Monday, December 15, 2014

JOY IN SERVING and a few personal issues...oh boy


The work is moving foward! Great week with Elder Roque. Baptised little Carlito and commited another woman Karina last night to her baptism.  All is good.  This week in my first consejo de barrio, ward council, i almost died.  My stomach was literally killing me and i had to go to bathroom so bad but there was no toilet paper in the church bathroom.  then all the sudden i turned around in the bishops office and sitting behind me on a little table was half a role of toilet paper.  Haha i grabbed it said permiso to everyone in the consejo and bounced.  So embarrassing but i think im gonna be ok.  Anyway ive had diahrea since which stinks but i think im getting over it. haha the people here are so nice.  the members of the ward are such a big help.  Some families literally love the missionaries.  I kid you not a family brought us over to there house to have a slice of this kids birthday cake before the party because we couldnt attend the party.  They cut the cake early and watched me and elder Roque eat while they just sat and talked with us.  There nuts!  There so nice and willing to help.  Evrything we do is through the members and its amazingly helpful.  Be sure to go out with the missionaries to teach.  Members can make such a difference in lessons.  Please help me and pray for me in regards the spanish language.  Its so hard to help when you cant understand or speak very well. But i know its going to come.  Thankyou for all the prayers already love you guys have a good week!
Always
Elder Smith

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

CLARITY IS IN THE EAR OF THE LISTENER

"Hey guys i got an idea. when elder smith gets here lets all talk really quiet and fast and make sure theres a bunch of distractions during his lessons so he cant understand a thing" Im like 98 percent sure this was said in a town meeting of Pulcalpa before i got here.  O my gosh why cant everyone just speak with a little clarity!? ugh anyways ya Pucalpa, Centenario is my first area.  its the furthest south zone in all the mission which you´d think would mean the coolest as well... its not.  everyone calls it the inferno.  its the dryest heat in all the mission.  its rediculous haha but i love it.  our area/ward is Primavera and mi compañero es elder Roque.  Hes from Honduras and hes legit!  He knows everybody and they all love him.  Its so weird being just a little tag along at the beginning because i dont know much spanish and i dont know the area at all.  O ya and Roque speaks 0 english which is cool...  So ya planning and companionship study is pretty hard, but not too bad.  We live in a little outhouse on the same property as Pedro y Martha.  Theyre our pensionistas. There super cool and have a little dog named dokie who is the best! Theres a bunch of chickens on there property too.  its nice cuz we eat in there house so ours never gets dirty from food.  Our house is tiny but its really organized.  Of all the missionaries, at leat in pulcalpa, ours is the smallest.  i like it though.  just two little rooms and a shower.  the showers freezing.  You know how shower heads have a bunch of little holes for the water to shoot out? ya ours has that too except it only shoots out of like 6 of them.  haha it takes for ever.  Anyways about the week... so when i first left lima there were nine of us who went to iquitos.  We ate at the mission home and had a little bit of training and stuff and then everyone got companions and got to work.  However me elder Sampson and Elder Asmad were all in zones that we had to fly to.  Moyobamba, Tarapoto, y Pulcalpa.   So we joined other companionships for the night.  I was with Elder Overstreet and Carillo who both only had one or two tranfers left in there mission.  We taught two lessons and it was all good.  then we went to there apartment and there was only two beds.  i was trippin because this place was distgusting.  But then we found a waterlogged matress on there balcony so está bien.  Anyways the next morning i flew to Pulcalpa to get to work.  Its all been good so far.  everyone is so nice and gives us drinks and food when we visit.  a lot of the times the chairs are like 6 inches off the ground which is so hard to sit in haha.  i love it though.  In all seriousness this work is hard.  i am struggling with language but i know itll all come with time.  Yesterday was stake conference for all of Pulcalpa and the area seventy Elder Wadell came and reorganzied the stake presidency.  there were so many people there.  All of the missionaries were standing in the back packed against a wall.  Elder Wadell was legit though.  i could actually understand him because he was a white person that spoke spanish which was cool.  alot more clarity.  He talked alot about the priesthood and progressing and how all we do is to lead to the temple and eternal life.  So much more but i dont have much time left.  anyways all is good i hope all is well back home love you guys
Always
Elder Smith

Thursday, December 4, 2014

WELCOME TO IQUITOS



READY TO WORK


SWEET NEWS FROM IQUITOS

Dear Smith Family,

                I hope that all is well. Recently Elder Smith arrived to our mission. We are sending you a letter that he wrote today, some pictures and a letter from President and Sister Gomez. We want to let you know that he arrived safely and is very happy to be in the mission field. He will be able to write you on Mondays.

I hope that you have a great week.
Sincerely.
Elder Zamalloa

READY TO GO

What a week! Next time i email ill be in iquitos! thats legit, alright first the funny stuff.  so we took district pictures with presidente and his wife and two of the guys in our district made funny faces in them.  so they called our whole district into hermana gonzalez's tiny little office and pulled up the pictures.  she then zooms all the way in so there two faces are taking up the whole screen and our whole district just busted up laughing.  it was seriously the hardest thing in the world trying not to laugh.  and presidente and his wife are just drop dead serious.  it was so bad and of course it was my companion and were zone leaders so we have to talk to presidente alot which is now no fun and there not even going to hang our picture on the wall and we dont get a copy so its basically like we never came... haha but ya it was hilarious there faces were rediculous.  As of right now i am the reining champion in foosball and pingpong here at the CCM.  its whatever haha except for that presidente kicked my bum in pingpong the one time we played but the net was too high you know threw off my game haha hopefully i can play him again.  but ya the ccm is getting a little old.  im stoked to leave next tuesday.  Anyways the temple was amazing as usual. this was the last time ill be able to go probably for a year which really stinks.  But it was a perfect last time.  We had Two awesome devotionals this week from Elders Oaks and Holland.  Im sure we've all heard it, but i love this quote from Elder Holland "Salvation is not easy, it was never easy."  Our saviors task was never easy for him and we and doing His work.  why should it ever be easy for us?  this pumps me up to take on the trials that are ahead.  Elder Oaks talked about being instruments in the Lords hands. Being servants of the Lord.  That means we perform His work on His time table and in His way.  I love having the spirit so close to be able to help me with these things. Oh also me and another kid in my district, not my compañero, were asked to demonstrate teaching an opening lesson in front of all of the new latinos this last week.  LATINOS... they know spanish and were supposed to be helping them?   it was rediculous .  But ya im a little nervous about the language but then again nahhhh i know i dont know it as well as i think i do here in the ccm but if im nervous and going to be taken back then some of the other elders in my district are actually going to die because some of them know next to nothing.  it is crazy to think that they are going to be speaking fluent spanish in like 6 months.  Crazy but ya everyone says Iquitos speaks different than everywhere else.  supposedly they kind of sing/talk and also they speak with a different order to their sentences and they dont pronounce f's.  weird right? i dunno well see.  K sweet Next emails coming from the campo! the real deal! im stoked cant wait to get started! Love you all
Always
Elder Smith

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

HEADED TO IQUITOS

Sam will be flying to Iquitos on Dec 2.  I updated his address (to the right) for anyone who would like to send him a Christmas card!  Not sure how long a letter or package takes to get there, but after experimenting, we might have it down by next Christmas!  

TENACITY AND CHASTITY - WHO KNEW?

ook whats up eerybodddy??? whi duz evry1 keeep makiin fun of the way spel?? haha were pressed for time to write so i have to write fast no judging! anyways me and my comañero are now the zone leaders over half the north ameicans in the ccm which is cool but then again not really we dont do much. im not sure if i wrote home about this yet but its something we all need to know so gonna double check.. anytime you tell a latino your going to iquitos they do one of two things: 1st they fake fall over cuz of a heat stroke and tell you how hot its going to be or second they cover there eyes and scream "castidad!" (chastity!)  cuz apparently everyone walks around naked in iquitos. so ya thats gonna be sweet hopefully the missionaries really embrace the culture there. haha DAD i joined the choir! haha President Evans (head over all missionary work in the first quorum of the seventy) came to speak to us so they put together a choir and i totally rocked.  basically carried the team haha actually im not good we had so many good singers tho it was awesome.  we sang "señor te necesito" and it was so good.  president evans is such a good speaker.  so simple and so clear.  he spoke twice and in the first one he talked about tenacity.  weird right?  he said one night president Uchtdorf called him and asked about that word being a Christlike attribute which i thought was really interesting cuz it kinda seems alot like diligence but i dunno.  his talk was awesome he quoted President Holland who qouted an Olympic swimmer about how he became so good at swimming. he said "I kicked when i didnt want to kick. i stroked when i didnt want to stroke" such a good quote for missionaries.  In the second time he spoke he talked about repentence which was so money.  i wish i could write everything i have down about it it was so good.  but check out king benjamins speech in mosiah and look for scriptures on repentence there super good.  he talked about how we withdraw ourselves from the lord.  its not the lord moving away from us when we sin.  i think thats mosiah 2:36 not sure tho.  Has anyone seen Ephraims Rescue? awesome movie.  theres a quote at the end i want to leave you all with from President Thomas S. Monson. it says "when you have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to feel, you can reach out and rescue others." always remeber to serve love you guys have a good week
Always
Elder Smith

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

KEEP IT SIMPLE

ok ok ok so this week was sick.  Dad told me to tell about the life a CCM (spanish for MTC) misssionary so here it goes. wake up shower eat and then personal studying by 730.. grammer/spanish starts at 830 and thats mixed in with some simple lesson on the gospel.  usually at 11 we teach our first investigator.  This is the best cuz we actually are giving lessons everyday with our companions and its not scheduled out at all.  you just get two week for 2 investigators.. one morning and one at night and you just teach.  at twelve theres lunch and then we do this computer spanish study from 1 to 2.  2 to 3 is physical activity and then by 330 were companero studying or personal studying. 430 spanish again with other teacher and then dinner at 6.  then theres more spanish and our other investigator till 9.  then we plan for tomoro and then get ready for bed.  ya not very exciting but the teaching is going really good.  i think me and my comanion are the only ones to commit someone to baptism in our district which was sick. haha even is cool when its fake.  anyways the temple was great again today.  i had to lead around all the new north americans today while we were outside the ccm but next week well be on our own.  our new latinos in our room keep locking the door for some  reason and they locked themselves out the other night and were on the second story.  so we got a bench bullock (big marine kid) stood on it and i i stood on his shoulders then unscrewed the screen and climbed in through the window all just cuz we didnt want to disturb presidente.  mostly cuz he doesnt speak english so ya its hard to talk to him.  anyways that was cool.  o ya k so my teacher hermano granados told us this story about some guys who went to iquitos like 20 years ago.  this will probly seem like im making this up but its legit.  so some natives came up to this campionship and said there village needed help so the missionarys of course were like ok.  ended up traveling for 2 days down the amazon river to get there.  they get there and the natives tell them theres a giant snake that has eaten 4 of there people.  10 meters long and as big as a basketball rim around.  they missionaries had machetes and the natives gave them one rifle.  they circle the village for two days with a little native guiding them.  this was all in spanish but imma doing good at spanish so i think this is all right haha. anyways the snake some how swung down and smacked the little native breaking all his ribs.  this is where the spanish got confusing but all i know is the whole villege ate the snake for dinner that night so they killed it haha im not coming home till i have a story to top that. iquitos is gonna be sick.  we had a great devotionalk last night about how simple the message needs to be.  focus soley on the doctrine of christ and the spirit will do the rest.  it helps everyone here alot cuz all we can do is be simple here in spanish.  its humbling for me because i like to go deep but i love the change thats happening in my tstimony through the spirit.  ok im out of time but i love you all.  i got my email from speny but nothing from cj.... are you kidding me?!?! haha keep it simple
Always,
Elder Smith

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

TO MAKE DISCIPLES OF...OR...HACER DISIPOLES DE

holy benz you own!! I think the further i get away the better you race cuz every race i go to you dont do so hot haha so ya definitly a correlation in that. Anyways whats good??? All good here in Lima.  Today we went to the temple again.  then we went to Tottus, Metros, this little temple store, and garajes.  Garajes has sweet soccer jerseys for 20 sols which is like 7 bucks its rad.  i got guerreros jersey on the peruvian national team.  hes supposed to be awesome but peru kinda stinks at soccer so ya whatever its a dope jersey.  the temple store has sweet scripture cases and ties and coin purses that are super rad and then metros and tottus are like grocery stores.  the buses and traffic are so fun here.  basically trafic rules are dont get hit.  you seriously can just run across the street whenever.  and everyone just flies around and honks for no reason its awesome.  steve you were so right about the shower sandals.  there always still wet in the mornings so i picked up some sweet army crock thingys this morning to use for shower sandles and now the other ones are just comfy shoes haha.  also dad theres no choir here.  theres only like 130 people here total.  like 60 percent latinos and 40 percent americans.  and then one kid from england haha hes legit.  the north americans stay for six weeks and the latinos stay for two so we said bye to all the latinos we came with yesterday.  that was actually sad they all wanted to trade me ties and i was like nahhhh... just kidding i traded.  i love the latinos tho there so funny. this kid elder chacon used to yell out the window every night "I mees my yerlfreend ayudame!!" hahaha more of a had to be there moment but he was rad.  anyways to more important stuff.  PRAY.  my goodness is the ability to pray one of the greatest things the lord has given us.  Prayers have become so real. so essential for investigators and therefore essential for you. at first you realize how much you need the lord and your on your knees for 10 minutes begging him to help you and then all the sudden you get smacked in the face by a devotional from Elder Richard G Sott about gratitud and your on your knees for 10 minutes thanking the Lord for what youve been given. Theres so much to thank the lord for. I love it.  I love the scriptures the Lord really does speak back to us through the scriptures. you just gotta read. i loved being able to work in the temple before i left because i know exactly whats going on in the temple here even tho there speaking spanish. and is allows me to focus more on the spirit than the words. This temple is so cool. one srcipture I´d like to share that i thought was really cool is matthew 28:19-20  check the footnote on the word teach.  also in the spanish scriptures it says hacer disipoles de (i dont know why i cant spell disciples in spanish) but ya were not out here to only teach. were here to make disciples of others.  thats the issue here in peru.  you can baptize millions but its retention that is so dificult so they stress making diciples of investigadores.  anyways love you all speny if you dont write me im sending someone to take you out! Love you buddy
Always, Elder Smith

ADVICE FROM GRANDMA: If you eat every color of veggies - green, red, orange, yellow - you will be getting all the vitamins you need. Also fish for protein, bananas for potassium and nuts - walnuts, almonds - for all sorts of good things. What kind of fruit do they eat?



awesome grandma thankyou! all the fruit is really similar but they have this one fruit called granadas (i think) there so good! they look like little frog eggs inside of an orange peel haha you have to google them.  love you!



Wednesday, October 29, 2014

VOLLEYBALL FAMILY FOR LIFE

tell mama anselmo shes the bomb love this family.  wish cole and ryan best of luck in their seasons

CRISTOBAL HAS A TWIN

so that b-12 stuff ehh? doesnt work! im the only one with bug bites in my room and i was so sick for like the first 4 days here. whatevs ill keep taking it.  the food is great tons of rice, chicken and wierd pastries.  the jellos really good tho.  my compañeros name is Elder Sampson. hes the kid i met from st george in the newport temple.  hes super tight easy to get along with really good at basketball.  gosh i wish i could play basketball.  kinda strange stories but ive definitly felt twice already the lord tell me not to do any basketball or soccer.  which stinks but anyways im the district leader so thats cool.  i had everyone share there conversion/testimony/why you came on a mission story last night and all the elders got super real and everyones really close now.  its awesome.  the teachers only speak spanish so no one really knows whats going on and they all look to me because i know the most spanish somewhat.  but ya classes are cool the devotionals are amazing.  a seventy came and spoke to us last night and it was so good.  were tuned into the devotionals from provo mtc as well.  elders nelson and cook spoke to us and they were fantastic as well.  today was pday.  the temple is tiny but super awesome here.  im glad i went thru the temple so much because i can just listen to the spanish and still know whats going on.  we squeezed a zilion people on a bus to get there.  its so much fun. evrythings crazy cheap here too.  i forgot my knee brace at home but apparenty theres a mail strike going on down here right now so ya dont send anything till i get to the field.  sundays are the best days here my branch president is so rad.  its weird i feel like i know everyone here from back home.  like little traits of people remind me of everyone back home.  literally the white version of cristobal sleeps in the bunk next to me hes awesome.  ya ummm theres more i wanted to write but i dont really remember right now so love yall cant wait to see you in 23 months and 3 weeks whoop whoop!
always, Elder Smith

LOVING THE LATINS

holy Esmeeeet!  dad the latinos here are seriously the bomb! i love talking to them.  its helps my spanish a ton and there actually super cool kids.  the spirit here is unreal i get the chills/ feel the spirit haha everytime I recite the first vision in spanish its amazing.  singing in spanish is awesome too.  tell T i use the mini spanish hymn book she gave me every day.  its perfect.  Hope alls good at home tell speny to write me or smack him upside the head!
Always, Elder Smith

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

IN TRUE "BALLER" STYLE


AT LEAST WE KNOW HE GOT THERE...


its all good in the hood! travel was nice. 
elder smith