07.03.18 Carcar

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Yo people what up Im doing good shempre sorry probably dont sound like a missionary any more hahhaha. I am really good!! I love the work so much and I realized that it has been awhile since i talked about the people or what is happening in our teaching and stuff. We are doing very well and one week down in the trisome of the century with the zone leaders. I was lucky enough to tag along to their leaders meeting the past couple days and we got some news hahahha. Elder Ellis, the aussie from down under will be leaving in middle of this transfer to become the next assistant to the President so yea we turning into a twosome again and that means I will be Elder Whitmores last companion officially. But we are having a baptism this week for sister Honeylette hahah cool name huh she is really cool and has learned so much 12 years old and neighbors of a Recent convert. Then I am so happy about brother Vincent. An investigator for over 5 years now i think missionaries had given up on him but i found out about him and we started to teached him three months ago. I felt as if he didnt want us to be there at all, like he didnt care, or just that he had better stuff to do. He is the husband of an RM and has been coming to church for over a year but never has accepted the gospel. Elder Ejera and I continued to teach him and then one day we were about to give up and so was brother vincent after several failed attempts at prayer with nothing coming as far as an answer. We tried and tried telling him this will bring his family together forever, but as he shared about his doubts, we opening up to Ether 12:27, almost a photo copy of my mission scripture which talks about weaknesses becoming strengths. As he read, he was struck, and told us he loved it. From never wanting to read or pray or listen to us, a miracle of a change occurred. We came back and he told us how he had read all of Ether 12, as well as several other chapters and grew to love this amazing book. brother vincent will be baptized next week after accepting a date in August, he came back and told us it needed to be much sooner than that and he is excited as ever. We are so happy about him and cant wait to see him enter the waters of baptism. Some cool things are happening here and I love it so much, I know that I really am nothing without my Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all so much and oh yea happy Independence Day!!! hahhaha we sang the star spangled banner in District Meeting on monday hahhah which kind of threw the filippinos off but the americanos were going ham! Murica! hahahah love you all press forward in faith.

 

-Elder Smith

 

6.20.18 Carcar

Hello people yea it was a good week here shemps but we still moving a long uhmm yea first of all want to give a special shout out to all the Fathers out there that are reading this!!! I know I'm a couple days late but happy fathers day!!! i love you all and i know that your families love you just as more. and to my dad, who also had a birthday a couple weeks ago, i love you dad!! hope you got a good round of golf in!!!

 

but yea we had a good week our investigator passed her interview last Saturday and i was able to interview another as well and they will both be baptized this coming Saturday!! I have loved working with sister Mary Joy for the past months who at first never even listened to us!! she is a niece of sister noreen who we baptized a couple months ago but she never really participated in the lessons. Then for some reason she did and we taught her the gospel and about prayer and the Holy Ghost and she received an answer to her prayer in many different ways!!! God answers our prayers! If we have the faith to continually ask, he will continually answer! so yea that was awesome and we had zone conference on Monday so i got to see some of the homies hahah missed the boys!!! But yea i love the work so much and love teaching and serving! yea on Sunday

 

 

 

 
it was raining super hard after church and elder ejera and i were planning and then bishop called about a member that needed help. We showed up and unclogged a muddy kannal and we were wearing our nice clothes!!! but we made it out alive and just went straight to our next appointment! and yesterday we had a csp for our gospel principles teacher yesterday and lets just say i was sweating like a pig and sounding like a pig hahahh digging a hole in her back yard. but love you all so much and pls take time to pray every day, if it helps say it out loud with meaning! press forward in faith.

 

-elder smith

6.13.18 Carcar

Hello people!!! woah its me again! you thought i was in outer space huh! nah I'm here in carcar and we still doing good!!! hahah pretty good week like lots of funny stuff happened but i don't really remember like my memory is going down hill but its okay! oh yea i got my toe checked up again and it was aight but even better the nurse of the mission treated the APs and me to like the most American restaurant ever like i had the best chicken bbq sandwich and cheese fries but it was more like nacho cheese fries but okay, still missin training table😥 hahahha woah that was the first time I've used an emojiiii wackkk but yea the food was so good and we had a good week yesterday we had an open house at the church and lots of miracles happened! former investigators came from years ago that we will be going to and even former investigators of ours so it was a good time!!! hahhah yea but pretty good week earlier we went to this castle which is for momma mary for the Catholic religion. its super huge and pretty cool yea hahahha yea just chillin doing some good work!!!! good news that one of our investigators will be interviewed this week for her baptism next week so awesome!!! I know that the power of missionary work is a real thing! Christ can help us if we are willing to humble  ourselves and accept his hand in our lives. also S/O to the bro colito!! hahahha he made it in the paper and i guess is famous now for balling out in tennis! i don't know if he is reading this or will because the tennis start still hasn't found enough time to get back to me but hope he knows Im proud! he'll be as good as me one day!😉 hahhaha yea love you all so much and take care!!! 

 

-elder smith

5.29.18 Carcar Toe Trauma

Hello people ye. good week ba. period. is that joke old enough yet i think i can stop using it now hahahha. we had a good week tho f real sad moments really with some sad stuff happening butttttt we all happy becauseeeee we know that this is true! i know it, and i could not deny it!!! but yea good week hahhah we headed to the city yesterday and doc told me my toe was messed up so we slept in the city and on tuesday i had surgery!!! yea while you were sleeping 7 filipinos were gathered around my huge stinky feet poking and prodding it hahahhaha. but it was aesome my toe made it hard to work for a while now but now i cant walk at all, but after a week i think ill be good, but dont wrorry we still working!!! so we got home way late last night but in the city i dont really know my way around and so much is happening at once so once we found the hospital we watied like 10 min for an elevator and so i was kinda mad but we got on and then got off on the floor above where we need to go. then i hopped on a elevator going down and ejera was trying to tell me it was the wrong one but how could it be??? it was going down??? but after that we were back at square one hahahha ground floor because i guess that elevator only stops on certain floors. k what the freak is taht that is the worst engineering i have ever heard of ever. hahha so i was mad and then we waited another 10 min and barely made it in this one and i thought we could make it through the door because it was completely open when i made the approuch. i was cruising at a full speed limp, but upon arrival at the portal into this moving room, the portal suddenly collapsed on me, leaving me in the middle of it hahahhahahah taht was such a funny thing but yea this girl pressed the close door button on me and i got smashed and ejera is still laughing right now from that hahahhaha. but yea im all good now peeps dont worry!!!! check romans 1:16 and see what you find. love you all and i know the church is true, no problem too big, no solution too difficult for the gospel of Jesus Christ. press forward in faith!!

 

this is my toe rap for the shower cuz i cant get wet right now and then my toe nail!!! they gave me it in this bottle and i opened it yesterday holy cow, like cow really it smelled so bad like so baddddd. but yea 

-elder Smith

5.29.18 Carcar - District Letter Assignment Letter

PHILIPPINES CEBU MISSION
Temple Complex CJCLDS
Gorordo St. Lahug
6000 Cebu City


May 29, 2018


Richard Markland Smith
Natalie Carol Smith
1045 E Fairclough Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84106
United States
richmsmith@yahoo.com
Dear Brother and Sister Smith,


You will be pleased to know that your son, Elder Parker Oswald Smith, has been called as a District Leader in Carcar Zone, you can be proud of this fine young man.  He is working hard and has shown a maturity that makes him worthy of this responsibility.


Being a District Leader requires your son to teach, lead, guide and direct the missionaries in his district. It is an invaluable opportunity for him to learn to build firm relationships and to learn to serve others as he sets the example to his fellow missionaries. I know that he will perform his duties well. Sister Pajaro and I will be praying for his success.


Warmest regards,

Abenir V. Pajaro
Philippines Cebu Mission

5.22.18 Carcar

Hello people good to be getting back to you alls this week hahah it was a good one! one for the books!! i dont know what books! hahahah basta yea good week so lots of stuff happened but yea working into this new transfer, probably my last in carcar, along with a new aussie in the house(pictured below), i am still alive. Saturday was an awesome day, as brother Harry finally made it to his baptism!! it was a wonderful experience after the program i made on a chalk board after it was supposed to start, but i run on filipino time now hahah. but after the baptism i had the opportunity to interview another investigator to be baptized in another area! it was awesome and it was very cool to see what people are willing to do to follow Jesus Christ through the waters of baptism!! and she passed as well as another canidate from another area! what a week!! but yea on saturday gihapon we had a little CSP at Sis Lan's house. She wasnt there when we got there so we started doing random stuff but yea it took two hours to clear out an area of bushes picture below gihapon. i was helping my boy e ejera out because it was a little new for him but shout out to Gramps!!! pretty much knew how to use a huge sword knife to get that stuff out of there hahah. but yea the rest of the week was good we got some zone shirts with a picutre of everyone and even tho i requested round neck i was stuck with a V that went down to my belt buckle so we modeling the shirt in one of those pics. but yea really felt the spirit strong in a lot situations this week, when i was down i was comforted, when we were teaching a last lesson to a long-time investigator, i felt love instead of sadness gihapon. but yea sorry this was super long im relaly good and still pressing forward in faith! love you all!!! amping kanunay!!

 

-Elder Smith

 

5.16.18 Carcar - Post Motherday Skype

Hello people hahahha im back yeaaaaa still good and elder smith. but yea we had a really good week! lots of really cool lessons and a really cool experience as an investigator of ours tagged a long to tract for new investigators one day last week hahahah. hes is 12 and will be baptized this week and is super smart, he understands everything we have every taught him and as we stopped to talked to three older ladies on the side of the road, he did not shy away from the opportunity to share his testimony. as we talked about the plan of salvation the nanays were asking lots of questions and saying some familiar things but yea. as it went a long bro Harry, our investigator, came in and talked about the godhead and how they are three seperate beings, which is sometimes hard for people here to understand. THe nanays(grandmas) were a little thrown off that a little kid was trying to tell them how it was so nay asked harry a question like whats Heavenly Fathers name??? and i started sweating alittle but they were firing questions at him left and right stuff that i couldnt even answer myself... hahahhaha but after the fact we were able to laugh about it and he will be baptized this week! also,,, awesome talking to the fam couple days ago seems like they are doing okay from the five words that they said to me. It was kinda like talking to some dogs with their ears up and tails wagging but they dont actually understand whats you are saying they are just excited to hear you make noise hahahhaha but that was just when i was speaking bisaya ahahha. but yea love my mom she the best wouldnt be here right now without her!!! like in a lot of ways! gross! hahah but really love you mom and the rest of the fam shout out to them and shout out to cole for ballin out in tennis, hes not takin after me at all i dont know what he thinks he doing ruining my "being terrible" at tennis rep at highland. grateful for you all and sorry if you didnt understand this kay bisaya nako oi! nakalimot ko english kay dugayyyyy na ko diri sa cebu! love you all and faith in forward press./.. its still nice backwards hahah

 

-elder smith

Love this happy boy!!!!