Tuesday, April 29, 2014

CASABLANCA, "the beginning of [another] beautiful friendship”

Hello family!


Chapel for the Casablanca Ward.
Cerro Colorado in the background.
Today I am writing from a new area! That's right. I got transferred. I'm still in TJ, but my area in called - get this CASABLANCA. I keep thinking of all those cheesy one-liners from the black and white movie! hahaha. 

Well, It's been hard. real hard. I did NOT want to leave Reforma. I called the zone leaders just to make sure that it was right. I LOVE the Barrio Reforma so darn much, but I know from basically a whole life of experiences that change is a good, even an essential thing.

Chapel where the Reforma Ward (Barrio) meets,
which Joel had been serving since his arrival
On Friday we helped with la conferencia de la Primaria. The whole primary (all of the congregation's children) helped us make visits, offer service, and even teach investigators. It was SO fun! Probably the most fun I've had on my mission! Everywhere we went, we sang Soy un Hijo de Dios. Kids are just too darn adorable!

On Saturday we had another baptism. That was fantastic! She is definitely what i we call here in the mission una escogida. We use that to describe a person who the Lord has truly prepared to hear the news of the Restoration. She learned to recognize the spirit so quickly, she showed such an enthusiasm for learning and growing. It was such a blessing to teach her. Sometimes, I felt like I wasn't even doing that much because she progressed so beautifully!  Her daughter was so close to being baptized with her, but she just wasn't quite ready to make the decision. That's why it was so hard to leave! I feel like I have unfinished business in Reforma, but oh well.

Sunday was a hard day. I just love those people so much! Sacrament meeting was very...como les diré..fulfilling. We had a confirmation, another recent convert passed the sacrament for the first time, and the attendance has officially doubled since I arrived. I was sitting there thinking hard about it. Then I came to the realization that the Lord has done so much for this ward. And that's the thing - He did it. I really didn't do anything. 

When I first arrived in Reforma, I was overwhelmed because I had no idea how I was ever going to be able to help them. I realized that the Lord had never expected me to fix everything by myself. But I'm glad that Elder Torres and I were able to see the blessings of hard work and obedience. Basically, I LOVE this! Everything is so worth it! 

Sorry for the short letter, and the absence of pictures. I forgot my camera.
I LOVE you guys and I wish the best of luck to Erinn at Nationals and Spencer's driving!
Elder Smalley

Monday, April 21, 2014

A Fulfilling Holy Week

Buenos dias! Happy Easter! 

I wouldn't really have known that it was Easter except it has been a full moon this week. There is no Easter here, okay well there is but it has a different name and its only a catholic holiday. Its called  
Holy Week (or semana santa in Español), and everyone has been out of school. 


Goodnews! I finished the Book of Mormon again! Our Presidente invited us to read 2 chapters everyday, that way we can finish in 4 months. Well I set the goal to finish April 15, because I arrived here on December 16 and I reached it! Typically, I am always hurrying to finish and I don't take time to contemplate the last few books. But they have meant a lot to me. I think Mormon chapter 9 is one of my new favorite chapters!


Well I got the funeral programs for John Coons & Bryan Byrge Mom sent on Monday. I think that's when it finally sunk in. I cried for quite a while that day.

On Thursday we had interviews with the President. It went really well. I left feeling a lot better about a lot of things. OH YEAH. I got sick this week. Like really sick. I got away 4 months without anything and then...this. haha it was just a common cold but it was bad. The good thing is that my immune system is working like a pro because of all the jalapenos and habaneros I'm eating. but that was also a curse because I could not keep up with blowing my nose. We really couldn't afford to take a break so I just pushed through it, and it was fine. 

Well we had an other baptism on Saturday. We have working on reactivating and completing families so that's been fun. The baptism went a lot smoother this time, hahahahah, except when I was checking the water, and my planner fell into the font! I guess I will never forget this transfer. Speaking of which it is almost over holy cow! one more week till who knows what!

This week has felt very fulfilling. Even though 99% of people break your heart as a missionary (NO exaggeration), the 1% definitely more than make up for it! It is so exciting to watch people change and develop faith, and to see myself change and develop faith! 

Well I hope you had a happy Easter. I am seriously craving some peeps and jolly wrancher jelly beans haha ... in 2 years....
mucho amor,
Elder Smalley

Monday, April 14, 2014

Almost Lost My Head

Hi there guys! 

Oh my goodness, Spencer is 16?? when did he turn 15? haha just kidding.
"Happy 16th Spencer"

Well this week was pretty suave (which in Mexico is used to say cool). NOT temperature wise. It is seriously getting very hot! And you know what that means...it means a lot of things, one of them being CUCARACHAS. Thankfully we haven't had too many, but they are seriously huge. 

Also, this week I have been very frustrated with Tijuana. It's a great place, it's just the directions. More specifically the house numbers. THEY MAKE NO SENSE. I am sure that people just choose whatever number they want and then put it on their house, and then there are the houses that have no number at all. It basically makes it impossible because there will be #6 right next to #8402. It's just something you have to learn to deal with, but this week I was particularly annoyed because we went to go find inactive members on the ward list. We tried that for about an hour. Sometimes the hardest thing to deal with is wasted time.
Steep hill, where he almost lost his head


On Wednesday we had exchanges for a baptismal interview so I went to another area. It was fun, because I was companions with Ciera's cousin but I thought I was going to die when a dog almost bit my head off! There was a gate, but the dog was about at head level because we were on a sidewalk on a very steep hill. I needed a minute to recover from the unexpected trauma of that one hahaha!

About 2 months ago, we met a menosactiva (less active church member), and started teaching her 10 year old daughter and she was baptized on SaturdayFriday night was really hectic because the ward mission leader "lost his keys" and the Stake President forgot to purchase the baptismal clothing. But everything worked out miraculously! 

Well I hope you know that i love you all!
Elder Smalley

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Conference Weekend

Hello Family!

How are you guys? How are you doing?  I am just so happy after watching conference! I don't know why it impacted me so much, but the spirit was just so strong, even in Spanish - and even though the translator did not come near to doing justice to the tone of Elder Holland haha.

There were a lot of "one-liners" that really stood out to me, but maybe that's just because I was listening in Spanish! But I want to share the ones that I really enjoyed. They may be a bit different because I had to translate them back to English.

  • "blessings are often delayed to help us grow faith" - President Eyring
  • "danger lurks when we divide ourselves" - Elder Scott
  • "we are here to learn how to manage the feeling of our bodies" - Linda S Reeves
  • "we need the strength that comes from trusting in the prophets" - Elder Anderson
  • "destructive words can take a dangerous situation to fatal" - Elder Zwick
  • "Who we are is not who we can become...WE NEED TO CHANGE" -Elder Hallstrom
  • "what does your heart desire" - Randall Ridd
  • "are you sleeping through the restoration? ... get out!" "when we are grateful, we can find peace in times of affliction" - President Uchtdorf
  • "true happiness does not mean being free from burdens" - Elder Bednar
  • "blame keeps wounds open, only forgiveness heals" - President Thomas S Monson


Well if these quotes are wrong, it's because I listened in a language that I don't understand hahahaha! 

I am so grateful for these talks! It is so edifying to have things be  "[brought] to [our] remembrance"! If I could sum up this week, it would be that I am so grateful for the Lord's help. I really don't know how it is even possible for me to do this work. I'm not a good teacher, it's a miracle that anyone can even understand my greengo accent, and there is so much doctrine that I need to understand better, but I feel like my efforts have been blessed. It has really been an eye opener to me. 2 Nefi 32:9 has really come alive for me! He will always help, we just need to ask!

well I hope you all have a fantastic week!
I love you so much!
Elder Smalley