January 26, 2016 - Living the Escuintla Life

The sun is always shining in Escuintla folks. That’s just how it is. We are doing great and seeing some ginormous miracles right now. We have 5 baptisms planned for this weekend. It will probably be the craziest week of my mission. But it will be the best.

Hmmm just some things I was wondering about. So I got 2 nativity sets. they are a LOT bigger than I thought they’d be. I was thinking, I could leave the nativity sets here with a member family and then we could we just come back in December (that means not coming to pick me up) if it were possible. Or I could find a way (expensive) to send them home. Or throw some stuff away out of my bags and fit them in that way! What do you think? Other questions from dad.... I know this is my last transfer in Escuintla because that’s just how the dice roll! President told me. I will be going somewhere new this next change, to my 5th area. Brown shoes are good. I don’t have a belt but I could find one. 43 is best for shoes. 

Mannn, I just cannot remember what happened this week! We just worked really super hard and felt the hand of the Lord as we worked in His vineyard this week. I have been really super focused on helping less actives and converts recently (that is what a lot of the mission conference was about). All 5 of the baptisms we’ll have this weekend are from working with converts and less actives. One of my converts goes out every day in the place where he lives and preaches the gospel every day by himself! He has his own supply of pamphlets and everything. But anyway, we had some wonderful finding experiences this past week where we were led by the spirit to less actives that we wouldn’t have found any other way.

I have been thinking about the 2 antidotes to ''less activism''.

1. BOM every every every day

2. Daily Repentance

If we do those 2 things often enough (daily......) we will never go inactive. We need to learn to love the Book of Mormon. And we need to feel the atonement every day to be able to be motivated to repent on a daily basis. That way the small sins wont turn into big ones. We all have a little pride cycle process inside of ourselves that happens ''in not many years''. Those 2 things I mentioned are the most powerful things to beat it and lead us on the right road (Helaman 3:29-30). In this little time, I have before I leave all my beloved converts here in Golondrinas, those are the 2 things I am trying to teach them. I pray that you, my family, will be able to do them as well.

Well, I sure love you guys. Keep praying for the guy (Tomas) without a leg so that his baptism goes well!! Tengo fe!

Love,

Elder Smith

January 20, 2016 - ''On the Good Days you Live and on the Bad Days you Learn"

I’m pretty sure that’s how the quote goes! I recently have just had to put that optimistic quote/maxim in practice, just for things that have been going on here. Honestly everything is great, the zone is doing fantastic and our area as well. But Elder Bazzell and I had a tough experience yesterday with ignoring a prompting that we both were receiving and we paid the consequences! Nothing dangerous or anything like that, but we definitely learned our lesson. That is probably an after the mission story. But I have found through my time here that on EVERY day we need to learn and live. I told Elder Bazzell how grandpa (Throckmorton) would always say that and he asked me ''What is more important? A good day or a bad one?'' Good question! All I know is that we do need to LEARN from our mistakes and not repeat them. That is wisdom. And then LIVE our lives with the wisdom acquired.

Well I have to tell you guys about Tomas. He is the coolest old guy I have ever taught the gospel to. He just recently got his left leg amputated and has some very serious health challenges that are expected here in Guatemala for an above 80 year old. He sits in his wheelchair all day and carves wooden chairs. Victoriano (who we baptized in December) brought us to his house one day after he had preached the gospel to him a little first. We were on divisions with 2 other elders the day we met him and we had the two elders teach the lesson and challenge him for baptism in the first lesson. They got half way through the lesson and Tomas challenged HIMSELF to be baptized. We just sat there like......what....  He went to church this last Sunday and loved it. We went back with him the same day to check up on him and he expressed some doubts on how he was going to be baptized by immersion (because of his very serious health challenges).  We sat there for a couple minutes thinking of solutions. As we did so, we read a couple scriptures in the BOM about miracles and faith as we waited for the answer. Then it happened! It was the coolest thing ever! One by one, the five people that were in the lesson got a piece of revelation on how to baptize him in the most convenient way possible. Then we wrote it all down and now he will be baptized in the name of Jesus on the 31st of January. It will take some serious planning and practice, but we have the faith here in Escuintla! It was seriously one of the most faith building experiences ever. He said ''I accept this baptism. I’m already convinced, you just need to find a way to baptize me!'' ''Remember I don’t know how to swim.'' ''I want to show God that I DO want to get baptized. I want to do it.'' There’s no stopping a faith like that!

We finally baptized the first of the 3 people that are to be baptized in this less active family. It was a fantastic service and the less active mom who hadn’t been to church in over 25 years came to the service. The grandma has been faithfully supporting her grandchildren along this whole process and she has had her conversion take place yet again, 30 years later. You guys would love to meet them; I always feel like I am at a Smith family reunion when I teach them. We will be baptizing 2 more on the 31st of January from this family. The Joys of Reactivation!

Well family, I’m off to watch a worldwide missionary broadcast. The Lord is leading us out to a new direction in the work of salvation. Lots of things are changing. The Lord is Hastening His Work. And I am part of it.

LOOOOOOVE,

Elder Smith

January 12, 2016 - Hope

I titled this one Hope, because the sun is shining strong here in Escuintla and things are just looking up! We seriously had a week full of miraculous miracles that I will never forget. The zone is doing great and we are on schedule to complete all of our goals in January. I don’t know what this guy Elder Bazzell is doing here, but things are just getting better in every aspect. I can feel myself progressing more rapidly in a spiritual sense recently as well.

I am now in my last 5 weeks of my time here in Golondrinas. I will miss this place with ALL my heart. I have grown so much in this place, as in all my areas I’ve had (3 in 16 months!). I have given it my all here for almost 5 months and Ill keep doing it until the day I leave.

Well....the miracles....

On Elder Bazzells first day in the area, we were flying from appointment to appointment and he felt the desire to street contact someone in an area I am often slow to do so (because they are stiffnecked.... or I lacked the faith and hope and charity!). The woman he contacted was a less active that had been sealed in the temple many years ago but then had had some serious serious challenges. Basically everything in her life and the life of her family that could go wrong, did. Anyways, we put a visit with her for the next day. And we went the next day and.....  nothing. No one home. One day passes. I am working in divisions near her home and I try the house again. Out comes a teenage girl that tells me that her mom is not home (typically that is a big fat lie in Guatemala) and I was about to start the routine ''Do you know where liars go?'' that I do to most annoying teenagers in Guatemala but I heard/felt something that said ''Just be nice to her.'' I asked her her name and who she was. She was the daughter of the less active. She will be baptized on the 17th of January. Turns out that the day that Elder Bazzell contacted her mom in the street, this girl had been praying in her room (she had never prayed before) while her mom was crying in the kitchen, asking God to change her life. That is seriously what I live for. Those experiences make all what I do here and have been doing for 16 months more than worth it. So glad my companion had the spiritual sense to follow the prompting of the spirit to talk to the mother and help her on the road to activity in the true Church of the Lamb.

I love the work of salvation.

We will end this week with 2 more baptisms of another 2 kids of less actives that we have worked and fought for to get them active again. There is a lot of joy in reactivation. Pulling them back is definitely not an easy task to say the least, in fact its often more difficult! But I love it.

I love you guys. I hope you each can see miracles in your own lives, as I am seeing day by day in my beloved Guatemala.

Hasta pronto!

Elder Smith