Week 21 - Ghost Town

Hello family and friends!

I hope you are all enjoying summer because it is freezing here in Argentina! People here are all talking about the American Cup, which is soon going to take place. They laugh at us because the U.S. didn´t make it into   it, but Argentina did. Also River Plate went down a division. They are now playing in the B division and people are mad because now they won´t play against Boca. It is like BYU not playing UTAH but times it by 1000!

Here we have been working with a youth who is getting prepared to serve a mission. It is really cool to see him prepare to serve. He wasn´t used to all of our walking at all. He got tired because here in Argentina everyone sleeps the siesta from about 1 in the afternoon to about 5. That makes it hard to work so we schedule time during it to have appointments already preset. We have been teaching a Young man named Lolo who is really sweet. He has come from a rough upbringing. He is reading the Book of Mormon and he says he wants to finish it before he decides to be baptized.

Another investigator that we have is Mariela who is awesome. She loves reading all that we tell her to and can´t wait to be baptized. The only thing is that she is not married and that is what we are trying to work on. She was immediately open to the gospel when we taught her and that doesn´t happen all that much. So it is a huge blessing to see her desire to know the truth.

Kids in the street all know us and they always come up and talk to us. It is really cool because before they did not really know what missionaries did and that we don´t get payed and stuff. Also, there are some dangerous people in the street that we try to avoid. There is a guy who is in the company of bad people when we talk to him and at times it is scary because I don´t know the slang words that they say. The guy we are teaching really wants to turn his life around and we are doing all we can to help.

In church yesterday we had 4 people show up because it is cold outside :/ It is sad that people are that afraid of the cold weather here. There is not even snow on the ground and there is not a soul in the streets at all. Ghost town...

People with the gospel here remind me of little kids. How they are scared to try new foods, so they are not opened to doing so. It is refreshing when we find someone who actually has questions to ask, it shows that god is truly preparing people to receive the gospel.

Thanx for all the love and support.

Love, Elder Smart

Week 20 - Conference in Concordia

This week we spent alot of time in Concordia after the conference that we had on Sunday. It was really great to attend. After we just worked all week finding new people and working with Lolo and a new investigator named Mariela. She is great, she does everything that we ask her to do. She is so funny and I hope we can help her to be baptized. We work with alot of great families here and they are all so kind and caring. I am not quit sure what else to say and so I am just going to end by saying thanx for all the support and love!

Love, Elder Smart

Week 19 - Happy Father's Day

Hello family and friends! Happy fathers day! It is cold here. Ha Ha and you are all lucky enjoying summer. I am sending the pictures I talked about last week and I hope you like them :)

This week we have been preparing for the conference that took place yesterday. Two of our investigators drove the two hours to the conference. We listened to Boyd K. Packer. It was amazing and then after our investigators watched a baptism of another set of missionaries. Someone asked them if they were planning on being baptized and our investigators said it was awesome!

That is basically it for this week but I will write more next week
Have a great fathers day:)

Elder Smart

Week 18 - "Be Mine" Justin Bieber

Hello Family and Friends,

This week has been really cool with lots of different things that I will never forget! We went and visited one of our investigators who is so funny, I love the way he speaks. We went in to see him and he told us that his girlfriend had left him. We were really concerned for him but he didn´t seem very angry because they argued a lot and she drank a lot. Now he is working on quiting smoking :) He is a great guy and I know he can do it! This week we found a little lamb and we took pictures with it, I am going to send them, I just hope the computer I am on isn´t going to be difficult.

This week we helped a less active member paint her fence and it was cool to be able to help serve someone because a lot of people are difficult and won´t let us help them. While we were painting the fence some little girls in this family were listening to Justin Bieber and it was so cute to hear them sing in English. Ha Ha They love the song called "Be Mine" I think cuz it says baby. Ha Ha They are so sweet there is a lot of nice people in this area and it is cool getting to know familiar faces here.

I want to congratulate all the seniors graduating tomorrow! Time seems to fly right passed!

As always thank you for all the support!

Love Elder Smart

Week 17 - Crazy Sheep

This last week went by very fast, we worked hard and time seems to zoom right by. I started reading the New Testament and it is amazing actually studying the ways things took place with the Savior. People here when we talk about the Savior for some reason they feel obligated to say all they know about him. It is interesting to hear what people think but also to hear a different opinion.

We contacted a man and a woman and they are really nice. They invited us over for lunch and when I blessed the food the man asked me to bless him that he could stop drinking. So I did and after we said amen he poured himself a glass. He is really interesting. He was in the war here in Argentina and he has alot of cool stories to tell. Also we found a couple and the husband is blind and the wife is sick. She said she has everything but cancer. They are evangelical and they pray so sincerely, it was really cool. They loved our message though and told us to come back whenever we wanted to.

We contacted a young man named Lolo and he is so interested in everything we have to say. He is a great guy and I hope he keeps his interest in the church. Our investigators always give us clementines and I like to give them out to kids on the street. People find it hard to look passed the suits we wear. They don´t realize we are humans. People think I am thirty and when I tell them I am 19 they don´t believe me at all. People try to take advantage of us in shops. Elder Black was buying something and the man in the shop tried to charge him double the price than the item actually was.

The sheep that attacked us before is crazy. It always is trying to ram us now and we have to run from it or we have to wrestle with it and I normally choose to wrestle it. I grab it by its hair and chuck it. Everyone in the area around our house doesn´t like it and it is gonna hurt someone one day when I have to leave this area.

That is what is happening with me. Thank you for all the support!

Love, elder Smart

He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.-Matthew 10:39

Week 16 - 1st Transfer, Staying in Federal

Hello everyone!

Well my first transfer is now complete and looking back on it it has zoomed right past! I am staying here in Federal with Elder Black. I like it because we have a chance to keep teaching our same investigators. This week we have had a bunch of cool experiences! On Sunday we had 12 investigators at church, which was the most in the whole mission. It was really cool to see all these great people experiencing church for the first time.

We went over to one of our less active members house to see how she was doing because she was pregnant. We had helped make a crib for her. When we got there we found out that she had her baby boy just 5 days before! His name is Gabriel and he is so cute. Babies truly are miracles that have just come from the presence of our Father in Heaven. Next time I go over I will get a picture of him and the crib.

We went to one of my favorite members house and we taught Salidad who is progressing. When it came time to leave they told us to watch out for obison! Well obison is a myth in Argentina and he is basically a werewolf. People here actually believe in him. It is crazy and kind of creepy. One of our neighbors who we bought alparagatas (Toms) from has an animal called a carpincho. That is me holding it in the picture. They are funny little things. The man said they grow to be like 400 lbs. That one is only 2 months old though.

Everyone says the first transfer is the the hardest and there is a poem that I really like that I would like you to look up if you get the chance! It is called "The Oak Tree" by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr. I hope you like it :)

Thanx for the support!

Love, Elder Smart

Carpincho (Capybara in English)

The Oak Tree

by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.

A mighty wind blew night and day.

It stole the Oak Tree's leaves away.

Then snapped its boughs

and pulled its bark

until the Oak was tired and stark.

But still the Oak Tree held its ground

while other trees fell all around.

The weary wind gave up and spoke,

"How can you still be standing Oak?"

The Oak Tree said, I know that you

can break each branch of mine in two,

carry every leaf away,

shake my limbs and make me sway.

But I have roots stretched in the earth,

growing stronger since my birth.

You'll never touch them, for you see

they are the deepest part of me.

Until today, I wasn't sure

of just how much I could endure.

But now I've found with thanks to you,

I'm stronger than I ever knew.

Week 15 - First Zone Conference

Hello family and friends!

This last week has been really hard, but really rewarding! We went and taught the Baldez family and the mom told us that she had a dream. In the dream she felt the love of our church. Then when we taught the lesson she cried and she said she would be baptized and so did the rest of her family! We invited them to church and we went to pick them all up and they were all waiting ready to go! We couldn´t have picked a better week for them to come to church, because it was Rubins (the 2nd counselors) farewell and everyone was really emotional including the family we brought with us. Rubin is going to serve in brazil and will make a great missionary, first one out of Federal. Rubins siblings are all members except for one brother and his parents.They are the parents of the kids who helped us teach Salidad before. We are going to start teaching the parents and if we can get a few things worked out with their lifestyles I think they will be baptized!

I had my first zone conference this last week and it was good. I didn´t understand everything but it was still good. It was my first and last meeting with president Villalba, he is really nice. It is sad I didn´t get to know him very well. Yesterday was the River vs Boca soccer game and everyone is a fan of one of the two teams. I felt like it was BYU vs Utah, but it was way more intense. The streets were empty and when Boca scored everyone yelled! When Boca won and the game was over, Boca fans were so happy they cried and they ran outside and started lighting off fireworks. It was crazy! I have decided that I like River, so elder Wells no pressure on what team to pick because you have to pick.

I am going to send pictures of animals that I have seen, but I don´t have one of the spider that I saw a few days ago. It was so big it should be paying rent at our apartment. It was as big as the palm of my hand! The picture with me and other kids is with Pablo, who is deaf. (he is on the far right). The one with the bird is at a members house in Concordia and the family has 14 kids. The kids let the bird pick at their teeth...I think I am used to all the dogs running around and people starring at me finally. And the spanish is coming along more and more. It is difficult getting used to the ways that they speak and the words that they choose to use in their vocabulary. Some people don´t understand what I say at all and other people talk so much that I don´t need to say anything anyways. haha

Well that is what is happening here in Argentina ;) thanx for all the love from everyone!

"Upwards and onwards"- Grandma Smart