this week went by pretty well, just another week of work in the mission field. Yes, yeah, i am in the same area, house, and everything as Trever was three years ago. pretty interesting. i think some of the people remember him but if i had some pictures i could probably show them and they would remember better. anyways. yeah dad and goats, ha ha ha. that is pretty funny. it is kind of the same thing with dogs here. every single person in brasil has a dog. the funny part is, is that they all are kind of scrawny and a little retarted. they really don't know what they are doing. pretty funny stuff. it helps having a companion from brasil. i can learn new stuff, the main thing is just understanding the people. because no one really speaks true portugues just like no one really speaks true english. there are a lot of made up words or words used in different ways. yeah it has only been a little over two months so i am sure after six months in the field i will be just fine. The idea of changing the b to a p was my idea in high school. some of the kids in my grade went to go do it but they ran out of time. i am glad someone finally did it cause i do not like beaver. at all. ha ha ha. not good though that they lost, bummer. that is sad that sports is just not getting it done this year. yeah really it all comes down to the kids no matter what. coaches can teach you everything and anything but if the kids aren't going to work hard and believe in their coaches, you will never be successful. Some of the members here can cook decently, but every meal, rice and beans, ha ha ha. it is good. The language is coming, it is just difficult to understand people mainly, i can speak pretty good for only being here in brasil for two and a half months. the main thing is just common phrases and words they use in the language that is more difficult. Tell Coach labrum is a stud, what more can i say, i am writing him a letter probably today. anyways tell him he can email me if he wants. this past week had its ups and its downs. hopefully we will have a 2 baptisms this weekend, which will be awesome, it is has been tough preparing them for this. we had one baptism fall through because of something the person did in the past, muito ruim esta problema. anyways can't say anymore about it. the one investigator that will probably be baptized in a couple of weeks or maybe a little longer he came to church yestarday. i was helped out so much with the language by the spirit. he had questions like about missionaries and things in the church like if bishops recieve money, and about the sacrament, fast sunday. i was able to answer his questions with the spirit. he really helped me to understand that when in that hour of need, the spirit will give us the words to speak. his name is anderson. it is really sad to see a lot of people here that don't know about the gospel. so many people are confused or sad because they don't know what they are doing wrong in their lives. but the gospel is the way to heal. in fact we reactivated a bunch of members this past week. i think we had 5 menos ativos attend sacrament meeting this week. way cool. anyways thanks for the email. hope everything is going good. Love, Elder Smith

sorry didn~t give more details this past week. anyways i flew to cuiaba which was like 2 and half hours. then spent the night in cuiaba at a hotel and was with the mission president for a while. he only speaks portugues and a hair of english so a little difficult. anyways then i hopped on a bus for 16 hours and came here to dourados. yeah insane it isthe exact same area as trever. pretty crazy. same house and all. the mission is difficult but it is progressing. we are kind of having a rough time with some investigators who take the gospel and then basically decide they don~t want it. really sad. yeah fortaleza brazil and brigham city. i hope they eventually build one in cedar city. that is what we need. sounds like homecoming was successful as far as the activities. i can~t believe they lost to Millard. freak. i really think kinsey is doing well i hope she continues to progress and work hard. i think she can go really far. 100 bags of corn holy cow. well i am glad the fruits of my labor are paying off. i guess trever did miss someone here. he is going to send some references for me of some people that he tried to baptize. anyways this past week was good. had a lot of working with the members this past week which was really good. the members really do make a huge difference in our teaching. dind~t get to watch conference in english. bummer, i understood a bunch but you don~t get everything. this past week we have been working on trying to get pesquisadores to keep their committments. it has been a little rough. but we are going to keep working hard and trying to get some more people coming to church and reading the book of mormon. oh yeah i will probably get the package you sent a while ago because our zone leader has to go to cuiaba for a meeting so he will grab it for me. things are going good. not to hot here but not like freezing. it did get a little cold last week and i had to wear my jacket but it is generally in the 90s all the time. we have been working with one girl who is 14 named camilia. we have been teaching tyhe lessons and she has friends in the church. we hope we can baptize her this week. it is difficult cause her mom is kind of hesitant about the church and what not but she has a good support system in the church with her friends. thanks for the email. talk to you next week. love elder smith

yipee! they are hitched!

Sounds like the wedding turned out good. i was able to open up the pictures on the email so you could probably send some more if you wanted to. that is insane that they pulled the traffic down into one lane. who knows what they were thinking. Which grandma and grandpa didn~t make it? that is cool that you beehive is getting baptized and stuff. i forgot that dylan lewis was a member, but that is cool that he is going to baptize her. that song definately fits tanner and erin from juno. that is definately his style and type of song for that occasion, ha ha ha. that is cool that lloyd and helena helped i am sure that they were excited for that. that is sweet kirby played the piano for that. yeah i am sure kinsey will be alright. that is how it went for me my sophmore year of sports, it took them a while to realize how much i could attribute to the team, then when they figured it out it was all going good. yeah one month! it drives me crazy like wearing the suit around the mtc, cause we have to wear it like two days out of the week so the suit gets worn down a little too much, still in good shape but it just drives me crazy wearing the suit. yeah it is pretty much the same thing around here. this week not too much happened just same old same old. we are learning like our medium lessons in portugues so it is going well. then we like practice teaching investigators in portugues. next week we will be proselyting outside and around the area of the mtc so that should be pretty fun, we get to place some book of mormons and what not. i talked to a brasileiro elder and he said there are some indians in my mission that practice like black magic and stuff, so i am sure i will have some run ins with that. he he. i actually lifted/ worked out the other day and i concluded i am really out of shape but i am going to keep doing a little here and there so i am not completely huge from all the food. i bought a book of mormon and bible in portugues so just letting you know. anyways wish there was more to say but not a whole lot else going on here in brasil. just send me stuff you think i would like to have down here. love tagert smith

Third Email

Well sounds like it is going pretty crazy then with the wedding. It will be nice when it is all said and done. That is cool that erin is doing her endowments in the timpanogas temple. hope kinsey had a good trip. i am sure she made the team, since she is one of the best, but that is crazy that school is next week. that seems so weird to me. just like how snow is doing fall camp getting ready for the season and stuff. thanks for the sending the letters too i appreciate it. i knew about wheeler auto before i left. the palmisanos told us about it and me and dad went and checked it outu to see for ourselves. well the world i guess is going to pot with the economy. yikes. hope everything is good in real estate. yeah tell all those kids to write me. it is way exciting to get letters, one of the greatest feelings here at the mtc, who knew? ha ha. yeah i wrote a family letter last week, i didnt this week though unfortunately but i will remember to next week. well i am trying to think of cool stuff that happenend this week but can~t really think of much. i did get some brasilheiros in my dormitorio which is nice so i can try and speak some more portugues. tell brucinho to write too. all the brasilheiros that are going to my mission left out this morning so it was way cool cause we are really close to them and always hung out with them at the ctm. the language just takes time. i get frustrated a lot of the time cause everything as far as learning and stuff has come easy for me so it is a new challenge. tell the guys if they have any suggestions for learning the language to hit me up. thanks for sending the letters, the ones to dane and erin i think. i sent some today for you to send to jake barton and landon abbott so hopefully they get there in 10 days so you can send them. can~t really think of much else. i am sure next week will be better for the family after it is all said and done. thanks for the email.
Amo Seu Filho, edlder tagert smith.

Second Email Home

Sounds like everything is good in the hood. missionary work is rough but it is rewarding, you get to see yourself progress as you understand and grow spiritually and in knowledge.the first week is just annoying because of all the meetings and everything but now that we are finally settled in and getting the routine down it is a lot better. our schedule is like this. 700 breakfast, 730-830 companion and personal study and then we get a teacher to isntruct us until like 12. then we have lunch til 1. after which we have mdst which is missionary directed study time. that goes for an hour. then gym for an hour. then more mdst. then at 430 we have dinner. then more instruction. that is basically it. then planning and get ready for bed and stuff. it varies on some days but just by like really littll things. the language comes slow. the more you use it though the better you remember things. you can~t just study it and what not . you have to use it more than you study and then it comes to you. i wish i could have you do stuff to learn portugese. they did give me these extra work book things you can use. i will see if i can try and send one home. cause they really don~t use them anymore but they will help. like i said the best way to learn is by speaking it. anyways it just comes slow. you really don�t master til you get in the field because it is faster and different as far as pronunciation and stuff. you learn the grammar behind it but really you don~t get good til you speak it all the time in the mission. i went to the temple again today and did initiatory work. pretty awesome. we are really coming closer togetyher as a district setting some good goals and working towards learning the language and helping each other on how to teach and what not. this week we had an awesome broadcast from bendnar and it was about tghe holy ghost. talked about how to recognize the spirit. one of the best ones i have ever heard, it was that good, better than most in conference. anyways the brazilians here are way awesome i love these guys. they are like my other set of brothers. cool beans that kinsey is going to califronia. that is like 10 times for her. not really but more than me i think. just send some good stuff to eat, and send some family pictures too that would be awesome. i guess i can send some pictures to you but that will be next week. peace out. tagert smith

First Email Home

How is everyone doing? Well i got here safe and sound. things are going pretty good so far. today i went to the sao paulo temple and did an endowment session there. very beautiful temple indeed. oh yeah speaking of which there is a distribution center right there so i can pick up things i need whenever basically. they should be sending a picture of our district to you so that should be good. we cant take pictures outside the mtc so it is kind of a bummer. tell burke that i wore his tie to the temple and to send that picture to him. on thursday they made me district leader for our district so that was pretty sweet. i am in charge of 3 sisters and 6 elders in my district. recently in my Classes and at the mtc i have been Learning how to pray and testify and do basic communication skills in portugese. it is a slow process but it is coming pretty good so far. we have been working on putting short and medium lessons together on the restoration and working on how to contact people in different situations and what not. i cant send pictures really until the mission field so it is kind of a bummer but i will be sure to send them once i get out in the field. anyways i realized most of my ties are silk which is not really the best thing since they will bleed on my shirts when i am in the sun. also i learned from all the brasileirhos missionarios that cuiaba is like one of the hottest if not the hottest mission in brazil. muito quente. things i guess have changed a lot here at the mtc since brucinho was here, at least from what trever told me when i left. there still is mr. cheneys cookies. ha ha ha. my companion here is elder featherstone from sandy. he is a pretty awesome elder, we work pretty good together, he is also going to cuiaba, brazil so i am sure we will see each other every now and then after the mtc. not much else i can think of right now so i think i will bounce out. peace out family.

Farewell & Goodbye

Tagert had his mission farewell this past Sunday. He gave a really good talk on Charity. Afterwards there was a lunch at the Smith's residence where family and friends came to say their last goodbye's to Tagert. Early this morning we woke and drove to St. George to take Tag to the airport. He was seriously so excited in the car, everyone could tell. When we got to the airport, close by family memebers came and really did try to say our last goodbye's without as many tears as possible. We got our last hugs from him that will have to last for two whole years. We all dried our eyes and waved goodbye as the plane flew into the sky. There are pictures down below of Tagert taking off. This is the start of Tagert's Mission to Cuiaba, Brazil. We all look forward to hearing all the people's lives he brings the gospel into and all the experiences that will help shape him into becoming an even better person than he is. Good Luck Tag, We Love You & Wish You Well!
Lots of Love
Kinsey