115 days left

Wow... Hawaii..... hope thats nice. Its prolly just the same as here. So im not too jealous.  I hope you are having a great time there.

So This week was fun. We traveled alot going to the other Elders areas for exchanges. They are so fun. We went to Calubian. SO Bukid. its Cebuano there. yeah.. i was sooo happy that i can still do everything in cebuano.. it took about an hour or so to switch completely but it was all there still. Its so cool. I really enjoy helping all the elders in my zone. Its a blessing that i am able to be with all these great missionaries. there are a few though that need help. Its a bit more rough helping them. it seams like some people go on missions to just be able to say they went. They dont have their heart in the work at all.

I am also super excited for Amanda to get here. it would be super cool if she was put in my zone. But unless they open a new area, i dont think it will happen. i dont think any of the sisters will be transferring. But we can always hope.

So today we had a sweet zone activity. we went to a less actives farm area and cooked some fish. Yum Yum! i will cook you some when i come home.

Well im excited to see you all in such a short time.

Until then,
Elder Smith

122 days left

So this week was  good. We had a funeral service that we attended almost everyday this week. We are doing work like a mad man. My area is beautiful. i will send a ficture.. The one pic is a Tabili. its a lizard that lives in the trees. they like to bite..

129 days left

hey mom.

This week was a great one. Transfer week was soooo different. We are doing what the rest of the world does now for the transfers. Its nice but then again it was nice to have the transfer meeting and stuff. Now more than ever i have realized that im coming home in just a few months. We have been working so hard.

OH ok.. i guess i will tell you what happened this transfer. So as you know i was training my replacement in the office so its no surprise that i transferred. Ok so now the good part. On tuesday last week two days before the new mission roster was officially released, a sister ran up to me screaming that she knew where she was going. I asked her how she found out. she said that one of the senior missionaries had shown her the roster. The roster had only been given to the seniors... So she basically cheated.. hehee. Then she told me where i was going. She said your going to be a Zone Leader in Biliran! I was like "YES" That is referred to as heaven in the tacloban mission. i was so excited! i told some of the missionaries that i am close to, including one of the APs, who already knew... SO...the rest of the week went by and i was happy go lucky excited to go to Biliran. then the actual time that i got my OFFICIAL transfer letter came. I opened  it and i looked to my new area and then realized that that place was not in Biliran...... uhhhh.... it all of a sudden became REALLY awkward.... I looked up at the AP and he was just rolling on the floor laughing.... It was all a huge joke.... So my new REAL area is Capoocan (Ka-POO-O_Kan) Carigara Zone (about 50 minutes north east) as a Zone Leader. Im still pumped as ever, but it was just a different excitement. Anyways i have been working here in my area for the last few days. I love it here. There are six of us elders in the apartment. its a good time. 

Well i love you lots. until next time.

Elder smith

new companion's name..where from...how long out?

So my new comps name is Elder Sacay. He is from Cagayan de oro i will be killing him this july. His batch is with Jens going home.

how does your arm feel now? amazing?!

My arm feels pretty great! i love not having a cast in this weather. it was miserable.

Seen any cool animals?

The best animal i have seen are the puppies..( oh speaking of which, we got home last night and in the road just in front of our apartment there was a puppy that got run over. he was just laying there letting out just a tiny whine... his last breaths. soo sad)

Elder Rivera, Elder Cuevas, Elder Munoz, Elder McGuire, Elder Lucenta, Elder Smith, Elder Johnson

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..