136 days left

Hey momma 

So this week has been the busy week of preparing for transfers. Its been easier since i have an apprentice. hehe He is really quick to pick things up so its nice.

We are having a nice family home evening tonight with the Lafave family. they are cooking us burritios!!! im so excited!!! 

I am super excited to leave the office this week. i still dont know where im going. i will let you know next week. 

So i have my first date set up.. Its with my friends (Elder Johnson) dream girl. I come home one transfer before him so maybe i could steal her from him.. hehe jokes lang.. The whole point is to make her like him so much that she wants to make him her asawa. well it should all be great fun, but its in a while.. so i don't really care that much.. 

ive been taking more pictures for you so hopefully i can send them now. im really sorry that i haven't sent them yet..

well i really have a hard time conceiving the thought that Tyler has a car, he is done with high school and he is kinda growing up... he is still a baby.

So i asked President Andaya for an ecclesiastical endorsement. he said he would be happy to do it. you just need to make sure that the online portion is done. im still soooo excited to go to school. to start that portion of my life. Its going to be so different when i go home..

I also have a question for you all.. how is your scripture reading? i miss hearing about that. Make it sure that you update me with cool insights that you receive and stuff.

So i think that the transfer will be pretty smooth. i really have not had much stress as of late. its nice.

I will definitely miss all the office people. Especially my companion Elder Rivera. He is super duper cool. 

Well i love you lots..

Love elder smith

143 days left

Hello mum. 
So This week was ok, we were able to visit some Less-actives and investigators. Johnathan is having a hard time right now... 

We are trying to teach the wife of a recently active member... she is so shy and is having a hard time facing us.. she will just hide in the back room while we just end up teaching the rest of the family.. we are turning her over to the sisters now..

So during may, the Catholics here do this little parade thing every week. I'm not sure why, but i think they do it to collect money. Anyways, i was finding in an area that i had never been in, and while we were walking away from a house, we got bombarded by the small Catholic childrens. they all carry candles and big kite looking crosses and sing chants and i think ask for money. So we ended up waiting in one spot for about ten mins for them to pass.

other than that, the week was pretty smooth. church was nice. I have one more week until im out of the office.\

These next two weeks might be stressful cuz we are trying to do a new transfer system. We will just send all the missionaries straight to the area now instead of having the actual transfer meeting in tacloban. I think this is what all the other missions do. im kinda excited for the new thing..

Today we had sports fest!! we played football basketball and 4 square.. i had a lot of fun. we had a bunch of people show up and it was a blast. We played bball missionaries vs ward and we won by one point.  You ever heard people call kobe the black mamba? well they all started calling me the white mamba...Just kidding. Im still really bad at basketball. So i took a video of me dunking a softball sized basketball. its pretty sweet. thats pretty much all i can do. i still white-bread. My cast is still soaked and its really annoying, but its life. I will get it off on June 5.

 So we asked around about making a suit. and they said it would be around a 100 bucks. That would be cool to do.

well i love you all

Lvoe Elder Smith

Is your investigator Jonathon not going to get baptized before you leave? 

I dont think Jonathan will be baptized before i leave...

What'd you do for you pday today?

refer to email

Is the black wearing off of your cast?

Well the original cast was white.. we spray painted it black. and yes it is coming off.

You mentioned that you love elder rivera...what is it that you love so much about him?  why/how is he obedient that some others don't/do do?  (haha I said dodo)

He is just a really good friend and a great missionary. its hard not to love anyone who is like that..

I'm prolly going to send one more package to you before you come home...a little one...what would you like?  I like when you give me a list of stuff.  

As far as the package goes, maybe it would just be better to load my card for souvenirs and what not... i can wait till i get home for more stuff..

Best thing that happened this week? 

best thing was going to Talosa for apartment checks. Elder Rivera is the apartment manager and we went and checked an apartment. we then got invited to eat food at the church and it was fun.

164 days left

Hey mom, i love you. so last week, we were invited to play basketball with the ward on Monday  it was so fun. i owned some people like usual and then got owned myself. So i slipped on the painted box inside the key and fell and cut up my knee and stuff.. you know the usual street ball fun. i really loved playing with the ward members. it was just like i was playing with my friends and family from my own ward. then after that, me and some other missionaries threw the old pig skin around. it was a blast. So my training with Elder Muñoz is going well. he is a really bright kid. He will do this job well. just one more week till im out of the office and into the sun. cant wait. this upcoming week we have zone meeting, and then zone conference. they are always fun times. great revelation times. 

so last night at our office dinner, i was talking with one of the senior couples here and she told me that she majored in botany. And grandpa harrison was her head teacher person. it was really cool. her name is ani maxfield. from washington.

I love you muchly!

Love Elder Smith

So to answer you questions. 

What cars do you drive?

We as the office staff have 4 cars. two vans and two trucks. we all have our licenses so we all take turns.. so assigned driver.

My fav thing about Elder M. 

He is wicked good at drawing! \

What is the oddest thing that happened this week?

uhm...not sure about the oddest thing.. lots of odd things happen but none come to mind..

what can't you wait for when  you are out of the office?

i cant wait for taco bell. i cant wait for sunlight. i cant wait for regular missionary hours.. etc.. hehehe 

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.