February 17, 2014

Helloooooooooooooo Familia!

I can´t believe that tomorrow, I´ll be starting my 2nd transfer in the field. Time is just FLYING by, and I´m not sure how I feel about it! But I´m happy to report that I will be staying with Hermana Muñoz here in Tehuacan for at least another 6 weeks :) We´re really excited for this next transfer, and I know that many people here are ready to hear the Gospel! 3 of the missionaries in our district are being transfered tomorrow! I´m a little sad to see them leave, but I´m excited to meet others!

And today is my bro´s birthday :) Happy Birthday, Kyle!!

Monday night, we had interviews with President Reeves. We have interviews with the mission president every 3 months, so the next one will be right before he is released! Crazy! Tuesday morning, we had a special zone conference with him and Hermana Reeves. They talked about the conference they had with Elder Oaks with all of the Mexico Mission Presidents the week before. And they revealed our mission goals for February, March and April... 100 baptisms this month, 150 in March and 200 in April...450 total! In the history of the Mexico Puebla mission, the most they´ve had in a month is 115. But they also didn´t have 250 missionaries! We had a special fast this weekend, for strength and diligence to reach our goals. I know that we can do it, and I´m excited to do our part in the work! Tomorrow, we are getting 20 new missionaries in the missionary, 15 of which are Hermanas! Watch out, world. The sister missionaries are coming!!!

This week, we spent a lot of time finding new investigators. A lot of street contacts, references, and we also had our grand "casa abierta" on Saturday! (AKA: Open House) So what went down was that for the past 2 weeks, we´ve been contacting members and non-members and inviting everyone possible to this activity. Then Saturday, they started in the chapel with a short video about Christ, then to the baptismal font for a short explanation about baptism, then over to Hermana Muñoz and I, where we asked for references. Then, they went to the cultural hall where all of the presidencies in the ward had displays about each organization. We also had a giant display of materials for them to take home and read. It was a great success :) and the ward is now planning on doing the same thing every 6-8 weeks. Many of the people here have NO idea what our church is like, what we really believe, etc. And all of the people that came through gave us their names to contact, and many also gave us names of friends or family. I think it really helped the people here understand what we´re all about. 

We are starting to work really hard with 3 families. Norma and her daughters we have been teaching for a few weeks. Alicia and Alejandra, her daughter, we contacted in the street on Tuesday and they are realy receptive to our message and both are reading the Book of Mormon. Also, we have a family that is a reference from Carla, the daughter of the bishop - Maria (mom), Diana (the amiga of Carla), and another daughter and son. All of them came to the open house, church yesterday and we are having FHE with them and the family of the bishop tonight! It really makes such a difference with members are involved. We are really excited to work with these families, and I have high hopes for all of them!

All in all, I love this work. This definitely was the best decision that I´ve every made, and I´m grateful for every second that I have here! I love all of you so much! 

Love always, Hermana Smith

#1: The Familia Oropeza. This family has taken care of us through our sicknesses and Hermana Orpeza makes the best tacos, hands down.

#2: Hermanas Eva and Itcialy. They´re pretty fantastic :)

#3: The Elders and the Ward Mission Leader, Hermano Rozines