because I never really knew that...my Colombian investigators were crying and their daughters gave me these great bracelets. Plus leaving the members was super hard. I'll miss them a lot. It's sooo different because I'm moving from one of the biggest wards in Spain to a small branch with 30ish members. There are two districts for all the islands and most of the people in my district are from my group! So it will be great to see them all again. My companion is Hermana Cassinat and she's super sweet! I'm very lucky to be working with her and I hear that she's a really hard worker. I am SO grateful for that! We work with this senior couple named the Buhlers. Elder Buhler is from Caldwell! I showed him a picture of you dad and he didn't recognize you. Lo siento. 

I don't have a lot of time but I just want you to know that I am very grateful for the opportunity everyday to preach the Gospel. I feel very blessed to be here in Spain and that I have a wonderful family that supports me in every possible way. I love this Gospel and I know that we can receive every blessing from our Father in Heaven if we follow His teachings. I know that through our Savior Jesus 

Christ that we can return to our Heavenly Father. I love you all so much and I pray for you. Now that I'm in the islands I'm not sure when I'll get my package from y'all but I hope you know that I am grateful for all that you do. Have a great week!

Love y hugs

Hermana smith

Mom I do have an embarrassing Spanish mess up story but its not exactly.......appropriate. :) love you!

October 7, 2013

Hey familia!! 

Thanks for your wonderful and encouraging letters. They are greatly appreciated! I want you all to know that I have literally felt your prayers on my behalf and am so grateful for them:) 

This week has flllooooowwwwwwnnnnnn and it shocks me to know that transfers are right around the corner! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to listen to conference (except the last session) and to hear and feel the words of the prophet and his apostles. Can I just tell ya? That line from Elder Bednar...Hermana Stepp and i have changed the words up a little for Barrio 6....´´If you are praying for missionary opportunities, then I [thank] you. But, if you aren´t praying for missionary opportunities, I advize you to rethink your ways and REPENT."

WWWOOOOOWWWW. ouch. man. i was cheering that man on. Every talk was defintitely revelation from God. I had a bunch of questions and Hna Stepp and I would talk about them a lot. Then they were mentioned or talked about in Conference! I can´t wait to get my hands on a Liahona. We know of some people who´ll need this.

I don´t have a lot of time today, but I hope you know how much I LOVE YOU ALL. Each one of you have a special little spot in my heart! I have been thinking a lot about being a successful missionary and what that means. I thought of a lot of things, but it all comes down to love. If I love them, pray for them, worry for them, study for them, help them, then there is no way where they cannot say no. I have been studying a lot about humility. Claro, every person needs humility and more each day, but I felt prompted to study more on it. And you know what I found out ? I need to rethink MY ways and repent. But instead of feeling a burden for that, I feel uplifted. Like someone said in GC, repentence is NOT a punishment! I felt so much better and free-er. Because me declaring repentence to la gente de españa is not a punishment. it is a privilege! I love you all soooooooo very much. and excuse my preaching to you. i get into these little tangents sometimes. 

loves y hugs!! hopefully next week you´ll read of where i´m going!!!

hermana smith

September 23, 2013

Hola Familia!

Wow sounds like every one has had a busy week! I hope everything is going well and that you have learned lots :)

your talk is amazing dad! i love that a lot. it reminds me of the scripture 2 nefi 29:7.

Well, this week has been quite interesting. We´ve had a lot of downers come up, but the Lord has been blessing us with these wonderful miracles.
Our investigator, Adelson (the one from columbia-my heart melts with i hear his voice), was having trouble deciding whether or not he wanted to be baptized. He believes the Church is true, but he´s worried about his exwife getting all antsy about it because she´s super catholic (he still loves her). Then we found out monday night that he was leaving to London for 3 months. WOW this sounds like a movie. I was pretty depressed. But that monday night we had a noche de hogar with this family at the temple grounds and for our spiritual thought, we took a temple tour. At the end, Hermana Stepp gave this amazing testimony about eternal families (she had just found out that her grandmothers brother died) and we gave her a framed family proclamation. We were all crying and in the end, the Lord blessed us with Adelsons sister and her daughter, Gabriela. They both are very interested in the Church and Gabriela has a member friend, as well as Adelsons sister, Nayibe. Gabriela has stated many times that she wants to serve a mission (she´s 8 years old) and that she wants to be baptized. We had given her a fake name tag but she was quite disappointed to find out it wasn´t hard and plasticy like ours :)  We think Nayibe wants her to be baptized too! The problem with Nayibe is that she works all day Saturday and Sunday, so she´d never be able to take time off for church. We´re praying for another miracle and are planning on asking her about changing schedules hopefully. Hermana Stepp and I feel that Adelson will get baptized in London, for him now, it´s a better place to know more about the Gospel. The Church is very old there and he´ll be able to find a lot of member support. I´m super excited but so help me if he doesn´t call the church office for the nearest church building, he´s fired and i´ll hunt him down to his grave. He sent me an email which i sent to ben and sasha to translate for me :) I feel very blessed to have so many spanish speakers in my family. i´ll marry one and then i´ll teach all y´all the spaniard accent. its very fun and quite easy :)
I feel very blessed to be serving in Barrio 6. The Elders have been absolutely wonderful and supportive and I feel incredibly blessed for all this. They helped us this morning move into our new piso and what a work it was! I´m grateful for the power of service. How unselfishly they gave it!

Uncle Doug wrote me a letter and its amazing how much I needed it. He doesn´t write often (this is probably his second or third time) but he´s always telling me the right things at just at the right moment. Both of us are preparing for this next coming general conference by rereading the may issue of the liahona (the ensign for you guys) and i feel sooooo blessed and enriched while reading it. Especially reading the priesthood session: reading those talks gave me a focus of what my future husband needs to be, my future mommyness and my future home. I am going to write down all of this so i won´t forget. its super important.

thanks for all your love and support! I feel very blessed to have such amazing friends and family. i love you all and if you want, pray for some spanish skills!

love you tons forever and ever

hermana kinsey emit (as the southerns spaniards say it- they dont say their S´s!)

September 16, 2013

Hola Familia!

well, we´re moving!! we´re leaving out of that apartment....its RIGHT SMACK on the metro and that is sooooooo beautiful!! we don´t have to take a stinkin long walk from who there to our old apt. we move in wednesday :) its brand spackin new as in she JUST finished renovated it all. 2 baños, 3 habitaciones, 2 hermanas. ssssíííííííí.....

oh and I love Section 135 of D&C. ´´They lived for Glory, they died for Glory and Glory is their eternal reward´´...wow such powerful stuff.

and to answer your questions about english class, we do! there are 2, wednesdays and saturdays. we teach saturdays and its super fun. we have 2 classes within the one class: basic and conversational. i teach basic and its always so much fun. we did the body a few weeks ago and then taught them ´´head shoulders knees and toes...´´ and then we´d play hang man. hahaa its so much fun!

and to answer your questions dad, those ideas to interact more nonmembers is a great idea. the problem is actually getting people to really participate. i think a person can really see some character and pretty much the Gospel itself is when there are service projects. but especially for those families with missionaries, have social visits! more is better, because then they feel more comfortable to ask questions. and who wouldn´t want to know why your child is gone for a long time!? its so cool hearing about the progress of the stake and ward. you´re doing a great job! I´m so proud of you guys! go Caldwell Idaho Stake! i know it will be sooooo difficult for some members. but ask the presidency from each organization to keep tabs on each of the members and their progress with missionary work. make it a PRIORITY. it is a big one and if we make it so, then it will be so. every 1st and 3rd sunday we´re in ward counsel, but yes it is mostly the Do you need something? oh good moving on... each organization, primary, YM, single adults, has a VITAL key in this work. have specific parties or functions for each organization. the missionaries will focus on that and they´ll see some grand success. i promise you that as a missionary.

Well, we had an amazing surprise this past weekend! We had the privalege to hear and shake hands with Elder Russell M. Ballard. He was here to a stake conference in another zone but last minute wanted all the missionaries from the the madrid zones and mtc to come for a mini fireside at 8 am. it was amazing. he focused a lot in section 11. i don´t remember word for word (its too good) but these are the words from someone else who recorded it word for word....

´´Elder Ballard gave a wonderful message. Part of it focused on D&C 11, where the Lord answers Hyrum Smith’s question, "What would the Lord want me to do?"

Verse 3 states, "Behold, the field is white already to harvest; therefore, whoso desireth to reap let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God."

And then, in verse 8, "even as you desire of me so it shall be done unto you; and, if you desire, you shall be the means of doing much good in this generation."

Notice the word DESIRE in these verses. The key to success is desire. Elder Ballard told us that all things that we desire and really believe in righteousness can be achieved.

Elder Ballard said, "Your success is directly proportional to your desire."

Then, he asked, "How much do you love The Lord? Do you love Him enough to get up on time?"

He said that this had been a very busy trip for him. Then said, "Frankly, I’m tired. Sometimes I ask myself, "What is an old 85 year old doing running around like this?" Sometimes he is tempted to get discouraged. When he does, he pulls out a small picture of the Savior that he always travels with, and looks into His face. He said that he keeps going because he understands Gethsemane." ´´

I was deeply touched by his words and it honestly helped me so much. Elder Maynes and Elder Dyches from the Seventy and presidency of the Seventy were there too and we shook their hands. Elder Maynes (or dyches i cant remember) said that our we should recite 3 Nefi 5:13 whenever we leave the house. now its taped by the mirror right before we leave. its an amazing scripture!

Now, about my week! This week was really good. Honestly, I can´t really ever say that a week is bad in the mission. Sure, there are trials and difficulties, but in all we´re doing the best thing any one can ever do and there is nothing negative in that! hahaa i´m glad to say i´m blessed with positivity. 

I have been trying to relay more and more on the Spirit. Literally every decision I make, I try and relay on what the Spirit tells me I need to do or what to focus on. It reminds me of what Elder Bednar said in his MTC talk about listening to the Holy Ghost. I have been trying more to do that and Hermana Stepp has been a great help. Every grand or small decision I make, later I´m doubting it. For example, our investigators daughter was returning to her home with her mom in the North. She had been staying with her dad for a month during vacations and while teaching him, she started praying and reading the book of mormon. She´s only 8 years old, but she told us that she likes the way we pray better than the Catholic way. Her mother is very Catholic and its difficult because we don´t want to get Adelson (our columbian) in a bad situation. But after giving it to her, I started to doubt, wondering if that was the right thing to do and wondering if we just nailed the coffin shut permanetely. Hermana Stepp asked me that when we made the decision, did I feel good about it? When I told her yes, she said, then it was a good decision. I have felt more sure of my decisions, knowing that they are in line to what my Heavenly Father would want me to do.

Its been a little disappointing with our investigators. Just this last week, we´ve literally have had half of our investigators ´´kind-of´´ drop us. One won´t answer his phone, the other doesn´t do the church thing, and the other one doesn´t want to get his ex-wife angry at him. Thats Adelson. yes. my adelson is doubting. siigghhh....i´ll write more next week on that. I´m trying very hard not to get discouraged because I can´t work with that spirit. Faith has been brought a lot in our discussions and they have helped me more I think than they´ve helped our investigators. Faith is the key and everything will fall into place.
I love you all very much! i hope you know i am so grateful for your support and everything that you do for me. know that I have a strong testimonty of this Gospel. That Jesus Christ lives and he is the only way to our Heavenly Father. I know this and I try and live it. i love you all and keep smiling! Because there is someone is Spain who loves you very much!

Loves and Hugs

Kinsey

September 3, 2013

Hey family! 

well hello transfers!! 

no i´m still in Barrio 6 with hermana stepp. i´m glad and not glad about it, but i know that I apparently need to learn a lesson i didn´t learn last transfer. which i can understand, because last transfer felt too much like a warm up transfer, which i do not like. honestly, the next future missionary i´m going to talk to is to warn them about the transfer after being trained. I´m going to make this transfer a hard one for me (poor steppy) so that it´ll be second nature to be super duper hard working and exactly obedient. i´d rather give up my luxuries now then be a lacking member and mother of the church for the rest of my dying days. no. me. gusta. para. nada. but dad we usually find out saturday nights, like at 10pmish. except if your district leader forgets to call you, then it might be like right before bed (thanks a lot). when we had our last district leader, he knew all the leaks. plus i lived with hermana munden and she knew everything and everyone about the missionaries.

hahaa i would love a picture of you and the coupe with the new plaque.

Thats great advice mom, but its a little different here in Madrid. we´ve asked out ward mission leader to give us service opportunities but nothings come up. i´ll try harder though:) I´ve been trying my hardest to be a nice and cheerful missionary for the ward members so that they´ll feel comfortable around us. next stop-the trust! i´m excited to finally get to work. Like I said before, I felt that last transfer was a warm up one and this one is when I actually know what I´m doing and NOW i can punch right in! I was just thinking of all the ward activities that they have and that we need to be very involved in them. I´m hoping that we´ll see some great success with this! Kyle Lee sounds familiar, but i dont know him :( but thats super sad that he died.  

well, mom, my best remedy for lack of sleep is A) infusion of lavender, B) exercise right before bed, and C) PRAY. but i know what you mean! millions of things runnin through your head! 

We were talking with Elder and Sister Riggs (some american missionaries workingin the employment center) yesterday and he asked us to share our favorite scripture. well we were all flippin through and we had this 20 minute discussion about the scriptures after wards. I just want to tell y´all that I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON SO MUCH. if i could, i´d spend all day reading and studying it. i love how Heavenly Father helps us so much to retain what we´ve learned. Of this i´m certain, my love for the scriptures will be with me until my dying day. I´ve already made a scripture plan in my head after the mission. i don´t want to lose that burning fire in me to learn! 

Last night we taught a noche de hogar and we decided to teach the gospel of jesus christ and how the 5 pasos to the gospel (fe, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, el don del espíritu santo, y preseverar hasta el fin) lead us to the temple. When we were teaching this, I felt so strongly in my heart that this Church is the church of Christ. that this is the perfect church in all the earth. My testimony was stregthened so much in that little noche de hogar (fhe). 

I want you all to know that I am proud to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I´m proud to wear this chapa (name tag) and to bear testimony of Jesus Christ everyday. I love my Savior so much and I love my Heavenly Father and the plan He has for all of us. I will cherish the day when I can be wrapped in His arms again. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I know that it is ONLY through Jesus Christ and our FAITH in Him, that we can return to our Heavenly Father. I can and never ever will deny my testimony. I wear my heart and my testimony on my sleeve and that is waht the rest of us should do. We wear the name tag over our heart and of all the reasons because its there, i know its because as missionaries and as members of His church, we have Him in our hearts. We are His Representatives and i am proud to be chosen as so. I love you all so very much and may God be with you until we meet again :) 

Con besos, abrazos y mucho amor, 

Hermana Smith

August 26, 2013

Hola familia!! 
I think I say this every letter, but at every moment it´s true: this week has absolutely FLOWN BY. I´m glad your trip to see some cali coasts went well!! I have been receiving your pictures, every one of them, and I appreciate them so much. hang on, did you guys get a new car? or is that just a random car coming out of the tree? 
anywhoo...i literally was bawling (on the inside...we´re in a public library; i can´t make a scene) looking at the picures of m´leighs BEAUTIFUL RECEPTION and that WHITNEY IS GOING TO ITALY AND WE ARE GOING TO BE NEIGHBORS. I kid you not, i think i´m going to break some rules if she comes to the spain mtc for italy. kid. you. not. thats probably why presidents going to send me to the north or to the islands during christmas. haha ok not really. i can just see sister jackson reading this letter.... 
This week, I have been trying to work my hardest at being a successful missionary and it´s incredibly difficult when time is not on your side! Honestly, the devil and time are your worst enemies on the mission. Though, our written number goals don´t look like a lot of progress, we´ve worked more with the members and with our inactives and recent converts this week. I feel like, even though they may not be doing their part as members, we as missionaries still try. We have been TRYING and TRYING and TRYING to have the leaders show the missionary broadcast. We just can´t understand why our stake hasnt seen it. i mean, seriously, its a mini general conference! the Profet and Apóstoles are speaking to us DIRECTLY AS MEMBERS AND AS REPRESENTIVES OF JESUCRISTO. President´s working on him though. I´m so glad president jacksons american. It´s great that you are asking that dad, because the members are so incredibly vital in missionary work. As a bishop, I think that best thing you can do is to make sure the leaders are doing their job and also, to TEACH THEM the importance of what they saw in the broadcast. The things that they told us ARE NOT SUGGESTIONS. When an Apostal or the Profet SAY something, THEY EXPECT ACTION. Not only is it difficult here in spain, but its difficult in the states. I´m writing this elder in Kansas (long story about him but nada romantic...sheesh) but i liked what he said here, ´´So in your mission do you try to focus on getting more members involved since the world wide broadcast, that is what we are trying to do here, but the members just don't seem to be jumping on board, the youth answered the call to serve now it's up to the adults to answer the call to be member missionaries. So sometimes I say to myself "Come on members, pick up the phone already!" ´´ EXACTAMENTE, elder black! well said! I second what Bishop Tidwell told me about you dad, he said that he´s sad to be released, but that ´´your dad has talents that i don´t have and that the ward needs now´´ and thats so true. if anyone can get people to work and to understand the importance of it, thats you. You have been specifically called as Bishop at this time so that you can lead these members into action!! 
This week, i have tried to focus more on families and their attendance to sacrament. I have felt that utmost need for their salvation. It´s difficult to witness them not partake of something absolutely wonderful. I was talking with Hermana Stepp and she was asking me what is my mini mission. I didn´t understand her at first, but she explained that a mini mission is a personal mission you have as well as the mission you´re in right now. When she asked that, I told her my mission was just to be an obedient missionary and thats all i needed to focus on. Now, I feel like it´s more focused on bringing those families to the temple. 
I´m by far not a perfect missionary, but like Elder Holland said, we are all the Lord has and I am willing and striving to be that obedient missionary, so that I feel in my heart that I´ve done my part and I can feel the Lord´s approval, like the scripture say´s, ´´Well done, my good and faithful servant´´. 
I love you all very much!! keep up the awesome work and GOD BE WITH YOU ´TIL WE MEET AGAIN!! (when his blah blah guide up hoooooold you.....something blah blah blah securly fooooooooolld you....)
Hermana Smith

August 19, 2013

Hola Familia!!! 
It sounds like all of y´all are having a splendid time! Poor jason must be besides himself with busyness because he forgot to write the most important person in his world....
but anywhoo wow what a week. (ooo synonems. or antonyms? hmm...) it flew by for me and it completely blows my mind that my last week of the transfer is next week. I kid you not, I was not expecting that!! As the saying goes, time flys when you´re having fun! It also reminds me of a quote that´s on our wall in the piso, ´´Live each day like it´s the last day of your mission!´´ I have been going back to that quote for awhile and I love it. But it´s so true, because the next thing I know, I´m going home!! And I am SO not ready for that right now. whitney even wrote to me and she said that my mission was 1/3 finished! and my hearts screaming NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! 
This week, I´ve been trying to work my hardest at seeing some action from our investigators. And man, has it been difficult!! I talked about Adelson last week and so I knew we needed to crack down a little on him. But then he decides to take a roadtrip! But my mind is focused and I am not forgetting my duty as a missionary. He has a sister who is just SO sweet and we´ve been trying to talk with her without really scary her off (I think before she was a jehovas witness) and just today we ran into her on the metro! Hermana Stepp has been trying to find someone to cut her hair and we find out that she was a hair dresser in Columbia! Oh, how the Lord works His ways!! It´s so amazing, because as a missionary, the Lord wants you to succeed. oooh i just get goose bumps thinking about all this!! 
I´m not going to lie, you missed an amazing baptism!! I have never felt the Spirit so strongly and I thought my heart was going to burst! We finally met Gregorio´s wife, Judit and she is a GEM. We got to talk to her for awhile while Gregorio was getting dressed and she said that it´s so difficult for her to get time off of work because she´s wanted to come sit in the lessons with us! Also, she said she trys to read in the Book of Mormon, but it´s difficult for her to read the small letters, but then she said that Gregorio sometimes reads to her. OH MY GOODNESS. I thought my heart was going to burst! We asked if we could come over sometime and she said she´d love too because she´d love to learn more about everything. Also, when Gregorio was getting baptized, she said that she could see herself doing that soon!! (OHMYGOSHMYFIRSTTEMPLECOUPLE). Everything went so much better, despite the stress of it all. And for days, Gregorio was preparing his testimony and had written everything down on pieces of paper! When he went up there to give it, he thanked everyone, including us, for helping him better his life and that, ´´Sé que el Señor nos ama´´. I´m sorry, but that´s huge! He has grown so much! The Spirit has literally never been stronger in my life, I kid you not. I was holding someones hand on my left and clutching hermana stepps skirt on my right and making little ´´OOOOOHH!!´´ noises. a little embarrassing, but i dont care. 
It´s been super difficult to reach number goals because there are literally zero peeps on the street and its showing in our weekly numbers! Reaching our goals has been huge for me this week and so even though I´m not reaching goals by numbers, i´ve been trying for people, and that is more fulfilling. I feel my mission has been more inriched and that just testifies to me that the Lord loves us so much. The mission has strengthened my testimony and by doing so, it as also strengthened myself. Every day, I have never regretted my decision to serve. I don´t even recognize the person I was before! 
I love you all so much! oh ya, i went to toledo today. I have never felt like i´ve been in spain before until toledo. its pretty, but also pretty touristy. 
have a fantastic week!! 
love y hugs
hermana esmit