Semana 50: Semana de Milagros: 6/26/17

Hello everyone and Pura Vida!

This week was the semana de milagros for the month of June and was my first semana de milagros as district leader! It was definitely a little more stressful for me than normal but everything went great and we truly saw some miracles!

In the semana de milagros, we have the opportunity to work more as a district and as a zone, so I like it a lot.  I could work a lot with the missionaries in my district and help them to improve and also learn things from them as well.  We worked in every one of our areas and it was a lot of fun to work together to help each and every area.  We got two sister missionaries added to our district a week ago, but they got switched back out again yesterday haha.  Hopefully our district stays the same for the rest of the transfer now.  But anyways, we worked in Heredia, Zurqui, and ended the week here in Santo Domingo.  The best day by far was the last day here in Santo Domingo.  The whole zone came to work in our area the entire day and it went great!! We had an open house during the morning and afternoon, and then at night we had another food/culture night! We invited EVERYONE that passed in front of the church and nearby it to come to the open house, and even though the majority said no, we were able to have tons of lessons, find tons of new investigators, and place tons of baptismal dates! I´m super excited to find and teach each and every one of these new investigators and help them in whatever they need! It was also really great because Naihyell y Joshua, our 2 most recent converts to the church, came and helped us the entire day!! Naihyell was inviting people to come inside and Joshua was helping us teach! It was so awesome! 

For my spiritual thought this week, I´d like to share something that stuck out to me from my personal study this week.  I´m reading the New Testament right now more than anything and I like it a lot! I´m in Luke right now and I just read the parable of the Prodigal Son.  It talks about repentance and how there will be more joy in heaven for a sinner that repents, than for the just who don´t need to repent.  We ALL need repentance, but some of us need to repent more than others.  I loved this story because it talks about the joy we can receive through repentance.  Many of us may look at repentance as something negative because we have to remember the bad things that we have done.  But, it truly is positive and a miracle, because after we repent and receive forgiveness, we never have to remember these bad things that we have done.  None of us are perfect, we all need to repent daily and take advantage of this great gift that God and Jesus Christ have given us.  They love us and want us to return to them.  We just need to act in faith, repent, and come unto them.  I invite everyone this week to repent daily, come unto Christ, and take part of this "joy" that they so willingly offer us.  

Love you all and hope you all have a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: one of my favorite families here in Santo Domingo!, culture night!, puppy chow, mike and ikes, and hot tamales representing food from the states, Sunday with the missionaries of Santo Domingo

Semana 49: Week 49: 6/19/17

Hola everyone and Pura Vida!

I hope everyone had a great week this week!

To be honest, I don´t have a ton of exciting things to report on this week, but I do have a few cool things that happened don't worry.  First off, update on one of our investigators, Fran!  He is the grandpa of Naihyell and Joshua (who just got baptized) and is super great! He loves visiting with us and wants to get baptized now, he just have a few things to overcome first (stop drinking, smoking, and get married).  He honestly is a miracle though.  He already finished 1 Nephi (the first book in the book of mormon), has stopped smoking and drinking significantly, and wants to get married!! We also were able to talk to a lawyer this week that is willing to marry him and his future spouse for free!! So... if everything goes smoothly, we´re going to have a baptism and a wedding on July 15th!!! We´re trying to teach the future spouse as well (Clarissa) so that she can get baptized as well but we´ll see what happens!

I also had a few really cool experiences this week as district leader! I gave my first "training" to my district (when I train them for like 1 1/2 hours on how they can be better missionaries), went on changes, and interviewed my first person for baptism!! I was super nervous to do all of those things, but I´m glad to report that I did do them and everything went smoothly.  It was super great to be able to participate in those things, especially interviewing someone for baptism and hearing their testimony in why they want to get baptized.  The only sad thing is that we lost 2 missionaries this week.  They just barely showed up to the zone/district, but they got a call last night that     they´re getting transferred to another zone.  So now we only have 12 missionaries in the whole zone! Super crazy but I think we´ll be good.

I´m almost out of time though so I´ll leave it at that.  I´m so grateful to be a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ and preach His gospel every single day.  It really does work miracles and I´m so lucky to be able to experience those miracles every single day, big or small.  Love and miss you all and hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

P.s. Sorry but didn't take any pics this week hardly

Pics: we found a rare patch of nature in our area!, the view from San Isidro when I went on changes

Semana 48: Santo Domingo Round 4...!: 6/12/17

Hola todos y Pura Vida! I hope everyone had a great week this last week!

This last week was absolutely awesome and I'm super excited to tell you all about it.  But to start off... Today was transfers day and it looks like I´m sticking around in Santo Domingo for at least one more transfer (my 4th!).  But... there is a slight change that will be different from last transfer.  I'm still going to be training my son, Elder Parma, but I´m also going to be the District Leader!! For those that don't know what that means, this means that I will be "in charge" of a group of 8 missionaries (including myself).  There are a few more responsibilities to this assignment but I couldn't be more excited and happy for this new opportunity to serve! 

But now, to talk about this last week... Joshua and Naihyell got baptized!!! I am so happy for them and the baptismal service went great! We don´t have a ward mission leader anymore and so Elder Parma and I pretty much had to plan and coordinate all of it ourselves, but it turned out great! Lots of people showed up and I could feel the spirit so strongly, it was amazing! Now we´re going to start focusing on the rest of the family who I know are going to get baptized as well.  I´m so excited for this family and I feel so grateful for the opportunity I have to teach them and help them receive all of the Lord´s blessings through living the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

But that almost wasn't the best part of the week, believe it or not... Because one the 12 apostles came to visit Costa Rica this week!!! We had a conference with all of the missionaries in Costa Rica (both missions) and Elder Dale G. Renlund!  It was absolutely amazing!!! And it was in English which was great haha.  But I could truly feel the power, authority, and spirit that he has as one of the 12 apostles as he talked to us, and when we were allowed to go up and shake his hand.  He talked a lot about faith and attitude which I loved. It was directed to us as missionaries, obviously, but I think it can apply to any one of us.  He taught us A LOT, but I´d like to share one thing that really stuck out to me.  He showed us this diagram with variations of having a good/bad attitude and good/bad effort.  He emphasized that we need to have not only good effort or good attitude, but we need to have them both to see the miracles happen in our lives.  He mentioned that he naturally has a good effort, but he struggles to have a good attitude (like me).  We can't control the circumstances of our lives, but we can decide whether we have a good attitude or not, or whether we have good effort or not.  In reality, we decide whether we are happy or not, whether we have joy or not.  Nobody can obligate us to feel bad or sad, no matter what happens to us.  He taught us that if we can focus ourselves on the joy that we receive from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as God´s Plan of Salvation for us, we can always be happy and remain faithful, regardless of our circumstances.  I hope that makes sense to all of you.  I´m running out of time but I loved that thought. 

But that´s all I have time for this week.  I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: Joshua and Naihyell´s baptism!!!, walking in the coffee field, this was the phrase Naihyell wanted to use for hangman in English class haha, cinammon rolls! 

Semana 47: Another week in the life of a missionary...: 6/5/17

Hola everyone and Pura Vida!

I hope everyone had a great week this last week! I couldn´t think of any creative titles to sum up this week but don´t worry, it was still a really great one!

Update on Naihyell and Joshua... They are getting baptized this Saturday at 6pm!!! I am so excited and it has just been a huge miracle teaching them.  We practically hadn´t taught Joshua anything, but we had their baptismal interviews this last Friday and they both passed! Also... We had English class again this week and their 2 little brothers came along as well that are 9 and 10.  They heard that their 2 older brothers were going to get baptized and they asked if they could too!!! They literally don´t know anything because we haven't taught them but it looks like we might have 2 more baptisms here soon as well with them.  The only problem with them is that they go to boarding school and only live in their house every other weekend. But Naihyell and Joshua are awesome and have been a huge example to their family and I´m looking forward to all the miracles that I know they are all about to experience.

This week we also had the opportunity of finding a few new great people! One of them is a little bit different for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that he´s paralyzed in half of his body (down the middle, not at the waist).  He can't really communicate which makes teaching very different.  Ticos love to talk which makes it difficult to teach sometimes, but he can't really talk apart from one word responses so it´s difficult as well, but also kind of nice haha.  He came to stake conference this Sunday and it was great! We found out he has quite a bit of problems apart from his disability... But I´m excited to see how it goes and if we can help him see that the gospel can bless each and every one of us, even if we have problems or trials.  

The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone.  If we have problems, trials, or think that no one understands us, I promise you that there is always someone that can help us and understands us.  Jesus Christ taught us the way, and suffered and died for us so that we can become clean when we mess up and continue on this path until the end of our lives.  I know that if we live the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receive the holy ghost, and endure to end) we will receive the help and comfort that we so desperately need, and even better, we will receive eternal life.  

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

Elder Smith

Pics: English class!, me trying to teach..., eating guanabana!, Guanabana, and not sure you can hear it but here´s a video from English class​

video too large. sorry!