Familia, Familia.... y otros amigos, Buenas Dias!!!

Well time for the weekly letter to begin... and first off let me say my heart is broken to hear that BSU lost to TCU.... I´ll keep the team in my prayers hahaha... Also real quick, thanks to everyone for all the letters ive been getting, its really nice to open up my email and see a ton in there!

To start off, this week has been pretty awesome.... We have an old guy whos one of our investigators, I think I've mentioned him before, se llama Jaun Manuel, and this week, hes given us close to 10 new investigators, (more than weve received from any member since I've been here acculmulated), and he introduces us to everyone. Its crazy, he lives in a super poor area and always feeds us whenever we come by, (which is about every day). He's a school teacher and has been for close to 50 years... His story is awesome though... When he was a joven, he wanted to be a catholic priest and is technically certified to be one. Went to school for 9 years studying the bible, and he tells us, there aren't 2 more educated people than my companion and I. Everytime he sees us he gives us hugs and is just the nicest guy. Yesterday he came to church and he is so close to baptism, he just lacks a testimony of Gods power being restored to the earth. Its so hard for him to believe that Joseph Smith was a profeta and at this point it just takes him finding out for himself... Its tough because i want nothing more than to see him get baptized and move on to so many more things.

Also, we are currently getting kicked out of our house by the dueña haha, so we found a new house and are moving tonight. Kinda weird packing up 2 years worth of possesions in 3 suitcases, but its easy and its done. Our new house though is much better...ish.... lets say this, its by their equivalent of a walmart, se llama, {la bodega aurrera}, so we are pretty happy about that, but itll be sad leaving my favorite panaderia though, (bread shop). We buy our breakfast every night from there and its great.... But the best part about this move is we are more centered in our area and we are farther away from the temple of the LUZ DEL MUNDO. By the way did i tell you about them? These people are crazy... They believe in one apostle, because in efesiones 4:11 says apostle first, then profeta when christ is calling his church and thats their argument with us. They claim their apostle, se llama Samuel Jauquin Flores I think, is a god.... These people are just weird, and their temple at night lights us and alternates colors.... EVERY NIGHT!!!!!! hahaha and if thats not crazy enough, their cake shaped temple that lights up, shoots lazer beams out of the top of it and is just weird.... No joke... Ill send a picture, i took one last night of it from on our roof.

Also this week I finished reading the book "Our seach for happiness".... sorry they dont have a button for quotes on the keyboard, and i seriously have no clue what half of these abreviatons for words on the keyboard mean so its pretty hard to type... oh and almost everything is in a different spot... anyways, our search for happiness was an amazing book that was truly inspired. Wow, M. Russell Ballard was truly inspired when he wrote that book and I loved every page of it.

I have to say though... I am just all around exhausted... Siempre walking all day, we dont get the luxury of driving trucks Jordan or even riding bikes, we take the sketchy taxis and buses everywhere or walk for mile after mile. Everywhere we go though, we are always contacting. My favorite is literally EVERY house says (quote) Este hogar es catalico y no accepta cosas de otros religiones..... hahaha ya right, everyone and their dog claims their catholic but not one person goes to mass, even after the catholic church lights off cannons all sunday long.... Hahaha btw, no one else here in mexico notices it, but there is a ton of noise.... The catholic churchs, which occur more frequently than mormon iglesias en Utah, are always lighting fireworks all throughout the day to remind people to pray, and also, they all ring their bells every half hour.... during lessons all you hear is fireworks and bells, and tamale trucks blasting tamale propaganda, and police sirens, and buses without mufflers driving by, and marachi music being blasted on subs, that literally countless times ive watched the investigators mouth move and not heard a word.... Hahaha theirs so many laws in the united states prohibiting noise that when you come here, all you wish for is to let the spirit have the peace it needs to communicate with them and never hear all the music from the streets again.

Yesterday was an amazing moment for me though, one of the referencias de Juan Manuel, a girl who is like 14 I think prayed for the first time and the spirit was so strong, afterwards she was crying and we asked her to be baptized, she said yes.... it was great... moments like that just make all the walking and racism and hard moments worth it...

Before I forget i just wanted to say, yes we are in guadalajara right now, in Libertad Colonia, and if you want to see what my area is like, just look up the temple of luz del mundo (light of the world) and thats my area.... their temple is almost centered in our area... to be honest i dont know how hot it is, but the weather never changes ive heard.... it just stays really nice all the time... little on the warm side, but nice.... Also, for anyone wondering this week i ate some pretty nasty stuff... hahaha basically water, valentino hot sauce, and habeneros and salt.... just terrible and spicy... and i like spicy here, but habeneros are just not good for you... also I ate whole deep fried baby fishes with chile and lime over them head to tail... hahaha theres some pretty weird stuff here... no joke, but some it it tastes pretty good too... They have something called a torta ahorgada.... (drunken sandwhich)... basically a sandwhich on sourdough sub rools, with pork, and just covered in a spicy chili sauce so much that the bread is just mush and its crazy spicy but really good.... theyre famous in guadalajara....

Well i have to go, but thanks for all the letters and keep me in your prayers... love you all

Hasta Luego

Elder Smitheram