Photo Update!

My Companion, Elder Gomez and Me with San Jose City as the background.

Elder Duncan (MTC Comp.) and Me reunite at training session.

Elder Smith (AP) and Elder Smith (DL)

Me, Scarlth, Christopher and Elder Menendez

Happy Birthday to Me (Back in October)

Cut the Cake. Cut the Cake. What a party -- isn't it GREAT!

With Elder Centeno (AP) from Panama (he knows cousin, Adam)

With Elder Sorensen -- he leaves for home this month.

President Galvez and me!

San Jose Valley

Meal at Zone Training -- Serving #1

Trainings are awesome -- they sure know how to feed the soul!

Meat -- Yum!

What a mess!

Filling out the weekly reports

Who's Hungry? (I didn't eat all of this)

This Is A SHORT LETTER Week

Dear Family

Hey, so I hope you all had an awesome week! Christmas is getting closer and the Christmas spirit is in the air... not! So basically I will never spend Chirstmas in a warm climate again. Ha Ha!

So last night we were able to watch the Christmas Devotional in English, and it was super good. I actually got really homesick listening to the talks and all the songs that were sung. Elder Sangster and I just kept looking at each other because a year ago we were watching the same Christmas devotional, except we were in the MTC and now this will be our last Christmas in the mission! So the devotional was really good and I especially loved the talk given by Elder Ukdorf. The chior sang the best christmas songs and when Brother Russon's face popped up on the screen I jumped up and said, "that guy lives in my stake!" So it was really good.

Today was really awesome because we had the one month checkup for all the trainers and their companions. I´ll write more about it next week, but I took a bunch of pictures with my companions camera and I´ll load those up too.

I got the package with all the goodies, socks and CD´s. Still hope I get the other package because I´ve been using the same contacts for a really long time and I still have no camera!

Love you all and I hope you all have an awesome week!!!!! Love Elder Smith 

Celebrating Thanksgiving

I ate about 3 helpings of this Turkey meal!

Dear Family, Hey it's good to hear that all is well in the United States of America. Looks like Thanksgiving was fun and just think, next Thanksgiving I will be home. Yay! Actually we had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner. A member, Jario Hernandez, invited us over and we ate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (I´ll upload the photos).

So this week we had 6 baptisms. Jose, Maureen, Jose David, Abigail, Sherelyn and Pablo all got baptized this week and so that was really cool. I will post the photos from that too.

So this week we had a really fun experience. Elder Sangster came to our area and we were in a trio. During lunch, he asked my companion how many families that he wanted to contact that day. He said 5 families, kinda joking, but we decided to try and contact at least 5 families. Well, we met the goal and actually we contacted 6 families. It was cool and actually not that hard. So that's going to be the focus for this month, finding new families to teach because we don't have a lot of investigators.

So this letter is short, but I will upload pictures (Mom posts photos regularly to Elder Smith's blog elderanthonysmith@blogspot.com) and have the office check on the package.

Love you all, Elder Smith P.S. send more pictures (I want to see what the house looks like)

More Photos of Thanksgiving

Misc. Photos

Relaxin'

Pizza Party

What a mess!



Mr. Clean



My favorite convert-- Michael, Me, and Yoel

Maybis, me, Anni, Hermana Jennifer, Jimena

Keeping stats of our work

A Plentiful Week of Baptisms!

Elder Sangster, Elder Gomez,  ME, Sherelyn, Maureen, Jose, Abigail, Jose David, Elder Menendez



Elders Menedez, Sangster, Smith, Gomez, and Norr



Back: Me, Menendez, Jose, Maureen, Bishop Segura, Norr, Gomez. Front: Sherelyn, Abigail, Jose David, Sangester

1 Año

Mi querido familia,

Por fin tengo un año en la misión. Muchas veces es dificil a creer que he sido misionero por un año. El tiempo ha pasado super rapido y estoy agradecido que tengo un año mas para servir el Señor. Para ser sincero cuando entré la misión casí no sabía nada del evangelio de Jesucristo. Solo sabía que la iglesia es verdadera  y el libro es azul (chistes en ingles no se traduce muy bien en español jaja) Pero en solo un año mi conocimiento del evangelio ha crecido un monton. Por medio de mis estudios de las escrituras, Predicad mi evangelio y otros libros del evangelio que tengo yo puedo decir sin ningun duda que sé que esta es la iglesia verdadera. Sé que Jose Smith vío nuestro Padre Celestial y Jesucristo. Sé que Dios le llamó a ser un profeta para restaurar la iglesia en la tierra. Sé que El Libro de Mormón es la palabra de Dios y que contiene la plenitud del evangelio. Al leer el libro de mormón mi fe en Cristo ha crecido y sé que es un otro testamento de Cristo. Sé que Tomas S. Monson es el profeta hoy en dia llamado por Dios para guiarnos. Sé que por medio de la fe, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, el don del espiritu santo, y el perseverar hasta el fin podemos lograr la paz y felicidad en esta vida y la salvación en la vida venidera. Sé que las families puedan ser eternas por medio de ordenanzas sagradas que hacemos en los templos. Entonces he cambiado mucho en este año y estoy animado a ver cuanto mas voy a cambiar en el año que viene. (Have fun translating)

So this week was really stressful. Of the 7 baptisms we were going to have, only 1investigator got baptized. Jose, Maureen, Jose David, Abigail, Sheralyn and Pablo are going to get baptized this Wednesday. There were a couple problems and so we had to move the baptismal date to this week. Jose asked Elder Sangster to baptize him. Pedro is going to baptize two of his sisters, Maureen and Sheralyn. My companion is going to baptize Jose David (first baptism) and Abigail asked me to baptize her. Also Elder Norr is going to baptize Pablo. So this week is going to be very exciting and it will be a little stressfull, but that's going to be my life for the next year.

So still no sign of the package. I'm a little worried because I am on my last pair of contacts and so I don't know if there is a way you can check and see if the package got here or maybe you wrote the wrong address. I called the secretaries and the address you told me is okay, but maybe you wrote it wrong or something like that.

This week is Thanksgiving and it is going to be awesome. A member in my ward, Jairo Hernandez, works for the government and so he travels all over the world. He lived in New York for awhile and so he is basically a gingo. Well, he invited us over to his house on Thursday because he is going to have a real thanksgiving dinner. Yay!!!! I'm excited.

So everything is good here and I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!!

Love Elder Smith

P.S. We played Monopoly this morning and I destroyed everyone!

Thank goodness for GOOGLE translate . . .for those of us who "no hablo espanol", here's what Elder Smith wrote:

Finally I have a year in the mission. Many times it's hard to believe I've been a missionary for one year. Time has gone by super fast and I'm grateful that I have another year to serve the Lord. To be honest when I entered the mission, I almost knew nothing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I just knew that the church is true and the book is blue (jokes in English does not translate very well in Spanish haha). But in just one year, my knowledge of the gospel has grown a lot. Through my studies of the scriptures, "Preach My Gospel" and other books of the Gospel that I have, I can say without any doubt I know that this is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know that God called him to be a prophet to restore the church on earth. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and contains the fullness of the gospel. Reading the Book of Mormon, my faith in Christ has grown and I know that it is another testament of Christ. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today called by God to guide us. I know that through faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end we can achieve peace and happiness in this life and salvation in the afterlife. I know that families can be together forever through sacred ordinances we do in the temples. So I've changed a lot this year and I am encouraged to see how much more I will change in this next year.

YAY! ONE YEAR DOWN!

Hello Everyone,

Hey guess who has a year in the mission... ME!!!!!!! I honestly never thought that I’d make it this far in the mission, but boy has it gone by super fast. I still remember walking into the MTC building like it was yesterday, not really but it has gone by pretty fast. So yah, one more year and I will be able to watch all the TV and movies I want. One more year and I will be able to listen to the music I want (By the way thanks for the CD update Nick, but I already knew about that release. Unfortunately there are some missionaries who aren’t too good at keeping the rules and they tell me about all the stuff that comes out. Also I’ve heard that ADTR comes out with a new CD this week and so in a year I will be listening to that.) So anyway I’m not trunky—it’s just fun to think that in a few days I will be able to wake up every morning and say, “In a year I will be home!”

So this week is going to be super awesome because we are going to have a few baptisms. YAY!!!!! Jose and Mauren are going to get baptized on Wednesday! Elder King and I taught them when I got to Pavas, but we kind of lost contact with them for awhile, but then Jose came to church a few weeks ago and they all want to get baptized. Also some siblings of Mauren moved into their home and they were receiving the lessons from the missionaries where they used to live. Actually, Elder Norr, the other Elder I lived with, was one of the Elders who was teaching them and so that’s really cool.

So this week will be focusing on that and it’s kind of stressful being the district leader. This month, the zone has a baptism goal of 19 and 9 of those goals are coming from my district so I have all the weight on my shoulders—well it feels like that. This week is very important for the district and the zone and so we will see what happens.

Other than that not much has happened. Elder Gomez is super cool and as a trainer I am seeing that I am re-training myself on how to be a missionary and so that’s really cool. Mom I still haven’t gotten my package, but I will talk to the secretaries this week and ask them about the address. Also there are some things that I was hoping you send to me for Christmas. First, a calendar so I can count down the last 52 weeks of my mission. (Ha Ha) Some more socks because I’m starting to get some holes in my socks. Also one of my recent converts, Arturo, was wondering if I could get him the quad, because he speaks English and he wants to have the bible and the triple all in one book. So that would be cool if you could sent a copy for him.

Well Hope you all have an awesome week. Tell Aunt Paulina and the family thanks for the letters! Love Elder Smith

I Am Now a Father!

Me with Pablo -- He got baptized!

Elder Norr performed Pablo's baptism



Dear Everyone,

I hope all is well and I hope you all had and awesome week! Well this week has been super busy with moving and everything. We had to do a ton of stuff and we didn't actually move in to our new apartment until last night. So today was the "changes" meeting and I have my new companion. I am training Elder Gomez from Mexico. It's going to be so much fun training and Elder Gomez seems like a really cool guy and is ready to get to work. So I will be working in Pavas and my old companion will be in Bri Bri. We will be living in the same house as him and his new companion, Elder Norr (who is a Star Wars freak).  As the missionary's mom, let me just clarify Elder Smith's subject title . . . "He's fathering a greenie or baby elder . . . just want to make sure we're all clear on that  . . . "

Yesterday, I also did divisions with Elder Sangster after we got everything moved over to our new apartment and the first thing we had to do was go to the telephone company to ask for them to put a telephone line in our house because right now we don't have one. Well, we waited for like an hour and it was really cool how we can now do business deals and things like that speaking Spanish, because when I got here I could only say, "Yo sé que la iglesia es verdad" in a really thick gringo accent. So it's really cool to see how much we have both progressed in the language. We have to wait for about 5 days before they can put our telephone line in so that means I will be spending my nights on a pay phone for the next week. 

After that got worked out, Elder Sangster and I went visiting -- it was lots of fun. We visited Pablo and he really wants to get baptized, but he´s also a little nervous so he is still thinking about it, but we told him that we are going to have a baptismal service on Saturday and if he feels ready we´ll do it and if he doesnt we´ll wait. We also visited Jose and Mauren and the family and they all want to get baptized too. The problem is with Mauren's work, she won't be able to come to church every Sunday, but if she comes to church this Sunday we are going to have the baptism next Wednesday!

The work is going really well and I am excited that in a week I will have a year in the mission and then it's downhill from there. That means we all only have one more year to get our 6 packs and Spencer, you only have one more year left to sleep in my room. Speaking of 6 packs I have started my new diet--oatmeal! I eat it everyday for breakfast and then for dinner I eat something small because usually the members give us food. I still have not recieve my package and so I´m going to be calling the office a lot so that I can know when it comes and then I can go there and pick it up. Other than that everything is good and I am excited for this new "change"!

Love you all!!!!!!!! Elder Smith

I Don't Think I've Ever Eaten So Much In My Life!

Dear Family,

I hope you all had a good week! Well this week was pretty cool because now I am 20 years old. So my birthday was pretty good, but the only thing was I didn’t get my package, but if it has arrived I will get it on Thursday because we have zone conference. What really made my birthday awesome was I bought a guitar (thanks Nana and Papa K.) and when I bought it I realized that I don’t remember how to play anything so I’m going to print of some stuff and start practicing.

Well Friday we just visited some members and they said Happy Birthday to me and then after we went to the church to talk with the bishop and there was a young women’s activity and they had hot dogs so I ate two of them. Then when we went home and I orderd a pizza from Papa Johns and ate the whole entire thing. Then Saturday morning I went to do a couple of baptismal interviews for the elders in my district (my first baptismal interviews and let me just tell you that it was awesome and I hope to stay DL or ZL the rest of my mission so I can do baptismal interviews because it was way cool). Anyway, the mother cooked us a really big breakfast. Then in the afternoon there was a garage sale in our ward and there was also food so I ate more pizza. Then at night a family had invited us to come over for dinner for my birthday so I ate a bunch of chicken and rice. Then Sunday we ate lunch with a member family. In the afternoon we made pupusas with a member family and I ate a few of those. Then at night, Arturo invited us over for dinner and cake and ice cream because he was gone on friday and missed my birthday, but he bought me a cake. So right now I have about a weeks worth of food sitting in my stomach and I don’t think I’ve ever been so full in my entire life. But it was a fun birthday!

So this week has been pretty good and we are probably going to have a baptism this week. Pablo is doing super good and wants to get baptized, but he wants to make sure about it so he is going to be praying and asking if he should do it this week, but I think he is ready. Also this week we put 5 baptismal goals with a family that we have been teaching for awhile. They are Jose and Mauren (husband and wife) Abby, Jose David, Cheralin (siblings of Mauren). They have been taught all the lessons and they all want to get baptized so we are pretty excited about that. For the month of November we have a baptismal goal of 7 and I really hope we make it because the goal for my district is 9 and the goal for the zone is 19. So I have about half of the goal for the zone riding on my shoulders so I’m kind of nervous, but I have faith that we can do it.

Also next week is changes and I am pretty sure that I will be receiving a new companion because President wants missionaries in both Bri Bri and Pavas. Also we are moving into a new apartment this week that is big enough for 4 missionaries and so that will be really cool.

Well I hope you all have an awesome week and I love you all very much!Love Elder Smith

Recent Photos!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Dear Everyone,

Hey I’m glad you all had a good week! So basically I can see the rest of this year going by super fast. First this week is my birthday and in a few more days I will no longer be considered a teenager, but I still am and probably will be one for the rest of my life. Ha ha! So after this week, we enter November and on the 10^th, we have changes and I am pretty sure that I will be getting a new companion and that will be nice. Then I hit a year and everything will start to go downhill, well at least the time will. Then we are going to be in the holiday season and boy am I not excited to spend it in a tropical country and I’m glad that this will be the first and the last Christmas that I spend outside of the United States. 

So this week was pretty good—nothing too exciting happened so this will probably be a short letter. We set a baptismal goal with Pablo for the 6th of November and I am really excited about that. Other than that we are working with a few investigators that we currently have. Our main focus is finding new people to teach, especially families. We are working with members and getting referrals from them because in the mission we have seen that referrals are more likely to get baptized and then stay active in the church because they have a source of support that doesn’t come from only the missionaries, but also from their friends. Also something that President Galvez is really big on is finding a family everyday. So that is something that we are working on trying to do better at in our tracking.

Tomorrow we are having interviews with President Galvez and hopefully my package has arrived because if it has then I will be at the mission home to pick it up. All the district leaders are assigned to give a little lesson about some new things that the mission is trying to implement. I have been assigned to talk about, “How investigators can receive revelation by reading the Book of Mormon.” So I was studying a little bit this morning about some of the things that I could talk about. When we teach the Book of Mormon to an investigator, I like to share parts of both the introduction and ending which is something very important. It invites everyone to read the Book of Mormon, then to meditate on the message and then pray and ask God if it is true. Those people that do this con un corazón sincero con verdadera intención, teniendo fe en Cristo, él os manifestará la verdad de ellas por el poder del Espíritu Santo. By that same witness they receive from the Holy Ghost they will also know that Christ is the Savior amd that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that this is the true church of Christ. So these are just a few things that I will talk about during tomorrow’s meeting.

So I hope you all have a wonderful week and the next time I write you I´ll be Twentyteen. Ha ha! Love Elder Smith

Reached 11 Month Marker

Dear Family and Friends and others who may read this,

Yay! I cant belive how fast 11 months go by. When I think about it, they have really gone by super fast and everthing is a big blur. I looked at the clock at 10:00 this morning and I thought to myself that 11 months ago from this exact moment I was in Provo getting ready to enter the MTC. The past 11 months have gone by so fast and I´m told that after you hit the year mark it will go even faster which is kinda scary cuase I´m not ready to go back home. Still got a lot of things that I want to do and luckily I´ve got a year to do it. I also cant believe its been a year since I went through the temple, feels like it was yesterday.

So this week was really good because we had the baptisms of Scarlth and Cristopher! It was really awesome, but a little stressfull to plan the baptism. The responsibilities of being senior companion and district leader are a little more stressfull than I thought they would be. The baptism was very good though and a lot of people showed up, which was a good thing. So thats basically all the big stuff that happend this week.

Ha ha on Wednesday we had a meeting with the ZL´s and when we were coming home my companion sat behind me in the bus. Well when we got to our stop I got off the bus and walked to the sidewalk. Well when I turned around I saw the bus leaving, but guess who was no where in sight, my comp! Haha it was an awkward expirience, cuase I haven´t been on my own for 11 months. I wasnt too worried though cause I figured my comp. had fallen asleep on the bus and didnt see me get up. So I walked to the house to wait for him and if he didnt show up in 30 min. I was going to call Pres. Luckily he showed up like 10 min. later and it felt wierd being alone for that 10 min. I´m sure its going to be super wierd being alone after the mission and I´m sure that I´ll be really weird. So that was my exciting expirience that happend this week.

So last week I went on divisions with one of the AP´s, just for the day. His name is Elder Centeno and he is from Panama. I told him that I have a cousing that served a mission in Panama and lives there now. He kinda freaked out a little cuase there was an Elder Smith who served in his ward and was good friends with his family. He is pretty sure that it is Adam so if you guys want to ask him if remembers the Centeno Family.

Also there is a member in my ward, Bishop Jimenez, he was one of the first missionaries in Costa Rica and he wrote  the history of the Costa Rican mission, but he has no money to publish it. I told him about Brother Mortensen and how he did the same thing with The Dominican Republic. Bishop Jimenez asked me if I could get a copy of the book cause he would love to read it. So maybe you could send a couple copies of it. Bishop Jimenez speaks english, but he said he would like it in Spanish if there are copies in Spanish. So tell me next week if you can send it.  So I hope you all have an awesome week! Love Elder Smith P.S. Only 11 days till my birthday and then only 3 more weeks till I hit a year in the mission. Yay!!!

Two Baptisms!

Dear Everyone, Sorry, but this is going to be a short letter -- Next week I´ll have more time to write. This week has been pretty good! We are going to have  2 baptisms this week, Scarlet and Christofer. It's going to really cool! This past week I got to use my new district leader responsibilities and went on divisions. I went to meet the investigators in the Hatillos area. They are going to have one baptism this month and it's a young girl whose parents are less active, but are now being reactivated.

My new companion is okay. He likes to talk about himself and his home, El Salvador. It's possible that I'll have only one change with him because the AP´s called my this morning and told me about some future plans in my district which will be exciting. So other than that, not much else has happened. Sorry this is really short but I don't have much time today. Next week will be a lot longer and I should have pictures to share from the baptism. Love, Elder Smith

Senior Companion and District Leader

Dear Everyone,

So I hope you all had a good week and hope you all loved General Conference. It was very good and went by too fast. It´s funny that before the mission I could barely watch a full session and in the mission I feel like they go by too fast. Oh well only 6 more months until the next one. Just think I only have 2 more General Conferences to go in the mission, 2 more times to call home and one more Christmas to miss. It´s crazy how fast time is flying by down here, but I like it.

So last week Elder King had changes. It was sad, because he is the coolest, funniest missionary in Costa Rica and I think it was one of the best 6 weeks of my entire life. I'm going to miss him a lot. Well that being said, my new companion is Elder Menendez. He is from El Salvador and has 8 months in the mission. Finally I have a companion who is younger than me and finally I am senior companion. Also I am now District Leader YAY!!! Finally I have some responsability in the mission and actually I love it.

This week was really awesome! On Friday I did divisions with Elder Sangster from my MTC group. He is now my Zone Leader. It was really fun to work with him for a day and even cooler to see how much we have both progresed as missionaries since the MTC. We visited a lady we are teaching named Scarlet. She has 4 kids and no job. They are a cool family and Elder Sangster and I put a baptismal goal with them for the 23rd of October. Also today we bought some food for them that we are going to take over tomorrow. They have also come to church the past two weeks so they are progressing nicely.

Saturday and Sunday were really awesome because it was general conference. I didn't have one favorite talk because I liked pretty much liked all of them. I'm going to download them all so that I can listen to them for the next 6 months. Another reason why conference was so cool is because I got to watch it in English with a bunch of cool missionaries. Elder Sirrine is in my zone again and so we got to watch conference together again and then during one of the breaks we went to KFC and got the Kentucky double, that is our conference tradition.

So other than that not much happened because Elder King spent the first of last week saying good-bye to the people here and then on Wednesday I got my new companion. Oh, there is an Elder Stevens who just came in this change. He came up to me and asked if I was from Centerville and apparantly I played baseball with him and Brandon Bednar. I didn't recognize him at first but then I remembered. So that was really cool! I kind of feel bad for the new missionaries in my zone cuase they don't understand any spanish and I can totally remember when I was like that. Now I have no problems with understanding or speaking the language. Ocasionally I´ll hear a word that I don't understand, but I just look it up and then I understand it.

Well this week is going to be very busy, because tomorrow and Wednesday I have a meeting with President Galvez along with all the other DL´s and trainers. Also I have to go to the other area in my district to get to know their investigators that have a baptismal goal.

I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

Love Elder Smith

P.S. Mom I´ll be on the lookout for the package. I don't know how long it will take to get here, but Elder Wittier, from my MTC district, is one of the secrataries and so I´ll just call him and ask if any packages have come for me and then I´ll go to the office and pick it up. Also I still don't know where I want to go to college. I´ve got friends going to both BYU and U of U and I still have no idea what I want to study. I still think that it would be fun to play lacrosse and I have been working out every day so that I can come home and really start working out to get in great shape. So still don't know yet and I'm glad I still have a year to think about it.

Love Ya´ll!! Oh ya this week I have offically started listening to Christmas music!

Stake President Saves a Life

Elder King, Bishop, Flory, and Elder Smith, September 2010

Dear Everyone,

Hope you all had a good week. Thank you for the pictures, it´s really cool to see how everyone has grown. You all still have a year before the "ipod for a 6 pack game" ends. When Spencer got of the plane at the Jamboree was Julia crying? Haha Can't wait to see how much you cry once I get of the plane. Also Mom, it will be easier to send a package the way you have done it in the past because I´m actually pretty close to the mission office so I can go pick it up on a P-day. Also send it through the US postal service because my comp. is having touble getting his package that was sent through fedex.

So this week was really awesome because we had the baptism of Flory. Yay!!! It was super cool and she is such a cool person. Another thing that was cool was a family friend of Pablo, who is Flory´s husband, came. They assist a Christian church and are not very happy with some of the things that are going on. Well Pablo talked with them a little bit about the church and they really love how we are very focused on the families. At the baptism during the talks there was some emphasis on the family and also when a couple people shared their testimonies, they talked about famlies. So we are probably going to start teaching them and we will see what happens. 

So yesterday in church was crazy. Well the stake presidency came today and the Stake President Esperanza was going to talk. Well, after the sacrament an Hermano got up and gave a talk. Right in the middle of his talk he closed his eyes and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to stop." Then he paused for a couple seconds and then he said, "I need to stop cause my pressure just went down." Then he paused again and was about to fall over, but President Ezperansa caught him. Well all the people on the stand got up and helped him to the ground. Then a couple members got up and closed the curtains that are in the front, but before they closed all the way we heard a big thud and Elder King saw Pres. punch the guy right in the chest. Then a couple min. later they took him to the car and drove him to the hospital. Well what had happened was that the Hermano´s heart had stopped and President Ezperansa is a really famous cardiologist here in Costa Rica. Well when he punched him in the chest that started his heart back up and if he had not been there, than the Hermano would have died because nobody else would have known what to do. So it was a miracle that the Stake President was there and one of the members got up and said that President Ezperansa didn't come here to give a talk, he came to save a life. Well the Heramno is alright now so that's good.

Well other than that not much has happened this week. Tonight we find out who has changes and I think my companion is going to have changes which won't be great. This has definitely been the best 6 weeks of the mission. Also I'm super excited for General Conference this weekend. Yay!!! Three day vacation!! Haha! Have an awesome week!!!! Love Elder Smith

Celebrating 10 Years in the Field!

Happy Birthday Elder King!

Dear Everyone, Hope you all had a good week. This week I hit 10 months in the mission. Yay! In two more months I will have a year and then its only downhill from there. I honestly never thought that I would have a year in the mission, but time is flying by super fast. There is only a week and a half left in this change. I think Elder King is going to have changes which will be sad because he is definitely the coolest missionary in Costa Rica and he has been my favorite companion. I don't think there has been a day where we haven't laughed our heads off.

So this week, not much has happened. On Tuesday and Wednesday I did divisions with an Elder named Rodriguez. He  came to our area while my comp. was in Hatillos with Elder Malen. It was a long two days because this Elder Rodriguez is a little different and I basically had to teach the whole time during the lessons we had for those days. I was very excited when Elder King came back.

So Thursday was Elder King's 21st birthday. We celebrated by buying food and we also bought these chocolate bunt cakes that are soooooo good. One of the members also made him a cake and we had a little party at their house. Elder King also hit 21 months in the mission the next day. That's pretty crazy because I remember meeting him my first day in Costa Rica. It's crazy how fast time flies.

This past Saturday we had the wedding of Pablo and Flory. They were going to do it next Saturday, but they suprised us and decided to get married this week. They had a small wedding with a few family and friends, but it was really awesome and they even had a buffet style meal afterwards. It was really fun! Flory is going to baptized on Saturday and I'm really excited about that . . .We are still working with German and he is progressing. He is working on quiting smoking and is reading the Book of Mormon. We also started teaching his mom which is really good. The only problem is that German works at McDonalds and he has to work on Sundays a lot. He is looking for a new job--if he finds one, that will be good.

Well I hope you all have an amazing week. One more week and we will be in October--my second favorite month of the year. Love Elder Smith

Never Chug a Gallon of Milk on an Empty Stomach

Dear Everyone,

Hey I hope you all had an awesome week. Thank you very much for all the emails--I hope I got all of them. So this week has been pretty good. We´ve been trying to find new people to teach every day which means knocking door. But it's not so bad especially when you have a super awesome companion. Yes, we are having tons of fun together and I love every day. When we are walking, we joke and laugh a lot. On Saturday which was Patriot Day, can't believe its been 9 years since 9/11, we spent like 4 hours talking about how great America is and all the things that are there that aren´t here. haha! Also since it was a holiday we bought pizza, which is super expensive here.

We currently have three new baptismal goals with investigators. The first is with German and he is super awesome. He is reading the Book of Mormon and he really wants to change his life around. His mother told us about how he is a lot kinder now. We also set a goal with Mariano, who is the boyfriend of a member. He is a little timid and it's hard to get him to pray at the end of lesson, but he´s reading and saying his personal prayers. Then we have Flory, who is the girlfriend of a member. They are getting married on the 25th and then she is going to be baptized on the 26th.

Also we got a reference from a recent convert. His name is Julian we had a really awesome lesson with him yesterday. So today I hit 300 days in the mission. Only 65 till I hit the year mark. This has been the fastest year of my entire life and from what everyone tells me, the second year goes by even faster. Tengo que aprovechar el tiempo entonces.

I've been working out every day with Elder King. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays we do weights. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday we go running and then we do the p90x ab ripper--try it 'cause its hard. We have gotten to the point where we can to all the moves--we just have to take breaks in between.

Today we had a fun P-day activity. We went with a couple of other Elders from my district to the park. Before we went, we went to a store and each bought a gallon of milk. Yep, that's right--we did the "gallon challenge" and let's just say that a lot of people threw up. Haha it was so funny. I started drinking really fast and I was the first to puke. Haha it was funny and right now I smell a little bit like milk. Well I hope you all have a good week and I love you all! Elder Smith

Short but Sweet

Visit to the Temple -- Elder Smith and King

Dear Everyone,

Hope you all had an awesome week! Today isnt P-day because we are going to the temple on Wednesday. So  I will probably write you again on Wednesday if we have time. We are going to the temple at 11 a.m. and then we are going to play soccer for a bit. This week was really good. We had the baptism of Michael and it was super awesome. He is 18 years old and after he got baptized he stood up and bore his testimony and said he is  excited to move forward so that he can prepare to leave on the mission  in a year. It was super cool. So I love you all and hope everything is giong good. Love Elder Smith

A Wedding and Baptismal Service