How I love the power of the spirit testifying of the truth

HELLO!!!
Ok, my stories, then your questions...haha!
Ok well first off, there have been rats in our house for awhile and on Monday we finally caught one. It was ginormous!!! But it was really funny because the night before we put a little note out for it. Looks like that temptation was enough! Killed the rat! Let that be a lesson to us all....Ha Ha!

My companion is really sweet. He has a scholarship for basketball at UVU. His Spanish is just as good as mine. Which isn’t that good. So that’s a little bit rough. But we are teaching just fine! At least we think so. Ha! I hope the people can understand us.

(Who is that little brown boy next to Elder Toolson? Oh ya! That's Jordan! Didn't think it was him until I zoomed in. Hardly recognized him and I'm his mom! Funny!)

The 3 people we have with fechas(baptism dates) with are doing great. Baptism is at 5 in the river. The rest of their family was baptized about a month ago. So that’s pretty cool to be able to complete that family! (So does that mean he baptized 3 people at 5? Hmmm? We'll have to wait till next week to get that cleared up.)

Next, we got 2 more fechas!!! WHOOHOO!!! They are kids too, both around 12 years old. Hopefully that goes through because they have to be interviewed by President. But their fecha is for the 11th of Sept.

That's so sweet about the Ukraine temple and all the references. That's the biggest problem here in the mission is that we don't receive very many referrals. But we are all working hard to get more because that's where the golden investigators are. I sure hope I can find a golden family soon like you were able to Dad... Because here in Peten, it's only a little bit better than the capital city. People wise I mean. Only a few are willing to change from their old traditions and most of the ones that do, only speak Kekchi. So hopefully we will find someone really sweet soon. We are teaching a really cool couple, Albal and Belarmino. They love everything and keep all their commitments. They just aren't married like every other couple here. They have only been together for a short time because Belarmino's wife died and Albal has never been married. They have been talking about getting married but they say that they need more time. What do you think we can do to be able to help them get married so that they can be baptized?

Next, I had my first real bible bash session with this old guy. It was rather pointless, but I enjoyed it. The scriptures he told me to look up in the bible supported what I was telling him. He was saying that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon and a lot more stuff that wasn’t true. I then shared the strongest testimony I have ever bore in my entire life. After that he just got really quiet and had nothing else to say. How I love the power of the spirit testifying of the truth that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets that lived on the American Continent and received revelation from God. It just amazed me how much power the Spirit has when we speak the words that God wants us to say.

I saw a big ol tarantula run across the street the other night. I got a pretty good picture of it too. I am trying to send it. But the pictures aren’t loading very fast, so hopefully you will see it. But that was really cool...

Elder Drach's quote about the heat this week, "It's hotter than the armpit of Satan!!!" Ha! Oh how true that statement is....

This week was also known as sick week. Everyone got sick this week except for me thank goodness. First was McPhee on Friday. He was out until Sunday night. Then Drach on Saturday, who was out until this morning. Then Toolson who was out for only Sunday. Luckily I didn’t catch what they had. Only McPhee and I went to church on Sunday, and only to sacrament meeting because we had to give talks! My talk didn’t go too badly either!! I spoke about the atonement and how we need to do our part to be able to receive the blessings and mercy that Christ has for us through that great and eternal sacrifice He made for us all.

Oh and Saturday, I totally held a monkey in my hands. That was probably the coolest thing ever!!!

Ok now for your questions....
Did you get all your birthday packages plus the others (black shoes, watch) that I sent with Elder Swenson? And your umbrella that grandma left for you?
Yes I got it all! THANKS!

Did you open any of your sealed birthday presents yet?
I'm not sure, you might have to pray about that one. Hahahahha!!!

Did you get your little photo album of church pictures that I made for you? Is it what you wanted and has it helped you in your lessons?
Yes thank you so much!

Yes we have someone that does our laundry still.

The mission doesn’t have cooks, that’s a rule. We cook for ourselves ... But Drach is a real good cook so that helps a lot too. I have only eaten with members once. We ate chicken and rice. It tasted a lot like the stuff grandma makes so that was really good. But some members told us that they are going to make turtle for us some time. I really want to eat alligator! Sometimes people catch them out of the river and stuff. It’s really cool. I have only seen pictures of it though.

My bed isn’t too bad at all really. I can feel the springs in my back, but it’s not too bad that I still can’t sleep comfortably. As long as my fan is working good so I don’t fry while I’m trying to sleep.

We didn’t get your email till almost 8pm last Monday. Did it just take the scenic route to get here or did it take you till then to get to an internet café?
It takes us that long to email usually cuz we go see other elders and stuff and the traveling takes a lot of time. So that’s about what time we email here I guess.

Do they have fast food places there?
Not in our area. But there is Pizza Hut and Burger King in San Benito. It’s like 2 hours away. It's where the Zone Leaders are. We go there sometimes.

What activities have you done with your district/zone?
We really haven’t done any activities. We can only have 1 zone activity a change too. Lame huh? But we should be going to Tikal this change so I am pretty stoked about that for sure!

There are fans in the church to help cool it, there just aren’t any microphones. We are going to talk to the branch president here about that soon though.

I cant believe that BYU might go Independant. That would be so sick!!!!! Screw the Mountain west now that Utah isn't in it anymore. There would be like no point. And that way we might even be able to get some BCS bids. We shall see I guess. 2 QB system huh? Yeah, I dont think that will last too long. They will eventually choose Nelson about halfway through the season...But that's what I think. Then Heaps will redshirt next year, Nelson will finish out his senior year, then Heaps will start. I think it's kinda funny that they play Washington their first game cuz that was Heap's 2nd choice to play at. Hopefully the Cougs will rock it this year! Keep me updated on that ok?

Dad, thank you so much for that story about the old lady on your mission. It really did help a lot for the investigators I had lost. Like Heidy, 2 changes of teaching her and she decided to just keep being a Jehovah's Witness. It was really hard for me, but that story really did help. Thanks.
Give Jake an extra good luck for me for his golf tournament tomorrow. I sure hope they make it to state this year. That would be sweet.

I will send the picture I have with the monkey next week but there should be 3 pictures attached to this.
I love you all so very much.
Thanks Mom for always being a good example to me and helping me in times of trials and everthing!
Stay Strong
Keep the Faith
Love Elder Jordan Smith