Elder Benjamin S. Smith

We had interviews with the Mission President this week so we drove up to the Mission Home. We drove there right after doing some service... and some people may have forgotten belts and shoes and the such... so we had some fun times swapping clothes in between interviews. When we took our shoes off at the door, the President said something like "and when you leave, just take any pair that fits you" as a joke. He had no idea how true that was because I left that house with different shoes on than I came with.  Anyways, the exciting part is that for whatever reason there are a bunch of peacocks in that neighborhood. Like there were three peacocks in their yard. I kid you not. Honestly, at this point if I saw a giraffe or a dragon next week I wouldn't be surprised. Okay maybe a giraffe would surprise me. Oh and peacocks can fly? I had no idea, but I was told that they will chill in a tree then fly across the street to another tree. We also had exchanges this wee...

Actually it was a tame Macaw. It was super cool! We were driving by and someone was hanging out with his bird, Sid, alongside the street. An absolutely beautiful animal. We pulled over and asked if we could take a picture of Sid then he invited us to come take a picture next to him. It was awesome. He told us about Sid and then he shared some about his faith as a Muslim. It was an awesome experience and we are both hoping that our churches will reopen soon. But it doesn't seem that they will. Last Monday we received word that, due to an increase in covid cases, the Governor of California released an order that closes Places of Worship from people congregating. At first, we were worried that we'd be fully quarantined again. Luckily that was not the case. There were not many meetings occurring in the church before the order, but it did end baptismal and funeral services. We had to cancel a funeral, which is sad, but hopefully the family is not feeling t...

The stories are true. There are palm trees. There's also like palm bushes which are thick, small palm trees and I kinda love them. It's a beautiful spot and the plants and animals are all different  than VA and I love seeing them. Once I got off the plane everything moved way quick. We went to "Ellis Island" and had a picture taken, a quick interview with the President, and our companions. Then we were off. Turns out I was supposed to grab a bag of sheets and blankets and the such... but it's alright because we went back for training the next day. I immediately noticed that everyone speaks Spanish. Although I am in an English speaking ward, I'm in a apartment with 4 Spanish speaking missionaries. My companion is Elder Ramirez, he is from Puerto Rico, via Texas. We are in the Whittier Zone, Santa Gertudes Area. So I want to study Spanish but I also want to study Portuguese and it's hard to do both. So we will see how that goes. On the seco...

The last couple of weeks have been amazing. Tons of practice, a lot more grammar, and some amazing thoughts about the good news of the gospel.  It's pretty crazy that I'll be leaving in just a couple of days, and I am probably quite unprepared, but I am excited to go. Because I was reassigned to the area, I have not gotten a ton of information about it, but I know the general schedule. I'll fly in on Tuesday and then be in quarantine for a while, both because I just traveled and because California has a stay at home order at the moment. The days in the MTC feel pretty similar to me, so there are not many new things to share. I still go to class, study the scriptures, and study Portuguese. I have had the opportunity to talk with a few  Brazilians which is always a ton of fun. One day we had a substitute who could not speak English, but she was easy to understand and the class went smoothly. It is always a huge confidence builder when a native can u...