Mi querido familia,
Por fin tengo un año en la misión. Muchas veces es dificil a creer que he sido misionero por un año. El tiempo ha pasado super rapido y estoy agradecido que tengo un año mas para servir el Señor. Para ser sincero cuando entré la misión casí no sabía nada del evangelio de Jesucristo. Solo sabía que la iglesia es verdadera y el libro es azul (chistes en ingles no se traduce muy bien en español jaja) Pero en solo un año mi conocimiento del evangelio ha crecido un monton. Por medio de mis estudios de las escrituras, Predicad mi evangelio y otros libros del evangelio que tengo yo puedo decir sin ningun duda que sé que esta es la iglesia verdadera. Sé que Jose Smith vío nuestro Padre Celestial y Jesucristo. Sé que Dios le llamó a ser un profeta para restaurar la iglesia en la tierra. Sé que El Libro de Mormón es la palabra de Dios y que contiene la plenitud del evangelio. Al leer el libro de mormón mi fe en Cristo ha crecido y sé que es un otro testamento de Cristo. Sé que Tomas S. Monson es el profeta hoy en dia llamado por Dios para guiarnos. Sé que por medio de la fe, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, el don del espiritu santo, y el perseverar hasta el fin podemos lograr la paz y felicidad en esta vida y la salvación en la vida venidera. Sé que las families puedan ser eternas por medio de ordenanzas sagradas que hacemos en los templos. Entonces he cambiado mucho en este año y estoy animado a ver cuanto mas voy a cambiar en el año que viene. (Have fun translating)
So this week was really stressful. Of the 7 baptisms we were going to have, only 1investigator got baptized. Jose, Maureen, Jose David, Abigail, Sheralyn and Pablo are going to get baptized this Wednesday. There were a couple problems and so we had to move the baptismal date to this week. Jose asked Elder Sangster to baptize him. Pedro is going to baptize two of his sisters, Maureen and Sheralyn. My companion is going to baptize Jose David (first baptism) and Abigail asked me to baptize her. Also Elder Norr is going to baptize Pablo. So this week is going to be very exciting and it will be a little stressfull, but that's going to be my life for the next year.
So still no sign of the package. I'm a little worried because I am on my last pair of contacts and so I don't know if there is a way you can check and see if the package got here or maybe you wrote the wrong address. I called the secretaries and the address you told me is okay, but maybe you wrote it wrong or something like that.
This week is Thanksgiving and it is going to be awesome. A member in my ward, Jairo Hernandez, works for the government and so he travels all over the world. He lived in New York for awhile and so he is basically a gingo. Well, he invited us over to his house on Thursday because he is going to have a real thanksgiving dinner. Yay!!!! I'm excited.
So everything is good here and I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!!
Love Elder Smith
P.S. We played Monopoly this morning and I destroyed everyone!
Thank goodness for GOOGLE translate . . .for those of us who "no hablo espanol", here's what Elder Smith wrote:
Finally I have a year in the mission. Many times it's hard to believe I've been a missionary for one year. Time has gone by super fast and I'm grateful that I have another year to serve the Lord. To be honest when I entered the mission, I almost knew nothing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I just knew that the church is true and the book is blue (jokes in English does not translate very well in Spanish haha). But in just one year, my knowledge of the gospel has grown a lot. Through my studies of the scriptures, "Preach My Gospel" and other books of the Gospel that I have, I can say without any doubt I know that this is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know that God called him to be a prophet to restore the church on earth. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and contains the fullness of the gospel. Reading the Book of Mormon, my faith in Christ has grown and I know that it is another testament of Christ. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today called by God to guide us. I know that through faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end we can achieve peace and happiness in this life and salvation in the afterlife. I know that families can be together forever through sacred ordinances we do in the temples. So I've changed a lot this year and I am encouraged to see how much more I will change in this next year.
