1.9.18 Siquijor

Hellloooo people this is Elder Smith coming to you again second time for 2018. Got a lot to report for this week so buckle up its gonna be a ride. hahah first of all about the subject ye got the call last night im staying in siquijor for one more transfer at least so im pumped, and even crazier news is that i have a new companion, and an old one? hahahh ye we got elder phippen comin in hes my provo batch and elder briones is staying also so we will be a trisome this transfer haha pretty wack i know. But yea had like the best week of the mission yet had a lot of good stuff go down. We went from no IBDs(investigator with a baptismal date), to 4 in just this week and all of them are pretty legit and two of them made it to church along with two other investigators. We also had 6 of our 8 recent converts to church and one LA who returned after not being to church for over 30 years. Lots of miracles in the work and we were so happy with our church attendance and we love teaching right now especially the girl i talked about last week, sister Liezl. Sister is 26 and has a 5 year old daughter. She will recieve a her doctrines degree this spring and is also teaching at the university here. We got punted from our last two appointments after the baptism of sam-sam on saturday and Sister Liezl was planning on coming but she couldnt make it so we went to her. The lesson was about fasting and it was awesome, and first off like every other of our lessons we asked if she had any questions because she reads everything we give her, and she asked us why Nephi killed laban... hahahah we havent even given her a BOM! my goodness she downloaded lds library and she had already read through chapter 5 of 1 nephi so awesome. she had also read about President Monson and watched some videos hahah she was really teaching us. But yea that was awesome and she fasted with us and went to church and took pictures of my lesson on the board hahah. another blessing was that we had a former ibd return to church and she came up to us with sister liezl after church and asked if they could have their baptisms togehter hahah. i love this work and we were so blessed this week and the pool of investigators we have is pretty legit and i cant wait to continue our work here. I love you all so much and sorry the email is really long but im super happy. heres some funny stuff so this whole transfer Elder Briones loves to be funny with everyone we talk to and after they make a confusing face probably wondering how i know how to say "hi" in bisaya, Elder briones confirms to them that i am an uging hahah (albino fillipino). almost err one knows its not true after i talk for awhile or they look at my face hjahah but last week we were talkin to a nay and we made it through the whole lesson and she still thought i was from Siquijor hahahahhahah. yea word of the week start calling your fellow work mates or freinds or even a random person on the street an "ugging"(OO-geeng) and see what they do ahahha. Thanks for you all love you all gihapon and press forward in faith

so one of these pics when the zone leaders came here last week, then me in front of the signnnnn, and me in Elder b's fav shirt. and oh my hand yesterday from my 5 hour laba marathon monday because i thought i was leaving hahah.

-Elder Smith

 

 

 

1.2.18 Siquijor

Holaaa peopleee good morning or maayong buntag as they say it here. Ye we had a good week and some cool stuff happened and some even cooler stuff and some even not so cool stuff hahah. But yea Happy New year! 2018 only one year left! hahah jokes not really but we had a good new years here we went from having no food appointments every day to 5 in one day on new years hahahah so busoggg. But yea there were some fireworks but hahah we went to bed on time so we couldnt watch any but we did wake up from them hahah. But yea we had an investigator to church and she is pretty awesome and shes going to be baptized later this month. She let us know in our lest lesson that she was being persecuted by her mother but she then reaffirmed to us that she was going to stay strong and shared her testimony about the plan that God has for us and it was more like she was teaching me instead of the other way around. But yea shes cool and fun story i got another haircut this week and i didnt even tell him anything and he was already going at my hair. But it ended up the best one that i have gotten yet, which made me happy so i know who to go to next week. But then he got a little crazy with the powder brush thing and the next thing i know he is brushing down at my legs(and evertyhing in between hahahah) and sputtering off tagalog that i acted like i understood as i was slowly moving to the door. so yea sayang kaayo probably wont go back there but it was so funnyyy. man i miss duane. hahahh but yea everything else is good here we had some rain the past couple days and just recovering  hahah but hope yall had a good new year sorry no pictures this week kay walay claro ang computer shop but basin next week na lang. Salamat kaayo for your support and love and i love you all! John 15:13 is an amazing scripture go read it! Im out here for you guys never forget it! Love you all and press forward in faith!

 

-Elder Smith

12.26.18 Siquijor

Yooooo(thats for Tali)ooooo people good to see you again not really seeing but I have the faith that someone is on the other side of this computer screen reading this run-on sentence, and hopefully not literally behind this computer because its just a wall hahah. But yea I had a good week and an amazing Christmas. We were in Dumaguete for Christmas morning and district meeting and a gift exchange and let me just say i am stocked on pens for the next 20 years or so hahah. Then we had an awesome FHE on Monday night and had some good food my favorite fish things hahah yayyy. But then got to the best part of the week, calling the fam gahapon! hahah man it was good to talk to them and see their faces even if it was a little too close at times hahah jokes ra. But update on the fam: Tali is still smiling, cole is still wearing my clothes, dad is still wearing the flops, and mom might still be crying hahah. Loved seeing them though and hearing about whats happenin in the America hahah. Forgot to tell yall that we had an american family at sacrament on Sunday from Texas and they are on vacation here. so they had a party last night at Coco grove the nicest resort on the island in the penthouse hahah. We got off the elevator, and were in awe of evertyhing that we saw. The views were amazing and we had some amazing food and shakes and desert and entertainment(it wasnt me) and I even met Stevie Wonder.  Woah woah woah before you doubt me it was him, except he didnt have braids and he was filipino hahah. But seriously they had their own piano player and he was blind and was playing the whole night. He seriously could play anything they asked and he even sang and it was so good. I was amazed and then the Americano broke it down with Ice Ice baby with the beat from the keyboard so yea felt a little like home in the most weird way. But yea that was Christmas and I also wanted to say happy birthday to my amazing Mom yesterday. She is so amazing and I love her so much. She is so good at Softball and everything else and im grateful for her and everything she does for me and the family. Love the work here and love my mom and hope yall had an amazing Christmas.

Yo so somewhere in here theres a pic of Elder Briones on the streets of Larena, the many packages i recieved along with a giant nametag from my last comp( thank you for everyone that wrote/sent something to me i loved reading through everything and eating all of your treats and not thankful for the love handles i am also obtaining). Then some pics from the larena Christmas party and my sweet shades that we rocked for our presentation at the party;0. I dont know what else hahah.

Love you all

-Elder Smith