March First

Holy Cow. So right now I am sitting in an internet cafe in a town named Santa Cruz. Yes, I did have transfers and that ended my training for Elder Portillo. But the news now is that I am about a five hour bus ride away from San Jose and my last area. It´s like 7 PM and I am sweating my grass off. My new area is in the northwest side of Costa Rica. Santa Cruz isn´t really a city but more of a big town. The ward is actually a branch and the house is a piece of dump and we pay 20 dollars more than my last house! Sooo much needs to change right now. But yeah, I am training a new missionary...again. So I am with an Elder Dwiggings waiting for our companions. We are going to spend the night in his area, Nicoya, then Wednesday we go back to San Jose to pick up the newbs. I hope I get someone like my last comp. Haha. Just more humble. So I am in an area not know by me and I will be training a new missionary here. Sweet. I hope we baptize a ton. Make this branch a ward. But yeah. I think the last missionaries here were pieces too. One ended his mission here and he wasnt very obedient so I hope the members can deal with the change of attitude. I didnt even dare unpack my stuff cause it was so dirty. When my new comp comes we are going to spend however long is necessary to clean up then we are going to unpack, then we are going to start working with the members. I dont know how to start this out, it´s almost like opening an area. If anyone could give me tips, email me. God really is going to be the one guiding all of this, but being his instrument I have to be tuned to what he needs. I hope I fill the slot.
Man. Pray for me. Love you all. Follow the prophets and you wont go astray.
Elder Smith

Feb. 22

Hey everybody. This week passed by pretty well. We didnt have baptisms this week and we dont have any the next week so that means only one for the month of Febuary. What garbage right? But we do have four planned for the 13th of March so well see what plays out. One is Alex who has 4 kids and isn't married to his wife. All are members except him but he is awesome. We are going to plan their marriage this Thursday I think to hopefully get him baptised. He has a strong spiritual testimony, just cant find much time to come to church. He{s hte one we taught like 2 months ago and he had to leave to work and he didnt drink one bit of coffee or alcohol. 2 months without any support and with a whole bunch of temptation. He will be a good member, and hopefully he activates his wife and they get sealed. The kids really need a gospel centered life. Two other ones and the brother and sister of Pedro who got baptized this last week. The mom hasnt given us permission for the younger sister but we are going there tonight for a family home evening to cook them food, and warm her up a bit to the idea. HIs younger brother Michael is doing well, he just has a girlfriend that recently gave birth to a kid that isnt his. What a nut. We{ll get them broken up soon. Then we have Juan Jose the drug addict that is trying super hard to overcome his addictions. He didnt come to church this week. We had sent people for like 3 weeks to bring him but we thought we should try just committing him to come on his own to start progressing more but unortunately he didnt. So those are the four that San Miguel will be hoping to see on March 13th. As for the others, there are a ton that are progressing pretty well and just cant or don't want to come to church. Some are trying to make it work, others no. Im so grateful I grew up in a family that understands the importance of going to church. Thanks mom! People here are so lazy.
It turns out that some of the sister missionaries came out with a más guapo list of the missionaries. I made the # 2 spot. At least thats what some other missionaries said. What a joke right? Number 2? Who do they think they are? No ubt really what a joke. Who makes lists like that in the mission? I dont even think of people that way. Like never.
But on other news, my companion is doing well. Still prideful but Im learning a lot from him. Is it bad that I learn from the negative things of my companions instead of the good things? He is a really cool kid, just not a really cool missionary yet.
Today we had his "one month check-up" as they call it. We went to the office and the presidents house to talk with the AP´s and President. Really good experience to talk with the other trainers and learn from them. We ate a really huge lunch with a ton of meat and pineapple. Kinda like Rodizio Grill but free. And they gave us banana splits after.
So, this next Monday is the changes meeting. I really hope I dont go. I´ve got a lot to do in March in this area. But odds are that I´ll be leaving; I have almost 7 months in MY FIRST AREA. I wonder where I will get put and what responsibility they will give me. Maybe I will just get to stay here the rest of my mission?
Im doing well. I figured out this week that if I dont get a little bit of sleep after lunch Im dead tired at the end of the night. Like a zombie... only moving because Im here to do God´s will and not mine. Even if it´s just 5 or 10 minutes I HAVE to take a power nap after lunch or the work will start to worsen haha. Is worsen a word in english? I cant believe how much I have learned and how much I have grown. Getting put in the hard and almsot impossible positions are the times that we progress. Im glad I have the challenges of leadership instead of sadness, sickness, etc. And I hope I have a lot more to come in these 15 months I have left. But yeah, Im doing well. Healthy and happy.
Elder H. Smith

February 15, 2010

Pura Vida

This week was pretty dang good. We had Pedro's baptism and confirmation this weekend, Elder Portillo baptized him and I got to confirm him. It was ward conference so the Stake Presidency was there just to make it all more nerve racking for me. Pedro is awesome I just hope he follows his testimony. He bore it after the baptism and said that "at first I didnt really care or even want them to come to my house, I just did it to please my girlfriend. But then when they started to explain it to me and when I prayed I knew and felt what they were teaching was true" Oh man it was so cool. Right now we are starting to teach his brother and sister. His little brother is 18 and he has ear and tongue piercings but wants to get baptized. Haha. We still have a few people who wanted to get baptized a while ago, but are just too weak to fix their problems. We´ll see waht happens We got like 6 good references too this week and we are hoping that they will play out well. Changes will be like at the first of March. I dont know if Ill be leaving. I will have 7 months in this area by that time. There isnt much more that happened this week. We did get a ward mission leader, after 6 months of being here. I hope that he can help us out a little bit. I'm doing well.

Elder Smith

February 8, 2010

Well this week was good. It has been super hot lately and the sun beats us up. Not a whole lot of news or anyhting cool. We have a baptism this weekend with Pedro. He is 21 and the boyfriend of a member. He has come to church like for 2 months with his white shirt and tie. Can you say whipped? but he has develpoed his testimony really well. He has a really good job so naturally the law of tithing was tough. And changing from 6 cups of coffee a day to nothing. And taking out an eyebrow piercing for the rest of your life. He´s doing well despite the strictness of the gospel. My companion is doing well. It´s a whole lot easier with him as far as missionary things go. Hopefully he won´t be the only baptism this month. Our goal was 2, but it looks like the other one still won´t be getting married or separated so we´ll see. We have others, the drug addict and Alex that are both possible for this month or the next so we´re good. Today we vent to Linda Vista to a members hosue of the zone leaders for our zone activity. His house is huuuge. We played soccer, pool and ate hamburgers American style. He has a pool too, but I forgot my swimsuit. Ha ha not! But yeah. That´s a bout it. Not a whole lot of time today. We have family night with Pedro, his friend, his family, and his girlfriend. So see ya.> > Elder H. Smith

February 1, 2010

This last week in January has gone by well. We finished it by completing our baptismal goals. Nefertiti got baptized Saturday and confirmed yesterday. She came to the baptism crying because her brothers and dad were trying to make her not get baptized. They demolished her. But, that´s what those Evangelicals are best at.. preaching one thing and acting a different way. But all in all she did it. It was one of the best baptismal services I have had yet, it´s too bad her family couldnt get over their pride and find joy in it too. It´s like Christ said in Matthew 10, that a mans foes shall be that of his own housefold for the sake of the Lord. We are teaching three people right now that are wanting to get baptised. One is 21, the boyfriend of a member. Another is like 36, a drug addict that is super interested in everything, and Sandra, our neighbor that still has to get married or separate. We´ve been asking for references and references and it´s paying off. We have a ton of awesome people to meet this week; we´ll see what Febuary has for us.> My companion is a pretty prideful son of a gun. I nicknamed him solobrazos which means only arms. He has huge arms but on a body like a stick. Man, I need to break his vanity. But we do well togehter teaching and being missionaries. He just has a lot of concern of what the world and other people think of him, and feels that he needs to put himself above every person. Everything is a competition or comparison. I think he will teach me a whole lot on what I need to change in myself in order to not be like him haha. > I know ya probably want to hear stories but they dont really matter much to me; I wouldnt know what to tell you anyways. Oh wait I do have soemthing. A prostitute pinched my butt this week. Where we live is full of druggies and young prostitutes. We are friends with the druggies but all of the girls/hookers always say something inappropriate. But this day this hooker was drugged up and she had previously asked me if she could touch my butt a few days before so I knew that she was going to try something. So when we saw that we were going to pass by her, I avoided her by a good distance but when she passed somehow she got over to me and gave me a squeeze. For an instant, I was gonna pound a hoe. Not really.. I just remembered that I am a missionary and she is a daughter of God, so I just politely asked her to never do that again and told all of her friends that they should make sure things like that never ever happen. Then another night like 2 days after that we had stopped to buy a roll for dinner and her and her friend were walking by and she tried to do it again but I swung at her hand and arm with my Book of Mormon and she left. This city is going to burn. My comp and I always joke about calling down fireballs of justice but I dont think that´s gonna happen yet. Anyway, that´s a fun story right?> Hope all is well in the wonderful and clean United States.> Elder Smith

January 25, 2010

So Wednesday was the trainers/nuevos meeting and I got my new companion. Elder Portillo from San Salvador, El Salvador. And, HE SPEAKS SPANISH! What a relief. Latins. This is a whole lot easier than what I had the last 2 changes. Yeah. He can actually teach and contact with me. We are doing well. Weve got a baptismal date for this week with a girl named Nefertiti. She is 18, really really loves and is dedicated to Christ, but sorta lacks in a testimony of the restored church. She is keeping commitments, shares her testimony about Jose Smith and all that, but in the end I think she´s getting baptized for the good looking missionaries and members. Haha. Oh well. She is willing and faithful, we can´t tell her no. That´s about it. > I'm learning more Spanish with the El Salvadorean slang. Today we had to go into the office and everything and to the police station for my comps fingerprints, and are going to head back to the house for a bit. Tonight we have a family night planned with a member family and another family that lives across the street. We´ll see what happens.> > Love you all.> Elder Smith

Jan 18 2010

This week was awesome. I dont know what really to say. I was expecting to be leaving my area this week with tranfers being today and having 6 months in my area already but friday night the zone leaders called and told us that my companion, not me, had changes. So, the little bit of laziness before leaving an area is going to be smacking me in the face this week. So, I didnt get transferred. I am still in San Miguel and will be until I complete at least 7.5 months there. This is my fetching first area. But I love it. I wouldn´t have it any other way. If I could, I would be there the whole two years. My companion was a tough job to train and teach, but we did well together and had a lot of success. I was his second companion and he was my second companion, but I was his unofficial trainer or as others say ´potty trainer´. I dont like all of those terms but that´s what they say. But yeah, he left, and Im still here. And..... Im officially training. Fresh off the boat, newb missionary. I feel super inadequate. I have 7.5 months in the mission and this nuevo will be looking to me for everything. Hopefully he at least knows Spanish so I dont waste time teaching that to him. Maybe he´ll be Latin. That would be nice. And ya learn more from them because your patience is tried more hahaha. The president told us that we are training because we are the top of the class. Me and my district leader(he came to Costa Rica the same time as me) were in the room full of experienced trainers or older missionaries with a lot of time in the mission. President basically told us that we can´t screw up. We have to be perfect. What a responsibility right? So, Im a TRAINER. > Right now it´s still Monday, the changes meeting was in the morning. Im with my district leader, we are working in both of our areas until the nuevos come on Wednesday. Im doing well. Just feel super pressured and with a lot of responsibility. > We´ve got about 4 people in our area who at the moment want to get baptized. Our goal for the month is 3 baptisms and we already have two. I think we will hopefully end with 4. I have a lot of plans to get references and leave this area with a bang. I am currently helping change the ward a bit too. Priesthood leadership is super weak. But, a lot of things are happening right now to progress with the work and to progress with our recent converts. Antonio and Carmen are still incredible. We went with a member of our ward to have a lesson on temples (ordinances, sealings, redemption for the deceased, etc) He is a worker in the temple and the family history specialist for the stake, it was one of the most powerful lessons that I have had. These two couples are so strong (Carmen & Antonio, Felix & Marling). Carmen started to cry at the thought of not being able to get sealed to her 2 kids in Nicaraugua because they arent members and probably wont be. We also talked about multiple sealings, haha, it was a laugh. But yeah. We only had 4 investigators in church this week. It´s sure to rise soon. Fingers crossed right. Anyway, hope all is well. Im healthy and nervous and scared and fine.> Elder Smith