"Guillermo received the priesthood yesterday! It was really cool. He has already read the Book of Mormon three times and is always telling me that he is going to the temple. He is great and has excitement to work in this gospel. It truly is amazing to see how much his testimony has grown from the first day that I met him. He went from being Catholic to being one of the strongest members of the ward in like two months! He likes to talk to me in English because he has grandkids in New York. He and Norka are always giving me the weather report and information from New York. They also showed me all of their family pictures from like 50 years. ha ha It feels good to be a part of their lives now."
"A little neighbor girl of Guillermo and Norka's, who came to their baptism, came up to us and told us that she wants to be baptized into the Mormon church. She spends a lot of time over at Guillermo and Norka's house. She was there visiting during some of the lessons we taught. We have a pretty good relationship with her mother who always greets us on the street. She says that she wants her daughter to be baptized by us, so that has been cool. The problem is we just don't want to baptize her.., we want her to be active in the church and have a personal testimony. Anyways we are starting to teach her on Tuesday."
We had one investigator stop seeing us because his girlfriend broke up with him and he is so depressed. He won't talk to anyone and stays in his apartment all day. We also had to drop a few people because some of them just like to have us over, but is really not too interested about learning about the church. I guess this is really common here. If only they knew how happy they could be. The conversion process is definitely not easy. It's like something that I was told while in the MTC. They said that it will never be easy...Was it easy for Christ? Even at one point of the atonement, Christ asked, isn't there an easier way? Salvation will never be easy."
"The Lord has a hand in this work every day. Sometimes a dvd player we have won't work, so we have to share something else that was exactly what the people needed to hear, and then the next time we try the dvd player, it works perfectly. It's interesting and it makes me have more faith that this is the Lord's work and his gospel. I don't have to be able to say everything or know everything for the spirit to teach the truth."
"We have been working a lot with the priesthood brethren in the ward. The members are a really close knit group. They sometimes have family home evenings together and have parties and dancing. The youth group is really small. There are about 7 boys and 7 girls. One of the boys, who is 12, will come sit by me every time during sacrament meeting. All of the youth bear their testimonies during fast and testimony meetings. They are always the first to get up and share short but strong testimonies. That is always my favorite part of the meeting. Sundays are often long and we don't usually have much success doing anything. It's basically just another work day for us. The upside is that all the evangelists go outside and sing and yell their their testimonies through megaphones, so that the whole neighborhood can hear. We also find a lot of drunks walking around on Sunday. Gotta love those hang overs! ha ha Seriously though, every time I smell alcohol on their breaths, I have to use all my strength to keep from gagging! How can anyone drink that stuff?"
"We have a few elders going home after this change and it's fun to see how excited they are. They are starting to get ready for their real lives. It kind of makes me glad that I don't have to think about that for awhile. Although, they endlessly torment me about going home and marrying my sisters! ha ha dorks!"
"I received one of the sweetest letters in my life from Sister Blomquist. I know how hard it is for her to write. It meant so much to me and reminded me that I am on my mission for more than just myself. She is so awesome! I also received a letter from the Christensen family that helped make this week fun for me. Tell everyone thank you so much and that it truly helps me a lot! I loved their letters!"
"Well that was my week. We worked hard and are continuing to do our best. The longer I am serving the more I realize how weak I am, how much I need to improve on, and how much I have to rely on the Lord. I'm trying to find the happiness in each day that the Lord grants me. From one rejection to the next or from one success to the next, there will always be a little bit of something in between. It is looking for the miracles and little surprises that keep me going. Have a great week!
Elder Dallon Smith
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| Excited about the work! |
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| Out for KFC |
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| Fun with the District |