Monday, May 31, 2010

Good Week

Hey Everyone, This week has been pretty good. I don't have a lot of time to write today we are chilling with Elder Sorensen and his comp Elder Torres. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope it was a good birthday and hope you got a lot of cool presents.
So yeah, my new companion, Elder Vallejo, is super awesome, I think that the only thing that I don't like about him is that he eats more and faster than I do. We are working super hard and will probably have a baptism in the next few weeks. We are teaching this one family and the dad, Hans is super awesome and has a strong desire to get baptized. The only problem is the wife, Francini. It was kinda funny because she was like "I want to get baptized but can I still attend the other church that I'm going to after I get baptized?" Haha--I almost started laughing when she said it 'cause I thought it was a little funny. But yeah we are working super hard with them.
Also last Saturday, we had an activity with the stake that I live in. All the missionaries in my zone and all the young men came to the stake center and then every missionary went with 2 or 3 young men and we spent 3 hours contactin, knocking doors, and teaching lessons. It was a good experience for all the young men and it was fun. So yeah this week has been really good and Im excited for the next 5 weeks of this change. Have a fun last week of school! I love you all! Elder Smith

Monday, May 24, 2010

Baptisms and Earthquake

An Awesome Zone!

Hello Everyone!!! Not much has happened this week (HaHa)--we just had a couple baptisms, I felt my first earthquake, I have a new companion, and I got kissed.

So this week has been pretty good. Two of our investigators, Natalia and Sharon Castro Calderon, were baptized on Saturday and the confirmed on Sunday. We are actually teaching their whole family because they are less active. It's actually a cool story how we found them. We contacted this one guy in the street and then went to his house and taught him. After we finished the lesson we decided to knock the rest of the doors on the street. Well, at one of the houses, the door was open and we looked inside, and a girl was sitting on the couch. When she saw us she turned toward the kitchen and said, "Mom the Elders are here". Haha--We were a little shocked and we asked the girl how she knew us and she said that she actually is a member. Her name is Raquel and she is 14 years old. The mother's name is Magda and she has had some problems that we are helping her with. The other daughters that we baptized are Natalia, 11 years old, and Sharon, 10 years old.

We are also working with one of the sisters of Magda who is a member also. Her name is Aleska and she is 16 years old. So yeah, I baptized Natalia and Elder Benitez baptized Sharon. We were supposed to have another baptism with Adrian. We had his interview on Friday night and he was excited and then when we called his house in the morning and nobody answered. We called all afternoon and then stopped by the house right before the baptism and no one was home. We still don't know what happend and will be going by his home tomorrow.

So there was an earthquake here this week. The epicenter was far from where I am. We were in the middle of teaching a lesson and all of a sudden the ground started to shake and it was pretty cool. We only felt it for about 10 seconds and we didn't feel it quite as strong as other places. It was the first earthquake that I've ever felt in my entire life.

So about the "I got kissed" story. Well, we are teaching this one family about the Book of Mormon which they accepted quite nicely. The daughter who is 15 years old had to leave early and as she was leaving I put my hand out for her to shake it. Well, she shook it and as she shook it she bent down, 'cause I was sitting, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Haha it was funny, but that is the culture here. Then she went to do the same to Elder Benitez but he wasn't caught off guard and had enough time to explain we can't kiss girls as missionaries. Haha it was funny.

So today was changes and Elder Benitez is now gone. I learned a lot from him (AKA a lot of patience--Haha!). Well, I now have a new companion and his name is Elder Vallejo and he is from Hondurous. He has 9 months in the mission and seems like a good guy. He also speaks fluent English which is a bonus! So I hope you all have a good week and I hope you all have fun as school ends. I love you all!!!!!!! Elder Smith

Baptism Photos

Baptismal Day for Natalia (11) and Sharon (10) Elder Benitez, Raquel, Sharon, Hermana Magda, Natalia, Elder Smith, Aleska

Monday, May 17, 2010

Short and Sweet

Dear Everyone

I hope you all had a good week. This week has gone by super fast for me. Sorry but I don't have to much time to write but as you will see its about 6:20 and P-day ends at 6:00--lots of stuff today. Landon, I hope you had an amazing Birthday--you are now 10 years old. Write me and tell me all the cool stuff that you got. So tomorrow guess who hits 6 months in the mission--kinda amazing! Next week is transfers and I'm probably going to have a change. I want to go somewhere really hot like Guanacaste--there are beaches in the hot places.

So I don't have time to write what happened this week because we have a cita right now. But I will write all the stuff that has happened this passed week because a lot did happen.

Love Elder Smith

Monday, May 10, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

My study desk
Hi--This is going to be a short letter. So it was really awesome to talk with everyone yesterday for Mother's Day but I wish that I could of had more time to talk to you all. For Christmas I'm not going to schedule anything that day so I can talk to you all for like 6 hours. So one thing, if you do send a package it probably won't matter what you send my companion. Changes are in 2 weeks and I'm probably going to have changes (will see) and so just send candy. Also, if you send some CDs, send the other Insideout CD. Not the Innocence or Reverence or Sharing Time CD because I already have those--I don't remember the name of the other one. So I hope you all have an awesome week and tell those girls to start writing me. Haha!!! Love Elder Anthony Smith

Monday, May 3, 2010

It's May!

Dear Everyone, Hola. I hope you all had an awesome week. Its finally May! Hurray! I remember when I was in the MTC thinking to myself, "By the time it´s May, I will be fluent in Spanish!" Well it's May and guess who isn't yet fluent in Spanish...Me. Haha! It´s all good though 'cause I can pretty much understand everything--it´s the speaking that's hard.
So this week has been pretty good. It has rained everyday this week and I love it. I don't think I´ve seen the sun for 10 days--it's awesome!
So last Monday was P-day (I love P-day!) We only had one appointment with a less active member, P. Villalobos. Her husband is Evangelican. Infact, his parents are the pastors of the church so they are like devote Evangelicans. The husband doesn't really like the LDS church because everytime he comes to church, the members and missionaries are always pressuring him to get baptized. So whenever we go over to see them, we just share simple gospel messages. There is a problem with members marrying nonmembers and I don't really understand how people can do that, but oh well. We are working with 3 separate couple where one is a member and the other isn´t and the result of these relationships is the members are now less active members cause they´re not coming to church, and it probably has something to do with the influence of their spouses.
Last Tuesday I hit 100 days in Coast Rica!!! Hurray now only a few more to go... So yah, last Tuesday we had district meeting. I love district meeting because the whole zone meets together in a church and then we split off into our respective districts. My district is way cool--I still have Elder Sorenson in my district. He is super funny and we have become good friends. Also there are some really cool Elders in my zone and so its nice to be able to talk to them every week. Tuesday we had a really good lesson with Adrian and Cynthia. We brought along a member, Hermano Milo Campos (who is another Brother Fraughton). We taught the law of tithing and it was a super good lesson and Hermano Milo helped out a ton. We also found a new family who live by Adrian and Cynthia and they are super awesome--they even came to chuch yesterday.
Last Wednesday we had a lesson with, Olga and her 2 daughters. They had some doubts about the Book of Mormon. They are Evangelical and some of their friends were telling them all this anti-mormon stuff, but I think we cleared up all the false rumors. Here is the love letter that one of the daughters, wrote me. Its super funny and in some parts she tried to use English:
Hello my name is P______ and I hope to know your name soon (we told them that we can't use our names till we leave the area). You are important to me as you are to God and you are a precious jewel in the hand of the Lord. I tell you that I´ve never known a man as neat as you. My family is very good and I am the best. My sister, D_____ is a little conceited (big word for a 13 year old), my mom is very correct, and my dad is a little stupid. And J______ (the other sister) is very hateful when she wants to be. But I am the most beautiful, the most pretty. Good-bye, See you later. So yah, it's the first love letter that I have recieved. Ha Ha!
Last Thursday we had a really good lesson with a new contact, Jose and Andrea. We taught them the first lesson and they were both really receptive. Jose has had some problems with drinking but he wants to quit. Also we had another really good lesson with Adrian and Cynthia. Adrian has been reading the Book of Mormon from the begining and is able to share with us his feelings about Nephi and how he (Adrian) can use those same principles in his own life. I think he is ready to get baptized.
Yesterday was Sunday and at church, it was fast and testimony meeting. We brought two investigators to church, the couple that I mentioned above--Jose and Marianela. Hermano Milo Campos went to pick up Adrian and Cynthia to bring them to church in his mini van but for some reason they weren't home. It was a good testimony meeting and Jose and Marianela really liked it.
So I hope you all have a good week and I´m excited to call you next Sunday. There are gringo members in my branch and they have a phone service where you can call the states for free so I am probably going to use that. I will probably call in the afternoon because our church is at 9:00 a.m. So have a fun week. Elder Smith