Insta Finds :)

Now that I know the mission has an Instagram account, I'll be on the lookout. I think these were probably take the day after Jared arrived in Washington and  everyone was being assigned their companions and areas. Check out the neon color of Jared's helmet hanging on his bike (when we ordered everything they said this would be a good one for visibility -hehe).

"Sugah" has arrived!!!!

Jared had told us that he was allowed to call us from the airport during his layover for his flight to Washington yesterday. However, the time for the call came a went. We were pretty bummed. Then last night around 8pm we got a call from an unknown number and decided to answer. There was no doubt  who the booming voice belonged to on the other end. I was giddy to say the least!!!!! Jared sounded soo happy. It was such a joy to talk to him. He told us about his layover in Georgia. He loved how welcoming the staff at the airport was there. He said a lot of the workers there were black. He got a kick out of one lady who was checking his ID and said “Is this you sugah?”

After the call we got a couple pictures and a text from his mission president’s wife:

Your missionary has arrived safely and we are so happy to have them here. We love them already and look forward to serving here in the Washington Tacoma Mission together. 

We have had a nice evening together, having dinner, and getting to know them better. 

All of the elders are staying at the Assistants place and the sisters are with us at the mission home tonight. We will gather together in the morning for a day of training and meeting their trainer/companion and then head out to their new area later in the afternoon. 

I will be posting more pictures tomorrow evening on our Instagram page. If you would like to follow along, here is the name:  

washingtontacomamission

We love these missionaries and can't wait for them to experience the joy and happiness of this great work. 

Your missionary's 

P-day is on Monday's and can expect an email that day. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to text me at this number or my (Sister Leishman) mission phone: 253-241-2805

Love, President and Sister Leishman 

Week 5 Goodbye MTC, Hello Tacoma, Washington!!

Hey everybody!!!

I don't feel like I have much to talk about this week, mostly because it's been the six weeks here now and not much changes. But this is my last email here in México, and I'm leaving for Washington early Monday morning. The bus I have to be on leaves at 2 in the morning and we have to be there a half hour early, and travel leaders have to be there an hour early, and I  got picked as travel leader for the missionaries going to my mission. So I'm not going to be getting much sleep that night.

Just as an explanation, I was writing this email earlier today and the power went out and basically none of this email got saved so I don't have time to write it all over again, so this is all you'll be getting today.

Week 4: Power outages & getting locked out.... again

Hey everybody this last week has gone by so fast, and I only have a week and a half more to go. I can't believe it's already that time.

Not that much has happened this week other than power outages, getting locked out for the fourth time, an earthquake drill, and a district vs district game of soccer.
So on Tuesday we had another power outage the entire day which I think was pretty fun, and then around 8:30 p.m. all these sirens started going off and a bunch of missionaries (mainly the hermanas) started freaking out. Turns out it was just an earthquake drill and that protocol calls for being calm if such an event were to happen.

Today my companion and I got locked out for the fourth time. Our doors have electric locks, so we could get into the apartment but not into our own room which also has electric locks. They've had to come fix it every time because not even the master key works. They tried changing the batteries the last time, but that didn't work apparently. My guess is that the internal hardware or programming is just messed up. We've given up on closing our door so were now just leaving it open while we're gone.

Also today we played an hour long game of soccer which felt amazing. We have a rival district that we played kickball with and we won, and today we won again 2 to 5. I injured my leg last week when someone I was playing soccer with stepped on my leg, and it's still bothering me which is really frustrating.

The Spanish is coming along better. I'm able to speak pretty well now, but it's still super hard understanding Latinos.

Sorry that there isn't much today.  Let me know what else I'm leaving out that you want to hear about.
Nos vemos!!
-Elder Smith

Pictures:
1. Elder Christensen making the game plan for today's soccer game. (We're very serious about winning against that other district)
2. All my roommates: under Elder Tobler is Elder Nydegger (from Chicago going to Peru) and Elder Coons. Under me is Elder Law (from Cache Valley Utah going to Peru) and Elder Atkinson.

Week 3: Another Day at the Temple!!

Wow this week has gone by fast!! I feel like General Conference was just yesterday! That was super good by the way. I think my favorite talks were by Elder Rasband and Elder Holland. Elder Holland's talk helped me out with some struggles I was having with another missionary, and so I acted in faith, put my trust in Christ, and walked up to that missionary against all instincts so we could settle something that was going on between us.

So I've been told to tell more about life at the CCM, so I'll give a brief overview. 6:30 get up and get ready, 7:30 is breakfast, and then we have class in one small little room until lunch at 12:30. Then we go back to the same little classroom until dinner at 6:30, then back again until 9:00. We all get really tired of that room super quickly. Basically we get a lot of lessons on how to teach better, lessons on various Spanish grammer rules, and practice teaching each other and our teachers. Sometimes in the morning we "get" to go to the TALL labs to work on computers and learn more Spanish. The program they have is so confusing because not everything is correct and it just confuses us. The only parts of the day that I look forward to are meals and gym time. My companion and I have taken up playing ultimate frisbee for gym, which is right after lunch, and we're getting pretty good at it.

Today we got to go to the temple again and had a special surprise. My companion found out just this morning that his dad was in Mexico City today and he was going to the temple. So when we got to the temple today, we got to meet his dad and do initiatories with him. Whenever we go to the temple, we can only go do an endowment session, but the branch president came with us today and he let Elder Tobler, his dad, and I go do some initiatories which was pretty interesting. But going through the endowment session, I could understand a lot more than I did two weeks ago. It was so cool! Every once in a while I would take off my head set and I could actually understand a little bit of what was going on.

So my parents need to know my favorite scripture for my plaque, and I had forgotten where it was until this week when I read it in my Spanish Book of Mormon. I thought it was so cool to have recognized enough words in Spanish to pick it out again, especially when I didn't know exactly where it was. My favorite scripture is 2 Nephi/Nefi 4:34-35. Really I love the whole chapter, but these two verses really highlight what feels like is my own testimony. To save you time, I'll type it in: "34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm. 35 Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen."

Well I think that's all I can think of right now. Nos vemos!!
-Elder Smith

Ps I forgot to say that I got a haircut earlier this week, so you'll see it in the pictures.

Pictures
1. The Tacomi squad before going to the temple on that cramped yellow bus
2. My amazing district leader Elder Coons
3, 4, 5. Pictures of campus

I (mom) got this sweet follow-up text today:

Sister Smith -
I had the chance to meet Elder Smith this morning as I was passing through Mexico City on a business trip.  He looks well and is in good spirits.  Our son is very much enjoying serving with him.  Their Branch President facilitated the three of us completing some initiatory together.  It was great to meet him in person. 
- Brent Tobler

Week 2 I guess? Time is so weird here

Hey everybody!! I can't believe that it's already week 2/week 3. Technically I'm in the middle of week 3, but this is only my second P-day so.... Anyways it feels like I've been here for 3 months instead of 3 weeks. But at the same time it feels like just a couple days ago when I was saying goodbye at the airport.

I've really been able to notice a change in my Spanish since last week. I'd been having trouble with taking the vocab I had memorized and turning it into coherent sentence. But since then I've felt the power of the gift of tongues and the promise in D&C 100:5-6 "Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say." Earlier this week we were teaching a fake investigator, and again prayed for the gift of tongues and for the Spirit to accompany me and help me with what I should say, but until this week my answer had been that it will come in time and that I had to be patient with myself. This lesson though was incredible. We started, and I hardly even struggled with making sentences. I usually have trouble with how I should even reply to different responses or questions, but this time, I felt the Spirit so strong and I hardly even paused to think. Everything just flowed and came together so well. It was amazing.

As for general conference, there are going to be some big changes made from what the rumors here say. One of the elders in my district said that their friend got their call, but they're not allowed to open it until after general conference. A lot of people are thinking that China's going to be opened, or that the length of a mission for both elders and sisters will change. Honestly, I don't know what to think, but I'm excited for a very long nap in the auditorium. We're all going to be stuck in there for several hours, it's going to be so hot, and every time we go in there for a devotional, it all gets to me and I just start to fall asleep. I'm just praying that we won't have to wear suits for general conference, otherwise it might be pretty miserable.

Well I don't really have much to say since just about everyday feels exactly the same as all the others, so I hope that those of you dealing with the fire, floods, and mudslides in Elk Ridge will be safe.

My disctrict at the temple last week. From left to right: Top row: E. Atkinson, E. Coons (district leader), me, my companion E. Tobler, E. Moore, E. Van Mondfrans. Middle row: E. Christensen, E. Decker, E. Johnson, E. McGrath. Bottom: Hermana Murphy, Hermana Van Woerkam.

The district again.

The Tacomies (we're all going to the same mission, and we're in the same apartment).

Day 10: Hola from the CCM (MTC)!!!

Hey everybody, it's been a long week and a half, but very short at the same time! Adjusting to life here in México has been really crazy! Everyday is packed with tons of things to do. Lots of language and teaching classes, and plenty of personal study time. For all you who thought I was going to be eating rice and beans for every meal, you're wrong. The food here is actually really great! They have so many different options (though not as many as the Provo MTC) and they're all really good. Except for the eggs. So beginning on Tuesday, I arrived at the CCM around 3 or 4 and met my companion Elder Tobler from Orem, Utah. He's such a great guy and I'm so blessed to have him as my companion! That night we had a devotional that was broadcast from the Provo MTC to about 14 others around the world. Elder Neil L. Anderson spoke, and it was so good that I actually didn't fall asleep at all during his talk unlike some of the others (in my defense it had been a really long day). I don't have my notes with me right now so I can't share, but it was really good.

The next day I met my district and my teachers. Everyone in my district is super awesome. Every time we share what we learn from our studies or when we bear our testimonies, I'm blown away by how amazing each and every one of them are. My teachers that I have are also really cool: Hermana Lopez, and Hermano Vicente. They both are so amazing even when I don't understand what they're trying to teach me. Later in the week I met my branch presidency, and the branch president said that we are the celestial branch and that the others are telestial and terestial. I think it fits.
To be honest, the entire first week was so hard. Everyone in the district had some sort of difficult thing that they were going through, and so it was good to just talk to each other as a coping mechanism. For me personally, I was struggling with balancing everything. It was hard to know how much to study language or study PMG/PME or just try to memorize scriptures. I ended up focusing mostly on Spanish since I've been having a hard time keeping up.
I feel like I've been all over the place, so I hope that this made sense. Sorry for not being able to respond to emails during the week since I'm not allowed to read emails or take pictures except on P-day; which is on Thursdays.
Miss you guys!! Keep me updated on how things are back home!

Mexico city temple

Elder Tobler and I at the temple this morning.

Posing as Arnold the buff statue

My view of the CCM campus and a bit of the city behind from my dorm

Day 1, September 18, 2018 Mexico MTC

I have arrived and am safe.

I will not have a P day until Thursday next week. So not in two days.

I'm also supposed to tell you that I'm in Branch 3 and District D.

Day 1 Tuesday, September 18, 2018

He's off! Jared's excitement at leaving on his mission was contagious. So hard to let him go, but so much joy.

Monday, September 17, 2018

This was crazy time for our family. Due to some rapidly growing fires on the mountains behind our home (the Pole Creek and Bald Mountain Fires), Jared had to evacuate with our family and the rest of Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills the Thursday before leaving on his mission. Everything happened pretty fast for all the residents. At the time of evacuation, Jared just had to throw all his mission stuff in suit cases to be repacked later - hoping he had it all. We didn't know when or if we would have a home to come back to. Being on evacuation status made for interesting circumstances. We had our final dinner as a family with the rest of the evacuees at a dinner being served by the Red Cross at Salem Hills High School. Our bishop and members of our stake presidency had to go back to their homes to get the suits they hadn't evacuated with (residents had to be escorted to their homes to retrieve items left behind). Normally in this area, a missionary is set apart at his home. However, since neither our home nor church were available, we met at a church in Payson. Just before being set apart, Jared ran into a bathroom at the church with his suit to quickly change. While things were chaos on the mountain outside, things were far different inside. Such a feeling of peace and joy was present there. Testimonies were born and the Spirit was strong.