Semana 46: Month Check!: 5/29/17

Hola everyone! I hope everyone had a great week this week!

This week was an interesting one but to start off... I've officially been training for 1 month! Well not quite yet, but we had our month check today with all of the trainers and their kids.  There are 15 companionships!!! That´s 30 missionaries people.  It was crazy because there were so many people, but it was super fun and the food was super great as well.  There are a few missionaries from New Zealand and Tonga and they had us all do the Haka! It was super cool because they actually could pronounce the words and do the dance haha. But I´ve survived this month and I think it´s gone pretty well so far.  I´m almost always stressed out but it´s a good stressed out... '{m learning and growing a ton and hopefully my son is too.

Apart from that, nothing too out of the ordinary happened... But... Great news!!! We got permission to baptize 2 teenagers on June 10th!!!!! I can´t remember if I´ve talked about them already, I think I have... There names are Nayel and Joshua.  We´ve pretty much only taught Nayel, and his grandpa, Fran, but Joshua (the cousin of Nayel) finally came to listen in on our lesson with Fran and Nayel and he accepted to be baptized the same day as Nayel!! We obviously have a lot more to teach them, but it´s huge that we got permission and I'm super excited for them! Fran also wants to get baptized one day, but he has to get married first.  But he wants to get married! So... Hopefully we´ll be planning a wedding soon (S/O to my sister, Chelsea who is also planning her own wedding). Olman, Yohana, and one of their daughters also came to church this Sunday for the first time in like a month! They´re still not super interested in getting baptized yet, but I hope we´re getting there little by little.  

I know this gospel is true and changes lives if we allow it to.  We just need to trust in the Lord and let Him guide us to the happiness and joy we´re seeking.  I love you all and hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: My companion found this weird drink that he likes that they drink in Argentina and Uruguay (called mate I believe), English class (we´ve started English classes and piano classes. I teach them both pretty much haha), English class with Nayel, Joshua, y Cristopher (a member), coming back from the month check

Semana 45: Semana de Milagros: 5/22/17

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a great week this last week and could experience some miracles like us! 

This last week was the semana de milagros for the month of May and was my first semana de milagros with my son, Elder Parma!  I really wanted him to have a great first experience and really see and experience some miracles (since it was the week of miracles).  I was a little worried at first, but those worries completely disappeared with the first day that we had! It was seriously amazing!! We put the goal to talk with every single person that passed us and it was so cool to see some of the things that happened.  Obviously not every person wanted to talk with us, but there were a lot more than I expected! We ended up finding and having 6 lessons before 3 pm, just from contacting people and houses close to where we live!! Not every person was super amazing, but a few of them were really great! 2 of them previously had problems with smoking and drinking, but had just recently stopped and don{t have a church that they assist! There was also a lady that was walking past us, and I almost didn{t contact her because she was smoking, but she ended up getting really excited and told us that she didn{t assist any church either, but that she wanted to!  

And that wasn{t even the best part of the day! At night, we went on splits with our bishop and his secretary and it went super great! Elder Parma went to visit Olman and Yohana and their daughters (remember that family that we´ve been teaching forever but never got baptized?).  We had recently stopped visiting them because they didn{t seem all that interested anymore and weren{t progressing.  Their only problem practically was that they weren{t willing to give up coffee, BUT, Elder Parma told me that they really don{t like it that much anymore, and so they put a goal with them that if they can stop drinking it in 3 weeks, they´ll get baptized!! I was super happy to hear that and really hope they can make it to that point! 

We had quite a few other cool experiences this week but I{ll leave it at that for sake of time and space.  We´re working super hard every day trying to find the people that are prepared and ready, as well as to help the people that we´re already teaching to prepare themselves and get ready to accept and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the path to happiness and eternal salvation, and if we can accept it in our lives and truly live it, we will be blessed more than we can even imagine.  I love this work and I love this gospel, and it may not be easy at times, but it is so so worth it! 

I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

pics: missionaries of Santo Domingo!, Pricesmart (costco), mission correlation, we found a crepe place!, we got to go to Monte de la Cruz again!, a lagoon at Monte de la Cruz (it was super cloudy and misty this time)  

Semana 44: Happy Mother's Day: 5/15/17

Hello everyone!

First off... Happy Mother´s Day to my mom (the best mom in the world)!!!  I got to talk to my family yesterday via skype for the 2nd time in the mission but I forgot to say Happy Mother´s Day... But I hope everyone had a great week this week and got to spend some quality time with their families!  I really struggled talking to my family in English yesterday, so I take that to be a sign that my Spanish is improving! 

This week was a really good one, but had it's challenges as well (like every week in the mission haha).  But first off, my son (Elder Parma) is super great and positive and I've already seen a ton of growth in him (apart from him being way taller than me haha).  I really enjoy working with him and even though I pretty much have to take the lead in everything that we do, I'm learning a ton and know that this has been, and will continue to be, a huge learning process for the both of us.  

I don't really have a ton to report on this week, but we´re really trying to find new people to teach to hopefully have some baptisms this next month in June :).  As I´ve said before, we´ve found some really great people here in Santo Domingo, but once it comes time for their baptism, we almost always have problems.  Either they can't end up getting baptized for one reason or another, or they just don't truly understand and they lose interest.  It´s definitely been a time of patience for me... (I don't have a lot of patience haha) so I´ve been trying recently to be a lot more patient and trust more in the Lord.  All is in the Lord´s timing.  But I know that if we give it our all every single day, the Lord will see our efforts and will bless us.  

Which leads me to my thought for this week.  Every single one us faces trials or difficulties in our lives.  We can't always control what happens around us, but we can control how we react to what happens around us.  I think I talked about this in one of my letters forever ago, but I´ve been thinking about it a lot this past week.  Maybe we aren't seeing the results we want or don't understand why certain things happen, but we shouldn't let that affect our happiness or attitude.  That´s what Satan wants, not what God wants.  Everything that happens to us is an opportunity to learn, and if we can remain happy and positive through these trials, we will be blessed and learn a lot more than if we get down on ourselves or choose to be sad.  

I love the mission and the things that I´ve learned and will continue to learn.  I know that I'm doing the Lord´s work here in Costa Rica, and that even if it hasn't turned out exactly how I thought it would, I know everything that I´ve experienced has happened for a reason. 

I love and miss you all and hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: secret pics during mission correlation, we had supreme french fries for lunch one day (if you know me, you know I loved it), talking to my family yesterday (and when my sister told me she´s engaged/ met my future bro-in-law for the first time)

Semana 43: It's a... URUGUAYO!!!: 5/8/17

Hello everyone!

I know you´ve been anxiously awaiting to hear the arrival of my son, and I have some pretty unexpected news... He´s from Uruguay!!! He´s the only missionary in our whole mission from Uruguay which is pretty cool! His name is Elder Parma, he´s 18, and he´s taller than I am haha.  It´s been super different for me to say the least to train a brand new missionary but it´s been super awesome as well.  All of my past companions have had way more time and experience in the mission as me, and now, my companion came in with practically no experience.  I was honestly a little nervous to begin with but I think we´ve been doing pretty good if you ask me.  Elder Parma is super great! He´s hard-working, obedient, and really dedicated to doing his best and to learn as much as he can which I love and appreciate.  I don´t know how much I have to teach, but we have 11 more weeks together so it´ll be a learning experience for the both of us haha, but I'm super excited!! 

It was a pretty crazy week this week as well! On Monday, I had a temporary companion while we waited for our sons to get here.  Normally they don{t get here until Wednesday, but we got a call Tuesday morning that we had to be in Escazu at 11 am.  There were 15 new missionaries in total and it was super nerve-wracking and fun to see who our kids would be.  They lined us all up and picked one trainer at a time to reveal who their son or daughter would be.  Then, on Wednesday, we went to the temple which was really great! Then finally on Thursday we had our first normal day.  And I think I mentioned that the rainy season has started already, but this week was unbelievable haha.  It rained ALL day, every day and made working interesting to say the least haha.  

We did have one really cool experience this week that I want to share though.  We recently found a new family to teach that lives practically right across the street from the church here in Santo Domingo.  There´s quite a few of them I think and so we´ve met different people practically every time haha.  But one member of the family, Fran, really stuck out to us from the rest.  In the beginning, I kind of didn't want him to be there in the lessons because he had been a little bit drunk and was smoking the first time that we met him.  We placed a returning appointment with him and when we came back and taught him, his wife really wanted to talk to us.  She asked us what we did to her husband.  I was confused because I didn't know what she meant.  She explained further and told us that Fran is almost always drunk, especially on Saturdays (which is the day we went to visit him).  But she told us that he basically hadn't drunk at all since he knew we were going to come visit him again!! We didn't even invite him to stop drinking! It was super cool to hear that and she said a lot of nice things about us afterwards and that she would go to church the next day if Fran did.  Fran came to church!!! His wife didn't though haha.  But he brought 2 of his grandkids though! We´ll have some challenges teaching him, but I'm super excited to see what happens with this great new family we found!

Lots of other things happened this week but I´ll leave it at that.  I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: Saw my old companion E. Navas again in San José, right before we "gave birth", my son and I at the temple, gallo pinto! 

Semana 42: I'm PREGNANT: 5/1/17

Hello everyone!!

I hope I caught your attention with my subject title this week haha!  I´m not actually pregnant (physically speaking), but I am going to have a baby (in the mission)! That means that I´m going to train a brand new missionary that is "due" on Wednesday! There´s a 100% chance that it´s a boy, but there´s only a 1/7 chance that it´s a gringo.  But there´s a 6/7 chance that it´s a latino, so I´ll give you all the update when I write next week!

I´m super excited for this opportunity (I´ve only ever had companions with way more time in the mission as me)! It will definitely be a new challenge for me, but it´ll be an adventure and I'm super excited because I know I'm going to learn a TON! That also means that I'm going to be staying in Santo Domingo until the end of July (when I complete a year in the mission... what) because you almost always stay with your child for two transfers (3 months).  That means that I will have spent at least 6 months in Santo Domingo.  I also spent 6 months in Puriscal.  By the time I finish training, I will have only had 2 areas and 4 companions (minus the MTC) in the first half of my mission! Super crazy but super awesome! Also, the other 3 missionaries that were in Santo Domingo with me all got changed out so I'm going to be teaching the area to 3 missionaries instead of 1... 

Anyways, I didn't really have any time to prepare to write you this week, so I'm going to be writing this from off the top of my head so sorry, but I'm sure I'm going to forget some stuff that happened this week.  To start off, we had a miracle this week (we have miracles all the time but this one was a big one for me)! We´re teaching Eduardo y Yara (our awesome investigators that can't get baptized), but we also have been teaching Eduardo´s sister, María and her boyfriend.  Anyways, we showed up Monday night to their house, and María told us that her boyfriend just moved out and left and she doesn't know where he is... Although that it is a little sad, that means she can get baptized right away if she wants!! She´s still not ready, but if she was still living with her boyfriend, she would´ve had to get married before she could get baptized.  Maybe that doesn't seem like a huge miracle, but to me it was.  We´ve spent a lot of time and effort with this family, and I feel like this was a blessing for our efforts we´ve put forth with them.  

We´re still fighting to find the elect of God who are ready to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ in Santo Domingo.  We have had our struggles, but we have worked hard and I feel like the fruits of our labors are about to come forth.  This is the Lord´s work, and if he wants the work to go forth, it will, regardless of who or where you are. We still need to do our part though so that we will be ready to recognize the miracles when they are placed in front of us.  God is always willing and waiting to bless us, we just need to be willing to do his will so that he can.  I know that God lives and that if we follow Him and the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we will always receive His love and His blessings.  

I hope everyone has a great week this week!!

Elder Smith

Pics: Elder McCay and I, Hermana Romero and I with our "baby bumps", my "mom" goes home this week :(, some drunk guy from Mexico/the U.S. that talked to us about crazy stuff for like 20 min one day so we took a pic with him, me and my old zone leader from Santo Domingo at transfers this morning