09-14-09 Email.

Hey everybody.> > Another good week of work. It seems like we are always tired, but that's what> t happens when you do things. Where to start.. We are always having good> experiences with members in our ward. A lot of the wards and branches here have small wards and no mission leader, but luckily we have one and a > lot of members. Almost every week we have had a member bring their friend> or cousin or someone who lives with them. (That happens a lot. Often the> re are like 10 people living in one very small house.)> But the work of members really a huge factor in conversion and retention. Even though our ward is great, we still ahve to do a lot of the teaching of less active and recent converts. I know missionaries are supposed to do> that, but here in San Miguel it feels like a loss of time because there > are a lot of poeple, mostly families, that are willing to listen and compromise. I wish we could get more home teachers, visiting teachers, etc.> As for our investigators, we are still finding newbs and having to cut a few out. We have two sure dates for baptism Set. 26th. And we have some who> accepted the challenge and hopefully we'll get them in the water. Mostly the biggest problems here are people getting to church and the Word> of Wisdom. We are teaching the parents of a recent convert, they are strongly catholic, and have said that they can feel the changes in their lives from our teaching and they have a testimony, but they don't want > to let go of their parents religion and tradition. It is super hard with > these two. We had a date with them for the 26th as well, but they didn't come to church so we have to postpone it and work with them more. Its really sad and discouraging when things like that happen. We are close to having to cut off 2 or 3 families because they havent progressed and we need> to move on to the ones who are actually ready. Also, the Lord has been able to use us in reactivating a lot of families, mostly part member families. Probably about 20 people in all have been turned from inactive or less active into coming 3 out of 4 times a month. Its awesome, and leads to opportunities to teach their family members who may not be members yet. > Our ward had a goal at the beginning of the year to have 20 convert baptisms in 2009. I think right now we are at about 17. My companion had 7 awesome converts in July, and we got 4 in August. This month will be a little lower but October has a lot of promise, and thats not counting the people we dont know yet. Costa Rica is still dirty as ever and every day I can seehow tight Satans grip is on the world. Immorality is everywhere here; that is probably one of the saddest things that I have come upon. Also,addiction is rampant. It's especially tough with coffee and tea. Its almost guaranteed that everyone we teach loves their coffee. Today was> changes, and luckily I get to keep my companion for another 6 weeks. We> are tearing San Miguel apart. Yesterday I had my first steak. It wasn't anything like steak. My favorite thing to eat is definitely fried platano. Super rico. I have learned more in 6 weeks about my life and what I > want in my future than I did my whole life. What things I want to do, and> things that I know I will never do(with family, work, friends, etc.)> We picked up a newb that came to church with members that has read a ton in> Gospel Principles and the intro pages of the Book of Mormon. He is interested and clearly sees something different about us, but he is stuck on his coffee. We gave him a powerful lesson and focused on Joseph Smith and > the truth of his calling and revelations. I am almost to the point where > I actually teach half of the time. We also had another reference this week of a part member family (only the mom) who has two daughters and a boyfriend. They have been together for 12 years! but dont want to marry yet. > We taught them lesson 1 and it was great. They have come to church two weeks in a row now!Hopefully we can receive the info we need to know what to teach and where to take them to lead to baptism. I really feel that San> Miguel is going to need a new ward soon, maybe within 2010. Anyway Im doing well and loving it. To all the gooders, you guys are awesome. Keep up> what you are doing, I know you guys are some of the best in your mission> s because of who you were before the mission. Thanks for your friendships, you guys are the bomb.> Elder Smith