Half way

Well, I have officially made it to the halfway mark. A year from this coming Wednesday Dad left me at the gates of the airport as I started my two year journey as a full-time missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I can say this has been the best year of my life and the fastest one too. Kenny Chesney's song, Don't Blink, really applies here. I'm going to blink and be on that plane ride home. I'm getting to that point where I can see how nerve wrecking that is. I remember when Elder Erickson was about to go home and he was telling me how nervous he was. I didn't understand why he was nervous, but now I'm starting to see why. You just get so used to the missionary life and you learn to love being a missionary. 

Well this week, Elder Schupp got sick. He got the usual. Every American gets it a few times a year. The toilet becomes your only friend for a few days. Hahaha. So we didn't leave for a couple of days, but that left me the chance to read a lot. I started reading The Miracle of Forgiveness. I haven't finished it yet, but I am really enjoying it. It's really eye opening. Last Wednesday we also had our multi-zone conference and Elder Caseñeda of the Seventy came. Wow, you could tell he was a General Authority. Just the way he spoke, taught, and testified. It was awesome to meet him and learn from him. 

The one thing that I really took away from the conference that really impacted me personally was this...I need to stop trying to figure out if my thoughts or feelings are just my own, or revelation from the Spirit. There are too many times I think to myself, "That's just me, not the spirit." I realized that it doesn't matter, if I feel like I should talk to someone or do something, and it's something good, It doesn't matter if it comes from the spirit or not! JUST DO IT! 

Today for our P-day we went to a super cool, old garden with a couple members. This garden had a bunch of Oaxacan unique plants that you only find here in this region of the world. Most of them were types of cactus. Hahaha but it was super cool.

Thank you for all of your prayers and emails. I am so grateful for all help and support that I get from my friends and family, because that is not the case for a lot of missionaries around the world.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Smith