Hola Fam!!!
Wow this week has been great! It has been great because I have really learned a lot, most of it "the hard way" haha. Its all good, but I'll get to that later.
Remember how I said that my companion and I just laugh all the time. It's getting worse. I am so grateful for my companion. He keeps me working hard, but we definitely have our fun times. Hah I feel like we have come to both see each other's bad sides. I have seen how crazy he gets when he's sleep deprived, and he's seen how angry I get when I'm fasting hahaha. oh well.
Well probably the funniest thing ever happened Monday night. This dog was barking and following us so I bent down to pretend to pick up a rock (which makes them run away) only my pants ripped. haha it was huge. We were right outside the house of an investigator and it was an appointment so we decided we would figure it out after. Well I sat down really fast and the lesson went really great.
When we finished with a prayer the investigator said "aren't we going to kneel?" uhh okay hahah so I was kinda panicking but everything went okay.
After we got out we realized that we didn't have enough money so we had to walk home. yikes. haha we laughed about it the whole way. I know, I know, I'm getting really fat so don't even say anything! I weighed myself for the first time since the MTC. 194 pounds which is the same that I weighed after 5 weeks in the MTC, only my body is not the same mass that it was in the MTC. I'm going to stop thinking about it because it makes me want to cry...
Well we had awesome results last week. This week was really mas o menos to be honest. I can see several reasons why. Sobre todo, pride. Gah! pride is such an annoying cycle for me! How am I so slow to remember these things? I don't know. I also feel like I could have done more. I feel like I really haven't reached my potential, which is stressful, but I know that Heavenly Father has given me all the tools I need to reach it, so that gives me hope.
I am really glad for the sacrament. I feel such a stronger urgency to partake of it, and witness unto God that I am willing to renew the promises that I have made. The Holy Ghost is real, and the constant companionship of it really depends on our disposition to keep our covenants. I am also just really grateful for a Heavenly Father who sometimes waits for me to work a little bit harder before he blesses me with what I want.
The ward is really getting excited, It makes me so happy. Our stake president is AWESOME. we had ward conference yesterday. loved it. I am so happy to be here, and working with these people. big shout-out to the Autumn Hills mia-maids class. I got the package. loved it.
Love you all!Elder Smalley
April 13, 2015
Hey there!
This week has been really crazy as well! Remember when I said that we are waiting for the mission to bring us our stuff and for the owner to fix our house. Yeah, nothing has changed so far but this morning the mission office called and apologized and said that everything will be delivered tomorrow
. Maybe, just maybe, tonight will be my last night sleeping on the floor! Haha not counting on it.
This week we have really just wo
rked very hard to find investigators and set baptismal dates. In the first half of the week we really didn't see the results. Then after Thursday everything exploded and we ended up with 15 new investigators and 8 of those 15 came to church!!! I was so happy i really thought that we would have nobody in church! It was also the first time that we met the ward so it was a really good first impression :) When they saw how many investigators were here they were all super excited. Such an emotional testimony meeting.
Apart, the ward is just so happy to finally have missionaries again! One of the greatest things was that one of those who came to church was the husband an active convert. We ate with her during the week and his husband got home right as we were teaching the lesson. He stayed for the lesson and we felt prompted to invite him to come to church and he came and now he is really excited to be investigating. Everyone was shocked. They said that he has been really closed to missionaries. His wife and his daughter were so happy that he came!
My companion Elder Hadley and I have a really hard time not laughing uncontrollably. Its going to be a problem... haha i can't even think of a quote of the week because everything was just so funny! On Saturday
he felt really sick but couldn't throw up so the zone leaders told him to drink salt water to make him throw up. I seriously could not stop laughing. SO FUNNY.
I went on intercambios with Elder Lier. We had a good time talking about old times. We contacted a lady that said she had talked to missionaries a year ago. she said she lived in Guaycura. Elder Lier and i just looked at each other and said "was it us?' haha.
About 30 Chinese restaurantes have been closed here in Tijuana because they are taking dogs off the street and putting it in their food. Not even surprised...it has caused quite the crisis.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER AND SHANNON!
Love you all,
Elder Smalley
April 6, 2015
SEVENTEEN MONTHS, ahhh! no!!! Time is flying by so darn fast! This week has gone by so fast,
and was almost even crazier than the last. so much has happened and then there was conference.
First off, I am way excited to be back in Tijuana, but it is super cold here compared to Mexicali. I am literally shivering. I am in a zone that i have never been in before, in the Independencia stake. Its right by the ocean, which is probably why I am FREEZING. I'm also right by the border, and have an excelente view of San Ysidro from my area. Its a really old part of Tijuana, but its not ghetto. Its actually super seguro [safe]. It is a maze of roads and back alley ways and secret passages I feel like there should have filmed a speed chase in one of the Bourne movies here haha. There are houses just piled onto each other. Love it.
So this is the third area that I have opened on my mission, but it has still been uniquely challenging. The Lord has not let me get prideful, I feel such a desperation for His guidance. the whole ward
has really suffered and eveyone is just super desanimado. It reminds me a lot of Reforma when I first arrived there. All the members are so worried that we are going to give up on them. But I tell them not to worry. I have definitely learned that expectations are LIES! The Lord has promised success in every part of his vineyard, but poor expectations can ruin any chances of achieving success. I will admit, this week was rough. I have never spent so much time knocking doors and tracting without seeing the results. I was starting to stress out because finding investigators was our first priority and we were not seeing the results. I feel a lot of pressure (mostly self imposed) to
get this area up and running.
I Just need to remember that I am here to serve God. I wondered if I just needed more patience or if there was something that i needed to change. I think it was a little bit of both. I learned so much from general conference. It was just perfect. Every talk was just what I needed. My favorite was the one about learning to hear the music. It is so easy to go through the motions of a missionary without really being focused on the purpose to bring others to Christ. So good!
Well the secretaries let them know last Sunday that we were coming on Monday, so our house was not ready for us. We are sleeping on the floor and today they should finally be putting the floor in the
bedrooms and fixing up the shower. Tomorrow the mission is going to bring us our fridge (YAY!!!) and the bed frames. Also our area book is the worst area I have ever seen. Basically useless haha. In the whole book, we only found 3 records with a complete address. two of those people have already moved. Hah!
I think it is such a beautiful opportunity to be here in this ward. It has been hard for me to keep control of my emotions. Basically I am becoming just like Dad haha! I feel so dependent on the atonement at every moment. I hate accepting that I can't do everything by myself, I really do, but it is the first step. I am Learning so much, haha. There is a scripture in DyC 43 that says that I am here to teach and not to be taught. Oops! :)
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Elder Smalley
March 30, 2015
Hello family!!!
Guess what! Im in Tijuana! It feels so good to be back! It is like coming home! literally so happy!The ward is called Palmeras, and once again, I'm opening the area. It has been closed for quite a long time and everyone was super surprised when they announced that they were going to open it. I am a district leader and guess what! Elder LIER is my zone leader!!! My compañero is Elder Hadly. He has 3 months, just barely finished his training, and is from Bountiful! so excited! Apparently the assistants are in my district so I will be interviewing their investigators. kinda scarey.
Wow. I just had the craziest week of my life. I remember the weekend when I had swim state, two choir concerts, a halftime show, and a cheer competition all in one weekend and I think this week totally tops that haha. So much has happened and I can't even remember it. We baptized! Edwin was so excited to be baptized! Also I discovered Friday morning that my comp had a huge disobedience problem, so the parenting continues haha. Also we found so many new investigators and so many committed to coming to church that we had no idea how we were going to get them all there!
Darnit! This was supposed to be the ward that I didn't get attached to, but I spent the whole weekend on the verge of tears when I found out I was leaving. I also spoke in church. I just completely lost it. I was so excited for that talk. I wanted to share a reference that Elder Richard G. Scott used from Ezra Taft Benson in the last general conference. It was super good! look it up!
Well I got to go! love you all!
Elder Smalley
PS. Is it just me or does Edwin's mom totally look like Jenn??? just me....
March 23, 2015
Hey there familia!
This week has flown by I really don't think I can remember anything that has happened. haha we'll see.
First, the quote of the week has a really long story. As we were leaving the internet cafe last Monday I get a call from one of the companionship in my district. There was a problemita. So I called the zone leaders and let them know. About an hour later the assistants called me and asked me a couple questions about it and about 10 minutes after that the Presidente himself calls me and asks a couple more questions. After that, my companion turns to
me and says, 'who's next, the prophet???' haha we had a pretty good laugh.
Well it seems that the problem got resolved. It makes me sad when missionaries get resentful because they don't
realize that our purpose is to help them, and not just to punish them. Is this what parenting is like? I feel like I definitely owe a huge apology to mom and dad haha. I'm never having kids.
I have been amazed at the way the Lord has put very prepared people into out path! Every time it is such a
miracle! We we walking and a less active member pulls up and says he wants us to visit him. When we went, we found out that his wife is super interested in learning more about the church. when we taught her, it became clear that she has so much real intent and easily accepted to be baptized. But, they aren't married so that may take a
while, but they have the desire! We met another investigator that two other Elders had contacted. She was also very open and extremely excited to learn more! After our first lesson, we invited her to say the prayer and she was nervous and her sister said she would do it. Well she offered one of the most sincere and powerful first prayers
I've ever heard and we all started crying. Then the other investigadora said that she wanted to pray too and she also offered an awesome prayer as well. It totally schooled the lame opening prayer that I said. So there it is, my investigators are teaching me more that I am teaching them. ha.
Wait! This week I totally realized that i never gave Brother Zeyer his mentoring pin! oops. random, I know.
Well I have reflected a lot about what I wrote last week about the whole 3 areas 6 compañeros thing. haha I am seriously one of the most made fun of Elders in the mission. Everyone tells me that the mission
President just forgets about me when he does transfers hahaha. One thing this whole experience has taught me is to not complain. I know, it's like one of may talents haha, but seriously. I've learned that the Lord does what he does because he loves us. He knows what is best. If I just wait with patience I can see later on the greater
purposes for everything that has happened to me. That is so beautiful! Also I've learned that things are actually not as bad as they seem. I feel so much more loved as a result!
Take care! LOVE YOU ALL
Elder Smalley!!!
Hey There!
This happens every time I go to write, I have this mental list of things i'm gonna tell you about and then I forget it all. This week has been super good! cold, then extremely hot, but good!
big shoutout to my cousin Shauna, who still writes me. She met my mission president in Rosarito the other week. I was all sorts of confused when the president responded to my weekly letter saying that he had met my cousin.
Well like I said I have been stressing about who I'm gonna baptize this month. Well I have good news and bad news. The good news is yes, we are going to have another baptism, the bad news, and its really not bad news, is that it's ANOTHER niño. haha oh well. We went back with a former investigator that we had kinda forgotten about for a while and they really started to progress. Then we started teaching her daughter too and she got excited and everyone was excited and then they didn't come to church which means that they won't be able to be baptized this month. oh well. but they are seriously awesome and I just hope that we can get them to come this week! The mom was so happy that her daughter is listening to us. She always gives us referrals and when people walk by in the street she invites them to come and listen to our lesson.
I have really focused on teaching and testifying from the heart and not just repeating mindlessly the principles. It has brought drastic results. They spirit really does testify of all truth, when it's sincere.
So probably the greatest thing ever was when we did exchanges with the zone leaders and Elder Watts came here with me. we were walking and he had to go and couldn't hold it anymore so we knocked someone's door and he asked to use their bathroom. hahaha The man said yes. While he was in there I contacted him. He was really nice but said he wasn't interesting in learning more about the restoration. Well at least we planted a good seed, or maybe a bad one I don't really know.
Yesterday the hour changed again which is good because now there isn't an hour of daylight before 6:30. The week started out really cold, and now it's really hot. I don't get it.
I think that everyone in the district is gonna baptize again this month, hopefully. The Hermanas have just been really sick. It has really frustrated me because they are both super awesome misioneras that have so much potential but they have been staying home like 50 percent of the time. haha I kinda felt like Captain Moroni in Alma 60 but I just got to remember that Moroni was mistaken in his accusations so I can't really judge their situation because I don't really understand it.
I want to all to know that i really am just so happy. it makes no sense to me sometimes, but I really am. I love this work. I love these people, and I am just in love with Mexican food still. I am so excited for Erinn this week! I will probably be crying all day friday that i can't be there. enjoy it!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Love you all.
Elder Smalley
March 2, 2015
Hey there!
well I'm gonna be honest this week has been a little stressful. We have struggled a lot but that is such a blessing but still is hard. haha. The quote of the week comes from Elder Giles. This whole week I've been stressing because I'm not sure if we were going to baptize this week or not then out of the blue we get a call from a less active member that says that he wants to baptize his 9 year old daughter. awesome. well when I informed the zone leaders, Elder Giles just says 'man Elder Smalley, you're just going HAM on all the niños' hahaha I KNOW. I don't know why I am only baptizing straight up niños recently but I would really like to find an adult that is ready to make this covenant. But maybe I need to apply Alma 29,3 and repent.
Also since I didn't include a quote last week I will share two. We were waiting at a bus stop and a man walks by, sees us and stops. 'do you preach the word of god?' yes, yes we do 'well keep preaching it, cause its through people like you that we can be saved!' haha that really gave me an extra confidence boost that i needed.
Well when I went to Delta this week we went to a way far away ejido were there is the cucapah Indian tribe. I really don't know what they are called, native Americans or native Mexicans or what haha. well the old chief was a less active member and we went to go visit his family. It was a strange experience. the men actually have like long braided hair. right know they were all really busy getting ready for the fishing season . huh.
I have had the blessing of reading the Isaiah chapters in 2 nefi this week. I usually just kinda endure to the end when I read them but this week I really tried to study them like the Savior invites us to in 3 Nefi 24 I think. Well it just amazed me how much of it I was able to understand just from taking a little more time to understand the context and meanings of all the symbolism. haha I have opened my Spanish Libro de Mormon, my Spanish bible and my English Book of Mormon to compare the 3 and it has really helped! it's exciting!
I got 3 verrugas [warts] removed and i can't remember how to say that in English but when they say burn them off, they REALLY mean burn. I now have 4 holes in my hand haha. It makes playing the prelude music even harder. Seriously repenting for not taking piano lessons seriously.
Love you all!
Elder Smalley!
