3.6.18 Carcar

Hello people comin to you again week two in carcar and its good. Ye the work here is awesome love my comp. Ye my comp is from Kentucky and lived in utah for a sec too but yea super awesome and the members here are amazing gihapon. We had a baptism last saturday and it was my first one at night because we probably wouldve been eaten by sharks if we did that in Siquijor. but yea it was super awesome and we look like we will have  a lot more to come but we will see. Felt the spirit strong a lot this week and tried to testify to everyone we taught. I really felt last night as we taught the first vision that this is the truth! This really did happen. Joseph Smith saw and heard exactly what he said he saw and heard and I am happy i get to testify of that every day. Sorry not too much this week but lots of pics. press forward in faith.

 

 

Ye so some pictures from back in Siquijor miss my buddies but if you can figure out what the name of that resteraunt means ill give you a peco ahhah. Then here in carcar with Elder Mortenson at Macdo and some other places and also a picture of the baptism. oh and that little girl is dambo from siquijor hahah she looks like an old lady with her glasses hahah love you all!

 

-Elder Smith

 

2.27.18 Carcar - New Area

Hello people! hahah good to be comin from you from Carcar! The land of Cebu and my first week here was so legit! But let me just say im lookin at these pictures i sent from a couple weeks ago and i think all of you have realized by now that im fat hahah so yea. But yea my first week here was awesome i got to know some members and even got to speak in sacrament which was a little different. Hahah yea i went from 40 people to church to 140 real quick and i was a little nervy to give my talk but it was alright. oh yea and we had 5 inv to sacrament hahah so awesome and that was without the usual three that couldnt make it. two of which it was there first time. I was told the story of this man, who has gout and severe arthritis and three weeks ago could barely move. he told me how three weeks ago he was on the verge of taking his life. he told me of how he has no money to feed his family  and how he still goes out and finds recycled water bottles and sells them to buy rice for his family. I was able to visit him one time before last sunday and somehow he was able to come to church along with his family. I am so grateful for his effort and he is an inspiration to my life in everything that he does. I walked into a pretty good place here and we are planning to have a baptism this week along with another the next week. I am so grateful to be here in this place and i already love the people. Sorry i lost my picture thing but yea last wednesday Elder Ransband came and he said some amazing stuff but unfortunately he was late. so we were told to go out and work in teh city! i went out with my new comp elder mortenson and my trainer elder Ranon, who was hours away from going home. it was a super cool experience and we got to teach a family and even took some kdis to the temple. so grateful for all of my blessings and i do know that God has a plan for everything we do here on earth. even if you think you cant make an impact on something very big, i am telling you that no effort is too small. i love you all and hope i can get some pictures to you next week. Press forward in faith.

-elder Smith

 

2.13.16 Siquijor Pictures - last pday in Siquijor

Hello people sorry I'm getting to you late... or early??? hahah but yea what a good week here in Siquijor. So yea let me just start off by finishing the story last week. We did sit it on a class of Sister Liezl and let me just say... im not going back to school. Hahah I dont know why i was so excited but it was really cool seeing her teaching us instead of the other way around and shes really good at it. But she did grill us with some questions since we were the only non-fillipinos in the room about politics and yeae kinda lost my touch in the class room, i guess it doenst help that it was a family planning class. But yea the baptism of Sister Camela was awesome and even better that her Father tatay Carlos was able to baptize her.The service was really and I think Camela was extra clean after she came out, after going under 8 times hahahh. We gave tatay a short run down of what he had to say and do before they went in but of course because im the tallest, i was the one volunteered to go out with them to witness it. The first part of it was a little tricky because its all in english and i kind of felt bad just interrupting him every time but i mean we did still have work to do that day hahah. So he got down what he had to say and every thing was good until he went all Jesus of Nazereth on her. ahahh for those of you that dont get it just watch the movie but yea instead of leaning her back, he pushed her head into the water so we were at it again hahah. But eventually he did get it and E Briones that he didnt get a baptism like that with so many more blessings. Hahah but yea the rest of the week was good a huge storm rolled in two days ago and we worked through it yesterday afternoon but eventually it got too bad so we had to get home. I was doing laba and i couldnt even Elder Briones beat-boxing from inside because of the rain and i almost got struck by lightning like im telling yall that this thing was like nextdoor and I was shivering in my boots(hahah). But yea today we went back to some of my favorite spots for my last P-day here on the island and it was funnnn hahah oi i almost forgot HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Just to let you know Elder B is my valentine pero dili mi bayut huh. Thank you so much for the support sorry this one was crazy but yea spiritual moment i gave a talk in church and I really felt something, repentance is such an amazing aspect of the Plan of Salvation and it should never be a negative part of our lives, because its there to help us progress. So grateful for the Savior and his example and his sacrifice that makes it possible for all of us. thank you all and press forward in faith! 

Pictures one of Liezel teaching(and my beautiful ankles), a couple of falls today and the highest peak in siquijor. And a couple from the baptism and me being super work and yes i stil worked in those same close i just smell like a sea breeze now hahah. i dont know what else

-Elder Smith

02.19.18 Last Day in Siquijor

hello people coming to you from my last day in paradise! yea got the call lsat night and im being traded to cebu and two new elders will be replacing me here in siquijor, i have no idea what my agent was thinking hahah. but yea we are off to cebu later today because Elder Rasband is coming to the temple to talk to all of us so i will meet my new comp there and see what happens. but yea i had a good last week here and yea dealing with my first cold of the mission, been coughin up a storm over the last week but i will survive, oh as long as i dont fall in love i know ill stay alive hahah. but yea leaving my two comps here and my new comp is an americano never met him before but he just got out of his training i think so yea. im going to miss all the people here so much, so hard leaving the people i have grown close to over the past 6 months but im excited for whats to come. yea sorry have some funny pics but they aint tryna load on and im crying while typing this because i reached in to grab something last night and my razor was facing up and i shaved off my finger hahah kinda hurts im gonna be honest. S/O to my little bro cole for his first date and dance last week wow never seen him dress up like that before, he mustve had someone to look up to in the style category hmmm who could it be... but yea sorry ill get back to you guys next week and yea getting through alma right now and the part when alma and amulek go out to preach the word and the stuff they say is amazing! they were some great missionaries! love you all so much and of course press forward in faith, in Christ.

02.06.18 Siquijor

Hello people this is Elder Smith coming to you from a computer lab somewhere hahah but yea we had a super good week here like way good. We had another good week teaching and finding and the best part was that we had 4 investigators to church! Everyone of our IBD made it to church which we were so happy about. Even this couple from Nabutay. which isover 45 min away and they were early to our 9AM start! So yea that was good and we had a lot of fun teaching people and one of the highlights came yesterday when we were teaching of our RC sister Dambo, am 11 yr old girl from Cebu who looks like she is 7 hahah she is tiny. We love teaching her because she always believes what we tell her and does what we tell her to, which in some cases can be a bad thing hahah. We were reviewing the Plan of Salvation and the Pre-mortal life and we asked her who lived there and she answered "Jesus and Heavenly Father... and Elder Smith" as a joke and we told her that was right because everyone lived there before they came here and that just confused her  hahah. She sat there for a ocuple seconds before Elder Briones came in saying, "yea i knew you before in the pre-mortal life" and she was just bewildered she didnt know what to think hahah and then he added a little more,... "and you were chubby" hahahhahahaha we were dying as she sat there just trying to take it all in. Her face was so awesome and she was totally serious like she believed everything Elder Briones said hahah so good. Also, we did a little back to school shopping and got us some companionship shoes from Prince(the only store on Siquijor). FOr only 200 pesos we got some pretty fresh adidas that could also be seen at your local Toys R Us back home hahah. But yea we are going back to school today, and let me just say this has been the most excited i have ever been for school. Later today we are attending a class and SSC, the class of Sister Liezl and we are so pumped hahah. We put on our disguise and we are lookin like your regular old students hahah(thanks for the old navy pants mom). But yea we have a baptism comin up this week and that is exciting and everything is looking up! Loving the work and even more the people, and even more the gospel. Grateful for every day that I get to progress and develop my faith in Christ. Love you all and dont forget to press forward in faith.

The pictures.... Wow from making my baseball glove to our ironing board, Mizuno does it all. Oh yea we took a trip to Dumaguete to the hospital for E Briones and his asthma is super bad so now every morning and night we are stuck watching him nebulize hahah and his fresh look today, wow gwapo. oh and our fresh kicks dont worry ill get some more up next week.

-Elder Smith

 

 

 

1.31.18 Siquijor

Hello people hahah good week here in Siquijor! Lots of stuff going on and we had a short week last week and struggled with only two days of full work but we got back at it this week. But yea highlight of the week was Saturday, the baptism of Sister Liezl! We drove across the island to get to this place before i realized that this was the first beach that i ever went to on Siquijor. This white sand beach and I got to baptize her and it was an amazing morning, and the best part was her testimony after the fact. She stood up and told everyone what she knew, and i am so grateful for the time she gave to us and how much trust she has in us. So then we were back to work and walkin everywhere because we might have been out of money hhahaah but we are okay now. But yea we talked to a lot of cool people and even had a lesson with this Lady that was Tagalog yesterday, so i practiced my three words that i know hahah but yea we are enjoying our time here and having lots of fun. Elder Briones is still telling everyone that we are ugings and im still going along with it so yea same old same old but little cool story from like two hours ago, i planned for us to go to our farthest investigator this morning and we thought if we were done by 12 we would have a ride back to Larena, 50 min away. We sat there for two hours with nothing coming and I was gettinga  little worried but I just said a little prayer and after several attempts to hitch hike in that two hours, this van stopped and they were going to Larena. Not too crazy of an experience but I just want to testify that prayer is a real thing, and the most important thing is that we offer what is in our hearts. We find a lot of people here that have memorized prayers and recite them to us and I feel bad for these people because they dont have the opportunity tthat I do everyday to talk to my Heavenly Father. Sorry there havent been any pictures but ill get some in this one. Love you all so much and am grateful for your examples in my life, each one of you are people i can look up to. Press forward in faith!

Hahah i dont know what order but theres a pic from the baptism. Elder Phippen got a little too excited when we were going out to work;) and a reaction from Elder Briones about his little accident. Also ELder Phippen grinding Peanut Butter with Relief Society. Dont worry i got good 30 min in grinding and ended up with one little cup out of the two gallons we made hahah. THen 0 to 100 real quick the little girls in the branch hahah i dont know what it else love you all!​

Guess it's optional to swim at baptisms.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.23.18 Siquijor

Helllooooo. Sorry peeps that I couldn't get to you last week but yea we had a good week here. This week we are in Dumaguete a lot and we had interviews a couple of days ago. Glad to say gihapon that our two investigators were interviewed last night and they both passed with flying colors. Sister Liezl, and Sister Camela are going to be baptized this week and next week hahah cant wait. But yea we had a really good week last week even on the days when are appointments fell through, we never had less that 6 lessons so that was really cool and then i conducted sacrament on sunday, and taught gospel principles, then the grand slam and taught priesthood also hahahah. but yea our branch is struggling and its sad but i think we have a lot of things to look forward to and our Mission President might have a meeting with us and the stake president tomrrow and im in charge of providing the problems of the branch adn what we can do, soooo hahahh pray for me. But yea President told me that he would love to keep me here next transfer but it isnt possible, so i will be leaving the land of no return which is a little sad but he also told me that there is a chance in the end of my mission i could make my way back here. But yea still doing good sorry now pictures again but im doing good. Sorry not a lot of funny stuff but i really do know that through Christ and faith in him, or hearts can be changed for the better. Love you all and love the suuport i get from you each and every week. press foward in faith. -Elder Smith