Prime Time

February 17th, 2026

Hola young bloods,

I lived for 5 months on the island where they invented pickleball, but I never played, despite people pestering me about how "I need to, its sooo fun". Well, I've been playing it this week, and decided the reason I never did before was because...

I would've offed myself. It is so frutrating. I hate the stupid sport. Ah well.

Elder Yard heads out tomorrow since he's fluent in spanish already. Imma miss dat boi, he's actual day one. Met him on the plane outta Atlanta (birthplace of Future!). Wishin brodie the best, Washington is gaining a real one  

My comp has been going up to latinos and saying "Quiero decapitarme!"

I'll let yall google translate that. It is funny to watch their eyes go wide as they say "¿¿por que??" And he responds "divertido!" 

Don't worry, he's fine.

Ok, time to brag. We had an apostle, Gary E. Stevenson, visit the CCM, which is already cool, since an apostle hasn't visited in at least a year. What's even cooler, I was invited (in all honesty, my comp was invited and I got to tag along) to eat lunch with E. Stevenson, a buncha mission presidents from the area, area 70s, and a member of the presidency of the 70 (Elder Nash, he was awesome). Only 6 other misisonaries were present so the exclusivity was there.

We ate (a super delicious) lunch, got to talk with all the people, it was a super cool experience. Definitely felt outta my wheelhouse. 

Gary gave me a hug tho. We're buddies now.

We attended the devotional, Elder Stevenson subtly shouted out the Puerto Rico mission so me and Elder Carter were thrilled about that. After the devotional, everyone was invited to shake Stevenson's hand, and we got to chill in the backroom. 

Elder Stevenson was talking with his grandson elsewhere, but we got to chat with the others in the room. In attendance was: me, my comp, one other missionary, Steveson's wonderful wife, his bodyguard, and Elder Nash and his wife. We talked for about two hours and they were so kind.

Elder Nash helped write Preach My Gospel (the book missionaries use to help teach) and I definitetly have a different perspective on that text now. The heavens were opened when they wrote it, its not just a textbook.

As we left, he told me I have a beautiful spirit, and that meant/means a lot. I fear the coolest day of my mission might've already happened. Very grateful for that day :)

My teacher brought us crickets to eat, the last time I ate crickets, I threw up that night. So we'll see.

I'll close out with a spiritual thought. This is something an hermana in my district shared and I thought was powerful.

We often see paintings and portryals of Jesus Christ carrying sheep across his back. This is obviously in reference to his many teachings where he compares himself to a shepherd and us to sheep. There is a ton you can learn about shepherding that adds further depth to this metaphor but I want to focus on one thing for now.

The sheep we see in these paintings are cute, clean, small, young, and pure. In reality, sheep are gross! They're covered in mud and bugs, they smell bad, they aren't cuddly, they weight a ton and probably don't like being carried, even when they are hopelessly lost.

This is a more accurate depicition of Christ carrying us. And while it's less flattering to us, it helps me appreciate Him so much more. We are stubborn and gross and injured and lost, and then when Jesus tries to course correct us, we get angry at Him. 

We should try to be the most obedient and clean sheep we can be, but we should also be so grateful that He is willing to carry us back to His Father in Heaven, we couldn't get there without Him.

I would invite you to read John 10:1-18, its a passage of scripture where Jesus discusses his role as the Good Shepherd further.

I'm having a blast in Mexico, I hope everyone is having a blast wherever they may be. 

Totally send me emails, I probably won't repond though since I'm ONLY playing pickleball today (I lied about hating it).

Con amor, 

Élder Smith