Dec 14

So this week ahs been really productive. We have gotten a lot more new investigators and we have been working a lot with people that have been inactive for a long time. I feel that all of this will be really successful in the end. So far, we dont have any dates for baptism. Op even goals. We have people who know they are going to get baptized, the only question is when things are going to fix themselves to allow them to do it. But yeah, I have a lot of hope for the people that we are teaching right now. I hope I get to stay in this area for more than 6 months to see what eventually happens with them but who knows. Ill talk to the president. But yeah. We had 164 people in sacrament meeting this week, tehy said it was some kind of ward record haha. A year ago they only had like 90. So, things are well. Only 2 investigators were able to come to church. This week was rough with jobs, chores to do, etc. All of them do their stuff on sundays. It´s frustrating. But yeah. Nothing really awesome is going on here. My companion is learning more spanish, trying to talk more too, so were getting there. The area is still good. Weve been breaking a ton of new ground here. Every day its like, ¨Wow, Ive never been here before, and this town keeps going and going up the mountain.¨ With my old comp we only stayed in a small area around the chapel with the same people. I dont like that. I think thats maybe why I have holes in my shoes. We walk a toooon now. And our area is ginormous. But yeah. We are going in to San Jose today to pick up the residency of my comp. Nothing really new or exciting this week. Hope all is well.
Elder Harrison Smith

December 7th Two-thousand and Nine

Well, all is well here. No big news, just the usual! Most of our investigators are progressing really well. We have about 5 right now that are prety much ready for baptism, just need a little bit more time to settle out. Oh actually there is good/big news. We changed cooks! Woot. The last one started to complain about us not always being able to come to eat at the same hour every day. She was used to lazy missionaries that wouldn't have many lessons in the morning or early afternoon, but we aren't those kind of missionaries. Haha. We are soo busy. So, we cant always make it to her house in time if we have a few lessons in the morning ya know? And they always always had the TV on or music on, her sister that lives there swears a lot. It just wasn't a missionary environment. So, we got sick of it and switched. Now it´s an investigator. The one that is waiting for her papers to get married. I have a ton of pictures of that family in a letter that I'm sending today. They are awesome. And Nicaraguan, so the food is much much better. And, they could use the money to travel to Nicaragua to take out the document. So, yeah. They are close. Like early January I think. Then there is the couple with the twin girls. I need pictures of them. The twins are the cutest babies I have seen in my life. But yeah, they want to get baptized and married, they stopped buying coffee for now, they just have money/job problems. So, we´re waiting a little on that. Then the 20 year old internet owner has stopped drinking coffee. We didnt even really leave the commitment to stop, we just told him/taught that it was a commandment and we found out today when we went to their house to teach his sister that he has stopped drinking it! Haha. Yes! He is waiting for some kind of big answer to his prayers, but he already knows. Woohoo! He is so sick. Also, our little old "sister missionaries" that livei n our apartment complex are doing awesome with their "investigator". They are a daughter and mom like 60 and 80 years old that live alone, dont work, just teach and visit people and go to the temple. Why arent all members cool like them? They have been teaching, along with us, a couple that also lives in our apartment complex. The woman of that couple is awesome. She has been coming to church regularly, she is reading the book of mormon and Principles of the Gospel. And, when I teach that class Sundays, she is super interactive and always adds true comments. Awesome. Diego, Jonathan and their mom are doing incredible. We took them last night to the Christmas devotional thing. Oh yeah, they fed everyone real tamales. My first time. They are so good. They must have had like 500 tamales. They are wrapped up in platano leafs. Mmm. Ha. Well. What else is excting. I was wrong about the weather. It did cool down for a sec, but we are actually in summer right now. It has been heating up so much lately. But, there is a lot more wind too, so the mixture of a sweatdrenched body and a nice strong wind is enough to cool us down and help us not die. That´s all for this week. Be good, be safe.> > Harrison