March 31, 2014

MOM!

The week went great. I´m with my new comp right now, Elder Bertha from Cali. He´s awesome. It´s pretty funny, people here think that California and Florida are right next to each other, just because the two have beaches. But he´s great, I´m learning a lot from him.

The Zone is happy, my comp and I are getting ready to gie a multi-zone training tomorrow about the new changes in the work here. We´re gonna change how the missionaries work with members, and it´s gonna be great.

For the package, I need a USB drive with a good amout of memory to stroe my photos. If you can send that, you won´t need to worry about the little memory cards. I can just download all the photos off my camera, to the USB, and keep using the same one. Sorry, didn´t think about that last time. And some family photos, and I´ll be good. Thanks so much mom

The world cup is arriving, and everyone´s starting to go nuts. American football crazy doesn´t come close to Brazilian Soccer crazy. When two big teams in São Paulo are playing, and a team scores a goal, people fire guns into the air and throw bombs onto the street. It´s nuts. But it´s pretty cool because there ae about 6 fundamental teams, and everyone has a team. People are always in soccer jerseys of there favorite team, there house painted the team colors, it´s nuts. Mine is Flamengo, a team frm Rio. But before the cup in Brasil, everyone paints there house blue, green, or yellow, and the whole city gets together, and paints the streets yellow too. It´s already started in some places. I´ll see if I can send a picture. But I´m excited. The only problem is that nobody will be on the streets, the members won´t answer their doors, and we won´´t even be able to knock doors, ecause we could get shot. So things´ll be nuts, but I´m pumped. The excited spirit in the air is contagious, and not just because the air smells like alchohol almost always.

But yeah, so I´m pretty stoked. The comp is great, the ward is great, the area is great, the stake is great, and the Zone is great. So everything is great.

Tell Mae I said good luck! And give G a hug for me, but be careful of his arm.

Love you!

Elder Smith

Dad,

 

the week went great. Transfers came and went again, and the Zone Leader area was moved. So now i´m in Jardim Ângela (Angel Garden?) with my new companion, Elder Bertha. He´s from San Fran, really awesome missionary. He´s helping me out a lot. It was sad to seperate with Elder Gillespie, but I´m pumped for this next transfer. Tomorrow, We´re going to get together with the Ranieri zone for an impromptu Zone Conference. We have some great new ideas about working with the members, and we´ve gotta start it. I love working on huge projects like this. The goal is to get the Stake to the point where the members find, we teach, and they baptize. But this will take a long time. So we won´t get to see the fruits of the labor we´re starting here... And I kinda like that. I´don´t care anymore about the numbers. What´s important is that the Lord is accellerating his work, and he´s called me to play a part in it. The change in the work here in Brasil is going to start, and It´s gonna start in our Zone.

 

So we´re working hard. Opening an area as a ZL is difficult, but I think it´s the most fun I´ve had so far. President Pinho gave a great quote:

 

"He who loves his job, never has to work"

 

I love that. I don´t feel like I´m working anymore. The only annoying thing is that there aren´t enough hours in the day. But, I´m excited for the new changes. My new ward is the best I´ve had so far. The members are exctied, and willing to help us. So we´ve decided to just translate the area. I´ll tell you how it goes.

 

But anyway, I´m happy and working. The Zone is happy too, other than one of my good friends Elder Maynard. He´s from Pocatello, and his brother passed away yesterday. He still seems fine, I don´t think it´s hit him yet. We´re gonna keep an eye on him these next few weeks.

 

But other than that, everything is great. Hows work? You don´t tell me about the crazy people that come into the Hospital anymore, I miss those stories.

 

Love ya, give Grant a hug for me

 

Elder Smith