elder Smith

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shain smith 
Date: Mon, May 25, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Subject: elder Smith
To: snicksmith@gmail.com, Julie@snsnv.com, smiths@snsnv.com


Hey family

How is everyone doing? Really well I hope. I’m doing well here in Ecuador. We had changes like I wrote in my letter last week. I have a new companion from Colombia. He is brand new here in the mission. I get to train him and teach him how to be a missionary. He is really cool. Doesn’t talk a whole lot but I think he is still in a little bit of shock. It’s the first time that he has left his country in his whole life. We went to a city called manta this week and he saw the ocean for the first time. He looks out at the water and says with his eyes super big, how beautiful. Lots of water is what I say haha. He is the youngest of 5 brothers and all of his family is members of the church. We are looking forward to working really hard and having a lot of success.
Lots of people to teach and so little time in the day. Everyday is going by faster and faster and at the end of the day I try to figure out where all the time has gone. We are staying super busy. Im trying to teach my new companion everything that I can. Everything that I have learned in the past year.
I hope to hear from a few of you this week. Its been a while to hear from some friends so let me know how you guys are doing haha. Love and miss everyone
Choa hasta la proxima semana
Elder Smith

Elder Smith

From: shain smith 
Date: Mon, May 18, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Subject: Elder Smith
To: smiths@snsnv.com, Julie@snsnv.com, snicksmith@gmail.com

Hola Familia
How is everyone doing? We had changes today. Just one change with Elder Estrada from Columbia. He left to Guayaquil in the morning. I have to wait to see who will be my new companion Wendsday because I get the chance to train a brand new missionary. Im pretty excited to teach a new elder and be an example of how we should do the Lords work. Looks like im going to have a lot of responsibility but that’s good. Im ready to do what I have to do. If we didn’t have chalenges in life we wouldn’t be able to progress so im thankful for this opportunity to serve in a leadership position.
This week in the ward we had a talent show. It went pretty well. Lots of members came and where able to enjoy themselves. My companion and I did a little act. Ill try to send pictures next week because we don’t have any more time.
Rosa shared her testimony in front of ward conference this Sunday and Fabricio blessed the sacrement. We are looking for more people to progress like the familia farfan has progressed.
Thanks for all of the support from home and for the letters that I received this week. I hope everyone has a great week and ill talk to you all next Monday.
Choa Elder Smith

Hola familia-Elder Smith

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shain smith 
Date: Mon, May 11, 2009 at 2:27 PM
Subject: Hola familia-Elder Smith
To: snicksmith@gmail.com, Julie@snsnv.com, smiths@snsnv.com


Hola familia,

¿Cómo están todos? Espero que todas las madres tuviesen un día muy feliz ayer. Ya pude hablar un poquito con la familia y me parece que todo está bien.

Another week gone by. Another change gone by. We get changes next week but I’m pretty sure that I won’t have any. But time sure is going by fast. This past week we didn’t have any baptisms but Fabricio Farfán received the priesthood so that was good. He is going to be a good in the church. His testimony of the church grows every day. His mom Rosa is doing really well also she went visiting teaching for the first time with the president of the Relief Society this week and now she has her own companion and families to visit. It’s always good to see the new converts’ progress in the gospel.
As far as the program goes of new people to teach this week we had a much better week than the week prior. We have a couple of people that are progressing but still aren’t ready for a baptism date but we are working to be able to help them get there. The door knocking isn’t working out too well. The best way to find new people to teach is defiantly through references.
Thank you to everyone that has written me this week. The support from home always means a lot. I would like to share with everyone that I know that our Heavenly Father sent His son Jesus Christ to the earth to be our savior(John 3:16) and that Jesus Christ resurrected the third day and is a living being with flesh and bones (Luke 24:20-23) and that He is on the right hand side of God (Acts 7:55-56) and all this I know with all of my heart because the Holy Ghost the third member of the God Head has testified these things to me (John 14:26). I hope to be able to share these truths with everyone that I come in contact with.
I love and miss everyone. Hope to hear back from you all this week.
Love Elder Smith

Elder Smith

-----Original Message-----

From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net] 

Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 1:05 PM

To: snicksmith@gmail.com; Julie@snsnv.com; smiths@snsnv.com

Subject: Elder Smith

Hello Family

Hey family, how is everyone doing? Another week gone by. We ended the week with the marriage and baptism of Fabricio Farfan. We had the help of a lot of the members to make the marriage come to pass. We thought that we were going to have to postpone the baptism again for the third time but we have a lawyer in our ward and she helped us a ton with all of the paper work and everything. The baptism was a really good service. Fabricios wife didn't follow the example of her husband but we still have hope for her. The only thing that she is missing is the prayer and to receive an answer. We are trying to help her see the importance of the gospel in her life and more importantly in her family.

Besides the baptism we had a pretty rough week. We are having a hard time finding new people to teach. Like Elder L. Tom Perry said in conference that the missionaries are spending more time looking for people than teaching. That is defiantly the truth. Here in the mission the main focus is to find people through the references because those are the people that will progress. The problem that we have right now is that there aren't very many references. But nothing to worry. Even though we had a low week in references and people to teach we are with buen animo, I don't remember what that is in English haha I think it would be like excited. We are going to start this week with lots of faith and we are going to find the people that want to listen to our massage and that are ready to receive the restored gospel in their lives.

uno de mis compeneros dice que escriba en español. Para que aprenda español. Algunos de ustedes ya saben español entonces pueden responderme en español la proxima semana.

Just a little bit of Spanish to throw there. Im looking forward to hearing from everyone. I hope that all the moms have good mothers days and im looking forward to calling home. Love and miss everyone a ton.

Elder Smith