Semana 85: Mini MTC: 2/26/18

Hello everyone!

This was a great week here in Flores but as usual, full of craziness!

The best part of this week is that we had a mini MTC! Basically on Saturday we had a meeting with all of the stake presidents, bishops, ward mission leaders, and zone leaders of the mission.  It was crazy because there were a ton of people there but it was super interesting and I learned a lot.  But... it was the best part of my week because I got to see some familiar faces from every one of the areas that I´ve had here in the mission.  And it was especially great because one of my converts here in the mission was there!!! Frank (Elder Parma and I´s golden investigator from Santo Domingo) was there because he´s already the ward mission leader of Santo Domingo!! I love that man SO much and it was amazing to hear about all that he´s accomplished in the 7 months he´s had being a member of the church. He´s progressing amazingly and I feel so blessed to have met him and helped him in what I could.  

We also had a lesson with an old investigator this week and he committed to get baptized on Saturday! His name is William and he couldn't get baptized before because he wasn't married... But he just got married! We´re having a few problems with the ward and stake so he probably won't get baptized this Saturday :( but it should be pretty soon :)

We also had the chance to teach the plan of salvation to a less active family in our ward and it was a super special experience.  The mom of the family is active in the church, but the majority of her kids aren't.  She organized a meeting with all of her kids and family and told them that we were going to explain to them the plan of salvation (our purpose here on the earth) so that they could truly understand.  It was a super spiritual experience and I'm so glad to have been part of it.  We´re here on the Earth to have joy and serve the Lord and do His will.  I´m so grateful for this knowledge that I have and that I get to share in this time.

Love and miss you all!

Elder Smith

Pics: Elder Parma (my son), Frank (our golden investigator from Santo Domingo), and I at a meeting we had with all of the bishops, ward mission leaders, and stake presidents of the mission, same pic but with the bishop of Santo Domingo, Hermana Contreras (started the mission with Elder Lake and I) finished her mission in New York and it turns out she lives in Flores so she´s in our ward now haha

Semana 84: Semana de Milagros, more meetings, and transfers..?: 2/19/18

Hello everyone!

Hope everyone had a great week and a Happy Valentine´s day!

This week was another crazy one because we had Semana de Milagros, Zone Conference, and a meeting with our mission president and the stake presidency where we´re serving! It was nuts but super busy and fun! Plus, on top of all of that, we had transfers today! And... Believe it or not I will be staying here in Flores with my companion, Elder Lake, for one transfer more!! This will be my 4th transfer in Flores and my 3rd transfer with Elder Lake haha.  I think they mixed up my mission call and meant to call me to the Costa Rica Heredia mission haha.  I will be completing a year serving here in Heredia this transfer!! I had 4 transfers in Santo Domingo and will have at least 4 transfers here in Flores. The Lord just really wants me here in Heredia I guess haha.

But I´m honestly good with it and excited to get to stay here.  Heredia is one of the best places to serve, in my opinion, but maybe I´m biased now haha.  Semana de milagros was the highlight of the week for sure and it was super fun.  We had several activities with the zone and they all went really great.  My favorite for sure was Friday where we had an open house and car wash in the chapel behind the temple! But it wasn't just any open house, it was based on the lesson of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Basically, we had people enter the church and we immediately send them into a room with 2 missionaries who are arguing with the Bible with different verses that contradict each other.  For example, there´s a scripture in Ephesians 2:8-9 that says we´re saved by grace and not works.  But... In James 2:17 it says that the faith without works is dead.  After that, we asked the people who was right and who was wrong.  But they weren´t sure obviously haha.  But, after that we showed them James 1:5 where it says that if we lack wisdom, we can ask of God, and it will be given unto us.  After that, we showed them the short video of the first vision of Joseph Smith and challenged them to ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet. And if they received an answer, we challenged them to get baptized :)

It was a super cool experience and in the very first lesson we had a guy say right after the video that he KNEW that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  When we asked him how he knew, he said that he felt something enter into his heart that he couldn't explain.  It was super powerful and a huge testimony builder to me of the great importance of the message that we share.  If we lack wisdom and don't know what to do, God can and will help us, if we ask with faith and a true desire to know.  

But I hope everyone has a great week this week and can ponder and ask God about a question or doubt that you have! I promise He will answer!

Love,

Elder Smith

Pics: pic from the tree of life activity that we had!, park activity that we had on Valentine´s day!, ate and drank from a coconut for the first time in all my time here in Costa Rica!, Losing a few of some really great missionaries from our zone today :(, my son and grandson!

Semana 83: Meetings, meetings, and more meetings: 2/12/18

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great and fantastic week!

This week was crazy but awesome and we could see a lot of miracles! But first things first... We had a baptism!! Yay! Josue got baptized and it was so great to be a part of it.  Looking back at it, it´s super crazy to think about because he was one of the first people that I met here in Flores back in October.  He was going to get baptized back then but didn't have permission from his dad and didn't have much of a desire either.  But... Lots of things happened (the Lord works in mysterious ways) and this was Josue´s time.  The dad let us teach and baptize him and Josue was super excited to do it.  He´s a great kid and I´m so grateful that the Lord let me be part of his life.  

This week we also had a LOT of meetings (hence the title) but they were all super great and changed my mission forever.  We had the privilege of having Elder Ochoa (Area President of Central America) come to visit the mission and speak to us.  I had the opportunity of hearing from him twice because we also had our leadership council where he spoke to us as well.  It was SUPER interesting and spiritually uplifting and I could truly feel the Spirit confirm to me the truthfulness of the things he taught us.  The thing that stood out to me most from these 2 days was the true reason that we are here and being missionaries.  Basically the true reason and desire that we have to be missionaries.  It was super awesome and helped me reflect on how I work and my attitude towards mission work.  But I think it can apply to any aspect of our lives. One of Elder Ochoa´s invitations for us was that we develop the spirit or attitude of bettering ourselves continually (every day).  I loved that and has helped me so much just in these last few days.  What are we doing to better ourselves each and every day? What are we doing to better serve the Lord and those around us? Why are we really following Jesus Christ and his example? Because we truly want to be like him and because we love Him and others, or just because we have heard that it´s the right thing to do? I invite you all to reflect on these questions and what you´re doing to better yourselves continually! 

Love and miss you all!

Elder Smith

pics: our cook is the best!, Josue went out to visit people with us!, the zone! (minus the assistants), zona Belén <3, Josué´s baptism!, Elder Muñoz (my grandson) and I on our last p day of the transfer

Semana 82: Elections Week: 2/5/18

Buenas días mis queridos amigos y familia!

Espero que todos estén bien y felices esta nueva semana de Febrero! Or for those of you who don't speak Spanish... I hope that everyone is doing well and are happy this new week of February!

This week was a good one! Nothing too crazy or exciting, but a good week.  First of all, we will have a baptism on Saturday! At least I hope so haha... Josue is still doing awesome and seems to be super happy and excited for his baptism on Saturday.  He´ll have his baptismal interview on Tuesday and then get baptized on Saturday.  He´s not allowed to leave his house much so he wants to come and visit other people with us any chance he gets haha. He´s awesome and we basically just take him out to visit members so that they can get to know him and support him once he´s a member of the church officially.  I´m pretty sure he´s worn the same white shirt he wore to church on Sunday for like a week now.  He doesn't want to wear any other shirt haha.      He´s a great kid and ready to get baptized and change his life for the better.

Also had a cool experience on Sunday this week.  It was fast and testimony meeting on Sunday and as missionaries we get up to bear our testimony each month to testify of the truthfulness of this gospel.  I always like to share an experience that I had during the last week or month and this time I talked about a general conference talk that our district leader shared with us during district meeting this week.  It was by Elder Holland from this last general conference in October and I believe it´s called, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect - Eventually". It´s a super awesome talk (I invite you all to read it) and Elder Holland bases it off of a scripture that´s found in Matthew 5:48 which says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." Basically that means that the Lord commands us to be perfect... Where are all of my perfectionists out there?? Talk about a tough commandment to fulfill.  But the curious thing is that Elder Holland says that we can't earn perfection or just decide to be perfect. It´s impossible.  He says that we can only receive perfection as a gift from the heavens.  Now... That doesn't mean that we just have to sit here doing nothing waiting to receive this gift of perfection.  No, it means we need to do ALL that we can and give our BEST effort so that the Lord blesses us with this perfection that we need to enter His presence.  I thought that was super interesting and I felt like I should share it as part of my testimony on Sunday with the members of Flores.  After the meeting, one lady came up to me and told me that she loved my testimony and asked me if I couldn't share it with her kids after church who weren't able to hear it.  It was a great experience and a testimony builder to me that each and every one of us has a personal, unique testimony to share and for that reason alone, we should SHARE it! Because we don't know who it could touch or help.  That would be my invitation for this week! Don't be perfect (it´s not possible) but rather strive to be perfect and share your testimony with someone this week!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Smith

Pics: My zone bought me and another sister a birthday cake!, our cook is the best and bought us Carls Jr. on my birthday, selfie with our cook´s nephew after waking up from his nap

Semana 81: No hay tiempo YA: 1-29-18

Hello everyone y pura vida!

I hope everyone had a great this last week!

Literally don't have time to respond today but I have some good pics to spend so hopefully it makes up for it.  I´d send my letter to my mission president but it´s in Spanish and the majority of you woudln't be able to understand it very well... But to sum it all up..

We had a good week.  Luis, Josmara, and Belen did not get baptized :( BUT we´re working with a 13 year old kid named Josue that has quite a few problems but wants to get baptized February 10th so we´ll see what happens.  Hopefully it goes well this time haha.

But I love this gospel and for all the joy that it brings me. We pass through trials always (some bigger than others) but the gospel is always the way to find peace and joy in this journey to our eternal salvation.  I´m so grateful for this time that i have to study and share it daily and I hope you can all find time this week to do the same!

Love,

Elder Smith

Pics: tree fell down in the church parking lot this week so we had to take pictures obviously, pic from the car wash last week!, eating a good ole burger and fries last p day, had exchanges with my grandson, Elder Muñoz this week and i bought him pizza, played football with the elders in the zone last Monday