When you whip out the questions of the soul, the soul gets curious!

Hey!  So this week wasn't too exciting, probably the least eventful week I've had here!  Just the usual schedule, classes, eating, teaching, and studying.  haha!  The language is still coming along!  My lessons with the pretend investigators are going well! I love bearing testimony and feeling the spirit take over the lessons.  This Sunday, me and my district are singing for the devotional!  Hopefully that goes well!

This week we ate swordfish again, it is my favorite meal here!  It is so good! haha.  Also last night a huge grasshopper flew into our room, and we ended up with about 15 Elders in there trying to get that flying monster of the outside world out of our sanctuary!  Is it sad that THAT was the most exciting thing that happened this week?!  I guess when you're cooped up in the same 3 floors o a building for a month and a half things change haha!;)

So this week we got 2 new Elders from Provo in our room.  One of them TOTALLY sleep talks!  At 3 am sharp, he just starts a talkin' and wakes me up!  One night it was "yeah I'll have curly fries, no mom you're not fat."  Then it was "este es el libro de Mormon, es un otro testamento de JesuCristo, no usted es estupido! Oh mi madre..."  Pretty weird! haha  Thank Goodness I don't sleep talk!  It creeps me out!  Lately we've been playing a lot of soccer during our activity time each day, I am learning! haha  Let's just say I am no Messi,but we are all awful.  All the Spanish people just stare at the Americans trying to play futbol!

So many people here just look at me like I am a freak, I am so tall! When I go into the metro, my head literally hits the ceiling in some of the places! It's funny!  The people here just aren't that tall!  I've felt the spirit really strongly this week as I have studied and prayed, and especially each P-Day at the temple.  I love learning about the gospel and reading the scriptures.  I appreciate them more each day!  The Book of Mormon is just awesome!

We also got 8 new elders from Italy, they are all pretty cool!  A few of them went through the temple for the first time today, I think that's awesome.  And they are all so pumped for the Rome temple!!  We take for granted the incredible blessing we have of having so many temples near our homes, just 30 minutes away or an hour away.  Can you imagine having just one temple in the entire country?  Or not one at all?  Take advantage of the opportunity you all have to go to the temple!  It's RIGHT THERE!  There are people waiting for you to go, don't make them wait! I love the temple so much.  There are blessings the lord has waiting for us, we just need to go get them!

Stories from the park this week!  We went and proselyted on Saturday again, and it was...interesting!  Me and my temporary companion passed out 3 Book of Mormons and talked to a lot of people.  But we just couldn't seem to get any referrals.  It was weird!  Every week before, I've had pretty good success. Hopefully next week I can find more people to share this message with!  We talked to this old guy for a while.  Wow, he was impossible to understand!  He kept telling us we are so young and we know nothing and he's old and the Bible is the only book he needs and was battling every word we said.  Then we ran into two people that said they don't even believe in God and prefer logical explanations for life.  I just said. Have you ever wondered why you're here?  Or where you're going?  What is the purpose of your life?  Those questions got them going! haha!  When you whip out the questions of the soul, the soul gets curious!!!  So I said I'm a smart guy, I like logic, and nothing makes more sense to me than the gospel.  The Book of Mormon brings us the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and all these questions are answered through the gospel. Then they got really curious about how not only we have the same questions, but I had the answers.  Of course these logic seeking people want answers.  So of course,they a took a Book of Mormon!  I ran into two people with that story, and one of them was here studying biology and genetics.  I gave him the book, and as I was walking away, I turned back and he was attentively reading already.  Pretty cool to see that. Dad!

 I forgot to answer some of your questions! Okay, so real quick, I head to Barcelona the 30th of April, I believe. What do I do as a Zone Leader?  I conduct meetings, make sure everyone keeps the rules, interview the district leaders and other as needed, deal with difficult people (we have a few.)  I love the struggling people, if anyone is breaking rules I take care of it, I clean up peoples messes, lead by example,and make sure the Zone family is healthy and well!

I hope that answers all you wanted to know, I love you! Anyway I'm sorry this week's letter is a little shorter, just not much new going on here!  Once I am out in the field, I will have many more stories and experiences to share I'm sure.  I miss and love you all very much!  Tell everyone hi for me!

Have a great week! Love Elder Smith