171 days left

Hey momma! this week was a good one.. It was transfer week again. So we have a new AP. So the they are both pretty new now. so this week was fun trying to help them run the transfers and what not. Even with the crazy schedule that we have during transfer week we managed to teach some of the best lessons! Brother Jonathan is doing soOOOOOOo great!! He came to church again, still reads, prays and is doing so great with everything. i love him so much! i have been teaching him for about 6 months now. since back in November. He is progressing so well.

 

so the hardest part of the week was friday. Friday is the day when we have our transfer meeting, then the newly called leaders have a training then we(office elders) take the transfering missionaries to teh bus terminal with there luggage. so the schedule was really messed up for some reason.. as in messed up.. im not sure how it got that way but it did. so we started taking people to the bus station, and on one trip i was standing outside the car with my hand on the frame of the car. i was checking to see if there were anymore elders that were coming with us. So as i was looking, one of the Elders slammed the sliding door of the van shut. Little did he know that my hand was there..... i did not even know that my hand was slammed in the car until i tried to get into the car and i couldnt move. haha i started walking towards the driver seat and got jerked back cuz my hand was shut into the door. So once i noticed it, i freaked out! Thats when the pain came. i tried to open the closed door, but the door was locked. i told someone to run and push the unlock button and he didnt know how, so i ended up reaching over with my unpinned hand and pushing it myself. Then me and the five elders that were in the car tried opening the door. It just would not open! then finally with a final heave ho, it opened. To my surprise, there was no blood, No torn skin. I had a huge indent on the back of my hand. i thought that all the little bones in my hand were broken. it hurt somethin fierce. i could not move my hand at all. but we had to continue taking people to the terminal. so i drove with one hand the rest of the day. at the end of the day, i tried moving it slowly and then little by little it all came back. nothing broken, just a nice big ole bruise.

 

So also on friday, i went to the transfer meeting where all the new missionaries would find our there new areas and positions. So during this whole time i was searching for the one missonary who freaks out cuz he got assigned to the office but no one did. so i started to lose hope that i would get out of the office this transfer. I then went up to the APs and asked them if i was training my replacement and they told me that i would be in the office for 9 months. sigh... ok i will accept it. then president andaya came up to me and asked me if i had seen my new companion....WHOOOOHOOO!! so i found out that after this transfer, i will be leaving the office. so His name is Elder Muñoz. he is a small pino. i send pic later.

 

So this transfer will be nice..

Yeah, so thats about alll for this week.

Love you all

Elder Cdoggy smithman

 

questions:

 

in  your last email...what did you have to grab?

i dont remember what it was that i went in and grabbed, but it made it so we were on the street at the same time as her dad.

Do you have a trainee now?

Yes i have one now

What did you do for p-day today?

We played ball with the ward members. i scratched my knee.. i show you pics

What is the update about the wealthy girl?

She has been out of contact for a little bit... she was sick with a heart problem and wasnt able to be visited..

178 days left

Hey Mom.

This week was really great! We tried really hard to finish all our stuff in the office so we could go out and work. We taught so many lessons this week! SOme in waray some in cebuano and others in tagalog. i really enjoy that part of my mission. Elder Rivera is really good at teaching me Tagalog. He has even taught me some of his native language of Akeanan. (aklanon). 

So just an update with some of our investigators. This week we met with jonathan everyday! He is improving so much! One night we were late for our lesson and he thought that we werent going to show up so he prayed that we would show up cuz he missed us and then maybe an hour later, we showed up. The look on his face when we showed up. holy cow. it was really awesome! He is now PROGRESSING. he made his girlfriend move out so he could live the law of chastity, he doesnt smoke or drink anymore. he is reading the book of mormon everyday, and he is coming tochurch. his baptism should be on may 18. im really excited for that. This is the first time in my mission that the person actually stopped their "live in". He is doing great. 

We also have a new investigator. She is super professional. her house is huge! One night we were teaching her, and towards the end of the lesson her dad pulled up in a big ole car and got out and started yelling at us asking us what we were doing at his house. He was frustrated that she didnt tell him that we were teaching her. But she told us that she had talked to her dad and he said it was fine... so kinda scary. then the next day, we were finishing up work in the office and we walked out the door, but i had to go back inside and grab it (I'm on the edge of my seat...grab what?). so maybe five mins later, we left the office. we then went to the street to catch a jeep. As we were waiting, some big ole car pulls up and the guy says get it! we looked closer to see who it was, and it was her dad! he took us to the place we were going and then we talked with him and kinda gave him the rundown of what we were doing and what our purpose is. here is the cool part. the first time while he was yelling at us. kinda in mixed tagalog and english,  i looked at him and started speaking waray to him. he then was shocked and listened to me as i told him who we were and what we were doing. It really is a great thing that we as missionaries can speak to people in their own language. they are so shocked and then are super kinda taken aback. and then they want to talk with you some moe.. its really cool.

Well ive gotta go, i love you

Love Elder Smith

You mentioned that you were able to take all 17 new missionaries at once...how in the heck were you able to do that?

we took 3 cars and squished them all in.

"we ferried people to the bus station " usually when you say ferried...you mean boats...is that the case? 

no. we take missionaries by the bunch to the terminal in the car.

do you only get mail once a week? or do you get it everyday?  Is the mail system the same as here?

the supply goes one time a week. the system here is prolly the same system the US had in 1946. hehehe

did you ever get the christmas card? or ty's eagle invitation?

yeah i got those!!

keep in contact with elder ostler? or elder wood?

Not much.. i always forget to email them.

Anyone write you an email that doesn't normally?

sister Neilson did.. 

Are you on any medication?  just suffering through it?

I dont want to take meds or go to the doctor... its not that bad.

You mentioned last time that you will be there one more transfer?  when is the next transfer?  and are you starting to train someone yet to replace you?  what will you miss?  would you sacrifice all the goodies (ac...washing machines...dryers...food?)for regular ole' missionary work?

the new tranfer starts this week. hopefully, i get a trainee. im not sure yet... i will know on friday.

do you have a favorite hymn?

Yeah.. i have a couple.... Hie to kolob. Truth reflects upon our senses. isreal isreal God is calling...just to name a few.

185 days left

Hey Mom, This week ive been sick. yeah.. just on thursday i started feeling funny. At the night time i started to fever then i had the real bad runs.still till now.. then i was throwing up a few days but not to much. my fever was on and off but not to bad. I really have not been feeling well. anyways, We havent been able to work this last week due to lots of incoming missionaries. but i think i only have one more transfer in the office then i will be out! hahah it sounds like its a jail sentence.This upcoming transfer we have a record breaking 23 missionaries coming.

So i got the package. it was super great! as usual. all my friends are loving playing with all the great toys! the tie is really cool. i love you very much so much.
I howp your all doing the best.

Love Elder Smith

 

do you need anything?

nope im ok.

make sure you send me your id stuff...

ok

oh did you ever get that package? did you get your new debit card?

YEs great stuff. love you

198 days left

hey this is some free time that i have! So that's super cool that you are going to visit great grampa Smith.

 SO... I will tell you what happened for Easters... So as you know, the catholic church here is so prominent and huge. It dominates the smaller religions here. So They are so crazy, so evil,(in my opinion) so twisted in their logic, its almost sad. So i don't know if you know, but  at least here, the catholic people gather every Easters and celebrate the death of Jesus. Every "good Friday" they abstain from alcohol, they don't eat meat, and do other silly things. Everyone stays home and basically pretends like its the sabbath day. Like for example, all the stores close, people don't come out of the house, they just go to their annual church mass and go back home. One things that they do here that might be exclusively here is Human Crucifixion. The church chooses one member to take upon himself the role as "Fake Jesus". they in turn believe that by crucifying him, they are forgiven of their sins.SO, this man starts his journey by walking to the large catholic chapel, they then give him a whip and he then starts whipping himself. at one point they take the whip and give him something with shards of glass embedded into it which he then rakes his back with. After that, they give him the cross. he carries the cross until he reaches the large church. They then (2010 was the last actual) nail him to the cross for a period of time. They have people who are dressed as roman guards that watch the crosses. This year they had a man do all of that except the actual nailing to the cross. We drove by the catholic church as they were closing the roads to let the man walk to the church. We saw the three crosses put up and saw that they used a doll/dummy instead of the real guy. We took some pictures of some scary guys that the church uses to get money. They go door to door with no shoes knocking and then asking people "Where is Jesus?" they then ask for money. Some of the Elders that live in that area had them come to there house. This all takes place in Palo. its like Springville to Provo distance wise. so just a few mins away from Tacloban. I will attach some pictures. We weren't allowed to work on Friday, so we stayed home and cleaned the apartment.

Ok. well i love ya lots and stuff! Be safe of your journey to California!
Love Elder Smith

questions:

get the package yet?  do you like the tie?  do you like the treats?  what's your favorite? did you share with mulitple  people?

Maybe it will be here today, we will get the mails later.

what're you doing for easters?

Cleaning!!

what did you do this last week?

Lots of paper work! This week i get to drive the MTC president around. he is speaking in a youth conference.

favorite pday activity?

Prolly B-ball.. we were going to go golfing, but not enough people wanted to. so this next monday.

213 days left

hey mom, so nothing really new this week.but this last week was transfer week. on wednesday, we picked up the new missonaries from the airport. it was cool being able to pick all 17 of them up. when i saw sister nelson, it was wierd cuz she looked completly different than from what i remember.. haha it was kinda like a hey hows it goin.... then thats all.. we really didnt know each other that well...she got me confused with jensen cuz she didnt think that i had been out for as long as i had.. haha.. but apparently her little sister is really "Tight '' with Tyler.. so that was cool to find out. so we pretty much just hung out with the new missionaries on wednesday, then thursday, we had the newbie orientations. President asked me to make a PowerPoint presentation of my responsibilities. it was fun. i made it a few minutes before i delivered it.. haha..

 

then friday was kinda a mess. in the morning, during transfer meeting president texted us and told us to take his wife to the store so she could get cooking ingredients for the lunch. so we did, then went back just in time for the lunch. after that, we are supposed to take the missionaries to the bus station so they dont have to pay so much for their luggage. but we went to the hospital cuz elder mahoni was sick. He had a super high fever and stuff.. they diagnosed him with UTI..not fun. so after that, we ferried people to the bus station and then President called us and told us to come to his house after. He then served us some yummy ice cream. it was nice. then saturday we were able to work. it was also nice. we just went around finding people. knocking on doors, you know, the normal missionary stuff. We met a guy called kuki. we told him about the book of mormon and who we are and stuff and we set a return appointment for later tonight. we will see what will happen. We are especially looking to teach a family. We made a goal to find and baptize a family. i hope we can find one. it shouldnt be to hard...

 

Well thats about it for this week. hope you didnt get to many pinches... We had no idea it was st. patricks day. But yesterday was Sister Andayas birthday. We sang her a song. Also, i found a Tagalog childrens hymn book. its sooooo awesome!! all the child songs but in tagalog.

 

Well i love ya very much.

Love Elder Smith

questions:

in your last letter you mentioned that you had some scallops...you likey? or is that on your do not ever eat again. I LOVE them.

They were pretty good, not my favorite thing in the whole world, but i would try them again.

 also, you mentioned that you sang hymn # 58...did you sing it in english? or cebuano?

English... it was cool. we sang it in parts and did a staccato version for the second verse.

 

what's new in the office?

ummm.... nothing really... hehe

 

Newest bug or spider or lizard you've met?

im not sure... i will find one this week hopefully

 

Can you send pictures this time about cleaning the bukid? or anything?

yeah...... i totally forgot... i will send some to you.

220 days left

Hey mom, this week was pretty filled.. ill try to remember everything exciting thta happened. so last monday we played basketball. All the Zone Leaders came and it was super fun. tuesday, I had a meeting with the Mission Presidency. it was ok.. long and boring, but this time we went to Ochos. one of the nicest places to eat in all of region 8. It was super good. i had some scallops, some pork shishkabobs. and Lapu Lapu. a kind of fish in a marasa sweet and sour sauce. so wednesday was not really rememberable... (is that a word?) thursday, was....pretty much the same.. actually, the system we use was down all week so it was a really stressful time. i couldnt contact the people to arrange ticktets for the returning people and for the arrival people. so then friday we had a service project. We cleaned all of Basey. (Ba-Sigh) it is a small town in the bukid. we cleaned it all.. ha.. we did that with the zone.. i will send some pictures. then saturday, i finished all the paperwork and stuff to give to the new missionaries. it took a really long time to finish it. sigh...* but its all done now... so sunday was cool. we sung a special musical number in sacrament. it was pretty sweet. we are the next big thing.. we sung Hymn number 58. Come ye children of the Lord. then we had our staff meeting. thats about it... hehe oh on tuesday, we were able to visit our investigator Jonathon. he is doing ok... his GF wants to be Re-baptised.. we are going to teach her that she doesnt need to be rebaptised to be cleansed from sin.. its really sad that people that have been members for a long time dont know this. We are helping in a big way. teaching all the simple doctrine to the people of the mountains.. 
Well thats about it..

I love you
Elder Smith

questions:

How cool that you got to be with Elder Wood again!  When does he go home?  It must be pretty soon now if he was your trainer...what's the best thing about him?

He went home this afternoon. I took him to the airport and said my final goodbyes It was weird.  He was a really good friend. always helpful.

Funniest thing that happened this week?

i dont think you will think its very funny but i will try my best to make it sound funny for you. i was just talking to some elders as we were eating lunch i we were talking about something, i dont remember what, but we were speaking Tagalog and i said "Ganon Lagi" Ganon, is tagalog for "like, or is like this." and lagi is cebuano as an expressi0n.. like the word "Really" it was just so super funny cuz we were all speaking in tagalog and i mixed in cebuano.. i really dont think you would think its funny... but it was really funny. and the elders here in the office still make fun of me.

who said this...Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is a gift, that is why we call it present."

President Eyring???  funny boy...it was master  ugway from kungfu panda...but really I loved that you thought it was an apostle.

you know i really thought i heard him say that in one of his last talks...

So when are transfers coming?  Did you already pick up the girl you knew from school?

transfers are this week. i will get her tomorrow.

Have you given away any ctr rings  yet? and to whom?

yeah i gave them all away. to the cebuano missionaries  and to some people here in the office

Have you held any chickens?

naw... they are gross and have gross bugs and dirty stuff on em..

Have you seen anyone kill/butcher a chicken? or any animal for that matter?

yeah.. lots! i wish i would have taken pictures, but in catarman we baught chickens live and killed them and cooked em up.. I have learned lots of ways to kill and cook a chicken..

What did you do for pday today?

today i took care of all the departing missionaries and took them to the airport.

Teagan asks...what's your favorite food?

I love a dish called Becol Express. its super spicey and has beef, coconut milk, and green beans. and NO, i dont eat the green beans.. hehe

Owen asks:  What's your favorite meeting so far?

I have special access to all of the meeting of the misson, and my favorite one is Departure meeting. All the departing missionaries saying their testimonies and sharing all the cool experiences and stuff.. really inspiring. and motivating.

Kristina asks to translate a catch phrase..."thanks for nothing, you useless reptile"

ok haha.. Salamat sa wara, waray ka gamit nga buwaya.

228 days left

Hello Mom.

I think this was one of the funniest emails i have ever gotten.. hahahahahahaa i laughed so hard when i read about the cw class thing.. hahahahahahahahahahahahaha 

anyways,  this week was an ok week. Nothing really special nothing really bad to screw it up. Just yesterday, i found a book called putting on the armor of God-How to fight your personal battle with satan.. it is so good. i would recommend it. I have a whole new perspective on fighting temptations now. its so much easier now that i understand really the whole thing going on with satan and his minions. 

Well we went on exchanges this week. I went with my trainer elder wood. we are good friends. it was nice being able to hang out with him. They had a baptism that we attended. it was real fun. Also this week, they had a cluster meeting where all the church leaders gathered in tacloban and had a training from the area 70s. i like having the responsibility to pick them up. its nice to be with people who hang out with President Monson. They are real cool guys. Maybe Grandma has heard of Brent Nielson, from twin falls. we talked about that for a minute. it was fun being able to relate to someone. He is in the area presidency here in the Philippines.

So this next transfer, we have nine missionaries departing, and 17 noobs coming in. 11 of them being sisters. its gonna be fun seeing sister Nelson from my school. im also still super excited to see Amanda.

Well i love you lots and hope you have the best week in the world!

Love Elder Smith

How is your investigator Jonathon progressing?  how bout that one guy that had to get permission from salt lake.

He just told us that he had been drinking, so we are kinda just slowing down and making sure that he understands everything before we continue with the baptism. he should have his marital papers all lined up now so that shouldnt be a problem.. we will see.

Still have all the same people in the office? 5?

nope.... just four now. Me-Travel secretary, Elder Rivera-Recorder Elder Lucenta-Finance Secretary Elder Landingin- Supply Manager. then the two Assistants. but they dont count as office elders.

 Would you like a pedigree chart MORE than what you had in the mtc?

maybe just one with my grandparents line and up.. just to rule out that we are not related to Joseph Smith... hehhe everyone and their dog asks me....

We're going to register you for uvu for now...are there other schools you'd like?

Yea... basically the five biggest schools in utah... BYU USU UOFU Etc...

can you send home your sd card yet?

well i could, but i kinda want to save them so that i can just have one big narration party when i get home..

Package come yet?  I'm getting ready to send you another one...any little requests?? it's pretty full already...

Yes! it was great!! You just send me what ever you want.. hehe i will be so happy with whatever you send me :)

who said this...Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery, but today is a gift, that is why we call it present."

President Eyring???

you asked me a long time ago about missionaries in china...what have you heard?  I have heard some rumors but I have heard nothing formal or official...

I was just wondering if they are getting sent into china yet....