God's Presence Was There

Hola Hola!

Happy Memorial Day! That's not a holiday in Honduras... but I hope you guys have a great day off!  What's the point of a day off three days before of the end of the school year? I can't believe that it has already been a year since I graduated from high school. That was fast! And the soccer State Championship just ended too. Another great memory! It's crazy how fast things change!

Family news...first of all, FELICIDADES Tami and Brady!!! Paige Hofmann, welcome to the family! I am seeing the other side of my relationship with my cousin Brian now.  I'm so old, haha! Second, my cousin Maggie is the best!! I am so proud of her for going on a mision! I know she's going to be the best hermana ever! Good luck out there! (:

OK, this week was CRAZY!! I know that you don't like crazy Mom... so... don't read this part! (:

On Tuesday we were walking back from a super good lesson. We taught the Word of Wisdom and both of the ladies said they were going to stop drinking coffee. So we were super pumped!  Then we came around the corner and there were these two young guys waiting there with shirts tied around their faces and hats pulled low. They saw us and we knew it was too late... we were going to get robbed. So they came up to us and started demanding our valuables, but because we are poor missionaries we didn't have anything, of course. We told them that, but they didn't trust us. They searched our pockets and backpacks and found out that we really didn't have anything. They took my comp's watch, apologized, shook our hands, and left.  The funny thing is that I felt so calm and protected the whole time. I was thinking about how I could help them to realize that they needed to change. It was an interesting feeling. A really good experience.

The next day we went to the temple with our investigators. Glenda came, and she is planning on getting married on the 7th of June so we talked about temple marriage and how her family could be eternal. It was a really spiritual experience for her!! We had some other investigators come too. And right before the bus left they told me that they needed to go to the bathroom so we went, but then we saw the bus pass by the window... haha we had to run it down! I was having flashbacks to elementary school. But we made it!

The next day we found out about the two Elders who were in the car crash... I didn't know either of them but it was still so sad! I hope their families are doing ok! I can only imagine how hard it must be to know that they won't be coming home... but that is the beauty of the Plan of Salvation. They will be waiting for their family to really come home with them.

Lastly, Sunday after church we were walking all of our investigators back to their houses just like normal. So we walked down a little hill and around a corner and we saw a car flipped over in a little ditch thing, and two people on the ground bleeding a lot! Elder Dalgo looked at me and said "Listo??" (Are you ready?) I nodded.  And we ran over to them and pulled out our oil. He gave the first blessing to the guy in the worst shape. His name was Jeffery. He couldn't breathe and had a pretty big gash on his arm. Then we ran over to the girl, her name was Rixi. She was bleeding a lot from her head and her arm was broken. I gave her the blessing. I blessed her that she was going to be fine, and that she was going to have a great life with her future family. Once again I just felt calm even though it was such a crazy moment. God's presence was there. We waited until the ambulance came and then walked the investigators the rest of the way home. It wasn't until we got to the house of our cocinera (cook lady) that I realized that my hands were covered in blood.

That was my crazy week.  But we still managed to work super hard!  We have a couple of people who are really positive! Please pray for Glenda and Fernando this week! They need a couple of miracles to get their wedding finalized. And also for Lillian, and Vivian. They are both coming to church and doing everything we ask. They just need answers to their prayers. Your prayers WORK!  Por favor!

I hope that everything is going well for all of you. I hope you enjoy your first little bit of summer! I love and miss you all!

Love, Elder Smith

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