It was crazy how many people came!

Dad note: Here is a pic of the entire mission from when Bishop Davies came to visit the mission back in February. Joel is in the very back, to the right of center.


Hi there fam!
Holy cow, is it really 20 weeks? Haha. Well this week has been SUPER awesome, probably like the best week of my mission.

Adjusting to a new companion has been interesting, but Elder Torres is pretty great. He is a really quiet person, but he teaches so powerfully, and he is really focused on the missionary purpose. He has high expectations for everyone and I LOVE that. He speaks zero english, but he is really excited to learn. It has been interesting, to have to show the area to someone else, I've had a great opportunity to step outside of the comfort zone!

Well everybody in the mission office is freaking out about my back. On Friday, they made me go to another Doctor. Waste of time. Basically, he just told me to have good posture and not carry heavy things. Oh yeah, he prescribed a faja, which from what I can understand is a back brace. Huh, YEAH RIGHT. There is no way that I am walking around in the sun all day with that on. [Dad note: google translates faja as "girdle". I don't think I'll share that fact with Joel!]

I am just really happy, I have felt the spirit so strongly this week. I have really seen the blessings that come from effective planning and study! We have had some pretty powerful lessons this week!

Everything led up to this Sunday! We had ward conference. We really focused on getting less active members and investigators to come. It was crazy how many people came! There were 92 people, including 9 non members. Usually the attendance is around 50 so that was HUGE! The 9 were all from our teaching pool except for two. A member brought a couple that have never talked to the missionaries before. We talked to them, and they live in another ward, so we passed along a great referral to those missionaries!

So it feels like progress, poco a poco I guess. More and more of the members are getting excited about sharing the gospel. This week we had 20 lessons with a member present (the standard of excellence is 15). So, we trust more baptisms will follow.

I really like the picture I'm sending, because it doesn't show how fat I am getting. I'd prefer to not think about it. Everything is cooked with oil, and jalapeño haha

Take care, love you guys so much!

Elder Smalley