Elder Daniel Smith, 18 December 2011

Hellllooooooo!

I got my package and that letter and i couldn't be more happy. thank you so much for sending me something. it meant allot to me. especially that letter!!! it was a big surprise. as for the GPS it was $100. and mom when your in Texas you need a gps. the roads are old and unorganized and when we leave to Dallas we don't have any maps. : ( I got a tomtom. its the cheapest i could find. its speaks in Spanish to me, so its our Liahona. for my refund i got $60. finally. but as for my tomtom I'm going to let my most trusted members borrow it for me and download a bunch of voices for me like Yoda or Mr. T.
 
my comp hates the cold but he's from Colorado. haha! so if we get a blizzard... bring it on.
 
my health has been good. just been waking up early or a speck late. we got a new phone and were trying to set the alarm,  its trips out sometimes.
 
A guy, john fletcher, wrote me. Is he the bishop? I assume so. He asked me to write back and answer a bunch of questions for the young men. Are there allot in that ward? was our last ward bigger? are there allot of rebel young men that need a lashing? haha!
 
Soooooooooo. I got a blessing and my Spanish has improved soooooo much since then. I can finally really understand the people. I was given allot of things. and I've been so blessed since. : )
 
We had a loooong week filled with eating food and finding people. We're still teaching the same people. Jesus Alberto Melgar is improving soooo much. He's invited his family to listen and to come to church. He said this is the truth he's been searching for. We will give him a chapter to read and he reads like 6 chapters ahead. He's in like chapter 16 of the Book of Mormon. He also stumbled by accident upon Moroni chapter 8 and said, "hey that makes sense". We invited him to a ward party and he said he will be a member one day. haha. wow. sad thing. he leaving to Kansas for Christmas for 2 weeks. So we look forward to setting a date with him when he gets home. We've invited him to be and he said yes, its just the date now. He is so golden. I'm so happy for them.
As for the Torres family we went over the baptismal interview questions with them just to see how they felt with them. The wife checked off on all of them but the father had some doubts about Joseph Smith. He doesn't read and pray often at all, but the wife does and that's why she is progressing. plus she's a Lamanite. es cierto. ; ). so we set a date with her for January 7th its for sure.
 
Like i was saying before we had a Ward Christmas party for the Latinos. There was such a goooooooood turnout, a lot of nonmembers. there was a childrens performance of the Nativity. It was sooooo funny! and then they had a pinata for the kids. we had two investigator families show up. very exciting.
 
We were fed a lot as usual but we just use a heck a lot of miles. Our miles got cut and we only have 35 miles a day, so we save them for our dinners, haha!  Kind of crazy but it is what it is. We ate with some Cubans and woooooooowwwwww. they talk sooo fast! and don't pronounce the end of their words. You really have to think about what their saying. Its the same for Puerto Ricans, they speak funny, but boldly like Italians. I like it, most people don't...missionaries and Mexicans.  You'd think that all Spanish people would be friends. No, No, No, Non ono  onononnooo.  A lot of people do not get along with Mexicans and Mexicans don't get along with Mexicans from Mexico City. haha!  For example, general Spanish words will mean different things to people in different countries especially in central and south America. very different.

Merry Christmas!
Love, Elder Daniel Earl Smith