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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear Everyone!

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

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

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

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

My new comp., Elder King!

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

Transferred to San Jose Area

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

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

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

Splits with Elder Jelalian

Elder Vellejo has been an AWESOME companion

Elder Jelalian and me

The Gringo Club!

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

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

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

Love Elder Anthony Kent Kohkonen Smith

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

Memories of San Rafael Area

Working Hard

Dear Everyone,

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

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

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

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

Protected from Cross Fire!

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

World Cup Mania!

Dear Family

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

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

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

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

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

Lovin' My Area

Dear Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Cinco Bautismos!

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

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