Semana 99: The Last Testimony: 6/4/18

Hello everyone!

Another week in the books.  

This week was really great and the highlight was going to my last leadership council. It was really bittersweet because there are a lot of us going home (including my mission president and his wife) but it was an experience that I´ll never forget.  I got to bear my last testimony to everyone there and it was really emotional but I could feel the Spirit and I´m so grateful for all that I could learn and experience.  But it´s not the end!!! I still got 3 weeks to go so I´ll share more on that later...

Well besides the leadership council, this week was actually pretty tough for my companion and I here in our area.  We´ve had to drop lots of investigators in these last few weeks, including our investigator, Yemelin who I´ve been writing to you all about these last few weeks.  She was going to get baptized here soon, but we went by to visit her on Saturday and she barely even payed any attention to us.  It turns out that she had been talking to her neighbors (there are tons of small churches all around her neighborhood) and they told her a bunch of lies about the church, the Book of Mormon, and other stuff like that.  She now doesn't want to receive us anymore and we couldn't help but feel a little discouraged after talking to her.  We did all that we could to testify to her of the truthfulness of the gospel, but she just rejected us and closed her heart to the spirit.  We don't have too many investigators to work with currently, but there´s just one thing to do: move on and trust in the Lord.  

Our mission president actually helped prepare us for this experience because his training focused on success as a missionary and how we should act after people reject us.  We obviously can't help but feel sad that people that we love and that have received confirmations of the spirit that the gospel is true reject the gospel.  But we cannot become discouraged and stop believing in ourselves or the Lord.  We cannot be weak or lose enthusiasm.  We need to move forward, be positive, be strong, forget ourselves, and put our trust in the Lord.  This can apply to anything in our lives.  We inevitably will have tough days from time to time, but we cannot let ourselves become discouraged or lose faith or we´ll never get out of the rut we have fallen into.  Satan wants us to be discouraged. Don't let him win.  Trust in the Lord and be happy.  The Lord will always help us if we allow him to. I invite you all to remember that!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith 

Pics: 12 of the 18 missionaries that are going home this transfer (plus President and Hermana Laboriel), Barrio La Cruz, MTC buddy and I at the leadership council, we´re getting soaked in the rain all day every day, 5 1/2 hour bus ride back to Guanacaste after the leadership council

Semana 98: Semana de Milagros -> Hawaii Trip Round 2: 5/28/18

Hello everyone!

This week we had semana de milagros again and it went great!

The activities included: Tuesday we had a "Hunger Games".  Basically what we did is we worked in our areas, but every 2 hours you would have a few different tasks to complete or you would get kicked out of the competition.  Some examples of the tasks were... contact 3 blue houses, sing "praise to the man" in a lesson, and contact 2 families. On Wednesday we walked around all of Liberia as a zone singing to all of the progressing investigators in the zone! On Thursday we planned a bunch of family home evenings to do throughout the day.  And on Friday we had "viaje a Hawaii"! I don't know if you all remember, but a few months ago in my last zone we did this activity where we decorated the church building like Hawaii but the idea is to teach the people about the plan of salvation aka the plan that God has for all of His children here on the earth. 

Everything is going super great here in Guanacaste even though it´s raining every single day now haha.  I refuse to buy an umbrella because I´m not going to take it home and I just haven't accepted that it rains in this part of Costa Rica.  We´re looking for new investigators right now, but we do have one really awesome lady that is progressing super quickly.  I mentioned her last week, her name is Yemeling.  She tries to memorize the pamphlets that we give her, and she told us this week that as she was reading the introduction to the Book of Mormon this week, she just heard a voice whispering in her ear, "yes, yes".

I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it truly blesses our lives in these last days.  I invite you all this week to start reading every single day if you aren't currently doing it.  My favorite experience this week was just watching Yemeling´s face light up as she started reading it :)

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

Elder Smith

Pics: Viaje a Hawaii with part of the zone (it was Elder Longi´s birthday so we did the Haka and ate cake), Oregonians!, we were angels for a day, walking with the zone, exchanges with Elder Solis, outside of our investigator´s house

Semana 97: Conferencia de la Estaca Liberia: 5/21/18

Hello everyone!

Another week here in Guanacaste!

This week was super great and we were able to have stake conference on Sunday with Elder Cordón (I believe he lived in Costa Rica for a really long time).  It went really well and we were able to have 6 investigators there to see it.  Since it was conference, they paid to have a bus pass by for all of the parts of our area to pass for the members and our investigators. We were expecting more to come, but it still helped a ton for some of our awesome investigators that haven't been able to come yet.  

Ana (Henry and Ana) was able to come finally! She didn't have to work this Sunday which was a miracle and she came with her 3 littlest kids.  Henry had to work, but we´re so happy that Ana was able to come so now we can start planning their wedding and baptism. They´re now on date for June 9th! 

We also were able to meet someone super awesome this week named Yemeling (try to guess how to pronounce that one).  We were expecting to have 2 baptisms this week, but they both unfortunately aren't going to happen still.  BUT, through one of those 2 investigators, we were able to find Yemeling! She was listening in to one of our lessons with an investigator, and she liked it a lot! We challenged her to get baptized and she accepted super quickly.  She also came to church on Sunday and liked it! She told us that she just got married 2 months ago and wants to find a church to attend.  But she doesn't like the Catholic church or the evangelical churches here.  She is super receptive and she´s on date for June 9th as well! 

One thing that I really liked from Stake Conference this week was the message from Elder Cordon.  Almost everyone talked about ministering one to another, and Elder Cordon as well.  There was something that he said that I liked a ton... he said, "The Lord is more interested in who we are than what we have".  He also said, "It doesn't matter what job/calling you have, but rather what you become through the job/calling that you have". I loved that and think it is so true.  We´re all of great worth in the eyes of the Lord, it doesn't matter what we have.  But, He expects us to magnify our callings and serve Him and those around us. If we do, there are great blessings awaiting us.  Let us minister one to another and follow the Lord´s calling for us.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Smith

P.s. I also forgot to mention last week that Elder Millward (my MTC comp and one of my best friends in the mission) and Elder Larson (another one of my best friends in the mission) are in the zone with me now to finish our missions! 

Pics: Elder Longi and I, Costa Rica, planning semana de milagros, leaving our recent convert´s house, one of the parts of our area

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