Talked to one of Bill Swann's baptisms Small world!!

Craziest thing, so my ward mission leader served in the Mexico Leon mission.  I asked him if he knew  an Elder Swann? He said no, but his wife said she did if he has curly hair. I said yes!!!!! 

She went on to say that he baptized my father!!!!! I was so happy, it was the coolest thing ever!

I officially had a favorite moment in my mission!!!!! We are teaching Jiserla.  We asked her if she had been reading the Book of Mormon.  She said she could not find it, so we asked her daughter who told us it was in her school locker so she could read it.  SO COOL!!!!  Now we just need to get her to church, and we can get her baptized.

We have transfers this week and I am freaking out!  Everyone tells me I will stay in my area and lose my companion, my gosh I do not want to. If anything, I want to leave or keep Elder Pazmiño for one more transfer!

Glad to hear about Thanksgiving, unfortunately Mexicans do not celebrate thanksgiving or black Friday.  Imagine that, not celebrating the American colonization, nor the excess we call black Friday.

Dad, you asked if Elder Pazmino and I can have conversations.  Yes we do, they are still basic, but I can get the jist of a sentence, even if I do not know every word.

Funny story: so I was walking with my companion, and asked if my Spanish had gotten better since the first time we met. He just laughed, “Oh my,  Elder I don’t think anyone could understand you the first month.”  So we laughed and he commented that my Spanish will be very good by January or February, so relax.

Dad, you asked if Elder Pazmino and I can have conversations.  Yes we do, they are still basic, but I can get the jist of a sentence, even if I do not know every word. 

Ecuadorian missionary with "girlfriend" in Idaho Oh, so goes the mission!!!

I gave Joaquin the $100 and gosh I wish you guys could’ve seen his face.  He said "Elder Smiley you are my second favorite missionary, because my first favorite is the one who baptized me."  I laughed pretty hard at that!!!!!!!

Elder Pazmiño and I set a goal for 50 words this week for weekly planning.  I’m already done with my fifty words and he is still working on his!!

Sandra (my first, like half baptism) went to the temple on Friday, so that was pretty great news!!!!!!!

Elder Pazmiño told me the funniest thing!!! So we were walking and he just says

            “Do you like Idaho?” 

            “Yes, kind of why?”

            “I have a girlfriend that lives there.”  

            “What, are you serious?”  

            “Well she doesn’t know that she is my girlfriend yet, but ya, she’s my girlfriend”

            I laughed pretty hard at that!!!! 

My other funny story this week is that I tried to contact this lady and she told me to go to hell!

So later, I saw her and I told my comp to go contact her, but she was running and he started to run and talk and he tripped!   I literally fell laughing at him, oh my gosh it was the greatest!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our investigator that is closest to baptism was sicker than ever so we gave her a blessing but she was too scared to go to church. 

So I had an ingrown toenail.  It was so bad, it was like Dad’s where he could barely walk.  Elder Pazmiño called the zone leaders and they came over and looked at it and they told me to cut it or go to the hospital!!! 

I thought I have a knife so I popped it out and stuck it in to pry out the nail and puss just shot out!   When Elder Pazmino came back through he said “Elder Smiley did one of the zone leaders sneeze on your foot?”  Kinda gross, but I can walk better now.  It still hurts though!

Prayer list:  

Elder Smiley so he can progress a whole lot faster in Spanish

Jiserla so she can get baptized already

Irma so she can get a response so she can get baptized!!!!!!

Cody finds out about Andi's baby!! 10 new investigators!!!

Here is an excerpt from Andi letting Cody know about her baby!!  Cody has called "dubs" on naming Andi's first child (right) and he has picked "Danger May" 

Did you get the picture I just sent you?

ITS ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANGER IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess what the gender is?

MALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if its female I’m not the uncle

Yep I'm having a baby boy in April :)

APRIL, HECK YA, I CAN SEE HIM AT MOTHERS DAY!!!! DANGER IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep :) He'll be pretty little, but he will be excited to meet his Mexican uncle! :)

THAT IS SOOOOOOO CHIDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really worried about Andi’s health because she was always sick!!

Turns out she’s pregnant!

I am sooooooo happy right now!!!!! That turned all the bad things good for me!!!!!!!! 

Mom when you sent me with long underwear I thought you were the biggest dork.  I am so happy you sent me with long underwear I have worn them every night this week!!!! This week it was just rain rain rain!

Not a lot but enough to make everything cold, like really cold!  It was insane!!!! Kids who are going on a mission, your parents know more than you, know that!!!!!!!!!

My Spanish is getting better, I only have 2 months here in the mission field so I hopefully I can be fluent by February (that is the goal) I hope I can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week was just nothing but cold and new investigators!!!!!

We have like 10 new investigators, well 12 if you count the pictures!   Nothing happening here in Aguascalientes.  Only studying Spanish and practicing!!!!!!!!!

Prayer list same as usual 

They wear these hats while proselyting!! 

Two famous guys in Aguascalientes

Here are the two extra investigators!!

Cody is thankful for his Mom's foresight!! 

One bad week, one great week, now for the normal boring week. Oh how a mission mimics real life!!

This week was kind of boring.

We were dropped by two investigators, but the good part is I didn’t like them anyway.   They were saying “the book of mormon isnt true”, so we asked “Are you reading the book of Mormon? and they said no. We would just smack our heads, my gosh they were frustrating!!!

Last Monday it was Elder Garcia’s birthday. Elder Garcia is the ZL here and my trainer’s trainer the transfer before me.  A tradition here is you shove the birthday person’s face into a cake.   You will see it in the video.

Let me tell you about Isaac (he is my absolute favorite person in Aguas)  He does not want to listen to the gospel, but he is still the funniest guy in the world. Every time we see each other we shake hands and say "Perfect" to each other and it is my fave!

Without Isaac Duilio I would hate my area soooo much

Just kidding about the video,  I cant send pics, so next week!

We had one investigator go to church this week and during the lesson the teacher asked our investigator if god can answer prayers. Our investigator said no.   so that was pretty embarrassing. 

We have new rules in our area now and we cannot play anything with physical activity and so today I played Monopoly. Ya, it is coming down to playing Monopoly. But I won so thats great!!!!

I love hearing about my friends good experiences and hearing about Renn and Nicky and Kate and Cody and Fox and Mason, that is just the greatest!!!!!!!!!!

Prayer list:

Elder Smiley: he can learn Spanish faster

Duilio Isaac: We can teach them!!!

Leopoldina and Jiserla: Attend church with us

Irma: Pray and ask to see if the church is true (which it is)

Thank you everyone for praying for me here in Mexico!!!! Love all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!