First Baptism! This week was great! Week ending 5/19

Hey y'all! I have so much I want to write but not so much time, so I'll do my best to get the most important things in! This week was great! We had a baptism (my first) for L...!! It was such a miracle, the missionaries here had been working with her for months before me and Elder Ferrer even got here, and finally with us teaching her, she committed and this Saturday she was baptized! It was great to see that and see the smile on her face as she came out of the water. She's great!

This week we had another huge miracle. Did I already tell you about R....? The woman that stopped US in the street a week or so ago? Well this week she told us that her and her two daughers want to be baptized. They have come to every meeting, and in our lessons with them the spirit is so present and strong. They have been so prepared by the Lord to hear this message, and this Saturday, I will be baptizing them myself! R.... is 35, her daughter A... is 11, and her youngest daughter Z.... is 9. I know the Lord prepares his sheep, and I feel so blessed to be a part of this family's journey here. We did what we were supposed to be doing, and happened to be in the right place at the right time, and we were blessed huge for it!

Every Saturday we go to this great Bolivian family's olive tree orchard and chop and cut tree limbs that are too tall, and carry them to a huge pile to burn them. We do that for a few hours in the afternoon, and it's hard work! But I feel so good doing it. I feel great joy in serving the Lord's children!

A funny story from this week! So the other elders in our piso are funny. This week they tried to prank us and scare us, so me and my comp got water balloons, and we got with the ward mission leader and pulled a prank on them to pay them back! We told them we were going to meet J.... (the ward leader) by our piso at 9pm. So J.... called them to set it up, and we dropped balloons on them from the top of our building! Pretty good huh? It was better in person haha. Anyway I hope all is well at home, things are going well here and we are seeing miracles every day. I know the church is true and every day my testimony of that grows stronger. I love you all so much and will hear from you soon!

Elder Smith

Week Ending May 5,2013 - I am in TARRAGONA not in Zaragoza.

Hey everyone!! So the first week in the field is over! Pretty crazy to be out here! First off I made a mistake last week. I am in TARRAGONA not in Zaragoza. I misunderstood when they announced it and sent you the wrong city!! It is beautiful here, right by the coast! We have one ward with about 50-55 people who come. It's not an extremely nice building, we are trying to get a new one actually! We have the money and the members, we just can't find a new place close to downtown yet! But it is good. There are 4 elders in our district, me, Elder Ferrer (from Granada, Spain), Elder Marcos (from Chile), and Elder Nacu (from Romania) and all stay in the same Piso! My companion Elder Ferrer is the district leader.

The people here are great, I love them. We have taught quite a few lessons already! I don't understand very much of what's happening...maybe like 30%? But I testify and add my two cents when I can haha. I am learning! The language thing is tough but it will come with time!


The city is great, very diverse here. ALL kinds of people and religions! A huge melting pot here for sure! It's been a crazy week, we've been going back and forth between here and Barcelona to get all my papers for residency figured out. Tomorrow and Wednesday we will be back there again! It's about an hour train ride south of Barcelona to get to Tarragona where we are.


This week we got a new investigator, her name is Laia, she is 20 years old and she is going to be baptized! Her parents are the only thing that would stop her though. Please pray that everything works out with that. Also we have a kid we are teaching named Stanley, he is from Africa, and we are trying to get him to consistently come to church and bring his little brother Jackson so he can baptize his brother, pray for them also! Church yesterday was just crazy haha! I didn't understand everything but the spirit was the same. I love that no matter where you are the church and the spirit are always consistent.

I miss you all and I hope you have a good week! I love you all!

Elder Smith

Elder Jake is in the Mission Field! Zaragoza Spain!

Hey hey! I have made it to the field! I have been assigned to beautiful Zaragoza, Spain! My companion is Elder Ferrer, he is from Granada, Spain but speaks Engilsh too. Holy smokes it's been crazy! But I am finally here. My companion seems like he will be great. I've only known him for...3 hours now? But he is about 6´2", played basketball, really nice guy. Very cool! I'm glad I got him, everyone said he is great. I am in a small Piso with Elder Ferrer, and two other elders that speak only Spanish, they are form Peru or somewhere down there. But I just want to let you know I'm here. My p-days will be Mondays, and I am okay! I love you all! I can't wait to hear from you! I don't know how the mail thing works yet...so for now, just send letters to the mission home and they will get to me eventually. I probably won't get written letters until weeks after you send them so just a heads up! I will write you when I can though. I miss and love you all, I will let you know more on Monday! Tonight we are going to teach an English class, and go eat at a member's house who has a kid who is struggling with drugs and drinking. We are sharing a message with a video of Elder Uchtdorf talking about "Who we are." It will be interesting!! My first meeting with real people haha. But i will talk to you all soon! Goodbye until Monday!

 

Love, Elder Smith