New Companion, Same Area

Hey Everybody I Know Im late this week but Im here with good News bad news also I guess... Today Ill be going to the temple what a great Birthday Present I love the temple the Bad news Is my good friend Elder M. Ribeiro got transferred Heres a pic of the Pizza Night before transfers.. I thought it would be me to go away but Ended up Being my comp. But I was happy with the Companion I got Looks Like the President Is trusting me cuz hes new and his first comp was a slacker so he put Him with me I hope I can help him Learn lots of stuff, I wanna return the favor that Stadnicki and Celestino did for me I was in about the same situation that hes in. I always wondered If presidente would trust me as much as he trusted Elder Celestino and Stadnicki to retrain me haha. So Im excited for this transfer Im gonna work alot!!! haha I started my Goal to get fit again the Goal is 100 dips 100 situps and 100 pushups everyday haha first day i got 55 pushups 100 situps and 25 dips yesterday I did 100 dips 100 crunches and 25 pushups haha so Im a little sore haha but when I get home Ill have a VERY WHITE beach body haha thats IF i continue with my goal haha. so Ya Im super excited this week I had a nice experience.sunday we were expecting 3 people to go to church and I prayed with alot of Faith that morning that The Lord would help the people who would follow him go to Church and I believed with all my heart that he would do this.....    And Nobody out of these three went to church..... But A man and His less active wife went to Church I never had met him before and he seemed like a great guy and as I talked to him I knew that The lord had Answered my prayer. We still havent had a chance to teach him but tomorrow we will visit him so Im excited. One Thing I learned with Elder Ribeiro Is that I have little Faith Elder Ribeiro has the Gift of faith when something happened something simple he always said what A miracle! and I was always the first to doubt haha but I know that sometimes the lord helpe me and I dont even recognize his had in the work I know this is the true Church I know that The Lord is helping us in our callings Thanks for all the love and support and Prayers I love you all and Hope you have a good week 

Elder J.Smith

Elder Smith and his new Companion Elder Larsen from Utah

11-25-2013

Well Its been a rough week last week they started a party that lasted up till last night and they had an Electric  train wich I learned is a semi truck trailer of Speakers and they put a block away from our house haha so my poor companion who doesnt have a ´´sleep like a rock`` switch has been tired not too mention he had a tooth ache and the blackout that made us go home early. But Im here and Im healthy so why should I complain. Ive decided That I just wasnt made to baptize haha I try and try and I dont succeed but then again I guess Im looking at it all wrong I am only a messenger Its the spirit that is going to touch the peoples hearts and show them where to go.  But If anything Im being taught many things. I guess the Lord doesnt let me baptize alot because If he did I wouldn keep asking myself ´´´What Am I doing?`` and ´´How can I get better?`` cuz if i stop asking these questions Ill never get better than I am haha That may just be the key to it all Just getting better each day. Im thankful to be here  Ive stopped having the occasional nightmare of teaching People and now I have sweet dreams of finding people who are looking for the Truth. so something is getting better also looks like we have a new rule that Investigators under 15 years old have to go to church steadily for three months before being baptized It makes me happy to see that :) Shows that the Church really wants strong members. Also shows that the second coming is getting closer. but I guess everything shows that :) well I love you all and hope your days are filled with joy and happiness. Have a good week and we will talk next week.

Elder J. Smith

11-18-2013 Tyson writes a Hymn

 This week was good we met some great people and I was so excited for
them to go to Church. But when sunday came We were at church and
nothing... nobody came and I was kinda sad and I kept thinking about
how maybe I could have helped them to be there and about all my
weaknesses and I was kinda bummed. and I was taking the sacrament I
thought about what the sacrament meant to me and I decided I´d write a
hymn, so I took out my daily planner and I wrote this . I havent given
it a title and Im gonna have to give it music but I Wanted to share it
with you guys.

What a horrid man I am
Who sins repents and sins again
Perfect like Christ I could never be
My fathers kingdom never to see

Jesus Christ Paid the price for sin
So I can change who Ive been
If with him my sins I lay
I can become perfect one day

As I partake from this tray
I see not bread but a chance to change
and this water given In love
Is my chance to live above

This is my chance to change I know
So forward with faith and hope Ill go
And try my best to be more like thee
Until I find myself here again next week

I Wrote this and I tought it expressed my feelings well on the
atonement. I had and still have a difficulty in understand how the
atonement works. But one thing I do know is that I am not perfect and
that the atonement is my chance to become a better person and not face
the consequences of my past actions. I hope that I can become a better
person than I am now and I know that this is possible only through the
atonement. Thats why its so Important that we do whats right cuz the
atonement will not erase our desires and thoughts just erase our past
errors if we let him. Im thankful to be a part of the true church I
know its true and That it brings us happiness when we live it
correctly :) Love you all
Elder J. Smith

11-11-2013

Hey Everybody! This Week a Miracle happened!!!! We Had a Baptism that ended my long Drought haha Ywri, Which is pronounced Yury, was baptized. Ywri has been waiting for months for his mom to let him be baptized he is more active in the church than most members and Saturday we were finishing up lunch and our phone rings and its the bishop and the way my companion was talking and by the looks on his face I thought someone had Died and when he hung I asked him what had happpened and his Said Ywris Mom Is gonna let Ywri get Baptized haha and we jumped with Joy and right away we talked with Ywri and he was Baptized that very Night It was great to see a young man be so happy to be baptized In the true Church of Christ. Also I started The book of Mormon about 5 weeks ago and Im in Helaman :) and its been a great experience Ive been able to feel the spirit that comes from Reading it :) Today Im going to Visit Natalia :) IM really excited to see her and talk to her I consider Natalia the best Baptism of Which I have participated so I am excited to see my fellow Member and see how she is :) Ive grown alot on the mission and the growing never stops I cant believe that today I will renew my temple recommend making it 2 years since I got my temple recommend :) Time is passing to fast I thought that 2 years would never come and that at 1 year and 6 months Time would stop. Now when people ask me how long Ive been here I dont talk loud with pride like i used to but I almost whisper thinking about how the time has passed  so fast I almost went crazy seeing how much hippy has grown it was such a great surprise I cant even imagine the Joy I will have when I can give her and everyone in my family a Hug!!! Its gonna be great but until then Ive got a fight the fight and people to teach and Lots of lessons to learn. Thanks everybody for the support you give me have a great week.

Elder J. Smith

11-4-2013

This was a good week. Week by week im getting better haha Ill probly only be a really good missionary when Im about to go home haha not because Ill be close to going home but because ive been here a while now and im still learning a ton... Ive decided that my biggest weakness is that i hesitate to act. when I see someone i think Ill talk to him and then I question myself and then before I know it.... its too late. but one day I was real happy with myself cuz I decided that instead of thinking ´´im gonna be annoying``  i decided to think ´´im just going to act`` and It was real good its funny to think that im more than 3 4ths of the way through my mission but im only starting to get used to and be comfortable talking to people right now... haha I was at the house of a member eating lunch and I didnt feel that strange feeling that I had always had eating lunch at anothers house. Im really starting to get a hang of this missionary thing. And Im so happy that i came to the mission. I have become a man that Ive always wanted to be for sure im not done growing yet Ive still got a long way to go but i feel a lot more confident in who I am and what I want. And being free from worldly cares Ive lost that want for money and  big things and lots of cars....  ok maybe I still want lots of cars haha but I know whats more important. Its a great joy to be living in a way that you feel clean and free from outside influences. heres a picture of our zone haha Sister Dana still here also haha did you know shes related to us she has the Jesse N Smith book too haha but ya Im happy And Im gonna try and just enjoy these last months because its becoming real obvious that its not gonna last forever. Love you all and have a good week 

P.S. I still dont miss the snow and cold hahaha Im actuallly enjoying the hotness haha Love you all, Elder J. Smith

10-28-2013

Hey everybody! This week was good we talked with lots of people and had some good experiences saturday we were knocking doors before lunch cuz our appointment fell through and I saw a lady pulling weeds in front of her house and I felt I should talk to her but I also dont like to talk to people who are working haha but we talked to her and we marked an appointment to talk to her family on sunday night and Sunday we taught them and They are very good people :) And afterwards Elder M. Ribeiro said That on saturday he felt like we should talk with that lady. so I was happy to see how the lord is guiding us to the people he is preparing :) so ya Im really happy with the progress we made this week, but it wont stop this week were getting into a good groove and working hard so Im really happy we also have started working more with the Members and weve got an activity for halloween its gonna be called Tricks or Treats haha I think it will be fun haha I just hope it works out well :). Other than this not much new we did get a new ZL hes not as cool as the other that left the one that left Was a great guy and he likes cars too :) the new one Is kinda annoying and Guess what!! were gonna have splits with him this week and guess who stays in the area with the new ZL? Thats me... haha I wasnt too happy bout that looks like he wants to try and mark the baptisms of a boy whos parents wont let him be baptized and a couple of girls that we stopped teaching cuz they dont go to church and when we teach one of them just plays with her phone. so ya Patience!!! I know I should get upset about something little like this I just hope it turns out to be good. Last Pday after lunch we went and flew kites haha it was fun here when you let out all the string you give your kite a name and I named mine blue cuz its red haha I think were gonna go fly our kites again today well I think thats a good enough letter thanks for everthing for the package and the support and the prays have a great week!! 

Elder J. Smith

10-21-2013

Well another transfer has come and gone and the mission is just goin by too fast its hard to think Ive only got 4 more transfers and its over... but Me and Ribeiro were real excited when we learned we would stay. and this transfer were gonna make some goals so that we can get better. This week I had a real neat experience one day I was continuing my book of mormon reading and I got to a passage that touched my soul and I felt like the lord was talking to me the part I read was in Mosiah 7:18 wich was something that I needed to hear you can read it later but the way it touched me was like it was written for me other than that my week was pretty rushed but had little progress but This week were gonna start looking for lots of new people to hear our message! Pont dos Carvalhos is big so maybe well widen our search area  haha other than that All i can say is that times moving Too fast its almost november and almost my birthday and christmas is coming up! That will be my last call home and after that it will be a blink of an Eye! so ya Im gonna try and change gears and get more done. Im thankful for my chance to be hear and for all your support I love you all and I hope that this winter doesnt get too cold for you :) haha Im laughing now but youll probly laugh when I tell you im freezing in the middle of spring haha  Love you All 

Elder J Smith