Semana 59: A Baptism....And a Confirmation: 8/28/17

Hello everyone! Pura Vida!

I hope everyone had a great week this week and enjoyed the eclipse last week! Glad to hear it was out and shining in the best state of the United States... Oregon!

This week was a good one, but even better than normal because it finished with a baptism! No better way to finish a week!  Thankfully, everything went really smoothly and the baptism went great!  Ricardo even shared his testimony afterwards which was awesome.  He shared that he felt a peace and tranquility and that he truly felt that he had been "born again".  It was super awesome to hear that small, but powerful testimony.  I can´t wait to see all of the blessings that he is about to receive as he continues living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The part that didn´t go so smoothly was his confirmation... Hence the title.  He almost always has to travel to another part of Costa Rica to help his Dad with things on the weekends, and this weekend was one of those weekends.  We had stressed to him the importance that he go to church this Sunday, but he simply couldn´t.  FYI, if you don´t get confirmed and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, your baptism isn´t complete... Look up John 3:5 if you don´t understand.  If you don´t get born by water AND by the spirit, you can´t enter the kingdom of God... So it was rather important that he go to church. 

We were (or at least I was) stressed out like all day because we weren´t sure what was going to happen.  But... We received permission from our misión president to go and confirm him in his house.  It was rather difficult to track him down, but we did it!  I had the privilege to confirm him, and again, a super awesome experience! After we confirmed him, he was just quiet for a few seconds and looked confused.  We asked him what he was feeling and he told us that he felt something warm in his heart, but didn´t know how to describe it... We were very glad to tell him that was the Holy Ghost he had just received a few seconds earlier.  Super cool experiences I`m never going to forget.

Sorry but I honestly don´t have any more time.  But the Church is true, and I know that more than ever before!  Love and miss you all and hope you have a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: Only gonna send two this week (had difficulties with the phone downloading pics.  For that, I don´t have much time) But this was the baptism!

Semana 58: Semana de Milagros: Mother's Day Edition: 8/21/17

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great week this last week and could see some miracles like we did! This week was the semana de milagros (miracles week) for the month of August and it was awesome. I wouldn't say that we witnessed way more miracles than normal, but the way in which we worked was different for me and so it really stuck out to me this week.

During the semana de milagros, we always have higher goals in mind so we can really witness

some miracles. With greater sacrifice/work comes greater miracles/results. But this week, we really

pushed ourselves as a zone and as a companionship to achieve more than we would normally. When our zone leaders told us the goals they wanted us to meet this week, I was honestly a little taken aback because I had never achieved anything near this goal. But, we trusted in them, in ourselves, and in the Lord, and just went to work. On the last day of the week, we left the house at 10 a.m., got back at 9 p.m., and had dedicated the entire day to contacting (finding new people). At the end of the day we had had 22 LESSONS and had found 27 NEW INVESTIGATORS! I was amazed that we could accomplish so much in just one day. Even though I know that numbers aren't the most important thing, I believe that we will see the fruits of our labors and have at least one miracle come out of these 27 sons and daughters of God that we found.

And that wasn't even the best part of the week/biggest miracle of the week! This miracle happened

this past weekend when we went to visit Ricardo, one of our investigators that we've been teaching for awhile. We honestly haven't been able to see him/teach him much in our 4 weeks here in Naranjo due to his busy schedule with school, work, and things they have to resolve at home to be able to build their own house and not have to rent anymore. But, we were luckily able to find him on Saturday and see how he was doing. The date of his baptism is for the 26th of this month (this Saturday) and we honestly weren't sure he was ready for the lack of times we had been able to visit him. But... we went over baptism with him again and he's totally ready!!! He went to church yesterday, and if everything goes well, he's getting baptized this Saturday!!! I'm so excited for him because I know he is ready, he has the desire, and he wants to change and come closer unto his Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know that the Lord works miracles in our lives on a daily basis, whether they be big or small it doesn´t matter.  They are always there, we just have to be looking for them. I encourage you all to look for the Lord`s hand in your lives this week and see how much He is really there to watch out for you and support you.  I love and miss you all and hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

P.S. It was Mother`s Day here in Costa Rica this week (hence my title) so Happy Mother`s Day again to my mom :)

Pics: went to a Mexican restaurant last Monday with the zone, ordered "la gringa", our Mother`s day activity for the semana de milagros, part of the zone, "this is how your agenda should look at the end of the day!"

Semana 57: Naranjo Week 3: 8/14/17

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

This week was a good one, but not too much to report on either. Each week gets better and better but we're not seeing much of a change in terms of investigators at church. We have some great

investigators, but they haven't been able to assist for one reason or another... And if they don't assist, they can't get baptized. So it's been a little frustrating but we're still confident we'll have a miracle this month and have at least one baptism on the 26th!

We did have a miracle with the one investigator that did go to church yesterday! When we got to

church, it looked like we weren't going to have any show up. We had called them and passed by their houses, but nothing. But then... Our cook and her family walked in with one of our investigators! Her name is Daritza and she is friends with the daughters of Juliana, the lady that cooks for us. She's 11 years old and had taken her mom's phone, called Juliana, and told her she wanted to go to church with them! She's awesome and she will get baptized on the 26th if her parents allow it!

We're also starting to work with the families that have been less active with the church for quite some time and have family that still have never been baptized. The hardest part has been finding them, but we were able to find 2 this week! It'll take a little bit of time and effort before they regain their testimonies and feel the desire to go to church again for various reasons, but we've already been able to see results with one of the families after only 3 visits! Almost all of them are listening to us now and the daughter that hasn't been baptized yet, has a baptismal date for the 9th or September!

One thing I was pondering a lot about this week was the faith. Many people don't understand that

there's a difference between belief and faith. Faith is to have a belief in something that you can't see, but know is true. But it also means that you have works. If you say you have faith in Jesus Christ, but don't pray, read your scriptures, or go to church, do you really have faith? It would be hard to believe that you do, because you're not doing anything to demonstrate it. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:17). What are you doing to demonstrate your faith?

PURA VIDA,

Elder Smith

Pics: Us in Naranjo with 2 of the hermanas in the mish, and 2 pics of Naranjo (one zoomed in and the other zoomed out)

Semana 56: I found Chipotle!!! 8/7/17

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a great week this last week and are enjoying the hot summer weather! It's the winter (rainy season) here in Costa Rica so in Naranjo it rained a whole bunch this week, but as always, was warm out so you don't need a jacket!

This week was a good one and we didn't get lost once so I take it as an improvement! We're still

getting to know everything but I feel like we know a lot more now than we did last week. I feel every week we'll know more and it'll just get better and better from here on out! 

Nothing too crazy and exciting happened this week, to be perfectly honest, so I'll tell you about some of the people we're teaching! First, we have Ricardo who's 17 years old. We're teaching his mom and he has a younger brother and sister too, but he's the main focus of the family right now. The missionaries before us were originally teaching him, but we don't know exactly what they taught him because there wasn't a teaching record of him when we got here. We've only been able to teach him once so far because of his job and school schedule, but he seems really great! He had already gone to church once by the time we got here and the members told us that he showed up in a suit and tie and was greeting the people as they walked in! His mom told us that he's never been baptized before but has a strong desire to do so. We gladly extended a baptismal date and he and his mom are preparing to be baptized the 26th of this month! They didn't come to church this week though so we'll see what happens. This week we also had the blessing of finding a new, young family this week! They're named Rodrigo y Estefanía. The day we showed up for our first visit with them, Rodrigo told us that he saw us earlier this same week and wanted to talk to us, but didn't know what to say. But, the next day we stopped him and his family in the street and made a return appointment! He told us that this was like an answer from God, and that God told us to talk to him! Rodrigo has family that are members of the church here in Naranjo and he and his wife were actually looking for a church to assist!

I'm super excited to get to work with these sons and daughters of God and share the great news of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! I know and testify that this church is true and that God truly knows and loves each and every one us individually and wants us to return unto Him. He works miracles in our lives and blesses us for our obedience to His commandments.

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

Elder Smith

Pics: tried starfruit for the first time this week, there was a legit fireworks show by our house last night!, my greatest and wildest dream came true today because I found Chipotle!!! (it´s not quite the same as in the states, in case you were wondering, but it´s literally the same restaurant), and here´s the menu... (I got a chicken bowl as always because I know you were all dying to know haha)

Semana 55: Lost in Naranjo: 7/31/17

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a great week this last week and are enjoying the summer weather!

Well I officially completed my first week here in Naranjo and it was an interesting one to say the least! To remind you all, neither my companion or I have been in Naranjo before.  We didn´t know each other, but last Monday we met up, went to Naranjo, and went to work.  

Naranjo is super beautiful, but also HUGE!!! We were basically lost all week trying to find places and people, but we only really got lost once haha.  And we still have a TON more to get to know.  It´s honestly really similar to Puriscal, but on a grander scale.  Puriscal had lots of hills, mountains.  Naranjo has way more and they are WAY more steep.  Puriscal was very large and spread out, with lots of different cities/villages.  Naranjo is even larger and more spread out, with even more cities/villages.  It will be awhile before we really know our way around everywhere, but after a week, I think we have a pretty good idea now of how to work efficiently here.  

Here in Naranjo there´s a branch with about 40-50 active members of the church supposedly.  This Sunday, we had an attendance of 59 which everyone was really excited about.  There are a TON of less active/ inactive members here (including our branch mission leader) so that´s going to be our area of focus here.  The only hard part will be finding them and getting them to go to church.  But we at least have some phone numbers and some kind of address.  Then we´ll find investigators (the people that aren't members, but want to go to church and get baptized) along the way.  The missionaries that were here before us, didn't leave us much to work with so we´re basically starting from zero.  They also did not get along very well with the members here (part of the reason they got taken out) so the members are happy to see us and we´ll be trying to gain their trust and confidence as well.  

Also my companion is named Elder Islas and he´s from Veracruz, Mexico! He has 21 months in the mission (finishes in the middle of October) so he´s most likely going to finish his mission here and I´m most likely going to "kill" him (be his last companion).  That means I´ll have either 1 transfer here (leave in the beginning of September), or most likely have 3 transfers here (leave in the end of November).  But anything can happen so we´ll how it all turns out.  He´s really nice though and I´m really excited to be with him and work really hard to help the people here in Naranjo!  

This week I was reading in John 4 in the New testament and I really liked a part in verses 10-14 that talks about "living water".  It explains that all of us need to drink water to survive here on the Earth, but even more important than that, we need to drink (partake of) "living water".  "Living water" is Jesus Christ and His teachings.  Just as drinking water is necessary to live here on the earth, "living water" is necessary so that we receive everlasting life.  Our SOLE purpose here on the earth is to find and partake of this "living water" so that we can receive everlasting life and happiness with our loving, Heavenly Father.  I invite you all this week to find and partake of this "living water" (if you haven't already done so) and follow the teachings and guidance of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He promises that we will never be "thirsty" again! 

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

Elder Smith

Pics: Elder Islas and I with a youth (Kendal) that showed us around our first day, when we got lost taking the road less traveled by..., not sure if you can tell, but one of the many huge hills here in Naranjo, the lady that cooks for us here is from Panama and these are her famous Ojaldras!

Semana 54: Bye Bye Santo Domingo, Hello...?: 7/24/17

Hello everyone!! Pura Vida!

I hope everyone had a great week this last week! Especially to my beautiful sister, Chelsea, and my new brother-in-law, Ryan who got married this last week! Sad I couldn't be there to support you but I couldn't be happier :)

Well... We got transfers news yesterday and my 4th transfer in Santo Domingo was my last :(. I loved my time in Santo Domingo and it was sad to say goodbye, but I'm super excited for my new area which is... Naranjo (Naranjo de San Ramon de Alajuela if anyone wants to look up exactly where it is)!!! I was not expecting to get called to this part of Costa Rica at all, but I´m super excited to see how it goes.  All I´ve heard about it so far is that it´s a cooler climate (like all of my areas in the mission so far) and it has a TON of hills... So basically it sounds like Puriscal Round 2 so I´m super excited! Also... I didn't know until I showed up for transfers today, but I´m going to be "whitewashing" Naranjo.  That means that they took out both the missionaries in this area, and put in two new ones (me and my new companion) meaning that neither one of us knows the area or the people... It should be interesting but I´m looking forward to helping the people in this area!

But other than that, nothing too crazy or exciting happened this last week.  We had tons of meetings, tons of exchanges, and lots of goodbyes.  I will share one pretty cool thing that happened this week.  About 2 months ago maybe, Elder Parma and I contacted a bus (shared a message with all of the people on the bus).  After we share a message with the people, we pass by every seat and ask if they´d like to hear more.  Well, one lady was listening intently the entire time we were talking, and I knew she was going to say yes to hearing more (she did).  I wrote down her number and address, but later on couldn't find her house and her number was incorrect.  I was so confused because she looked and sounded sincere when we talked to her.  Well... This week we were visiting people near where she had told us that she lived, and I saw this one house and just felt like we should contact it before going to a different part of our area.  Guess who it was? The lady we had contacted about 2 months beforehand!! Not even 5 minutes earlier, I was talking to Elder Parma about how sad it was that we never found her.  It turns out I wrote down her number wrong by one number... She remembered us, accepted a return appointment, and accepted a baptismal date in that return appointment! I won't be there to see how it all turns out, but I was so glad to be there and have this experience where I was guided by the Spirit to find the people that are ready and willing to listen to us.  

Well my time is up but I love and miss you all and will let you know how everything goes this week in Naranjo! 

Elder Smith

Pics: me and Elder Gonzalez with our pupusas last p day, had the opportunity to baptize the investigator of the sisters (Tamara), ordered a ton of pizza our last Saturday together, saying goodbye to Frank and his family, saying goodbye to one of my favorite members in Santo Domingo, Jose Carlos