Baptismal Service of Arturo, Paula(10), and Luis Enrique(10)

Dear Everyone, It has been over a year now since I recieved my mission call. This has been one of the fastest years of my entire life and we are now in September. Only 2 more months till my 20th birthday! Yay!

So this week has been super awesome! On Friday we had the wedding of Arturo and Wendy and then on Saturday, we had 3 baptisms--Arturo, Paula, and Luis Enrique. Arturo was baptized by his father-in-law. Paula was baptized by her brother, Joel who was baptized the first week of Sept. of last year. And I baptized Luis Enrique. It was super awesome!!! Also for the wedding and the baptisms, Elder King and a couple of members sang musical numbers. So we spent the whole week just getting everything ready for the wedding and the baptisms. This Saturday we are looking at a possibility of 3 more baptisms, Micheal, Melvin and Luis. They wanted another week or 2 to prepare so we will see what happens.

Not much else happened and I'm going to put up the pictures that my comp. took 'cause the camera that I have is garbage. Please put up more pictures. I want to see how the family is lookin'! Love you all and hope you all have an awesome week! Elder Smith

I'm Assigned Two New Areas: Pavas and Bri Bri

Elder Smith on P-day with The Colonel himself! (ha ha)

Dear Everyone!

I hope you all had an excellent week and I hope your all excited to start another year of school. This week has been super awesome and a ton has happened. I am in Pavas and Bri Bri--yes I have two areas and two wards so we have a lot of work to do especially on Sundays. We are basically in church from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. My new area is right by San Jose by the new stadium they are building. I can actually see my old area, San Rafael, from where I am assigned. My new companion, Elder King, is super awesome and we are working super hard together. He is from Jackson Hole,  Wyoming and has 20 months in the mission. He is super funny and we have spent the whole week laughing.

This coming Saturday we are looking at a possibility of 6 baptisms. First we have Michael, who is 18, and his sister Paula, who is 10. They are both super cool, but Michael is one of those kind of rebellious kids, but he really wants to change and the only problems are his friends, but we are working super hard with him and he got super excited when he found out his older brother could baptize him, he didnt know that before. Then we have Melvin and Louis who are two teens and brothers of a lady who got baptized right before I got here. Then we have Louis Enrique who is a 10 year old of a menos activo that we have reactivated. Then we have Arturo who before I got here stopped smoking, drinking and is going to get married to his girlfriend who is a member. I have to tell you about a crazy story that happened yesterday with him. Well he didn't come to church and Elder King was way worried cause he hasn't missed church for a while and he told us on Saturday that he was going to come. So we went over to his house after church and he told us that he got into a big fight with Wendy, his girlfriend. To make a really long story short, there are some problems with Wendy´s sister and she has some problem with Arturo. Also Wendy has been getting mad at Arturo because she hasn't  seen the wedding rings. Well we sat and listend to them for like an hour and Wendy kept bringing up the fact that she hasn't seen the wedding rings and so she´s not sure that they exsist. Then we were like, "Wendy you don't even need wedding rings to get married because the rings are just a symbol that your married." So Wendy was like, "What I thought you needed the rings to get married." So yeah, luckily we figured that problem out and got it fixed because Arturo was like ready to almost not get baptized. It is funny to think about how the smallest thing can ruin a relasionship. Also goes to show just how hard El Diablo is working. Everythings cool now and Arturo is ready to get married and baptized.

Last Wednesday, the district leaders from our zone had a capacitation (training session) with President Galvez. I'm not a DL but President asked me to come. In the capacitation, President taught us a ton of stuff. It's basically a new way of teaching investigators by asking questions, listening, and teaching to their needs. The new motto is "Teach persons, not lessons." Also there are new PMG movies that we watched. This new way of teaching is really awesome and it´s so more effective. Elder King and I have been using it and we have had some really awesome lessons.

On Thursday, we had interviews with President Galvez. My interview went really well and he said my Spanish is very good. I can basically understand everything and I can talk pretty well too. I actually like talking in Spanish, but Elder King and I talk in English because it's just better. Also the American Embassy is in our area, I want to go in so that I can step on Americal soil again.

My new comp., Elder King!

So on like Friday we were knocking doors and we walked by this house with all these banners on it. There is this new religion trend that is getting big here in Costa Rica. There is a guy who calls himself Jesus Hombre, (I don't know if you´ve heard about him) but he has started this crazy religion. We talked to the lady who lived in this banner-covered house and basically they do not believe in repentance. They believe that when Jesus died on the cross he destroyed the devil and wipped out all sin, so you can basically to anything you want and you will still be saved. Also they have 666 tattoos. This one lady had like 3 or 4 of them on her body. So they believe this Jesus guy is going to destroy the Vatican and then be transfigured and eveybody will be saved. Its a pretty messed up religion and the lady told us that this Jesus Hombre has prophised that something big is going to happen on September 3 so keep a watch out for that. He is basically and Anti-christ and its a messed up church. That's about it for this week and I hope this week is just as good as last week. I love you all and hope you have and awesome first week at school. Nick have fun at college. Love Anthony Smith

Transferred to San Jose Area

I am so excited!!!!! Today was transfers and I had transfers. My new companion is Elder King!!!!!! Yes I finally have a Gringo Comp. and he is super awesome. He was in my zone for a couple of changes and he is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met in my entire life!!! Oh he is from Wyoming and hits 20 months in the mission tomorrow. In 2 days I will hit nine months, that is really cool. It was really hard to leave my last area though. On Saturday we had the baptism of Ticxie, her dad baptized her and I confirmed her on Sunday. Their next goal as a family is to get sealed in the temple. They are a super cool family and I'm going to miss them a ton.

Sunday was my last day in San Rafael and it was kind of sad. In sacrament meeting I gave a talk on "Enduring to the End" and it was my first talk in the Mission and the first in Spanish. It went pretty good and a lot of members told me I did a good job. After church we had the baptism of Sophia and Oscer. They weren't going to be baptized until the 28th, but Sophia is really good friends with a member family in Heredia and one of their daughters leaves on the mission this week and so Sophia wanted to do it before. It was super cool and I did the confirmation of Oscer and it was really cool to be able to see them get baptized. Well after church I spent the rest of the day saying good-bye to people and it was really sad, I think I almost started crying like 5 different times.

Well I love you all and we´re gonna see how my first week goes with Elder King. I imagine its going to be awesome!!! Love Elder Smith

Splits with Elder Jelalian

Elder Vellejo has been an AWESOME companion

Elder Jelalian and me

The Gringo Club!

Hey Everyone!!! So this week has been really fun! First, I did divisions three days with Elder Jelalian while our companions were in a conference with President Galvez. Elder Jealian has only about 5 months in the mission so he is still learning the language so I pretty much did all the talking in all our lessons. It was a good experience and I learned a lot. It was so much fun being with a fellow American and we would spend the night just talking. It was so much fun!!! 
So this week we also have two baptisms! YAY!!!! Trixie and Stephani are going to be baptized on Saturday! Trixie is 9 and I've told you but we are working on reactivating her family for the past month and they have all been coming to chruch so that's good. Stephani is 8 and we are also working on reactivating her family. Her brother, Andrez, was going to be baptized on Saturday too, but he asked us if he could have another week to get prepared. So he will be baptized next week.

Also we put 2 baptismal goals this week! We recieved a refferal from a member family that lives in Heredia. They have a maid named, Sophia, whose 3 children are members of the church, but she and her husband, Osker, aren't. So we traveled to Heredia to teach Sofia a couple times and she had also gone to church with her husband in Heredia a couple times. On Saturday we went to their house which is in the mountains, part of our area is in the mountains and it gets pretty cold up there somethimes, I love it. So we took a 30 min. bus up the mountain and we met Osker at the bus stop and then we walked for about another 30 min. to get to their house. It took forever! So when we got there Sofia had to leave for work so we only got to talk with Osker and we found out that he has had problems with smoking and drinking and he really wants to change his life around and he really liked the church and he wants to learn more. So we talked about repentance and baptism and we set a baptismal goal with him for the end of the month.

After the lesson we walked another 30 min. waited for about 30 min. for the bus and then took a 30 min. bus ride to get home but it was worth it. So after we put the goal with Osker we were like "why don't we go to Heredia and put one with Sophia". So we went to Heredia and we told her about the goal and she was very excited. Then we asked her questions about the church and what she thought and she pretty muched talked the whole time. I think I said about 3 sentences and my comp said like 5 and the rest of the time she just talked and told us how she felt. We asked her if she thought Joseph Smith was a true prophet and if the Book of Mormon is true and she told us that she wouldn't have let us into her house if she didn't think it was true. She also told us that she wants to be baptized and so we put a baptismal goal with her too. It was way cool!!! The said thing is that this will probably be my last week in San Rafael cause transfers are next week and I think I'm going to have transfers. I even had a dream about it!! So we will see what happens. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week. Also summer vacation is almost over so enjoy going back to school. HAHA!!!

Love Elder Anthony Kent Kohkonen Smith

p.s. Oh yeah, the reason why blue eyes are a curse is 'cause for some reason this week there have been a ton of random girls walk past me and say, "Oh you have really pretty eyes", or "Oh your eyes are so blue". Haha its funny, but I can't do anything with these compliments. Oh well, only about 15 months to go!

Memories of San Rafael Area

Working Hard

Dear Everyone,

This week has gone by so fast. It seams that just yesterday I was writing you. I hope you all had an awesome week and I hope Julia had a Happy Birthday. Last Friday was the birthday of Lindsey Sanchez, the daughter of the branch president who you all met. She turned 8 years old and was also baptized that same day. We went to the baptism and it was really cool.

So this week we put 3 baptismal dates on the calendar. The first one is a 9 year old girl named Trixie. She is the daughter of some less active parents, Sergio and Maryi. Sergio wants to start coming back to chruch and even came last week but Maryi doesn't quite want to come back yet. She had some problems with some members and the missionaries in the last ward they were in. They are way cool though and Sergio is really funny.

The other 2 baptisms are for an 11 and 8 year old brother and sister. They also come from a less active family but they only have a mother, Ivania. She also wants to start coming back to church. She has been having a lot of fincancial problems and they barely have enough food to eat so my companion and I have helped them a little bit, buying rice and beans. Oh the names of the 2 kids are Andrez and Stephani.

We have been working with these 2 familes for the past week and other than that not much has happened. Oh yeah, we started teaching a lady, Ana, and her son who were taught by the missionaries who were here 3 years ago. Ana has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but she along with practically every other Tico, believe that "All churches are good and more than one could possibly have the authority of God." This is a common belief among the people here. Another common belief is that "It doesn't matter what church you go to, what matters is what you have in your heart." This is where we have to teach the restoration really good and teach that really only one church has the authority of God and that really only one church is the church of Jesus Christ. Well I love you and hope that you all have an excellent week! I Love you all so much!!!!! Love Elder Smith

Protected from Cross Fire!

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello everyone I hope you all had a good week. Julia I hope you have a Happy Birthday on Thursday--enjoy your ice cream cake. Spencer who is gone now, I hope he has fun on the Jamboree. I can't believe it has been 5 years since I went on the jamboree.

Okay so this week has been really crazy! First, I now have 8 months in the mission, Yay!! Time sure does fly when your having fun and I had a lot of fun this week. Okay so last Monday for P-day we went paintballing. It was the funnest P-day I've had in the mission. We got permission from President so we didn't break any rules, if you were wondering. So my whole district went and there are 10 missionaries and so we played two teams of 5. Well it was a super fun activity and we are going to do it again next month.

Well Tuesday night was really crazy. Okay, first of all this month, the mission cut out about $30 from my companion and me. This month we have also started working in the outer parts of the area because we basically have knocked every door in the center. So this means that we have had to use a lot more buses and taxis. So I have run out of money this month and I only have enough for buses and taxis. So Tuesday night after we finished a lesson I decided to go to the ATM that is just around the corner from our house. Well, I pulled out some money and we were just about to turn around the corner and we heard something that sounded like a gunshot. Well I've heard this sound a lot, but it's usually a car or a motercycle backfiring . . . but I always say, "Sounds like someone got shot!" So we turn back around the corner to head home and there are two guys running down the street and one of them starts shooting at the other guy right in front of our house. Elder Vallejo and I stay back around the corner and wait for the shooting to stop. Well luckily nobody died and when we walked back to our house the cops were arresting the guy with the gun. So just think, if I wouldn't have run out of money, I wouldn't have had to go to the ATM and if I hadn't gone to the ATM, we would have been right in front of our house when the shooting started and someone (AKA my companion and me) could have gotten hurt. So it just goes to show that the Lord works in mysterious ways to keep people safe.

We are also having lots of success in the area. We aren't going to baptize anyone this month, but next month we should have at least 5. We are working with a lot of less active families that have children who aren't baptized. We are working on reactivating those families so thier children can be baptized. Also we are finding lots of old investigators that the missionaries who were here 3 years ago were teaching. We found one lady named Anasicilia. The missionaries were teaching her and even put a baptisimal date with her and her son, but then the area got closed. So now we are teaching her again and we will probably put another baptismal date this week or the next. Also we are teaching 2 young girls who are friends of a member here. They come from families with lots of problems and they themselves have problems with drugs and other things and they are only 15 years old.

So thank you for the package and the suit, Yay it fits me. Also thanks for the journals, I'm going to put a picture of the baptisms in the journals too so I will probably give them to the members this week or the next. I love you all sooo much and I hope you all have a wonderfull week! Love, Elder Smith

World Cup Mania!

Dear Family

Hey I hope you all had a very good week, I did. Nick, it sounds like you are earning lots of money from Baileys. Spencer, I hope you have a ton of fun on Jamboree. One piece of advice, don't spend your money on food--spend it on souvenirs and other cool stuff. Julia, I have probably watched more soccer this month than I have my entire life. Here in Costa Rica and the rest of the world, everyone is obsessed with soccer and so for the past month, it's been soccer or as they call it here, footbal (but we all know that real football is a ton better--ha ha). So while we ate lunch yesterday, we watched the World Cup final and Spain won. I was hoping that Netherland would win and actually my favorite teams were Argentina and Germany. So now I am at least a fan of watching soccer. Landon, keep having fun with your summer vacation because its almost half way over. Mom and Dad, I have some questions that I want to ask you about your missions.

• How long did it take you before you could speak and understand the language?
• Did you ever train?
• Were all you companions japanese and how many comps did you have?
• How many areas did you have?
• Dad, were you ever a district leader of zone leader?
• What did you do on P-days?

These are just some things that Ive been wondering about now that I know how a mission works. Also, that's cool that you got to speak with my branch president, President Sanchez.. He is super cool and thanks for the stuff that you are sending.

This week has been really good. We have had to start knocking a lot of doors again because we didn't have a whole lot of investigators. We have started teaching one new family and they are super cool. When we first contacted them, we asked them if they had any questions or any doubts in the past and they did. They told us that for a long time they have been searching for the answer to the question, "What happens after this life?", and that they had not yetfound an answer that sounds right. So we had a super awesome lesson about the Plan of Salvation with scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon. It was a super good lesson and they are a way awesome family. Vamos a ver que pasa con ellos esta semana. Haha have fun translating that. Also we are working with a less active family that has a nine year old daughter and the dad wants to baptize her. Also the dad of this family, Sergio, helped move equipment and stuff for Aerosmith when they came to Costa Rica this year. He was able to watch the concert from backstage and got some guitar picks that they used during the concert. Sergio had about 5 picks and he gave me one because I said that I like Aerosmith (not right now though, I love the Mormon Tabernacle) and like playing the guitar. So yeah, that was pretty cool.

So time is flying by so fast, I can't believe in a week I will be completing 8 months in the mission. In one month it will have been a year since I got my wisdom teeth out, nick broke his leg and I recieved my mission call. Honestly, it feels like all that stuff happened a couple months ago. I've got to keep working hard because this won't last forever. So I hope you all have an amazing week and Spencer--stay safe on the Jamboree--it will be a ton of fun!!!!  Love Elder Smith

Lovin' My Area

Dear Everyone!

Wow I can't believe the 4th of July has already come and gone. Here in Costa Rica nobody celebrates the 4th of July so nothing happened. A few missionaries forgot that the 4th of July is even a Holiday. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, Julia I'm glad that you liked Eclipse, I'm still waiting to see New Moon Haha. Nick, I'm glad that you are enjoying working at Baileys, that was my favorite job and it's real fun to go on office moves. So a bunch of my friends are finally starting their missions. I'm so glad that I left as soon as possible because look, I have 7 months in the mission!

So guess who had changes today, not me. Hurray!!! I love my area, it's so cool. It's cold here, in fact I actually have to use a blanket or else I get a runny nose and a sore thoat. Also I'm very close to Heredia, which is basically like Salt Lake City and its about the same distance and it has restaurants and malls and all kinds of cool little stores. Also there is a store here called Price Smart which is the Latino version of Costo. It is exactly the same as Costo and even has the same brands. My companion and I bought membership cards and now we buy all our food there. I bought a 10 pound bag of pancakes, a bunch of meat for sandwiches (including bacon), and top ramen. Oh yeah it rocks and I don't have to eat rice and beans every meal.

So we spent this week going out to parts of our area that are a little bit farther away and we have been knocking doors. Not too much luck but we are working hard. Other than that not much else has happened this week.

So this week the branch president from my area is going to be in Utah and I think he is going to be very close to Centerville. I'm going to give his wife our number and address so that if you want to send anything he can bring it back to Costa Rica. Also his wife is going to give me his number and then tomorrow I can send you a quick email so that you can call him. He speaks English. I was thinking that if you wanted to you could send my other suit because it would be nice to have two--dry cleaning is insanely expensive (15 bucks).

So yeah, I'm super excited that I have another 6 weeks to work in San Rafael and I hope you all have an awesome week. Love Elder Smith

Cinco Bautismos!

James, Hanz, Francini, Lidieth, Suyen, Elder Smith, Elder Vallejo, Hermano Conejo, Sergio, Presidente Sanchez

Hello Everyone! This week has been really awesome! Yesterday we had 5 baptisms!!! So we baptized Hanz and his wife Francini and the mother and sister of Hanz, Lidieth and Suyen. It was really cool because we have been working with this family for about 2 months and when we first started teaching them only Hanz wanted to get baptized, but then the other members of the family started listening to us and they all made the decisions to get baptized. It took a lot of work on our part and theirs to be ready, but we all did it and it was a way awesome experience. So our branch president baptized Hanz and Francini, my companion baptized Lidieth, the mom, and I baptized Suyen, the sister. It was way cool!
Our other baptizm was Sergio. He was a reference from a member in our ward and we have only been working with him for about a month. It was a little harder to teach him because he is a timid person and he forgets things easily. But he is super cool and after we taught the word of wisdom he immediatly stopped drinking coffee. The member who gave us the reference, Hermano Conejo, baptized him. So yesterday there were 9 people dressed in white and it was super cool. Also I did the confirmation of Lidieth and that was super awesome too. Its the first confirmation that I've ever done.
So yeah, this week was super awesome! Also we are working with a couple, Jose and Melania, they are super cool and we have been teaching them for awhile now and the only thing they need to do is get married. Jose wants to get married but Melania had some bad experiences in her last marriage. So we went to their house and only Jose was home so we asked him if he really wants to get married to Melania and he said "yes". Then we told him that he needs to start showing her that he really loves her. We gave him some good pointers of what he could do, like buy her flowers or chocolates, ask her how her day was or just tell her "you love her" everyday. Jose told us that Melania wouldn't like any of that stuff and then my comp was like, "Are you telling me that a girl wouldn't love getting a rose?" and Jose said, "I don't think girls like that stuff anymore". At that moment a girl walked passed the house, we were sitting outside, and my comp stopped her and asked her if she would like it if someone gave her a rose. She said, "I think every girl in the world would like it if someone gave her a rose". It was funny and Jose said he would do something to show Melania that he loves her.
So its awesome to hear that you all had fun at trek and that Spencer had fun at EFY! I love you all. Elder Smith P.S. I find out if I have changes on Friday.

A Day of Baptisms

Elder Smith, Sergio (new member), Hermano Conejo, Elder Vallejo

Elder Vallejo, James, Hanz, Francini, Lidieth, Suyen, Elder Smith, and Lidieth

Elder Vallejo, James, Hanz, Francini, Lidieth, Suyen, Elder Smith, and Lidieth

Package Week -- Hooray!

Dear Everyone, Hi, It sounds like you all had a fun week. I finally got both packages thank you very much for the food its almost all gone. Haha! So this week I hit 7 months in the mission, but who´s counting. Haha! It feels good to finally have some time in the mission cause I'm no longer a newbie.
So this week has been really good and we have been working really hard with the 5 investigators that we have with a baptismal date set for this Saturday! Thats about all that has happened this week.
We have visited Hans and his family everyday this week. They are super awesome! Also we have passed by Sergio a bunch this past week.
This week we also had interviews with President Galvez and mine was really good. Also he asked me if I wanted to stay in my area for another change or leave and I told him that I want to stay because It´s way awesome here so hopefully Im here a little longer.
So yeah not much else has happened this week. Oh also there was a fathers' day activity in our branch and we played games and ate food--it was really fun. Hope you had a happy fathers day, dad and good luck with your school board campaign. Thanks again for the packages and thank you for the letter Grandma and Grandpa. I'm glad to hear that while you all are eating hot dogs and hamburgers and watching fireworks I´ll be eating rice and beans. Haha! Love you all and I´ll try to write more next week. Elder Smith

A Week of Bad and Good News

Dear Everyone, So first the bad news, my camera broke. We were at a members house and one of the daughters was taking a picture and another daughter was dancing around and she knocked the camera out of the other daughter's hands and it broke. We are going to the temple on wednesday and I wanted to take pictures. Also we have some baptisms coming up on the 26 of June, I´ll talk about them in just a second. So the same thing happened to my companion and he got a camera in Heredia for like 60 mil, $120, which is a good deal cause here all the electronics are way overpriced, but there are tons of places in Heredia that have used ones. I don't really care if its used, just as long as I can take pictures. So I was thinking that if you put money in my account I could buy one tomorrow or on Wednesday before we go to the temple. Yeah this week I had bad luck with things breaking. I broke a light bulb and the toilet seat, so thats why I checked my bank account cause we´re not supposed to use mission money to replace things we brake.
Now for the good news about the work--this week was really good. Also I forgot to tell you guys that last Sunday I taught the Principles of the Gospel class that we have for our investigators all by myself in Spanish. It was way awesome. So yeah, this week we have been working really hard with the investigators that we have.
First Hans and Francini: We have been working with Francini a lot because she likes to drink coffee, but on Saturday it was kind of funny because we went and visited them and she was telling us that every time that she drinks coffee she always thinks about us and she also feels guilty. We told her that is the spirit telling her that she needs to stop drinking coffee. If she can stop drinking coffee, we are going to baptize them on the 26th. YAY!!!
Sergio: We have been teaching him in the house of a member and its going really good. Its kinda hard to teach him because he forgets stuff easily, but he has the desire to be baptized and change his life for the better. The only thing he needs to do is stop drinking coffee, but he is willing to do it. We also have a date set for him on the 26th.
Jose and Melania: We have been teaching them for a long time and the only thing they have to do to be baptized is get married. The only problem is that they are from Nicaragua and usually they would have to go back to Nicaragua to get married or become legal citizens here in Costa Rica but there is a lawyer from the church who can get them married and all he needs is their passport. We are going to help them pay for the wedding, I talked to President and he says its okay if we help pay a little. My companion and I are going to pay 20 dollars each and Jose y Melania are going to pay the other 40 dollars -- that will happen next month.
So yeah we are working really hard and I Love you all!!! Elder Smith

Zone Conference

Dear Everybody, Hey how's everyone doing? I hope you all had a good last week of school. Now its summer vacation, YAY!!!!!!!! Guess who doesn't have summer vacation this year (or next year)... me YAY!!!!!!!!!! So hope you all have a good summer and that all of you get in shape.
So this week has been pretty busy. On Tuesday, I had to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to be in San Jose by 6:00 a.m. so that I could do stuff to get my residency here in Costa Rica. It was fun though 'cause all the Elders from my MTC district were there. So that took all morning long and afterwards I was super tired. Then on Thursday we had Zone conference with 3 zones, my Zone Alajela, Zona Atlantica and Zona Toyopan. I love Zone Conference 'cause I get to spend time with all the cool Elders in my Zone and also President and Sister Galvez always give a good lesson. Also there is really good food there too. It lasts all day so its like another P-day, yay!
So we have some really cool investigators right now. I think I mentioned Hans and his family--they are super awesome. Hans is a way awesome guy who is super ready to be baptized. His wife Francini is also really cool too. She just has a problem with the coffee so we are working with her on that. We have a baptism goal for them on the 26 of June. Also we have a new investigator who is awesome too. He is a referral from one of the members here and he has come to church the past two weeks. He is really timid but way cool and we are going to put a baptismal date for him on the 26 of June also. Also we are working with a less active family and trying to reactivate them--they have a 9 year old daughter who isn't baptized. So we have the possibility of having 4 baptism this month.
Also we are working on trying to get the members to do their Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching 'cause not very many people do it here and I´ve heard that it's a big problem here in Costa Rica. In my area there are a ton of less active or inactive members and we have found that one of the reasons why they became inactive is that none of the members ever visited them. So thats another thing we are working really hard with.
Also this week I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish and now I'm reading it again. This time I'm marking specific things as I read. First I'm marking all the scriptures about Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. Also I'm marking everytime it mentions one of the names of Christ. So yeah, that's what I´ll be doing for the next couple of weeks. Also I´ll start sharing scriptures that I like every week.
Well I hope you all have a wonderful summer vacation, I know I will!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!! Love Elder Smith

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

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

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

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

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