We had an amazing zone conference in Bacolod so we didn't get to proselyte on Wednesday or Thursday and on Friday and Saturday I had to stay in because I was sick, but don't worry, I went out for the baptism, but that's why I look really good in those pictures! I'm not going to die, I'm healthy again. It's just what happens when you eat weird food with lots of heat and walking around, I'm getting better at taking care of myself and it will not happen again. Then on Sunday we had a fireside with President Lopez at our stake center. So our proselyting hours were very limited and we didn't get to visit all the people we needed to. As a result, our numbers were really low, and our spirits are never as high as when you get to go our and work and testify. You feel the spirit way more when you are working your hardest. Don't be afraid of hard work in the mission field, because it almost becomes addicting. If you don't work your hardest, your spirit feels it and hungers for something better. When I'm working my hardest, even when we have dissapointments, we still have the spirit. This week was just a little lower and it affected every part of the work. It even affected the spirit in our companionship. But we will start anew each day and work together to serve this area. It's all about the people here. We have been very lucky to continue having weekly baptisms and we are excited to keep finding new investigators. We start again and again each day to be better.
Our baptism on Saturday was of Razel and Mia. Mia's actual name is Frauline, but that is really hard for people to say, so everyone calls her Mia (her nick-name). Razel and Mia were the two teenagers me and sister Madronio found my first week here in Cadiz. They went to church that first week and have come ever since, but the reason it took them almost three months to get baptized, is because they are the busiest people in the world. We were never able to teach them. Right after church they would have somewhere to go and do and they never had time to teach them. We tried teaching them through texting... that doesn't work too well. We tried teaching them during church, but we really needed to be able to be with our other invetigators during church too. It was a struggle, but they were finally able to learn all of the lessons and experience real conversion. The spirit was so strong and they already of such a strong unity in the ward. Half of the ward members thought that they had already been baptized a few months ago. Their spirits are strong and they are already preparing to serve missions. I can't wait to write them as they are serving! Maybe they will come to Utah and we can feed them there :) Anyway, it was a really good day!
I will try and share more miracles next week, but this week was kind of dull. I'm working on always being good, but this morning I was particularly discouraged about my performance as a missionary last week. Then I read in our stress management guide that we cannot always perform above our average. We will have times that are not our best. We cannot be alarmed, we just move forward with faith, knowing our overall average can still improve. I know that even though sometimes we are so hard on ourselves and we feel like we are inadequate, if we are doing all we can to serve the lord, we will not fail. Feeling like a failure is really just pride, because it is putting the confidence ourselves... right? If we have true confidence that this is the Lord's work, then we will not get discouraged. We will just continue in Faith. I'm so grateful for this gospel. Even the little things. We don't need to be discouraged. We can all be happy, even when we are going through a sad time. Overall, there is a peace there. I love you all and hope this week we can all feel the peace, even through the fast times in life! I love you!
Love, Sister Smoot
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