Back in the Big City

Hola Hola! 

Well, I had to say goodbye to Zona Choluteca. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty hard. There are a lot of people down there in the heat that I love sooo much. I didn't even say goodbye to many of them because it was too sad. I think this was my hardest goodbye. Changes are the WORST part of the whole mission. Pero ni modo... 

I am back in Tegucigalpa, in Zona Valle De Ángeles! That's the Valley of Angels, and it lives up to it's name. It is sooo great here! The ward is super strong. The members are awesome and give us A TON OF FOOD! It's super safe here too, from what I have heard. My new companion is Elder Ruis. He's from Guatemala. He is awesome! We were already friends a little bit from before, and now I think he is going to be one of my favorite companions! He's been showing me the ropes, introducing me to the investigators and the members a little bit. And from what I've seen it is going to be a great place to finish my mission. Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that. Time is flying by!

This week we had a super cool experience. Saturday morning we were invited by one of our investigators to teach a bunch of kids in a service project. We went with two other companionships to a school that was having an open house sort of thing for kids to help keep them off the streets. We taught them about Jonah and the Whale! Haha, it was so much fun! I think they are going to start inviting us to come every week. I got a little taste of what you do every day, Mom! 

As for signing a letter of intent, Mom and Dad I am officially giving you permission to sign on my behalf! I have thought and prayed about it and I feel like that's what I need to do! Stefanie, I'm proud of you for keeping the commandments and not dating until you are sixteen, that's what I'm talking about! Dad, good luck with your track team! Rachel and George, I love you guys! And Mom, thank you for writing me every week! You haven't missed once and that means a lot! I love you. 

Well, that's all for this week! I'm at a computer that can't send pictures, so I'll try to see if i can switch to another one. But if not, I'll send some pictures next week.

Keep the Lord in first place in your life this week! I can't think of a single situation that would go better without His help. 

-Elder Smith 

He Was Just Waiting for Us to Find Him

Hola Hola! 

So good news, this week we had two more baptisms! Junior, The brother of Jensi and Marisol decided to get baptized after seeing his sisters get baptized the week before. And a young man named Ricardo was also baptized! His family are almost all members, but they had been inactive for awhile up until about three weeks ago when we went out with some members and  found them on splits! He was so ready. Just waiting for us to find him! 

This week is a little bittersweet. Changes are coming up this week and its almost a 100% guarantee that I will be changed. I have loved this area! It has helped me grow a whole lot! I will miss all these people who I have grown to know and love so much. But I'm also very excited for a new challenge, a new area, more people the Lord has in store for me to meet! 

This week we also had Consejo, always a good experience! This time it was super fun! It was Elder Stoddard's birthday so we had a little party in the basement of the AP's house, kinda like what we did for my birthday. It was a blast! 

And then the next day we had, as always, a very uplifting consejo with a lot of great advice on how to be better missionaries.

I love you all! Have a great week! (:

-Elder Smith

A Bunch of Miracles

Hola Hola! 

The highlight of this week was the baptism of Marisol and Jensi. Those two girls are the best! We have been trying to activate their parents for a while and now we had the privilege of seeing them be baptized. Their brother, Junior, also came to their baptism and to church. He now has a date to be baptized as well! I love this family! 

This week was a very good week for us. It was our Ward Conference. We had a bunch of activities all week to get people excited about coming to church. We had a talent show, an activity with all the youth and a giant visit where a bunch of members came and did divisiones with us. It was great to see the ward working together so hard as missionaries! At the end of the week our attendance went up by about fifty people! The church was the fullest I've ever seen it on a Sunday! Only our temple trip beats it!

We really saw a bunch of miracles this week. We had a new family move in from Lemon, my old area, and they had been going to church over there. They are just on the verge of being baptized too! Another thing, we have been invited to go and teach at an orphanage! The director is a member of the church and there are some kids there that want to listen to us. They are going to come to church, and because of their hard lives maybe their hearts have been prepared for the message we have to share.

It is getting SOOO HOT down here again! We are heading into the hottest part of the year right now. I get sunburnt every single day. You'd think my body would adapt already. But nope, I just sweat and burn and peel and do it again every day. But it is part of the sacrifice. Let's just say we do almost all of our planning, studying, phone calls, eating, sleeping, just about everything in this tiny room where there is a little air conditioning unit that keeps the temperature bearable. Jaja!

It sounds like things are going good back at home! Spring sports starting up! This is the best time of the year for sports!!! Keep me updated! 

  

Love you all! 

-Elder Smith

P.S. A family trip to the Sacred Grove would be fantastic! I would love that!

We got to go to this little pueblo called Yusguare. It's sweet there!

 Plus a giant watermelon we found!

The Lord's Vineyard

Hola Hola! 

This week was a pretty good one. We decided to be very direct with a bunch of our investigators. A lot of them were not really progressing and we had been spending a lot of time focusing on them. We let them know exactly why we are here, looking for people who are willing to change their lives and come unto Christ. We asked each of them if they were at a point in their lives where they were ready to do that. Some of them said no... that part was super sad. We grow to love these people out here so much, and when they decide not to accept our message it hurts. But we now have two baptisms scheduled for the end of this week. Jensi and Marisol are going to be baptized on Saturday. Please pray for them! As for Regina and Cati, they decided that now isn't their time. 

Apart from that we went on a super sweet adventure this week. It was Thursday and we had four or five appointments fall through in a row. So we decided to go check out this giant tree in our area that we had always seen from a distance. IT IS GIANT!!! The lowest branch is probably about twelve feet up, and the trunk is huge!  We decided that next p-day we are going to climb it with ropes, jaja! 

It was another really good week down here in the Lord's vineyard. I hope you all keep the Lord at the center of your lives. He loves you. I read D&C 6 this week and it really touched my heart, the last couple of verses in particular. Read it! 

I love you all! 

-Elder Smith

Here in Los Llanos

Hola hola!!! 

This week was a good one for us here in Los Llanos! We saw some key progress in a couple of investigators. A girl named Angie came to church. She is the sister of a young man in our church and we have a lot of hope for her. If you could add her to the prayer list it would be great! 

As for Cati, Merella, and Regina, the three of them didn't come to church this week... mostly because school has started again. The school year goes from February to November here in Honduras. So now everyone has the excuse that they have to go to school or they have to do homework... I went to high school. I know no one does homework! But whatever, jaja, we'll keep working on it!

We also had Consejo this week. that means another trip to Tegus...I'm getting really good at traveling. I think I make that four hour drive at least four times a month these days! But it was really good. We have some new goals as a mission that are going to help us all work together and achieve goals that we couldn't if we worked individually. I'm really excited to see where it takes us!

Stefanie, that's awesome!  Brother Gentile was a great seminary teacher! I really liked the way he taught! He always came to our soccer games and was always talking to me about the team! I hope you take advantage of seminary! Its such a great opportunity to feel the spirit every day! 

Dad, good luck to you and your team this week!  I'll be praying for you down here! 

 

I can't believe that Alonzo is already done with his mission, that went by so fast! Also congrats to Jacob for receiving his mission call. I love missions! They are really the very best part of being a member of the church! 

Well, I hope you all have a great week. Just make sure your life is centered on the gospel.

Love, Elder Smith

The Best Decision Anyone Can Make

Hola Hola!

I didn't even know who was in the Superbowl until yesterday! Jaja, but then the highlights were playing in KFC today. It looks like it was a great game! Last one I will ever miss again! 

It was a pretty good week. I went on divisions with Elder Hatch, the president's assistant. It was probably one of the most eye opening experiences of my mission. Elder Hatch was with me in Cuidad Nueva when I first got to the mission. He has been one of my best friends for my whole time down here, and he will be finishing his two years next month. I had some reflecting moments just thinking about how far we've come since then. The mission really is the best decision anyone can make for their life, it just is. I love it! 

I'm sorry it wasn't the best week for your team, Dad. But it sounds like next year should be a great one for you guys. Keep developing the mentality of winning. I really think winning is a habit. Get the JV team used to winning and you will just keep doing it! Stupid Tom Brady, for example, jaja!!

I have read Jesus the Christ, Mom! I read it with a dictionary right next to me because Talmage uses SOOO many giant words. But it is an amazing book! The way he brings the atonement to life is nothing less than inspired. Thank you for the spiritual thought! It is so true. I know that a lot of times I look for the very easiest way to do things. But sometimes that's not the way God wants it. Our Savior is the best example of that. 

We are really bringing this ward back to life! When I got here our church attendance was about 50 on average. Now it's over 100 almost every week! We should have a couple of  people getting baptized soon. Could you please include Kati, Regina and Merella in your prayers this week? They are really close to being baptized but just need a little extra push. You guys make a big difference when you pray!

Well, I love you all so very much. I hope you all have the best week of your entire lives!

Love, Elder Smith

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

Happy New Year

Hola hola!!!

Happy New Year everyone! It was super good to talk to you on Christmas! Which was like three days ago! Haha, I feel like we caught up that day, so I'm not going to bore you with a long letter! The good thing was that we had a baptism in between then and now! Franklin got baptized! He is the best! 

Another thing that happened since then was that Zach Glassett came to see me today! It was really cool to meet his family and be able to talk to him again for little bit. He also delivered to me a birthday package from my family! I'm super happy about that! 

I love you all a whole lot! Have a good New Year's Eve. Be safe. Make some resolutions! 

-Elder Smith

Merry Christmas!!!!

Hola Hola!!!

Merry Christmas!!!! 

I am so happy to be in the service of God at this time of year! I miss you all at home a ton, but I have probably never had a better Christmas season. I think for maybe the first time, or at least stronger than ever, I understand what people mean by "The Spirit of Christmas". I have shared the 2nd chapter of Lucas with anyone who will listen, and with it my testimony of the importance of the life of that little baby who was born. It's been special. 

Apart from that spiritual stuff it has been a great week! I had to travel to Tegus twice this week! One to take care of my legal papers again. When I got my new ID I realized how fat I have gotten in the mission! DANG, jaja I need to stop eating tortillas! There is this thing that missionaries do called "the Sexy Six" which is when they work out super hard and stop eating so much for the last six months of their missions to get home looking good! Jaja, I'm on my last month of eating as much as I want and doing lazy exercises in the morning! Then things are going to get serious! 

The second trip to Tegucigalpa was for the Christmas party. It was so good! 

We started it off singing musical numbers that each zone had prepared. We sang Noche De Luz. It was super good. Nothing brings the spirit like music. There is an Hermana Steele in our mission who sings so incredibly! She sings like an angel! Then President Bowler shared a really great message. The spirit was so strong. Lunch came next, honey ham! OHH! It was so rico! And then we played sports. There was a ping pong table, I kicked everyone's butts! Except Elder Riveras, he beat me once... and then I played soccer for like three hours. I'm super sore! 

Tonight we are going to do a Secret Santa with the zone. It should be great! And then tomorrow I get to talk to you guys!!! I'm super excited! I love Christmas time more than anything.

Well, see you tomorrow! 

~Elder Smith

A New Companion

Hola Hola!

It was a pretty good week, full of goodbyes, hellos and a lot of waiting around. We had changes this week, that's always a lot of fun. President is still doing his giant power point presentation. It's always exciting when you know someone's face is going to pop up there with yours. But it was really sad knowing I wouldn't be with Elder Yac anymore.

Monday and Tuesday were spent with Elder Yac saying goodbye to all the people in our area. It was super sad but at the same time super good! He was testifying with all his heart because he knew it was his last time as a missionary. So we touched a lot of hearts in our last little bit together!

We have some new people progressing, I'm excited to see how it goes. The most pilas one is Franklin, please pray for him! 

On Wednesday I received my new companion, his name is Elder Porter. He's from Arizona, and I heard that his aunt works with you, Mom! Jaja, it's a small world! I was super happy when I found out! He was already one of my good friends in the mission, so it's going to be a lot of fun. 

Then came the worst part...he had dengue all week! So after changes we had to stay in the city for three days...nobody told me about that. I spent three days in the same clothes, jaja! But it was alright because we got to stay in the Assistant's home. Everyone who stays there gets to eat for free! Best week of food ever!

So we got back to our area on Saturday and got to work...a little. Hermana Bowler wants us to take it easy until Elder Porter gets completely better. But we're going to do really good together! I'm super excited! 

My zone didn't change that much, just Elder Yac. But he was a pretty big part of it. I'm really going to miss him a whole lot. 

I'm glad you are all doing so good! I'm still not sure about our plans for Skype on Christmas, but I'll figure it all out this week and let you know! 

Merry Christmas, I love you all! 

-Elder Smith

Mi Querido Companero

Hola Hola! 

This week was pretty... SAD!! It was my last week with Elder Yac, mi querido compañero! He has actually been really good at keeping it out of his head, we have worked super hard. But this week the gravity of it kind of hit him, he's going home. But we still managed to have a pretty good week. Let me tell you about it. 

The very best part of my week was an activity we had in our ward to help la obra misional! It was called "La Fiesta del Albedrío" which means "The Party of Agency". The first hour of this activity we just played games and stuff, there were spiritual games, and just fun games. Every time you played a spiritual game you won a white ticket. But in order to play a worldly game you had to sell your white tickets for 5 colorful tickets. It was a lot of fun! Everyone had a blast. But then, the second hour we had a spiritual part to it. We had everyone line up, and one by one we asked them how many white tickets they had. If they had five or more they were accepted in the celestial kingdom, a bright room with plenty of space. If they had 2-4 white tickets they went to the terrestial; a smaller room with just a little light. And if they had 1 or 0 tickets they went to the telestial--a tiny pitch black room. There were lessons given in each room and everyone really learned and felt firsthand the importance of our choices here in this life. It was awesome!

Another cool thing that happened this week was we had Consejo de Lideres. Consejo is always good! But this time something happened that I will remember forever. Ok, to understand this story you have to know that President Bowler is a little like Dad at times. He is super good at focusing in on one thing! So we were all in Consejo sharing what we thought and I had an idea, so I shared it. My idea was good and valid, but President had already thought about this topic a lot and had decided to go in another direction. So he said, ¨NO!¨ pretty sharply. It was shocking to everyone! It didn't bother me, I have pretty thick skin, but if it had been someone else it could have cut them pretty deep. But the cool part came the next morning. President Bowler called me and apologized. He said he had not been able to sleep because he was thinking about how harshly he had rejected my idea. He showed a lot of humility. I respect him a lot. 

And then yesterday was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was so good! I watched it in the home of the family that I saw sealed when I was working with Elder Glassett. It was great! 

Besides that, we went to the beach today. That was pretty dang cool! Honduras is the best! I love it here. You are all invited to come join me any time, jaja! The beach is about an hour drive from where we live here in Choluteca, so we rented a little bus and spent the morning in paradise!

Well that was pretty much my week! I will get a new companion this week, so I'll let you know next week! Please keep praying for Marisol and Jensi, they need it! And I need it.

I love you all! 

-Elder Smith

 Elder Yac baptized a girl from the hermana's area.  It was pretty great!

I Almost Forgot About Thanksgiving

Hola Hola!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I almost forgot about it! It was late in the evening when I remembered, so I bought some fried chicken from this lady that sells it in the street, I had to eat some kind of bird! And I made strawberry jello. Jaja, that was my Thanksgiving dinner. But I did take a moment to think about all the things that I am grateful for, I had a nice little moment with my Padre Celestial. 

Way to go Dad! That's a pretty fast half-marathon! And the story about Landon is super funny! Jaja, we might end up being teamates, who knows?? 

I'm super proud of Caleb Rodabough!!! Atta Boy! You're going to love Mexico! And you're going to be the best missionary ever! It's good to have you in the ranks! 

This week was a pretty good one. We spent the whole thing in a trio with Elder Flores. There are good things and bad things about being in a trio. It's good because it is a BLAST!!! There is just another dynamic, a third opinion, another voice. It's really a good situation! It's also good because we did divisiones with the youth in the ward almost every day! So two of us were always together, and the other one was always with one of the kids from the ward getting stuff done and helping them get excited for their missions! It's bad because the flow of teaching is thrown way off! Showering in the morning is all messed up, sometimes in lessons all three of us want to talk, and sometimes no one knows who should talk... it's just because we haven't had as much practice, but it has been a little rough!

Today, finally, Elder Flores got his companion. His name is Elder Grey. He is pretty new too, but he seems like a super cool guy. I'm super excited for him and  Elder Flores! They are going to be a really good companionship!

The best part about this week coming up is that we finally have a baptism here! Her name is Cindi, she is awesome! I would love it if you would say a couple of prayers for her this week. And then next week we have three more baptisms planned, Jensi, Marisol, and Eliam! If you would pray for them too it would mean a lot to me! 

I can not believe it is already December. This year has gone by so fast! This time last year I was training Elder Arteaga! So much has happened in the last twelve months, I can't even believe it! But I love it too.

Well, that's really all for this week. I hope you all have the best week of your life this week! Jaja, thank you for all the prayers and love you send our way. It is felt! Just remember to keep the Lord in the center of your lives this week and it will be a good one! 

-Elder Smith