Streets in town

Streets in town

Latest picture of Mark's face

machete in one hand, and scriptures in the other...

the title has to do with this Saturday when we left to do service.  we were getting ready to hop on the bus to go to a neighboring village and lend some service.  so there we are, getting ready, taking our time, when we hear that the bus in front starts the engine to get going, so we start scrambling and screaming, grabbing all our stuff, stuffing it into a backpack and flying out the door.  I ended up getting on the bus with my machete in one hand and my scripture quad in the other.  what a sight for these Tlacotepec-ers.

we had a great week! every morning we were here we did service! here is how the week went

Wednesday - we dug a ditch for water irrigation

Thursday - we cut a grass field with machetes for this guy´s animals to feed on in the morning, and in the afternoon we harvested cinnamon from cinnamon trees

Friday - we cut a coffee plantation of all the weeds (again with machete)

Saturday - we split trunks with an axe and ¨mowed¨ the lawn with machetes.

it was fabulous! i could not have been happier this week, and it absolutely FLEW by.

Just to finish off the email, i want to share a neat experience i had and the miracle it has wrought in the work here.  I have always been a firm believer in the idea of talking with everyone, and it has always kinda bugged my companions that i always try and get a contact in before an appointment or on the way home.  Well, on the way to our area from the big city, we are riding in a bus that has absolutely no legroom whatsoever. When i got the opportunity, i hopped in the back row to sit down and get some rest, because it was a bit late and i was quite tired.  When right after i do this, a woman gets on with two kids and a bunch of bags.  After helping her load the bags on and then returning to my seat to extend my legs, the woman then sits next to me and impedes my genius plan of getting some rest.  for a moment i was annoyed but then the Spirit told me i oughta talk with her.  so i began, and for the next two hours we spoke about her life and how she felt something was missing in her life, and how her religion just didn´t seem to be helping her fill that gap. Well, Ivón (that´s her name) said she would be more than glad to meet later and talk about the new religion she had never heard of.  We spent most of this last Saturday with this wonderful family helping them around their yard and then teaching them the restored gospel.  They were so in tune with the spirit they were practically teaching us the lesson.  These guys are so prepared and will soon be entering into the Lord´s true church and enjoying the absolutely incredible blessings He offers them.  

sorry its kinda lengthy, but I just wanted to share that experience.  I love you guys! take care and enjoy your week!

-elder Smiley

Got to go baptize this little girl who turned 8 - Mark baptized the rest of the family a while ago

On our way an appt

This is where we do our laundry...can't wait to get to a washing machine!!

Baptism success in Tlacotepec

THAT IS RIGHT FOLKS YOU HEARD WE BAPTIZED THE FIRST PERSON EVER IN TLACOTEPEC.

IN A RIVER

What an exciting week! we were able to get Federico ready for baptism, and because we are so far away from other missionaries, i also had authorization to do the interview for his baptism!  so great! we did a lot of service this week, as well as cleaning the river for the baptism!

for service this week we also went and brought firewood from a mountain quite far away and we both got humiliated by a 15 year old boy who carried a load much larger than either one of us.  you guys will see the pictures.  

right now we are in Puebla awaiting the arrival of Elder Holland in two days, and i am learning that i am not a huge fan of the city (as a missionary, at least).  I prefer my quite village that is so super far away from the big city (yesterday we left at noon and showed up at around 8:30 in Puebla) than any big city.

i feel like being so far away from other distractions has helped my spirituality so much. i find myself so incredibly content and happy these days and the spirit with me so strongly.  the scriptures are so cool right now!   my oh my i am gonna miss the mission.

I love you guys, sorry i am not the best email writer, but just know that there is nowhere i would rather be in the whole world than where i am right now and that I love being a servant and representative of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not sure what is happening here, but a good shot of Mark

Must have been hot that day!!

Fredrico!!!

hauling wood down from the mountain for cooking fires

this is someone's kitchen table

serving in meager circumstances, but there is a Smiley smile!!

The town of Tlacotepec now has Elders!!! That is the news from Mexico.

Great video chat with Mark!

He is being transferred to the little mountain town that he wanted to go to.  He and his new companion, Elder Medina will be opening up an area that only has one member family right now.  

Mark will be the Branch President, the Senior companion, the apartment finder, and they will be 4 hours from any missionaries in his mission, a little closer to missionaries in the next mission over.  

Had a tough time saying goodbye to people that he very well might never see again.  At least when you leave your family in America you know you will get to see them again. 

Mark gets the challenge, on the last 4 months of his mission, of learning a new language.  the language of the indigenous tribes in this area of Mexico before the Spanish showed up.  Nawatl is the language.  He has been going up to this town every once in a while from his current area and they do have one family investigating the gospel, and hope to have a bunch more in the next two weeks.  I am so excited about him getting to be able to do this.  

He would like everyone's prayer for the gift of tongues, he is going to try hard to get good communications skills ASAP.  For now, Spanish will have to suffice.  

Trying to avoid blisters

Traded ties, and snapped a picture with boy from branch

Mark got to experience saying goodbye to a very special family in his area!

Mark and E. Osorio carving out a backyard in the mountain lot of this family

Nap on the bus on the way home

Another day in the life . . . of a Mexico Missionary

Monday 15 April 2019

Today we got to talk to Elder Smiley.  He had a ton of stories to tell us.  He told us about going to an area call Tlacotepec.  It takes a 4 hour bus ride to get there.  They got up at 5 am to catch the 6am bus.  They waited until 7am for the bus to arrive and decided to walk to where the other four missionaries were waiting at the next bus stop.  By 9:30 they were debating what to do when the bus "passed by".  The three companionships got on and there were no open seats.  The bus was packed with people and packages and no open seats.  After 2 hours all of the missionaries were able to get seats (Mark was the last to sit down).  When they finally arrived, they only had an hour and a half to work.  In that time, however, they found 16 people to teach before they had to get back on the bus to get home.  They were so excited that they founds so many friends to teach!  

Elder Smiley also talked about his area.  His branch is the biggest in the district.  They have 60-70  people attending church in their branch each week.  They are lacking in priesthood.   But he has a great district. When he was at Leadership Meetings he was telling the other Zone Leaders that their goal for April is 10 baptisms.  Another missionary from a different district said, "Zones like yours will never get 10 baptisms in April!"  It is super hot and has tons of Catholics and has not seen a lot of success in the past.  But, Elder Smiley and Elder Ororio are optimistic.  In fact, they have already had 2 baptisms and 8 more are scheduled to happen by the end of the month.  I'm so excited for them.  This Smiley Mama wants to shout to the mountaintops:  "Watch out world!!  Here comes another amazing Elder Smiley!!"

I asked him to tell me about the town and he said, "Mom, there are lots and lots of drunks.  In fact, he told us a story about a drunk man who came up to them and said, "You guys like to talk about Christ, right?  And then he looks up at the sky and screams in English, "Jesus Christ, I love you!"  and then just walked away.  They just shrugged their shoulders and walked away too.  Funny.

He looked good and sounded good.  He is thin and ready to eat American food.  I'm ready for August 26th to arrive.

Thanks for being a part of Elder Smiley's life

Love

Chris

Finally photos, and some good stories!

Monday March 18, 2019

Oh-k buddies hope you guys are buckled in and ready for some good stories.

First of all I AM FREAKING OUT BECAUSE ELDER JEFFREY R HOLLAND IS COMING TO OUR MISSION THE 29TH OF MAY ALONG WITH OUR AREA PRESIDENT OF MEXICO AND I AM LOSING IT GUYS THEY ARE SO COOL

Apart from that, changes came! me and Elder Weech are staying in the same area as comps again, at least for a bit, and we are receiving a missionary! His name is Elder Cambranis and he is a POWERHOUSE. I was there when he started his mission and he is just AWESOME.  Super excited to be with him and also to work in a trio.

Two fun stories.  The first one was after lunch with some members.  They gave us some tacos, which tasted absolutely incredible, but, like a good missionary, I didn’t ask what was in the tacos until after, and at the end of lunch i ask what meat was in the tacos, and she says ¨pig brains!! ¨ And I went ¨oh, classic Mexico, love this place.¨ super good tacos from people that don’t waste a single part of an animal.

Second story.  The sisters of our area were having a baptism, but they were super busy before it, so they needed us to go prepare the building for the service, which meant fill the font and set up chairs, the like. Well, we get behind schedule and run to the building, show up late and start throwing stuff together last minute hoping we get everything set up before the people arrive.  well, crazy thing happens.  When we finally get everything set up and are sitting there relaxing, we hear a chirping noise coming from the sacrament room.  we walk in there cautiously to find that two birds had entered and were chilling, enjoying their new environment. Now, I’d like you all to imagine two white guys dressed like missionaries running around a sacrament room screaming and waving brooms around to get these birds to finally exit through a small open door in the corner of the room. And then think those guys are in charge of a whole zone. Our poor zone.

It was a fun week to think about the atonement and feel spiritual power work with us.  All in all, difficult but rewarding week.  I love you guys, you all take care eh?

Love, Elder Smiley

This is the chicken

the whole family!!

This is the cistern for the water!!

The whole family got baptized!!

Mon, Mar 11, 5:30 PM

Hey I love everyone here and I wish I could write you guys a bunch of incredible stuff but I simply don’t have time!

ALEJANDRO AND HIS FAMILY GOT BAPTIZED

I FORGOT MY CAMERA AT HOME SO I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY YOU GUYS WILL GET 156525463 PICTURES NEXT WEEK HOPEFULLY.

Yesterday for the sister´s baptism, the water stopped working, so we went to the tank where the water gets deposited after its been used, and lowered buckets to fill the font.  It was quite difficult and I was soaked afterwards. And then their baptism told me only part of his name, so we had to baptize him again, and then he kicked his foot out, so we had to do it again, and he was real frustrated, because the water was quite frigid, but third time´s the charm!!!

I love you guys, I love the mission, and I have no time, sorry ¯\_(ヅ)_/¯

-Elder Smiley