Just Thank You

Hola Hola!!

MOM! You sold the van! You look cute in your new little car! Jaja, I'm going to miss the van a whole lot! That was my girl getting machine! But all good things run their course! Que le vaya bien!

I'm glad you're still fulfilling your calling as primary president, Mom! Jaja, I think I just found my new goal, beat my mom in baptisms this year! Jaja, I'm going to help 17 more people become converted before the end of my mission!! 

This week was cambios! My companion and I stayed the same, I'm still here with Elder Porter, which is fine by me! We are good friends! Almost once a day we take a little break and have a "I bet I can hit that tree before you" contest and throw rocks at trees! And today we buzzed our heads! My hair is super short! I'll send you a picture!

Our zone had quite a few changes, but they are great changes! I love everyone in our zone and I really think we are going to have a lot of success this change! 

I was laying awake in my bed last night thinking about everything that I have lived in my life. The great family I have, The Gospel and all the blessings that it has brought me, all my great friends. The experiences I had with sports and school. Living in a country that is so safe, so comfortable, so full of opportunity and dreams. My amazing mission, all the great experiences that I have passed through here in this beautiful country. I couldn't hold back the tears of gratitude. I went outside and knelt down to pray but all I could say was "Thank you!" I really am so grateful for everything He has given me. I will never be able to express or repay Him, or you guys Mom and Dad, Rachel and Stefanie, and everyone else who has played a big part. Just thank you. 

I hope you all have a great week! I'll talk to you next week! 

Love, Elder Smith

We bought scripture cases made out of boa constrictor skin! The snakes are huge down here!

And this little guy is the son of an investigator of ours, his name is Derek. He is super cool! 

The Cherry on Top

Hola Hola!

Dang!  I have been down here for a long time haven't I! I received an email today from an hermana missionary who was with me in the MTC, It was her email saying goodbye! SHE'S DONE!!!! I can't even believe that. The hermanas who started with me are now home. I have officially finished my sister mission, and now I can finally start on my man mission! 

This week was a good one! Full of work, excitement, let downs, happiness and it ended with a little cherry on top! Elder Porter and I have been searching for inactive members lately, because there are a million of them, and that's one of the best ways to get new investigators. So we printed off a list of all the members of our ward. It is 27 pages long! There are over a thousand names on there. Which is great, but not when your attendance is right around a hundred most Sundays. So we have been spending our days playing "Find-the-Inactives"! Jaja it's kinda fun and we have actually seen a lot of success doing it! 

On Saturday we spent all day just committing people to come to church. We were sure that we were going to have about twenty investigators at church, and five or six inactive families too! But when Sunday rolled around we only had five investigators.... and only one family...but it's better than nothing, right?? We have a lot of work to do this week. Then we got the opportunity to speak in church. Elder Porter spoke on repentance, and I spoke on receiving forgiveness of our sins, which are different. But together it went very well! I really like speaking in front of people. 

And for our cherry on top we went to the beach again for P-day today! I love the beach! Its beautiful. We played beach volleyball, and hung out under the canopy. It was great! I'll attach some fotos! 

Well I love you all! I invite you all to repent! Which really just means change what you are doing and come unto Christ a little bit more this week through your prayers, your scripture study, or leaving behind a sin. It will make taking the sacrament that much more special! 

-Elder Smith

A Good Week

Hola Hola!

I am officially 20 years old. That seems super old! For the first time in seven years I'm not a teenager! That's crazy. But it's also good. Well, nothing has changed at all, jaja, but it was a really good week! Here, let me tell you about it.

So on Tuesday we went to Tegucigalpa for Consejo, just like at the beginning of every month. But it was different this time, because it was my birthday! The guys here in the mission made it a really good one! We got to the Assistentes house and they had a cheesecake waiting for me! IT WAS SOO GOOD!!! And they all sang happy birthday to me. After that we all went to Denny's and because it was my birthday I got a free Grand Slam! That was also delicious! They made my birthday really good!

The next day was Consejo. My zone baptized the second most in the mission! I was happy about that, but the bad thing was that it wasn't even a really good month for us... the mission just did really bad. But that's ok, we took second! Consejo was really good, we came back fired up like normal to get the whole zone working harder and trying to be better. But the best part of that day was that after Consejo we got to stay the night for a temple trip the next day, so we had the whole afternoon free! I went with the other Elder Smith to visit VILLA VIEJA!!! It was so good to see everyone again! That was a huge blessing from the Lord! 

Then we were able go to to the temple with the whole zone and two other zones. The temple is so amazing! The promises and blessings that we receive in them are just unbelievable. There is real power in those covenants that we make. We need to do our best to keep those covenants. Then we had a long drive back to the South. 

It was a really busy week! But it was a good one too. I hope you all had a great week too! And I hope this next week is even better! Atta boy Dad, keep your team rollin'!  Mom keep the school year going great for the second half! Stef, keep getting good grades! Rachel and George, keep working and stuff! And to everyone else, good luck with whatever it is you're doing. I love you all!

-Elder Smith

This little guy's birthday is the same day as mine! His name is Luis, and he lives at the house of our cocinera. He is completely naked 75% of the time! 

New Year's Eve

Hola Hola!

I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve! It was crazy here! There were so many fireworks and bombs and parties and everything going on outside! Elder Porter and I went outside at midnight and just watched and listened to all the craziness taking place. I'm sorry USA, but Central America knows how to throw a bigger party than you do! I can't believe it's already 2015! My full year as a missionary is now behind me! I will never have this opportunity again by myself. It has been great and I'm sad to see it go. Also, I will turn 20 tomorrow! When did I get so old?

We had a pretty slow week, to be honest. Everyone is still on vacation. Things should finally get back to normal this week! But despite little teaching, and a lot of drunk people in the streets, we had a pretty cool week. Today we went to the Peña again--that giant cliff/mountain that I had gone to a while back! It was cool, great hike, but when we got to the top there was more wind then I have ever felt in my life! It was sooo crazy! But it was still a blast! Elder Porter, Gray and I wore Hawaiian shirts, jaja.

We also started a tradition. Every Friday night is going to be weiner night, jaja!  We bought hot dogs and roasted them over a fire in our back yard. It was super good! We also bought marshmallows and chocolate and for the first time in his life, Elder Flores had s'mores! It was super fun and I think we are going to make it a tradition now. 

Then on Sunday we had a visit from a member of the Seventy, Elder Ocampos. He is the second councilor in the Area Presidency. He came to announce that our stake is going to be divided! That was super exciting, it means we are doing our job as missionaries! It also helped motivate all the members to work just a little harder. I was super excited about it!

That is pretty much all my news for today. It was a good week, and an even better year. I hope this next year will be even better! 

I love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Smith