Week 93

Hey Hey!

Yeah, it does kind of stink that I wasn't able to see David be baptized, but he did get baptized and received the Priesthood too! So that is SUPER COOL!! But all was in the hands of the Lord.

My new area.....honestly, I don't really like it too much yet. And I don't really know any of the members yet either. Most of them went to the Temple Open House over in Quetzaltenango. So they haven't been home this last week. Living conditions....I live in tiny cuartito....I don't mean to be so bitter, but I don't want to lie and say that it is all great and dandy. Let's just say that this is going to be a long change. I hope I can come to understand why the Lord needs me here.....I miss speaking Q'eqchi' already....ok enough complaining.... (Note from Mom: Hmmm....I sure wish he would have remembered to mention the name of his new area and who his companion is!)

The packages should get here in a couple weeks. It just depends on when we have Christmas Conference up here in the zone. Until then will I receive them...Was grandma able to get the stuff that I sent down to the office yet?

We do have someone that is a possibilty in the area though. He has read the Book of Mormon twice already and he wants to keep learning more and more. Which is kind of a problem because the things he doesn't know makes a little stumbling block for him. However, he is praying and he came to church on Sunday! So we shall see how it goes for him.

Well that is about all for this week. Hopefully all improves and that I know why I am supposed to be here. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Stay Strong
Keep the Faith
Elder Jordan Smith

A disappointing week

Well hello there!

Well this week was kind of the story of my mission. David called us mid week and said he didn't have time this week to get baptized. We had to postpone his baptism until next week. Selvin bailed to the Capital working, so who knows when he will be back. He doesn't answer our phone calls either. And we haven't really been able to teach those new people because they have been busy...so until next week we shall see what happens....Which is another thing, I won't even be here next week!!!! I have a change, and so does Elder Olson, Elder Ware and both of the Hermanas in Carcha. They are whitewashing the whole place!! Missionaries are going to walk right into baptisms in this area. I hope I find success in my next area. I find out tomorrow where I am going. I wish I was training here in Carcha, but I guess the Lord has a different plan for me. So we shall see how it all turns out!

Crazy that Britni Smith got married on Sat. It would've been great to have gotten her invite earlier because Elder Ware knows her too! Ha crazy huh?! But that's still super cool! I didn't realize when Ben came home either! Him and Jeremy Holland were like the first of my buddies to head out. Which is really weird because Ike, Shay, and Josh all get home this upcoming change, and then I will be back! So crazy how fast that time went!

Nothing really big happened this week. We just worked like normal, receiving the disappointments for our baptisms, and then we all got changes! So we shall see what all goes down for changes and what not! I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic day and week!

OH I totally forgot. We had Stake Conference this last week. It was with everyone here in Guatemala and Belize. But it was broadcast from Utah. Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf spoke, and then.....HNA TORRES directed the intermediate hymn! It was super cool to see her again!
Anyways, that's all, I love you all! Peace and love!!
Stay Strong
Keep the Faith
Love Elder Jordan Smith

We had an American Thanksgiving!

BUEEENOOOO!!! (greeting to contact a house, to say hi)

That is so sick that you got to see Fast! I am jealous! He is the man. He really was an amazing missionary and a just a great guy. Love that kid! Stinks that the other speaker left him no time and he couldn’t really give his talk at his homecoming. Stupid guy. That is super crazy though that he is going to come to Utah to go to school, and even crazier that he is going to be living with us! That is pretty sick, not gonna lie!!! And I think that will definitely be a help to me to have him around and not have as much companion separation anxiety, Ha ha.

News Response:
No way!!! Cat is engaged! Do you know the name of the person? I doubt I know who it is, but that is just crazy! Sweet though! Tell her congrats for me!
Toni is going on a mission huh?! WOW! I can honestly say that I never saw that coming. But super cool and pilas of her to be doing that!
That is pretty sweet that you got to meet that Peter Mourick guy. That is like saying that you have a mutual connection to the Prophet!! Lucky!!! (napoleon dynamite voice) haha

I loved that story about Ezra. Especially since it was just a little holiday like Veterans day. Don’t tell him about Martin Luther King Jr Day and Columbus Day, there are practically holidays every day! I will so kidnap him one day though and play games with him all day…and not on a holiday!

Well this week was pretty successful! We had as many news (new investigators) and lessons with a member this week than the other 4 weeks combined this whole change! It was good to actually get a little help and to find a few more cool people.

We had to change one of our fechas from this week to the next. But David is definitely getting baptized this week! I am super excited for that one! And then Selvin has a few challenges to overcome. His wife doesn’t really want him to be baptized, but he knows he needs to, and he has a great desire to be baptized as well because he knows that this church is true. He called us this morning about all of it. We will be praying a lot to figure out how to best help him. We want what is best for him, but we don’t want to tear the family apart either. So we shall see how that goes. We have a cita with him tomorrow.

I also finished the Book of Mormon this last week! I began 6 weeks ago! I finished it on 11/11/11. That makes it the 4th time that I have read it on my mission. And I am still understanding new things that I didn’t see beforehand. Super sweet. I just started reading the Old Testament again. I hope to finish it before I go home.

Today for pday we had a pretty sweet zone activity! WE HAD AN AMERICAN THANKSGIVING! With stuffing, potatoes, turkey, pies, rolls, and everything! It was sweet! Especially since for last thanksgiving I ate some beans in a can with a bag of chips! So big of a difference, but so nice.

I will try and send some pics soon! Sorry that I have been kind of lazy with that.
Well that is all for this week. I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to you all soon!

Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

There is always stuff we need to work on

Hey there peeps!!
That’s sick about your job Mom. It worked out just perfectly! What an amazing blessing that must have been!

That’s good that grandma will be here the 20th. Because changes are on the 22nd and I will be able to send you guys your Christmas presents home with her! That's what the money that I took out of my account was for by the way. . . Christmas presents for you mom, Dad, Jake, and Allison I will need to pull out that same amount again to finish it all off. Oh and I'm gonna need some travel money when that day comes because I can almost guarantee that my suitcases will be overweight. I have about 104 ties right about now too! I will be coming home with lots of those, but not all of them. But I’m planning on my suitcases to be a little bit pesaditas!

That’s sweet that Carlos and Julie had another baby. AH!!!!! There are sooo many new cousins of mine that have been born since I’ve left....it is gonna take me a little while just to get all of their names down!

Well, working on the 1st and 2nd this past week were just horrible. And then yesterday they had the final elections for the new president here, so no one was home! It was really lame. We ended up just walking forever to find someone out in the streets at least. Lame sauce. But we did have a good lunch with some members for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on the 1st. We ate Fiambre. Practically the same thing that Tia Carmen made for us that one time. It was pretty good I guess. Lots of beets and lots of gross sausages, but it wasn’t too bad. The members that we ate with are really cool though, so it all made up for it.

Well our investigators are doing great! Selvin and David are both on track for their baptisms on the 19th! But the only problem is, we haven’t found anybody more besides them. So I’m not sure what we are going to do when they get baptized. We shall see I guess!

This last week hit the day of 2 years since I got my mission call. Crazy!! Last year I was in Sayaxchè with Elder Toolson and we had a baptism! The year before, opening my call at BYU. So weird to think how fast the time flies.

In reply to Dad’s email:
Sup Father Face!
That would be nuts if BYU played Utah again in the infamous Vegas Bowl! If they do, they better win! But are you serious about the NBA Season?! That is insane that they haven’t solved all that crap! Super lame! At least the NFL is on. I wonder if I will make it back for the superbowl or not. I doubt it, but I will just watch it later anyways, so it doesn’t matter I guess.

I really liked all that stuff you learned about in Stake Conference. Yes, there is always stuff we need to work on. It’s kind of been a weight on me, and super annoying about some of the people here. When they hear a talk that says anything about our needing to improve, they immediately take it offensively and think that it’s just cincho. It’s just the attitude/culture here I guess. It’s not everyone, but mostly. I love it here, don’t get me wrong. But certain things get old after a while if you know what I mean...

My health is great! My knee is just fine, and the meds I was on for my weird pains, well I was slowly weaning myself off of them, but I have since run out of them... But I am really doing fine, not even any signs of stress, or weird pains at all. So it’s all good!!

Well I really wish that I had more to write, but this week was kind of a lame week. Next week will be better though. I love you guys and have a fantabulous next week!
Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith