June 30, 2014

The picture I sent I just recieved from one of my recent converts. The rest of the family isn´t in the picture, but they are the baptism that made my mission. I think you already have the photos of their baptisms. If not, sorry :(

But life is great! the EMBU zone was blessed with 27 baptisms this month, more than ever. I love my companion, we work well together. Every single missionary in the zone baptized this month, so everyone is incredibly happy and excited. 

PRESIDENT DALTON CHEGOU!!! We have mission leadership council tomorrow, so I´ll get to know him. He seems like a great man from the little I talked with him on the phone. It was so wierd the day the president changed. It feels like my dad left. Dad will know what I mean. But it´s strange.

I went to the doctor on tuesday. While I was sitting there in the waiting room for 2 hours, I realized how grateful I am for Dad. I´ve never really had to wait like that, he just always took care of me at home. And here in Embu, the buss passes we have don´t work, because it´s the only zone in the mission outside of the city of São Paulo. So, we spend a TON of money on transit. We do exchanges daily, have reunions, and have to reslove problems here and there, so the cash we spend on the bus adds up. In consequence, we didn´t have a lot of food this week. That´s when I realized how grateful I am for Mom. When I was at home, I never worried about the fridge being empty or going hungry, because the fridge was always full. I realized how much you did for me, small things that I never realized until now. 

   This week, as I continued my in-depth study of the Book of Mormon, I arrived in 2 Néfi 4. There´s a verse that hit me really hard, and made me think of my parents. It says the following : 

"But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it."

   You raised me "in the way I should go", and I did not depart from it. Much of who I am today is because you always stuck with me. My companion was raised without his father. He asked me one day about Dad. I told him about how Dad always taught me how to be a good man through example. I told him about the story of the stolen bycicle. Ask Dad if he remembers. My companion laughed, and told me how lucky I was to have a Christ-like father. He tells me how much he wants to meet Dad, and asks me to share stories about him almost every day. I also share stories about Mom, since his mom was always working, he never saw her very much. I tell him about how Mom was always laughiong about something. About how Mom never complained, and how she would firmly let me know when I was out of line, to help me back. As I told him about my family, I realized how blessed I am. 

   Yesterday evening, we were sharing stories of our younger siblings. I told how Grant is the best friend I have. I told him about how we used to go to movies, play soccer, hyave crazy nerf gun fights when Mom and Dad went out of town, and my eyes swelled up a bit. I miss our car rides together, I miss just talking with him. I´m not missing home, but I miss Grant. If you could put him in a box and send him over that´d be great.

But anyway, I´m great. I´m all better now, the doc put me on some heavy meds. The medicine here in Brasil is way strong. They don´t have all the same laws, so the medication knocks you out.

Love you, thanks for the letters, and all of the prayers!

Élder Smith