Semana 96: The Last Transfer: 5/14/18

Hello everyone!

Well it´s sad but true... I am now entering the last transfer of my mission. It doesn't feel like I´m near the end whatsoever, but I am.  BUT... I have 6 more weeks of work to go and it´s going to be awesome! 

I ended up having transfers, but just a change of companion.  Elder Waite is going to a different zone in Guanacaste and I´m staying here in La Victoria with Elder Longi! Elder Longi is awesome and I´m super happy to be able to work with him here. He´s awesome for a lot of reasons, but the main one is that he is from Oregon!      We´re the only two Oregonians in the mission and they put us together haha.  He lives in Gresham (about 45 min away from where I live) but his parents are both born and raised in Tonga.  So basically it´s going to be a great transfer.

Well this week was a really good one with lots of miracles as usual!  We had two investigators in sacrament meeting on Sunday and they were both people that we found just a few days ago.  They are both super great and we found them by looking for less active members of the church in an area that we hadn't had much success in previously, but we felt like we needed to keep searching there.  They both stayed for the 3 hours of church and liked it a lot! They both have baptismal dates for the 26th of May! I was also a little disappointed because this family that we´re planning to marry and baptize the 26th didn't come to sacrament meeting. I was sad and kind of down about it, but then, near the end of the 2nd hour, they showed up! Their names are Henry and Ana and they´re both really great.  They have a strong desire to get married and baptized and are making a great effort to do it in spite of the trials.  They live in a little village like a half hour away in bus, and they don't have much money, and their jobs keep them from attending church usually.  In spite of all of this, they continue strong and when we taught them about the word of wisdom this week, they let us take away their coffee right away! I love this family and I know that the Lord has a great and special plan for them and their children.  

This week I was asked to give a talk last minute (literally last minute) and I decided to talk about a scripture that I found during my personal study this week.  It´s found in Helaman 13:6 and it says, "  6 Yea, heavy destruction awaiteth this people, and it surely cometh unto this people, and nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ..." 

I just really liked this scripture because it´s so simple but so true.  The Lord has bled, suffered, and died for us, and all that He asks of us is that we have faith and repent... That seems like a pretty good deal if you ask me.  And what happens if we have faith in Him and repent? We will be saved from an eternal destruction and live in state of eternal happiness and joy with our loving Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.  All we need to do is be humble enough to believe in and respect our Father in Heaven and do what He asks us to do in this short earth life.  I am so grateful for this simple but powerful message that our Father in Heaven has for His children.  It´s the most important thing we could ever know and do here on the Earth and i have the great privilege to preach it to God´s children every single day.  

Love,

Elder Smith

Pics: cool view of part of our area, Elder Waite and I walking on a "shortcut" through the jungle, Elder Waite said goodbye to a cool family from our ward that are from Venezuela

Semana 95: African Safari in Costa Rica: 5/7/18

Hello everyone!

This week was crazy busy but super great.  We had leadership council on Friday which meant losing 2 full days of work in our area here in Guanacaste :( but the leadership council was great and I took a lot of stuff away from it.  Nothing too crazy happened while we were in our area this week but Fernando is continuing to progress and preach the gospel to everyone he knows! We went to visit him again this week and he just tells us about how he had just shared the pamphlets that we hand out to people to his friends and that they really liked it! Missionary work works a lot better if the members participate! Super effective! 

We also went to an African Safari today that our stake president owns and it was super fun! We got to go on a tour and feed giraffes and zebras and other cool animals, I´ll try to attach pictures!

But the leadership council was great and I learned a ton from it.  One of my favorite parts from it was when they talked about the story from the New Testament where Christ tells the fishermen to cast their nets to the other side of their boat so that they could catch the fish.  I love this story because I´m sure the fishermen doubted at first, having been experienced in fishing and all, but they were obedient to the Lord and were blessed for it.  We can look at this story in several different ways, but the way we examined it in the leadership council was how following the Lord´s guidance leads us to find what He wants us to do and find.  Maybe we´re experienced in something or we think we know what we have to do, but we´re just not seeing results or what we had expected, but if we just humble ourselves to the Lord, and trust that He knows the way, He will lead us to what we need.  I loved learning about this story again and I know it can apply to anything in our lives.  Just trust in the Lord and follow His guidance, and you will never go astray. 

I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: Old zone :(, in the back of the van, feeding the ostriches, the giraffes!

Semana 94: Monkeys, Snakes, and Cows: 4/30/18

Hello everyone!

Another miracle filled week here in Guanacaste that ended with a baptism!

Yesterday we had a baptism of a man that we met 2 weeks ago.  His name is Fernando and he was just a complete miracle, it was amazing. 2 weeks ago, Elder Waite and I were waiting outside for 2 people that were supposed to get baptized that day, but they never showed up.  We were kind of down and we were just waiting outside, hoping that they would show up.  That´s when my companion and I noticed a man just waiting outside the church fence... It was Fernando.  We went over to go talk to him and we invited him inside for Sacrament meeting.  After like 30 seconds of talking, he walked in and liked it! And 2 weeks later, he is a confirmed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!! He´s just a puro escogido and has been giving us referrals since the first day that we went to visit him.  

The majority of the people that we´re teaching right now are referrals from Fernando! One of these referrals is a family of 7 (5 of which can get bapized) and 5 of them came to church yesterday.  They showed up after sacrament meeting (had to work) but it was a huge deal to Elder Waite and I because it showed us that they truly want to get married and baptized.  They live in a pretty poor part of our area which is far away from the chapel, but they showed up by themselves (that´s a big deal for us) with the little money that they have, to be able to come closer unto Christ! They´re preparing to get married and baptized the 19th of May :)  

I´m loving Guanacaste and we´re just seeing tons of miracles and having a blast while doing it.  The gospel is true and truly life-changing! I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Elder Smith

Pics: Fernando´s baptism, I finally saw a monkey!, we also saw a "little" snake while we were walking at night, petting some cows