Hola familia! Wow so what a cool week ive had. To be honest a lot of crazy experiences ill have to tell you all about after the mission in person, but some of which included yesterday getting to listen to D. Todd Christopherson... Wow that was awesome. To be honest it was really interesting to listen to him, because he speaks perfect spanish and him and his wife gave some really good talks about the "true" purpose of missionaries and how one can really "work for the lord". Also, this past week we had planned a baptism for Beto, but... well it fell through for some problems that he had in the past. The elder that did the interview didnt listen to the spirit very well, but the president after did an interview with him on sunday and told us all was well for this week to baptize him, so we are pretty excited for that. Also we have a pair of brothers that are going to get baptized, just some kids, one of them is named Ian and the other Byron. But the better story comes from their mom who we just talked to this morning. She told us she wanted to pray to know if our message was true that we were teaching her kids was something that would help them. And told us this morning that she prayed and had a dream that her aunt that had died visited her in her dream and she asked her aunt if she should, and her aunt said something along the lines of not only she should follow what we were teaching, but that she needed to get baptized and soon as possible for the salvation of them both... So this morning, we told her that she just needs to get married and go to church, and she too can get baptized... very special, very spiritual... Tell grandma I said hi... man this week was pretty crazy though... the other day a guy in my ward that rents suits told me that he'd give me a suit, so that was cool. A pretty gray one... he told me though, hes like, "i still need to hem the pants, so i'll have you bring it over to my mother in laws house, and if you want to drop by there later to pick it up you can"... so i did... She live's on the corner of a street and right as we get to the corner going to cross the street, i heard about 5 gunshots and looked to the right and about a block down i saw a bald guy with levis and a tank top running... Next thing you know everyone starts shouting, "they shot "kio", they shot him"... So i ran down there to see if i could do anything to help, and when i got there it was bad... He had taken to bullets to the left lung and one to the side of the head, and someone was giving him CPR, but he was clearly dead because his brain was exposed and there was no pulse... Kind of crazy... But don't worry, the ambulance got there 35 minutes late, and we got out of there before police questioned anyone, but it was pretty messed up to say the least. My companion is kind of still in shock from it, apparently he didn't play enough violent video games as a kid, and apart from that he doesn't want to be a doctor like me, so it was pretty bad for him... but otherwise... on the bright side of things I have a new suit! Apart from all that, all go well... I miss you all a ton and cant wait to send you some baptismal photos. Les amo, Elder Smitheram

Familia y los demas! We've had a pretty cool week and we've had quite a bit of luck. Yesterday at church we had 11 investigators, 8 less actives who haven't been to church in over a year and 1 recent convert who is less active. A quarter of everyone at church yesterday was brought there by us, so it felt pretty good. To be honest we are seeing a lot of miracles here in the ward. Now we just need to convert all of the investigators we have into baptisms. Shouldn't be too hard, but here within the next couple weeks we`ll start to see who really is prepared for baptism and who isn't. One of the pics i sent you was of a guy named Alberto Hernandez. Kinda funny because that's also my companions name, but that's beside the point. Alberto walks funny because less than a month ago they shot him in the back of the leg and broke his femur, so thats why hes got the one crutch in the picture. Hes a really good guy though and honestly hes been making a lot of changes in his life. He has a baptismal date for the 18th, but we`ll have to see what happens. The other picture of the family is a guy named Fransico and his sons, (insert name here)... I know i'm the worst, i cant remember names very well but i think one of them is also name Fransisco (panchito), and one is like Javier and the other is Jose. The wife is the only member, but when we found here she was drinking out front of here house and now shes changed a ton. Hahaha i know we only have 4 days with them and only one lesson, but we put a baptismal date for the 18th as well and Fransisco and his son thats 8 accepted the date, and were at church this Sunday. To be honest weve had some awesome lessons and im feeling really good about the area. All we need to do now is really just start doing our best to bring the spirit to every lesson and im sure theyll be baptized very shortly. To be honest everyday feels really good to be a missionary. Its hot. And its hard... but it feels really good. Its crazy thats its getting so close to time, but i really have come to love it here in this little desert. I miss you all a ton, and it'll be nice to talk on Mothers day. Please dont cry dad :D Con mucho amor, Elder Smitheram

Familia y los demas! Wow... what a... horrible week... Honestly, it was probably the worst week of my entire mission. I guess everytime things start to head up, it always has to have its downs as well... Well lately ive been listening to some of the "teachings of Joseph Smith" talks and in it he said, "that everyone at some point in their life will have to go through a trial similar to that of Abraham"... Tuesday night we had actually just had a really good visit with a member training him to be a ward missionary, and we had also out of nowhere found like 9 pesos on the ground, (no big deal, just got us really happy about life for a second), when i looked down at the phone and there were 2 messages from the president. The first one said, "can you call me", and the second said "now"... Wow super nervous and walking down the street i called the president and it went a little something like this "Elder Smitheram, are you on speaker phone right now?", "no president", "alright, where are you at right now?", "on our way to a visit". (it was about 8 at night.) "Elder Smitheram, what im about to tell you, im saying so that you can have inspiration, so that you can help your companion. His father just passed away, so you need to help him the best you can.".... When i heard those words it hit me extemely hard... I started to cry, and my companion just stared at me. Then he asked to talk to my companion... I passed him the phone and all he said to me was "what did we do wrong?"... I watched him sit down, and i guess maybe he just kind of went into shock. After a few minutes the president hung up and we just kind of stared at everything around us. Then he told me that his father had gotten bronchitis and had passed away in a short time. He was only 56. After that the president gave him the option to go home or to stay. Hes only got this transfer left, but he decided to stay anyways. Its been tough though. Weve had some really good experiences this week. We are seeing a lot of people progress and hopefully we`ll be able to baptize a few this month, but everyday right now is a struggle. Every night hes been asking me if he should've gone or if he should stay. Apart from that, we've been seeing a lot of progress in the Raygoza Family, hopefully they'll get baptized this month and hopefully Fabiola and her family will as well... Last night were transfers and we were the only ones that stayed as companions, but im really glad that we are. He's inspiring me a lot, and even though he hasn't told anyone in the ward what happened, the spirit is with us a lot stronger and we now have more than 20 investigators. So many that we honestly have a lot of problems trying to teach them all every week, and on top of that I've been doing a lot of baptismal interviews for my district, so i think all of that has really helped us both stayed focused. We`ll see what happens but honestly, things are still going good, its just another trial right now. Also, sorry everyone, i was going to send some pics but i left my camera in my room, ill have to send them next week. I love and miss you all! Elder Smitheram

Familia y los demas! Wow another super fast week that just flew by and honestly things are going really well... Elder Hernandez and I a.k.a (Los mas guapos), this week found two new familias! The first family is a reference that i got when i was working in the area Reforma in Guadalajara... (haha i know, i didnt get any references for them while i was there but i got some for me), and we went to go visit them this past friday and talked with them in front of their house... Honestly... They are a really good family. The husband and his wife are in the high 50s and their oldest is 20(and yes has two kids), the next oldest is 19(only has one kid) and the next is 12.... Its a family of 5, and this past friday they really liked our lesson, and we invited them to church and they said "we`ll see"... Well this sunday at the end of sacrament they showed up... They loved church, they loved gospel principals, and only the daughter thats 19 showed up with her son, but her son came out of primary and said "mom i like it here, they gave me cookies!"... hahaha But at the end of the gospel principals class the daughter asked me... "so how can someone know what the true church is and what do you have to do to get baptized...".... wow... im sure theyll be baptized pretty soon... The only family i still dont know... The other day we went with our recent converts, (alejandra and carlitos), and i talked to them about missionary work and she said that she needed another book of mormon because she gave her book of mormon to a friend and that friend is a single mom with her 4 kids.... YAY! Wow honestly we are having a ton of miracles and it feels great... So our ward mission leader is the bomb and he said this next month that all the wards in GDL but their baptismal goals for 2... and he reported 10, and said he`ll go with us every day if he needs to.... Very spritual guy and very intelligent... Also, we have a baptism planned for this Saturday... doubt itll go through... Her name is Viridiana (Viri), and shes living with the 1st councelor in the ward. Who also is an RM, who also just so happens to be the reason she probably wont get baptized... He keeps telling her that its too soon, that she doesnt know everything yet and things like that... So this sunday i kind of chewed him out... We`ll see what happens but i think for sure shell get baptized this month... Also we had our family home evening this week as a ward and only like 30 people were there but it was really good... We talked about the Atonement and i got up on the stage and Beto offered one by one a chocolate to everyone. If they said they wanted the chocolate he said "ok, but it does have a price" and then hed say something like 8 pushups elder smitheram.... So id do the pushups then theyd get the chocolate... So on and so forth... Then someone would feel bad and say "no thanks i dont want the chocolate", then beto would say... "ok well ill put the chocolate over here on the table, but it doesnt matter it still has a price" and id still have to do the pushups... It was a powerful lesson and everyone really liked it... que mas?.... um to be honest its been getting so hot here lately... Ill probably come home looking like a negrito but its all good... Well i love you all a ton and thanks for all the letters... It feels nice to know that even though i hit 20 months this week im not completely forgotten :) Elder Smitheram