Too much traveling

June 5, 2017

Hi family,
   

This week was good but I felt like I spent a lot of it traveling.  On Tuesday we had a leadership training in Managua with all of the DLs.  It was good and as always I got to catch up with a lot of old friends and comps.  The training was good but the AC was out in the church and it was horribly hot.  But the AC came back on towards the end of the meeting and saved us.  The worst part of the trip was the ride home.  We were on a tiny microbus and I had the worst seat where I was surrounded by a ton of people packed like sardines in the bus that were squishing me into the window to make room for more.  In the end, there were between 35 and 40 people in a bus with 20 seats.  It was aweful.  Also the bus we were in only took us to jinotepe and we had to take another bus to Diriamba.  By the time we got back we only had time for 1 appointment.  
   

On Friday I taught district meeting, and then Elder Smith and Santamaria from la Concepcion came and we did divisions.  I worked with Elder Santamaria who is fairly new on the mission and we had a good time.  
  

 Last week since so few people came to church out of so many committed we worked a lot on how we teach the Sabbath Day as a commandment and we taught it a lot more boldly and directly this week and it helped us.  Elim and Anyelka came and took their less active brother.  Also Flor and Priscila came again.  
  

 In church we had a cool experience this week.  We've been teaching a woman that has been inactive for 2 years named Maria Victoria.  She came to church yesterday and loved it and even bore her testimony about how los gemelos Elder Esmit (the Elder Smith twins) have been helping her.  It's funny because the day I found her I was on divisions with another Elder Smith and she never realized that Peterson was a different person.  Anyway, an investigator of the sisters, German, has been looking for someone to rent him a room for cheap so he can move away from his ex wife and be able to get baptized.  Yesterday he fasted for help since if he didn't find anyone this week he'd have to move to Costa Rica or something.  He felt impressed to ask Maria Victoria after the meeting if she knew anyone who could rent him a room in their house and she has a room that she's willing to rent out.  So due to a culmination of things that God has been preparing for over two weeks German's prayers and fast were answered and now he's going to get baptized on Friday.  Since he'll be living in our area now it will technically be our baptism but obviously the sisters did everything for him.  
   

On Saturday we'll have a visit from Elder Renlund and we'll get to hear from him for a couple hours.  It should be awesome.  Hopefully it has something to do with a temple here in Nicaragua.  That's what we're praying for at least.  
   

As far as investigators, Elia and Nelson are still very positive whenever we pass by but for some reason they just haven't been coming to church.  Flor and Priscila and Elia and Anyelka are doing awesome.  Also We're teaching Flor's brother-in-law, Marvin who's progressing well but was sick on Sunday and didn't come to church.  
  

Congrats on graduating Peyton!  I can't believe how fast time has gone!  When I left you weren't even a junior...

Have a great week!  Sorry I left my camera at home....

Elder Smith

Happy Nicaraguan Mother's Day!

May 29, 2017

Hi family!

  In case you were wondering, tomorrow is Mother's day here in Nicaragua. I wish that meant that I got to talk to you again  ;)

   This email might not be as detailed as last week because not much interesting stuff happened...

  On Tuesday we did divisions with Elder Mendez and Elder Cifuentes.  I worked with Elder Cifuentes who only has about three weeks on the mission.  It was good.  Unfortunately Elder Peterson was pretty sick and spent a lot of the day puking.  Luckily we were on divisions though so I didn't have to see it.

   With Elder Cifuentes we had a really good day. We only contacted four houses and in three of them we found families of two that we taught and in total found 6 new investigators.  One of the families ended up not wanting anything when we went back but the other two are still hanging in there.  

  We also made progress with a 16 yr old named Yasser that I found on divisions last week.  He has a fecha and was excited for church.  But for some reason didn't show up and we still don't know why.

   So basically we committed a ton of people to church this week and felt really good about it and then Sunday rolled around and kicked us in the butt.  We passed by for everyone in the morning and with a myriad of horrible excuses everyone hid from us or just refused to go to church.  In the end only three people came:  Flor and her 8 yr old daughter priscila.  Flor is awesome and comes to church all the time but is working keeping a few commandments that she's struggling with still.  Also, a lady named Mariel came to church but she can't get baptized until her partner comes back from Canada for them to get married.  So it's just a waiting game with them.  I don't really know why nobody went to church this week, we'll find out tonight when we pass by for them.  It was really frustrating though.  Oh well, the work goes on. 

   Yesterday at 4 there was a stake mission activity where every ward had a couple boxes of Books of Mormon and a lot of members went out with the missionaries to the houses near the chapels giving out Books of Mormon and taking information for us to visit them.  We got ten references from the activity so hopefully it turns out positive.  

  The family reunion sounded like fun. I'm jealous I missed it but at least it's the last one I'll miss!

Have a great week!

Love you!

Elder Smith

We built a fence and I juggled mangos

May 22, 2017

Hi Fam!

  This week was very eventful.  

  On Monday after pday ended we went out and found a cool family with good questions.  Most of our other plans fell through though.  

   On Tuesday we did divisions and I worked with Elder Smith.  There are currently 4 Elder Smiths on the mission (I'm the most experienced and by far the coolest don't worry) but the one I worked with is the one that was my comp my last change in the office.  It was great to catch up and hear all of the stuff we got used to like questions like: Is everyone in your church named Elder Smith?  Are you brothers?  Are you Elder Smith because you worship Joseph Smith?  Of course the answer to all of the questions is "no".

   Then on Wednesday we went to the church in Jinotepe for multizones.  There were about forty missionaries there and we learned about how to better teach the restoration and how to improve our Love, Faith, and Humility and how to better our prayers.  To help us with prayers and faith, President Brown assigned us to study Enos in personal study for the next three weeks so I've read it like five times this week so far.  I really like it and I'm pulling stuff out I didn't catch just reading it once.  I invite everyone to thoroughly study Enos.  

   After the multizones we got home and visited investigators. 

  On Thursday morning we had a planned service opportunity with the Catholic mom of a recent convert in the area.  We built her a barbed wire gate between her house and the fence.  It turned out pretty well for two people that have no experience in pounding staples into barbed wire to attach it to little sticks with one crappy miniature hammer.  It probably would've taken a nica an hour but it took us all morning haha.  But hey you get what you pay for right?  We were getting pretty fried so we asked the lady if she had hats or something to protect our faces and necks from the sun and she really pulled through.  She came out with two really stylish womans sun hats.  We looked FABULOUS!   

  Then on Thursday night the ward had an "open-house" activity where members and investigators came and there was an emergency preparedness demonstration and a family history workshop thing.  I showed the family history coordinator the 9-generation chart I carry around and she freaked out because it is so complete.  So she borrowed the chart and used it for her presentation to show people what their family history can look like if they are diligent for several generations.  

  On Saturday night we had another ward activity that was like a talent night thing.  It was pretty aweful honestly with iffy dances and sing along stuff.  Dad would've hated it especially.  They were frantically scrambling for more stuff for the show so I volunteered to juggle but there were no balls or oranges or lemons or anything to juggle so I had to settle for mangos.  It worked out though and I nailed a couple of my classic tricks (under the leg, around the back, off the head etc).  I don't think the nicas had ever seen that kind of stuff outside of cartoons before and they liked it.  Then we went to an appointment really far away in the dirt road poor part of our area and the family wasn't home.  And right when we were there the light went out. I was a bit nervous but we made it back into the city and visited another guy. Then it started raining really hard and the lights came back on.  By the time we made it back to the house we were soaked to the bone and my planner was soaked.  Luckily I had my scriptures in a bag and my camera survived.

  In church we had a gay named Marvin, a guy named Carlos (both are family of some recent converts that we're teaching) and a new lady we found last week named Andrea.  Unfortunately there were four investigators that went to the talent show but not church.  They think that if they go to a church activity they're good to not go to church or something.  We're still working hard with Elia and Nelson.  They're super cool, just waiting for a divorce to come through so they can get baptized.  Also Elim and Anyelka, but they didn't come to church. 

   Today pday was cool, we went to a field and threw the frisbee around for a bit then slept a bit then went with the Hanson's  and ate lunch.  Catching up with Elder Hanson and eating with his fam was awesome.  They're legit.

 Anyway, I hope you have a great week!

Love you!

Elder Smith

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

.

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.