I could see the difference in her face!

HEY!!
Twenty months!! Veinte Meses!! Junmay Po!! It's so weird how fast time is flying. I only have 4 months left? It can’t be true. Just 3 more changes including this one that starts today. So weird!! I just want to go to the end giving it my all. Just continue working hard until my time is up...The Lord will do the rest if I do that...

Concepción's baptism was great! I was able to baptize her in lovely dirty water! =) I did get scared for a little bit because she wasn’t there when church started on Sunday. And she is always there, on time too. But she came just a little late and got confirmed. After church when I saw her get out of Relief Society, she looked like a different person. She seemed so much happier. She still has all the same problems, but without the weight of sin and the new guidance from the Gift of the Holy Ghost, I could see the difference in her face! It was so great! All of us missionaries are trying to figure out ways to help her, but we aren’t allowed to give money to people. She can get help from fast offerings now. I think through that and her willingness to pay her tithing, even though she has nothing, she will be able to receive the blessings she needs to be able to keep surviving.

Craziest story ever coming up…So on Tuesday this last week we woke up at 6:30 like good missionaries do and my comp wasn’t in his bed. Elder Bishop got up to go the bathroom and expected to find him since he is always in there! Well next thing I hear is, ''Elder Smith, your companion isn’t here.'' WHAT?! We called President and the APs and started a wild goose chase to figure out where the heck he went....nothing....I thought of this bus station where you can buy tickets to go to the Capital from Coban that was in our area. We went there and asked the secretary if she had seen or heard from him. She said she thought she got a call from him early in the morning. So she looked in her phone and found the number and called it. Sure enough, it was him, on his personal cell phone, alone, on a bus to the capital. We called the APs and we coordinated missionaries to be at that bus's bus stops. We finally found him and he was sent home the day after. Crazy right?! I didn’t expect that one at all. I still don’t understand how he got out of the house without waking one of us up. I mean the 4 of us sleep in the same room!! I ended up working in a trio for the last week of this change. It kinda stinks because you always end up asking yourself ''What more could I have done for him?'' But we all did all that we could. Makes me really sad and I hope he’ll be ok. Please remember him in your prayers.

As for changes so far, Elder Bishop has a change, and Elder Ware and I are staying here in Carchá. So now it’s just the waiting period to find out who my next companion is. They could close one of the areas here and Elder Ware and I could be comps, which would be sick (awesome)! But who knows what will happen. Anything goes really.

Another adventure for this week... I got to slice a Turkey's throat! I killed it, watched it cook, and then I ate it. Super Sweet! Ha I will spare you all the details, but it was awesome!!!

I would send you pics, but this computer is being lame and won’t do it. But I will try my best to get a good computer next week. I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!
Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

Priesthood Session Scramble

Hey everybody over there!!!

Yeah I really enjoyed conference as well. There is also a story that goes along with that. I call it Priesthood Session Scramble... Ok so there are a few lds church buildings here in Coban. So we were at a ward building for the first 2 sessions on Saturday and we got to listen to it in English! Then we headed to the Stake Center for the Priesthood session. We got there and as it was starting the audio for the broadcast, the English feed wasn’t working. So in the rain and wearing suits, all of us North Americans booked it out of the Stake Center to find the nearest taxi to take us to the building we were at in the first place. After helping this guy push his big truck into a garage, we found a taxi. We got to the other building right after the other North American missionaries did only to find out that they didn’t have English anymore there and that the Stake Center figured out the audio. So we got back in the taxi and headed back to the Stake Center. After all the mess and 35 quetz down the drain we ran into the building to hear that Jeffrey R. Holland had just spoken and that we missed it!!!!! He's my favorite!! Bummer and a half times 10!!! So I guess I will have to wait for the Liahona to get to me to be able to read his talk. But the rest of conference was fantastic and just for me with all the talks about what to do once home from a mission!! So sweet!

I don’t think we will be able to go all the way to Quetzaltenango for the temple dedication, but we will probably be able to go to the stake center here to see it! I hope so.

Yes I did get that package from you. They brought it up with them for the little mini conference we had this last week. Thanks! Long letter with your news?.....maybe? That’s not very specific. But if it’s the one where you got a job, then yes, and CONGRATS! Well guess what? I did find a good long sleeve white shirt, so if you didnt buy one yet, don’t worry about it. It took a little bit to find my size and one that wasn’t all destroyed, but it got found and was only about 2 dollars and 50 cents (20 quetz)! Special requests for Christmas? Not really. Pop tarts are in Guatemala now! Haha! and I have a good amount of Peanut Butter still. But maybe a little something for my companion. He is from El Salvador, but his parents are living in Belgium so he doesn’t really get anything from them. It is fine if you don’t get me anything for Christmas this year. I can wait until I get home.

Our food situation just got better because we just got an increase of the money we get every month! So we are eating burritos and other good things! Yay! And we have money to buy more fruits and veggies too....So it’s all good! But if you would pray for Concepcion (our investigator) to have food. Her family has nothing. Barely enough money to survive, literally. They don’t have a bed and are sleeping on the dirt floor of their small wooden shack. And she has 5 kids....it’s not the best situation...

Jhonny is progressing great! He wasn’t able to go to conference, even though he was going to go with us all day on Saturday because he couldn’t on Sunday. But it was his mom's birthday and he was going to come anyway but his sister never came over to help his mom out and make food and things like that. But a few days before that, we put a fecha with him! It is for the 22nd. So hopefully we can get him to church. Because he is reading the Book of Mormon and everything! It’s going great with him. Our other investigator, Concepción, is getting baptized this Saturday! She is Q'eqchi' so it has been great tuning up my Q'eqchi' and being able to teach those people again! But we have still not found good new investigators. It’s hard without help from the members since we have a big area, and it’s tough to figure out how to contact it effectively. So hopefully we find some soon or we won’t have any once our 2 investigators get baptized!

We just relaxed today for Pday. It was nice. Pday is usually really stressful because we are always running around everywhere to get everything done. But today was nice and chill.

Well I am pretty sure that is all! Thanks for everything and I hope you have a great week!!

Stay strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

I really am making everlasting friendships out here!

I am feeling a little bit better I guess. The rough thing is that I have had a sore throat for about 2 weeks now. I am going to get a strep test if it doesn’t go away soon. But we shall see what happens. So far it hasn’t really affected the work that much, which is a good thing. But I am just kinda tired of being sick all the time! I have been sick with different things for like 5 or 6 months now. But I guess that is just how it is sometimes. So I keep going and do what I can ya know?

Ha that is pretty sweet that all those guys came over! It’s weird to think that I will be seeing them all really soon. Oh good ol Tuxmek! Ha he would get in my bed.

(We had a few of Jordan's friends from his mission who are now at BYU over for dinner last night.) It’s definitely going to be sweet to come home and hang out with all those guys and go to mission reunions and things like that.

I agree with what you said about me preparing now for greater things to come in the future. This week Elder Bishop said a quote that I really liked. It goes something like this, "The 2 years of your mission are the best 2 years of preparation for the best years of your life." I don’t know if the Lord is trying to tell me something, but I have had quite a few close people in my life that have needed help, and it makes me wonder if it is to prepare me for the future times of my life or is it something else that the Lord will require of me through the experiences I have had (if that made much sense). I don’t know it just makes me think sometimes. When President Watts told me my new assignment he said that my job was really to just turn my companion around not only for the mission but for his life as well. So maybe that really is why I am where I am right now. Because we are finding little success even though we are working hard. But I know that the Lord calls and chooses His missionaries to be in certain places at certain times. Then it is up to us to find out what that reason is. But, what I do know is that if I try my best always, then I will be fine.

Well today for Pday we went to a place call Semuk Champey. It was super sweet! This computer isn’t working with the pictures, so I will send some next week (thanks to Elder Bronson and his mom for sending us the pictures in this post.) It was a long drive, but also really fun.

It is in city called Lanquín, which is on the way to a place call Cahobon. It is super sweet over there. I would really like to open one of those areas before I go home. There was a church in Cahobon like 50 years ago, but stuff went down and the missionaries were taken out of there. It would be super sweet to be there. It’s just like Senahú over there and with a little bit of talking to people and things that I have heard is that they speak really good, pure Q'eqchi'. If it is the will of the Lord there will be tons of baptisms over there if it is ever opened again. And it would make another Q'eqchi' speaking zone here in the mission too! That would be super sweet!!!

We are working hard here trying to find new ways to find new people to teach because contacting only goes so far and we don’t really get references here. So we shall see what happens. Jhonny is still doing good and we have been able to teach his wife too. But there is just once hitch, like always. He is waiting for a call on a job, and if he gets the job, he won’t be back to Carchá until I am home from the mission. So I pray that he finds a job here in Carchá. Because if he does, he is almost a sure baptism! It will be crazy to see what happens, we have an appt with him tomorrow. But we have a training conference with President too; hopefully we will still be able to make it to the cita. That about sums it up for investigators though. It’s hard when you have no one to teach...But there are people to teach…we just need to find ways to find them!

I am always ansy for conference now. Especially now that the world keeps digressing spiritually. It will be interesting to see what the Lord has to say to us about everything that is going down out here. I can't wait for this weekend.

Welp, big gulps ey...welp, see ya later.. Ha name the movie! That about sums up this week’s action! Mom and Dad, I promise I didn’t forget about your anniversary. I was waiting until this week to say CONGRATS! since it is closer to the event than last week. I hope you all have a great upcoming week!! Peace out!!

Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

I am 21 and super old now

Well I had a good birthday! Birthdays here in the mission aren’t the most exciting, but it was good! I am 21 and super old now haha. I am now 2 years out of being a teenager. I still feel 18 though! It is crazy how fast the time flies! A family that we all eat with after church got me a cake! That was really nice of them and fun!

That is weird that Allison is almost driving. I still don’t think she should be allowed to do that for at least 3 more years, she can’t be old enough for that yet!

I definitely read my scriptures in English; it’s just not the same to me in other languages. I read them in Q'eqchi' and Spanish every now and then, but I really only study my English ones. But I have had dreams in all of those languages. One dream I had, there was all 3! It was super weird! Isn’t it weird how our brains do that?

Well for Pday today, the Zone played soccer, but I stayed home with my comp because I have been sick this past week. But don’t worry, it’s not what you are thinking. It is just a simple cold that just doesn’t want to go away. But I will get better soon. I don’t really get to hang too much with E. Bronson, but I do get to see him and talk to him every Pday, so that is sweet! It’s crazy that we have been reunited being so old in the mission. We have known each other since day 1!!! Super insane!

(a picture from last week's activity)

I haven’t seen my birthday package yet. We don’t get packages sent to us through pouch being here outside of the Cap. and it didnt come in time for the ZLs to pick it up at Concilio, but I should get it next week, because President is coming up to see us and to do some training.

This week, nothing too exciting happened. I had a division with the ZLs, so I went to their area in Coban and was with E. Jensen (from Canada) so that was fun and a good little break that I needed. There isn’t anything in Carchá...but we live about 15 to 20 minutes outside of Coban. We have been working with Jhonny still, but he still hasn’t been able to come to church, hopefully we can get him to go this next week. We also found another guy named Carlos. He is really cool, but it’s going to be hard to get him to church. He works in our area Monday through Saturday until late at night, but he is home on Sundays in a different area here in Carchá, so it is only possible for us to teach him, but we have no idea where he lives so we can’t go pick him up on Sundays. We will figure something out though because he told us that he really wants to change. He was in a gang for a long time and now that he is out, he just wants to make up what he did to God and be able to change and have a new life. So I really hope we can help him understand that it is still possible for him to do it if he is willing to do his part. Other than that we really don’t have any investigators, it’s been hard finding new people. We don’t really get any references from the members so we are doing all we can. The ward is good, but it’s not great. The members are good in church, but outside of that, no. They don’t really help out a whole lot with the mission work and they never really do their home/visiting teaching. But that isn’t really new to me since almost every one of my areas has been that way.

Welp, all is well here in Guatland! I hope you all have a great week! Love you lots!
Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

Elder Smith in his "birthday suit!"

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY TO ELDER SMITH TODAY!!

Here he is looking quite spiffy wearing the new suit that he got custom made in Guatemala City for this birthday. (He and Elder Francks standing in front of the mission president's car that they wish they could drive.)

It sure is weird to not be with him to give him a hug on this special day, but we are so thankful that he is happy and especially healthy. He has grown into a man since he left home 19 months ago and we are so proud of who has become.

WE LOVE YOU JORDAN! SEE YOU IN 5 MONTHS!!

I wish people would just remember God

5 MONTHS TO GO!
(Thanks to Tamsin Bronson for sending this picture)

Sahil ch'oolejil choq' aawe sa' xkutankil laa yo'lajik!!!!!!!

HEY what's up!!
I am guessing that you asked Turek or Larsen how to say happy birthday in Q'eqchi'. I was so confused, I was like, WOW! Mom is pilas! Haha. I love you!

Carchá is going pretty good. Just opening the area and trying to find some investigators, since we don’t really have very many at all. My comp is cool. He knows Spanish, English, French, and Dutch. Not Q'eqchi' though. But a few of the Q'eqchi' investigators that we do have speak Spanish too. But they like Q'eqchi' better, so I teach in Q'eqchi' and he teaches in Spanish. The family we found, turned into nothing. But we are teaching a guy that is super awesome and really willing to learn! His dad was one of the first members in Carchá and he used to go to church with him when he was little. But his dad died before he hit age 8, so his mom started taking him to another church. But he is really great. As of this moment, his wife doesn’t even want to listen to us. But if we can get him to come to church, he will definitely get baptized!

I don’t have any pics of my new area yet but I will try and take some soon. It’s just always raining so I don’t take my camera out to work very often.

Well 9/11 definitely had an impact on me. That really makes me mad to hear that the mayor didn't allow any prayers or clergy as part of the memorial ceremony. To me, it really means that His coming really is at the doors. I wish people would just remember God. It makes me sad and sick to my stomach that people can change that much in just a matter of 10 years. I still remember that whole day even though it was 10 years ago. But we really didn't too much. It was Election Day here in Guatemala, so President had all the missionaries stay inside all day and not work after church. But I just kept a little memory of the day in my heart.

That is freakin sick about Lehi!!! Man how I wish my team ran that Wing T when I was there! That is super cool that they finally won a homecoming! It has been a loong drought!! If I ever end up coaching high school I will definitely run a modified Wing T, depending on who I got. I just dont see how I could with no college ball experience...But i would really like to do that. I’ve been thinking about some jobs I could do when I get back. I could teach at the MTC or I could do security at BYU! Those sound like good jobs with decent enough hours for me. I was also thinking that I could work at Big 5. I don’t think I will want to work at a bank again quite yet...Too many hours to be able to be focused enough on school and things like that. But we shall see what’s up when the time comes!

It is weird to think that I can count the time I have left on 1 hand now. Its crazy how fast the time goes out here. But like Dad said, games are won and lost in the 4th quarter – not in the 1st. My mission is the same - I will definitely keep working hard through this last 4th quarter until the end of my time.

This week I went back to Tanchi! They had another baptism but my district leader can’t speak Q'eqchi', so I went back and translated for him! It was a really neat experience. The man they baptized is super pilas too! He will be a great new member of the branch there. I also got to visit Hno. Erik and his family, it was amazing seeing them again. So after the interview we had to try to get back to Carchá...There were no more buses...so we starting walking back, hoping to find something, because the bus ride takes an hour. We would have had to walk like 4 hours to back to Carchá. Luckily, when we got back to the main road, there were some big trucks full of people heading to Carchá!! So we hopped on the back just holding on to the wooden frame that they had so that we wouldn’t die!! Haha but we made back just fine, just a little wet and dirty! But it all worked out just great. I am grateful that the Lord blessed us with that ride, or that would have been a looong walk back...

Then today we went to a place called Kaqi Pek. There is a HUGE waterfall there! So we went, and it rained, and the waterfall was powerful, and we all got soaked. But it was super fun and I took some good pics that I will try and send to you next week.

Well that is about all folks! I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! Thanks for the Birthday wishes. I still feel like I’m 18! It’s weird that I am so OLD now! Anyways, I will talk to you guys next week!

Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

Time flies when you are working hard

Elders Francks, Smith, and Hogan.
This is what missionaries look like when they come home after walking in the streets during Guatemala's famous "rainy season."

HEY Peeps!
The trip up to Carchá was rough. It usually takes 4 hours to get there from the cap and it’s usually in a fairly nice bus. Instead we were on a not so nice bus and it took 8 hours!!! We left at 1 pm and got to Coban at 9:30 pm! It was insane. So much traffic and time of not moving at all. So I didn’t get to Carchá until Thursday because there were no more buses that late. But our house is nice. I live with 4 elders again. E. Bishop, E. Ware, Me and my comp, E. Javier Rivera. He is from El Salvador and has been out in the mission for about 15 months. I really don’t miss being in the city at all. Coban is way better, but I do miss being in the office a little bit, that was nice. We have a good sized ward. There are 3 areas in Carchá. 2 for elders and 1 for sisters. Our area is the biggest and most spread out. We are practically opening it because they just barely switched the areas around so that most of the Q'eqchi' speaking areas in Carchá would be part of my area. So my area is mostly Spanish, but there is a lot of Q'eqchi' there as well. So it is really cool to be able to speak Q'eqchi' again. And still keep my Spanish going.

That sounds like a crazy BYU game! How did Ole Miss look?! I hope BYU gets hyped for that huge game against Texas! If we play really well with no turnovers we can pull it off!!! I still can’t believe that football season has started again! It seems like just yesterday when last season ended. Time flies when you are working hard I guess.

So at this moment we are kind of just working on trying to find new people to teach since we have no investigators or members in our area. So we shall see what we can do to get stuff moving along. Plus there hasn’t been a baptism here in a really long time. But so far we have found a couple of good possibilities including a cool family! So hopefully we will be able to keep finding them in their house to be able to keep teaching them.

(Never a dull moment! Always having fun and pulling crazy faces!)
Well I really wish that could write more, both nothing else has happened this week! Hopefully I can write you a better email next week. Sorry. But I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

It is amazing to be able to see the part the Lord let me play in the salvation of His children!

What’s up!?

There is news on my change actually, but I don’t work with the changes, only the assistants and president do that. But we had breakfast with President this morning and he pulled me aside to let me know about my new assignment. I am going to the area of Carchá, out in Coban. It is close to Tanchi and part of the same district. The assignment that President has given me is going to be quite challenging and I could really use your prayers. I will definitely have to learn a lot more patience and be able to be a good leader and make good decisions. I hope and pray to be able to fulfill the assignment that the Lord has given me.

More news. I have always said that I haven’t seen to much success on my mission. But it was a lie. Being in the office has allowed me to see why. I have been putting in some baptismal records when I noticed a few names and addresses. Throughout my mission I have found and taught many people! Out of the areas I have been in, besides the baptisms I was there for, I found out that 10 people that I found with my companions have been baptized! 1 in Atlántida (José), 1 in Sayaxché (Esperanza), 3 from Santo Domingo (Ronaldo Arturo, his wife Maria, and their daughter Vilma...they moved to Teleman and were just baptized by Elder Howard), 4 from Tucurú (Noé, and his family), and 1 from Tanchi (Bernardo, a really old man Laínez and I found). With each one of these people I had a part in finding them, and teaching them. It is amazing to look back and to be able to see the part the Lord let me play in the salvation of His children!

PACAS PACAS PACAS! They are the best ever! I haven’t really found very good dress clothes in them, but they sure do have the best ties! That's where all the sweet, fat polyesters come from that numerous elders have! Pacas get there clothes from the states. They buy big things of clothes, called pacas, from the states, it gets shipped down here and things are sold super cheap. Such as Ecco shoes for a good 100 quetz. That is like 15 bucks!! And not to mention sweet ties for 3 quetz, yes that is less than 50 cents! It is super nice! Paca shopping is the way to go! Haha

Yeah the sinkhole here is right in our area, it’s all fenced off, but what they did was just fill the hole with a huge load of cement. So it will be fenced off until it dries I guess. It is super crazy though! It blocks off some streets that would be convenient to get to places, but it is all good.

We did get your email reply for my travel plans home! We are trying to get things done way in advance now because we are having trouble with the group that goes home in November, so I hope that gets fixed while I am gone out of the office. We didn't really do anything when I hit 18 months, it just kind of came and left. But it was a good day!

Sé que el Señor vive y nos ama. Sé que esta Iglesia es la única iglesia verdadera sobre la faz de la tierra y sé que si nos esforzamos al hacer lo bueno cada día podemos ver milagros grandes en nuestras vidas. Yo comparto esto en el nombre de Jesucristo, nuestro Salvador. Amén.
Ninnaw naq li Qaawa' nokoxra. Nannaw naq li Ikless a'in a'an li junaj chi tz'aqal iklees sa' xb'een li ruchich'och' ut ninnaw naq wi taqayal qaq'e chixb'aanunkil li us wulaj wulaj tqil nab'aleb' li sachb'a-ch'oolej sa' li qayu'am. Ninye li waatin a'in sa' xk'ab'a' li Kriist, aj Kolol qe. Amen.

That about wraps it up for this week! I hope you all have a good week! Love you all!
Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

Loving life working in the mission office

Hey there everyone!
I hope you all have fun up in Sundance this weekend! I really do miss the mountains. Not just at home but also in Polochik. But right now I have come to the conclusion that I really wouldn’t mind staying here in the Office until I finish my mission. I am worried that if I go back to an area in the Chik I could get sick again and not have medicine. So I think I would really like to stay here!

I thought of another thing that you could send me since you are sending me a package for my birthday. I would really like another long sleeve shirt. One that has a button collar. I like the look of those a lot better and they are more comfortable. Could you do that for me?

That’s crazy to think that you scheduled a dentist appt for me already! Its nuts how fast the time has flown. I read a talk that was titled, “When Your Best Two Years Are Over.” It said that missionaries need to be excited to go home when their time is up. Also that our best 2 years should be on our missions up to that point in our life, and after our mission is over, that every year should be the best year of our lives. So right now I am excited to finish out my mission with all that I got and then to go home and see what the future has in store for me.

It’s not that I get fed by members so often, it’s just that I am a lot less hungry. I don’t really work very hard physically anymore so my body really doesn’t need that food energy. I don’t know, it’s weird, I am just never hungry at night. And I don’t eat weird things anymore.....its all just normal compared to things before.

Yeah it is true that I spend a lot more money being here in the cap. We don’t get too much monthly (which might change soon) so I really have to use a lot more personal money. But next month it should be better. We are trying to get more money for the missionaries here. We only get 1400 quetzales a month. The other missions here get 2000. So Hna. Watts is trying to get us the same as everyone else. We shall see when that happens. Until then, yeah I do use more personal money.

Well there isn’t really anything exciting or cool that happened this week. Just one thing that happened when we picked up materials. We had ordered tons of pamphlets and things like that. We got almost all the pamphlets we ordered but on top of that, the Distribution Center sent us one of every single item they have for some reason. Including English materials and missionary plaques with no names on them! It was super weird and confusing! Who knows what we are going to do with all that stuff!

Oh and I finally got your package that you sent back in May! With the Liahona, all those pictures, and that super sick tie! I don’t know what happened, but I got it! Ha and that tie is polyester even though you thought it wasn’t. So that was a big bonus! Silk ties just don’t hold up as well...But thank you so much! Loved it!

The Assistants were gone all week doing interviews and zone conferences in Cobán and Polochik. It was weird to have them gone for such a long time. Next week they are flying up to Petén for their interviews and zone conference.

Just a quick update on Fam. Vega. They are so fantastic. It’s hard to see that they have such a long way to go before they can get baptized since they have to be divorced and married. But this last week we went to teach them and they were studying the manuals of the church while reading their scriptures. They have the New Testament, Old Testament, and Doctrine and Covenants study manuals and they go through them as they study the scriptures. They said that they are doing it so that when they become active members of the church they will be able to fulfill their callings and things like that! It blew me away!!! They got all those books from a member that the wife works with. I really hope they can get everything done quickly so they can have that desire be met!

Well that wraps it up for this week! I hope you have a fantastic week!
Stay Strong.
Keep the Faith.
Love Elder Jordan Smith

I am grateful for the trials I have had.

Reunited again with Elder Howard during Zone Leader Conference

Office Elders and Assistants with President Watts

HEY!
That mission scrapbook you’re working on sounds so sweet! Thanks for doing that!

I got that little package with all those pictures and I got Jake’s letter, but not Aunt Wendy’s yet. And who knows about that liahona package. I haven’t seen a trace about that. I will try and figure it out though, since I work for that part of the mission! The only things I would really love in my birthday package are some nice polyester ties. That is pretty much about it! I have my store of Peanut Butter to last until I go home so I think I am good! So pretty much just that. Thank you so much. You rock!

Through all the rough times I have been through with my health and things like that I really have seen the mission differently. I thought I was dedicated before, but now I am even more so. I am able to see the hand of the Lord more often and I have been able to understand more of my specific purpose as a missionary. I haven’t seen the most success on my mission. But I know if it had been any different, I wouldn’t be how the Lord wants me to be. I am grateful for the trials I have had. They have helped me become a better person. I still have lots of things to work on, but I have improved, that is for sure....

The families we are teaching are good....I guess. Fam. Pineda doesn’t really want to listen to us anymore, and they had a fecha! I don’t know what happened. Fam. Gil we are teaching finally tonight. They have been busy all week so we shall see how it goes! But they said that they talked about getting married, so we shall see! The wife really wants to be baptized. So it looks really good with them. The other families both need to have divorces done with previous spouses and then married again. They are still coming to church, but they aren’t really progressing because of that challenge that they have. But it is looking good. Hopefully we will be able to baptize Fam. Gil in a couple weeks!! But rumors are that I am leaving the office next change. So I hope I get to at least stay to see them be baptized. That has happened quite often though. 3 people have been baptized that I have found, and then left the area. So we shall see what happens in this case.

Today for p day we played basketball for like 3 hours! In an indoor gym! The only indoor gym in our mission! And it’s in our zone. Elder Toolson and some other missionaries came too. We played from 6 am to 7 am with them and then just the office elders and APs until 9:30 am because it’s our Pday! Crazy huh! It was super fun, but now my legs are tired, but so worth it though! And I picked up my suit today finally too! Its ballin!!!

I forgot one thing. A lesson we had last night, I just have to tell you about. We had planned to teach Pilar, an investigator that had a fecha and we are trying to put it back with her. We taught her at the bishop’s house along with her sister and her brother in law, the mission leader. We planned well for the lesson and we felt really prepared and ready to go. We got there and everything was going good, besides the fact that the mission leader's little girl wasn’t feeling very well. We were teaching, all fine and dandy, the little girl had practically fallen asleep. She was on a couch and I was on a chair next to that couch. Next thing I know, she is projectile vomiting all over me. It was fantastic. After that was all cleaned up, kinda, we continued onward! We had everyone bear their testimonies. The bishop gave one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. It was so powerful and the Spirit was so strong. So we asked her to be baptized on the 20th of August as she had accepted before, but then didnt want too. She said....no. It was hard. We still don’t really understand why. She knows the church is true, she just says she isn’t ready. We had planned and worked so hard. But nothing more could have gone wrong and at the same time nothing more could have gone right in that lesson. Hopefully she will accept another fecha in the near future.
Well guys I love you and I hope you have a great next week!
Stay Strong
Keep the Faith
Love Elder Jordan Smith

Only 6 more to go!

By Leslie Smith:
One year ago Elders Winkel, Bronson, and Smith took this picture to celebrate their 6 month mark. Today they all celebrate only 6 more months to go! Also celebrating this milestone in the mission today are Elders McPhee, Lusty, Hatch, Morrow, Dixon, and Fadel! I'm so thankful for these fine young men who have all been great friends and examples to my son. Can't wait for the Party At The Airport with their families 6 months from now!!!

For the first time in my mission I am teaching a family that is already married!

Honestly I think that my improved health has been a little bit of both medication and time. The medicine has helped reduce the pain so that over this time I have been able to actually improve. It’s super great! I am supposed to call the doctor again this week to see what I do after the medicine is gone in a couple more weeks.

I am pretty sure that the Buenos Aires North Mission is where Elder Saavedra lives. That is super cool that Carlos and Jason served there because he tells me about Argentina all the time.

That is so crazy that Sidney got baptized today, that just blows my mind. She can’t be old enough for that yet! Tell her congrats for me ok?!

Ooh I can’t wait for those BYU Football updates. I am super excited for the season and I am not even home! Haha! It’s funny, but nothing really makes me baggy (homesick). I know I am here for a purpose and will work hard until my time is up. I really hope to be able to be here in the office one more change to be able to baptize a family. It would be so joyous! Then I can go back to the Chik. Those mountains are calling my name every day! I am Polochik baggy!

That’s sick about Jake making the golf team and being co-captain this year! He is gonna grab that scholarship for sure if he doesn’t let some big 5A players to get to his head.

YES! We played basketball for about 2 hours today!!! And we play basketball every other day too because we have a small little court behind our house. It is so much fun!!! I love it so much! To be able to get out there and compete a bit, ya know! It keeps me alive!!

Yeah I like being in the office. It’s been good so far. I have spent most of my time fixing a lot of the organization, making things look better...such as the change cards that we have and a memory book that we give to the elders going home. They were just all over the place. So I put them in alphabetical order and made them all the same. They were all different shapes, with different fonts and things, it was annoying. But it’s all fixed now. Then I also helped with some spelling and grammar with some of the Q'eqchi' materials that we have. I had already fixed it in my own copy, so I just looked at my copy and made the appropriate changes on the computer file. So it has been great! The hardest for me right now is one of my companions. He really tries the small amount of patience that I have. I talked about it with President during interviews this past week, it really helped. I already knew what I needed to do, but he helped get it farther into my system. I know that this situation will really help my patience grow, if I allow it to. It’s been difficult, but it is getting better every day. So it will all be ok in the end. The Lord wants me to grow, I just have to commit myself more to His will and to what He wants me to be.

I looked a little bit today for that camera cord dealy. I can buy one just fine; it will just cost about 200 quetz.... I would say that that is about 25 bucks, so it’s not too much. I will buy one soon and send more pictures.

We are teaching numerous families right now so we have a high possibility for us to baptize that chosen one. We are teaching Fam. Vega, Fam. Aviche, Fam. Gil, and Fam. Pineda! It’s great, but hard at the same time. Fam. Pineda accepted a fecha this week!!! So sweet!!! The problem with Vega and Aviche is that they both need to get divorced and married, and Fam. Gil needs to get married. However, Fam. Pineda IS MARRIED!!! For the first time in my mission I am teaching a family that is already married! SO GREAT! Their problem is that it is really hard for them to make it to church, so we are working with them on that, but they are planned to be baptized on the 3 of Sept. And then Pilar is the sister in law of our Mission Leader - her fecha is not this Saturday, but the next. She is really great and has a big desire to be baptized. She is about 19 years old. She went with the young men and young women to the temple the other day. It’s really great, because she knew she couldn't enter, but she wanted to go to be with the jovenes and be able to feel the spirit of how it is right outside of the House of the Lord. Super amazing! This area is great! It’s hard because we don’t get as much time in the area as I am used to, but we are finding success, so it is so amazing!

WOW, I wrote a lot this week. Ha are you happy mom? Haha. I love you all and I hope you have a good week!
Stay Strong
Keep the Faith
Love Elder Jordan Smith