Monday, March 28, 2011

What Happens When You Forget to Pay Utilities!

P-day activity, playing futobal

Dear Family,  Hey so I’m so glad to hear that you are all doing fine and that things are going well back at home! Everyday since the beginning of the mission I have prayed for you all and I’m so glad that in the past 16 months everyone has been kept safe. (Nick don’t do anything stupid to screw that up) Ha-ha!! Well Spencer I’m glad to hear that lacrosse is going well. Make sure you can get healed up, because it’s better that you sit out a few games as a sophomore than have to sit out a whole season as a junior or senior. Julia thanks for the letter and I’m glad to hear that you are starting to be able to control your crying ha-ha! Lets see if you can hold it in at the airport when I get home.... doubt it ha-ha! Nick make sure you spend as much time on your homework as you do with your girlfriend, cause she probably won’t even wait for you . . . JK-ing!
This week was super fun and a ton of stuff happened. First we did divisions almost every day this week. Tuesday, I was in Siquirres, Wednesday I was in Cariari, and Thursday and Friday my companion was in Limon. In total, I spent about 10 hours on buses, but luckily all the buses in this part of Costa Rica are the really nice charter buses. 
Tuesday, I was with Elder Maylett in Siquirres and we basically spent the whole day traveling to another area to do and interview, but it was still fun being with him.
Wednesday, I was with Elder Gutierrez in Cariari so that I could do the interview for a guy name Hector, whose wife got baptized like 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately they are probably going to get divorced, cause both of them have made some mistakes in the past, but they are going to try and work things out now. 
Then on Thursday, we traveled down to Limon so that I could do an interview for a guy who only speaks Patua, it’s like a mix between English, French and some other language, but I could understand everything he said. Well, we ended up not doing the interview cause he still had some doubts about the church being the only true church and about being baptized again, cause he was baptized in the Catholic Church. So Elder Norr and I taught a super bomb lesson in English and I think it was the first legit lesson that I have taught in the English language here in Costa Rica. Afterwards Elder Norr and I returned back to Guapiles, a 2 and a half hour bus ride and spent Thursday night and Friday on division. I love Elder Norr and it brought back memories of our days in Pavas!
Oh and this past week we lived like pioneers, cause we didn’t pay for our water and electricity and so it got shut off. So we showered in member’s homes and Thursday night they turned the water back on and we are still without electricity until tomorrow and so we have been using candles and flashlights. That’s the last time I will forget to pay the utilities, cause it sucks. I think Saturday night was the worst night of both the mission and I think my life . . . it was super hot and we got bit by a ton of mosquitoes. We couldn’t turn on the fan cause we had no electricity, when I tried to use my blanket it was too hot to sleep and when I didn’t use the blanket, I got bit a ton and my body was itching like crazy. So I was miserable the whole night and so next month I’m going to buy some bug spray. Oh and the past couple of days, my companion has been kind of sick and last night he couldn’t stand it anymore so we went to the hospital. We were there for like 3 hours and I was left on my own for the whole time, so that was kind of weird, but enjoyable. He has some stomach problem and has to now watch his diet aka no more spicy stuff, which burns cause he’s a Mexican and they love spiciness.
So today for P-day I had to go to San Jose for Zone Council and it was super awesome, because as a zone we met our goal so I got to report that to President!!!! Also we learned some really cool stuff from President, I love him--he is so awesome and he is definately an inspired man of God! Also we got fed super good--ribs, pasta, salad, cake and ice cream. Also I got to hang out with all my Zone Leader friends, which is always super nice!
So this week was fun and I’m super excited for the month of April, because one, General Conference is this week! Yeah!! Party!!! And two, Elder Richard G. Hinckley is coming the second week of April and so we are going to have a conference with him!!!!!!
Well I love you all and I can’t wait to see you all in approximately 20,304,000 seconds. Ha-ha, I’m not really counting but I did calculate this countdown last night while I was waiting for my companion at the hospital. Stay safe!!!!!!!! Love Elder Smith

Monday, March 21, 2011

March Has Been a White Month!

Baptismal Day of Jose, Marielos and Esteban Villalobos

Preparing the Font

My home here in Pococi


CLICK ON POCOCI REGION IN RIGHT COLUMN TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS!
Dear Everyone,
Well this is going to be a short letter, because I don’t have a lot to write about. This week was really good especially with the baptisms of Jose, Marielos and Esteban Villalobos. Yesterday, Sunday, they all got confirmed and Jose and Esteben received the Priesthood. I wasn’t expecting that and I am sure they weren’t either, but it was really cool and Jose even got to stand in the circle for the ordination of his son. Also on Sunday Alejandra got married! The ceremony was really good and Alejandra’s husband, Marcos, has a sister who lives in San Rafael and her family showed up and so it was good to see them. Also now that my Spanish is a ton better we could actually have a conversation.
So tomorrow, Tuesday, we are going to do the baptismal interview for Alejandra and we want to have her baptism this coming Saturday!! Right now as a zone we have had 14 baptisms and we only need 2 more to complete the zone’s goal for this month. For this week we have about 8 possibilities and so if all goes well, then we are going to overpass the goal, which will be cool! 
This week we are going to be doing lots of divisions with the zone. We have to do some baptismal interviews and we also want to see how the elders are doing. On Tuesday, I am going to be in Siquirres and then on Wednesday I am going to be in Cariari. On Thursday and Friday, my companion is going to Limon and I am going to be in our area. So it should be a fun week! Also only 2 more weeks until General Conference, which is basically the Superbowl for missionaries! Hope you all have a good week!!!! I am going to put some pictures up! Love Elder Anthony Smith

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

So Much to Write About!


Enjoying P-day in Costa Rica!
Dear Everyone,
Hey so I hope you all had a good week!!! Nick--study Chinese cause Spanish was pretty hard to learn and Chinese is like a billion times harder so the more practice you get now will make it so much easier in the MTC and in the field! Spencer--that is a super sick drawing!!! You should do one of me playing lax!!! Hey I hope your leg gets better so you can play!!! Julia--I heard that you have started a countdown for me, well starting on March 26th I am going to start reading a chapter a day in the Book of Mormon and by the time I finish, I will be home!!!! Also send me a list of the places you are going to visit here in Costa Rica and I’ll see what I can do!!!!! Landon-- keep having fun in your school and playing with your friends!!!! Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa--I got the packages!!!! Thank you so much, especially for the Double Stuffed Oreos, I am going to eat them all tonight and then start my getting in shape workouts!!!!!!!
So this week was super good and there was a bunch of things that I wanted to write about, but with everything that goes on, it's super easy to forget!! Well this week I finished reading The Book of Mormon again in Spanish!!!! It's super crazy, thinking that a year ago I was reading in Spanish, but like every other word I was looking it up in the dictionary and now I can just read and focus on learning the gospel!!! My testimony for The Book of Mormon has grown so much and I know that it is true!!!! So now I am going to read it again but with the seminary manual!!!
So yes this week we had 3 baptisms!!! The familia Villalobos, Jose, Marielos, and Esteban got baptized and it was super awesome!! This family is really converted and even though they had some struggles they are super happy and the baptismal service was such a spiritual experience!!! The members in the ward have helped out so much and a bunch of people came to support this familia's decision!
Well today we had changes and my new companion is Elder Vasquez!!!! He is from Mexico (yeah! that makes two companions from Mexico), and he was actually my zone leader when I was in Alajeula about a year ago!! He is super cool and I'm excited to work with him!! The zone is doing super good with the three baptism here, we now have 13 which means we only need 3 more to reach the goal and on March 26, my area is going to baptize another lady! Her name is Alejandra and her husband is a less active member who we have reactivated and they are going to get married on Sunday and she will be baptized the following week!!!!! Also my MTC comp. Elder Duncan is now a zone leader. That means that from my group me, Duncan, Sangster, Romney, and Whittier are all zone leaders and Elder Johnson is a district leader and training so he will be zone leader soon and Elder Brazington is now senior comp and doing well!!! 
Well I'm just finding out that all the workout vids you sent are in a Quicktime video format and won't sink to my iPod, but don't worry I have a video converter so we should be good, it just might take me a couple weeks to convert all the vids!!!! Thanks for all your love, support and prayers! I am really thankful for all of you in my life and I'm glad that mom now has an emotional attachment to rap music that makes her cry!!! Ha Ha Well I hope you all have an awesome week!! And I love you all!!! Love Elder Smith

Monday, March 7, 2011

Another Busy Week

Quite a feast for a p-day!
Dear Family, 
Haha I have no time to write again because we have to do a bunch of info. for the stake! But this week was really good! I was on divisions for a couple of days, getting to know some investigators. I like being ZL because I get to know many more people! This week, our zone had 3 baptisms and we have the posibilty of baptizing 10 this week which would be super awesome because the meta for the zone this month is 16!! We might have a baptism this week in our area! We are teaching this super golden family and the mom and son are totally ready to get baptized this week, but the dad is a little nervous! This family is super awesome and Ill have to write more about them next week!!! Also next week we have changes and I think that my companion might have changes so we will see what happens. With the changes next week that means I won't write you till Wednesday so don't worry if you don't get anything on Monday!!!
Have an awesome week!!!!!
Love Elder Smith
P.S. Thanks for not writing me......haha just kidding its cool, something probably happened but you all better write next week. Tell Aunt Caroline thanks for the letter I got last week!!