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

I Think This Is The Longest Letter So Far!

Hello everyone!
Hi I hope you all had a great week. That's awesome news to hear where everyone is getting called to serve -- tell Travis congrats!
Tuesday we went on splits with the assistants to the President. Elder Richerdson came to San Rafael with Elder Boon,one of our zone leaders, plus Elder Lee (my district leader) and his comp, Elder Amador. We went on spits for a few hours and I went with Elder Boon and Elder Amador and we just contacted for a couple hours because the citas we had fell through. Afterwards Elder Richerdson, Elder Lee, Elder Benitez (my comp.), and I went to a cita we had with Adrian and Cynthia. Cynthia is still having doubts about getting baptized, she is Catholic and I think her mother has been trying to convice her to not join the church. So we talked about the importance of prayer and praying to know that chruch is true. At the beginning of the lesson I had the strongest impression to bear testimony of Joseph Smith, and so when it was my turn I asked Adrian and Cynthia if they remembered the first time that we taught them. We taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel and about Joseph Smith and I asked them if they believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. They both said they did and then I testified that basically if Joseph Smith wasn't a prophet than the book they were holding in their hands,The Book of Mormon is not true and The Church of Jesus Christ isn't true and we as missionaries are just wasting 2 years in Costa Rica. But if Joseph Smith was a prophet than the Book of Mormon is the Word of God and The Church of Jesus Christ is the only true church on the earth. Then I re-commited them to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. It was pretty awesome and I almost started crying as I was speaking.
Thursday was an interesting day. While we were doing our comp. study Elder Lee called and talked to Elder Benitez about interviews with the President for Friday. After he finished talking to Elder Lee, Elder Benitez thought it would be funny to play a little joke. He told me that Elder Lee had said that something had happened in my family and they were going to call me in the night to confirm what happened. Well when he said this I started to freak out. I honestly thought that someone had died in our family and for some reason I thought that person was Nick (sorry but he is the only one who is accident prone) and for the rest of the morning I could not concentrate at all, I was freaking out big time. I honestly thought about calling home. So for the rest of the morning I was freaking out and then we went to lunch at our Branch President's house. I was super depressed and super worried and its probably the worst I've ever felt in my whole entire life. So after I finish eating, I excused myself and went into the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom, I felt awful and so I decided to say a little pray to help me calm down. I prayed to know that my family was okay, especially Nick, and after I prayed, a feeling of peace instantly settled over me and I knew that everthing was okay back at home. The rest of the day I was able to focus and I had another interesting experience.
In the afternoon we had a lesson with a contact and after the lesson we only had one hour before our cita with Adrian and Cynthia. So we had two options, knock doors for an hour or go to another cita that we had with Olga and her two daughters--we had taught them the first lesson last week. The thing was Olga lives like 20 minutes away from Adrian on the mountain. So we would only have about 10 minutes to teach a lesson. I decided that we should pray to know what to do. So right there in the street I prayed and asked Heavenly Father how we should spend our free time--knocking doors or go visit Olga's family. After I prayed I knew that we should visit Olga. So we went all the way to her house and had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon. They are Evangelican and had lots of questions about the gospel. We showed them scriptures in the Bible and had a really good lesson. Also one of her daughters, Pamela who is 13, wrote me a love note and gave me her phone number. Haha! I translated it into English so I could tell you guys what it said, but I forgot it so you will have to wait till next week. Haha! It was very funny! When we got back to the house I found out that Elder Benitez was joking earlier--boy was I relieved but not thrilled about his choice of a joke.
Well, on Friday we had interviews with President Galvez, but this time, President and Sister Galvez came to our houses to do the interviews. My interview went very well and President Galvez is awesome. He and his wife really care about us and are always making sure that our health is good and that we have everything we need. Also President commented on how my Spanish is very good. So we also had to move our cita with Adrian and Cynthia from Thursday to Friday because of our lesson with Olga. We taught them the Word of Wisdom and it was a good lesson. Adrian is ready to be baptized. He needs to do is stop drinking coffee and come to church. He doesn't have to big of a problem with coffee--he drinks 1 cup a day in the afternoon. Suprisingly, Cynthia said she will try to stop drinking too. This is interesting because she says she still doesn't want to get baptized but she is commiting to do all the things we are asking them to do. Also, she reads the Bood of Mormon more than Adrian does. So I'm fairly confident that there are some issues with her mother and that is why she is hesitant to got baptized.
So yah, other than that not much else happened this week. We just worked hard all day knocking doors and spreading the message. Now that my Spanish is getting better I don't mind knocking doors too much but it's really not an effective way to get investigators. It's much more effective to work with the members! So I hope you all have a safe, fun week! I love you all and please stay safe!!!! (Especially Nick) Love, Elder Anthony Smith

Preaching in the Rain

Hello Everyone!
So it’s official, I have been 5 months in the mission! That’s not a lot but it’s a lot better than having 1 month in the mission. Time flies by so fast, just 5 short months ago the only Spanish I knew was hola and uno, dos, tres! Now I can say a lot more—Hurray! Really, the Spanish is getting better and I can understand pretty much what everyone says. I just need to keep memorizing words so I can master the language. So I am out of the twenties and into the teens. My next goal is to make it to 12!!
This week has been pretty good. It rained almost everyday and I’m so grateful to Elder Zavala for giving his umbrella to me before he went home. Not that I need it because if it rains hard enough even with an umbrella my whole body gets soaked. It’s a good thing I love the rain and it’s awesome ‘cause when it rains then it’s not hot.
This week we set a baptismal date for Adrian, Cynthia, and Valedia Rodrieguz. They are an awesome, humble family that we have been teaching. We set the date for the 15 of May. Adrian is totally ready to be baptized. He just has problems with his work and he hasn’t been able to come to church. Cynthia is really awesome but is still working to know whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. She loves reading it and loves the principles—she just needs to keep praying to know that it is true.
We are teaching another really awesome family of six that I’ve told you about—Adrul and Jansie (parents) Adrul Jr., ?daughter (don’t remember her name), Gregory, and Kenneth. They are really awesome and the oldest son Adrian who is 15 years old (Spencer’s age) loves the Book of Mormon. He reads more than what we assign him. It has been challenging setting up appointments with them because the Dad and son work every day. Here in San Rafael everybody works, and I mean everyone.
On Saturday we knocked doors for 4 straight hours and hardly anyone was home. It makes for long hours, but I’m cool with knocking doors all day because the Spanish is getting better. So yah, I don’t know what else to write—not very much different happened this week. We just spent lots of time knocking doors and trying to spread the message.
It’s cool though, I’m not even worried about my comp anymore. I finally bought some weights so whenever I get frustrated I just work out. I will try to write more detailed letters from now on—I just need to keep some notes of what happened cause when you do the same thing every day, it all blends together.
If you could take some pictures of the house outside and inside, that would be cool. Members are always asking me what my house looks like, especially the kids. It’s so fun to talkiong with the little kids in Spanish. They think that in America all we do is eat fast food and every day is a party. Ha Ha!
I hope you all have a fantastic week! Nick—sorry to hear about the soccer problems; Spencer—good job on scoring goals. Keep practicing so that when I get home you’re better than me (that should be easy to do—all you need to do is get in shape so you can run up and down the field more than 3 times without needing a rest); Julia—I hope that I can see you when you come to Costa Rica; Landon—you only have to make it a month and a half before summer vacation. Yah, I love summer vacation and I will look forward to a vacation in 19 months. HaHa! Mom and Dad—Thanks for everything! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! Elder Anthony Kent Kohkonen Smith

Sick for a Day

We rent a room out of this home

Dear Everyone
Hello guess who had changes today. Not Me! Thank you for all your letters and your love. To answer some of your questions about stuff. First, yes I can print letters and stuff. Every week I print off your letters and I am making a scapbook. I figure it will be easier if I do it one week at a time rather than wait until the end and do it all. Also I've downloaded all of my favorite talks from confrence but thank you for sending the talk by Elder Holland--it's my favorite. So this week has been pretty good. Oh and thanks for the photos. I will spend the next couple of weeks downloading them so I can put them on my MP3 player. On Monday night, our dueña fed us sardines and I got sick. We live in a house with a lady and rent the upstairs room and I have a big bed. She cooks breakfast and dinner and I will eat pretty much everything, like last night I ate cow stomach and it wasn't as bad as everyone said it was going to be. It's like eating a thick piece of fat. Anyhow, so around 2:00 in the morning on Tuesday I woke up and went to the bathroom sick. I pretty much spent the rest of the night in the bathroom and for the rest of the day I just slept. So I don't know whether to call it the best day of the mission or the worst. But everything is good now and I am 7 pounds closer to my weight loss goal.

So this week was spent just like any other week, knocking doors and trying to find new investigators. We are working with two amazing familes that I've mentioned. Adrian and Cynthia are supper cool and super humble and have accepted everything we have taught them. This week we are going to invite them to be baptized. The only challenge right now is that they need to come to church with us. Adrian has had to work the past several Sundays and Cynthia doesn’t want to go unless the whole family goes. The other family we are working with is Adrul and Jansie. They have 4 kids and are a super awesome family. Jansie really wants the gospel in her family and especially for her 15 year old son. So we are working with theses two amazing families and since I got at least 6 more weeks here we will see what happens.

So I'd like to share a spiritual experience will you all. Monday morning of last week I woke up with some thoughts in my head that I didn’t want to have. These thoughts remained with me for most of the morning and I couldn’t get rid of them. Then we went to Heredia for lunch. (Heredia is the capital of San Rafael). We were on the bus and these thoughts were driving me crazy. Then I remembered that if you have bad thoughts, you can sing a hymn to get rid of them. Instantley the song, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" popped into my head and instantly the thoughts left and didn’t come back. I kept this song in my head for the rest of the day. So yah, this week has been pretty good and I'm excited to work this week. I love you all.
Love Elder Smith
P.S. Super awesome to here about Brian Naylor's mission call. Tell him good luck for me.

General Conference Weekend!

Dear Everyone!! First I want to say I LOVE GERERAL CONFERENCE!!!!! It was way awesome and at the end I was like, "Wait I want more". It's the first time in my life that I've actually wanted to sit and watch conference all day long. All the sessions were amazing and Elder Holland did it again and delivered an amazing talk and he chopped some head too (that's a phrase we use in the mission). Also we brought one of our investigators, Adrian, to the Saturday afternoon session. He is really awesome. We are teaching him and his wife and they are progressing along nicely. Also we are teaching another really awesome family. Adrul and Jansie and their 4 kids. They are really really awesome and one of their kids looks like Opie from The Andy Griffeth Show.
So this week was Semana Santa or Holy Week in English and so the whole Catholic religion went crazy with all their parades and stuff. I saw a little news clip that talked about what other countries are doing for Semana Santa. There were these parades and guys were walking down the street whipping themselves. I remember watching the Divinci Code with that one guy who was whipping himself. I thought that was just Hollywood going over the top again--I didn't think that people actually did that kind of stuff. (Can you say Apostasy)
So this weekend was really awesome. On Friday, we went to a country club with my zone and another zone and we played soccer and basketball all day. It was tons of fun and I got really sunburnt. Then on Saturday and Sunday, I watched and loved general conference. I am actually downloading my favorite talks right now so I can listen to them over and over and over again. I can't believe we have to wait another six months to have conference again.
Honestly, I've found that missionary work is not that hard. Its easy to get up in the morning and do studying and then share the gospel all day. Sometimes I get tired but it's never too bad. I'm not even worried about the language anymore 'cause I'm learning more and more everyday and I can understand a whole lot better.
I don't really have a lot to write about for this week because it was Holy Week and all the people were vacationing. Its like spring break for them. So hopefully lots of good stuff will happen this week. I love you all and hope that you have and awesome week! Love Elder Smith

Zone Activity Day

First Baptism!

My second Companion, Elder Benitez (from El Salvador), the Perez family, and Me!

Before Baptismal Service: 10 yr old Maria Perez, with her family and Elder Smith

Hello Everyone

GUESS WHO HAD A BAPTISM, GUESS WHO HAD A BAPTISM, GUESS WHO HAD A BAPTISM, ON SATURDAY!!! THIS WEEK IS GONNA ROCK, THIS WEEK IS GONNA ROCK, THIS WEEK IS GONNA ROCK, IM SO EXCITED!
So I had a baptism on Saturday. It was fetching awesome. It was the baptism of Maria Daniela Madrigal Perez. She is a 10 year old member of the church. Her parents have been members for 10 years and she got baptized when she was 8 but her membership records got lost somehow so we had to redo the baptism. It was still way cool and it is the first baptism that I performed as a missionary. Hurray!! This coming weekend is going to fetching rock. We don't have p-day today we just get to email because its Holy Week this week. So Friday is our p-day and we are having a zone activity. We are going to a country club and hanging out all day and playing sports and eating food. Hurray. On Saturday and Sunday, we get to go to our Stake Center in Alejula to watch all the sessions of General Conference. Its going to rock 'cause I can watch it in English. So basically I have a 4 day vacation this week and it's totally going to rock.
I got grandma and grandpas package this week cause we had zone conference. Thank you very much for the candy. Haha! The chocholate covered easter eggs and peanut butter M&Ms were my favorite. So for the rest of my letter I want to comment on your letters of last week. First Mom. honestly I dont know how much shirts and weights are gonna cost probably a bunch so if ya just wanna drop a big sum of money in there that would be great. Also, thank you for all the photos I put them on my MP3 player so I can look at them. Please upload a lot more inculding the ones that we took the day before I left.
*Nick - Glad to hear that you're a ladies man! I'd go for . . . cause she is way hot!!! Also glad to hear about soccer and jr. jazz--keep having fun. Have fun going to BYU.
*Spencer - Keep up the good work in lacrosse, just keep working on getting in shape and becoming a better player and by the time your a seinor you will be an All American. Also, I will be home by then. Are you guys going to any more tournoments?
*Julia - I LOVE A Walk To Remember (I remember crying at the end). I went on divisions with Elder Lee this week (It was an overnighter divisions at my house so that rocked) and we were talking about chick flicks and A Walk to Remember. Haha! We were singing that one song from the movie. Good job in soccer and church basketball. Thats cool that you took first place!!! Hopefully when you come to Costa Rica I will be able to be in a place that's close to where you are so I can vist you (shhhh don't tell anyone) Send me an itinerary.
*Landon - Your pinewood derby car looks way cool and I heard that it did really good. Keep having fun in school--you only got 2 months left till summer.
*Dad - Your family history booth looked way cool!
Well I love you all and hope you have an awesome week. Love Elder Smith

Four Month Mark

Hello Everyone, This week has gone by suprisingly fast. This week we had to drop a bunch of investigators cause they weren't progressing. It too bad because we get a ton of new investigators but they only stick around for maybe one or two lessons and then their done. So the hardest thing is making them commit. Öh well. Here's what I did this past week:
Monday we went to the mall and I realized that there are only 3 things that I really want to buy. Soccer Jerseys for the two teams here, Saprissa and Liga and dumbells so if you want to put money in my bank account I can buy those things. Other than that I don't really want to buy any soveniers. The only thing that I have been buying are ties. They got some cool ties in costa rica and they are super cheap like $2 a tie.
Tuesday we had district meeting. The Elders in my district are way cool. Also, every Tuesday we have lunch with the branch president, President Sanchez and his family. They are pretty cool.
Wednesday was St. Patricks day and Grandma Smiths Birthday and we spent most of the day working with less actives.
Thursday we knocked doors all day.
Friday we found an awesome family while knocking doors. Adrian and Cynthina. They are super humble, they don't attend any church and they really liked our lesson. We are going back this week for lesson 2 and hopefully they stick with us.
Saturday our district went to Santo Domingo to help the sister missionaries. I went with Elder Lee and we worked for a couple hours.
Sunday I went to church and after church we had an open house kind of a thing. Some familes were assigned to teach different parts of the plan of salvation but a couple families didn't show up so my comp and I had to teach. I taught about the spirit world and my comp did the rest. After that meeting, we ate dinner with a member family who are from Arizona. They are super cool!
Thanks for putting up the pictures everyone looks really good. I love you all and can't wait to see you in 20 months. Yes this past week I hit 4 months. Hurray!!!! Love Elder Smith

First week in San Rafeal

Hello Everyone! To start, I have a new email address. The Church updated the system and now the emails are run through Gmail. Also, that's way cool that Riley got his mission call and also the others from our stake. Keep telling me where people go. Haha, it's fun to see the dates when people leave because when they are about to start their mission, I will have been on the mission for 6, 7, or 8 months. So this week has been really long. This week I got a cold, had bed bugs and got lots of bites on my arms and legs, and I saw my first "Brown Bottle" Haha! (Don't google image that.)
So last Monday and Tuesday, not much happened that's worth writing about. Wednesday was a really good day. We had interviews with President Galvez. The zone met in a chapel for the interviews and training. The zone is pretty much the same as last change but there are a few new people. I have a new district leader, Elder Lee. He was a AP when I got here and is now my District leader and a trainer. He is way cool. Also Elder Sorensen is in my district. He played football for BYU and was in the same MTC district as Michael Evans who is in New York. He is way cool too. Also Elder King is still in my Zone. I don't know if I've mentioned him before but he is probably the funniest person I have ever met. I laugh at everything that comes out of his mouth. We also have Sister Missionaries in our zone now. No me gusta las hermanas. Haha lo siento mom.
Thursday was a good day too. We got a lot of refrences from the branch presidents wife and also had a lesson with one of the families we are teaching. The focus of the Costa Rica mission is baptizing familes so we contact every family that we see and right now we have about 4 familes that we are teaching. I will write more about them next week. Friday I didn't write in my journal 'cause I was shaving my arms and legs so I forgot what happened. Haha! Everyday is pretty much the same so if I don't write down what happened, then I forget.
Saturday was an awesome day. I went on divisions with Elder Lee in the morning so we could go to Santo Domingo and get keys for our chuch in San Rafael. Elder Lee and his comp. have a baptism and their church is being renovated so they had to use ours. It was nice to get a few hours to talk to a gringo. Then in the afternoon Elder Williams, who is one of our zone leaders and Elder Rojas, one of the APs came, to Santo Rafael to go on divisions with us and see how the area is doing. I went with Elder Willams who is from Nevada and we contacted people for a few hours. Then we went to the baptism of Natalia. It was way freaking awesome. She is about 23 years old and her boyfriend flew in from the States to do the baptism. Also he played an arrangement of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" on the piano and it was way awesome. It was an awesome service!
Sunday I went to church and we visited some less active members. Today, Monday, I finally got to eat at Wendys. Its been a long 4 months and eating that Biggie Sized Baconator with fries, a ginger ale and a frosty was pretty much one of the most memorable moments of my life and also I realize why I was so fat! I Love you all, stay safe and send pictures of what you have been doing! Love Elder Smith!P.S. Nick, Spencer, Julia and Landon need to write me or I won't write home next week. Haha! Just Kidding!

Transferred to San Rafael

With Eveling Salazar and Javier Valverde -- Awesome Members of Santo Domingo!

Good-bye to Hermano Douglas -- The Coolest Ward Mission Leader in Santo Domingo!

Hello Everyone! This week has been a really good learning experience for me. This week I've started to learn that the next 20 months are going to be about "not what I want but what the Lord wants". There have been a lot of changes this week. This week I had to leave my first area Santo Domingo and go to San Rafael which is about 20 minutes away. When I first heard this I was sad and the first couple of days this week were really rough. I didn't want to leave because the members in Santo Domingo have been super awesome and I loved them a ton. Also I got a new companion--let's just say that I miss Elder Zavala. Elder Benitez is great but a lot more serious. Haha!
So about the new area, San Rafael is a pretty big city and half of it is in the mountains. Its super windy and it gets pretty cold at night which is good because I hate the heat. We live with a lady who rents out her upstairs bedroom and its really awesome cause I have a full sized bed and lots of pillows just like at home. San Rafael has had missionaries in the past but they keep getting pulled out. There haven't been full time missionaries here for about 2 years so the members here are super excited to have missionaries again. The members I've met so far are really awesome and one family is from America and have been living here for about 3 years. Luckily the members here are super chill and really funny.
Also there are a ton of less active members here in San Rafael. This is a big problem in Costa Rica and I think its because the Catholic traditions are so ingrained into the people from childhood that members have a hard time breaking away from their old traditions. A lot of the members get baptized for the wrong reasons and don't stay active in the church very long. This is part of the reason why I think there haven't been missionaries here for so long. We have spent the whole week knocking doors, which by the way is one of my least favorite things to do, and its hard to get into houses cause everyone responds with, "I'm Catholic" and when we tell them that we aren't here to take any of their beliefs from them, we just want to strengthen their faith and testimonies in Christ, they just respond again with "I'm Catholic." So it gets pretty frustrating sometimes. That being said we have had some success and we are going to spend this week working with the investigators we have.
So yeah, at the beginning of the week I was a wreck but now I'm doing a lot better thanks to the scriptures and the fact that my Spanish is getting better. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week! Love Elder Smith.

Favorites of Inbioparque (Petting Zoo) Adventure

Look--I caught an Iguana!

I EAT YOU FOR BREAKFAST!

The goats really took to Elder Valverde

Elder Zavala -- Butterfly man!

Me with Billy Goat Gruff!

March 1: Farewell and Transfer

Elder Valverde -- trying to smuggle out some of my goods!
Farewell to Elder Zavala!

Hello Everyone!!
This past week has flown by so fast that if feels like I just wrote you a couple days ago! This has been an awesome week, but also a very sad week. It was my last week with Elder Zavala. He was an awesome companion, trainer and friend and I am going to miss him very much. That being said my new companion is Elder Benitez. He is from El Salvador and has 19 months in the mission. For the last 6 months he has been one of the secretaries for President Galvez. Also another sad thing that is going to happen this week is my area is getting spit into two. There is going to be Santo Domingo and San Rafeal. I have been transfered to San Rafeal. Its fetching sad cause I love Santo Domingo. The members here are super super super awesome and I have had a blast working with them especially the Ward Mission Leader Hermano Douglas. I'm going to miss him a ton!
This week we worked a ton with Elder Javier Valverde--He is a missionary who returned home early from health problems. He knows a lot of people here and so we had a lot of references.
How about you wait until next year to send me a calender. I have marked of everyday Ive been here for 3 and a half months. Which reminds me, yesterday I hit 100 days in the mission. Now only about 630 to go. Sorry this email isn't very long. I'll try to write more in the future. Also I am uploading more pictures on google web album for you to look at--I hope you all have an awesome week! I love you all! Love Elder Smith

Three Month Mark!

Hello Everyone! This week has flown by super super fast! It has been really windy and has rained a little bit. The rain here is more like a mist kinda like in the vegetable section of the grocery store. This is also my last week with Elder Zavala. I´m super sad because he is super tuanis and is a super awesome missionary.
Tuesday we had district meeting and then had Blitz which is where all the missionaries in a disctrict go to one area and knock doors for a few hours. This month everyone came to our area and we got about 6 refrences. Also we visited with our recent convert, Carla and her mother. Her mother is very old and is an atheist, but she is going to let us start teaching her. Then we went to the Velasque family. They are members and the mother is about to have a baby in a week or two. They are super super awesome and always feed us really good.
Wednesday we walked a ton. We walked to one end of town to an appointment and they weren't home. Then we walked to the other side of town to meet a lady who we have already taught the Restoration to and she wasn't home either. Then we walked all the way down the train tracks to visit a less active member and she had to reschedule with us. And then we took a bus to another less active family. They were all sick but they fed us cookies and chocolate milk. So we walked a ton.
Thursday I hit my 3 month mark. Hurray! We went to visit Hermano Enrique who is a member. We were visiting with him and two other ladies came to his house. I guess they come over every week and pray with him. The members here who were Catholic have a hard time not making their prayers long and showy. It's a problem that we are working on fixing. So these ladies came over and first they all said their own prayers and then Hermano Enrique prayed for like 30 minutes.

Friday my companion wrote his final report so he spent most of the afternoon doing that. Then we went to a member's house and they fed us Chicken Cordon Blue. I didn't get to eat 7 of them but it was still very good.
Saturday we taught an American lady the Restoration lesson. She is friends with our recent convert. She is from California and lived in Idaho for 10 years and was married to an LDS man but he died. She claims that she was baptized but I don't think she was because she doesn't remember anything about Joseph Smith or the Restoration. I also helped a member translate a project he is working on from Spanish to English. He is working to become an English teacher and speaks the language very well. Then we had FHE with a less active family and watched the Restoration video. After the video, we gave the mom and daughter blessings. The daughter is going to be having a baby very soon.
Sunday we got a new Bishop, Michael Bolaños. Also we are going to be working with a missionary who returned home because of health reasons. He is going to work with us everyday this week.
Monday (today) all the new missionaries went to San Jose for a visit with the President. So I got to see all the Elders from my MTC district. It was AWESOME and they are doing really well. It was super cool to hear all their stories. I weighed myself today and have lost 15 pounds in the past 5 weeks! Well I hope you all have an awesome week! I Love You All! Love Elder Smith

P.S. I recieved the package from Grandma today. Thank you! I´ve received a couple letters from Dear Elder but no hand written ones. If you email me every week that will be just fine. Also I took out about 30 bucks from the bank for emergencies. I hide all my money in Jesus The Christ. Haha! Also I bought a 4GB flash drive to backup my pictures. I'm going to try and find some more cheap ones. Or maybe you could send one in a package. Also I'm going to upload more pics on that good web album thing today.

February 15 Report

The day we arrived and met President Galvez at airport

Hello everyone! This week has been okay and it has gone by really fast. We´ve had a lot of appointments fall through this week so we´ve spent a lot of time working on reactivating the less active members.
Last Monday on P-day and we helped a Hermana(Sister) buy school supplies for her kids. I think I told you this last week but oh well.
Tuesday we had zone conference and my companion, Elder Zavala gave his final testimony. He leaves in two short weeks. That night we had Family Home Evening with Hermana Carla, the recent convert who is in that picture that you found mom. We are trying to teach the gospel to her 14 year old daughter. She unfortunately has already started doing drugs and smoking pot. Right now she isn't very receptive to our message.
Thursday we did service for an American lady named Nancy. She was born in California and lived in Idaho and shes been living in Costa Rica for 3 years. We helped her clean her house and cut her lawn. It was fun cause we got to do it with machetes.
Saturday was Spencer's Birthday and I hope he had a Happy Birthday. We worked a lot with some less active members and hopefully we will have more people coming to church in the future. Right now there is about on average 35 members every week in church.
Sunday I went to church and then went with Hermano Douglas and we worked with some more less active members.
Today for P-day we went to a funeral. Our district leader´s cook´s stepson died. I guess he was handicaped. It was sad. Well I love you all and hope you all have a great week! Love Elder Smith

February 8th Report

Our Arrival in Costa Rica!!

Hello Everyone, This week has been ok I'm starting to understand Spanish a little bit better. So on Tuesday I had disctrict meeting with the District leader Elder Hansen and his comp and another companionship. We also got paid for the month. We get about 20,0000 colones a month which is about $400. We have to pay for the apartment, the lady who does our laundry, and the lady who cooks for us. The rest is for food, the bus and other stuff I need. I haven't been eating a lot a food. Just the food that our cook makes for us and for breakfast I have a slimfast shake and fruit. Im starting to lose weight and can fit into my jeans again. Hurray!!!!
On Tuesday we also contacted a couple of refrences. One of them is named Yamilet and she has been accepting everything we have taught her. When we went back to her the second time and asked her if she prayed to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet she said she had. When we asked her if she recieved an answer to her prayer she said that she had a dream that was very similar to the dream that Lehi had about the rod of iron and the tree of life. We explained what the dream meant and it was really cool. The only thing she needs to do is get married to her boyfriend and then she can get baptized. That night we went with the ward mission leader, Hermano Douglas, to the recent convert Hermana Karla and had FHE with her.
Wednesday was kind of a sucky day cause a family we have been teaching kinda quit on us. They really liked what we have been teaching them especially the Plan of Salvation because two of their kids have died--one was a baby so they liked the scriptures in Moroni 8. The problem is they are heavy smokers and coffee drinkers. When we told them they needed to stop at first they said that they would and we said that we would help them out. Well, when we went back they said the things we are asking them to do are too hard and they won't let us teach them anymore.
Thursday was a pretty good day. We bought a new phone because our old one broke. We also ran into Juan Andres. We had taught him and his wife the Plan of Salvation and they really liked what we taught them. Well, we forgot where they lived and so we've been looking for their house for two weeks. Luckily we ran into Juan and he was really excited to see us so we set up another appointment with them. Not very much happened the rest of the week...we had lots of appointments and we've been working on reactivating the less-active members. Elder Zavala and I are doing awesome! I love you all and stay safe. Love Elder Smith

February 1st Report

My 1st companion, Elder Zavala, Hermana Carla, and Me!

Dear Everybody, Hurray another week has gone by and it is now P Day! So I still suck at Spanish. Usually during a lesson I say my part and then just sit in silence. This week we visited a member who is American and has been living in Costa Rica for three years. He said that its really hard to understand Ticos, thats what Costa Ricans call themselves, he said its hard to understand them cause they slur a lot of their words and use a lot of slang. Haha! Other than that this week has been pretty good. First I´ll answer your questions.

Food. The food here is pretty good. Usually for breakfast I have something small like fruit or yogurt. For lunch we go to Hermana Ziada´s and she cooks for us. Usually its some kind of rice, potatoes, soup, veggies, meat. Ya its pretty good. Then for dinner we go to a Pulparia and get something small. Pulparias are small little shops that are everywhere. Like there is at least one on every street.

Apartment. The apartment is super small. There is a room to study in, a kitchen, a bedroom and another small room. Lots of the houses here are super small and super ghetto. We either walk or we take the bus. We take the bus a lot cause our area is pretty big. Yes I´m getting along with my comp. He is from Honduras and he only has 4 weeks left until he goes home. Luckily he isn´t trunky. He´s also trying to learn English so he can go to BYU after the mission. Can´t wait til I only have 4 weeks left. The weather is ok. It´s not as hot in the city as it is in the jungle. I´m starting to get a tan and I have a watch tan. Haha! This week it´s been pretty windy which is nice cause it´s not as hot.

The best experience I had this week was watching a hermana get baptized. Her name is Karla and she was already set to be baptized by the time I got here so I didn´t do anything but it was cool to see her get baptized. The worst experience I had this week is that same experience I have every day. I don´t understand Spanish and it sucks hardcore!

Church is pretty cool. The church building is pretty small and only about 35 members came yesterday. And yes I did play the piano. A hermana asked if I could and I didn´t want to lie. Luckily they have a book of simplified hymns so I just played those. Also Costa Ricans and Latinos in general cant sing at all. It´s awefull listining to them during church. Haha it makes our ward sound like the Mormon Tab. Choir Haha!

In my district there are 4 missionaries. Elder Hansen, the district leader, his comp. Elder Recinos, who is also a newbie but he´s from El Salvador so he speaks Spanish. Then there´s Elder Zavala and I. We don´t really work with them that much cause their area is like 30 minutes away. But they helped teach a lesson with us this week.

Yes I exercise. There is a gym by our house and we go there almost every morning. So the member here are freakin' awesome. We have been working with the ward mission leader a lot. He is feaking funny! He is the Costa Rican version of Brother Fraughton. Haha! So I hope you all have an awesome week. Stay Safe. Especially Nick cause he´s accident prone Haha! Love Elder Smith

P.S. Hey Nick see if they have my picture up in the seminary building on that wall with all the missionaries. If they don´t, get one up there.

First Area: Santo Domingo

Hello Everyone! Sorry I didn't email yersterday, but I had to go do some things to make myself a resident of Costa Rica. So first of all my companion's name is Elder Zavala and he is from Honduras. He can speak a little English so that is good! My first area is Santo Domingo which is a city like 30 minutes away from San Jose. It´s pretty cool and very ghetto. My apartment is super small but it´s cool! One family we are teaching live in house made out of wood and sheet metal, but they are super cool. The Dad and the Mom are members and they have a 14 year old daughter who isn't baptized. We are teaching her and she has a baptism date set for in a couple of weeks. We're also teaching a few other families--I don't remember their names because they are in Spanish. Names and directions are going to be the hardest things to learn. Also Spanish will be hard to learn. When we taught our first lesson I kept thinking to myself, "This ain't the language that they taught me in the MTC!" HA HA! Oh well I just need to study more. I read all your emails and I don't know where all the other elders in my district were sent to. Yesterday I did see Elders Whittier and Romney while we where getting our recidency paperwork done. They are both doing good. I know that Elder Whittier is in the Jungle and Elder Romney is in a City. Well I'm doing good and next week I´ll write a more detailed letter and I´ll sent some pictures. I forgot my camera cord. I love you all and have an awesome week! Love Elder Smith

Arrival in Costa Rica

Hurray I'm in Costa Rica finally! I've only been here for one day and I love it and I never want to leave! Haha! So Monday morning at 1:00 my flight left from Salt Lake. I sat in the very back next to Elder Romney, Sangster and Whittier. It was really hard to sleep and I only got an hour of sleep for the 3 hour flight. After we landed in Atlanta I ate at McDonalds. It was the first real food that I had since leaving the MTC. After I ate I went to my gate and tried to get some sleep cause I was super tired, but it was really hard so I just sat there for an hour while we waited to board the plane.

After getting on the plane I fell asleep finally. I slept through takeoff for about an hour and a half. When I woke up I had to fill out some forms for customs and stuff like that. The flight to Coasta Rica was 4 hours long but after I got some sleep I felt a lot better. As we were landing in Costa Rica there was a lot of turbulance and Elder Romney almost threw up. He has been having some problems with his eyes. And he got kinda sick on the plane. After we landed we went through immigration and customs without any problems and Elder Romney threw up in a garbage can.

After all that we walked out of the airport and President Galvez, his wife, and the AP's were there to greet us. We loaded all our stuff into a van and drove to the temple. The temple is super cool and we took some pictures there (which I will email to you on P-day which is Monday) After that we drove to the AP's home and they let us sleep for a couple hours. It was way cool cause I thought they were going to make us start contacting immediatly. After my nap we ate Subway, my first meal in a foreign country. Then we chilled for awhile and talked to Elder Lee who is one of the AP's He is really cool! His companion, Elder Rogler actually went home today along with 6 other Elders. They spent the night in the same house so there were a lot of people.

After chilling for a while Elder Rojaz, who is Elder Lee's new companion took Elder Brazington and me out to do some contacting. It was super fun and we talked to a few people. I didn't understand a thing they were saying, but Elder Rojaz would tell me what to talk about and I did the best I could to tell them about the gospel. We talked to one guy for like 20 minutes about the restoration and prophets it was super cool. Then we went back to the house and got ready for bed. I wrote in my journal and then went to bed.

This morning we all went to President Galvez's house and ate breakfast. I had waffles, cereal, fruit--watermelon, pineapple and papaya. It was super cool. President Galvez and his wife are super awesome!! Today we are going to do interviews with President Galvez and then do a little training. Tomorrow I get my trainer, travel to my area and start working. I'm so excited!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!

MTC Photos

MTC: Week #8 (Last Week!)

Guess what I got my travel plans this past week!!!! I'll finally get to leave this place and never come back. HAHA!! Actually it hasn't been that bad and its gone by super fast. The Spanish is coming along great. Its going to be hard for the first couple of months but by my birthday (or sooner) I hopefully will be fluent. Spanish is a pretty easy language and I'm suprised that all my school teachers were poor at teaching it. Maybe I'll be a Spanish teacher...not!
Here's my travel plans: I leave with the 7 of my district members who are going to Coasta Rica(Me, Duncan, Sangster, Romney, Johnson, Brazington, and Whittier) from the MTC on Sunday night at 8:30pm. Our flight leaves from Salt Lake Airport at 12:50am. Then arrive in Atlanta GA at 6:20am. Then we leave from there at 9:40am and arrive in San Jose at 12:45am. So I'll either call home before we leave Salt Lake or Before we leave Altanta. It'll just depend on how long it takes to get through. Also I hope some good food places are open cause I'm done with the food here. We heard about the attempted attack thing on Christmas so IDK how tight the security will be.
I started packing on Thursday so that I'll be prepared. We are flying on Delta and we can have 2 checked bags and two carry ons. The first checked bag is free but the 2nd is $50 but I have been told we get reimbersed for that. They told us we should have $100 bucks in cash for emergencies and the second checked bag.
So ya, I'm super excited to leave. I love you all and the next time I write you I'll be in a different country. Love Elder Anthony Smith

MTC: Week #7

I hope you all are having a Happy New Year. I can tell you that I don't like writing 2010 on stuff. Last Monday was a pretty chill P-day. I did my laundry, emailed you and ate food. Then my district and I helped clean the temple. We cleaned lockers for 4 hours. It got pretty boring but it was still a good experience.
Tuesday I went to a Large Group Meeting (We go to one every Tuesday). We talked about the importance of bringing investigators to church and how they need to keep their commitment. It was a pretty good meeting. Then Elder Duncan and I went to a Teaching Evaluation appointment (TE). We also got help with our task for this week. Every Wednesday we have a different task. This week it was buying clothes in Spanish. After the task we teach a lesson. The lesson this week was Lesson One in Spanish. In the evening, Allen F. Parker, son of Boyd K. Paker spoke to us. He talked a lot about faith and how missionaries and investigators need faith.
Wednesday I was supposed to go to the TRC and do our task and lesson but none of the volenteer investigators showed up so Elder Duncan and I taught Elder Lafrance and Holbrook. In the Afternoon, Elder Duncan and I taught Hermano Fernandez in a TE appointment. We taught him a little bit from the first lesson. We focused on how God is our Heavenly Father and how we are His children. Also how families are very important. That night we had a substitute teacher because our regular teacher was gone for the new year. The subs name is Hermano Jimenez. He is awesome and every time he teaches us I get excited to learn Spanish.
Thursday was New Year's Eve and instead of celebrating it at midnight we celebrated it at 10:00pm. We just pretended we were in the East Coast. Haha! On Thursday I did a lot of studying and also read a lot from the Book of Mormon. I'm in Ether. We also learned about the Subjunctive: Noun Clause form of verbs. I cant wait to come home and speak Spanish all the time and drive you all crazy. Haha!!!
Friday was a really good day. I finished reading the Book of Mormon. I started it when I got here and finished it on Friday. Hermano Jimenaz was our sub again and he taught us the importance of Preach my Gospel and Planning. It was an awesome lesson.
Saturday was a really long day. Our class was supposed to have a sub in the morning but no one showed up and so we just had personal study for 4 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. I kinda liked it though cause I have a lot to study. Also, I finally had gym on Saturday. On Thursday and Friday we didn't have gym for some reason so I was really excited. I played volleyball and dominated the court. Haha! Its really fun and actually there are some really good volley ball players here and so it makes it a lot more fun.
Sunday was Fast Sunday so I didn't eat until 5:20. For dinner I had ham, potates, rolls and veggies. I won't tell you how much I ate. I'll just let you imagine that I ate as much as a normal person would. Haha!!! Its all good cause I'm going to be walking and sweating for the next couple years. Sundays are my favorite days of the week. They are really chill and I just study all day and go to sacrement meeting. In the evening I went to a devotional and President Willam ? spoke. I saw Jacob Thompson--He was in my grade and is going to Wisconsin and Jordon Groff ( Nick will know him) and he is going to The West Indies. They both came on Wednesday. I love you all and Stay safe. Also write more Haha! Love Elder Smith