Happy Late Mother's Day!

May 16, 2017

Hi family!

   Talking was awesome yesterday!  I'm sorry the connection was kind of bad and you guys got a little gypped because you couldn't see me but I'll let you look at me all you want when I get home.

 
   So... This week was good.  We worked really hard and struggled to find enough time to teach the investigators we already had and find news but somehow we made it work.   So... We're teaching a lady named Elim that is very positive but doesn't have any support from her partner.  Also we're teaching her little sister Anyelka.  They didn't make it to church this week so we'll have to verify why when we pass by again.

 
   Our most positive family is familia Davila.  The parents, Nelson and Elia are super humble and cool and always receive us even if they just got home from work and are exhausted.  We did a family home evening at their house this week with a lot of members and it turned out really cool.  They came to church this week with their 6-yr old daughter Amy.  They are just waiting for a lawyer to finish up an old divorce so they can get married and baptized.  In their home I always feel the spirit stronger than I've felt in any other home in Nicaragua.
  Also we're teaching a guy named junior and his partner and son.  They're cool and receptive but we're fighting a lot of problems.  It's become very clear to me that it's way easier if someone just doesn't sin in the first place.  But that's why we're here, to help people repent.  

   We're also teaching a reference named Andrea, as well as her sister Elena.  They were positive all week and then didn't got to church because they were embarrased because they don't have formal clothes like a blouse so they refused to go.  But supposedly they're going to buy blouses this week so they feel better about going so they can go next week.  We'll see what happens.

   This week we have multizones on Wednesday in Jinotepe.  As always, I'm looking forward to it because multizones are awesome.  I always learn so much.

 
     Shou tout to all the mothers out there.  You're awesome and the world wouldn't keep spinning without you!  Thanks especially to the best mother out there, which is my own of course.  I LOVE YOU!

Have a great week!

Elder Smith

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Cody's District

Mural in the park

Diriamba

May 9, 2017

Hey family!

  So... I had changes from Masaya to a city called Diriamba.  Diriamba is in the department of Carazo (Masatepe also pertains to Carazo).  Diriamba is one of the bigger cities in Carazo but it's not that big.  There are four other sisters in the city.  The zone is Zona Carazo and it has 20 missionaries and me and Elder Peterson are the ZLs.  So my comp is Elder Peterson from Morgan Utah.  Thankfully he's not a city boy.  He likes motorcycles and stuff.  He has about 13 months in the mission.  He's awesome and he's a really hard worker so I'm happy.  

  It was a very eventful week

  On Monday I had a feeling I might have changes so I bought a  ton of crap from the market in Masaya.  

  On Tuesday we found out I had changes so I said goodbye to converts and members I had met and stuff.  It was probably hardest to say goodbye to Mayra and Arecelly because they are awesome converts and they both go to church with their husbands every week.  Both of them have temple goals.  Then I had to pack and it was a nightmare because of all the crap I've accumulated over the last 21 months and especially because of all the crap I've bought at the market here in Masaya.  But somehow I made it work.  

  On Wednesday our bus went to Managua where I found out where I'd be going then we got on and dropped everyone in the zone off in their areas and got back here at like 12:30 and ate lunch.  The lady that makes us lunch is awesome and really funny.  She kind of reminds me of Mom because she's so nice and has a similar personality.  

  From Wednesday to Saturday I just went around getting to know the investigators here.  There are a ton of them.  There's a woman named Elim and her little sister Anyelka (both of whom went to church), there's a young and very sincere family, the husband is Nelson and the wife is Elia.  They're awesome and they came to church with their little daughter.  Also there's an awesome guy named Junior who came to church and to our surprised brought his wife and son.  Plus there's a couple more.  In total 9 investigators came to church this week plus on Saturday we had the baptism of a guy named Robin.  I don't really know much about him though because I just kind of inherited him but he's cool.  

   We're so swamped with a ton of investigators that we're having trouble finding time to find new investigators and visit converts and less actives.  

   Today for pday we went to San Marcos where Elder Lunt is and played basketball with them and one of their investigators from Bluefields.  Then we came back and I had a quesadilla.

   This area is very cool and the shower is freezing but I'm used to it at this point and it doesn't bother me too much.  In the morning and night it feels perfect.  I can't complain too much.  It did rain a few times this week but mostly at night when we were already in the house.  

  Also I've been sick for about two weeks now with a ton of congestion and a horrible cough.  It got so bad that I took my mattress out to the study room and slept there to not wake up my poor comp.  But I'm taking some pills now so hopefully they'll help.  Luckily my bacteria seems to be dormant for now.

Well have a good week!

Love you!

Talk to you on Sunday!

Elder Smith

Robin's baptism (Robin is the one on the left)

Otilia and Marta

Drinking a bag of coke

moto taxi (see the machete on the right of the guy)

Sunset and storm clouds in Diriamba

  The rat we found dead in the shower in our Masaya house.

May 1, 2017

Hey Family!

  We had a great week.  It wasn't too exciting.  As always we taught investigators, converts, less actives, and looked for news.  

  On Thursday the mission's senior couple came to the zone and we went with them for the house inspections to show them around.  So we got to tour the zone in an AC car.  It was awesome.  Also our house was so clean we got four cookies (plus more throughout the day).  And they brought us sandwiches and pickles.  I haven't had a real pickle for like 20 months!

The people are kicking us out of the cyber because of the day of the workers here and everything is closing right now.  There aren´t any other ones open either so this is going to be really short.  SORRY

 On Friday the zone had interviews with President Brown and it was awesome.  It´s sad to think that I only have interviews two more times before I go home.  

On Saturday Moises got baptized.  He was excited and everything went well with his baptism and confirmation.  Yoheyli is doing great and went to church.  Her baptism is set for two weeks.  

  I´m kind of sick with a cough.  

  Changes are this week.  We´ll see what happens.  I have no idea if Ill have changes or not.

LOVE YOU

Sorry I got cut off!

Elder Smith

April 24, 2017

Hello Fam!

  I'll just get right to it I guess...

   On Monday night after pday ended we went to a family home evening with the family we've been reactivating (familia Bello) and almost the whole ward showed up (that may be an overstatement but there were maybe like 15 members there).  It was really good.  We shared a message of the restoration and after we played a fun game that everyone could participate in.  Also in that family is Yoheyli, one of our most positive investigators (the one that fell asleep last week and didn't go to church).  

   On Tuesday I had to go into Managua to renew my ID.  It was good.  We stopped at Pricesmart on the way back and I ate WAY too much (ice cream, a tres leches, chicken wings, a chicken bake, pizza, and fries). After that it was hard to even walk.  

   On Wednesday we had a pretty normal day.  It was kind of boring because of ward council and mission correlation with Elgim, the ward mission leader.  

   On Thursday we went back to Managua to do divisions with the APs.  It was really hot in Managua.  It was kind of a crazy day because they had to run some errands in the truck and we got to go with them.  It was really nostalgic to drive through San Judas again.  I realized that San Judas has been the area on my mission that felt most like home to me.  I love that place.  I worked with Elder Kendrick (we go way back, from the times of Masatepe).  It was good.  

   On Friday we got back from Managua and had District Meeting.  It was good as always.  Sometimes when we get a lot of missionaries together in the chapel like that though I feel like a babysitter.  It's ok though.  Afterwards we visited a lot of our investigators and made sure everything was good for Michel's baptism.  About his name, the spelling Maycol was given to me by the missionaries that previously taught him.   I didn't find out until I was filling out his baptismal record that it's actually spelled Michel, pronounced Michael (sorry if anyone got confused).  

   On Saturday we visited investigators and stuff and had Michel's baptism.  A priest that he works with baptized him and it was a good service.  And there was water and we didn't have to call the fire department!  

    On Sunday all of Nicaragua was watching the clasico betweent Barza and Madrid.  Go Barza!  Michel got confirmed no problem.  Also, an 8 yr old kid, Moises came to church with a member family.  He's been church enough and has had all the teachings for a while and we technically couldn't have baptized him for a while but the ward wanted us to wait until there was a better solution for him to come to church regularly because his mom doesn't support him too much.  Now that he can come with the member family every week to church we plan on baptizing him this week.  All of the rest of our investigators didn't come to church for whatever reason.  Yoheyli disappeared to the market and didn't come (but her family did).

   

    On Thursday the senior couple will be inspecting the houses in our zone.  I have a LOT of cleaning to do :/

  Well, I hope you have a great week!  I love you!

Elder Smith

Michel is the one on the right.  My smile is good because I got another missionary to do the cheek thing behind the camera.

Today we played soccer and in honor of Barza's victory we all wore our Barza shirts.

Also I forgot to mention, on Wednesday morning we did a zone service project and helped some members start building their house and digging their out-house.  It was awesome. 

  

Happy Easter!

April 17, 2017

Hello family!  Happy Easter!  Happy Bday Matt and happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

   

   This week was the semana santa (holy week) and it was pretty crazy.  There were a ton of catholic processions and they decorated the streets very elaborating.  There was also a lot of alcohol consumed.  The ward elders quorum had an activity on Friday morning where we all went to a baseball field and played.  It was awesome because everyone there knew how to play so we had a great time.  We could only stay for a little bit because we had to run over to district meeting after but we enjoyed it.  It started at 8:30 and apparently the guys stayed and played until like 2!  They were all sore in church yesterday.  Oscar went with his member father-in-law, and we had an inactive member come that we had visited in the week so I'd say it was a success.  Also a couple other people brought some non-member family.

   This week we worked a lot with Maycol and he is getting baptized this week.  He went to church and is doing awesome.  

We also worked a lot with Yoheyli and she was doing awesome all week until Sunday where somehow she was asleep for church at two o'clock and didn't go.  I guess Sunday naps exist in Nicaragua too.  But all of her reactivating family went (like 8 people in total).  On Saturday Yoheyli's family made us cheese soup which was ok.  I thought about poor dad who had to eat soup his whole mission.  It's hard to eat hot soup when it's 20 billion degrees outside.  And it made me really tired.  And then right after someone gave us food that we couldn't turn down.  And then that night after the member family fed us Mexican food where we had an appointment another family called us and told us to come over and gave us another dinner.  Which we couldn't exactly turn down.  I'm going to be so fat.

 We got our hands on a birth certificate and Brandon is only 8 so the ward will take care of his baptism.  

   We've got a busy week ahead of us... Tomorrow we have to go in to Managua to get our ID renewed, and we have to go in again on Thursday to do divisions with the APs.  Hopefully we can get home fairly early tomorrow so we can have some time to get out and work.  And we have house inspections coming up and we have A LOT of cleaning to do.  A LOT.  But it's ok.  

   Today for Pday we played soccer with some Elders from the zone.  It was ok.  I went to the artisan market to price out some stuff I'm going to buy for you guys.  

   For Easter I didn't really do anything spectacular but I did take a picture with a picture of Jesus in the street.  I'll send that.

   One thing I've enjoyed about Easter here is that the Easter bunny doesn't exist, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the true meaning of Easter, and the resurrection of the Savior.  I'm so grateful for Him and what His atoning sacrifice means for me, the opportunity I have to be clean of my sins and have the hope of a resurrection and Eternal life.  It is truly a blessing.   In Elders Quorum yesterday we talked about a story of a prominent leader of another religion who asked (at the time) Elder Hinckley why we don't have crosses on our temples if it's a symbol of Christianity.  The response was that all of us members of the church are the symbol.  The way we live should represent Christ and show our belief in Him.  

  I love you and hope you have a great week!  

Love,

Elder Smith

p.s.  We have seven member families assigned to feed us dinner one day of every week so every day we have dinner with someone.  A special food they have is fermented jocotes (fruit) in a sweet sauce.  I think it's gross.

It's too hot

April 10, 2017

 It's getting to the hottest part of the year here and I'm starting to feel it.  Luckily Masaya is relatively cool but just relatively.  It's nice because the people are really generous and always see how sweaty we are and buy us soda.  The only problem with that is it's making my gut huge.  There are days when we're gifted 10 sodas.  But it's ok my shirts still fit me.

 

   On Tuesday we had multizones in Managua.  As always it was awesome.  We learned a lot about making commitments, listening to the spirit, goal-setting, and faith.  Me and Elder Guzman had to do a 35 minute workshop on commitments and verification with a couple groups of missionaries after President Brown talked and it went well.  Afterwards the bus stopped at McDonalds and I got a triple bacon.

   This week was good.  It was a bit frustrating because we spent a lot of time teaching all the new people we found last week and when Saturday and Sunday came around most of them already knew they weren't going to go to church.  And most of those that said they were going to go on Saturday had some sort of excuse when Sunday came around.  But Maycol (another possible way of spelling his name) came, and so did Yoheyli (pronounced johaylee).  Yoheyli was a reference from a member in another ward.  Yoheyli works for the member and all of her family is inactive.  So we visited the family at their very humble home on Saturday and on Sunday like six members from the family plus Yoheyli came to church.  It was the first time they've come in a LONG time.  

  The bishop told us about a kid in the ward that just turned nine (so we'd have to baptize him now instead of the ward) so we went to the house and the mom claimed he was 8 and not 9. But the records say he's 9.  So we went back and now the mom is double checking because she's not exactly sure how old the kid is.  So if it turns out he's nine we'll have a baptism pretty soon.  Maycol is doing well, he read a lot of the Book of Mormon and knows he wants to be baptized.  He's going to do it on the 29th of April.  

   Elder Guzman got a package from his mom with a lot of typical Honduranean foods including special flour to make baleadas.  They turned out awesome.  

   This morning we borrowed some baseball gloves from a member and played softball with the zone.  It was really fun but we destroyed the softball so I had to buy the guy a new one.  Unfortunately the softball also got thrown into the big poo canal that's on the side of the baseball field.  But we cleaned it off in the dirt. 

   Also I've had a bad cough this week.  I'm hoping it doesn't turn into bronchitis again.  

LOVE YOU!!

Elder Smith

Earthquake, consejo, and conference

April 3, 2017

Hello family,

  We had a really good week!  This week we found a ton of new investigators, got a ton of references, had leadership council in Managua, felt a big earthquake during leadership council, and of course, got to watch conference. 

   This was probably the busiest week with investigators I've had my whole mission!  We have our old investigators, some that we inherited from the sisters and a couple new families that we contacted this week.  So our agendas were full most of the days.  This week we had a very good lesson with Damaris (the investigator with cancer).  Damaris was having a particularly hard day. I could see the Lord's hand because it just so happened that I was doing an exchange with another Elder who's Dad recently passed away from cancer so he was able to comfort her greatly and then we gave her a blessing.  She ended up going to conference with her husband and loved it.  Also we're still working with Oscar and Margarita, and Otilia, and Micowl (or however you spell that guys name), and a guy named Johnny, and a lady who looks like a pregnant nica version of Katniss.  

   Leadership council was awesome.  We talked a lot about goals.  And the earthquake was cool.  It felt like someone was lifting up one side of the bench in the chapel a little and setting it down again.  

   For conference we got to listen to it in English in the AC so there's not much more I could ask for.  I loved all of the talks but a couple that stood out to me were President Nielson's about how to have the power of Christ and I loved how he said when talking about the atonement we shouldn't use catchphrases because what really matters is that it's what Jesus did.  It's not just it's own thing.  I also loved the talk that was addressed to investigators on Sunday afternoon and the one about the guy who's wife wouldn't marry him despite his job and good looks.  And I really liked Elder Bednar's in priesthood session, and all of the ones about the Holy Ghost and the family. 

   Today we went to the volcano again.  I had to go to show the new people in the zone how to ge there and stuff.  You could see the lava really well today. 

   Many people have asked what it's like having a latin comp now and if my spanish is getting better.  It's awesome having a latin comp.  He works really hard and can connect really well with the people because there's no language barrier at all (even the gringo with the best spanish in the mission has a language barrier).  My spanish has actually gotten a bit worse because I've got a cold and my voice cracks with almost every word I say.  It's super annoying and nobody can understand me right now.  My grammar is about the same right now because I only have a bit more than a week with him after all.

   Have a great week!

   I love you!

Elder Smith