July 23, 2012

I have a lot of goood news  ive actually started to feel like i am making a gain on this language and me and my companion have hit some middle ground sorry bout weighing you down with my problemas. these past few days have been good. i batizado someone!  was good sorry i slip into portuegues.  i think because im working so hard to accomplish it ha ha  after the baptism i was speaking with other elders and they were speaking english and it felt weird cuz i am used to the broken english i speak with some members like Moises he is a great guy really funny he always tells me he can see that i am a good missionary it it gives my heart peace.

in the pics he is the one with the blue and white shirt with his arm around me and the thumb up ha ha but ya things have gotten better. me and my companion played some basketball today and it was good anyway ha ha before the baptism we were walking by the road and my companion starts laughing and i look and see girls dancing in between cars at the stop light and my companion decided to pass by the road they were on and the light turned green and they returned to the sidewalk and confronted us there was i think 5 of them and when we got closer i realized at least one of them was a guy very strange any way my companion says excuse me can we pass and they said sure but were blocking the way they started dancing and hissing (a way to flirt here) and we went to walk around and one grabbed my arm so i broke his... hers... its grip and just ran was strange de mais ha ha any way the batismo was great after it i could speak very well and had a conversation with a brazilian elder anyway i am great ill add some pics to this hopefully and send it the boy in the pics is ruan


 he is my amigo we played baseball the other day it was fun.   the last one is from left to right a member whos name i cant remember the mother of ruan companion lucienne recent convert and me and o bispo (the bishop) well i love you guys I am thankful for all you do love you guys a ton so be careful and choose the right i know i complain but ive rarely  been this happy i love you guys a ton thanks for the letters and i will try to send more brit your a great example to me iwant you to stay close to the church and far away from short shorts and boys ha ha :) being me....          Elder J. Smith

First week in the City!

So ha ha no baptizms yet for those who are asking. ha ha nobody in my district ended up in my area or zone i think. ha ha my president is a nice guy hes got a really low voice. ha ha um the house is pretty rough ill try to send some pics. ha ha but i dont know if it will work. My area is pretty ghetto .ha ha our chapel is under renovation so guess what we have church in a catholic school. ha ha it was pretty different and we had sacrament meeting on the basket ball court. ha ha and i understand basically nothin ha ha its hard to speak but im growing fast! sometimes when i feel the spirit strongly its like my mind focuses and works double time and i can understand. im speaking more now but when i think i havent really improved. people here are very nice when we went and visited members yesterday every one of them fed us. ha ha to say the least i was stuffed. ha ha ive been having fun but my feet are pretty sore we walk a ton! and my companion likes to walk fast so its hard to keep up when your feet hurt. i love the children ha ha there really nice. meu amigo Ruan is awesome he drew me a picture ha ha and gave me some marbles so me and my companion can play at the house. ha ha we ate at ruans house yesterday and my companion did some magic tricks for them. ha ha it was fun my companion likes to play violin he'll take it to members houses and play a hymn make me sing and leave them with a short message but its hard for me to match the violin with my bass voice. ha ha elder siles is my comp.  we get along but he jokes a little more than id like to but i love him the same ha ha the city is RUN DOWN ha ha its rough alot of the houses are in pretty bad shape including ours id like to do some work but time is short and we are usually out of the house.  Tell everyone i love them and Love you thanks for all you do and use that missionties up! Elder Smith

Hey This is my email para voce telling you i made it too recife the flight was good and its hot here guess what i finally found someone that knows josephcity ha ha i knew i would find someone his name is elder king hes cousins with ralph bushmans family i cant speak much portuguese and its even worse with my understanding mas i am getting better by the way i bought a harmonica its one of the big 2 sided ones its not a guitar but its something by the way my companion decided hed listen to the songs we had on cd it was good to hear your testimony in a song for me its sooooooooo hard to get in the spiritof missionary work when i cant speak with anyone but i am improving greatly oh and also my companion is bolivian and knows less english than i know portuegues so im grateful for that my area i am in is madelina we currently have no investigators i think..... my companion kinda likes to play with me its pretty annoying because i never really know what i were doing. my living quarters is pretty humble to say the least but its cool with me. anyway i think ought to go love you guys i wish i could talk more. i think my pday is tuesday still but like i said my treinador likes tricking me so it might be monday so just watch for it love you guys a ton and i hope to get some letters soon send my love to deid and papa and grandma i know right now it is hard but i know the lord is helping me alot hopefully next time i will send pics next time. love you again

Tyson also sent us a email in Portugeuse. I will include it now and add the translation on the end.

entao eu vou escrever para voce me perdoar se meu spelling is bad eu gosto isso aqui na cidade de recife mas eu nao posso falar  e tambem no entendi muitos muitos muitos  coisas mas eu sei que jesus cristo morrer para mim e tambem joseph smith foi um profeta eu amo voces e tambem meu companheiro eu sou muitos gratos por todas coises voces fazem para mim eu sou muitos animados para falando em portuguese e eu quero falo agora mas eu tambem sei que deus e nossas amoroso pai celestial e ele tem um plano para me eu sou muito feliz por que eu sou de muito grande familia  meu companheiro queria casar minha irma britney e eu amo ela entao eu vou matar meu companheiro.......     brincadeira. eu sei que eu estou aqui para todas pessoas de recife e eu espera que eu posso cumprir meu proposito como um missionario. Agora eu estou escrevendo uma carta para voces em poruguese quando eu estou a meu casa eu  falo muito portugues  com meu companheiro. atualmente eu estou nao comfortable falando em ingles

TRANSLATION......

So I'll write to you to forgive me if my spelling is bad I like it here in the city of reef but I can not speak and also understand the many many many things but I know that Jesus Christ died for me and also was a prophet joseph smith I love you guys and also my partner I'm very thankful for all coises you guys do for me I'm most excited about speaking in portuguese and I speak now but I also know god and love our heavenly father and he has a plan for me I I am very glad that I am a very big family my partner wanted to marry my sister britney and I love her so I'm gonna kill my friend ....... joke. I know I'm here for all persons reef and I hope I can fulfill my purpose as a missionary. Now I'm writing a letter to you guys in poruguese when I'm in my house I talk a lot with my Portuguese partner. currently I'm not comfortable speaking in English

Finally Some Pictures

 Thanks for all the letters. Well, I don't know what the temperature is or what the humidity is, but it's still quite hot. It's getting pretty nice but it rained Hard last night. It's kinda crazy how green it is even in the city. We just got out of the Temple. It was awesome. Our whole District (which is now 12 guys) rode a small van to the Temple and got there very early, so we got in a session with just our District. It was neat. Today P-day is gonna be shortened big time cuz an Apostle is coming!!! :>) Anyways, we got a letter from our old Brazillian roomate. He's serving a mission in the Saluador Mission which borders mine. He says he's having a great time and that his roof doesn't really keep out the rain. ha ha. Saturday we had TRC where we teach members from the area like they are investigators. I was a little worried about it, but my companhiero was VERY worried. So we prayed before our lesson,  and we did VERY WELL. I could  understand most of what was said, and I could even answer questions they had. It was great! It's SOooo amazing how much we can learn by the Spirit. I couldn't even imagine speaking portuguese 2 months ago, but now It's likesecond nature. Granted I'm not fluent, but I feel confident when I speak about somethings. I CAN'T WAIT  TO GET TO THE FIELD!  Yeah, I sleep on the top bunk and as you can see the bed is tiny. ha ha. Smaller than my bed at home, but thats ok. Things are awesome here. I've stopped putting on weight, so I'm bout a solid 195 now. Sounds like you guys are pretty busy. I loved the Family pics. I don't need hardly anything and I can get just about anythingI need here except ranch dressing. But I'd prefer that you don't send me a bottle of Ranch, ha ha. Just watch _ _ _ _ for me. ha ha! It's exciting to hear about home. Sounds like life is better without me there ha ha. Thanks for all you guys have done for me & still do for me.
Love, Elder Smith

Elder Smith and his District at Sao Paulo Temple

Elder Tyson and His CTM Companhiero Elder Passey

Inside the court yard at the CTM

Tyson showing off some brazillian candies

Elder Smith and His good friend, Elder Mackay

Elder Smith showing off his Brazillian Soccer Shirt. One of my Favorites by the way...

Elder Smiths Scripture cover that he had one of the locals make for him.

4-29-12

4-29-12

Ola. Mom Desculpe Por Meu Portugeuse. I'm still learning. It's amazing to think of how much I've learned, but I boast not of my own strength. For without the Lord, I am nothing. Sorry but recently I have been forgetting about home. Ha Ha. Home is ALMOST  a dream now. Being here at the CTM and being "in the world but not of the world", I can't see my life without the Church nor would I like too. Thank You and Dad for teaching me what is right. I am so Thankful for even my CTM experience. I can't wait to get to the field. Speaking of which, I believe 3 weeks, maybe 2 weeks from today I will be flying to Recife. It seems so far away. Love you, Elder Smith

Dear Pai,
Ola Como Vei. As you can see I still need to improve on my portugeuse, but last lesson we taught ourteacher, I spoke quite a bit but I'm starting to think more in portuguese. It's great! My faith is growing tremendously! As for my companhieros, Elder Mackay, Mclaws and Passey are all going to Recife as well as another one in our District. Love You, Elder Smith

Still Loving Life!

Well its good here and starting to get cold.... ish. ha ha I'm loving it here and having alot of fun. As for the pic i'll see if i can get it sent. I'm scared to use my cheney upload in case i take more pics. By the way,  i am glad I'm here. I wrote a story in my missionties letter. I'm kinda bummed to know i probably wont get a letter from deid this week. ha ha But that's ok. I'm glad to hear that things are moving on. Its weird to think its summer cuz the days are getting really short. Here at the ctm this week my Portuguese has got a ton better. I'm understanding more but i still cant speak well. But i managed to explain to my Argentinian the story about me riding Chris's bike. ha ha He called me muito loco. ha ha I'm sure you can guess that one. I have an Argentinian and a Brazilian in my room. Its great. I put a long story in my mission tie letter to deid. I was gonna send it to you but it was long. I'll try and type it out. The other night we were talking as roommates bout the spirit and Elder Mackay has some pretty crazy stories, and i was kinda feeling inadequate to my call, which i am, but i was wondering why i couldn't have some miraculous stories like that. And i was thinking long and hard about myself and my relationship with the spirit, and i remembered a time back home when we took the sacrament to sister holt and she was asleep so we left but i had a strong impression to go back but i was only 16 i think and i wasn't the driver so i didnt say anything. So i will never know what would have happened and it made me sad and i was trying to explain to elder mackay why i felt the way i did. And me and him were walking alone at this point and i don't know, but i told him that i wanted an experience like Saul had on the road to Damascus to build my faith. And i felt the spirit so strong that my vision kinda blurred. I don't know how to explain how i felt. But Elder Mackay just told me that he admired me for my faith, and said that he probably just needed a stronger witness to soften his heart. I hope as you read this letter that you feel the spirit cuz otherwise i feel i'll just sound silly or it wont make sense love ya

Elder Smith

Hello Family and Friends!

Hey Family- (and All)

                Today we went to the Temple. J   I’m riding the bus back to the MTC. I had a very spiritual experience @ the temple.  And I’m very thankful that we are blessed to have the Church & Temples on the earth today. And I know that if you all will attend the Temple often, as I have for the last 4 weeks, that you’ll feel the love of our Father in Heaven, and you will feel Muito Feliz. (Very Happy). I’m thankful for all of you and I think about you every day. I know that if you pray often and read your scriptures, that you will be blessed beyond belief. I can’t wait to come home and see the great people that you can and will become by following the Church and keeping the commandments. If I have learned only one thing so far, it is that enduring to the end is the easy part. If you stay close to the Lord and family, and have faith, any obstacle is easily overcome. So if you miss me, go to the Lord. If you don’t miss me still go to the Lord. There is nothing in the world that can make you happier.  All is well here. It has its ups and downs. J  I don’t know how long it takes for mission ties to get to you.  Did you get my letter in email last p day?Tthis lds mail thing isn’t too great.  I wrote you all letters like 3 or 4 times and your just barely getting them weird.  Any way last night we had a little fun and we wrestled.  ha ha We pulled the mattress off the beds and lined our room floor it was fun i only wrestled Elder Macky and i won! I stacked him up. ha ha He is built like me but he has no technique- crazy thing is were the same height and width and within 5 lbs. ha ha Also meu companheiro e assistante presidente ha ha. (His companion is Asst. to the Mission President) . When he got called the branch president pulled us out of our district meeting and he thought we were in trouble and when he pulled us away from people my companion caught on and thought i was gonna be the dl and our dl would be AP ha ha His face was awesome when the branch Pres asked him to be ap. ha ha. The language is still out of my reach but i overheard a security guard talking to a 6 year old and i understood most of it ha ha I’m hoping the guy with my scripture case is done its leather I’ll try and get some pics of it and send i think I’ll use my picture upload at cheneys like my last pday which reminds me meu brasileros (not sure i spelled that right) but my brazillian roomates shipped out early this morning cuz they’re only here por 3 seminas (weeks) so we dont have Brazilians right now.  I wish i knew what was up with this mission ties thing cuz i sent a ton out hmmm.  It's fun at night cuz when we take showers we all sing together ha ha and the car majority is Volkswagens.  ha ha I seen more dodge trucks than Datsun’s and I’ve only seen 3... Maybe um I’m trying to think of stories to tell you guys and I’m sorry i can’t think about many. my typical day is i wake up at 630 and we get dressed we go down to breakfast which is always oat less porridge and grilled sandwiches after that we go to class and study, then our teacher shows up and teaches us a little bit of grammar, and then he acts like an investigator, then i go to lunch, and then back to another class, and then dinner at 4 and then we study until snack which is at 9 and we stopped going cuz they stopped givin us choco milk ha ha    Love, Elder Smith

PS: Jakes talk was Great! Loved it and all the pics!  I might send some of my poems ha ha. My companheiros think I’m a genius. Ha Ha…. Some Things never Change. :-)

Base Camp, This is BlackSmith-over and out--. Ha Ha (Mtc Joke)